Well I have to report a loss here. Was aiming for a culture victory but was beaten by the
who conquered 2 neighbors and got a SV not long after turn 300.
The city science penalty really didn't seem to slow him down at all - even when he owned nearly half the map. Even more curious is that he had no friends for most/if not all of the game so no research agreements which the AIs love. Diety gives the AI so much gold that they literally have continual RAs with all their friends. This is another incentive for the player to bribe AIs to attack friends as it dissolves the RA and ensures they won't become friends again. Thus it theoretically at least should buy more time for the player to catch up.
I guess on Diety a large AI can grow so fast that they overcome the science penalty very quickly.
What shot me in the foot though was that I missed Sistine Chapel which
conquered near the end so that slowed my tourism heaps
Then they win International Games even though I put every available hammer in to get it.
Then they built Great FireWall and tourism slowed to a trickle.
Then they denounce me and my open borders ends and I can't buy new open borders from a hostile AI even if I offer them 100gpt... So then tourism basically grinds to a halt and I ran out of Great musicians.
I also missed louvre (and sistine chapel) so with 2 of the best theming wonders gone I had to rely on the inferior Uffizi and Broadway. Missing those 2 wonders really makes a cultural victory very hard.
My one achievement though was getting my capital to be a world religion so that stacks very nicely with the theme bonuses that France offers. So that is one incentive for France to pursue a religion.