Hi all, I wanted to share some thoughts with those of you entering hotlap competitions in RaceRoom. I have entered about 290 hotlap competitions since july 2018 and I noticed an evolution in the list of competitions offered by KW Studios since last year. I noted the following points in the list of hotlap competitions for 2023: For the cars: - GTR 3 cars (including ADAC GT Masters 2021, DTM 2021 & 2023): 44 competitions - Mazda MX-5: 25 competitions - Praga R1: 12 competitions - DTM 1992: 10 competitions, 3 of them at the Nürburgring - Porsche Carrera Cup Deutschland 2023: 9 competitions - NSU TTS: 5 competitions, 2 of them at Portimao Circuit Club - FR X-22 Cup: 3 competitions, 2 of them at Suzuka GP - Audi Sport TT Cup 2016: 2 competitions, both at Zandvoort GP - Only 1 competition for the Aquila, Silhouette Series, Crosslé 90F & 9S (Charade GP for both) - No competition for the following classes: GTR 2, P1, FRJ, Procar, Cayman, DTM 2003, DTM 2005, FR2, FR X-90, German Nationals, GTE, KTM X-Bow RR, Touring Classics & Zonda R. For the tracks : - Red Bull Ring: 16 competitions - Hockenheim GP : 13 competitions but 3 for GTR 4, 3 for the Tatuus and 3 for GTR 3 cars - Nordschleife (24 Hours & VLN): 11 competitions but 5 for GTR 3 cars - Nürburgring: 9 competitions - Imola: 9 competitions - Brands Hatch GP: 8 competitions but 3 for the Praga - Road America: 7 competitions, 3 of them for GTR 3 cars - Spa-Francorchamps: 7 competitions - Zandvoort GP : 7 competitions but 2 for both the Audi Sport TT Cup 2016 and the Tatuus F4 Cup - Bathurst: 5 competitions but 2 for GTR 3 class and 2 for Porsche Carrera Cup Deutschland 2023 - Watkins Glen: 5 competitions, 3 of them for the Mazda Dpi - Daytona Road Course: 5 competitions, 3 of them for the Mazda Dpi and 2 for the Mazda MX-5 - DEKRA Lausitzring - DTM Short Course: 4 competitions but 2 for the DTM 2023 cars - Mid Ohio: 3 competitions, all of them for the Mazda MX-5 - Laguna Seca: 3 competitions, all of them for the Mazda MX-5 - No competition at Chang, Gelleråsen, Knutstorp, Lakeview, Monza, Moscow, Motorland Aragón, Ningbo, Nogaro, RaceRoomRaceway, Scandinavian Raceway, TT Assen, Motegi, Stowe, Vålerbanen, Zhejiang and Zhuhai. What I wanted to show with these stats is that we don't have as much variety as before, even if we have more cars and tracks available. Some hotlap competitions can be repeated after only some months or even some weeks (NSU @ Portimao Club, Audi TT 2016 @ Zandvoort, DTM 1992 @ Nürburgring GP...) and some like GTR3 @ Red Bull Ring, Dpi @ Daytona or MX-5 @ Mid Ohio or Laguna Seca can appear several times a year. The German Nationals had a physic update on 14th december 2022 but there was no hotlap competition since (the last hotlap competition with these cars dating from december 2016 / january 2017) and some of the latest cars released, like the Crosslés, only appeared once in the list. I think it would be interesting to add more variety in theses competitions as some of us (I talk for myself and some of my friends) are now finding them boring. Feel free to let me know what you think about that, even or mostly if you are a member of KW Studios.
Think its mostly down to the fact that most competitions just mirror whats on the ranked schedule now and most of the combos on ranked just revolve around what combos are popular because for more niche combos thered be close to no races happening at all
I still don't understand why the hotlap competitions should mirror the ranked schedule... I am not interested at all in races, I just want to enter hotlap competitions and I remember some "niche combos" hotlap competitions which were really fun like GTO Classics @ Sonoma or GTR1 @ Motegi. I think that linking the ranked schedule with the hotlap competitions is a mistake.
Dont have a strong opinion on that but if youre drive a lot of competitions and dont do any ranked racing (which you of course is the case for you ) then i can definitely see why not having them linked would be better
There are generaly 6 hotlap competitions twice a month, no need to link them all to the ranked schedule. Why not keep 1 or 2 of each series for a "niche combo" like you wrote?
it would get users to use the less known/popular combos and showcase the other good things the game has to offer besides YAAAWWWWWWN .. GT3..