I know I wasn't going to comment anymore, but the guy who ran the club would often over-hype it to try to get some interest built up (never believe a salesman). Here are the numbers from the last month, people can judge for themselves if this is looks like a strong club. (Though I'll admit that hosting races every day probably helped to thin the crowds) Sept. 1: 6 drivers Sept. 2: 7 Sept. 3: 0 Sept. 4: 0 Sept. 5: 0 Sept. 6: 9 Sept. 7: 8 Sept. 8: 3 Sept. 9: 3 Sept. 10: 0 Sept.11: 1 Sept.12: 2 Sept. 13: 9 Sept. 14: 4 Sept. 15: 1 Sept. 16: 1 Sept. 17: 2 Sept. 18: 1 Sept. 19: 3 Sept. 20: 1 Sept. 23: 9 (Spa bump) Sept. 24: 5 (Spa bump already dying) Sept. 25: 3 (Spa bump dead) Sept. 27: 6 Sept. 30: 7 Oct. 1: 6 Oct. 2: 1 Oct. 4: 3 And these were just the sign-ups, in a lot of these the actual attendance was lower because most of the people would drop out when they saw the crowd would be small. There are many factors at play here, some of it was RD's own doing by scheduling too many racers or conflicting with other races, for sure. But if the overall userbase was stronger some of these problems could have been overcome.
And some of you guys still think that more half a dozen new "series" will bring this sim back from the deads. Think again. Not a single word from the devs regarding the core features, zero, nada, nichts, nothing...just new series and content. Ahh, the "new physics". Sometime after the ADAC season finale... Will this bring the game to the level of AC or GSCE or rF2?? Honestly, I don't know how many different "physics status" we have along the series in the game.
You are so right Emerson, Sector3 are wasting their time doing things like getting real drivers to help them improve the way the cars drive - amateurs - how the car drives has nothing to do with a racing sim, just like making things people will buy is just plain bad business. Drove the Lambo GT3 in AC today - yawn - about as thrilling as reading the same posts on this forum from the same people - still the replay looked nice though...
I wonder...what the real drivers really think about a sim where you can hit a wall at 200Km/h without a scratch in the paint scheme? But ok, the problem it's not here... there are a bunch of players wasting their time (and money) in "clearly inferior products". How dare they?? Even RD is conspiring against this sim... PS. How long do you own this product? How long are you waiting for updates? Three years like me?
I think real drivers are more worried about the behaviour of the car on the track than against the wall. If a visual damage model is never perfected I couldn't care less. In yesterdays dev stream I don't remember the 2012 DTM champion saying anything about damage, but a lot about handling, tyres and lap times (not sure if he is on RD). Popularity is not a measure of quality - if it was the best driving sim out there would be currently be being played on console, and we all know thats not the case. R3E and GSC are the best sims currently due to the way the cars drive especially the tyres. PS I don't think you and I are waiting for the same updates.
real driver dont hit at wall at 200ks ive said this before. this is a racing sim not a crashing sim dont expect beam ng drive crashes any time soon. currently if you hit a wall too hard you break your engine and that is enough for me for now.
With the number of you guys baffeleing about whatever you're worried about plus those who already join my GearEx Group regularly (for example) - which I run for Steam and S3 forum Members at pretty moderate (european) times - plus those who are random guests, plus potential members who could race if they were only willing to join and race (instead to lurk while second guessing), there would be a fine Grid each Event (which would surely raise some interest) but if you (like Goose mentions) are more keen on talking about the downside of things - well honestly: is this of any use for anyone out there at all ? (even if there are valid points but no chance to - for example - influence RR business policy after all ) My experience is that many are either too lazy, too ignorant or too demanding to join on a regular basis - once the races are too long , then they are too short, or its not the right series, or they feel inferior torwards more experienced drivers (which for me is Prima Ballerina "ouuh I don't wanna lose my face" - Kindergarten) and and and (not to talk about the younger generations who can uphold their attention just slightly over the length of a music video- but even there you'll find exceptions)- yes of course many have time managing issues due to daily intrusions, but the only way to keep Racing Events for R3E up (and having just fun with it primarly) IS RACING IN THE FIRST PLACE..(goddamned ) so set priorities and race. stop to compare , accept what is given and jump into your seats Gentlemen....no offense intended btw.
Oh man... It´s that hard to understand that "what is given" isn´t enough? Maybe it´s enough for you. Maybe the sales are considered "good" by the devs, and the "numbers" of active players are ok (and I will need to re-analyse all my concepts about "successfull business", regarding games) ... I always considered the "damage model", a very important aspect of a sim. It´s not? So, we can put NFS as a true sim. Have you ever tried a flight sim? I really doubt that a broken engine after a crash would be considered a "good damage model".
collision model yes you should be punished for crashing while still allowing some contact without complete loss of grip. damage no as long as you cant run the walls im fine. nfs has an arcade physics model that allows player to ram each other without spinning. that's why it is not a sim, damage has nothing to do with it. now i do think their is a couple of things that should be added to the damage model. namely steering arm offset but this is quite difficult to implement in a way that corresponds correctly with the physics so I'm in no rush. I believe this is quite overdone in iracing and definitely don't want a damage model like iracing.
Why does a racing game a damage model? Most players play, to have fun. But where's the fun if a other Car hit me out and my wheels flys around ? RRRE needs a lot of things to a perfectes game to be. Only a damage model should be very far behind on the list. Tire wear and pit stops. Fuel consumption and refueling. A racing line that gets more and more grip in the race. Dynamic weather and wind from different directions, which is different strong. All this is important for a simulation than a sloping bumper. Thats my 2 Cents
There is quite some arrogance in your attitude to be seen, Fairman. A certain haughtiness towards players who simply do not like or by real life are hinderd or have any other TOTALLY VALID reason not wanting to race online, not to mention: adapting to timetables set up by league racing. But you see: the majority of paying customers of these sims we talk of, are not interested in MP, play SP for the main, maybe never even care to try MP. Most people like to race when they want to race, and then they want to do it at the time of thgeir choice, on the track of their choice, with those settings and cars of their choice, and so on. And most of the time many people will fial to find a server fulfilling all these wishes. You think they have to adapt to what is there, else you criticise them. I ask: why should I accept to play under circumstances and with settings I do not want to play the game with? AS SP, I am the all-mighty god of my racing experience, and I do it the way I want to do it, must accept no foul compromises I do not like . And that tops everything. And you missed the reason why I posted this thread. I do not care one bit about Race Department (edit: this has been edited, see later post), i never did one of their races and I indeed am not interested to do so. Nor do i care for any other league or online club. Its not my thing. What I am about is to what degree the low player numbers in R3E online racing - of which you imply it is the core of things, but then why are other titles so much more used for that then... - correlate to e general lack of interest in R3E ingeneral. Mind you, the steam statistics show players whose installations are online, not necessarily meaning they actually do online racing, so in GSCR or AC you still have to add to those numbers those SP players (which are the majority) who play SP offline. AC or GSCE (i had the non-Steam version) can be played with Steam switched offline, Raceroom cannot be played that way. Raceroom enforces the online connection and thus a +1 in the Steam statistics even for SP players, not just for online racers. That makes the huge difference between Raceroom'S numbers and the player numbers of other titles even more worrying. So this was the real topic of this thread: to what degree does the decline of organised MP racing in one of the biggest racing event sites out there indicate a general decline or lack of interest in R3E, and does this indicate a trend that could threaten the economic survival of R3E. Its not alone on the market, and there are other, even bigger competitors out there, attracting more customers and players. That's what it is about.
Because while major damage knocks you out of the race, minor damage lets yoiu keep on racing but affects your driving and racing, maybe... Have you ever watched a DTM race? These are often anything but contact-less races. And sometimes it is the drivers messing their cars' bodies up all by themselves without needing another car to help them in that. You could as well ask: why having tyre wear. Brake wear. Engine overheating.
Like yourself in the past I had little regard for damage in a game, but then I started online racing at the RD club and that changed my mind. Having spent years adjusting the AI down to my level (boy did I get a shock when I came up against real humans) my chance of getting further up the field was by means of damage. Guys crashed out and their race was over that's what happens in real life. R3E already has tyre wear and I agree the other features are important but their absence doesn't stop the racing. They would add fun to the game and that's what it's all about in the end.
I said many not all and I said it because it's my (subjective) impression that also many hide behind arguments and ideas about (whatever) to have an excuse for talking instead of doing sth....it's a Zeitgeist Phenomenon these days....( and maybe I'm a bit pissed about that attitude too...so I beg for forgiveness ) Edit : I#m well aware of the situation of many of my m8s here having a hard time keeping up to their daily life challenges and I for myself have to make compromise too - much more often then I would like to...but to constantly complain about doesn't make me happier
Oh dear, I messed up. I wrote: Terrible mishap by me. Of course I did not want to say that i do not care much for Raceroom, but that i do not care for Race Department. Sorry, Sector3, if this had upset you. Completely my own fault. I have corrected it. I love Raceroom, to leave no doubt on that.
I must admit I've found the R3E club friendly and welcoming and although I'm painfully slow no one has ever complained or said anything to bother me. They seem clean and fair, but each to their own.
^ Absolutely possible. All I mean is that I do not take interest in leagues and online racing, and thus am not interested in according clubs. Nothing personal at all.
That was the point I made earlier on in this thread but it was ignored because it didn't fit with the sky is falling line. From my own experience it happened to my club. I ran the iRacing club there and like R3E it had a high price tag compared to other sims that were being run at the time like RACE, netKar Pro etc. When we started we spoke to members to see what they wanted to race and from that we built a season based on a car that was included in the base content with at least half the tracks also from the base content and added a couple of the payware tracks to add a little interest. By the time season 2 came around we swapped content again but once more using stock content with some payware tracks. Members wanted open wheel racing so we took a mid line open wheeler that people would most likely have experience of and again mixed it with tracks used in previous seasons knowing our club members had these tracks and so on and so on. Races ran on a Sunday evening at a time suitable for both sides of the Atlantic. We also ran special events like a full length Indy 500 (I've never seen so many cautions). I felt like I was fighting against the tide trying to get the iRacing club set up, nobody from the staff at RD was interested. Back then iRacing was still considered by some to be the epitome of evil and so you'd get guys trolling the iRacing forum that appeared to be fair game from the RD staff but we got the club running and gathered a nice group together and we paid for the events out of mine and another members pockets for the sessions. Once the club became popular then the other RD staff decided that having an iRacing club was a good thing and wanted to get involved despite showing no prior interest but that meant the RD scatter gun approach that you see for the R3E events, it went from a club race each Sunday alternating each week between open wheel and tin top and gave members something to look forward to and prepare for each week, you had time to tinker with your setup's, do some practice laps so you didn't embarrass yourself on the night but that changed and in came the 'race every night' mentality. RD had a nice little club running for iRacing but look at the forum there now, no iRacing club sub-forum, the same has happened to other sims as either the scattergun approach is used or RD's focus moves to another sim, one that has had a new update or some new content. I saw this comment made on another forum about clubs and leagues at RD: Particularly in the current economic times we live in when a lot of people are just getting by on what they earn or recovering from the world recession the last thing they are going to do is buy lots of content so instead of throwing up lots of events run more focussed ones recycling content from one series to another. It looks like recent attempts at more focussed meets organised unofficially by RD R3E racers has had more success and the official event scheduled for Monday already has 9 sign-ups so perhaps that is the way forward, focus rather than scattergun.