Feedback on [BETA] - RANKED servers

Believe me I am not that quick just pick who to fight and who to let go, averages out over time, I prefer P1, P2, group and the odd dabble with single-seater, GTR class mostly GTR1 since the dec update can not quiet get the feel for the GTR3 mostley down to my old wheel,

 

I know your pain...
Half my races i get knocked out from behind by the person I racked up 15 points in 1 event recently which were all gained from the guy behind pushing me off the track in braking zones.

I miss driving the Frx90's. Those things were so fragile you could'nt afford to have an incident. Its at its worse in GT3 which is another reason why im growing to hate them.

 

It's not only the back of the grid I had a race when I started p1 and the guys in top 3 were very aggressive. They ended up dq'ed and I finished with 20 somethig incident points.

 

I'm really surprised with the new gtr3 europe track cycle choice, where is road america? one of the best tracks for public races without bottlenecks in the first brake easy to learn and with a lot of overtaking points just like monza..

remove redbull and laguna is other great idea two very strange circuits that nobody plays

 

@Jota Ele It might be that the Devs have changed the track rotation and Selection of the tracks to give more variety.
Not everyone likes the same tracks and need to be introduced to more tracks so that track rotation can be expanded in the future

 

Yup, variety being the spice of life and all that.
This coming from someone who loves Laguna Seca and hates Monza with a passion.

 

I'm a member of the RedLineMotorsport club, and have only raced in R3E leagues and events up to this point. I try to run a Ranked race or two about 4 or 5 days per week in mostly the GT3 cars, and I look for servers that have at least 20+ cars. This way my chances of finding a few cars about at my level are pretty good. This past week has been a nightmare unlike any I've experienced before. Literally it's been a crash and burn from the 1st few corners, and Hail Mary dives to pick up a place or two that has resulted in the worst driving I can ever remember. DQ'd pop ups from the start to the finish have been common place. I've been punted, driven off the track, and even squeezed off the track, as well as getting off the line to avoid a sure accident.

One race today at Silverstone with a full field of 32 cars had just 18 cars cross the finish line. That's 14 DQ's and or rage quitting, which is really prevalent from what I've seen. In Club races rage quitting gets you a max penalty, and if there is a reserve list, that driver gets the honor of being put on it, and the top of the list gets his place for one race at a min. In the Silverstone race there were two cars that figured out how to cut the track and certain corners to I guess make it to the front of the race, but more often then not I repassed them after they spun out. Why can't these drivers be DQ'd after a certain number of off track excursions?

What further adds to the frustration is knowing that every time someone runs into my car, I get a penalty as well. That's just plain not fair. Why can't some code be written that a rear end accident has penalty points only given to the driver doing the rear ending. If the car in front brakes early for what ever reason, it's their responsibility to be able to react to that situation and avoid contact.

Joel

 

Because it's not that simple. Saying that it's always the responsibility of the rear car is a clear-cut invite to brake-checking.
One perfect example was a ranked race a few days ago, where I was fighting for position at Spa. We were side-by-side going into Stavelot, but I figured I couldn't make it so I backed off, and I'm right on his butt coming out of the corner.
Where for some obscure reason he brakes.......
I've looked at the replay time and time again, and there's just no reason for him to do so. He's not loose, there are no other cars around us, absolutely no reason why he shouldn't be full throttle. And yet he slams on the brakes.
And since I'm looking for a better exit, I'm about 2 meters behind him going full throttle.
End result, I ram my BMW so far up his ass he can probably still taste the front bumper.

Now, I don't take this whole rank thing very seriously. Racing-sims are, in my view, basically entertainment, and if your choice of entertainment results in aggravation something is fundamentally wrong.
But if I did, there's no way in hell I'd ever acknowledge that particular incident to be my fault. I would've needed Jedi powers to avoid him.

 

@Joel Willstein If possible do you have any evidence of the corner/track cutting so as to send to the Devs here @Sector3 Studios? If so it could help them eliminate the areas that are being cut to add to the incident system and get the cheaters DQed even faster

 

I’ve actually suggested the front to rear contact suggestion as well. I personally think if you simply made it so person in front gets 2 points and person behind gets 4 - this would likely solve 95% of the contact incident scoring issues. You still get penalized when it’s probable it wasn’t your fault - but 1/2 that of the person using you as a brake.

Brake checking is dumb and likely results in the perpetrator facing the wrong way if the brake check results in contact. Far worse a penalty, most would agree.

Another thing I would add is after a certain amount of off track Incidents the points should start doubling. I’m still seeing in every race people in the top 5 spots who have more bad laps than good. In crew chief you can ask for the person in front or behind you last lap time. Literally 50% of the time I get a “I don’t have that data” - which translates to their lap didn’t count. Oh that’s how they gained a magical second.

last thing - contact under blue flag - double the incident points if you are under a blue flag. I won a race today because a back marker took out the race lead! It’s one thing to hold up someone who’s literally lapping you - but contact is just horrible insult to injury.

 

As to whose responsibility it is for running into the car in front of you, sorry, every insurance company states it's 100% the fault of the rear driver who created the accident. Just assuming that the car in front will brake at your normal breaking point at our level, makes zero sense. You need to show more common sense on how you approach these situations. Maybe that driver saw cars slowing in front of him for a corner so he adjusted his braking point. Maybe he's not at your level at does in fact brake a little earlier and is slower out of a corner. These are basically open races, and we need to approach them that way. Every clean driver has the same equal rights to compete in these open races.

I take the esses at Silverstone 5-4-3 gears with no braking for the 1st corner, and I was hit in the rear braking and down shifting for the 2nd corner as though the guy had no intention of slowing down. As a matter of fact I watched him later on in the race and he doesn't slow down because he just runs off the track there and re-enters after the last corner at nearly full speed down that straight. He and his "friend" consistently did the same thing for the hairpin. Both eventually were DQ'd as I guess that they ran into enough people, but how many of those other drivers left the race due to those incidents?

I don't have a replay of any of the open races I run, just my club races, as I didn't know that I could submit a clip of these type of incidents. I'm can easily see that you must get swamped with these protests. I sincerely hope that some action is taken sooner then later, as the longer you allow this type of racing, the safe and respectful drivers will move to or stay in passworded races, and or clubs & leagues where this type of driving gets you in deep trouble very quickly.

Joel

 

Yeees.....Except this isn't an open road where you have no idea where the person in front of you might be going.
And in 'civilian' cases, it's usually the rear car who's at fault because on the open road you're expected to keep a safe distance to any vehicle in front of you, thus negligence is applied to the following car.
Keeping a safe distance while going 120+mph would guarantee you'd never be able to overtake anyone.
Which admittedly would make for some very safe races, just not particularly fun ones.
Finally, while it's usually the following car who gets blamed, it's not an absolute. You can easily have the lead car guilty of negligence as well, if e.g. he suddenly brakes for a turn without indicating.
Negligence only applies to what can reasonably be expected to happen, not if the guy in front does something completely out of the blue.
All of which is neither here nor there since none of it applies to a racing environment.

As to my particular incident, I'd been following the car in question for 2-3 laps while catching up.
Which means spending some time watching how he took various corners, and looking for any weaknesses.
It's not as if I'm just barrelling down on some unsuspecting guy out for a Sunday drive.

 

All these situations are always going to happen. Rammers will always ram, corner cutters will always cut and brake checkers will always do that. The simple fact is that some people are not interested in racing fairly.

The ranking system is designed to punish those players, as because they do it consistently their ratings will keep on dropping. And while it's true that sometimes innocent people will get taken out and punished the key thing is that if you behave properly, you are more likely to finish and are more likely to rank up. This eventually takes you out of the rating zone where the cheaters operate.

Once a rating matching system is added fair drivers need not race with dirty drivers anymore. It won't be perfect. But it will work a lot of the time.

Please remember this is still an unmatched beta phase. Because ratings will never be deleted those behaving badly are already stabbing themselves in the back.

 

I do respect your point of view as to rear end accidents. I have no way of proving that these guys rear ended me on purpose to move me out of the way, cut corners, and cheated consistently till they got DQ'd. Perhaps if they continue to get caught, then the ban statement should kick in, and they're gone for a period of time.

In my case due to age and slowing reflexes, I'm never going to be a front runner, nor do I expect to be. Just being able to run a clean race and finish on the led lap is my main goals. After 28 Ranked races these are my Rank stats: #1409 1520 92.9 pg 4. The biggest fluctuation lately is the page number as I bounce from page 3 to 4 and back again on a consistent basis. I would have thought with my usually closer to the end of the pack finishes, that I would be much closer to the bottom tiers of the ranking. Without jinxing myself, I've finished all 28 races, most on the led lap (Mid Ohio Fast Chicane is my nemesis for sure), and rarely other then a little suspension damage, I managed to have no serious damage. In more then half the races I've also through shear luck stayed out of Harms Way during the 1st few laps. My question for those like myself, is would I be ranked? Would I be with the slower and safer drivers, or classed just as a back of the packer?

Joel

 

I don't know how the matching system will work...whether it will be based on rating, or reputation or a combination of both. That's something for the Devs to decide.

Given your current rating you would be somewhere in the middle, not the fastest but not down with those who consistently DQ either. Your reputation is good so nothing to worry about there.

I am hoping that when the system does roll out it will give us something similar to iracing where you end up racing against drivers that are mostly at a similar level to yourself. At the moment its completely unmatched so you can end up with aliens and complete idiot's in the same race, clearly not a great combination.

Thinking logically, it's in the Devs best interest to get this right, as literally the reputation of the whole game is on the line. To that end, it's best that these decisions are not rushed and that everything that is learned in this beta phase is used to create the best system possible.

Try and enjoy ranked for what it is right now and look forward to what it will become. We've been waiting a long long time for this, so time spent getting it right is worth it.

 

For the most part I do enjoy my ranked races, but with the new MLR GT3 series starting 3/8, I've started to practice in earnest on the 2 tracks I've never raced on as yet: Red Bull & Sepang. I really like the flow of the Red Bull track with no chicanes for a change. I'm about med pack at best with the AI @ 100%. Again, not great for most of you guys, but it's an advancement for me.

I've actually become some what more consistent and a tad quicker since I "traded" in my G29 Pedals for the Fanatec CLS Elites. Took a good 10 days or so to get use to the Load Cell that I wasn't to fond of, but now absolutely love. The G29 wheel unfortunately leaves a lot to be desired. I have a dead zone TDC that makes changing direction for esses really a sloppy affair, and even holding the car in a straight line can be a challenge, as well as just not being consistent throughout its turning radius. So I just ordered with the last of my racing funds a Thrustmaster TS-PC as it's gotten excellent reviews. By purchasing it through B&H photo I not only got a great price of $489, and a money back guarantee as well. I'm hoping that the wheel will help me be the best driver that I can be at this stage of the game.
Joel

 

@Joel Willstein I envy you the pedals that you have and I can attest to the wheel. I don't have the exact same as you, I have its little brother TS-XW. Can be quite strong in the resistance if you turn it up a bit but the FFB in Race Room is very good

 

Just wanted to let you know that we do take note of your suggestions and will consider them for future iterations of the ranking system.

 

Larry,
I don't know whose pedal set you have, but like so many people have said, getting a load cell brake is the biggest improvement to your setup that you can make. The new Thrustmaster 3 pedal set has a brake load cell, and lists for $199. Just save a little each week, and you'll have the funds in no time.
Joel

 

One issue has just come up, and I think that it would be counted as a rage quit if I had joined a race a little while ago.

We're having Thunderstorms on and off this afternoon. For the last 40 + years we've lost our power only 3 times, so I never pay much attention to the weather. Well I was in the process of just logging into a Ranked Race server when our electricity went out for just 30 seconds at most. Had to wait for my modem & router to cycle up, and then had to restart my computer as it didn't shut down as it should.

So my question is, if I was in an active race and got booted by the electric company, would that be considered Rage Quitting? I'm assuming it would be.

Joel