Raceroom... can we talk?

Hi Raceroom... You have such a great product here. You offer Sim racing quality at a price that make the i-guys look like thieves, and that is awesome, as money is tight these days and having thousands to spend on gaming isn't in the budget. Then you have a system whereby people can actually try it for free! What's not to like?

Well... R3.. you have a bully problem. As an example, last night, 4 person race..All four within about 20 secs by the end of the race. #4 has gone off and been able to re-pass me twice in the race. Last lap he goes off again, I gain third and I will keep it... yet this is not what this driver thinks should hap[pen and rams me, I go off track.

I am a rookie.. I am also ..err.. older.. I grind my way up the Rep ladder, only to have this bozo kill me off in the race. I do not have reflexes of a cat. My eyesight isn't all that great anymore. My arthritis makes it painful to race for more than 30 min.... now none of this is R3s fault, it is part of life...

R3, you have a great game here, but until you find a way to rid yourselves of the bullies, I think your program is not going to grow well. My desire to continue to push dwindles every time one of these unscrupulous drivers ruins my own, or someone else's race.

This is especially an issue in the Rookie ranks where drivers tend to pick on the noobs.

Of course the std answer is "get good".. Yeah.. well I am trying, but when you have a$$holes roaming the servers looking to spoil other's races, that challenge becomes much harder than it should.

If R3 wants to grow, it needs to address this situation in some way shape or form.

 

Sorry to hear about your bad experience. I have raced many races on rookie servers and never gotten the impression of someone bullying me. Yes, there is a fair bit of dive bombing and general recklessness during passing (maybe that's what you mean). I tend to try to practice a lot offline first, with the aim to qualify as high up on the grid as possible (preferably at the very front) which has saved me from a lot of trouble. Anyway, you are here talking about a race with 4 drivers, in which case this does not apply. I would think and hope that it wasn't on purpose, but just him being reckless.

Here I suggest displaying some racing etiquette during loading of multiplayer races:
Racing etiquette at start of ranked/multiplayer race? | Sector3 Studios Forum
...with the hope to educate and make racers more inclined to adhere to "the rules".

 

Is it really like that? My recent experience made me think hard about what we see from our limited point of view during a race and what it actually is. Maybe they are unfortunate accidents/lack of skill/lack of awareness rather than an intent and there's a way to prevent/avoid at least some of them. Watching a replay helps understand what was that.

But also I tried to find where to report bad behaviour and I couldn't.

 

join raceroom discord, send replay with description to admin (dont bother with some taps or unfortunate accidents tho)

 

I had one at Speilberg yesterday, he slowed after crossing the line unexpectedly, I swerved and overtook him (no Anglo Saxon) at turn 2 he rammed me, waited, then rubbed wheels with me all around the chicane and then promptly took me out again at the penultimate turn and I still don't know it he/she was bullying me or just plain bad at driving. Would need to see it from their cockpit to check their braking but this is going to keep happening unless S3 give the higher ranked drivers some slower cars to drive, they're just the most rewarding, plain as!

 

I ( and others) have found the ..errr... atmosphere, of the Official Discord to be off-putting. So I just dropped it.. no sense being where one is considered.. err.. yeah... never mind... it is very similar here.

 

[QUOTE="J.Simonds, post: 220605, member: 23514

This is especially an issue in the Rookie ranks where drivers tend to pick on the noobs.
[/QUOTE]
I`m in a similar position to you. I`m slow, but fair, - although accidents do occasionally happen - so I generally only race in the Rookie servers because they have the slower cars which I like.
I have taken part in over 200 hundred races, and have a low ranking, but - usually - over 90 reputation.
I don`t think I`ve ever felt bullied.
You usually get 5 or six very fast drivers at the front, and the rest are a mix of slow/new drivers, but I`ve never come across harassment it in the ranked servers.
I know there are still problems with crashers and rammers in the (non ranked)public servers, so stay away from them for sure.
Otherwise, if you still have this problem, maybe check replays to see exactly what happened, then report the driver if you still think they rammed you.

 

Online Rookie here as well and I must admit it is really crappy to race against other rookies. I am careful and fair with my driving but there are so many idiots. Also hard to find any online ranking active race. Mostly empty. Probably the only way to get rid of most idiots is to have a system like iracing or similar. I can't see any other ways.

 

Have you ever seen replays of iRacing`s Rookie servers? It`s complete mayhem, far worse than Raceroom.

 

iR's rookie crucible is because of the numbers.
They have so many users, and a percentage of these are immature or aggressive. They don't make it out of rookie because of their driving, so they make it difficult for others.

R3E has a different numbers problem, at least for the NA times. I speak for myself when I say my race times are late, and the servers are dead..I usually see 10-15 drivers in ranked. The fields are running around 1400 to 1500 rating. Some nights I get the aliens, so there are 1700-1800 rated drivers, and then they race against 1400 rated drivers. (This isn't seal clubbing, it is racing what's available. Seal clubbing would be searching for heavily populated rookie servers just to gap P2 by a minute by end of race.)

I rely on discord community supported events. I can expect 10+ racers (over a wide skill gap), and the racing is pretty clean. it's better than coming in second in a race of 3 and losing 6 rating because p1 was 1800 and p3 was 1200.

 

We do our hardest to prevent wreckers on any ranked server , but that also depends on you guys , make a post , with
Name of the offending driver
Screenshot of the results page
Link a video of the incident (starting 20 seconds before the incident helps) also helps if its from yours and there perspective....
A short non rant description,

Tag a mod
And then we pass it on to the race stewards

Andi

 

Sorry @Andi Goodwin but this is down to the developer, way to difficult to edit a replay file, to send just the relevant scenario's to who? somewhere on the Forum? Discord? DM? who has the time to wade through all the full replays that get sent? No if S3 wanted us to send them video footage of nefarious activities then set up a page and supply us with some decent tools, I could keep someone busy for a year just on my own saved replay files of assholes being assholes, where do I send them? Do I have to wade through them all first and time stamp each individual incident? I don't send footage in because it's just a waste of everybody's time. Firstly some Rookie servers need to be Rookie only, as in a max rep/rating low enough to keep the scalpers out. Some higher ranked servers need the slower cars to race, as they're the most fun (we are all in this for fun aren't we?) and it has to be made clearer where incidents are processed and deliberated and some simple editing tools need to be made available.

* This is a quote from your goodself in the very next thread - " Yep you got hit , but your video doesnt show any info that could help judge this to be deliberate or not" Determining who is in the right would require the telemetry of both vehicles and someone who knew what they were doing to dissect it. So will S3 be requiring written affidavits from all involved, then perhaps a court case to determine the culprits? No, sending footage of bad tempered assholes in by the thousands isn't going to get anybody anywhere other than more frustration and wasted time. Tools are required or we all just get on with it in our own little clubs diluting the ranked servers even more. Glad it's not a problem I have to solve or indeed affects me in the slightest, I can't get more than 17fps at Knutsorp so don't even use RR anymore.

 

Im sorry , you just make a screen grab video windows has the tools , obs is free,,
Full replays dont help thats why i said 20 seconds before and after
I said make a post , so here in the forum , tag a mod , its directly visable ,
Other ppl do it on discord , and ppll get warned or banned by the devs due to this

As for what i said , that video showed from a few angles , and eventually more info was found and the offending player got a ban , if its really difficult we can ask for the game log , and gleen extra info from that

We are not everpfesent on every server , so if you see bad driving ,wrecking etc , then the only way we know is if ppl mention or report it ....

Andi

 

Good luck... I no longer try to communicate with R3, the times I have, I get cut down by Andi.. as have others, he is not a good rep for R3...

 

Wow an absolute wow ... yep i do come across sometimes as a bit grumpy or even a bit dry , but , and i repeat , i try always to be helpful, so lets go to where it kicked of between yourself and me , not so long ago , both in discord and in the forums .....

https://forum.sector3studios.com/index.php?threads/connection-issues-error-13.16644/

So lets look at this whole thread and the exchanges .....
In the first post you explain your issues and frustration , the second your frustration..... we continue down the list

Next post , you up the anti and state infact you are an I.T pro ....

Two post later , i do this ... https://forum.sector3studios.com/index.php?threads/connection-issues-error-13.16644/#post-219556

You come back , reminding me that you are infact a demi god of the internet , dont post the stuff i asked for and finish your post with a piss poor and off target dig ....
Andi, you are making excuses and stabbing blindly at a legitimate problem... it isn't helping.

A few post later another tester tries to help
https://forum.sector3studios.com/index.php?threads/connection-issues-error-13.16644/#post-219573
Again you basically dismiss it , remind us you invented the internet and continue

At this point , i bite (having also spent time on discord explaining)
https://forum.sector3studios.com/index.php?threads/connection-issues-error-13.16644/#post-219683

So a little sarcastic and pointing out what you had and hadnt done ....

You came back , calling us amateurs ,

After this you come back again with no info , but complaints ,

Ok i can understand the frustration , but please stop being this way , your issues were happening from an isp that was having dns issues so dropping certain connection .. this we proved by getting ppl to run through a vpn , ie another route , if the vpn could get to our servers , and your isp couldnt , then the problem was with your isp

Take this as you want , but it would be easier to help you , without us getting frustrated or slightly sarcastic if you could get down of your pedastal , put your ego behind you and stop being an arse....

Hate me if you want but please stop being this way

Andi

 

Whoa, whoa whoa, this is no attack on @Andi Goodwin by any means, my point is, to referee RR servers is an impossible task and not a slight at any of the Dev's or the good people that put their own time into helping others, Andi especially, so go sling yer hook if that's what you believe, I most certainly don't. Apologies Andi but I did say assholes are assholes!

 

Thanks , if youve been here long enough you know who i am , and as with all the mods , testers we are passionate about racing , playing and helping , the devs aswell ,
Yes i have a quirky style and i dont lie , you have a problem , i will ask for the max of info , if you give it ill pass it on to testers and devs alike to see who is closest to your physical setup and geographicaly your location ....

Andi

 

Just curious. Do replays have data of other drivers' inputs? I know steering wheel angle should be there in one form or another, we can see drivers turning their wheels. What about throttle and brakes?

 

Some racing incidents are ambiguous. Others.....not so much.

 

Perhaps the moderators are getting a bit grumpy because of people constantly moaning about other drivers, demanding something be done, but then offering no viable ideas as to what would resolve the issue. And the key word there is viable.

24/7 stewarding of rookie servers is not viable. Vote-banning people is not viable. Excluding certain groups from the lowest tier of ranked racing isn't viable. Allowing people to post a name here and having them immediately banned from all online racing isn't viable. Having a big REPORT button which automatically creates a perfect replay of an incident and sends it to R3Es stewards with no effort required from the player is not viable.

Racing on public servers, ranked or not, is no different than online gaming in any other genre. Your experience can and does depend on the people you are racing with, and what the developer can do to influence that is extremely limited. So, just like in any other game, it's up to the end user to tailor their own experience to suit them. If you can't deal with a few idiots on public servers, go find yourself a community to join instead. And don't say there aren't any, because there are plenty that cater to all sorts from rookies to elitists, and even some that are specifically aimed at "older" drivers. If you can't find one then you aren't even looking. (Which wouldn't surprise me, since people can't be bothered to do anything for themselves these days.)

And if you insist on sticking with the public servers then use the straightforward method described above to report the people you believe are ruining the experience. Yes, it takes a few minutes to create a video, but so what? If a tiny amount of your time helps improve the overall racing experience for yourself and others, why is it such a huge and unreasonable sacrifice? If people can't even be bothered to do their small bit to help the situation, then I don't think they have any right to whine about it. But that's the problem isn't it? Everyone thinks it's someone else's job to sort out their problems for them these days.