Alt Account - how, and why?

[MidnightRun85]

I've seen quite a bit of chat in the forums about "alt accounts" and it got me wondering: why do people have an alternate account, and how do you go about making one? And, for those who have an alt account, is it worth it??

I find it hard enough to get the time to build DR and SR on one account, let alone two, and I can't work out how you get a second account without getting a second PSN account, which just means spending double what I currently spend on PSN charges...

What's the deal?

 

[Famine]

I've seen quite a bit of chat in the forums about "alt accounts" and it got me wondering: why do people have an alternate account, and how do you go about making one? And, for those who have an alt account, is it worth it??

I find it hard enough to get the time to build DR and SR on one account, let alone two, and I can't work out how you get a second account without getting a second PSN account, which just means spending double what I currently spend on PSN charges...

What's the deal?

The how is easy. All you need is a different email address. If you want it to be in a different country or region, simply look up the address and postcode/zipcode of a major landmark or sports stadium and set that as the postal address.

You won't need to pay anything either. You only need one PS Plus account on a console (and that console activated as that account's Primary device) in order to allow all of the other accounts on that console access to online multiplayer.

 

[GOTMAXPOWER]

I've seen quite a bit of chat in the forums about "alt accounts" and it got me wondering: why do people have an alternate account, and how do you go about making one? And, for those who have an alt account, is it worth it??

I find it hard enough to get the time to build DR and SR on one account, let alone two, and I can't work out how you get a second account without getting a second PSN account, which just means spending double what I currently spend on PSN charges...

What's the deal?

There is no extra spending as long as your main account has ps+, I think you can have up to 7 on a console (somebody will correct me).

Most people have alts so they can race without worrying about their precious ratings, others make them to race against people in other regions. Some do exist as troll accounts for ramming but they're rare.

 

[roamingbard13]

without worrying about their precious ratings

In all seriousness though, if you don't care about FIA, just have fun on your one account, imo. My alt account allows me to enjoy the daily races more because I'm less uptight about what happens during the race.

I don't try to keep the daily account at a minimum point level for SR or DR or anything either. It fluctuates quite a bit.

 

[barak181]

I made an alt account after my main account got it's SR nuked one evening over the course of a few races. The SR repair process was long and not fun, so I made the alt to have an account where I don't care about the SR.

Then my alt got a one week suspension when I said something in post race chat along the lines of "this game has made me racist against Brazil." Apparently, it's ok to insult a person's intelligence, family history and general worth as a human being but bringing their country of origin into it is a step too far. So I made a second alt account for that week. Now, I have more accounts than I know what to do with.

But basically, I have the alts for when a race looks fun but I know that the level of carnage is likely to be high. Like most Daily Race A and B's.

 

[GOTMAXPOWER]

In all seriousness though, if you don't care about FIA, just have fun on your one account, imo. My alt account allows me to enjoy the daily races more because I'm less uptight about what happens during the race.

I don't try to keep the daily account at a minimum point level for SR or DR or anything either. It fluctuates quite a bit.

I don't really see why most people care for the FIA races, if you lose DR it puts you in a lobby where you're more likely to finish at the front and score more points (e.g. last in a A+ race is worth about 70 points but you can finish 10th in A lobby with the same race time for almost 200). I'm a simple person, race every race for the best result I can, have some fun with it along the way and use the alt account just to play with different people.

 

[roamingbard13]

I don't really see why most people care for the FIA races, if you lose DR it puts you in a lobby where you're more likely to finish at the front and score more points (e.g. last in a A+ race is worth about 70 points but you can finish 10th in A lobby with the same race time for almost 200). I'm a simple person, race every race for the best result I can, have some fun with it along the way and use the alt account just to play with different people.

I think you have access to higher-quality racing in the dailies than we have over here most of the time. Since FIA has finished, the dailies here have had a real "top split", and the racing has been fast and fun. Not so much the case when FIA is running (B-level drivers routinely round out the top split race), and if you want that ultra-competitive race, that is where you have to go.

It's also fun to set goals for yourself. I'll never be close to the WT or anything, but one of the reasons why I like GTS is because it gives you a bunch of different ways to compare yourself against a crowd. DR and FIA are just a couple of those ways.

To your other point you frequently bring up about DR being combo specific, that's completely true. I use the alt in combos that are fun but I suck at, and it does skew my DR higher on the main account. The difference isn't that big though. I'd still be a high A driver if I qualified all the time on the alt. Even running from the back, my alt is only in the Bs because I go through a reset every few weeks lol.


EDIT:

I often joke that the fastest lobby I race in every week is DRWF -- for the first time in awhile, the last couple weeks that has not been true.

 

[sturk0167]

I find it hard enough to get the time to build DR and SR on one account, let alone two

On the alt account, you don't worry much about the ratings, if at all.
You just race to have fun.

 

[GOTMAXPOWER]

I often joke that the fastest lobby I race in every week is DRWF -- for the first time in awhile, the last couple weeks that has not been true.

Mistah and Lester have been in DRWF the last couple of weeks!

 

[roamingbard13]

Mistah and Lester have been in DRWF the last couple of weeks!

They've been in my daily races too

 

[Timm Sheehan]

Personally I have an alternate account because my main account is based out of North America and living in Central Europe means that FIA races started very late locally. Since I wanted to participate in FIA races I needed a local account to have the start times which are more reasonable.

Saturday races CET:

Saturday races (NA):

Wednesday races (CET):

Wednesday races (NA):

 

[Groundfish]

I run alt for fun, and so I can keep my main for FIA if I enter those.

 

[Redneckchef]

I have an alt for the combo of reasons. I started it to race with friends from Here in another region, but to be able to do it in the dailies. It has also let me alternate how I run races and do things like Monza, where SR carnage is almost 100 pct guaranteed, or it also lets me do races from the back without punishing my main if I want to continue FIA. Honestly that had been helping my racecraft more than I expected.

It isnt for everyone, but could be worth it depending on why you want the alt. In all seriousness, trying to avoid contact while racing from the back in an SR B lobby takes a massive amount of skill and is a fun challenge when you aren't concerned about the damage to your rating if one of the drivers in the lobby is one of "those" drivers out to hurt everyone.

 

[Trone_Colby]

Like others, I have an alt to have fun and less stress of my DR going downhill. My main is strictly FIA unless there is a sure bet with dailies (ie Dragon Trail Seaside).

In dailies, your DR drops big because of the different spread of the DR players. In the American region, you can get a room full of A+ to D. That’s a huge spread.

 

[MidnightRun85]

I think I get it now. The dailies can be pretty punishing, but I've been trying to work on them to get better results and pull my SR and DR up, and it seems to be working alright at the moment. Only on 13k DR, so not like I'm risking losing out in the big leagues, but only really started working on my DR in the last few weeks. I think I'll stick to one account for now, but thanks for the info guys, much appreciated!

 

[Redneckchef]

I think I get it now. The dailies can be pretty punishing, but I've been trying to work on them to get better results and pull my SR and DR up, and it seems to be working alright at the moment. Only on 13k DR, so not like I'm risking losing out in the big leagues, but only really started working on my DR in the last few weeks. I think I'll stick to one account for now, but thanks for the info guys, much appreciated!

You have to make your own choices in how to go about it as well. It took me a long time to get into the idea, as well as feeling that it was worth it. Even sometimes it is worth just the change of lobbies. But do what works for you, as long as you are having fun (without ruining others fun) keep enjoying what you're doing.

 

[MidnightRun85]

You have to make your own choices in how to go about it as well. It took me a long time to get into the idea, as well as feeling that it was worth it. Even sometimes it is worth just the change of lobbies. But do what works for you, as long as you are having fun (without ruining others fun) keep enjoying what you're doing.

That's what I'm thinking - I don't see the point in making an alternate account at the moment, I just pick daily races carefully and try avoid the punt fests. Would be interesting to start all over again in the game though...

 

[Baka_Marimo]

Then my alt got a one week suspension when I said something in post race chat along the lines of "this game has made me racist against Brazil."

May I ask when this happened? As far as I'm aware the general notion is that PD doesn't really care about the ingame player report function. If it was in the early days of GT Sport it would make a little more sense though.

 

[barak181]

May I ask when this happened? As far as I'm aware the general notion is that PD doesn't really care about the ingame player report function. If it was in the early days of GT Sport it would make a little more sense though.

It wasn't more than 5-6 months ago, I think. And the suspension wasn't from PD, it was from PSN.

 

[Norrin Radd]

I have 2 alts, USA and Australia. I use them just for FIA really, it's good to see what others use and how they play the game. I do a few games with them if the servers here are bad (numbers) and just to get them to B/S if they drop in a FIA event. Technically I shouldn't be entering FIA events on multiple accounts, but I'm not a contender so it doesn't really matter.

 

[Junkman55]

Two accounts is not racing in competition it’s cheating.
When we start a race in the daily’s the line up tells us our competition. If you see my name it’s the same name and PlayStation account I used with DriveClub 7yrs ago when I purchased my PS4 . This is the beginning of my madness into Simulator racing and you are racing with me it’s Not a fake me.
Having more then one account how do I know my competition ? Is it the driver , driving for fun or is it the driver giving his best . Anybody who is driving for fun should go to a carnival for the bumper car ride. Online racing is not the carnival ride.
Now don’t tell me that online racing is a game if it was just a game why are people spending thousands of dollars just to be good at it.

 

[TonyTufast]

I have one alt, my friend comes around time to time and it's fun to play on the rig together.

Its not fun for him to play in races he can't compete in, and it's fun to track our "combined" score.

 

[Winnie847]

Two accounts is not racing in competition it’s cheating.
When we start a race in the daily’s the line up tells us our competition. If you see my name it’s the same name and PlayStation account I used with DriveClub 7yrs ago when I purchased my PS4 . This is the beginning of my madness into Simulator racing and you are racing with me it’s Not a fake me.
Having more then one account how do I know my competition ? Is it the driver , driving for fun or is it the driver giving his best . Anybody who is driving for fun should go to a carnival for the bumper car ride. Online racing is not the carnival ride.
Now don’t tell me that online racing is a game if it was just a game why are people spending thousands of dollars just to be good at it.

cheating? not really. Once you're in the race, all of the same rules apply to everyone. Cheating isn't really possible.

if you see someone's name, that is who you are racing against. The DR and SR levels fluctuate all the time, regardless of main account or alt account. Any lobby could have people with a D-rating who are actually A+ drivers, because of DR resets and other factors. If you see either of my names, you're still racing against me....not fake me. There is no such thing as fake me.

Why does it matter who you're driving against? Most people still give their best even when using an alt account. They just don't want to risk SR or DR, usually because they enjoy participating in the more accurately ranked FIA races.

Anyone who is driving for fun, is probably in the right place since this is an actual video game that people play for fun. Just because some people spend money on it, that doesn't make it any less of a game. Pretty silly comparison.

 

[Junkman55]

Driving under two names to protect a driver rating sounds innocent but it’s not . Remember your practice fun race is not the fun race for the drivers receiving your fun !
Practice is over at the start of all daily racing. As being fair under the rules the Driver with one account will receive all of his penalties to judge his rating and the drivers with two or more accounts can pick the way he wants to drive to protect his driver rating.

 

[Jwptexas]

My only issue with running my alt account on the daily race scene is that i have to play down to my competition especially when starting in the back. Drivers with no awareness and incredibly early braking zones don't want none of that rubbing off on my race craft much rather be on my main account and start up front with similar drivers and race bumper to bumper with few good drivers.

 

[GOTMAXPOWER]

If you see my name it’s the same name and PlayStation account I used with DriveClub 7yrs ago when I purchased my PS4 . This is the beginning of my madness into Simulator racing and you are racing with me it’s Not a fake me.

We don't see anybodies name when we enter a race, we see their online persona. BackDoorGalore could be absolutely anybody, especially now you can change PSN ID as much as you like for a few quid.

Having more then one account how do I know my competition ? Is it the driver , driving for fun or is it the driver giving his best . Anybody who is driving for fun should go to a carnival for the bumper car ride. Online racing is not the carnival ride.

The DR / SR system should filter the lobbies so you're racing against people at a similar skill level and mindset as you to clean racing.

Now don’t tell me that online racing is a game if it was just a game why are people spending thousands of dollars just to be good at it.

I agree that buying a steering wheel makes people faster but there are still plenty of players on £30 controllers who take the game seriously.

Remember your fun race is not the fun race for the drivers receiving your fun !

Some people use their main/only account for what you would call fun races, I've seen with my own eyes these people stopping at the finish line to do donuts, entering top split races in joke cars like the Sambabus, using the handbrake in the middle of the race to initiate huge drifts. Should these irresponsible players be allowed into the daily races too if they're not taking things seriously?

 

[Norrin Radd]

Driving under two names to protect a driver rating sounds innocent but it’s not . Remember your practice fun race is not the fun race for the drivers receiving your fun !
Practice is over at the start of all daily racing. As being fair under the rules the Driver with one account will receive all of his penalties to judge his rating and the drivers with two or more accounts can pick the way he wants to drive to protect his driver rating.

Think your getting fun and being a 🤬 confused. Just because I'm using an alt doesn't mean I'm going to start by taking everybody out on the first corner, it just means that if someone takes me out on the first corner and gives me a huge penalty for the privilege I don't need to worry about my ratings especially if there is an FIA coming up. I'm a B/S driver and I want to compete in FIA at that level, not at D/E because the penalty system sucks and I get a few games with total scum. I hear up at A+ you can get games that are clean, well at B/S it's pot luck so why should my enjoyment suffer because of a bad system and 🤬 drivers?

 

[Junkman55]

Wow are the drivers with multiple accounts better then the driver with one account proud of their accomplishments .

 

[Timm Sheehan]

Wow are the drivers with multiple accounts better then the driver with one account proud of their accomplishments .

I can say I am, both accounts are about equal (D/S) and I feel the second account serves an important purpose. Feel free to check out my data on Kudosprime and/or GTSport - I am not hiding anything from anyone.

PS4 ID: tmsheehan ; kudosprime USA profile: 11321828; gtsport: https://gtsport.r1s3.net/user/11321828
Alt PS4 ID: Bampa_IRE_Racer ; kudosprime EMEA profile:12952480; gtsport: https://gtsport.r1s3.net/user/12952480

Enjoy your racing!

 

[Redneckchef]

Wow are the drivers with multiple accounts better then the driver with one account proud of their accomplishments .

It seems like you think anyone with an alt doesnt take the game seriously. I am sure there are people like that, but most of us are using it for plenty of racing, and working to continue to improve and get faster. A lot of the people here have their alts in 2 different regions. Thus increasing the variety of competition.

My accounts normally have very little difference between them, even the name is nearly identical. The big drop in my alt is due to me losing my groove and having a few races where I just kept catching the sausage curbs at Laguna last week.

I dont think it is cheating to want to race in another region as long as your internet connection isnt causing lag issues. In fact the best and closest races I have had in over a month were both on my alt. Lots of side by side hard and fast racing.

You might feel it isnt nice or proper but we are having fun trying varied ways and cars in races with lots of different people.