Endurance with Online Friends - an idea!

[Jeanr]

I am one of those that just dont have the time to race Endurances. Maybe, I will be able to race the Grand Valley, but the others are away too long... So, I had an idea that could help to enjoy the Endurance races: to share a race with your friends, BUT, each one in his own house. Its simple: before the race you combine who will race. Only one will enter the car, but all of them must have the right level. You join them on the Lounge and enter the race. Race starts; one driving, others watching, just like online races. As B-Spec, when entering the pits you can change driver, or not (up to the driver). If you want to change driver, some of the others must accept it, so his name will be blinking, or something, on pit's drivers list. This can be combined with headset (or outside the game, by any other way; or before the race, whatever).

So, this way, you could race the Endurances in a proper daytime; would not spend 24hs in function of the game; the next driver could be someone that have just waked up, early in the morning, just as you finished your stint at 11:45pm after 4hours in Le Mans, or something; up to 6 drivers could finish the race; EXP and cash would be divided among drivers, proportionally (lets not make too easy...).

Of course, your PS3 would have to stay on during the whole race, just as it happens when you race by yourself. If someone quits, no problem, his name disapears of drivers list, and he loses all EXP and cash, just as it happens when you quit a race by yourself.

I am not a programmer, so I dont know how hard is to do something like this, but it can't be impossible! And, its a good idea!

So, what you say: would you share a race like this?

 

[zedextreme8177]

So on lap 57 of the Grand Valley race:

You have been disconnected from the server

I definitely wouldn't want that happening

The online needs some work before it can support an endurance race.

 

[pantherjag]

I get what ur saying ut it would never work................i mean imagine you did a 4 hour stint expecting someone to take over and they just didnt bother or didnt show up, you would be raging and basically have the choice to either carry on or quit and waste x amount off time.

 

[II-zOoLoGy-II]

Awesome idea, and for the critics... this is where a save function comes into play. And we already have host migration capabilities in online races. If you could simply send a file with race information to friends so that they can do their part in the race, then send it back to you... well there you go.

 

[xSNAKEx]

I already put this idea in the feedback section. No votes lol. That feedback is broken

 

[Jeanr]

I already put this idea in the feedback section. No votes lol. That feedback is broken

Well, judging by the opinions above, you can see people dont have too much faith on the PS3 conection (well, me neither), so no one would vote for something they dont trust... (actually, when I vote on the feedback section, I haven't saw your idea). So, in cases like internet conection broke or someone does not shows up, other driver would be able to assume the race. Is this case, a few seconds or laps would be missed, but not the entire race!

 

[ElSecundo]

From a programming standpoint, it's easy enough to do.

As you select your drivers, you generate a drop-down list from your friends. Select your friends who will join you in the race. When you drive your 'stint' and come back into the pits, the dropdown for the driver gives you the option to send the race info. You send it to the next driver, and it essentially acts as a 'gift', and waits until that person picks it up. This doesn't require a good connection -- and once the game session is created on your PS3, it runs locally on that PS3 with no need to access the network.

The game save gets passed with every pitstop

One thing that needs to be included is the ability to retrieve the race info, in case somebody doesn't log in for days, or their PS3 goes bad. Don't want that game info hanging there.

Much of the capability is already built. PD has a good framework for this kind of transfer already.

I've suggested this a couple of times, and I have the funny feeling that PD will do it without anyone suggesting it to them.

 

[Giygas]

Maybe Pd could host the endurance race with 16 other teams and whoevers team wins could either get a pass for completing another event, cash or a high level ticket.

 

[ApexVGear]

In a fantasy world where game developers give us exactly what we want and Kazunori would do anything to make GT "The Real Driving Simulator" (and stop going to car events, competing in the 24-hour Nurburgring Race, and stay at his office to finish GT5 and meet his deadlines)...

Watch a few endurance races and you'll know it's a test of man (or woman, Sabine Schmidt), teamwork, and machine. In GT5 (or 6), at the very least, they should allow you to select B-Spec drivers (like GT4) to be a part of your team. But Kaz would blow me away (I'd do the whole kneeling, and "we're not worthy" thing) if he'd make it the ultimate endurance racing experience for a "flesh-and-blood" team of you and your friends.

Worries about people not showing up or someone losing their connection--those could be addressed. Getting teammates to commit and taking their turn, even connection problems, are a part of the "experience." In "real life" someone can get kicked off the team, become seriously ill, or something else can happen right before the race. During the race, drivers can lose their wits, lunch (hot car, metal floor, wonderful smell), and sometimes minds.

Then there's the car--some cars don't even start the race because of mechanical failures, hours of run-time will take its' toll, and often a third or more the field may get DNFs because of failures, mechanic or driver error, or you get taken out by another driver.

This would be the ULTIMATE online team-racing experience, but it probably won't happen unless there's a demand for it, or Kaz gets obsessed with this idea, drawing from his experience at Nurburgring.

I like pushing to increase the challenge--eventually turning off all the assists and cranking up the AI level (Forza, F1 2010). Facing a 24-hour challenge with a team and all its' trials and tribulations--I'm for it!

Here's what GT5 will need...

--Mechanical Damage: Cars will need to take actual damage, and ideally, not only from crashes, but from wear and tear from lively (rough) tracks and hitting the rumble strips again and again. We could go crazy with too much detail like different systems in the car failing (cooling, brakes, suspension, etc.) but a general damage and failure system and repair requirements (time) will be fine. The harder you drive, the more likely you'll have a failure.

--Allowances for network problems: Maybe a selection that if someone is dropped, the race is paused, an AI driver takes over to return to the pit, or there's a time penalty as the car is "retrieved" to get someone else in the "seat." These could all be part of a "virtual" endurance race experience.

--Awards system: All drivers that participate receive credits and experience. Maybe enhance this with awards based on best times, or maybe "team" voting. Reward the skilled, experienced drivers, keep the less skilled drivers coming back to get better.

--Car Selection, and setups: Teammates can vote on the car they want to use, contribute to tuning the car, and then they can collaborate on the settings.

Overall, the focus should be on the joint "experience" of the team, and this could be taken to any level of detail. I'd love to get a few online friends to commit, "train" together, enter a race, take my turns in the seat, and then utterly enjoy sitting in the "paddock" watching the "live-feed" and viewing the section and lap times as my teammates make their runs--all while cheering them on. Hey, people spend lifetimes playing EverQuest and WoW. Why not take online racing simulators to the same level?

 

[Mygroth]

I'm in for that.

 

[ElSecundo]

Worries about people not showing up or someone losing their connection--those could be addressed. Getting teammates to commit and taking their turn, even connection problems, are a part of the "experience." In "real life" someone can get kicked off the team, become seriously ill, or something else can happen right before the race. During the race, drivers can lose their wits, lunch (hot car, metal floor, wonderful smell), and sometimes minds.

There's really no need to address connection problems, as the team drivers never have to be online and passing information back and forth at the same time. Once a driver finishes his run and goes to the pits (all done locally on the PS3), the file gets 'gifted' to somebody else on the team. They only retrieve it when they are able, and if they can't, the sender can retrieve it and send to a different team member.

There is one problem in this, though.

Weather is handled by a clock running in-game, unique to each PS3. I might be on Day 300, you might be on Day 450, and our weather in France may not match.

So, I'd expect that the weather conditions would have to be recorded at the originator's PS3, and used as a substitute for the weather conditions at each driver's PS3. This should not be difficult to do, and shouldn't have lasting implications. When the 2nd driver takes over, the current conditions will be forced to match the 1st driver's conditions. When the 2nd driver gets ready to pass it to the 3rd driver, the 2nd driver's weather must be recorded and then superimposed over driver 3's weather. And so on.

 

[Daniel_Elessar]

I know some people who had done some 60min races online with great outcomes>no lag or disconnections.