FIA Race Discussion [Archive]

[KONTRAone]

USA population is about 325 million and allows 10, so Germany getting 3 sounds about right.

I'm not trying to escalate the argument, just showing that comparing countries like this will never be truly fair. There are so many factors that this can be based on, like overall population, volume of GT Sport sales, number of Sport Mode users, etc. No matter how they choose to limit entries, we can always find instances that are unfair in some regard.

PD chose to do a Nations Championship and wanted to limit the entries per Nation, it's really that simple. It's been mentioned before, but I think they chose a format similar to the Olympics, where inclusion of Nations is a higher priority than ensuring only the very best get selected.

Manufacturers Championship has a different criteria that isn't limited to individual countries. PD probably set this up as a contrast to the Nations selection, so at least they are addressing the concern in this way.

I get that they're trying to increase diversity, but sadly that will affect the quality of racing in the finals by a good amount.
In fact I just looked over the regional tables in the Americas and as it stands now, the 30th entry would be in 80th place overall based on their rules. Heck, there's 16 qualified drivers from the US in the top 30 alone... That's already six top drivers sitting out from the finals.
And on the other side I know that UK entrants are dealing with the same. So can't we agree to adjust the numbers just a little bit?

 

[Whitey093]

Don't worry man. This isn't a one time deal, it will be an ongoing thing. I am sure there will be adjustments along the way and if gtacademy taught us anything its that a certain amount of people will qualify and then pass on the opportunity. By the end of gtacademy top 100 might have been enough with all the ineligible drivers and those who chose not to participate.

Let's just see how this plays out first is all I'm really saying.

 

[DriftMethod]

@adstomko
The pre-season was the best season imo, where it went right down to the last race, every race mattered and no one race decided the whole thing and even better the first 4 races didn't determine 10-13 of the qualifiers prematurely. I don't mind the 3 country limit as much because the best drivers are spread across more countries here, but I just want it to be a straight championship to pick those people not some weird half knockout half championship thing. If they want to get the best drivers from each nation and manufacturer they're not going to get it with this structure. This championship will eliminate a lot of the best drivers early on with luck.

Just a reminder, the only thing that counts in Season 2 is getting the Star Player achievement. Season 3 top 24 races are rounds 6, 8, and 10. Once the qualifications for those are announced, we'll have a better picture of how things will play out. Season 2 is really just practice, so nothing to worry about yet.

I get that they're trying to increase diversity, but sadly that will affect the quality of racing in the finals by a good amount.
In fact I just looked over the regional tables in the Americas and as it stands now, the 30th entry would be in 80th place overall based on their rules. Heck, there's 16 qualified drivers from the US in the top 30 alone... That's already six top drivers sitting out from the finals.
And on the other side I know that UK entrants are dealing with the same. So can't we agree to adjust the numbers just a little bit?

I'll agree to anything since it doesn't apply to me. I'm not really advocating for how the finalists are selected, just trying to see things from PD's side. I can definitely see some benefits from a marketing point of view. Catering to the 0.001% (or whatever the actual percentage is) of customers may not be in PD's best business interest.

 

[Matty28]

Just a reminder, the only thing that counts in Season 2 is getting the Star Player achievement. Season 3 top 24 races are rounds 6, 8, and 10. Once the qualifications for those are announced, we'll have a better picture of how things will play out. Season 2 is really just practice, so nothing to worry about yet.

Slightly better on the basis that (assuming it is best of 4 again) there is 1 opportunity to lag out before the first T24 but after R5 it's going to have the same effect.

 

[bloodyboyblue]

Slightly better on the basis that (assuming it is best of 4 again) there is 1 opportunity to lag out before the first T24 but after R5 it's going to have the same effect.

Season 3 is 5 of 10 IIRC, so you’ll still need to make every race to qualify for the round 6 T24

 

[Matty28]

Season 3 is 5 of 10 IIRC, so you’ll still need to make every race to qualify for the round 6 T24

Wow so it's even worse... It's like they have designed it to eliminate people on luck. Amazing they make you rely so much on the first 5 results combined when they know bsod and dcs are so common.

 

[mthomas_95]

World Tour event was a limit of 4 rather than 3 (before reserves) and in a field of 30, there were 13 countries represented (3 drivers represent countries that are ineligible now as well). Surely that's enough countries represented so why lower the limit even more?

Also after the first Top 24 race participation will fall off a cliff as it becomes impossible for drivers who missed out in the bigger countries to qualify for those spots. Competition structure was the only complaint at the World Tour, so it does seem like a PD weak point.

 

[Winnie847]

So, after round 2 of Season 2 of Nations, I find myself sitting at 24th in the U.S. and 52nd in the Americas Region. I know that's not saying much, since it's only round 2, but I'm pretty proud of myself so far. The part that sucks is that I'll only be able to compete in one more round this season, so I have almost no hope of staying in the top 200 before Season 3. I'll be traveling for the rest of them

Anyway, Season 3 and beyond, I'm coming for that S/S rating

 

[DriftMethod]

Season 3 details haven't been announced, so it's still possible that the Top 24 entrance criteria will be adjusted. A couple ideas:

• Top 24 are based off best 3 or 4 races, instead of 5.
• Driver can't enter both Round 6 and Round 8 Top 24.
• Only non-Top 24 points are used for calculating Top 24 entry.

Not saying these ideas are without their own faults, but just throwing out some ideas. I'd like to think PD has thoroughly considered the format for Season 3. The 3 Top 24 races are a small hint they have, but we'll see soon enough.

 

[SpecMiata-JSW]

Is anyone excited for the next round of Manufacturer's at Blue Moon? I'm not at all, I could care less for oval tracks. I've never raced there in Sport Mode and suspect it's going to be a hot mess; but who knows, maybe it's worth it to practice and give the race a shot since I'll miss Saturday's race from being out of town.

Just curious where everyone's head is at for Blue Moon?

 

[Winnie847]

Is anyone excited for the next round of Manufacturer's at Blue Moon? I'm not at all, I could care less for oval tracks. I've never raced there in Sport Mode and suspect it's going to be a hot mess; but who knows, maybe it's worth it to practice and give the race a shot since I'll miss Saturday's race from being out of town.

Just curious where everyone's head is at for Blue Moon?

I'm not looking forward to it, but will probably give it a shot. Never raced there except once in a casual lobby. Easy to get a good qualy but hard to actually race and overtake I imagine. Mostly I'll just be waiting for people in front of me to crash.

 

[SpecMiata-JSW]

Haha, yeah my thought too, I'm not sure how competitive the Porsche will be there due to outright straight-line speed, so my strategy is the same as yours. I had the same thought at Bathurst, I knew I could do good if I didn't wreck, so I practiced a decent amount, but the track still bit me and I had some errors.

If I do decide to give it a shot, hopefully it won't be too bad of a mess. I think a practice lobby race or two will be necessary just to learn how to race there.

Cheers!

 

[bloodyboyblue]

Is anyone excited for the next round of Manufacturer's at Blue Moon? I'm not at all, I could care less for oval tracks. I've never raced there in Sport Mode and suspect it's going to be a hot mess; but who knows, maybe it's worth it to practice and give the race a shot since I'll miss Saturday's race from being out of town.

Just curious where everyone's head is at for Blue Moon?

Really excited for it, but I’m an oval fan. The track is super wide and encourages passing, really the only place carnage happens is the first turn in the first few laps when people dive bomb after they get drafts down the straight, you just have to expect that and you should be able to avoid it.

Racing there is much more difficult and frustrating now though since the contact penalties, since you can’t bump draft anymore. You used to be able to create 2-car drafting tandems and lock bumpers for 80% of the track and create a gap on the people behind, but since you get penalties for that now you constantly have to defend from people drafting up to you unless you get away early. If you’re in a car that’s slow in a straight line you’re going to get dive bombed a lot. Of course the draft makes the fuel strategy more interesting though.

 

[OutlawQuadrnt]

Is anyone excited for the next round of Manufacturer's at Blue Moon? I'm not at all, I could care less for oval tracks. I've never raced there in Sport Mode and suspect it's going to be a hot mess; but who knows, maybe it's worth it to practice and give the race a shot since I'll miss Saturday's race from being out of town.

Just curious where everyone's head is at for Blue Moon?

Considering the Nations Cup race is at Monza, it's a high risk day. On the upside, it's a chance for weaker manufacturer to score great points. I'm hoping that my strong performances at BB translate to Blue Moon. Just need to get a handle on the slipstream and defending.

 

[Silver_Wolf]

Well I'm looking forward to the Blue Moon Bay oval race but not so enthusiastic for Monza.

The Blue Moon Bay track I expect my GT-R might be a little underpowered in the long drag runs but have good cornering ability to the faster paced cars, I already have the braking points practiced down the only thing I can't predict is if I get that friendly "nudge" from behind of a car trying to squeeze me into a spin.

However I was in the lower tiers for my first race at Monza back in June and have practiced a bit since then but perhaps this is a question I should save but my prediction based on previous Grp4 races at Monza is Bugatti Veyron one make should be my expectations for that track?

Monza my biggest aim is to survive Turn 1 carnage, if I can squeeze through that ahead then to quote Sergio from Road Rash "What is behind me I do not care about" as I know the rest of the track like the back of my hand now.

 

[Tidgney]

Also after the first Top 24 race participation will fall off a cliff as it becomes impossible for drivers who missed out in the bigger countries to qualify for those spots. Competition structure was the only complaint at the World Tour, so it does seem like a PD weak point.

Sure will, I can see a huge decline in competitors after that who are doing it only to enter the competition. Even before that with the potential of 1 dc or blue screen of death causing people to stop. I mean even on my manufacturers stream, it kicked me out of the lobby and I got back in with 15 seconds to spare and I've no idea why it kicked me out in the first place . The bigger problem for even more competitive countries is that you're so reliant on lady luck with lobbies that some will even stop after the first few... Definitely needs a rethink.

I mean in my mind if I was to suggest anything it would be;

- Pick a slot to race
- You're only confirmed as racing that slot once the grid walk commences (So while the video is playing there's no reason for a bit to change from a 0 to a 1 to confirm qualification completed or even during the grid walk. (Minimises blue screen impacts considerably, get one in warm up you can reenter another slot).
- As points aren't officially updated until 1am anyway, all total race times are stored in the background and no points are done on lobby strength. This means if a lower rated driver e.g. D does very well in their race split they have the potential to earn much more points. Also means A+ drivers who finish in the bottom half of the grid have their points decided by race time not necessarily the fact they finished 20th and get 0 (Even though they would have got e.g. 1,000 in a lower split lobby). You are therefore racing everyone not just your split. Also means you don't have to pick the most popular times. Where you finish in total race time order then decides points (I suppose the amount of points could be based on the amount that raced or some other factor e.g. 5,000 raced so 1st gets 5,000, 2nd 4,999 and so on. Points would be considerably closer and would promote clean racing as if you make a mistake and divebomb, or cause issues there's potential of you losing hundreds of points because you're not just racing people in your lobby.

- I honestly feel like top 24 races if they aren't being streamed shouldn't exist unless the prize comes from that race.

Is anyone excited for the next round of Manufacturer's at Blue Moon? I'm not at all, I could care less for oval tracks. I've never raced there in Sport Mode and suspect it's going to be a hot mess; but who knows, maybe it's worth it to practice and give the race a shot since I'll miss Saturday's race from being out of town.

Just curious where everyone's head is at for Blue Moon?

I'm only doing it to grab some points, just hoping it's not another DR sacrifice.

 

[SpecMiata-JSW]

Considering the Nations Cup race is at Monza, it's a high risk day. On the upside, it's a chance for weaker manufacturer to score great points. I'm hoping that my strong performances at BB translate to Blue Moon. Just need to get a handle on the slipstream and defending.

Sounds like we should create a lobby for some Blue Moon practice races. I'm not as fast as you guys, but I'm clean and we can all race together and learn from each others experiences in the practice races. I haven't run a lobby race in GT Sport yet because in GT6 it was filled with chatter and I prefer to race than to talk, I guess I'm an introvert, so Sport Mode has been perfect for me. LOL!

I should have run some practice races for Bathurst, because turning solo laps was much different than driving in race conditions with cars in front and behind. What time zone are you USA guys in, and would you be interested in a few practice races before Wednesday night?

 

[adstomko]

@adstomko
The pre-season was the best season imo, where it went right down to the last race, every race mattered and no one race decided the whole thing and even better the first 4 races didn't determine 10-13 of the qualifiers prematurely. I don't mind the 3 country limit as much because the best drivers are spread across more countries here, but I just want it to be a straight championship to pick those people not some weird half knockout half championship thing. If they want to get the best drivers from each nation and manufacturer they're not going to get it with this structure. This championship will eliminate a lot of the best drivers early on with luck.

They should've spent more time on trying different methods whilst test seasons were on. How many test seasons were there, about 24?! And they didn't really change the formula often. I'm still on the fence about the 3 per Nation in Europe because those who are in the top 10-20, even in the top 6, will just lose interest because they will feel frustrated by how the point system works. The difference between the top 3 and as far as 6th place could be down to luck with lobbies. As some have stated, there should be a national finals, for the UK and France in particular.
To me, the current format still feels like a test season. I don't understand why they couldn't have released a dummy format before the official seasons began, because they are much different to the previous formats. The pre-season appears to be almost the opposite of what we have now.

 

[DriftMethod]

- As points aren't officially updated until 1am anyway, all total race times are stored in the background and no points are done on lobby strength. This means if a lower rated driver e.g. D does very well in their race split they have the potential to earn much more points. Also means A+ drivers who finish in the bottom half of the grid have their points decided by race time not necessarily the fact they finished 20th and get 0 (Even though they would have got e.g. 1,000 in a lower split lobby). You are therefore racing everyone not just your split. Also means you don't have to pick the most popular times. Where you finish in total race time order then decides points (I suppose the amount of points could be based on the amount that raced or some other factor e.g. 5,000 raced so 1st gets 5,000, 2nd 4,999 and so on. Points would be considerably closer and would promote clean racing as if you make a mistake and divebomb, or cause issues there's potential of you losing hundreds of points because you're not just racing people in your lobby.

Trying to understand this. I think you are saying that the overall finish time is ranked across all time slots and rooms on 1 list and points handed out accordingly. If that is so, I think this is a terrible idea. I'll list just the potential issues that came to mind right away:

• When does timing start? Driver on pole would have a huge advantage if timing starts when counter gets to zero and therefore still have the issue with qualifying well on a lower room vs back of the grid in higher room. If started at a designated timing point, still affects drivers differently since braking for first corner (and the first lap in general) varies greatly depending on qualifying position.
• Battles for position cost time, so it ends up being a completely different strategy compared to racing for position as we do now.
• The best strategy would be to tank your SR before a race to get pole and run away from the pack which generally is much slower than the top SR rooms.
• This is more of a time trial format and not a "racing" format. If you're going that far, just have everyone pick a time slot to do 15 laps by themselves.

Apologies if I completely misunderstood what you meant, please clarify if I did.

 

[sundaydriving]

Well I'm looking forward to the Blue Moon Bay oval race but not so enthusiastic for Monza.

However I was in the lower tiers for my first race at Monza back in June and have practiced a bit since then but perhaps this is a question I should save but my prediction based on previous Grp4 races at Monza is Bugatti Veyron one make should be my expectations for that track?

Monza my biggest aim is to survive Turn 1 carnage, if I can squeeze through that ahead then to quote Sergio from Road Rash "What is behind me I do not care about" as I know the rest of the track like the back of my hand now.

I don't have time to do both Manu and Nations and I've already picked Nations.

I'm not overly keen on another Monza penalty festival but whatever. I think most players will find Gr4 easier to handle compared to the Red Bull so that might reduce some of the light touch penalty gifting. Fingers crossed. I'll be using the Veyron with the ghostbusters livery (found it) busting ghosts in turn 1 and anywhere else they appear on track.

This game really needs to add a horn to all cars.

As for Blue Moon:



Its not for me.

 

[vvise]

Here's a quick 1 min summary of my MFG race. Traffic, Penalty, WTF?, Game Over.

 

[MIE1992]

Go to the point rankings section of the FiA Championship you want to see, and then select the Season

Ah, I can see a bit more detailed information. Looks like for season 1, I was 13th out of 28 players registered in Connecticut. Not too bad! Here's hoping to get a better ranking in Season 2. Look like there's only 19 players registered so far, though - but maybe that could change as the season goes on.

The latter. However, the 3rd time slot will be reserved solely for the Top 24 Superstars race so you cannot enter that timeslot without DR S

Ah, I see. So it seems like for this season, I could enter four events, then hypothetically skip two events, and still use two other events to potentially further improve my counted scores if I didn't do so well on a previous event. Right?

The rankings are seasonal, and serve only to compare your points with your peers in each season, except when you're either in the Top 200 in your region or Top 10 in your country/manufacturer choice, in which case you'll get DR S

But what about the real-world events? Are the potential entrants for those events going to be drawn from the players with really high rankings just in the last season?

 

[OutlawQuadrnt]

Sounds like we should create a lobby for some Blue Moon practice races. I'm not as fast as you guys, but I'm clean and we can all race together and learn from each others experiences in the practice races. I haven't run a lobby race in GT Sport yet because in GT6 it was filled with chatter and I prefer to race than to talk, I guess I'm an introvert, so Sport Mode has been perfect for me. LOL!

I should have run some practice races for Bathurst, because turning solo laps was much different than driving in race conditions with cars in front and behind. What time zone are you USA guys in, and would you be interested in a few practice races before Wednesday night?

I usually set my rooms as friends only and I've had one or two drop by from time to time. I suppose I can open it up. I'm in the West Coast but I'm usually doing practice between 5-7pm.

Dirty air throws me off the first few laps. It's especially bad if a ton of aliens flood the room and I'm mired deep in the midpack.

 

[Tidgney]

Trying to understand this. I think you are saying that the overall finish time is ranked across all time slots and rooms on 1 list and points handed out accordingly. If that is so, I think this is a terrible idea. I'll list just the potential issues that came to mind right away:

• When does timing start? Driver on pole would have a huge advantage if timing starts when counter gets to zero and therefore still have the issue with qualifying well on a lower room vs back of the grid in higher room. If started at a designated timing point, still affects drivers differently since braking for first corner (and the first lap in general) varies greatly depending on qualifying position.
• Battles for position cost time, so it ends up being a completely different strategy compared to racing for position as we do now.
• The best strategy would be to tank your SR before a race to get pole and run away from the pack which generally is much slower than the top SR rooms.
• This is more of a time trial format and not a "racing" format. If you're going that far, just have everyone pick a time slot to do 15 laps by themselves.

Apologies if I completely misunderstood what you meant, please clarify if I did.

Ye you've got my idea right, so no need for apologies .

Things like timing can be sorted out for sure, but personally I prefer this over the current format. You literally could win every race (Top split) you do and not qualify for your country at the moment which in my mind is insane. What can that person actually do more?

That's true battles do but sometimes people battle for very silly reasons and over defend or go over aggressive, battles still cost time and positions now but people would actually make more sensible decisions in my mind... or at least like to hope? Do you really want to battle for that position or do you want to think longer term?

Tanking your SR doesn't guarantee you'll get max points though? Some people may do it but maybe there is a way to stop this happening? Can always change the way lobbies are done? Likewise you could say people would start smurfing but you'd hope that the rules of 1 account comes into play.

Technically it's a mixture of time trial and racing? Is the driver in front really slowing you up? Well overtake to improve your time? Bad qualifying? Again you're going to have to do some over taking to improve your points take.

Strengths and weaknesses with all formats, I just really don't agree with the current method e.g. You can win every race in the top split and still not qualify, likewise a lower rated driver can also not compete because of just their rating? Some racers are absolutely awesome at some tracks/combos and not others so I prefer a full equal format rather than lady luck deciding stuff. To be honest you can quite easily pick out some really negative points with the current system to .

 

[vvise]

What Fernando thinks of the FIA

 

[bduddy]

Ye you've got my idea right, so no need for apologies .

Things like timing can be sorted out for sure, but personally I prefer this over the current format. You literally could win every race (Top split) you do and not qualify for your country at the moment which in my mind is insane. What can that person actually do more?

That's true battles do but sometimes people battle for very silly reasons and over defend or go over aggressive, battles still cost time and positions now but people would actually make more sensible decisions in my mind... or at least like to hope? Do you really want to battle for that position or do you want to think longer term?

Tanking your SR doesn't guarantee you'll get max points though? Some people may do it but maybe there is a way to stop this happening? Can always change the way lobbies are done? Likewise you could say people would start smurfing but you'd hope that the rules of 1 account comes into play.

Technically it's a mixture of time trial and racing? Is the driver in front really slowing you up? Well overtake to improve your time? Bad qualifying? Again you're going to have to do some over taking to improve your points take.

Strengths and weaknesses with all formats, I just really don't agree with the current method e.g. You can win every race in the top split and still not qualify, likewise a lower rated driver can also not compete because of just their rating? Some racers are absolutely awesome at some tracks/combos and not others so I prefer a full equal format rather than lady luck deciding stuff. To be honest you can quite easily pick out some really negative points with the current system to .

The point of a race is to win, not to get the fastest time. Perhaps elapsed time could be used as a tiebreaker or something like that, but there are a ton of issues with this system. People slowing down and conserving when ahead, people using a different strategy to get ahead and defending... As a viewer alone I would be very dissatisfied with this system.

 

[Tidgney]

The point of a race is to win, not to get the fastest time. Perhaps elapsed time could be used as a tiebreaker or something like that, but there are a ton of issues with this system. People slowing down and conserving when ahead, people using a different strategy to get ahead and defending... As a viewer alone I would be very dissatisfied with this system.

O for sure the point of the race is to win (That's what you want to do with this system). I want to watch the very best compete (As I do when watching other racing series). Not sure why you'd slow down if you're ahead in this example though, as that was something it would stop. I'd love to hear alternative solutions to though as maybe someone else has something different and that's better or anything . I like seeing ideas

 

[bloodyboyblue]

O for sure the point of the race is to win (That's what you want to do with this system). I want to watch the very best compete (As I do when watching other racing series). Not sure why you'd slow down if you're ahead in this example though, as that was something it would stop. I'd love to hear alternative solutions to though as maybe someone else has something different and that's better or anything . I like seeing ideas

When you get a big lead, it makes sense to conserve fuel. Fuel and tire conservation are the main thing it doesn’t address since almost no one goes 100% for an entire race, or more than a few laps even. Also way too many variables, and will introduce even more conflict between players since you know how angry people get when someone holds them up during qualifying, it’ll just be that x10. The amount of ways to ruin other people’s races and seasons increases exponentially.

 

[DriftMethod]

O for sure the point of the race is to win (That's what you want to do with this system). I want to watch the very best compete (As I do when watching other racing series). Not sure why you'd slow down if you're ahead in this example though, as that was something it would stop. I'd love to hear alternative solutions to though as maybe someone else has something different and that's better or anything . I like seeing ideas

My very best idea is for everyone to enjoy the racing and participate.

The format is what it is, so everyone just needs to race their best and hope it all works out. I think the more people that participate (even if most of us don't have a chance,) the more likely PD will do another Championship and improve it from experience. Even if it doesn't involve another live event right away, they can make use of the "Live Reports" and send some swag to winners to keep people interested.

 

[Tidgney]

When you get a big lead, it makes sense to conserve fuel. Fuel and tire conservation are the main thing it doesn’t address since almost no one goes 100% for an entire race, or more than a few laps even. Also way too many variables, and will introduce even more conflict between players since you know how angry people get when someone holds them up during qualifying, it’ll just be that x10. The amount of ways to ruin other people’s races and seasons increases exponentially.

But I thought that's where my idea helps stop the whole fuel save and chill for half a race (I honestly feel that's all I do in races nowadays fuel save... I hate it )? As you're racing people you've no idea what the other times are so brings in other stuff to. As I say just an idea and I like hearing ideas . Not sure how it exponentially increases everything as qualifying is ruined in any scenario if someone purposefully wants to hold you up. The biggest weakness I saw in it and @DriftMethod mentioned it was the tanking SR to try get a lobby where you're unchallenged, which could be quite a big thing, similar to smurfing but actually staying in the current rules.

My very best idea is for everyone to enjoy the racing and participate.

The format is what it is, so everyone just needs to race their best and hope it all works out. I think the more people that participate (even if most of us don't have a chance,) the more likely PD will do another Championship and improve it from experience. Even if it doesn't involve another live event right away, they can make use of the "Live Reports" and send some swag to winners to keep people interested.

O ye I agree, heck if I wanted to go serious I wouldn't have picked Peugeot haha! But I also want to see the game thrive in terms of its competition, which is why I posted my idea and I like hearing other peoples. Whenever I get the chance to put feedback to GT I always do, and I do it as honest (I'm quite a logical person, maybe that's why I don't like luck so much haha!) as I can. I think a fair few of us in Germany did to be fair, in terms of what we liked/didn't liked an opinions on certain topics etc. Occasionally they visit this forum I've been told, so you never know who reads what!