How could PD combat the meta?

[MIE1992]

I had a few ideas:

-Make the cars in a given class follow a general power/weight ratio. This doesn't mean they'd all have identical power and weight - just the ratio. In Gr.1, the car with the best power/weight has almost double as much as the worst car. But then again, there are ERS systems that provide boost, too, as well as downforce coming into play. I'd like to note that the Megane Gr.4 is far too light at the moment, but I would also only slightly increase the weight so that it can stay competitively viable, rather than either being entirely OP or being useless.

-BoP could make not only the power/weight ratios more uniform, but also the downforce and final gear ratios. I could see this being good for the Group C cars in Gr.1. Alternatively, instead of making these factors be added to BoP's affected settings, this could be done with customized settings from PD, as we've seen with some provided cars.

-Instead of the above, there could be a way to either encourage or force players to use different cars. As an example of the latter, maybe for events that ostensibly include an entire group (both in daily races and the Nations Cup), only some cars could be available, like those Gr.4 daily races where only the FF cars were available. Races that permit all cars from a group would be rare, outside the Manufacturers Series. I'm pretty sure this happens in real life, too, as I recall there being a one-make series for the Audi R8 LMS. (And I think some of the Gr.4 cars are from one-make series, too.)

As a side note, I had a question on the manufacturers series races at the World Tour events: were the Hyundai cars really that bad, or was it the drivers? I don't really know, because both must've been good enough insofar that Hyundai got into the World Tour events and not the other manufacturers, which didn't make it. Maybe the drivers just didn't bring their A-game?

I just think the Manufacturer Series is doing something right in having a diverse field of cars per race. I know that it's not as bad as having a select few cars be great at every track, but it still feels disappointing in a way when I see at least a third of the field using the same car on a given course, and over half the eligible cars in a group will be absent from the field.

At any rate, I hope PD has the tools to access various usage stats, and potentially buff/nerfs cars accordingly, in addition to the tests they run with both AI and human drivers.

 

[pedrocor]

Or, instead, just use a system like the Performance Points in GT6, with all it's flaws, was much better than the Nxxx system.

The Gr. 1 cars can't be based on a P/W ratio, as the cars are so much different between them in downforce and dynamic capacities, and also there are the cars with ERS, that have two different power levels.

The BoP is a constant talking point in real world racing, even with independent professional racing drivers testing every car in the same conditions, in the same day, in the same track, why would be different in virtual racing? Manufacturers are always babbling about how FIA or SRO got the BoP completely wrong.

Group C cars shouldn't be placed in group 1, performance wise. It would be more appropriate to put them in Gr. 2, along Super GT/GT 500 cars. They didn't have the downforce levels of a modern LMP1 and their power output figures were only possible on a banzai lap in qualifying.

Or, like you suggested, there shouldn't be "Gr. 1 races", more like selected Gr. 1 races, for LMP cars or Gr C cars.

 

[MIE1992]

The Gr. 1 cars can't be based on a P/W ratio, as the cars are so much different between them in downforce and dynamic capacities, and also there are the cars with ERS, that have two different power levels.

...

Group C cars shouldn't be placed in group 1, performance wise. It would be more appropriate to put them in Gr. 2, along Super GT/GT 500 cars. They didn't have the downforce levels of a modern LMP1 and their power output figures were only possible on a banzai lap in qualifying.

Why not have BoP also account for final gear ratio and downforce? That way, the cars in Gr.1 could have relatively uniform power/weight, downforce, and final gear ratio. I think there'd be less discrepancy in how Group C cars fare in Gr.1 if they had their downforce increased. But even without that, there's the factor that they do much better in straights than the other cars. In fact, according to the BoP table, it seems like the Group C cars have notably more power than the others, so I could see that helping in compensating for their lack of downforce.

I also found this link pretty handy, in that it seems like BoP changes have different effects per car. So even if two cars have identical amounts of weight being added, one may be more affected than the other.

But ultimately, I think mixing Group C cars with modern LMPs is a potential example of what makes GT appealing to both players and spectators. This mixing also doesn't seem to go against the statement that Gr.1 is meant for sports prototypes. I'm worried that adhering too much to realism in car groups would make things a bit sterile. Instead, I think that PD should do their best with BoP - and consider usage stats if they aren't already. I can also understand why they may want to try to maintain driving characteristics of the cars rather than having BoP affect settings like downforce and final gear ratio.

The only other idea I had was to have BoP on, while also permitting some tuning - but only two settings in particular: the final gear ratio and the downforce. Nothing else. Except I think having tuning be open in any capacity may drive away players... But then again, this is a competitive mode, and I think if one can know the difference between light/medium/heavy characters in Mario Kart, they could know how to tinker with these two specific settings while all the others would be locked. Ideally, either in GTS or its successor, there'd be a casual matchmaking mode for those who aren't as competitively-inclined, but don't have time to wait for something to start in a lobby - something a lot like Quick Match from GT6.

And as for the N-series, I'm not really trying to discuss that, as I had my own, separate thoughts on that.

EDIT: And for events where this hypothetical downforce & final gear ratio tuning would not be allowed, there could continue to be limitations on what cars one can enter within a group. So for example, instead of moving the Group C cars out of Gr.1, there could be events where only the Group C cars are eligible, and/or other events where only the LMPs/VGTs are eligible.