--- Important Online Gameplay Information --- Did you know?

[xchristox]

Before you vote, please read first!

When opening a lobby, you can set what the race quality should be. Most people think it's about their "own" racing quality and don't care to read the description any further. Usually people select Normal or High because it's recommended for them. People tend to think the lower the racing quality I set, the lower the quality of players that will join. This is actually a huge mistake that many many people make when going online.

The Race Quality you set when opening a lobby online, affects the actual gameplay and realism of the physics, not the quality of the racers that you would like to race with! The higher you set it, the more data will be send between the host and the players, making is possible to have a more realistic gameplay/physics online, almost like A-Spec. The description explains it when opening a lobby, but when asking around online nobody seemed to know about it. For that reason alone I would like to ask one of the moderators to make this a sticky, or announce it properly so many thousands will finally learn to understand what the Race Quality online actually stands for. 👍

There's a downside as well. Setting it too high on slower connections will result in laggy gameplay. Cars will warp all over the track and collisions will be inevitable. If you have a connection with at least 512k upload I think you should be fine when selecting the highest Racing Quality, but if you want to be sure try it out with some friends, and see if it laggs.

Not convinced about the huge differences? Just take any car to any track with any set of tires in your own lobby with Racing Quality set to lowest, race with a few people online and close the game. Now open another game with Racing Quality set to very high, race once more with a few people online in the same car, same track with the same settings. You'll then hopefully feel the huge difference like I did.

Before making a comment below, please take a moment to vote in the Poll so we get a better understanding of the amount of people that are aware of this and even more importantly; the people that weren't aware of this.

 

[CeeJay]

That's interesting. I never create rooms but I've always wondered what that "race quality" was. Thanks for the explanation! I didn't vote because I actually thought the graph was my connection speed so I'd always join races with a high race quality graph!

 

[Hotdoguk]

I thought it was about the quality of the connection between players

 

[SS_1182]

Hmm... I will test this.


Earlier today I figured out that if Grip Reduction is set to Low, you will have far less traction than if it is set to Real, which applies to EITHER dry or wet pavement.

 

[Parnelli Bone]

Wow, I didn't know this. Thought it had something to do with your connection, and that's it. There'a actually a lot I don't know about this game. I like the fact that after 2 months it's still surprising me.

 

[xchristox]

Poll has only a few voters but it's already pretty clear most people think it's about the quality of the players, not the actual gameplay. Lets see how it works out when more people vote.

 

[lampadione]

Just Thank you.

 

[xchristox]

Just Thank you.

You're very welcome. I just hope this topic makes more people understand what it actually does so we can see more realistic gameplay lobbies online. Right now it's pretty much impossible to find one. Out of every 100 games that pop up when refreshing the lobby list not even 1% is set to "Very High".

 

[kuyaglen]

wut? there's online play?

Anyways...perhaps it should be called "realism level" but I'm sure that the translations done at PD isn't as scrutinized as premium car models, so this is news to me.

Thanks op.

 

[xchristox]

wut? there's online play?

Anyways...perhaps it should be called "realism level" but I'm sure that the translations done at PD isn't as scrutinized as premium car models, so this is news to me.

Thanks op.

That would be great, but there will be loads of people with slow connections choosing for realism their connection can't back up, which will result in loads of laggy games. I think the best way to go here is to inform people for now.

 

[Negrumir]

If you have a connection with at least 512k upload I think you should be fine when selecting the highest Racing Quality, but if you want to be sure try it out with some friends, and see if it laggs.

Where'd you get that number from?

And...

Bits or bytes?

 

[xchristox]

Where'd you get that number from?

And...

Bits or bytes?

I limited my upload speed to test. The total test of this whole thing took me about 3 hours, I wasn't able to get a full lobby every time. Usually there were like 4-6 people in my lobby. It's also down to the number of players, the more players the more bandwidth you'll need.

I would recommend everyone to get a 120MB upload connection like I have, but most of you ain't as lucky and have to deal with a lot less. Don't just go with the numbers I state here, a little testing with your own connection won't hurt anyone.

 

[StogyBear]

THIS HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH PHYSICS.

As you said it's just the amount of detail sent between players. I dont care to see every degree of steering from my opponent. I'd rather have him be steady lag free than jump all over the place because of high quality.

 

[Negrumir]

I limited my upload speed to test. The total test of this whole thing took me about 3 hours, I wasn't able to get a full lobby every time. Usually there were like 4-6 people in my lobby. It's also down to the number of players, the more players the more bandwidth you'll need.

I would recommend everyone to get a 120MB upload connection like I have, but most of you ain't as lucky and have to deal with a lot less. Don't just go with the numbers I state here, a little testing with your own connection won't hurt anyone.

But once again, you said 512k. Is that kilobits or kilobytes? My upload is 724kbps, but that's like 90KB so... it makes a difference.

GT5 says my bandwidth is excellent though and I've not had much of a problem with lagg.

 

[Predwolf]

Well then, this explains almost everything!

 

[SavageEvil]

Hmm... I will test this.


Earlier today I figured out that if Grip Reduction is set to Low, you will have far less traction than if it is set to Real, which applies to EITHER dry or wet pavement.

Actually no, grip setting changes the loss of grip on the edges of the track and on wet courses. Set to real and you will lose grip as abruptly as you do in real life, set to low and you won't lose it as easily near the edges. You had it reversed.

Yea the high quality setting just sends more detailed information between players, therefore enabling a higher level of realism. Slow connections will lag and jump all over the place on this setting. This only applies to the room host though, his setting will automatically bump your setting higher to match and keep the playing field level. Anyone else thing tire smoke is detrimental, like a smoke screen when three cars lose it.

 

[xchristox]

THIS HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH PHYSICS.

As you said it's just the amount of detail sent between players. I dont care to see every degree of steering from my opponent. I'd rather have him be steady lag free than jump all over the place because of high quality.

It doesn't? Before you scream it out loud with capslock enabled, give it a try.

 

[xchristox]

But once again, you said 512k. Is that kilobits or kilobytes? My upload is 724kbps, but that's like 90KB so... it makes a difference.

GT5 says my bandwidth is excellent though and I've not had much of a problem with lagg.

my upload limiter does kB/s, So in your case I think it will lagg eventually when more players get in. But once again, it's all down to testing. Test to make sure!

 

[GFO_7]

It doesn't? Before you scream it out loud with capslock enabled, give it a try and you'll see.

He's right......THIS HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH PHYSICS

 

[t.o.]

THIS HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH PHYSICS.

As you said it's just the amount of detail sent between players. I dont care to see every degree of steering from my opponent. I'd rather have him be steady lag free than jump all over the place because of high quality.

It doesn't? Before you scream it out loud with capslock enabled, give it a try and you'll see.

I think I'm going to have to go with Stogy on this one. From what I've been seeing it only has to do with how much info is getting sent between the consoles and how "smooth" it will look online. I think you get the same physics racing but what you'll see from others might be a bit crude compared to what they are actually doing.

 

[xchristox]

He's right......THIS HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH PHYSICS

I think it does, but it needs further testing. Even if it doesn't affect the physics, it does affect the gameplay, which is really important to know as well. As you can see in the poll about 70% thinks it's about the quality of the players!

 

[dabest2500]

I knew this, but didn't know it affected the physics.
I thought it just affected the FPS allowed or something.

 

[xchristox]

I think I'm going to have to go with Stogy on this one. From what I've been seeing it only has to do with how much info is getting sent between the consoles and how "smooth" it will look online. I think you get the same physics racing but what you'll see from others might be a bit crude compared to what they are actually doing.

Yeah I'm aware of that. It's just that I am able to do faster lap times on the highest setting. It just feels way more grippy. So I don't think it's simply the information between cars and what their position is on the track, it has to be more than that.

The problem is that it is really hard to test, you need a bunch of people in your lobby and be able to do a few clean laps on both settings. It could also change when only 1 person in the lobby has a horrible connection. It took me about 3 hours to test, but I had different epople in my lobby every time. Next test will be done with a single group of people as soon as I can. :/ I would be happy to see some others try this and post their results.

Still, fact remains that almost 70% thinks it's only about the quality of the players, not the actual gameplay. Even if I'm horribly wrong, it would be great to see more people setting their lobby's up the right way - selecting the appropriate level of detail that their connection can handle.

 

[jjaisli]

Even if it doesn't affect the physics...

It does NOT affect the physics. And I think you may be misusing this word. Changing the physics would mean that cars suddenly have more grip or less grip or turn quicker or stop shorter, etc. None of this is true. All it does is change the amount of data and packet size so you will see more detailed or less detailed movements of the other cars around you. Provided their and your internet connection can handle it. And that means more than fast upload speeds. When facing opponents online, what's equally important is ping speed, and how quickly that packet data gets from you to another player. Bandwidth is just how much can go at one time. No matter what you do, no matter how great your connection is and no matter what you select as 'race quality' if you're racing somebody on the opposite side of the planet, you're going to suffer latency issues. Because we're limited by things, such as the speed of light. And 'those' physics don't change either.

You're doing a good service here by pointing out that setting the room's Race Quality has nothing to do with the level and ability of the driving but the amount of packet data sent between players. But I think your post and conclusions, at least the way you've written them, are entirely misleading and you should probably edit your OP to more accurately reflect the situation. Changing the Race Quality to the highest level, assuming you AND other players entering the lobby have sufficient upload speeds and acceptable ping speeds (say 75 ms or less) will result in a more natural looking experience where you'll be able to see more subtle movements of the cars, little twitches, suspension movement. But it does not change the nature of how the cars drive.

 

[OK8]

THIS HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH PHYSICS.

As you said it's just the amount of detail sent between players. I dont care to see every degree of steering from my opponent. I'd rather have him be steady lag free than jump all over the place because of high quality.

👍

This is exactly what race quality is about. It has nothing to do with how your car actually feels or acts it doesn't change the physics for you, it only determines how much data is being transferred between the players and the server. With lower quality you can't see all the skidmarks and the sounds are choppy, but it doesn't affect actual feel of your car.

 

[Obli]

Fixed room ownership (enabled or disabled) also affects the online experience. I seem to remember reading that fixed room ownership can be better if the host has a great connection but you're screwed if the host leaves.

Sorry to go slightly off topic - it would be nice to fully understand these configuration options.

 

[Anes]

I voted for "No, I thought it was the quality of the players, not the physics" but I always thought it was a connection measurement like latancy. Always knew it wasn't about skill level or whatever Takes away OP's claim credibility for adding it in the poll

Also, proof of OP's claims?

 

[MowTin]

Thanks OP. I thought it was the quality of the racing. I thought if there was a lot of crashing on that host the quality would be low.

 

[HisSuppleness]

Thanks OP. I thought it was the quality of the racing. I thought if there was a lot of crashing on that host the quality would be low.

Yeah thanks for asking a question that has no right answer. . .

 

[GFO_7]

Fixed room ownership (enabled or disabled) also affects the online experience. I seem to remember reading that fixed room ownership can be better if the host has a great connection but you're screwed if the host leaves.

Sorry to go slightly off topic - it would be nice to fully understand these configuration options.

The online manual explains it all well.....see section 9......