To be honest with you Eats, 'active participation' as you put it, or bums in driving seats, as I would call it, will happen quite naturally.
If, and only if, the steward of the series relaxes, himself, and let's the guys know that if they are ill, on holiday, locked-up, or having to tend to real-life situations and have to miss a race or two. They are not going to a) let thier team-mate down (because the temp driver can be used), b) get penalised by the race steward, and c) will not get perminantly banned from ever participating again.
A lot of the guys that could have raced this season didn't because of the draconian rules that you set out! This is, after all is said and done, a game!
A part-time relaxation, a pass-time, a hobby!
We don't do it because we make any money at it, we do it because we enjoy it. And having to commit to every single race in the series, without exception, is something that some of the good, normally reliable people on GTP just cannot do without some reservations.
Also, IMO, only allowing one driver per car in the GT500's discouraged at least two of the best drivers on the (GT)planet from taking part. The presence of just those two drivers would have brought others into the fold and kept the interest levels up.
The teams being made up by yourself, is also a mistake IMO.
If two guys that know and trust each other, and are real mates, want to be team-mates then they should be! Neither will ever want to let the other down, and the long term commitment is already there, pre-packaged and ready to use!
As far as "the so called 'respect'"( that comment rankles me a quite a bit! ) you expect to come from both sides.........
It will come, but only if you respect us and keep to your word AND keep to your side of the bargain.
You demand that we submit our times at, or before, a deadline. Then take 1-5 days to post the results!
Usually it was after the races that your response time was at it's worst, and that is when we NEED to know the results so we can set our P/W to the correct figure to qualify.
We committed to be in this series for the long haul, and visa versa, so did you!
I would suggest, that a PM only system be used for the upcoming season, times etc only sent to 'you' and the back-up!
Replays should be posted in the appropriate thread after the deadline, as we can all then check each-other's replays and take the strain off you and the PAL replay checker you use!
The results can then be processed very quickly, by either the steward or the backup!
Checking of replays can be done over the next 24 hrs by all of us, and everyone is happy!
Any replays that turn out to be dirty, or otherwise unsatisfactory can be DQ'd & maybe have a 10 second penalty added to thier racetime, as if they hadn't qualified.
Also this method will allow those interested to learn from the faster guys, and again improve the general quality of the driving in the JGTC.
Anyway!
Here is what I would consider to be a suitable race schedule, or at least a list of the races I would propose.
As the racetime should be between 30-45 mins I might consider setting the lap count's at least 2 races ahead of time. This would allow a driver going on holiday to race before-hand and get thier team-mate to PM the time in on schedule (that is if the temp driver isn't used for that race)
(W)=World circuit (O)=Original circuit (C)=you guessed it....City circuit
(W) Circuit De La Sarthe 1
(W) Tsukuba
(O) Grand Valley
(C) Cote D'azure
(W) Fuji 90's
(O) Deep Forest (reverse)
(C) Seattle (Reverse) - the same way as the licence test in the Ford GT
(W) Infineon Sportscar (Sears Point)
(O) Midfield Raceway
(C) Seoul Central
(W) Motegi Road Course
(O) Autumn Ring
(C) Tokyo R246
(W) Laguna Seca
(O) El Capitan
(C) Special Stage Route 5 (reverse)
(W) Suzuka
(O) Apricot Hill
(W) Nurburgring Nordschleife
Now, obviously, Eats has yet to decide whether to run S3 or not. I hope he doesn't take long to do so, for all our sakes.
Neil
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