Online Continues To Be A Frustrating Experience

  • Thread starter Thread starter jcmc
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"you have confidence they know what needs doing and will get there in the end."

I don't. I don't have confidence in PD at all when it comes to online; this is an area where PD have consistently underdelivered. We're in 2011, and the game has no matchmaking? I mean WTF? It doesn't make any sense.
 
This PD needs to fix about online:

Room titles need to be changeable. It's ridiculous that they aren't. I have been in multipel "clean" rooms where the host bashes and corner cuts, then explains he didn't make the room, he is just got host after someone left and he doesn't care about clean racing.

There needs to be "production cars only" and "race cars only" restrctions. This is a pretty popular segregation so I don't know why it's not available.

There needs to be an auto welcome message to rooms that lists current restrictions, as well as an editable welcome message that the host can create that says any restrictions they might have like "clean or kicked".

Make an option to have PP include tires or not. I see benefits in both options so why not allow the room to run either way.

Let us buy tuner part direct from online lobbies. Sometimes entire rooms are heald up while someone exits out and grabs a part and often times my car is one or two part away from being great for this race but I just don't have them yet so opt to go with a far worse option just becase it's timely and I don't want to blow tons of cash stocking every part for every car I own in case a race comes up where it would fit.

The race start countdown timer could use some tweaking. With all the things to tune and tweak to get your car right, if you see the timer start and you aren't already most of the way done tweakinng your car, you are misssing the race. If I am testing top speed and tranny settings, if I see the timer start, I usually don't have enough time to get out, change my final drive ratio and get back in before the race starts.

Don't show non hosts the "start race" flag in the pause menu. I constantly end up on the race configuration in stead of chat button due to that thing and how laggy the menu is to start working and then for some reason when you exit race configuration, it exits the pause menue entirely!

Come on PD... get with it! Making your whole garage available in online and adding PP were good steps in the right direction... but these other ideas are basically no brainers... lets get on with that!
 
Devedander is right, by golly. ;)

But online racing is such a mess, I'd rather race against the "horrible" bots than against the dreadful tards populating the networks. Poking around for a GTPlanet room or a familiar nick has yielded me nothing after numerous tries. Oh well, maybe some day when things get sorted properly, and the PSN can handle this crazy game.
 
Tenacious D
Devedander is right, by golly. ;)

But online racing is such a mess, I'd rather race against the "horrible" bots than against the dreadful tards populating the networks. Poking around for a GTPlanet room or a familiar nick has yielded me nothing after numerous tries. Oh well, maybe some day when things get sorted properly, and the PSN can handle this crazy game.
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Occasionally even the most long shots will align :D I think this is the second time in our history on GTP that we have agreed on some major thing!

And you are right about the problems with online... PSN dearly needs something like Live where you can rate players and thus reduce your chances of meeting them again online. This is much effective with matchmaking, the open lobby system could gain from this by (at best) putting a warning on rooms that have a racer you have disliked before.

Also am I the only one who finds very few rooms worth joining? When I restrict to race for real and disable SRF there are usually about 30 rooms total I get to choose from and of those 30 about 25 either have horrible ping bars or have their race quality set to less than 4 stars neither of which I want to join.

Even when I don't filter by SRF I tend to get no more than 50 rooms total to choose from... again remove bad ping rooms, NASCAR, drift, drag and Kartinng (unless I feel like it) and I get very few choices.

Am I doing something wrong or are there really that few rooms at any given time?
 
Dev, after you set the restrictions to the filter, make sure you keep pressing triangle to 'refresh' the list. It's really a badly named function, as it doesn't refresh the current list, it shows you a completely different one that still meets your filter settings. You will see what I mean if you 'refresh' numerous times, as eventually you will be back to the original list. So there are more than you think if you're not already aware of this.
 
the.true.samiam
Dev, after you set the restrictions to the filter, make sure you keep pressing triangle to 'refresh' the list. It's really a badly named function, as it doesn't refresh the current list, it shows you a completely different one that still meets your filter settings. You will see what I mean if you 'refresh' numerous times, as eventually you will be back to the original list. So there are more than you think if you're not already aware of this.
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Thanks for the tip but I already figured that out... Refresh is more like "next page" than real refresh. It seems like PD decided you wouldn't want to see more than 30 rooms at a time (which is even more odd because it's not always 30, sometimes I get 20 on page one, then 15 on page 2 and 3 on page 3 or something) for I have no idea what reason.

Oh and that brings up another thing, how about prioritizing rooms by ping? Why would I want to run through 30 rooms when 3 out of 4 have a ping bar with 1 or no stipes? Put the 8 rooms with good ping at the top as that's where I am going... joining a bad ping room is bad for me and bad for everyone in the room!
 
try to find rooms that have penalties on. If penalties are off, I always make a request of the host to turn them on. 95% of the time they agree. If they don't, I leave- there are many rooms to choose from.

That's all I do and been having amazing fun playing online.👍
 
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jcmc
<sigh>
How many more people on this thread or others need to tell you they mute their mic for a variety of good reasons. Why do you then assume it is a good way to get a message across?

And once again, why should I have to check my car is ok when it fits the PP of the room and is following on from a race where RM cars were fine. I have seen no room where all the players ask permission for a certain car to run, that is ridiculous. He has particular requirements that run contrary to the room criteria, fine, he makes sure that message gets across. At worst he let's people know if they transgress. He didn't, he was lazy and ignorant and it seems he is not alone there as this wilful sod them attitude seems what you are all about too unfortunately.

And your comments on RM cars always beating non RM cars are just nonsense. I was racing Monza last night and what the Ferraris and Lambos lose on downforce they gain back in acceleration and top speed. Wins were 50-50 over a number of races.
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And once again why should the room host have to cater to everyone. Does everyone have to do everything for you, do something for yourself! Not only that you said he straight out changed the track, pp and everything else so logic would dictate maybe there was a change in cars required. Ohh but sorry without the room host to hold your hand you have no clue.

You really just don't get it and haven't listened to a thing I or anyone else have said because youre too clouded with me me me me. Everything is about your experience in the game.

As for your RM cars argument, it can come down to the driver, but you have no explanation or context there. If someone good was in the room with a Zonda LM they would wipe the floor with any Ferrari or Lambo you could throw at it and it would fit into the same class as those cars. Equivalent RM cars are always faster, try it yourself, and don't compare random drivers in random cars. Do it on your own. I can put down faster lap times easily in my FTO Touring car with 100 less HP than my GTR Spec V fully tuned. My Falken GTR has slightly less hp than my Spec V as well and puts down better lap times too.
 
Online is a big pain in the arries for me, but not for these reasons. For me its a big pain because of the sheer amount of dirty driving... can someone tell me how to get on to the GTP server?
 
Hey! Guess who :grumpy:

I've been tipped off that my name is being besmirched on here so have decided to set the record straight. Yes we do chat during our races, thats why the voice-chat facility was provided. If you don't like it mute it, but read the text at least!

I ALWAYS tell the room both by mic AND text what the next race will be. A couple of our guys are multi-lingual and will also translate for us by mic or txt if we think someone doesn't understand due to a language barrier. I remember kicking you from the room and your msg afterwards and know that I told you personally by name in the txt chat screen many times to change your car (seeing as you were the only odd one out) and you still did not respond - which is why you were kicked.

We set up this room as a group who wanted fast clean races without the hassle of other rooms - ie. being kicked for winning a race, or backwards/dirty driving. If I do go into other rooms, I take responsibility and look at what other cars are on the grid. If the room is all production road cars, or JGTC500, I know a zsara rally car probs won't be welcome - it's not rocket science. As to class spec racing being done by BHP-weight/PP thats bunkum, as pointed out above. With the weight & power limiter u can make any car fit BHP-weight or PP making it nothing more than choice which way you go. I personally mix it up usually.

The fact of the matter is its not the hosts responsibility to babysit people who aren't listening to instructions. Being the only rally car in a room full of production road cars should be all the instructions you need. You're eating into everyone elses playing time by ignoring the rules. The restrictions are there for a reason - so that everyone gets a fair race. At the start of quali and before we start the race, all in the room are told what they need to do - if they don't conform I just don't have the patience to pander.

That said, we shouldn't be arguing with each other (or posting bitter forum threads :ouch: ). PD have made the room descriptions way too small for hosts to properly describe the room. Plus it can't be that hard to allow hosts to manually select class types before a race (JGTC300/500 or DTM etc) making this problem redundant.

Unfortunately as with the rest of the game its an unfinished article with plenty o' holes - this being one of them.

Ofc the answer is to make your own group of friends in there with whom you can start your own group, just like we did. That way perhaps you can leave my name out of your rants! :dopey:
 
jcmc
True, but sometimes when you have an hour or so online you don't want to have to set up a room and have to spend a decent chunk of the limited time you have waiting for it to populate.

Not sure if everyone is like me, when I scan the rooms I look at ones with at least half a dozen people in first and only then look to see if they are racing to criteria you are seeking. There are loads of 1/12, 1/16 rooms out there and I must admit I don't really pay them attention myself.
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Just further to your answer here - what do you think other hosts do, click the magic 'make a room' button? If you had spent all that time gathering together your friends and other players to make a room, wouldn't it be annoying if you couldn't even get a fair race then because some chump refuses to race in the right car!?!?! You might even be tempted to kick them!!!
 
Hosts should not be able to kick people, it should all be done by vote.
I get kicked unfairly like other people have mentioned. I also hate it when I get kicked for not using a GT500 car and then I look up the car myself and know for a fact it was eligible under GT500 rules. This has happened to me many times. I have been kicked for using the McLaren race car. And for using a GT1 car when GT1 is GT500 eligible.
 
Devedander
This PD needs to fix about online:

Room titles need to be changeable. It's ridiculous that they aren't. I have been in multipel "clean" rooms where the host bashes and corner cuts, then explains he didn't make the room, he is just got host after someone left and he doesn't care about clean racing.

There needs to be "production cars only" and "race cars only" restrctions. This is a pretty popular segregation so I don't know why it's not available.

There needs to be an auto welcome message to rooms that lists current restrictions, as well as an editable welcome message that the host can create that says any restrictions they might have like "clean or kicked".

Make an option to have PP include tires or not. I see benefits in both options so why not allow the room to run either way.

Let us buy tuner part direct from online lobbies. Sometimes entire rooms are heald up while someone exits out and grabs a part and often times my car is one or two part away from being great for this race but I just don't have them yet so opt to go with a far worse option just becase it's timely and I don't want to blow tons of cash stocking every part for every car I own in case a race comes up where it would fit.

The race start countdown timer could use some tweaking. With all the things to tune and tweak to get your car right, if you see the timer start and you aren't already most of the way done tweakinng your car, you are misssing the race. If I am testing top speed and tranny settings, if I see the timer start, I usually don't have enough time to get out, change my final drive ratio and get back in before the race starts.

Don't show non hosts the "start race" flag in the pause menu. I constantly end up on the race configuration in stead of chat button due to that thing and how laggy the menu is to start working and then for some reason when you exit race configuration, it exits the pause menue entirely!

Come on PD... get with it! Making your whole garage available in online and adding PP were good steps in the right direction... but these other ideas are basically no brainers... lets get on with that!
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This especially
 
Moot
Hosts should not be able to kick people, it should all be done by vote.
I get kicked unfairly like other people have mentioned. I also hate it when I get kicked for not using a GT500 car and then I look up the car myself and know for a fact it was eligible under GT500 rules. This has happened to me many times. I have been kicked for using the McLaren race car. And for using a GT1 car when GT1 is GT500 eligible.
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Well that explains why you get kicked. 👎

Quit whining about getting kicked all the time, if you get kicked that much, it's just possible you deserve it. Host your own room and you won't get kicked, you probably won't find anyone that wants to race with you, but at least you can stay in the room. :lol:
 
You can't fix people. The difference between these undesirables on XBL and PSN is that on XBL they are 12 and act 12, on PSN they are generally adults acting 12.

I find it really annoying to deal with these people in the setting of GT5, because the way someone chooses to play can directly effect your racing experience...it's not much of an issue for me in other games (FPS for example, if someone wants to play like an idiot it doesnt really screw with my experience).

The good thing for me is that I apparently suck at racing online (I've won 2 races), so I'm usually somewhere in the middle and don't suffer too much from retarded players who will be very cheap to get a win.
 
boshuter
Well that explains why you get kicked. 👎

Quit whining about getting kicked all the time, if you get kicked that much, it's just possible you deserve it. Host your own room and you won't get kicked, you probably won't find anyone that wants to race with you, but at least you can stay in the room. :lol:
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You don't seem to be making any point only some kind of joke which I can not see any comedy value in at all.
All in all a waste of your time and mine. Congratulations.
 
jcmc
If he or you are too lazy or too dopey to communicate what you want with a race in a manner everyone is guaranteed to see then you are not really up to the not very hard job of hosting.
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I think it is a little unfair to claim the host did not try communicating to you when you admit having him muted. There is a good chance he did and thought you were simply being unresponsive.
 
all in all i've had very few positive online experiences with GT5. I agree that hosts are given too much power.

Onine should be handled in the way its done on F1-2010 or Grid. Both have really great online experiences since users have almost no control over the game.

nine times out of ten on GT5 i'm either spending hours trying to find a race, kicked out because i'm not Saudi, Spanish or American, kicked because I win, or end up driving a completely uncompetitive car because the host has rigged the regs to best suit one particular model/set up only he/she has.

the only decent races i've ever had is in shuffle mode, and even then you have to set the car difference to 0 if you want people to have a close race.
 
I don't think it's so much the game just the ignorant people that you come across while playing it. A lot of people just can't appreciate the game itself and all of the cars regardless of their weight, horsepower, year/place they were made, etc..
 
Agreed. It takes hours just to find a room, set up your car, then all of a sudden you get disconnected because of the bad connection. This never happens in COD. In COD you can be playing in 20 seconds. I haven't touched my GT disc in months:tdown:.
 
It all comes down to the host as many have mentioned, get a great host who is strict and knows how to run a room then you will get good racing. If you get someone who doesn't care about bumping or driving aids and tweaks the rules in their own favour you will not get a good experience imho.
 
I don't use online that much and just host track day rooms. So luckily I don't have to go through many frustrations.
The only issue I come across is people just needing to shadow you, it's a track day. If you've caught me really fast and I pull over just jump by and continue on. Is it just me who thinks that's how it should be?
But with that I'll apologize if anyone comes across me and ever I do the wrong thing closing rooms or changing details, I hope it doesn't ruin someone's fun.
 
If you want to race with fair drivers, here is my advice:

- No SRF, no other driving aids
- Restrict tires, for example sport/soft only for road car races
- Try to keep the server small. A 16 man race will ALWAYS end in frustration because to many people are just bumping each other.
- Use tracks like Fuji GT or Grand Valley first, till you met people who are driving very clean. Those two tracks aren`t very technical and deliver great races (atleast for me). When you got 3-4 fair racers in your server, you can change track to whatever you want.

btw: Something very funny happened to me yesterday. I hosted a LMP1 server at le mans and used my 908. Then a random guy joined and immediatly said
"take fast car pls".
I answeared "my car is fast and I got other fast cars too".
"I got the fastest cars in the game noob"
I didn`t kicked him because I was entering my first flying lap.. After that lap I checked his car and it was a 599... In green + a huge wing... On an LMP1 server. There are just way to many morons out there who can`t read.
When I make a "60s only" server some idiots join and use a SLS. When I host a "road car only" server some people come and use a RMed ZR1...
 
alonsof1fan91
When I host a "road car only" server some people come and use a RMed ZR1...
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But the term "road car" means nothing, you are asking for trouble. "road legal" is also meaningless. I think GT5/PD has the best way to call cars "commercial normal" cars. Which excludes all race/rally/RM and Amuse/Nismo etc. modified cars.

GT5 will be better when rules (car selection) can be applied by the menu and not by vague terms and implications. I hope they are working on it, the system already works in the game for seasonal events and A and B spec races, so it knows how to differentiate all the cars.
 
Connection issues are the bane of my life. No matter what game, my ancient 300k connection is not only too slow 99% of the time (it's ok if no one else is home, which is never), it's also very intermittent. However, it's far more annoying being disconnected from a race on GT5 than it is to be disconnected from a game on BFBC2, for example, because usually leading a race in GT5 is far harder than sitting in a tank/chopper completely destroying everything.

Not sure what this has to do with GT5 itself, mind, I just wanted to join in.
 

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