Online Performance and Reputation

Johnnypenso

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Johnnypenso
SMS recently revealed the Online Performance and Reputation feature. This is something I've been wishing for, for console and PC sims alike for some time now. It has the great potential for promoting more clean driving online, if you are able to use this feature to aid in your search for a clean lobby and/or restrict access to clean drivers. Some of the details are:

Your Driver Network Profile tracks many stats relating to your Experience, Focus, and Affinity. But it also tracks your Online Performance and Reputation...

  • The number of races entered vs the number completed
  • Breakdown of placement in those races
  • Pole positions achieved in online qualifying sessions
  • Average finishing position and average qualifying position
  • The number of races where you incurred no penalties
  • And the number of races where you were disqualified

All this information is then used to ensure you find players of similar skill and conduct. Continually collide with other drivers and you'll slowly make acquaintances with others of similar destructive tendencies. Drive with good sportsmanlike conduct and you'll be enjoying the company of other refined opponents.

So play fair, be successful, and greatness awaits.
From listening and seeing how our WMD community have played Project CARS throughout development, and from seeing how racing fans play other titles out there, we hope that all these features listed go a long way in ensuring Project CARS' online play is not only authentic and intense but also seamless and efficient.

At this time I believe this information is new to the WMD members as well, but I have a few questions and if these can be passed long to the appropriate people I'd appreciate it. As answers become available, they can be shared here for all of us to see.

1. How much of this information is viewable by the host and/or the participants in the lobby during practice/warmup?
2. How much if any of this information can be used by a lobby host to restrict access to a given lobby? Can you for example exclude people with poor safety ratings or high quit averages etc?
3. How are the ratings calculated? Is it a rolling average of your last X races, a rolling weighted average, an overall cumulative rating from the beginning of time etc?
4. As you race online, will there be any indication in the players info floating above his car of any of their online ratings? This was available in Grid Autosport for example, with different coloured markers to indicate a drivers overall safety ranking and came in very handy when you had a questionable driver behind you entering a corner.
5. Can this info be used when searching for a lobby and if so, how?
6. Will these stats be tracked on an overall basis so we can see how we stack up to our competitors in the various categories?
7. Will we be able to turn off tracking out safety rating if we just want to enter a lobby and hoon around and test out crash physics, drift etc. ?
8. Does it function in all three types of lobbies?

That's what comes to me off the top of my head. If anyone has anything to add, feel free to post your own questions if they aren't answered with those above and I'll add them to the list. I'll also link the answers to the questions as they become available.
 
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Excellent questions, and I definitely want to know about #7. Sometimes my friends and I just want to get on and do a demo derby kind of night. I hope we have the ability to get around the driver ratings for a smash em' up kind of night if we would like to. Maybe setting a private lobby can drop the recording of ratings or something.
 
So there is matching making? I thought this was left out or something?

If you drive well then playing on line you will find like minded drivers who are sensible? Is that what your saying???? The game will match make you with other sensible players? :)

Did the members find any bugs with the match making process? Where the match making was not always 100% correct?
 
Nice, At the surface I like the sound of this. It definitely does necessitate the inclusion of a "do not log behavior" option for private lobbies so that ppl can get all crazy with their buds if they feel like it.
 
So there is matching making? I thought this was left out or something?

If you drive well then playing on line you will find like minded drivers who are sensible? Is that what your saying???? The game will match make you with other sensible players? :)

Did the members find any bugs with the match making process? Where the match making was not always 100% correct?
We don't know how this works yet and AFAIK, this is new to the WMD guys as well. I'm hoping we get more info before launch so we know how to proceed. I'd hate to have a damage test session early in the game with a group of buddies and have all our driver safety ratings ruined for weeks:lol:

You have to remember that matchmaking in most games is limited. The few times I played one of the NHL games online, I would punch in matchmaking parameters trying to find someone I thought was at my beginner level and would usually come up with zero matches. Eventually I just punched in a search for anyone and then someone would pop up. The more parameters you limit in your search, the less likely you are to find others to match that search. What I'm really hoping for is that we can use some of these restrictions in setting up our lobbies. The quit rating for example, who would want to enter a lobby that is full of people that quit 25-50% of their races? Not me. Same thing with the safety rating, I'd like to be able to filter out dirty drivers right from the get go if possible.
 
As far as PC, through Steam: will the online mode be more like Assetto whereas you need to fiddle around with a dedicated server, or more like GT5/6 where one is free to create a lobby within a network from SMS or Steam?

The reason I ask, is I seen a tool on Steam that is the "Project Cars Dedicated Server".

Thanks guys/gals.
 
I do hope this feature is adjustable so you can indeed have the odd 'smash em up' session with your friends ? Maybe the ability to save your 'bad boy' profile separately that has no impact on your serious side ?
I know this talk of dirty driving style may come across as childish, but every once in a while it's good to have an escape from what I believe will be an intense career. I have friends on GT6 that I regularly have good fun with in 'no holds barred' rooms and it'd be nice to kick back once in a while with pCARS.
 
I do hope this feature is adjustable so you can indeed have the odd 'smash em up' session with your friends ? Maybe the ability to save your 'bad boy' profile separately that has no impact on your serious side ?
I know this talk of dirty driving style may come across as childish, but every once in a while it's good to have an escape from what I believe will be an intense career. I have friends on GT6 that I regularly have good fun with in 'no holds barred' rooms and it'd be nice to kick back once in a while with pCARS.

I don't know how private (i.e. friends only) lobbies will be handled, but to be on the safe side, I would create a 2nd psn profile

You can create separate profiles right? So you could have one that allows crash and another one with no crash.

You can create seperate career files, not profiles
 
I do hope this feature is adjustable so you can indeed have the odd 'smash em up' session with your friends ? Maybe the ability to save your 'bad boy' profile separately that has no impact on your serious side ?
I know this talk of dirty driving style may come across as childish, but every once in a while it's good to have an escape from what I believe will be an intense career. I have friends on GT6 that I regularly have good fun with in 'no holds barred' rooms and it'd be nice to kick back once in a while with pCARS.

I'll be keeping my PS3 and GT6 set up just so I can go quick matching if I feel like a demolition derby :P
 
I'll be keeping my PS3 and GT6 set up just so I can go quick matching if I feel like a demolition derby :P

I don't think you'll be going back to GT6 any time soon after getting started in Project CARS. To get ready for pCARS I have been running some of my older sims on the new PC again, as well as RaceRoom Racing Experience. Unfortunately, I also have a new racing season starting next week in GT6.

I say "unfortunately" because after spending some time on the PC in one of the sims and then going directly back into GT6, I have found myself double and triple checking to make sure my wheel is plugged in properly, because it just feels DEAD in GT6. It has made me realize just how poor the GT series really is lately from a technical standpoint (FFB, Physics, Suspension Tuning, etc).

Don't get me wrong, I still enjoy the racing, but that is more about the people in the league than the game itself.
 
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