Penalty Zone Ghosting

[nuu1212]

I really like the penalty zones, no more ridiculous penalty serving intentionally or accidentally or on the finish line.
But the system just points out a major bug that has been unnoticed like forever:
The ghosting DOES NOT EVEN WORK PROPERLY!

Doing Race C (Formula X at Suzuka) the penalized drivers don't get off the racing line,
some even try to block intentionally, and they succeed with it!
I have bumped into ghosted cars in the zone more than 10 times today.
What is the whole point of ghosting then???

Note: The intent is not to ridicule or put down the developers,
it is a wake up call trying to get them to improve the simple but annoying things (again!!!)

 

[ASH32]

Yes earlier I saw a car horizontal across the track that didn't even ghost until right as I was about to hit it but by then I'd started to try to stop so I just got hit by other cars, it's pretty poor at the moment but it's better than no ghosting otherwise the carnage would be ridiculous especially when racing with fast cars.

In this weeks Race C without ghosting I doubt no more than a handful of cars at the front would escape the chaos at the start. It sure is annoying when you hit ghosted cars though and when they don't appear to ghost but actually have, I would love for it to be better but better may not come.

 

[VBR]

Personally, I think that ghosting in racing sims makes a mockery of motorsport. Real cars don't turn invisible & drive through each other, so that shouldn't ever be happening in a sim either. Game developers create problems through thoughtless game design, then they come up with these fantastical "solutions".

 

[nuu1212]

This is not against ghosting, guys.
Yes, it is unrealistic, but it is great to protect you from people making mistakes and from races completely ruined.
This is about ghosting not even working as it should!
If a car is ghosted you should be able to just ignore it, but it does not work, I still get collisions!

 

[watto79]

Polyphony are making complete fools of themselves

Note: The intent is not to ridicule or put down the developers

 

[gtpierre]

Personally, I think that ghosting in racing sims makes a mockery of motorsport. Real cars don't turn invisible & drive through each other, so that shouldn't ever be happening in a sim either. Game developers create problems through thoughtless game design, then they come up with these fantastical "solutions".

Yeah well, assits are also a mockery of motorsport and so does drivers that plow into you at 200km/h. Same goes for people intentionally pushing out of track, or automatic gearboxes, ds4 and so on...
This is an online mutliplayer video game, you can't go sim as much as for a single player flight simulator...

Anyways, the original comment was about ghosting, a game feature, that does not work properly. I agree its a mess, i was in a race before were people were zigzaging to avoid ghosts unghosting and it created a pile up. Its really not working properly

 

[Lebowski]

It's not just the ghosting that is wrong, the penalties themselves are - and I don't mean the usual means of unfairly penalised! During a race B I had been dicing for 3rd place with 2 other cars right until the final 2 corners of lap 4. All the top 8 had been clean throughout, it was a good race. Then one of the cars in the fight for 3rd made a bit of a lunge. I took avoiding action and as I did it I hit the 3rd place guy by accident. I got a 3 second penalty. However, he recovered and took 4th while I took 5th. 6th and 7th were both well within 3 seconds of me so naturally I expected my 3 second deduction to kick in and put me in 7th. It didn't. Despite the other 2 behind me being well within 3 seconds I remained in 5th. The penalty had no effect at all.

 

[AdamMorcs]

No issue on my end ? When you see a car up ahead about to serve a penalty you need to observe the time they need to serve and judge distance accordingly . If they have a 1 second penalty there only going to be ghosted for about that time, plus any difference in server connection.

 

[Ghoa$t]

This what happens when they try to cater to both sides of the demographic. I say remove ghosting completely. If safety rating and driver rating were actually used as they should be, people would take racing a bit more serious. If you're involved in a crash, depending on the severity of the crash, your race should be over. The ghosting thing is a half step the just enforces bad habits.

 

[nuu1212]

It's not just the ghosting that is wrong, the penalties themselves are - and I don't mean the usual means of unfairly penalised! .... The penalty had no effect at all.

You mean "a penalty acquired in the last lap", and they forgot to add it to total time ???

This what happens when they try to cater to both sides of the demographic. I say remove ghosting completely. If safety rating and driver rating were actually used as they should be, people would take racing a bit more serious. If you're involved in a crash, depending on the severity of the crash, your race should be over. The ghosting thing is a half step the just enforces bad habits.

No ghosting (at anything below SR S) just opens the door to people abusing/blocking.
It could be an optional thing, however, depending on the race (class).

 

[Voodoovaj]

So a bug and they are making fools of themselves? How about we give it more than a day before we declare it's utter failure?

 

[Lebowski]

You mean "a penalty acquired in the last lap", and they forgot to add it to total time ?

Yes, that's what I typed - Race B, the final 2 corners of lap 4.

 

[Quakebass]

I think the penalty zone might be better utilized if it was on only laid out on one side of the track, that way people can take penalties safely, and it’d also open up a strategy option to not serve the penalty and finish with the added time.

As far as ghosting, I don’t like it. I think it’s great for crazy drivers or cars that have spun and re-enter unsafely, but detection for these moments have been inconsistent in GTS (honestly I feel like this aspect has gotten worse since the beta). I feel like it more often ghosts cars racing in close proximity (sometimes enabling an overtake that shouldn’t have otherwise been possible) than moments where cars are moving slowly on/re-entering the circuit. My personal opinion is there should be no ghosting unless there’s a lag spike. I feel like the ghosting removes the “racing” part of the racing. I know there’d then be problems with SR abusers, but there’s changes I want in the SR system too.

 

[nuu1212]

Yes, that's what I typed - Race B, the final 2 corners of lap 4.

That would be the most ridiculous bug, if confirmed by others...

I think the penalty zone might be better utilized if it was on only laid out on one side of the track, that way people can take penalties safely, and it’d also open up a strategy option to not serve the penalty and finish with the added time.

Nobody would take it, as it costs more time to serve it on track (in most cases)

 

[TetsuKobura]

Interesting idea that might take time to develop:

Make two lanes where you can serve your penalty, where staying in the racing line lane gets rid of a penalty up to 4 times as long as the off line lane.

 

[nuu1212]

Again: I really like the current system with the simple zones. They "just" need to make sure that ghosted cars can safely be ignored. No collision possible. This is not the case right now. And I am NOT talking about unghosting here. Ghosts can collide. Just a simple bug.

 

[Sven Jurgens]

Well just go a 4 sec penalty from someone bumping me off trying to overtake on the grass, still not fixed. Then slowed down to a crawl into last place. I'm not a fan. Fix the penalties first.

 

[Voodoovaj]

Maybe it's just me, but I am seeing far fewer red dots on the timing board at the end of the race. Granted, I haven't ventured into the Super Formula race because that looks like an SR destroyer IMHO.

 

[Sven Jurgens]

@Voodoovaj The penalties have been toned down. I've been bumped off the track multiple times without the other car getting anything. Track limits seem more lenient as well again. In my last race there were lots of complaints of dirty driving, but only 5 red ratings. Then one of the fast guys got put behind me thanks to the penalty zone and I had that bumping on my back

SR destroyer not really. DR destroyer for sure. Back to A/S.

 

[8l23ub]

FIA race last week;

 

[The Cake]

Ghosting was very good in the beta, also when the games was released. Its a shame.

 

[Riptide]

No issue on my end ? When you see a car up ahead about to serve a penalty you need to observe the time they need to serve and judge distance accordingly . If they have a 1 second penalty there only going to be ghosted for about that time, plus any difference in server connection.

This x100.

 

[Famine]

Aside from @watto79's rather valid point, there's two other things to note.

The first is that ghosts have two states: tangible and intangible. In normal driving a ghost is intangible only when it's serving a penalty (it's also intangible when in neutral or off-throttle for several seconds, when travelling at an excessively low speed, when driving the wrong way, or when crashing). A car not actively serving a penalty may be ghosted - such as shortly after it has finished serving a penalty - but if the driver is in control of the car and driving normally, it will be a tangible ghost.

The second is that you should never treat a ghosted car like it's not there anyway, because it may unghost at the point where you can no longer avoid it.

 

[Leftcurl]

I saw P2 & P3 last night in front of me both collide while P2 ghosted in the penalty zone - but what i couldn't get my head round was that P3 could clearly see the yellow bar was counting down so why stay right behind him? It's not rocket science.

 

[azrilnazli]

why not the developer just ghost everyone in the race..makes everyone happy

 

[kilesa4568]

Never trust ghosts.

 

[watto79]

Thank you for updating the title of the thread.

With that in mind, I have a golden rule. Never drive through ghosts! On the very few occasions I've chosen to break this rule I've always been bitten. And it's not always a case of a ghost not being a ghost, but sometimes a ghost stopped being a ghost just as I'm about to drive through them.

Always go around the ghost cars is my advice.

 

[SanjoGT]

Interesting idea that might take time to develop:

Make two lanes where you can serve your penalty, where staying in the racing line lane gets rid of a penalty up to 4 times as long as the off line lane.

That's actually the best idea I have read on this thread. How can we get the message to PD?

 

[Voodoovaj]

That's actually the best idea I have read on this thread. How can we get the message to PD?

I thought you were being sarcastic.

So, instead of ONE penalty zone, you are suggesting TWO penalty zones. One for regular reduction of penalty and one that reduces it four times slower. This is a terribly dumb idea. I'm expressing this sentiment because I am honestly shocked at how dumb an idea it is.

Aside from the fact that a player may still choose to take his time with the penalty, just how much indication do you need that the car ahead is going to be serving a penalty?

We have:

1 - A giant penalty counter that flashes red to tell you the car ahead has a penalty.
2 - There is a giant yellow bar that tells you how soon the car ahead will be serving that penalty
3 - Giant yellow flags to tell you where that penalty will be served
4 - Lastly, there is a CAR in front of you that you know FULL WELL will be slowing down.

If after all this you still manage to run into the back of that car, it's not the game, it's you. The ghosting is an extra convenience. If you choose to drive through a ghost, that's your risk.

PD can't fix stupid.


As for the general "dirty" driving. I draw a very definitely line between aggression and being downright dirty and overly aggressive. Maybe because I watch racing. Contact never gets penalized in real life unless it's off the charts, so what we get is definitely more strict than the real world. Same goes for track limits. I saw highlights from the Texas round of Indycars and they literally let them drive off the track in some areas, so track limits are not the hard limit everyone likes to think they are.

Yes, we still need 10 second penalties for the true dirty move, as in blatantly using your vehicle as a weapon, but getting pushed or bumped is part of the sport. Find me a racing series where this isn't the case and I will gladly retract that statement.

 

[Sven Jurgens]

Well I hit a ghost as well (race C). I didn't have much choice as we were side by side. I was overtaking on the straight where the penalty zone is, since that's the safest place to overtake (or was) However a car serving a penalty was slowed way down on my side (left), ghosted, crawling, doesn't matter, thunk. All my momentum gone, ghost car not affected, other car gone.

I was ahead, just not far enough to go in front of the car I was passing. Is that a valid strategy now? Box a car in with a ghost to prevent overtaking?

What is the racing line there anyway? It seems 50/50 with people either taking the left side or stay on the right side.