Penalty Zone Ghosting

[O604]

Ideally cars wouldn't ghost at all. If we were all perfect all the time. So the function of ghosts is to deal with times we aren't perfect. To make sure one persons' mistake doesn't impede anyone else behind.

This doesn't sound like what it is now. More often than not the ghosting makes things more chaotic for the cars behind.

Think of your average race. You start up front you never have to deal with ghosts. Start at the back, maximum ghosts. This is clearly an advantage that does not exist in real world racing. And in many races, is a bigger difference maker than skill or lap times.

Having said that I believe ghosting will work eventually. But it needs work. And definitely needs people to stop trying to game it and exploit loopholes. Because that just ends up being one step forward, two steps back.

 

[Sven Jurgens]

Is there a video of this? That's not what I've experienced nor what's represented in the video posted to this thread.

For instance I accidentally ruined someones FIA race at Catalunya the other week - I was caught between getting off the racing line for the exit of the previous corner (left of track) & moving over to the new racing line (right of track) - I initially wanted to hold left, but the car behind was quickly approaching, so I started to slowly move right but just as he swung right in avoidance... the result was a collision between me un-ghosting awkwardly in the middle of the track and him at full speed with really nowhere to go in avoidance.

I can assure you the collision happened on my end as well as his (I increased mph, he span out =\).
That collision was my fault; I hadn't realised quickly enough what was about to happen, and subsequently didn't allow adequate time to position my car out of harm's way.

This is really the takeaway point of the thread.

I did like Outlaw's idea of having the penalty zone cordoned off so it's not the entire width of the track but a designated "lane" (similar to Formula E's Attack Mode) - that way you know well in advance which side of the track any slow car is going to be on, and you don't have the awkward second-guess collision like the one I caused at Catalunya.

There's probably some in my large archive of gifs

There's two ways to collide with ghosts, however the way posted here by @8l23ub and what you're talking about isn't actually colliding with a ghost. It's a slight delay on his client in visible ghost status. The car is already back up to speed to unghost like normal and is solid right as the hit occurs and stays solid. Action is reaction, working as normal.

The other way to collide with a ghost is when they should, for all intents and purposes, still be completely ghosted and they also stay ghosted during and after the 'collision' This is a bug. I've had it happen at the bus stop on DT Seaside or really anywhere people spin out or hit a wall and are ghosted for safety. It doesn't happen often and it's pretty random, definitely not working as intended. I collided with a ghost that was in first gear while I'm at top end speed boosting in 6th. The first gear car continued to move slow, I sped up again moving through him, slowed down to 3rd gear yet not quite to his snail's pace in the penalty zone.

Ghosting is to prevent collisions and keep the race going. Nobody slows down for yellow flags, if you do you get rear ended. But always try to avoid ghosts since bugs happen. Plus if they are getting up to speed you never know when the ghost status ends. Which is pretty odd that the game warns you two corners in advance that a car is about to slow down and ghost, yet doesn't warn you at all when a car is about to become an 'active' participant of the race again.

 

[Voodoovaj]

Nobody slows down for yellow flags, if you do you get rear ended.

Why would anyone slow down for a yellow flag?

 

[Sven Jurgens]

Why would anyone slow down for a yellow flag?

The solid yellow flag indicates caution. Drivers must slow down and are prohibited from passing. The flag is waved when there is a hazard on the track. For example, debris, stopped car or an accident.

 

[FUNanywhere]

Great feature this.

I see the impact already. No more stupid accidents. No more frustration that a guy having a pen of 10 secs doesn't let you pass by hook or crook. He has to slow down now. No need to risk passing now to such clowns.

Fantastic work PD. Great Solution.

 

[Voodoovaj]

The solid yellow flag indicates caution. Drivers must slow down and are prohibited from passing. The flag is waved when there is a hazard on the track. For example, debris, stopped car or an accident.

That's real life where lives are at stake. Even IRL penalizing someone for "not slowing" during a yellow (outside of the U.S.) occurs rarely, if ever. "Slowing" is a relative term and cannot be enforced.

No such hazard to life and limb exists in the game and, If drivers "must slow down", why isn't there a penalty for it? There's a penalty for passing, so don't pass. There's no penalty for maintaining your speed.

People can't go making up rules that don't exist. Can you imagine if Vettel decided to prance around the track like it's a full course caution simply because that's what Indy car does and he thinks that's cool?

 

[ShiftingGears]

He's not giving them any credit, and yes you're right they have bugs in their games - this isn't one of them.



^ you must not have read that post the first time around, if you had it would be fairly clear that the ghosting behaviour of cars serving penalties in GT Sport is functioning as intended.

There's clearly a conversation to be had about the efficacy of the functionality, but it's incorrect to label it bugged when there's clearly a design brief that's being met.

I see no evidence that it isn't a bug, there's no explanation about changed functionality by PD, and most importantly I don't see other bizarre deliberate design decisions as justification that seemingly nothing is a bug unless it has an error code attached to it.

 

[_ApexPredator]

there's no explanation about changed functionality

because the ghosting behaviour hasn't been fundamentally changed for this penalty zone update - perhaps it should.

most importantly I don't see other bizarre deliberate design decisions as justification that seemingly nothing is a bug unless it has an error code attached to it.

You're thinking of a crash or an array overrun, and besides, no me neither; except these design choices are indicative of the behaviour being described in this thread.

Have you watched the 2018 live events? It's the same system there. They're caught between not wanting to ghost cars at all (because FIA, driving sim, etc) and the reality of how necessary it is when you sell to a large audience of widely disparate skill.

It seems that reality is biting harder with the roll-out to Daily Races, so I'd agree that the way ghosting works in-and-around the penalty zones may need looking at.