Should I even bother with Sport Mode at this rate?

  • Thread starter Thread starter MIE1992
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I'm going on about three months now without gaining a position. Almost every race I lose points. I know I'm going to lose points before i start. I feel lucky when I only lose a few hundred points.

I am not very good. Was DR C for the longest time. Today i finally dropped to DR D, although I gained a position for the first time in a while, I lost 2000 points. I have no idea why. My SR remains 99 and has never dipped below 90.

I'm always matched against A+ -B. Sometimes against people on the leader board. I've got no chance. I'm not anywhere near their level.

At first i though it was challenging. Now it just feels futile. I guess the game is telling me I suck and I don't belong in Sports Mode.

I've got more than my money's worth in fun with this game so I'm not bitter. But if the matchmaking were a bit more tailored to my abilities, I'd have a lot more fun.
 
On tuning in Sport Mode, I'd really like to use @Jump_Ace's Toyota MR-2 tune. It would come in handy for the Daily A since it's an MR-2 one-make.
 
O604
I'm going on about three months now without gaining a position. Almost every race I lose points. I know I'm going to lose points before i start. I feel lucky when I only lose a few hundred points.

I am not very good. Was DR C for the longest time. Today i finally dropped to DR D, although I gained a position for the first time in a while, I lost 2000 points. I have no idea why. My SR remains 99 and has never dipped below 90.

I'm always matched against A+ -B. Sometimes against people on the leader board. I've got no chance. I'm not anywhere near their level.

At first i though it was challenging. Now it just feels futile. I guess the game is telling me I suck and I don't belong in Sports Mode.

I've got more than my money's worth in fun with this game so I'm not bitter. But if the matchmaking were a bit more tailored to my abilities, I'd have a lot more fun.
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You're first problem is, you're too clean. SR 90 to 99 is a very small pond with very big fish in it. Those big fish need full rooms so anyone at lower levels with the highest SR gets the 'honor' of back filling the A+ / A rooms.

You lost 2000 points because you crossed the DR boundary. The game takes an extra 1500 points on the way down and awards you an extra 1500 points on the way up. I guess so you don't switch DR every race if you're on the border.

https://www.jasonguernsey.net/gts/drivers-by/driver-rating
SR.B has the most players and since matchmaking goes by SR first you'll find the fairest matches at SR.B.

You'll find better matches at prime time as well. However aliens are on all time of the day and at max SR there's 99% chance there's one on pole. Sometimes it's like they have a schedule arrangement, one disappears for the next one to take over the very next race!

I've been there, was stuck at DR.B for months never able to win a race. I still don't win races at max SR (except sometimes on Monza as most aliens are too scared to race there :)) wins come after SR drops (not looking for them yet they happen anyway). Just below 90 you already get matched with competition closer to your level. SR 99 is reserved for aliens.
 
O604
I'm going on about three months now without gaining a position. Almost every race I lose points. I know I'm going to lose points before i start. I feel lucky when I only lose a few hundred points.

I am not very good. Was DR C for the longest time. Today i finally dropped to DR D, although I gained a position for the first time in a while, I lost 2000 points. I have no idea why. My SR remains 99 and has never dipped below 90.

I'm always matched against A+ -B. Sometimes against people on the leader board. I've got no chance. I'm not anywhere near their level.

At first i though it was challenging. Now it just feels futile. I guess the game is telling me I suck and I don't belong in Sports Mode.

I've got more than my money's worth in fun with this game so I'm not bitter. But if the matchmaking were a bit more tailored to my abilities, I'd have a lot more fun.
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I gotta agree with @Sven Jurgens
Sounds like your too clean

Overtaking is inherently risky and will not work out in your favor all the time (hence all the complaints about the system) but that is no reason to not race. Granted you gave us little to no indication as to why you are "slow" other than the fact that you never drop below 90SR, but that sounds like yoour not trying to push for the front. I have had greater than 10pt SR drops in a single race from one person just rear ending me so im a little shocked that you never have this problem yourself.

Other than that your quali position matters a TON. you should try and shoot for top 10 quali time in each grid. This will prime you towards the front half of the field and increase your chances of increasing DR drastically. So look for what times qualify you for the front half of the grid and just run laps until you get a time close to what you want which will help your consistency, speed, and starting position.

I put like 20-30min qualifying nowadays but used to spend closer to 45min when i was climbing from DR C to B to A, and i still put that kind of time in if i dont know the track intimately yet
 
Sven Jurgens
Starting at the back, the chaos already starts at T -1.
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It starts there even when starting from pole. The front row is pretty much the worst place to be due to the stupid speed differences in rolling starts (pole 60 km/h, 5th 80 km/h, yeah that's gone well) and the hotshots who see their chance to win the entire race in the first corner. Nothing you can do - brake early, brake late, whatever, you're in the kitty litter and the race is just about done for you.
 
Thank you. I may try to upload a video. Or I may royally screw up under pressure and go hide somewhere. :lol:
 
I was matched this time with B, C, D drivers for a change.

But I screwed up at the start and predictably finished 5th, starting from 5th.

 
John Crellin
I gotta agree with @Sven Jurgens
Sounds like your too clean

Overtaking is inherently risky and will not work out in your favor all the time (hence all the complaints about the system) but that is no reason to not race. Granted you gave us little to no indication as to why you are "slow" other than the fact that you never drop below 90SR, but that sounds like yoour not trying to push for the front. I have had greater than 10pt SR drops in a single race from one person just rear ending me so im a little shocked that you never have this problem yourself.

Other than that your quali position matters a TON. you should try and shoot for top 10 quali time in each grid. This will prime you towards the front half of the field and increase your chances of increasing DR drastically. So look for what times qualify you for the front half of the grid and just run laps until you get a time close to what you want which will help your consistency, speed, and starting position.

I put like 20-30min qualifying nowadays but used to spend closer to 45min when i was climbing from DR C to B to A, and i still put that kind of time in if i dont know the track intimately yet
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He's DR.C or now DR.D which is kind of a trap at max SR. As the much lower DR in the room it's also much harder to get SR drops as the penalty system is much more lenient on lower DR drivers. The chance of contact is also much lower when matched with A+ / A crowd that disappear in the distance. He's stuck in a local maximum as long as matchmaking keeps using him as back filler.


O604
I was matched this time with B, C, D drivers for a change.

But I screwed up at the start and predictably finished 5th, starting from 5th.

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Looks to me like you started from 9th and finished 5th. Good race!

You can always go bump drafting on Bluemoon bay. That's a safe way to lower SR and a good strategy to get ahead. BB raceway is up on Friday, although a bit harder to bump draft there.
 
Sven Jurgens
Looks to me like you started from 9th and finished 5th. Good race!
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Unfortunately the video was badly edited. I started 5th and slipped up at the start. Doh. It did feel good to make it back to 5th though. Thank you.
 
O604
Unfortunately the video was badly edited. I started 5th and slipped up at the start. Doh. It did feel good to make it back to 5th though. Thank you.
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I know, was just trying to put a positive spin on it. Gaining 4 places isn't bad at all. A lot of races start by getting taken out in T1 then climbing back up to your qualifying position. Monza is famous for it. Hence I haven't been qualifying for a while as a shortcut :) If I start 4th, get taken out to 12th, then finish 7th, still a good race!
 
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