Sport modes biggest failing for the slow to average driver.

[BallPtPenTheif]

and this is why I don't race online

Please, the AI is way dirtier than the online races. Some offline challenges can't even be beaten without dive bombing lead cars. Actually, all of the offline racing is just practice for poor driving.

Our online racing complaints are relative to how this game has performed in the past and are not a complete dismissal of the online play environment.

 

[golfer07840]

My 2 cents:

I completely get the base of your complaint that you have filed in the PD Complaint box. When I was first reading about the game in November, the promotion of the game definitely made it seem as if you would be matched up with drivers of your skill level. I totally get it and in a way feel the way you do.

But why hasn't that worked out? As many have pointed out (and I confess, I've only read the first page of the thread), there simply aren't enough players online at the same time to constantly put you in a room with D rated drivers. A few times recently I did find myself in a room full of D rated drivers and I was 3rd on the grid. It was a great race and I got a podium finish. The very next race, the exact race, in the next time slot, I went from 3rd on the grid to 12th. Why? Because all of a sudden there were A+ A and B drivers. So I said fine and looked at the grid and saw there were 3 D rated drivers ahead of me. My goal? Wasn't to win, but it was to try to finish ahead of the other D drivers. That would be a win for me.

Someone did point out though if they don't have enough people to match up with the proper ratings, then why even bother with ratings. I kind of agree with this.

As for why aren't there more people using sport mode? A few guesses:

1. They know they can't win and beat the so-called Aliens, so why bother?

2. People tried it and got tired of being smashed around and don't like the penalty system. Although I suppose with the recent update, we can say the lack of a penalty system.

3. I've said this before in another thread and I mention it again because, in a lot of reviews of the game from people who have bought it, this was a major complaint; but a lot of people don't like the idea of having to pay a monthly or yearly fee on top of already buying the game just to play it online. That, of course, brings me back to point 1, why spend real money getting lapped in sport mode? What's the enjoyment in that?

 

[bone_tone]

Don't forget, it can't be much fun for the A+ and S drivers either, as they don't get much of a race! I've had two races today at Bathurst where the drivers on pole were in the top 10 qualifiers list. In each case their qualifying times were 4 seconds faster than me (I'm B/S), and 2.5 seconds faster than the drivers in second place.

Needless to say, they just disappeared into the distance, winning by a huge margin!

 

[IAMDOODLEBUG]

In the process of reading the whole thread, thought I'd post in the meantime! My take on the matter is that even in real life amongst pro drivers there can be a large disparity in pace from the front to the back. Often this is related to budget/investment in development of the vehicle, but skill level does form a factor. In GTS we don't have to worry about the car as we can choose whatever we like, therefore it boils solely down to skill level. This is dealt with by DR, but, and this is a big but, it is natural for most of us to want to win. This means for those clearly off pace compared to those in front, they won't be in a position to win the race. This is where you have to be more grounded and accept that in some cases you just can't win outright, so you should set goals such as gain X amount of places, set a certain lap time etc. People need to reset their expectation of what winning means! There is always somebody faster and more consistent out there...

On the subject of DR, it's there as a barometer, but everyone has the opportunity to gain DR - stuck in a race with 3/4 of the field faster than you? Concentrate on being consistent and try to finish one or two places up from quali - you will easily gain DR. It's just as tough at the top end, where losing one or two places to lower DR drivers could result in a large DR drop!

OP, you mention you can't go any faster no matter how hard you try. I guarantee you can! Study those faster than you and learn from it - the lines, the braking points, the amount of steering lock, when to get back on the gas. Small changes can make marked improvements in laptimes and you just need to keep trying!

 

[Groundfish]

I dunno.
I’ve not experienced a huge matching issue. Sometimes I am pole. Sometimes 15 on the grid.
Some rooms are faster than others.
You cannot expect good racing if you have not put time into practice.
JMO.
I never played a previous Turismo.
I do know that it would be a bad idea to enter a race in real life unprepared so that’s how I treat the game.
I just don’t have the same experience from the game as the op.

 

[VFOURMAX1]

My take on the matter is that even in real life amongst pro drivers there can be a large disparity in pace from the front to the back

But in real life those that have club racing experience are not going to be placed on the same grid or in the same race with Vettle or Hamilton either.

You cannot say that about GTS.

Dr rankings are supposed to in my understanding to an extent mimic the divisions and the division of experience and pace levels the same as as in real life racing. Why even have the rankings if you are just going to stick them all on the same grid anyway?

I think most racers fully understand they will not win the majority of races they enter online but the lower ranks are used entirely to often as grid fillers for the faster racers that apparently do not have the number of racers to fill out their own race grids.

Racing to gain positions from mid pack is fine sometimes and it can be some fun racing but sometimes it would be nice to not have the front half of the field not be racers one to two levels higher and to be racing for maybe a 7th or 8th from 14th.

Sometimes starting in 3rd or 4th with a chance for a win with racers just from your own rankings would be a nice twist as well when you are a mid ranked racer.

 

[Sven Jurgens]

I'm a relatively fast driver and very rarely have a chance to win at max SR.S. The SR 99 rooms always have faster A+ drivers at the top, 1 to 2 sec faster per lap than me depending on the track. I have managed to get the fastest lap once on Bathurst in the last 47 races and that was thanks to having good drafting opportunities during the entire lap and a slow alien up front. My best lap is still 2 seconds slower than the fastest I recorded in the past week.

I race for fun, on a DS4, using AT and TCS 2, I won't win from seasoned aliens doing that. Hence I stopped qualifying which makes it more fun and gets me more closely matched racing as I'll catch up to people that I can have decent battles with instead of driving on my own while watching the gap in front and behind steadily increase during the race.

It's a lot easier to win at lower SR, however it's also more frustrating to race at lower SR. Matchmaking is a bit too focused on SR atm though. It first selects all drivers in the 90 to 99 range, A+/S to D/S to fill a room. As soon as you drop below 90 you get in the 'slower' SR.S room with fewer A+ and A drivers. However it might be better if matchmaking simply puts all SR.S together instead of splitting it up, so you don't get two A+/S to D/S rooms. Instead change it to A+/S to B/S and B/S to D/S rooms. Still not fair, yet there simply aren't enough people entering the race at SR.S level.

Increasing SR range selection further is not a good idea. I like it now that when someone is misbehaving and leaves with a red A or even B that you won't see them again next race.

Actually last week I did get into some B/S only rooms on Interlagos during prime time. Should happen for D/S as well sometimes. However during most of the day you're stuck being selected as grid filler because of your high safety rating.

 

[Lord of Tranz]

Lets put it in a real world example for those saying choose your battles, accept it etc. This isn't about choosing battles, it's about the system being broken. The DR system is there to sort ranks out. If it puts you with just any old rank then what is the point of the system in the first place?
The real world situation. You book a karting session with your mates on a Saturday afternoon before you hit the pubs. You're all wannabe racers of equal talent (ie fat and slow!) and know that we all have an equal chance. The grid isn't quite full. A pro karter then turns up for a bit of practice. He destroys us obviously and takes away our fair competition. Would that be fair?

Yep, defeats the entire point of the system.

Because there isn't a large enough playerbase is just a poor excuse for this when fair racing is the plan and a system exists in this fashion.

(Sorry, poorly written).

 

[Skeletor27]

Sport mode match making has been really my only complaint in Sport mode (I was even OK with the penalty system). I would rather be in a smaller grid of equally matched (DR and SR) then a full grid of 16 that are not.

For me as an average casual player on a controller, I've been turned off by Sport mode and now mostly just bounce around open lobbies where I don't worry about ratings and can just relax and enjoy.

 

[FUNanywhere]

Thats my whole point of making this thread!!!! Im fully aware im not fast. The game should realise that with my qualifying times and my rankings. The system needs to be changed to mix people with others of equal talent. And if theres not enough players then i would rather have a small and equal grid than a large and unequal grid or even a delayed race. It needs sorting, it cant be difficult to just programme it for a like for like matching.

It is good that you are matched with drivers above your level, that way you learn more and become more competitive and improve your racing.

And 2:06 at Bathrust is not your peak surely. Check why are you so many secs behind the top 10.

Best of luck.

 

[brianloch]

I think PD sorting by SR is novel idea that ultimately harm Dr.C/D clean drivers.
I always wonder if sort by DR first, then sort starting position by SR before qualify time will better reward clean but slower players, but doubt if PD will make any change now..

 

[AUTISTICBOYX]

Sport mode match making has been really my only complaint in Sport mode (I was even OK with the penalty system). I would rather be in a smaller grid of equally matched (DR and SR) then a full grid of 16 that are not.

For me as an average casual player on a controller, I've been turned off by Sport mode and now mostly just bounce around open lobbies where I don't worry about ratings and can just relax and enjoy.

You are not the first one to be afflicted with this malaise, i've seen this phenomenon in various game titles that ultimately ends up hampering their progress. People get overly worked up over ratings that they get overwhelmed with this fear and anxiety they cannot disperse. Once you stop caring about ratings and see your sessions as practice you will over time develop a calm and naturally progress efficiently. At the end of the day its a game, a distraction from the real world. If competitive endeavours in your free time don't satisfy your needs, then by all means, skip sport mode.

 

[VFOURMAX1]

However during most of the day you're stuck being selected as grid filler because of your high safety rating.

And this is what sucks as then you are penalized for being one of the better cleaner drivers as far as staying on course and non contact with other racers for the majority of your Sport Mode racing laps.

I am not an alien and being old and retired I am sure I never will be but I try to be consistent and overall I do okay at that. Yes I think we all want to be faster to a point but enjoying the races and the pace I am running trumps what that pace may be compared to others if I am enjoying the racing.

All I want is for the matchmaking to match me to other racers going around the circuit at close to the same pace as I am and sometimes giving me a grid spot in the top 2or 3 rather than 11th or 12th.

Bust most of the time if I go faster it just puts me in a lobby with faster racers and still grids me in the same 10th or below spots. Maybe I just need to crash more myself or wreck others to get better grid positions!

If that is what it takes then I guess I am out of luck as that is not my style or intentions playing the game.

Below is a Kudos prime shot of my DR and SR stats. Overall the majority of time I remained at a 99 level and have never fell below an SR S since reaching that level.


Distinct Days Game Access138
Sport Mode Races252 | Finished: 246 (246*)
Sport Mode Performances21,299 (in the Top 4%) Details
Sport Mode Sportmanship (SR)99/99 Details
Sport Mode Wins5 (5*) | Daily: 5 / FIA: 0
Sport Mode Consecutive Clean Races10
Sport Mode Pole Position5 | Daily: 5 / FIA: 0
Sport Mode Leading Laps2.5% | Daily: 2.5% | FIA: 0%
Sport Mode Fastest Laps4
Campaign School100 %
Campaign Circuit62 %
Campaign Mission50 %
Car(s)237
Car(s) bought37
Credits earned21,363,250 Details
Mi earned236,840 Details
Xp Level38 | 1% (875 pts)
Distance driven28,195.168 Km Details
Time driven7 days, 7 hours, 37 min and 36 s.
Liveries80
Photos88
Country

United States
Profile iD1241112

 

[Lebowski]

It is good that you are matched with drivers above your level, that way you learn more and become more competitive and improve your racing.

And 2:06 at Bathrust is not your peak surely. Check why are you so many secs behind the top 10.

Best of luck.

Please read the whole thread before posting!! It saves embarrassment.

 

[Skeletor27]

You are not the first one to be afflicted with this malaise, i've seen this phenomenon in various game titles that ultimately ends up hampering their progress. People get overly worked up over ratings that they get overwhelmed with this fear and anxiety they cannot disperse. Once you stop caring about ratings and see your sessions as practice you will over time develop a calm and naturally progress efficiently. At the end of the day its a game, a distraction from the real world. If competitive endeavours in your free time don't satisfy your needs, then by all means, skip sport mode.

Overwhelmed with with fear and anxiety on ratings? Lol, Not me. I've actually purposely sandbagged my SR rating in an attempt get better match making (From S to B with good results). I don't like doing that. PD could just match make based on DR and SR without filling in the grid holes with with whatever is left over to make 16. Having 16 starting grid on a short 4 lap sprint race is borderline ridiculous anyway, but that's off topic.

I guess I misspoke a bit when I said I don't have to 'worry' about ratings in open lobbies because I really don't worry about it in Sport mode either.

 

[Azerach]

PD! Can you please set me up for a win? I need a couple.

 

[Shottah072]

I understand your problem, i find myself on the other end of it, as A+ i never get a fully fair matched race in the Daily's. It's usually only a few A+ or S rated drivers, a couple of A and then some B or lower depending on time slot. Since i put effort in qualifying i usually start at or near the front and i am typically racing 2-3 cars at most for the win while the rest of the lot are a few tenths or seconds off the pace. Of course its nice to be able to compete for the win nearly every race but sometimes i wish i could compete against a full grid of somewhat equal paced drivers, even if that means i wont be at the front. Thats why i am thinking to do some FIA stuff in the future cause it seems thats where most of the fast drivers are competing. They used to drop in for a Daily every now and then but i almost never see them around anymore.

But to be fair, i think this is not only a GT problem but a problem of online racing in general. The player base for serious online racing is just to small and the gaps in skill are to big to get full fields of equal drivers. I see the same thing happening in other online race games like AC and iRacing.

 

[seandimes]

Although I dont agree with you, I know exactly what you mean. When I started out, I got my SR up pretty quick, but was driving very slow. Once I hit SR:S, I knew that I wouldnt win a race or even be competitive any time soon, and that was frustrating at first.

But with the player count being seemingly low at the moment, they can either match people by DR, or by SR first. I definitely prefer the matchmaking by SR. Yes, matchmaking by DR would give us closer races, but it also would turn races into a punt and bump fest. One of the main selling thing for me is that from SR: B onwards, you mostly have clean races (within what you can expect from an online racing game).

The downside of the current system is of course for players that cant, or dont want to commit effort into getting better. Unless you are naturally talented, theres probably a certain time on any track that you can get by just hopping in and driving. Afterwards, just driving the track a lot wont make you any faster, if you have no idea how and where to improve.

I like the idea of matching by SR first, and then by qualifying time. Maybe use DR only for the FIA events. that should make up for fairer races for everyone.

 

[Sven Jurgens]

I think PD sorting by SR is novel idea that ultimately harm Dr.C/D clean drivers.
I always wonder if sort by DR first, then sort starting position by SR before qualify time will better reward clean but slower players, but doubt if PD will make any change now..

Let's think that through. Put faster dirty players behind slower clean players. What on earth could go wrong! There's enough trouble already at T1 in a full SR.S room.

I have experience enough with what it's like to start behind slower drivers with faster (than the slower) drivers on my behind. Since I don't qualify I often get to start behind D/S drivers and as A/S myself have lower A/S and B/S non qualifiers behind me. I'm pretty patient yet those behind me often are not. And that's at SR.S. I shudder to think about what happens when A/B drivers start behind D/S!

Actually the bigger the spread in speed the cleaner the races become. Which kinda gets you stuck as grid filler once you get in that position. However you can pride yourself on being the cleanest driver in your class.

And this is what sucks as then you are penalized for being one of the better cleaner drivers as far as staying on course and non contact with other racers for the majority of your Sport Mode racing laps.

I am not an alien and being old and retired I am sure I never will be but I try to be consistent and overall I do okay at that. Yes I think we all want to be faster to a point but enjoying the races and the pace I am running trumps what that pace may be compared to others if I am enjoying the racing.

All I want is for the matchmaking to match me to other racers going around the circuit at close to the same pace as I am and sometimes giving me a grid spot in the top 2or 3 rather than 11th or 12th.

Bust most of the time if I go faster it just puts me in a lobby with faster racers and still grids me in the same 10th or below spots. Maybe I just need to crash more myself or wreck others to get better grid positions!

If that is what it takes then I guess I am out of luck as that is not my style or intentions playing the game.

At around 20K DR SR 99, yep you are stuck as grid filler for A+/S A/S rooms. Which is why I don't bother qualifying and find nice battles that way as DR from 20K up doesn't matter one bit at SR 99. Perhaps if you don't qualify you might drop down a bit into full B/S rooms. I had a couple when I was doing Interlagos without qualifying and got down to 19K at SR.99.

Playing around prime time is the only solution. Too many people rather go to lobbies where you sure won't find close competition.

 

[vvise]

Let's think that through. Put faster dirty players behind slower clean players. What on earth could go wrong!

 

[Skeletor27]

...At around 20K DR SR 99, yep you are stuck as grid filler for A+/S A/S rooms. Which is why I don't bother qualifying and find nice battles that way as DR from 20K up doesn't matter one bit at SR 99. Perhaps if you don't qualify you might drop down a bit into full B/S rooms. I had a couple when I was doing Interlagos without qualifying and got down to 19K at SR.99...

I get stuck in B/S rooms with a bunch of A/S holes all the time.

 

[NevilleNobody]

It's amazed me that this has never been addressed yet in any updates. I'm talking about the terrible mismatching of rankings. For example, i've been a D-S for a long time who sometimes reaches the dizzy heights of C-S. All too often though i get both rankings pushed down. Why? Because the system thinks it is fair to match a driver who is D rated with A and S rated drivers.
Im not interested in the mechanics of how or why this happens, im aware. What i can't understand is how it is still allowed to happen after so many updates. For example, ive put hours and hours in to qualifying trials for Bathurst and my absolute best is 2:06.750.
Now after that i never managed to dip below 2:07.2 ever again, it was a true one off. My peak of talent. My limit. My absolute best that cant be improved upon.
I was quite happy with that yet since gaining that time im constantly matched with A and S rated drivers who are at least 3 seconds a lap faster than me and will churn those times out constantly. Its not just Bathurst, it's every sport mode race since the game began. Rarely do i get a fair and equal grid and manage to get a fair race with equal drivers.
The game should match drivers equally. D with D, B with B and so forth. A D-S driver should only ever be matched with a grid of other D-S drivers as should A-S drivers only be mixed with A-S drivers and the same for every other combo too. Seriously, how hard can i be to implement a fair system?! It totally puts me off racing when you know you cant make any progress.

A 2.07 really is not bad. I am a B driver and do 2.07 and I know bathurst like the back of my hand. When racing, I move forward not back doing 2.09s.

Weird guys are belting you at that pace.

 

[Sven Jurgens]

I get stuck in B/S rooms with a bunch of A/S holes all the time.

With how many resets there are nowadays I sometimes see D/S sitting on pole in front of A+/S. Since DR.B is quite a big range you often have reset A/S drivers in B/S. So actually the biggest A/S holes can be found in DR.B

DR.D drivers are often hard to predict where they will suddenly brake. DR.C is a strange breed, rarely seen. DR.B drivers tend to be more careful yet sometimes a bit too much causing unintentional pile ups, while many DR.A are over confident in their abilities resulting in a lot of contact. And then you have A+ that expects anything below to get out of their way or they will 'escort' them off the road to complain about blocking in the post race chat.

 

[soundtiger95]

Please read the whole thread before posting!! It saves embarrassment.

No offense, but you’re coming off as if you want the game to adapt just for you instead of you adapting to the game and improving, and criticizing others who are giving advice like this isn’t right. A lot of people have been wanting a place for clean racing, and PD has at least attempted to do that with the SR rating and sorting based on it.

 

[rono_thomas]

No offense, but you’re coming off as if you want the game to adapt just for you instead of you adapting to the game and improving, and criticizing others who are giving advice like this isn’t right. A lot of people have been wanting a place for clean racing, and PD has at least attempted to do that with the SR rating and sorting based on it.

Because your reading the thread out of context your making yourself look really silly.

 

[suprajef]

I understand your problem, i find myself on the other end of it, as A+ i never get a fully fair matched race in the Daily's. It's usually only a few A+ or S rated drivers, a couple of A and then some B or lower depending on time slot. Since i put effort in qualifying i usually start at or near the front and i am typically racing 2-3 cars at most for the win while the rest of the lot are a few tenths or seconds off the pace. Of course its nice to be able to compete for the win nearly every race but sometimes i wish i could compete against a full grid of somewhat equal paced drivers, even if that means i wont be at the front. Thats why i am thinking to do some FIA stuff in the future cause it seems thats where most of the fast drivers are competing. They used to drop in for a Daily every now and then but i almost never see them around anymore.

But to be fair, i think this is not only a GT problem but a problem of online racing in general. The player base for serious online racing is just to small and the gaps in skill are to big to get full fields of equal drivers. I see the same thing happening in other online race games like AC and iRacing.

Ditto

 

[soundtiger95]

Because your reading the thread out of context your making yourself look really silly.

So all of my entire one comment in this thread on the topic is making me look silly? I’d love to know how. I’d also like to see an example of me reading the thread out of context. OP has a problem with how racers are sorted and matched in the game. The reason it’s this way is because PD wants to keep clean racers with clean racers and dirty racers with other dirty racers, but OP doesn’t want to hear this and instead just wants everything catered to their needs. That’s not how things work though.

 

[llNovall]

I think a quick fix to this matchmaking issue and the problem of a small player base would be to open daily races from region based to open internationally. In the lobby section, you can open your room search to international or regional...why could that not work for daily sport mode races. I understand the fia races must remain region based, but why couldn't the matchmaking for the daily races pull from the international racing community. That's my thought on it.

 

[suprajef]

I think a quick fix to this matchmaking issue and the problem of a small player base would be to open daily races from region based to open internationally. In the lobby section, you can open your room search to international or regional...why could that not work for daily sport mode races. I understand the fia races must remain region based, but why couldn't the matchmaking for the daily races pull from the international racing community. That's my thought on it.

They need to fix their internet issues first, we have a hard enough time doing lobbies with that

 

[soundtiger95]

I think a quick fix to this matchmaking issue and the problem of a small player base would be to open daily races from region based to open internationally. In the lobby section, you can open your room search to international or regional...why could that not work for daily sport mode races. I understand the fia races must remain region based, but why couldn't the matchmaking for the daily races pull from the international racing community. That's my thought on it.

It would put way too much strain on internet connections and it would end up as the ultimate lag fest.