Tips for Running a Successful Lobby?

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Lancaster, PA
Satomiblood
I didn't want to post this in the lobby forum since I didn't want to muck up that section with a discussion thread. Anyway I've been trying to run a dedicated road car lobby with the folks from GTPlanet (link in sig), but it's been difficult getting it off the ground. I've provided detailed specs, dates, start times, weekly themes, etc., but participation is severely lacking and hardly anyone posts in my thread(s) to show interest. I'm at a loss as to what I should do at this point. I don't know if it's a lack of enthusiasm for road cars or perhaps people just aren't all that interested in me as a fellow player. Any guidance on running a successful lobby would be greatly appreciated.
 
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It could be your car choice. Try offering a choice of cars to try and pique peoples interest. Harder tyres like comforts will scare less skilled people away while softer tyres will steer better skilled people away as they're too much tyre. Road car enthusiasts are a fickle bunch so you're definitely not the reason people aren't interested. Seeing the right combo at exactly the right time that they're looking for one is. It's a buyers market for lobby joiners and a really tough sell for hosts.

Maybe look into creating a community group to drum up interest from your friends list and see if you can find some regular players. Run races in the ever popular Gr cars for a while, then suggest road cars. Lobbies are usually a democracy. If the host asks for a quirky combo, it usually clears the lobby faster than a smelly fart so you have to cater to their needs to keep them happy. If you find a decent combo that has people joining but you want more, try remaking the lobby. Save your settings, leave and make the lobby again. You'll be back at the top of the lobby browser page for people to see.

Try public lobbies. If you get some people sticking around a while who you wouldn't mind racing again, send them a FR, post what other races you're considering running on your community page so they see it and see if you get any bites.

Good luck with it.👍
 
I think part of why I've stayed away from Gr. 1/2/3/4 is that there are already lobbies featuring those classes. When I try to promote a lobby, I try to pick something that's different from the first few pages in the forum. It's not only about trying to offer something unique, it's also about being courteous to some of the other lobby runners. It's why I haven't promoted a Toyota 86 or hatchback event. There are already dedicated lobbies for them. I've also been open to suggestions and have tried different combinations of things. It just feels as if I'm talking to a brick wall sometimes.
 
I just checked your thread out, & my advice would be to run it Stock, that is; Tuning Prohibited. People who like road cars tend to like untuned cars, as they are as close to the real thing as possible. Also, choosing one tyre (Ch to SH imho) which is suited to the individual car would be better than just using Sports Soft tyres. Most guys who like TP racing like to have no aids allowed either, apart from ABS. It also takes quite sometime to get a good group together, & get regulars showing up regularly.

There are many guys left over from the Shuffle/Spec days of GT5 & GT6 that would love an event like yours, but GT Sport has pretty much killed that kind of racing, so it's great that you're running something like this. I used to run an event like this in GT5, ran loads of Shuffle rooms too, & did stock racing in roads cars in GT6. It was so fun.

Best of luck! 👍
 
I'd recommend running sufficient tire to get something close to GT5/6's grip levels. Road cars on CS-SH were the norm back then, but GTS's tire model is way less grippy. I might suggest SH-SS. I hate to say it, but if you want clean racing, you need enough grip that even the less skilled can at least control their car to a modicum.

I have a feeling this new slippery tire model is the cause of a good half of the accidents we see nowadays. GT5/6 didn't have this issue nearly as badly. Is it 'realistic' grip? That's another debate, but I am sure that even in GTS, you need enough grip that the less skilled can at least keep it clean.
 
I'd recommend running sufficient tire to get something close to GT5/6's grip levels. Road cars on CS-SH were the norm back then, but GTS's tire model is way less grippy. I might suggest SH-SS. I hate to say it, but if you want clean racing, you need enough grip that even the less skilled can at least control their car to a modicum.

I have a feeling this new slippery tire model is the cause of a good half of the accidents we see nowadays. GT5/6 didn't have this issue nearly as badly. Is it 'realistic' grip? That's another debate, but I am sure that even in GTS, you need enough grip that the less skilled can at least keep it clean.

The tires are set to SS/SM/SH and they’ve largely been that way for a while. I've only ever used RH for the Amuse S2000 one-make I ran a few weeks ago. But yeah, sports are generally what I set the lobby at.
 
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Thanks to all of the feedback thus far. I have an event going on tonight and another one tomorrow, but I'm not going to hold my breath for a big turnout in either one.
 
For me I always check which tyres and how much tyre wear is on when I look at a lobby, I avoid anything with unlimited tyre choice and or silly levels of wear, I think for most road cars sports softs are too grippy at least up to n500. The problem with road car lobbies is you're going to get the usual F40/50, 911, SFR etc tuned to fit whichever N class you choose, and while they are fun to use they're not, in my opinion, really in the spirit of a N2/3/400 lobby, I think the best way to do it is have bop off, but set a max power and minimum weight limit, allow tuning so at least G/box's can be adjusted, maybe PD will make some changes so you can specify certain cars only. Good luck with it, keep trying!
 
For me I always check which tyres and how much tyre wear is on when I look at a lobby, I avoid anything with unlimited tyre choice and or silly levels of wear, I think for most road cars sports softs are too grippy at least up to n500. The problem with road car lobbies is you're going to get the usual F40/50, 911, SFR etc tuned to fit whichever N class you choose, and while they are fun to use they're not, in my opinion, really in the spirit of a N2/3/400 lobby, I think the best way to do it is have bop off, but set a max power and minimum weight limit, allow tuning so at least G/box's can be adjusted, maybe PD will make some changes so you can specify certain cars only. Good luck with it, keep trying!

I've actually given some thought to enforcing power/weight limits as opposed to BOP. Maybe I'll come up with a multi-car event for next week with BOP off.
 
It definitely is not you. The main problem is all the hosts that want to host similar lobbies with N class cars. There was one moment where on sunday there were 3 GTP lobbies with N class cars racing on sunday. Some with 8 drivers, some with 5 and some with 3. Instead of combining powers all were seeking a bit of their own. Not attacking any of you.

But you have all lost momentum the day you were doing your own things instead of combining powers. When you lose momentum you can almost never gain it back again.

To me your ideas were great. So it was definitely not you. Maybe you were also just unlucky. As the sunday cup took over with a lot of people and the guys organising it just vanished with total disrespect of the group participating. Those kind of things have ruined it for all of us.

Just dont give up please.
 
It definitely is not you. The main problem is all the hosts that want to host similar lobbies with N class cars. There was one moment where on sunday there were 3 GTP lobbies with N class cars racing on sunday. Some with 8 drivers, some with 5 and some with 3. Instead of combining powers all were seeking a bit of their own. Not attacking any of you.

But you have all lost momentum the day you were doing your own things instead of combining powers. When you lose momentum you can almost never gain it back again.

To me your ideas were great. So it was definitely not you. Maybe you were also just unlucky. As the sunday cup took over with a lot of people and the guys organising it just vanished with total disrespect of the group participating. Those kind of things have ruined it for all of us.

Just dont give up please.

Wait, Sunday Cup is dead?

Also, I don’t intend on giving up. If anything, I’ll just host random lobbies.
 
Sunday cup was dead already back in august. The guys who organised it just stopped hosting after like 4 weeks. No words. No remark. No responses to messages.

Just plain shameless ignoring people who spend time in doing liveries etc.
 
Sunday cup was dead already back in august. The guys who organised it just stopped hosting after like 4 weeks. No words. No remark. No responses to messages.

Just plain shameless ignoring people who spend time in doing liveries etc.

That’s unfortunate. I kind of wanted to see if I could join, but never got around to it.
 
I'd be interested in joining your lobbies if I have time :) I'm at +0 GMT (Iceland) so timezone could be an issue, but feel free to add me :)

PSN ID: Guffaluff
 
I'd be interested in joining your lobbies if I have time :) I'm at +0 GMT (Iceland) so timezone could be an issue, but feel free to add me :)

PSN ID: Guffaluff

Hmm, on second thought, I wouldn't be able to join a US lobby, wouldn't I?
 
Like others have said the N-class people are a fickled bunch and I'm no exception. So to find the right combination of Car, Settings and People can be quite difficult. It also doesn't help that GTS balance of the N-class sucks.
There are many of people who have been running lobbies on here for awhile that still don't find success with every N-Class Series they try so it can be tricky to get one off the ground.
Here are a few tips that might help you.

1. No tuning
Most people do not know how to tune. The Man Himself said GTS was structured around no tuning so there is just not a wealth of Information on GTS like there was on past titles for people just to go grab a tune that works for them. This also makes your race more friendly for people of all skill levels.

2. One Makes
Running a one make Series keeps everyone on a level playing field and it's a good way to draw people in. The Mini Series, 86 Racing Series, Porsche Cup are all one make races modeled after a real racing Series and that also helps attract players.

3. Sport Tires
Most people who are into racing the N-Class do so because they like the increased challenge of having less grip. So most people including myself will not even consider racing if the lobby shows Race Tires on street cars.

4. Think outside the box.

You can get a good idea of what racing lobbies offer just from browsing around the forum. Come up with something different from what all others are offering, try something unique.
If your race just looks like other races and the only difference is the car then it will be less attractive. You have to make it stand out and give people the opportunity to try something different.

5. Time Zones
The majority of the player base is in the UK and not the US so making your race at a time that can accommodate both is very important as people from the UK are not going to be lining up to race at midnight their time and that's 7:00pm EST in the US

6. FIA
Try not to hold your races on the days the FIA races ran. Your giving yourself unwanted competition and the FIA will win everytime.

7. Join others lobbies
You will quickly find that most people in the lobby section on GTP get to know each other over time and race in each other's lobby races. We also help each other out by promoting others races, helping with BOP settings, combining lobby members for special events and the list goes on. So get out and join in others races and get yourself & your name recognized. If your a clean & respectable racer then people will join your lobbies just because they recognize you as a good person.

8. Skill levels

Keep your races attractive to people of all skill levels. Do not make them intimidating for people still learning or new people just starting.

I'm very luck to have a successful 1.5hr Gr.4 endurancerace race on GTP for the past year and we are getting ready to start our second season. But when I created this Series I made sure it was different than anything else going on at the time. It has had it's fair share of bumps along the way but things have really taken hold now and we have an outstanding membership.

With that being said I'm still the only one really running a Gr.4 lobby race exclusively so there is definitely room for someone or you to get creative and come up with a completely different Gr.4 format and have it be very successful.

Good Luck and I hope you find something that will become successful
 
I'd say tailor the room exactly the way you want it and don't worry about attracting others at first. Just start the room, and if guys are into it they'll want you to add them.
 
It’s pretty interesting that I seem to be getting two schools of thought on this. One believes in catering to other drivers, while the other believes in setting your own preferred specs and waiting for the drivers to come to you.

I’m somewhere in the middle. It sort of stops being my lobby if I start making all sorts of changes just to appeal to other drivers, but I also have to be willing to compromise.
 
It’s pretty interesting that I seem to be getting two schools of thought on this. One believes in catering to other drivers, while the other believes in setting your own preferred specs and waiting for the drivers to come to you.

I’m somewhere in the middle. It sort of stops being my lobby if I start making all sorts of changes just to appeal to other drivers, but I also have to be willing to compromise.

All you can do is use what sounds good to you and run with it. At some point you will find something that works great.
 
I’m somewhere in the middle. It sort of stops being my lobby if I start making all sorts of changes just to appeal to other drivers, but I also have to be willing to compromise.

I discovered a good thing to do is to put some of the settings into the actual room title, like penalties. It saves people the trouble of reading your settings after they joined the room, and you'll target the players who like those settings better.
 
You can read the settings before entering. Maybe some don't know that?

Hell, some folks don’t even bother reading the lobby name where the car is clearly specified. Like, earlier today, when some clown tried racing an RX-7 in my Toyota 2000GT one-make lobby. I doubt many would even bother reading the room specs even though they should.
 
Sunday cup was dead already back in august. The guys who organised it just stopped hosting after like 4 weeks. No words. No remark. No responses to messages.

Just plain shameless ignoring people who spend time in doing liveries etc.
Whilst I can't speak for @JKcreativeworks regarding the Sunday Cup. I know that real life often gets in the way of hosting these things and unlike some members who have seemingly all the time in the world for GT Sport I only get a few hours a week before I'm guilty of ignoring my wife.

My (joint) plans for the (sequel to the Sunday Cup) Clubman Cup ran aground purely due to lack of time to dedicate to setting up and testing the theory. However I've not completely forgotten about the idea and I'm hoping to try and look at a Super Taikyu style N class lobby next year once I can figure out the best course of action in lieu actual multi class racing (IE can people be trusted to stick to certain power/weight levels for each 'class').
 
I decided to host a Gr.2 lobby this Saturday. I’m hoping the change in category will attract more players. Still struggling to generate enough interest, though. It’s a bit discouraging.
 
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