“Defending” your driver rating if you’re not top split — pointless or not?

[NAXEHT]

It’s something I’ve been thinking about on and off for some weeks. After the recent update the DR cap has now been raised from 75 to 100,000 but the same logic applies anyway, drivers who are maxed out or at least have a very high DR rating are often hesitant to jump into daily races.

When it comes to top split drivers, competing for the max points in FIA races and possible future World Tour events, etc, I completely understand how you’d be reluctant to enter a daily race since the risk may be massive and the reward little, or rather nothing since another sport mode win in the statistics for them doesn’t really mean anything.

However, when we instead talk about the rest, the mere mortals if you will, this idea of “defending” your DR if you’re in the, say, 30 - 60,000 range, is there really a point to it? When I say “defending”, I mean:

• Always using the meta car
• Never entering a race without a very good qualifying time, and absolutely not without a qualifying time at all
• Only particpating on tracks you’re good at
• Never using underpowered cars

I spoke a bit about this with a friend the other day and he basically said that he wants to race against the best, and yeah, I can completely understand that. I mean, who doesn’t want a challenge? But a challenge can manifest itself in many different ways. Racing against top split drivers in a “one-make” Gr.3 race despite 36 cars being available is a challenge. Using an underpowered car against less talented drivers is also a challenge, just to give one obvious example.

Now for some ego trippin’ (pardon but it’s relevant to the question at hand), a few weeks back when we had Big Willow with Gr.3 cars as daily race B (2020-02-24 - 2020-03-01) the meta car just so happened to be one of my favourite cars, the Peugeot VGT Gr.3. I’m also very fond of Big Willow. Great combination for personal gain, yeah? Absolutely. Usually I’ve always stayed around the 40 - 45,000 range *, which I would mostly attribute to not giving a monkey’s (aside from driving fairly, of course), always driving what I want, as well as too much qualifying skipping.

When this daily race B combination turned up I managed a qualifying time of 01:11.166, which at the end of the week placed me 22nd in EMEA and 36th in the world. The best I ever managed actually. Here’s the qualifying lap in case anyone’s interested. That obviously gave me tons of pole positions as well as podiums and wins, just above 40 or so wins if I recall correctly, all in the Peugeot VGT during that week. This in turn also had my DR go from 39,000 to 70,822.

Since that I’ve actually found myself in this ridiculous “defensive” state of mind where I’ve barely participated in any races at all, only in order to preserve the DR. I should say though, that it’s not only because of this kind of thinking. The penalty system has also played a big part in the decision to barely participate (pretty much the only racing I’ve done recently is in lobbies in a league with other Swedes).

Regardless, this has recently pissed me off since I have an urge of doing random dailies in whatever car I like (which is a thing I find very enjoyable) but because of this stupid thinking I haven’t let myself do it. That’s changing now, however. I’ve come to the conclusion that there isn’t really any point in me trying to take all measures possible in order to preserve my rating, which I suppose mostly comes down to the fact that I don’t enjoy what’s necessary in order to do so. I may be quite fast but I’m not top split and World Tour business isn’t my business. I mean I use a DS4 and the transition to a wheel would have me lose a lot of time (and I haven’t had interest in investing in a rig anyway).

Excuse the novel but if you’ve read this far, what are your thoughts on the subject? Do you find yourself “defending” your DR? If so, why? Have you done it in the past but let those thoughts go? Or do you always race for fun and not care about anything when it comes to statistics and ratings?

Would love to hear your thoughts on this. Let me know.

Cheers.

*

Spoiler: Kudosprime

 

[Deadpool]

This is why many create Alt accounts. If the daily races that day are say mostly B/S this risk reward for a A+ is pointless.

For example. The other night I did Race B at Spa. I always start with my Alt to assess the room. Are the drivers racing clean or is it a circus? Is there any legit competition?

If it’s a circus, I’m not going to risk my main account for no gain. If there’s no competition. Why start up front? Back to the other night at Spa. I opted for my Alt starting 10th-13th and put it on the podium nearly each race and won a few. The top Qualifiers that night were 4sec a lap slower than me. It’s no fun taking a easy win by running away, and also T1 at Spa can be full of stupidity. The risk simply isn’t worth it.

But for my Alt, I get to work on race craft and fight my way (cleanly) through the field and find tactics that I can turn around and use on my main account.

 

[GOTMAXPOWER]

It's a video game, do whatever it takes to have fun. For me that has been racing cars with bad BoP from the back in race C this week (you might be able to spot it on my KP graph https://www.kudosprime.com/gts/stats.php?profile=4324298 ), for others they have most fun winning as many races as possible against the quickest rivals. People get fun out of all kinds of racing, some people actually like driving the new Supra .

 

[ststav01]

I think it is totally useless, unless you are maxed or almost maxed out due to the reasons you mentioned. if not - then I don't understand it all, not to mention the fact that there are people with 2+ accounts while their main account is ~ 30K and they are defending it - for what ?

I've played with only one account since I got the game and I've never artificially lowered my ranks go gain wins - that's why I'm at 900+ races and 74 wins ATM while every single one of those wins have been done without any seal clubbing or whatsoever. My DR is ~40K and I don't intend to create a fake account just to keep this one as high as possible simply because there is no need for it. My PSN id is the same as my nick in the forum, so anyone who's interested can check my kudosprime stats.

However, I'll admit that in 90% of the cases I use the meta car because I want to be as competitive as possible and I do qualifying, usually ~30 minutes. On the other hand I try to always choose 1 weekly combo no matter of the track and stick to it - if you don't practice on every track you will never become good. I noticed that there are plenty of people who are A+ but they play only on 1 track which they are good at and they keep waiting for it to appear as a weekly race - to me this is not an A+ driver

 

[PirovacBoy]

It is pointless, the dr Score is there to Place you in rooms with similar Paced drivers. So DR for pace , right?!
Sr should be clear, matching you By safety/sportsmanship
To me it’s absolutely meaningless, i just race for fun, other mindset, absolutly other approach and enyoment.

 

[Groundfish]

It annoys me when people camp on a race, and artificially expand to A plus, looking over a few standings I’ve seen quite a few drivers I know aren’t very good with A plus.
It’s like a vanity cap for people in golf.
I often wonder if it doesn’t make some of the aliens and other really skilled players nervous when these guys get matched up with them?
(For example in an FIA)
Anymore I have one account for my favorite tracks and the one I use just for fun. The Alt is the way to go! Just have fun. I think it’s crazy to check stats after every race, and base entries on stats unless there’s prize money or trips involved...

 

[GOTMAXPOWER]

It annoys me when people camp on a race, and artificially expand to A plus, looking over a few standings I’ve seen quite a few drivers I know aren’t very good with A plus.

Maybe they just enjoy the race and don't care about their ratings?

I enjoy the Super Formula races so do a lot of them and gain DR points. If the race is something I don't like, I don't race it and don't lose all of those points.

 

[RacingGrandpa]

Well... I am DR B, so maybe I shouldn't have an opinion about this. But of course I do have one.
I don't care much about my DR, it it fluxes with the daily races, some I do good in, some I don't. But if they are fun I still race in them.

I do run in leagues, even though I haven't found any Swedish ones,but I found friends here and enjoy racing with them. But I love the unpredictable daily races.
This week it's C and maybe a little FIA.

 

[barak181]

Let me approach this from a different perspective.

I came to this game very late - I only bought it something like last November. Prior to this game, the last racing game I played was GT3 back in college. So essentially, I started playing this current game as a complete noob.

I had actually sworn off online gaming after college because I had let it become too consuming of my life. I was ranked on the OG Starcraft ladder for a while, I captained a top 10 Tribes 2 team. And my life outside of gaming sucked. Not to mention that online gaming was starting to suck. Between the ultra-competitiveness and often toxic environment, gaming wasn't fun anymore. So I stopped for something like 8 years or so.

Cut through a lot of irrelevant stuff and here I am playing GT Sport and itching to race people online. So, I started a PS+ account. And I sucked. Hard. I knew that was going to happen but it was still rough to go through. I worked extremely hard at both my driving skills and larger racecraft. It took me a long time to get to DR.C and stay there. One look at my stats and you'll see it was pop up to C, get knocked back down to D quite a bit. After making DR.C stick, I worked really hard to improve to DR.B. I'm low B but I'm determined to not get knocked back to C, especially knowing that there's going to be 1500 DR point hit if I dip below that line this time.

For me, DR is truly a rating of how much work I've put in and how much I've improved as a driver. I am protective of that silly little letter next to my player name because it means something tangible to me. I still approach races with a thought about what's going to be more fun for me (I often choose a car I like rather than the META) but I'm also much more hesitant about jumping into a combo that I know will be bad for me.

I suppose I may be using the terms "protecting" and "defending" a bit different than you but I thought I might want to add a different perspective to the conversation.

 

[Groundfish]

Maybe they just enjoy the race and don't care about their ratings?

I enjoy the Super Formula races so do a lot of them and gain DR points. If the race is something I don't like, I don't race it and don't lose all of those points.

Yes, I believe you overtook me at Spa once or twice I was like wth?
But take for example A last week, EVERY time I entered (multiple times per day all across diff days of the week)
A Brazilian was camped out. Pole position...
Now he’s A plus, but having raced him before and since his regular pace is mid A..Plus he’s dirty, honestly just wondered if that worried guys who really value that dr...

 

[RacingGrandpa]

Let me approach this from a different perspective.

I came to this game very late - I only bought it something like last November. Prior to this game, the last racing game I played was GT3 back in college. So essentially, I started playing this current game as a complete noob.

I had actually sworn off online gaming after college because I had let it become too consuming of my life. I was ranked on the OG Starcraft ladder for a while, I captained a top 10 Tribes 2 team. And my life outside of gaming sucked. Not to mention that online gaming was starting to suck. Between the ultra-competitiveness and often toxic environment, gaming wasn't fun anymore. So I stopped for something like 8 years or so.

Cut through a lot of irrelevant stuff and here I am playing GT Sport and itching to race people online. So, I started a PS+ account. And I sucked. Hard. I knew that was going to happen but it was still rough to go through. I worked extremely hard at both my racing skills and larger racecraft. It took me a long time to get tp DR.C and stay there. One look at my stats and you'll see it was pop up to C, get knocked back down to D quite a bit. After making DR.C stick, I worked really hard to improve to DR.B. I'm low B but I'm determined to not get knocked back to C, especially knowing that there's going to be 1500 DR point hit if I dip below that line this time.

For me, DR is truly a rating of how much work I've put in and how much I've improved as a driver. I am protective of that silly little letter next to my player name because it means something tangible to me. I still approach races with a thought about what's going to be more fun for me (I often choose a car I like rather than the META) but I'm also much more hesitant about jumping into a combo that I know will be bad for me.

I suppose I may be using the terms "protecting" and "defending" a bit different than you but I thought I might want to add a different perspective to the conversation.

I used to feel the same way (played a little longer) but when I first made it to B I thought I would fall back out any day. It took 3 months and then I spend one day in C before being back in B.

It's my firm belief that it's the driver,not the car. Almost every time there is someone faster than me in a car I can't drive that fast. So I know if I like the car I will do better than if I pick a car just for being META.

 

[O604]

Thanks for the perspective. I'm lower in rank. Interesting reading about Superstar problems.

It probably occurs in every competitive environment. Pro golfers for instance play in private with people they know. They would never join in on a random threesome on a public course.

If there was a Tiger Woods level golfer who did join randoms at the course and then beat them so bad they felt like garbage. Most would probably see that negatively.

GT Daily Races would have the additional bonus of having each game count towards your handicap score that determines your tournament entry position.

I don't think any of the fault lies with the players wanting to protect their score.

 

[Deadpool]

The biggest issue is that many nights the rooms simply are a mixed bag where you have A+ B and C all in the same room.

If the game consistently could match you into a room of just your rank/speed then the Alt would be pointless. Considering making a Euro Alt as I hear there’s a higher number of active players so rooms get stacked.

It also depends on your mood. Wanna jump straight in without practicing and start in the back just for fun? As long as you’re racing clean abs not being a douche, I see it as a win win for everyone. Slower drivers can have a good battle with a better driver who won’t dive on them like a moron, and they can see how the top drivers position themselves on track.

I’ve had a few guys who I talk to afterwards where they want to know how I did certain moves and they grab the replay to get better. Hell thats what I do when I get beaten, I study my opponent. We’re all constantly learning. The key is to keep it a fun environment that supports that.

 

[Pigems]

I only care about my DR on the accounts I use for FIA races, I want to be in the highest splits possible so I can get the best competitors possible to race against. For my daily account I don’t care, but I do prefer to have my SR at 99 on all accounts though.

 

[Winnie847]

hmm, wonder how many TPC guys we can pack into one page of one thread???

 

[O604]

hmm, wonder how many TPC guys we can pack into one page of one thread???

 

[watto79]

My main account is basically my FIA account. I want to race at the highest level possible firstly to see how high I can get, and secondly the higher the ranking the better and closer the racing is (generally speaking).

I have 2 alt accounts that I use for dailies.

The risk versus reward makes doing dailies not worth it for my FIA account. If that means I'm defending my driver rating then I guess that's what I'm doing.

Of course ratings and FIA points are meaningless. It's a game and nobody outside of the top 0.1% has a chance of getting to a World Tour event. But that's how I choose to play the game and I couldn't give a toss what anyone else thinks about that to be honest

 

[barak181]

Of course ratings and FIA points are meaningless. It's a game and nobody outside of the top 0.1% has a chance of getting to a World Tour event. But that's how I choose to play the game and I couldn't give a toss what anyone else thinks about that to be honest

That's kind of why I brought up the Starcraft thing. As good as I was at that game, there was a big difference between me and the guys that played in the first eSports events. Me vs one of them (which I was lucky enough to do one time) was like me beating the crap out of a casual online player. There's just a threshold that most of us aren't ever going to cross. That doesn't make us any less competitive or keep us from wanting to improve as much as we can. I mean, I *know* that I'm not ever going to qualify for a WT event. That doesn't mean I'm not going to stop trying for as many FIA points as I can possibly earn.

 

[Ryan Sandall]

I've played this for quite a while and gone through different phases, without resets I'm probably on average a 65-70k Dr driver
At my peak which was only a few weeks ago I was just over 70k as I really clicked with the Kyoto track in the dailies and managed to get a good qualy for once and race pretty well fairly consistently

When I did the FIA races i I was very keen to be protective and cautious If I knew my Dr was on the ropes due to usually silly incidents because I wanted to be againts the best I could match up with.
Baring in mind it was a hell of a lot easier to avoid penalties back then than now lol
Then I got my first reset from 68k to 15k I think it was just before FIA or during so I was pretty pissed

I enjoyed building my rating back up as I had less worries about racing people and I enjoyed the challenge of navigating the less competent drivers In the lower lobbies up until reasonably fast guys until I got back to A+ again

Lately I've given up with FIA, I still race it for fun and If I get to a good level again great but I'm not bothered if I don't get the chance. so now I race entirely for my own amusement and if I get reset so be it, in fact I had a minor reset the other day as you can see

If I was going for FIA I would protect my rating, I'd also spend hours qualifying for dailies rather than 10 minutes after doing a couple races from the back and whatever to give me the best chance of no incidents

No matter what rank you are whatever your trying to achieve if your trying to take it seriously go for it!
Just cos someone might struggle to get past 30k or 50k Dr doesnt mean they can't feel proud of it, and feel the need to protect it it's not easy to be good at anything we all have to get somewhere somehow
That's the good thing about gtsport often your against the people that are your level you've always got a race on your hands, the competition is always pretty good

 

[Redneckchef]

I'll throw another TPC in!

Seriously though, I was fairly worried about rankings when I started out. Was soooooo frustrated with how slow I was. Got very grumpy with how I was doing. Then I kept getting better and started to notice how I was going up and down based on combos as much as anything. So I sort of let go of the DR a bit but focused on racecraft and SR.

Recently when Gr.1 at Sarthe came back around I knew I drove over my head there so made a goal to push to show I could milk it to A/S. Made it, and promptly went back to racing for fun. Got a reset due to disasters at Monza, but now I know I can push to get there on a combo I like I feel like just racing. Even if it is one of the combos that gives me a reality check, like anything at Suzuka! I want to focus on good racing and fun racecraft so have let the DR go. I still check, but don't worry about it too much as I tend to race the car I like best and not the META by default. Instead of seal clubbing once my DR got reset my biggest push and goal was to tank at the back to get my SR up end result was only 2 races where i was near the front with a good shot to win over all of last week. Did get 1 win due to someone not following tire rules, and on the other I got trounced, but was fun until they left me.

Just let it go naturally to where it should be. Better racing when you are there with people your average speed than worrying about keeping an inflated rating. It is just a game.

 

[Ryan Sandall]

Also the thing with driving the META cars, isn't a problem.
Thing is a lot of us want to be competitive but only have time to race so it's much easier to jump on and use a competitive car. At least then we know the car can do it and we just have to learn.
Just because we're all using the same car doesn't mean the racing isn't as good.
It also shouldn't be looked down upon like when guys boasting oh it's the gtr cup when they are 19th in the porsche, like who cares if we are all enjoying our racing get on with it

Arguably one make racing is the best for competition as it is purely driver based you can argue
Yeah the car may be difficult to drive or not to your liking, but then the challenge comes in learning how to use it

For example that Lamborghini trolleyoli for the Fuji race was an absolute handful
But sticking with it I learnt how to become faster and managed to get a win with it by 0.05 at the last corner on Super GT haha

But respect for using whichever car however well you do with it just enjoy it, although if your in a gtr and I'm in my NSX you can bugger off, it's like your doing 60 in a 30 going past me lol

 

[RacingGrandpa]

Also the thing with driving the META cars, isn't a problem.
Thing is a lot of us want to be competitive but only have time to race so it's much easier to jump on and use a competitive car. At least then we know the car can do it and we just have to learn.
Just because we're all using the same car doesn't mean the racing isn't as good.
It also shouldn't be looked down upon like when guys boasting oh it's the gtr cup when they are 19th in the porsche, like who cares if we are all enjoying our racing get on with it

Arguably one make racing is the best for competition as it is purely driver based you can argue
Yeah the car may be difficult to drive or not to your liking, but then the challenge comes in learning how to use it

For example that Lamborghini trolleyoli for the Fuji race was an absolute handful
But sticking with it I learnt how to become faster and managed to get a win with it by 0.05 at the last corner on Super GT haha

But respect for using whichever car however well you do with it just enjoy it, although if your in a gtr and I'm in my NSX you can bugger off, it's like your doing 60 in a 30 going past me lol

Absolutely, one make racing is fun but so is diversity.

 

[Mistah_MCA]

some people actually like driving the new Supra .

I'm guilty as charged.

 

[BEBOP_Bill]

From the start, I always raced for fun. Never really worrying about The rating system. Just picking the cars I personally like to drive while being placed with similar paces drives. Has worked out to some enjoyable, fun racing. Now I’m not that face of a driver and will never up to world tour level. So I guess it all depends on what you want to get out of the game and what is fun to you.

 

[kjeldsen]

I drive for fun and tend to find myself having less fun if i have to worry about my DR rating, i am slow and consider myself a B driver (that spend most time in DR C) and i could maybe get to the next level (A) if i invested lots of time and practice, but it would take the fun out of the game. Now i can just start the game, ohh look a FIA race, jump right into it and have fun, ohh Race C is about to start, on a track that i haven't played that much, with tire tactics i didn't prepare, i do not care, i will have fun (and i did)

 

[Ryan Sandall]

Absolutely, one make racing is fun but so is diversity.

Exactly and neither are bad
You can get your diversity fix from the manufacture races anyways unless everyone picked the same thing

I wish they did shuffle races or whatever it was and you just get given your car no choice but random selection or something
So you enter the race and for that one particular race your this car
The next time you enter it chooses something else
But the catch is you can only use a different car once you've raced it

To stop people just jumping on and off waiting to get whatever is the most competitive car

 

[kilesa4568]

Keep your high DR account for your FiA and league stuff and make a new one purely for fun. Have your cake and eat it.

 

[RacingGrandpa]

Exactly and neither are bad
You can get your diversity fix from the manufacture races anyways unless everyone picked the same thing

I wish they did shuffle races or whatever it was and you just get given your car no choice but random selection or something
So you enter the race and for that one particular race your this car
The next time you enter it chooses something else
But the catch is you can only use a different car once you've raced it

To stop people just jumping on and off waiting to get whatever is the most competitive car

It's not really a big problem below high B, is it? Where I race,lower B, everyone just bring what they want, usually the guys in the META are doing worse because they bring a car they do not fully control to a race they haven't run.
And when we look at the numbers it an ever thinning herd when you move up.
Last time we had daily racing at Brands Hatch with the Mégane Trophy all over I ran in my Mustang and fared pretty well. (No fuel usage)
It's so much more the driver than the car.
I get my one make fix from lobbies

 

[Krypton78]

My two Cents,

I try to look to DR as for what it originally exists: to be mixed up with similair skilled players. So if I don't drop to far down I'm ok with it (of course it annoyes me losing some anyway).

On the same side, I don't want to grind DR in daylie races when a favorite combo comes up. Because it could put me to areas where I know I wouldn't belong there and would realize it (painfully) when I'd do FIA.

Now in your case (the thread opener) you had an very unusal boost of DR in Willows obviously. If you now would join FIA, you would end up in top split. And by all respect, and you said it yourself, what would be the point of it when you end up fighting for not to be the last?

I'd say just continue playing the game as you've been doing it before and try to take it easy when your DR goes the cliff down for now

 

[kilesa4568]

My missus always picks my 'only used for one race' car based on their colour and shape and I don't qualify. Ever. The only cars I'll exclude are the meta's and all FF's. Dunno if this is a coincidence or not but out of 20 cars, I'm usually the only one in mine. She even had me driving the 4C at Monza. My race went, pass, get passed, pass, get passed, pass... The hardest last place I ever fought for in a grid full of GTR's!

I've no idea why I'm not higher ranked.