I really love seeing 3 diffrent flags on the podiums ... i wish more nations could run with the league altho i know its rather hard to arrange due to timezones.
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Time zones aren't the only issue with having more international flavor in our grids. The most glaring other issue is network latency across those ponds.
Rough D2 Race Report
For the first time I can remember, in any division I've raced in with SNAIL, we posted 16 drivers on the grid. It was with mixed feelings that some of us participated last night. The grid size was awesome. The hazards of network issues however, served to justify the negative side of those feelings. We fielded 16 drivers for the first 4 races. There were some lag events that ruined some drivers races and 1 or 2 disconnects. In race 5 it was "discussed" a bit and 5 drivers left to reset PS3s, routers and switches. It was also decided to run with mics turned off for the remainder of the night. Almost everyone made it back for race 5, albeit a couple were to late to get in on qualifying, so had to sit out that race. It was getting late by the time race 6 was about to start and we lost a few more drivers to fatigue and/or responsible sleeping habits. We did manage to put 10, (maybe 11 or 12, don't rightly recall now) on the grid the last race, after settling on a course to cure certain drivers not being able to see others. We persevered and got the night done about 45 minutes past our usual finishing time and overall, with the unprecendented number of drivers we fielded, the night went better than some of us expected, but worse than we'd hoped.
Thanks to
@JoeW for hosting and the rest of the crew for sticking with it.
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I don't know how I can express to everyone in SNAIL, new, old or future, the critical importance of ensuring your home network is as bulletproof as you can make it. Wired connections in favor of wireless. If your ping times and upload rates exceed some rough minimums, about 200ms or less on ping times and, I wouldn't play with less than 1Mbps upload, you may want to upgrade your service. If you experience modem desynchronization, (meaning your modem reboots of its own accord), you should be calling your ISP to determine why and get it fixed.
Gran Turismo is not an FPS or MMO game with dedicated servers to connect to. The weakest link in the peer to peer network will cause issues, and the more connections it has to try and keep up with, the more exagerated the effects will be. All that aside, there is absolutely nothing SNAIL can do about lag related incidents. When it happens to you, and it's not a matter of if, tuck your chin, get back on track and drive on.
It is also critical, if a driver can't see another, one or all of the drivers that can't, should not stay on the track. It is entirely unfair to the rest of the field, for one or two drivers, when it can be determined, to hold up the racing because they are to stubborn and selfish to call it a night. If the measures taken can't fix the issue in 5 minutes or less, your motor is blown or your chassis is cracked, and you just ain't gonna get it fixed in time. Put that car on the trailer and bring it back next week, after you've repaired the damage. It is the epitomy of selfishness to remain on the track while not being able to see everyone, and not say so.