24 Hours of Nürburgring - Online, but live

[dschoene]

Evening, chaps...

Last weekend several German Forums ran a GT5 24h Nürburgring race in a live meeting. I must say that was the most fantastic event I ever attended. 15 Teams in a lobby, but physically in the same hall, racing the raw stuffing out of each other. That was a proper send-off for GT5.

That got me thinking. Back in 2003 our board (GTRP from Germany) took part in a iLink meeting with the French, the Belgians and the Austrians in Mons and the event was a close second to last weekend's race.

We're thinking about organizing an international 24h Nürburgring contest next year with national teams from as many nations as possible (or fit in a lobby obviously). Is there interest is something like that? Us being the organizers, the meeting would take place in Germany. Should GT6 prove unsuitable (you never know with Polyphony) a switch-back to GT5 would be possible.

Just to give you an idea what sort of maniacs you would be up against :

Our GTRP team won last weekend's race. Consisting of three drivers, two of them preferred the G25 wheels, while the third driver uses a Fanatec wheel. To solve the conondrum, they devised a self-constructed rig that allowed rapid change of wheel and pedals during the pitstop. During their first pitstop they changed the complete rig in 38 seconds!



I hope some international interest is there. If so please let me know.

 

[Bahundanda]

These aliens got a big applause after that crazy pitstop. It was unbelievable. I´m glad I was part of this fantasic 24h race.

-team GTRP_RaceCamp-​

 

[BrandonW77]

I doubt you could keep a room open for 24hr without a lot of people getting disconnected, would kind of turn into a race of attrition.

 

[Zuel]

The event will be help in Germany a year after release of GT6, though where in Germany @dschoene? Teams from the states will have the most trouble with their gear due to the power requirements. Maybe this could be sponsored to make things a little easier on teams.

Fantastic stop guys.

 

[BERNSY001]

I could definitely get an Australia team together!

 

[dschoene]

I doubt you could keep a room open for 24hr without a lot of people getting disconnected, would kind of turn into a race of attrition.

During the weekend's race there was one disconnect after 18:10h and that was caused by the switch actually. The organizers had a restart protocol in place. The disconnect was actually handled like a red flag. After each lap as screenshot was taken to have the gaps and/or number of laps behind. The cars then where sent off with the proper gaps upon restart.
There were only two DNF's from 15 teams. One knocked out their PS3 during an attempted change of monitor and one suffered pedal failure with no spare available. Doing a lobby race for 24h is absolutely no problem if the location's LAN is up to it.

 

[dschoene]

@Zuel

What do you mean by "power requirements"? Are you talking about the difference of Voltage? A final location has not been selected, but it will most likely be in the Frankfurt or Düsseldorf area to make it easier for teams arriving by airplane. We would definitely try to get sponsors aboard, maybe even Sony or Polyphony themselves. After all, as far as I know, such a big event with national teams has not been attempted yet, so it would be quite a good showcase.

 

[Zuel]

The voltage requirement for the state side team are different as we know @dschoene. Though the teams could bring voltage convectors, I haven't seen one of those in a real long time. Having sponsors like Sony and PD will be a plus, though I'm sure some gaming companies may become involved with this if its presented correctly, and a lot of excitement is shown for this project. There's always possibly that anything can happen if right minded people get together to make it work.

I'm will to do what I can to make this endeavor happen. I'm not sure what I can do in the gaming area but I can see what I can do in the automotive, racing part.

 

[nuerphil]

 

[BrandonW77]

During the weekend's race there was one disconnect after 18:10h and that was caused by the switch actually. The organizers had a restart protocol in place. The disconnect was actually handled like a red flag. After each lap as screenshot was taken to have the gaps and/or number of laps behind. The cars then where sent off with the proper gaps upon restart.
There were only two DNF's from 15 teams. One knocked out their PS3 during an attempted change of monitor and one suffered pedal failure with no spare available. Doing a lobby race for 24h is absolutely no problem if the location's LAN is up to it.

In an online room it is not LAN, it is peer-to-peer and not terribly stable. Unless you're talking about something different than the normal online lobby/lounge.

 

[dschoene]

In an online room it is not LAN, it is peer-to-peer and not terribly stable. Unless you're talking about something different than the normal online lobby/lounge.

I'm talking about the normal online lobby race. There was a single problem in 24h. If the location's LAN is up to it, it is actually very stable. The Lobby crash after 18h was caused by the Ethernet switch, not the game itself. A 24h online game is perfectly possible if you have a location with a good Ethernet infrastructure.

 

[BrandonW77]

You must have access to better internet. I've rarely been in a room that was open for any period of time where there wasn't at least one or two disconnects and often times there are a lot more than that. But I've always run on the peer-to-peer system over the normal internet, never on a LAN setup.

 

[dschoene]

You must have access to better internet. I've rarely been in a room that was open for any period of time where there wasn't at least one or two disconnects and often times there are a lot more than that. But I've always run on the peer-to-peer system over the normal internet, never on a LAN setup.

The internet access [to the Sony servers] is limited to downloading data about wheather and daytime, so they are very limited. All other data are exchanged peer-to-peer, so if you are having the event with all participants in the same location, the stability of the connection is determined by the place's LAN equipment. During the event last weekend, which was organized by GTRC Andernach, we even "survived" the mandatory 5seconds disconnect of the location. Most internet providers in Germany disconnect the lease for a few seconds every 24 hours and the one at Andernach happened 5 hours into the race. The lobby didn't die.
That's why it is so important to hold such an event with all teams in one place with a strong LAN infrastructure.

 

[BrandonW77]

I must have been confused, I thought your next venture was to have everyone racing over the internet from their own living rooms and not from the same location. My apologies.

 

[dschoene]

I must have been confused, I thought your next venture was to have everyone racing over the internet from their own living rooms and not from the same location. My apologies.

Racing from one's own home is actually the problem, because then all the P2P data have to go through the internet, which makes lobbies unstable. A huge event like a 24h race is only really possible being in a single location. There are several facilities in Germany, which specialize in hosting LAN parties. They have massive LAN setups and huge-arse internet connections, which allow for such an event.

 

[BrandonW77]

I never knew such things existed, I don't think we have many things like that on this side of the pond, at least not in my area.