3D3 Racing: WRS-based races moved to new WRS sub-forum!

[CSLACR]

It varies somewhat randomly. I test and race with Marc *a lot* and 3/4 of the time I hear his mic just fine. The other 1/4 of the time I can't hear anything he's saying although I can hear his voice and know he's speaking.

It varies by driver. I can never hear Allibubba clear enough even when I can hear Marc loud and clear in the same room.

It varies by car. Some like the Calsonic are just so loud it's hard to hear anything else.

Marc also has the capability to turn up his mic level, but I don't think my system has that option.

We'll try to be more cognizant of people not being able to hear us. Maybe start making it a habit of me typing on the message board while Hydro does the verbal announcements (when possible).

If you guys are in the room and either of us is louder and more clear than the other please let us know and we'll assign that person to be the official to make race announcements and give instructions verbally.

And yes... turn off/down the background music. I have mine completely off now.

PS> And yes we should really limit use of the mics during the race or even live quali to the *absolute* minimum. They can be used freely in practice and test races, but all should keep radio silence as much as possible during races. We do want this to be a "social" and "fun" series so we won't go overboard and ban them completely.

PPS> if you are ever going to be a real race car driver you should get used to your race director's voice coming over your mic.

I can probably figure out who I can hear best, so that's not an issue.👍 Should certainly help.

As for background music, that's just menu music. I have it playing my own music, so I enjoy it. I can try and remember to turn it off before each race, but I'm sure there will be a few times I forget.
I can't/won't just turn it off forever, it's what determines if there's any music on any menu throughout the game, and tbh, it creeps me out just hearing the echo of button pushes in the game.

I think it can be solved by figuring out who's loud enough to hear when the lobby is entered, and maybe a slight tweak on my sound settings though.

 

[WRP001]

3D3 Racing is looking for a couple volunteers to help out as race marshals for our upcoming special event: GTP Inter-League SuperGT GT500 Challenge taking place on December 3, 2011.

Speedy has volunteered to stream the event as an observer and serve as a marshal for Semi-Final Lobby B. Wardez is going to do the same for Semi-Final Lobby A.

We could use one additional marshal for each semi-final lobby. The duties would primarily include taking a car on track during quali and observing one of two track sections to observe and "encourage" drivers to stay clean in areas where the runoff can be very beneficial to lap times (e.g. Eau Rouge). Once qualifying is complete and just before the race countdown timer is started the marshal will leave the course, but stay in the lobby during the race to observe. This will also prevent any of the public from entering the room during the race (we're going to set the driver limit to 14 in the lobby which is for 12 drivers + 2 marshals).

The volunteers would need to be available from 18:00 GMT to 19:30 GMT on December 3rd for the pre-race, qualification and the semi-final rounds. The final will follow after a short break, but we have the final covered as far as marshals. If you would like to be considered as a backup marshal for the final round and potentially get to observe that round from the lobby as well let us know.

Anyone not in the lobby will be able to observe the races live from one of the following live feeds:

http://www.twitch.tv/wardezgo
http://www.twitch.tv/speedy6543​

My understanding is wardez is also going to be including play-by-play and/or color commentary on his feed. 👍

Send me a PM if you are available and interested.

Thanks in advance,

Tim

I'm bumping this request because we're still looking for at least one additional volunteer. CSL has kindly agreed to serve as a marshal, but is also an alternate driver for the WSGTC team and if he ends up driving we'll need two.

 

[Gravitron]

You know I'd help out if I could, but on Dec 3rd, I'm only available from about 20:00 GMT to 00:00 GMT (noon to 4pm PST).

 

[Allibubba99]

Sign me up for the N/A race please!

Al

 

[CSLACR]

You can also sign me up for both EU and NA this week, as long as there's room.

 

[WRP001]

Sign me up for the N/A race please!

You can also sign me up for both EU and NA this week, as long as there's room.

👍 I think there will surely be room in both time slots.

 

[CSLACR]

Because that means people are at random places on the track when the race starts which screws up the starting order. If you want your grids to be accurate I think all you need to do is call everyone to the pits before you start the race. I have a timer by my side during qualifying and let the room know when their session has ended and call them back to the pits. Everyone stays in the pits during the countdown and the person with the fastest time starts on pole. If somebody were to go out and start a new flying lap (not warm up lap) then as soon as they tripped the timing line (timer started counting) they would be put on pole because the game will now consider that driver to be physically ahead of everyone in the pits. But as long as everyone is in the pits they will be started by their lap times.

So basically, what I'm hearing is that if everyone leaves the track after qualifying (sits in the pits by exiting out) the grid order will be perfect.

The only catch at all is that everyone must back out to the pits, nobody can stay on.

Just some food for thought and something to try maybe. I know some tracks don't have enough room for everyone to park (Madrid comes to mind) so this may come in handy.

 

[WRP001]

So basically, what I'm hearing is that if everyone leaves the track after qualifying (sits in the pits by exiting out) the grid order will be perfect.

The only catch at all is that everyone must back out to the pits, nobody can stay on.

Just some food for thought and something to try maybe. I know some tracks don't have enough room for everyone to park (Madrid comes to mind) so this may come in handy.

Definitely worth a test. If we have 4-5 drivers in a practice next week. We can reset the track... stage a few laps so we know who should be where on the grid and all go in the pits. If it works it's another option for us to use. 👍 At least until the next update when Kaz changes it all over again and we have to retest. 👎

 

[BrandonW77]

Definitely worth a test. If we have 4-5 drivers in a practice next week. We can reset the track... stage a few laps so we know who should be where on the grid and all go in the pits. If it works it's another option for us to use. 👍 At least until the next update when Kaz changes it all over again and we have to retest. 👎

I've been using that method over three seasons and through many updates, it's never changed and always works. Even after 2.01. If you want I can give you a detailed description of what we do so you can try it yourself. The system is screwy but I've done a ton of testing, think I have it pretty well figured out.

 

[WRP001]

I've been using that method over three seasons and through many updates, it's never changed and always works. Even after 2.01. If you want I can give you a detailed description of what we do so you can try it yourself. The system is screwy but I've done a ton of testing, think I have it pretty well figured out.

If you have a written description it will help us communicate it to our drivers and save us work putting it in event posts if we adopt it so that would be great. 👍

 

[BrandonW77]

Ok, here's the rundown of what I do. But I want to be clear up front, I'm in no way telling you guys how to run your show but I have a system that works and I'm happy to share.

First, I give the room a notice that qualifying is starting in 5 minutes. When it's time to start I notify them that I'm about to reset the track (so they don't think they got disconnected). I then change to a different track and change back to the intended track, this resets all of the times. If we have 10 or more people in the room I split them into two groups, if we have fewer than 10 we go as one group. If we do 2 groups I give them 8-10 minutes (depending on track length) and if we do 1 group I give them 12-15 minutes.

After the track has reset I tell the first group (first half of names on the list) to go to the pits and stay there until I release them. I then go to the "watch race" screen so I can see the room timer, I try to release them at an even number (1:00, 2:00). (Example, if it's an 8 minute session I release them at 1:00 and tell them the session will end when the timer's at 9:00). When the timer hits an even number I tell them that the track is green and release them from the pits while I watch the timing monitor. I give them a warning when there are 2 minutes remaining in the session (I use a timer app on my iPhone/iPad). When the session ends I notify them that time is up and ask them to finish the lap they're on and return to the lounge. Using my phone I take a picture of the timing monitor so I have a record of the first group's times.

When they have all returned to the lounge I instruct the second group to go to the pits until I release them. From here we repeat everything we did above, I usually run in the second group and hop out with about a minute left so I can get to the timing monitor and record the results. After they finish their hot lap I have them return to the pits/lounge, I then look at the 2 photos to determine the top 5 and read them off to the group so they have some idea of who will be up front.

I then tell everyone they have a 1-2 minute break if they need a quick pitstop and once everybody is in the pits we will start the race. When I see everybody has entered the pits I hit the "start race" button and we all wait in the pits until the countdown finishes.

We just finished our 3rd season of the Capp Cup, we've used this method from the very beginning and it's never screwed up on us. The key to this is having everybody come back to the pits after they've run their hot laps. For some reason the game gives people on track a higher ranking then people in the lounge or pits regardless of time. So, if everyone is in the pits waiting for the race to start and somebody wandered out on track, completed their warm up lap and tripped a timing line on a hot lap then they would be put on pole because they're physical location on track is greater than those in the pits. But this would only happen if they completed their warm up lap and actually began a hot lap, on their warm up lap the lap timer isn't running so they're previous ranking stays intact. We've had people accidentally go out on track but they can't start a hot lap in the 40seconds of the countdown so it's never caused any problems.


Sorry if that was a bit wordy, I tried to add in some common courtesy things I do as well (notifications, instructions) which I believe helps it all run smoothly. At this point all of my drivers are well trained in the procedure and it all goes as smooth as silk, we usually have the whole procedure done within 20 minutes (even with 2 groups).

Hope that helps, feel free to ask me any questions. 👍

 

[w-g-e]

I'm sorry, something suddenly came up. I won't be able to make this EU race and most likely not the next one either.
I guess it gives me some time to sort out my connection.

 

[GTP_RaceRyder]

Sign me up, NA, sure hope I wasn't the problem with the pits!
Dale

 

[WRP001]

Ok, here's the rundown of what I do. But I want to be clear up front, I'm in no way telling you guys how to run your show but I have a system that works and I'm happy to share.

...

Hope that helps, feel free to ask me any questions. 👍

Thanks for the write up, very helpful. We'll definitely give it a go at some point. So if you are taking a picture of the results by viewing them do you then run a formation lap to get the two groups in proper order for a start? Or does the auto grid-order work out fine. Could work out even easier for us as we have two admins per race usually and one can sit out each group and handle the picture.

This system could be used to do a knockout qualification system as well. We definitely like to mix things up so we are looking to have multiple qualification methods and systems that are fair and work consistently and test different aspects of a driver's skills.

I could see this observation method working for a single hot lap quali system as well. Could stage people leaving pits as soon as the driver in front finishes the first sector and have a couple observers watch the leaderboard and use google docs to publish live results as they come in. Suspenseful, like the old system in F1. We could use the WRS results to determine the order you qualify with fastest going last and people who don't submit having to go first. I like it. 👍 Of course will require a formation lap to get things sorted out in the proper order, but that's not a problem.

The registry has been reopened. Thanks for your patience while we determined the impact of the update to the qualifier. The qualifier remains the same.

ALERT! The GTP_Registry Qualifier has re-opened. 👍

This is your warning/notice that 3D3 events may *very* shortly require you to be on the official registry.

@Masi: I see your signature has you listed in D1 and you obviously have a GTP tag, but I don't see you listed in the registry. Did you get that division in Prologue? You'll have to rerun the qualifier and get on the new GT5 registry. Cape Fear will not require registry membership and we probably won't implement the new rule until the first batch of registry entries have been processes which will give everyone ample time to get in the qualifier.

Notes: Removed Wes from the EU race and added Dale to the NA race. ↓↓↓↓ Added Mohit to both grids (fixed division). ↓↓↓↓ Added Kevin to NA grid.

 

[mohitraina91]

Guess who's back... back again.... you guys know the rest of the song haha.

Wow things have changed here, a big 👍 to the 3D3 stewards for becoming moderators.
Put me down for both races.

 

[EDK]

I guess I technically never signed up for this, so please add me to the list.

 

[CSLACR]

Thanks for the write up, very helpful. We'll definitely give it a go at some point. So if you are taking a picture of the results by viewing them do you then run a formation lap to get the two groups in proper order for a start? Or does the auto grid-order work out fine. Could work out even easier for us as we have two admins per race usually and one can sit out each group and handle the picture.

This system could be used to do a knockout qualification system as well. We definitely like to mix things up so we are looking to have multiple qualification methods and systems that are fair and work consistently and test different aspects of a driver's skills.

I could see this observation method working for a single hot lap quali system as well. Could stage people leaving pits as soon as the driver in front finishes the first sector and have a couple observers watch the leaderboard and use google docs to publish live results as they come in. Suspenseful, like the old system in F1. We could use the WRS results to determine the order you qualify with fastest going last and people who don't submit having to go first. I like it. 👍 Of course will require a formation lap to get things sorted out in the proper order, but that's not a problem.

What he's saying is, we can run qualifying exactly as we do now, but right before the race starts, the host can exit out to the lounge screen, watch race to check live timing monitor. Once the host see everyone's time (they might not show up in proper order, he's said to check all the best laps everyone has to make sure of the order) everyone exits to the pits (different from driving into the pits) exit to the pits, the host hops in and starts race, the grid order will be proper.

Now, once we verify this does work for us, there should be no need for the host to exit and check everyone's best laps to verify. Everyone can just exits out to the pits (everyone) and then start race can be pressed.

 

[dsgerbc]

Now, once we verify this does work for us, there should be no need for the host to exit and check everyone's best laps to verify. Everyone can just exits out to the pits (everyone) and then start race can be pressed.

There's still need for the host to exit at some point during qualifying. Sometimes rooms/lounges get screwed-up to the point that not even the host can see lap times. Grid order is gonna be screwed-up as well. And I don't think driving into the pits vs exiting to the pits matters.

Oh, and I'd like to join this week's NA race.

 

[CSLACR]

There's still need for the host to exit at some point during qualifying. Sometimes rooms/lounges get screwed-up to the point that not even the host can see lap times. Grid order is gonna be screwed-up as well. And I don't think driving into the pits vs exiting to the pits matters.

Oh, and I'd like to join this week's NA race.

Well if it doesn't always work, it sounds easier to just have everyone stay on the track, which we've found a surefire thing that never needs checked.

 

[WRP001]

This observation thing from the lobby has really got me hot under the collar to try the old F1 style quali where everyone gets a shot at a single hot lap and the rest observe from the lobby. The official WRS submission determines ordering of those hot lap attempts with fastest last. I think it would be a hoot, but will require a formation lap.

If you go off course (dirty) you get a 2 second penalty added to your time for each off.

I'm checking with the other 3D3 steward to see if I'm crazy, but I think it would be fun to try it out just for the fun of it. Even this week at Cape Fear. I envision watching the last driver or two, most likely the fastest, trying to lay down that lap under high pressure knowing what they have to do and knowing others are watching. IMO, it would be really awesome. And the feed from Speedy's stream would be pretty cool to watch.

The observers are free to use their mics to "ooh" and "aah" and every driver has the option from the lobby to mute others' mics before entering the pits if they don't want the distraction. After your hot lap is done you come back into the lobby and un-mute the mics. Text messages are reserved for official use only during this time so we can stage drivers entry into pits and exits.

Kind of like "super" quali without some of the coordination headaches and won't take any more time than a 15 minute qualification... maybe an extra 5 minutes, but not more.

 

[CSLACR]

This observation thing from the lobby has really got me hot under the collar to try the old F1 style quali where everyone gets a shot at a single hot lap and the rest observe from the lobby. The official WRS submission determines ordering of those hot lap attempts with fastest last. I think it would be a hoot, but will require a formation lap.

If you go off course (dirty) you get a 2 second penalty added to your time for each off.

I'm checking with the other 3D3 steward to see if I'm crazy, but I think it would be fun to try it out just for the fun of it. Even this week at Cape Fear. I envision watching the last driver or two, most likely the fastest, trying to lay down that lap under high pressure knowing what they have to do and knowing others are watching. IMO, it would be really awesome. And the feed from Speedy's stream would be pretty cool to watch.

The observers are free to use their mics to "ooh" and "aah" and every driver has the option from the lobby to mute others' mics before entering the pits if they don't want the distraction. After your hot lap is done you come back into the lobby and un-mute the mics. Text messages are reserved for official use only during this time so we can stage drivers entry into pits and exits.

Kind of like "super" quali without some of the coordination headaches and won't take any more time than a 15 minute qualification... maybe an extra 5 minutes, but not more.

Well, if the method works, we wouldn't need a formation lap, just everyone to sit in the pits until they're done.
But I'm not sure now, last night they made it sound like it was always 100% accurate, now dsgberc is saying it's not, so I guess we'll just trial and error.

 

[WRP001]

Well, if the method works, we wouldn't need a formation lap, just everyone to sit in the pits until they're done.
But I'm not sure now, last night they made it sound like it was always 100% accurate, now dsgberc is saying it's not, so I guess we'll just trial and error.

You can't observe from the pits. So as long as the lounge isn't screwed up enough that people can't see the splits from the lounge this method will work, but will require a formation lap. A formation lap is not a problem and we can do that and have before. Cape fear has a long enough straight. We can have a steward led pace lap where the steward falls back into position in the final sector to avoid confusion.

We could test on the smaller EU race and use regular quali if there are issues for the NA race.

Notes: Added GTP_dsgerbc (if you don't mind us adding a first name to the list, that's the norm).

 

[CSLACR]

You can't observe from the pits. So as long as the lounge isn't screwed up enough that people can't see the splits from the lounge this method will work, but will require a formation lap. A formation lap is not a problem and we can do that and have before. Cape fear has a long enough straight. We can have a steward led pace lap where the steward falls back into position in the final sector to avoid confusion.

Right, but he said you can exit to the lounge and it will keep your times. I don't know, just saying what I've been told.
They said you can exit to the lounge, ect, as long as when the race is started, nobody is actively driving on a timed lap.

 

[dsgerbc]

Well if it doesn't always work, it sounds easier to just have everyone stay on the track, which we've found a surefire thing that never needs checked.

It is accurate if the room isn't screwed-up (which is a rare, but lately I've seen it more often in lots of rooms). So I think extra 10-20 seconds to check (and announce the order) is worth it.

The "everyone stays on track" method is okay for lounges though, but Brandon's method is better for public rooms when you really need to kick all the randoms before you start a league race.

 

[WRP001]

Right, but he said you can exit to the lounge and it will keep your times. I don't know, just saying what I've been told.
They said you can exit to the lounge, ect, as long as when the race is started, nobody is actively driving on a timed lap.

Cool. Well we will know for sure after we try it in the race as the grid will have the proper order. Just have to make sure we have everyone enter the course, but stay in pits when we give the go after all hot laps are complete. Then we start the timer. We will plan on a formation lap this time just to be on the safe side, but if the order is proper we'll know for sure for next time.

 

[dsgerbc]

Notes: Added GTP_dsgerb (if you don't mind us adding a first name to the list, that's the norm).

There's a 'c' at the end. First name is Dan.

 

[WRP001]

There's a 'c' at the end. First name is Dan.

👍 Fixed. And I've added you to the 3D3 Driver Registry.

 

[dsgerbc]

If you guys want to test the gridding before the race (like tonight or tomorrow) - I can be there.

 

[WRP001]

If you guys want to test the gridding before the race (like tonight or tomorrow) - I can be there.

We have an official NA practice tonight where we could run some trials. The practice usually starts about 8:00 PM Eastern / 5:00 PM Pacific. Sometimes a little earlier, but always after the WRS submission period comes to a close. Monitor this thread around that time and we'll post a notice that the lounge is up and running.

Send a PSN friend request to GTP_3D3Racing if you haven't already as the practice will be held in that lounge.

PS> I'm offline for a while. I'll leave it to the other stewards to manage the grid slots for now or I'll log back in at the end of the day.

 

[BrandonW77]

What he's saying is, we can run qualifying exactly as we do now, but right before the race starts, the host can exit out to the lounge screen, watch race to check live timing monitor. Once the host see everyone's time (they might not show up in proper order, he's said to check all the best laps everyone has to make sure of the order) everyone exits to the pits (different from driving into the pits) exit to the pits, the host hops in and starts race, the grid order will be proper.

Now, once we verify this does work for us, there should be no need for the host to exit and check everyone's best laps to verify. Everyone can just exits out to the pits (everyone) and then start race can be pressed.

Essentially, you're correct. The only reason I take pictures of the results is so I can let the room know who the top 5 is, just a common courtesy and I don't do anything with it after that. No manual line up, just hit "start" and the game figures it out.

There's still need for the host to exit at some point during qualifying. Sometimes rooms/lounges get screwed-up to the point that not even the host can see lap times. Grid order is gonna be screwed-up as well. And I don't think driving into the pits vs exiting to the pits matters.

Well if it doesn't always work, it sounds easier to just have everyone stay on the track, which we've found a surefire thing that never needs checked.

What I think DSG meant is that the timing monitor doesn't always work. Which is true, but as long as you set your grip/tire wear/fuel wear/slipstream before you select your track then it should always work. If you select your track and then pick your settings the timing monitor will most likely show no info. I don't know why, but I've learned that picking your track settings before you load the track fixes it.

If you don't plan on letting the people in the room know the top 5 starting order (or whatever) then there's no need for a host to monitor anything or leave the track at any time. You could just tell everyone to go to the pits and start the race. And I'm pretty sure it doesn't matter if you drive into the pits or pause/exit to get to the pits, at least not when you're using my method. (Not trying to say my method is the greatest ever, just that it works without fail when followed properly). I'm sure we have people do both methods of getting to the pits and it's never caused any problems.