Competitive Racing License

[MowTin]

I keep getting disconnected all the time, my internet is fine as I have a laptop next to me and it has no problems atall, I worked my way up to 1550 and now its below 1500.... Why do you penalise getting dissconnected??? Why cant you just penalise people who quit, surely you can tell the difference???

You get penalized for quitting a races after you retire?

Anyway, I hate hate people who ram you then just go right past you. If I ram someone by accident I'll wait for them. I've never had someone wait for me. I mean never.

 

[zr1chris]

some players need to learn from these guys that it is possible to avoid accidents

We could all learn from those guys.

 

[Pubs16]

Of course I have already read these (a couple of times now) but they lack detail. These official explanations only give a very general idea of how it should ideally work. I see absolutely no relevance to what is written in those links and what is actually happening to me personally in online lobbies :-(

So I ask you this. Why, if the ranking system is sooooo good and important, I cannot set the search criteria to search on ranked lobbies? I would have thought this would have been the #1 search field but that is just me I suppose ;-)

Lol wow dude, no need to get snarky. You asked how it works, I provided you with the details SMS has provided for everyone. If you’ve read it and still question it the way you did then my mistake for not realising.
I feel however that it’s explained pretty well and I’m working towards my aimed rank more effectively thanks to it.

I will add that I agree there could be a little more explanation, such as what exact calculations each action results in on your grade and skill points. However I could see people manipulating it more if we knew so probably better it doesn’t show us that.
But it would be nice after each race to have a licence result screen to see what warnings and penalties you received along with the increase or decrease in your rank shown because of that.

Apart from that, with just over a week of playing for people who already have it, I hardly feel that it’s developed into its potential fully. Once everyone has a vast history then I believe you’ll probably never see these “rammers” again.

To question the quality of a ranking system simply based on it’s search filtering capabilities is irrelevant imo. While I wholeheartedly agree that you should be able to search by minimum grade, I’m sure that they’ll eventually implement it, I was surprised too. In the meantime it doesn’t break the licence system, you just obviously have to choose lobbies you feel are the minimum you want.

It is my opinion that this ranking system is only teaching people how to manipulate the rules to advance their rankings and NOT getting people to actually drive better! The biggest one is when I am leading a race I get dive bombed into one of the last corners and speared off the track I then cop the contact penalty and lose the race as well. I am getting *VERY* sick and tired of this happening >:-(

How are people manipulating the rules? It’s the same for everyone. I’m curious to know what “techniques” people are using to up their rank, as I haven’t seen any. The example you provided is irrelevant as the person who hit you would’ve received a contact penalty also. It’s unfortunate that you maybe lost more ground, but not a manipulation for him to rank higher lol. That’s why you choose safer graded lobbies.

I keep hearing about this "sooooo impressive" next PS4 patch but I cannot see anywhere where anyone actually says when it will be available. Oh the Big Wookie did say a few days but then that really is meaningless ;-)

BTW *IF* a very urgent game patch is required it can be rushed through Sony testing (for a fee of course). So SMS either deem it not to be very important, are too tight fisted to spend the money or are still trying to find fixes for it. Perhaps all three ;-)

Again to quote the Wookie, there are 5 very import issues to be redressed on PS4. So where's the patch?

Do you not have anything else to do but play a game you clearly are hating at the moment? They’ve said they’re working on a patch, it will come.
Where was it stated that it was “sooooo impressive”? Lol.

There is no info on when EXACTLY it will release, so for now you’re on the same page as everybody else; patiently and eagerly awaiting.

 

[TT92]

So you doubt that a patch will turn up? Or you want it now?

After PCARS 1 still had day one bugs in it after 12 months what do you think my opinion is?

I only have the license trophies to do and I have my platinum trophy for this game. Once done it will be traded and I will get on with life again. GT Sport launches next Wednesday and I was hoping to have this done and traded by then.

I was talked into this glorified Beta version game by friends who convinced me online would be OK this time around. Well they were wrong and I am idiot for believing SMS would do a better job the second time around.

 

[Double Ayyys]

After PCARS 1 still had day one bugs in it after 12 months what do you think my opinion is?

I only have the license trophies to do and I have my platinum trophy for this game. Once done it will be traded and I will get on with life again. GT Sport launches next Wednesday and I was hoping to have this done and traded by then.

I was talked into this glorified Beta version game by friends who convinced me online would be OK this time around. Well they were wrong and I am idiot for believing SMS would do a better job the second time around.

[Completes whole entire game]
Hates it


Are we for real here? Did you sign some contract with the gaming gods that require you to finish a game you think so low about?

I don't get your thought process.

What if GT Sport is buggy and has issues?

 

[fasj6418]

You get penalized for quitting a races after you retire?

Anyway, I hate hate people who ram you then just go right past you. If I ram someone by accident I'll wait for them. I've never had someone wait for me. I mean never.

Yes, a retirement is like 30 points. Very tough to get back.

Two disconnects i had were 39 each, so it´s not a constant number, but it´s like four times the amount of points you get in a small lobby.

PS: i think i raced with you tonight

I´m also in the camp of waiting for the guy to go by if i ram someone by mistake and nobody has ever done this to me. But even if you do that you end up penalized or the hit. I think it´s almost impossible for the system to understand things like this, so letting people by it´s just good sportsmanship.

 

[Pubs16]

After PCARS 1 still had day one bugs in it after 12 months what do you think my opinion is?

I only have the license trophies to do and I have my platinum trophy for this game. Once done it will be traded and I will get on with life again. GT Sport launches next Wednesday and I was hoping to have this done and traded by then.

I was talked into this glorified Beta version game by friends who convinced me online would be OK this time around. Well they were wrong and I am idiot for believing SMS would do a better job the second time around.

Just out of curiousity, what is your opinion because I assume @rono_thomas doesnt know either... You seemed to still have bought the second iteration, so maybe you liked it?
I don’t experience any bugs on PCars 1, I still attend a weekly league on it.

Is that how you play games, you just try to platinum it and then trade it in? Honestly just curious again, I find that odd if it’s every single game but each to their own... What do you do if you can’t complete a trophy list?

 

[TT92]

Just out of curiousity, what is your opinion because I assume @rono_thomas doesnt know either... You seemed to still have bought the second iteration, so maybe you liked it?

As I said I was talked into it by friends. I hated PCARS 1, passionately and wasn't going to buy this one. I very nearly took it back a couple of hours after buying before I figured out how to get my T300 wheel working. As it turns out I probably should have but then, I would miss all this fun eh? ;-)

I don’t experience any bugs on PCars 1, I still attend a weekly league on it.

I had these discussions on the other forum and was ridiculed for me being the problem and not SMS. I even provided YT video of the invisible walls I was hitting but we wont get into that again ;-)

Is that how you play games, you just try to platinum it and then trade it in? Honestly just curious again, I find that odd if it’s every single game but each to their own... What do you do if you can’t complete a trophy list?

This is an interesting question that I have not been asked before. If I enjoy a game then I will just play through it and trophies and achievements just appear naturally over time. If I hate a game e.g PCARS 1 & 2 I tend to get very angry with it and it then becomes a chore to beat it and get rid of it. I also will use every trick and cheat to defeat it that I can find to do this and hence this becomes the game. If the dev can't give me a viable working game then I set out to beat it and that becomes the game ;-)

The issue I have at the moment is that I cannot bring myself to be a "dirty" driver in online so I can just rank up. Even though a lot of people are I just can't. I haven't found "the trick" (yet) to beating the license system without it so far.

 

[rono_thomas]

I haven't found "the trick" (yet) to beating the license system without it so far.

Finish last dont hit a thing. Out of curiosity what safety ranking are you?

Edit: Being dirty online wont rank you up, in my experience the folk behaving as your describing dont have their ranks increase.

 

[TT92]

Finish last dont hit a thing. Out of curiosity what safety ranking are you?

Edit: Being dirty online wont rank you up, in my experience the folk behaving as your describing dont have their ranks increase.

I am currently D1498. Two consecutive game crashes really knocked my numbers down.

I have tried staying at the back and have thoroughly enjoyed watching cars fly at the first turn and then avoiding the wreckage. It is hilarious. At Brno the the other night I entered the lobby as qualifying finished and so stated last on a grid of 16 and was quite content to follow everyone around. I did and ended up 3rd on the podium because everyone in front of me just crashed and/or took each other out. The problem with this tactic is as these people get back on track they will try and dive bomb me into corners. What I find irritating is that these people will cut corners, ignore track limits just to smash into someone and worst still they are usually D,E and F ranked players. I can only think they think it was me that took them out previously, which is quite wrong.

 

[rono_thomas]

I am currently D1498. Two consecutive game crashes really knocked my numbers down.

I have tried staying at the back and have thoroughly enjoyed watching cars fly at the first turn and then avoiding the wreckage. It is hilarious. At Brno the the other night I entered the lobby as qualifying finished and so stated last on a grid of 16 and was quite content to follow everyone around. I did and ended up 3rd on the podium because everyone in front of me just crashed and/or took each other out. The problem with this tactic is as these people get back on track they will try and dive bomb me into corners. What I find irritating is that these people will cut corners, ignore track limits just to smash into someone and worst still they are usually D,E and F ranked players. I can only think they think it was me that took them out previously, which is quite wrong.

Your not required to have high numbers, so to work the trophy, create a 1 lap nurb room let everyone drive off for 3 minutes, dont hit anything you’ll soon have the trophy.

 

[Double Ayyys]

There is no trick to upping your safety rating which is the letter. The letter takes into account if you are staying on the track or not, contacting any walls, cars, signs, etc and deducting for those. I know plenty of people not making contact but can't keep it on the road and they can't get their safety ratings to increase.
(Hint:

1. Stop racing those darn GT3's at Spa that all the noobs flock to... they [GT3] are beasts and take so much precision.
2. Mix the right car with the right track such as a shorter track with a lesser powered car.
3. Try out Touring Cars for christ sake.
4. The TC1 Clio Cup cars are magnificent and can be recovered so much easier in the event of a mistake. I rarely see lobbies for these cars and when I create one they are just brilliant for racing door to door.
5. Try GT5 instead of GT4 or GT3.

Best Advice here: Drive what you are extremely comfortable with. Don't take on a new car and new track ONLINE. Practice, practice, practice until you are golden with the combo and then hop online. Seriously. If in the qualifying time I don't hit all clean laps and feel like I can change my braking marks on the fly as needed when you are racing against other cars because you can't just keep to your one comfortable line.... then I simply remove myself before the race event starts and don't lose any points on my rating

Also, PASSING... if it's not the last lap you have time. Size up your opponent and apply pressure. Stay in his mirrors, get a run on a straight away up half his car but not really looking for the pass just yet. All this will put pressure on the lead driver and wait for a mistake or find the corner on the track that you carry more speed through and be strategic with the pass. This way there is far less chance than you just trying to pass at every corner even if you aren't in the perfect position for that pass. Far too often this is what is happening for the lesser experienced drivers. They are braking too deep on their attempt to pass instead of actually knowing the other person's weak corner and overtaking when they are at their slowest point.)

After just 41 online races I made it to an A rating. I'm currently an A1570 and I have people wreck in front of me all the time and have control over my car and can get by almost no matter how bad the wreck is because I'm aware of the other cars being too close to each other through the upcoming tight turn or other things that alert me to be extra cautious and prepare now for the meltdown.

Once I get home tonight from work I'll upload the last race I was in before calling it a night yesterday. Bumper to bumper and plenty of chaos in the beginning as I've said before I'll race with any other rating and still can make it out the room alive and well. There were three accidents on the first lap alone all within car lengths of me but I was prepared for their mistakes as a conscious racer would be.

I'm assuming a lot of folks aren't driving with enough caution. I can tell if someone behind me using my rear view mirror if they have missed their braking mark and would ram me if I turn in so I'll just hold my braking line until they fly by and then cut back. Like seriously, there are so many things you have to be paying attention to and once you get this down, you can race with a bunch of monkey's and still be fine. Because, yes, there will plenty of people that don't know what they are doing. But if you are good at what you are doing, you can avoid 95% of this and continue to increase your safety rating.

Cheers to whoever reaches an S. I've been at an A since 41 races and still remain an A after my 61 race. I know I will not stop until I hit S2000 so I am eligible for the bigger e-sporting events.

 

[FuriousDemon]

I think the biggest problem with this system will be when some people reach A+ rating they may not be able to find lobbies of people that have the same rating. Especially on PC where there is not that many players compared to console in general.

Still, I finally had my first online race and with a controller for that matter and it was kind of fun. Only a couple of rammers out of 16 players. Unfortunately one of them decided to take me out but it’s ok. It was a much better experience than I expected. And that was at the lowest grade. Wish there was a summary for why you got the points you got in a race and also how your safety rating changed (even if the letter didn’t change).

 

[ojgt]

I think the biggest problem with this system will be when some people reach A+ rating they may not be able to find lobbies of people that have the same rating. Especially on PC where there is not that many players compared to console in general.

That's not a problem as they can still race with others who have a lower rating. I think the biggest problem with the system so far is that some people get obsessed with the ratings and think of it as some kind of competition altough the main point is just to separate the dirty players from the clean ones..

 

[chopz]

Last night some D rated clown decided to stop on the track and wait for the field to come around again and then picks up speed with the intention of t-boning someone at the upcoming hairpin. As it turns out this person was also the host... and booted me and a few others off the track that were faster shortly there after.

All this because he got bumped off in turn 1 on the first lap, granted unfairly, but still. Really dude? I wish we could permanently block players that we encounter playing poorly.

 

[Ekay_Jay]

Last night some D rated clown decided to stop on the track and wait for the field to come around again and then picks up speed with the intention of t-boning someone at the upcoming hairpin. As it turns out this person was also the host... and booted me and a few others off the track that were faster shortly there after.

All this because he got bumped off in turn 1 on the first lap, granted unfairly, but still. Really dude? I wish we could permanently block players that we encounter playing poorly.

I keep a notepad next to my rig with a list of racers that Iv ran into problems with. Anytime I see them in my hosted lobbies I boot them.

 

[chopz]

I keep a notepad next to my rig with a list of racers that Iv ran into problems with. Anytime I see them in my hosted lobbies I boot them.

Great idea! Thank you Sir. Will do as well.

 

[DesertPenguin09]

Would anyone like to set up some lobbies with super quick races just to bump up our ratings? Mine is U1303 but I've done nothing wrong, just spun out a few times and a few stupid errors but it doesn't represent me yet. I should probably be up in C somewhere

 

[TT92]

If anyone is interested I now have the information I required to nut out these licenses and the PS4 trophies that go with them.

The Safety rank is the letter U > S and is dependant on the the number of online clean laps. The actual number to get to B for the trophy is at this stage unknown but I am at C at the moment with about 45 races done and a lot of disconnects and a lot of getting punted off the track when it was not my fault but got pinged for it anyway.

The number is only on completed online race results and you lose between 45-50 points for a disconnect even if it is not your fault. So if you get kicked, host quits and crashes the lobby or the net is just flakey (like it always is) then *YOU* lose points >:-( BUT, this is the good news, no one seems to care about them.

The third part to this (which no one has discussed yet) is the actual level of license Amateur > Pro. Now these are only dependant on the number of complete races regardless of finishing position or safety record.

The list is: Amateur = 50 completed online races regardless of safety or position
Pro-Am = 100 completed online races regardless of safety or position
Pro = 200 completed online races regardless of safety or position
Veteran = 350 completed online races regardless of safety or position

So once you get into a "Boosting Lobby" you will very quickly achieve all this.

So what can we now gather from all this. Firstly SMS are <insert swear word of choice here> for not explaining this clearly and leaving everyone confused. It has taken me 10 days and a lot of grief to finally nut this out all which could have been avoided by SMS actually caring to clearly explain their fiasco of a system.

The next important thing is with boosting it makes a complete and utter mockery of the whole system and you *STILL* do not know what a person is really like from his lisence grade.

So to sum up;
Letter U>S is a safety rating
Number 0>5000 is race results
Colour (Am > Pro) the number of completed online races
And remember **ALL THREE** are independent of each other which is the confusing thing.

So the next time you see a Gold Veteran on track with a A2000+ license the question is, is he legit or just a booster. You wont know until the first corner will you ;-) BUT *IF* it is in the next month or so then it will definitely be a booster.

Thanks to all those that have helped me nut this out.

 

[Animera]

So, like most software, the system can be 'gamed'.
I would hope that anyone who really enjoys simracing would have some integrity.

 

[zr1chris]

Nevermind. It seems to have fixed itself.

 

[The_American]

^UI bug, restart your game and it should show C

 

[zr1chris]

^UI bug, restart your game and it should show C

Yeah it did work. Thanks.

Now I'm getting disconnected every time I try to enter a lobby. Restarting the game again...

 

[TT92]

^UI bug, restart your game and it should show C

I'm please you have dropped by. Would you please read my post (if you haven't already) a few messages up and comment on whether or not I have gotten the racing license information correct regarding PS4?

 

[Pubs16]

As I said I was talked into it by friends. I hated PCARS 1, passionately and wasn't going to buy this one. I very nearly took it back a couple of hours after buying before I figured out how to get my T300 wheel working. As it turns out I probably should have but then, I would miss all this fun eh? ;-)

Couple hours after?! Wow lol. Sure didn’t take me that long to set up my G29...
I’m surely having fun so I would say so, yeah you would’ve missed out! .

I had these discussions on the other forum and was ridiculed for me being the problem and not SMS. I even provided YT video of the invisible walls I was hitting but we wont get into that again ;-)

I’m fairly sure I can recall SMS stating that couldn’t replicate these “walls” and that it seemed to be some sort of mesh contacting with track mesh, possibly due to setup combination from the user.

This is an interesting question that I have not been asked before. If I enjoy a game then I will just play through it and trophies and achievements just appear naturally over time. If I hate a game e.g PCARS 1 & 2 I tend to get very angry with it and it then becomes a chore to beat it and get rid of it. I also will use every trick and cheat to defeat it that I can find to do this and hence this becomes the game. If the dev can't give me a viable working game then I set out to beat it and that becomes the game ;-)

The issue I have at the moment is that I cannot bring myself to be a "dirty" driver in online so I can just rank up. Even though a lot of people are I just can't. I haven't found "the trick" (yet) to beating the license system without it so far.[/QUOTE]
Yeah you definitely won’t rank up by being dirty lol.

If anyone is interested I now have the information I required to nut out these licenses and the PS4 trophies that go with them.

The Safety rank is the letter U > S and is dependant on the the number of online clean laps. The actual number to get to B for the trophy is at this stage unknown but I am at C at the moment with about 45 races done and a lot of disconnects and a lot of getting punted off the track when it was not my fault but got pinged for it anyway.

The number is only on completed online race results and you lose between 45-50 points for a disconnect even if it is not your fault. So if you get kicked, host quits and crashes the lobby or the net is just flakey (like it always is) then *YOU* lose points >:-( BUT, this is the good news, no one seems to care about them.

The third part to this (which no one has discussed yet) is the actual level of license Amateur > Pro. Now these are only dependant on the number of complete races regardless of finishing position or safety record.

The list is: Amateur = 50 completed online races regardless of safety or position
Pro-Am = 100 completed online races regardless of safety or position
Pro = 200 completed online races regardless of safety or position
Veteran = 350 completed online races regardless of safety or position

So once you get into a "Boosting Lobby" you will very quickly achieve all this.

So what can we now gather from all this. Firstly SMS are <insert swear word of choice here> for not explaining this clearly and leaving everyone confused. It has taken me 10 days and a lot of grief to finally nut this out all which could have been avoided by SMS actually caring to clearly explain their fiasco of a system.

The next important thing is with boosting it makes a complete and utter mockery of the whole system and you *STILL* do not know what a person is really like from his lisence grade.

So to sum up;
Letter U>S is a safety rating
Number 0>5000 is race results
Colour (Am > Pro) the number of completed online races
And remember **ALL THREE** are independent of each other which is the confusing thing.

So the next time you see a Gold Veteran on track with a A2000+ license the question is, is he legit or just a booster. You wont know until the first corner will you ;-) BUT *IF* it is in the next month or so then it will definitely be a booster.

Thanks to all those that have helped me nut this out.

I’ve seen instances anywhere from 20 points for a DC too, so you probably lost more due to instances on track before DCing... so it’s clearly not a fixed number for that.

Apart from that, pretty much everything you mentioned was in the links I showed you, which you had claimed explained nothing...

One thing I’m confused on is a “boosting lobby”... what is this?

 

[TT92]

One thing I’m confused on is a “boosting lobby”... what is this?

It is an online lobby where people get together with the sole purpose of driving around to "boost" (artificially increase their rank or score).

To "boost" the Am - Pro license they are currently racing one lap races at Knock Hill. Shortest track with fastest lap time. Also if no contact happens then the safety score also increases.

The whole idea of Boosting is it is an agreed to way of increasing your score artificially with the least amount of effort or skill.

Also I did thank everyone that helped me nut out the system. I will also formally thank you for your assistance.

 

[FuriousDemon]

Couple hours after?! Wow lol. Sure didn’t take me that long to set up my G29...
I’m surely having fun so I would say so, yeah you would’ve missed out! .



I’m fairly sure I can recall SMS stating that couldn’t replicate these “walls” and that it seemed to be some sort of mesh contacting with track mesh, possibly due to setup combination from the user.

This is an interesting question that I have not been asked before. If I enjoy a game then I will just play through it and trophies and achievements just appear naturally over time. If I hate a game e.g PCARS 1 & 2 I tend to get very angry with it and it then becomes a chore to beat it and get rid of it. I also will use every trick and cheat to defeat it that I can find to do this and hence this becomes the game. If the dev can't give me a viable working game then I set out to beat it and that becomes the game ;-)

The issue I have at the moment is that I cannot bring myself to be a "dirty" driver in online so I can just rank up. Even though a lot of people are I just can't. I haven't found "the trick" (yet) to beating the license system without it so far.
Yeah you definitely won’t rank up by being dirty lol.


I’ve seen instances anywhere from 20 points for a DC too, so you probably lost more due to instances on track before DCing... so it’s clearly not a fixed number for that.

Apart from that, pretty much everything you mentioned was in the links I showed you, which you had claimed explained nothing...

One thing I’m confused on is a “boosting lobby”... what is this?

Yeah, the racing license system has been well explained by the official website page. I had no problem understanding it, just wish they would give you an idea of how each accident or penalty affect the rating and how the points are calculated exactly.

 

[Pubs16]

It is an online lobby where people get together with the sole purpose of driving around to "boost" (artificially increase their rank or score).

To "boost" the Am - Pro license they are currently racing one lap races at Knock Hill. Shortest track with fastest lap time. Also if no contact happens then the safety score also increases.

The whole idea of Boosting is it is an agreed to way of increasing your score artificially with the least amount of effort or skill.

Also I did thank everyone that helped me nut out the system. I will also formally thank you for your assistance.

Ah okay thought it was something like that, well that is kinda lame people are doing that. It crossed my mind but it’s more grinding to that than to just rank up normally after each event for me personally. While it may be a loophole though your skill points also take into account of race length... so probably will be a hinder to that side of your overall rank.

Yeah, the racing license system has been well explained by the official website page. I had no problem understanding it, just wish they would give you an idea of how each accident or penalty affect the rating and how the points are calculated exactly.

I can agree with that, it would be nice. However I feel though if that was known, people could take advantage of it and make dirty moves on a low risk manoeuvre or something similar to this.

 

[fasj6418]

I´m pissed at the disconnects ruining the progress.

Started tonight at D1502, won two races up to C1521, then won the third race but the game disconnected after the countdown timer, went to C1527 but the win didn´t showed up in the stats.

Tried my luck on the fourth race, was leading by 2 seconds in the final lap and then i got disconnected. C1484, a 43 point drop in a race that i was leading because of the disconnect. So far i´ve lost at least 150 points in these situations, there´s got to be a way for the software to recognize the input of the retire or exit screen to be different from the disconnect.

 

[Kitten]

Pretty happy that i got up to C1541, time to keep building