Definitely going back to single-player sims for a while. I had a handful of good races this past week at Suzuka, but over the weekend I saw some of the worst racing I've ever seen in this game, in lobbies that were almost entirely A-rated or higher. One person tried to dive up the inside three wide into Degner 1, someone else knocked me off at 130R after I was slow from a penalty even though I tried to give them as much room as possible... Even if you try to let faster cars through you still get ****ed over. So many times this week I've passed someone because they couldn't drive consistently, then they got mad that I passed them so they dived up the inside by brute force in the next corner and pushed me wide, followed by swerving to prevent me from passing again, and usually ended with me getting punted off the track.
It's very clear that SR system is so lenient right now even extremely dirty drivers have no trouble maintaining a maximum rating. PD makes the system too strict, we complain, then they make it too lenient, we complain, etc..
The fact is it's never been too strict, but just too simplistic. The number of times I've gotten absurd penalties after getting caught in the aftermath of an incident between two other cars, or hitting someone who rejoins right on the racing line without making sure the track is clear is ridiculous. Penalties need to be strict, but smart, and some very basic things would go a long way.
The game can already detect when someone has lost control or leaves the racing surface, but it only takes that into account when they happen after an incident, rather than when they precede it. If a car has already lost control and another car then comes into contact with it, the second car is obviously not at fault. If a car rejoins the circuit and comes into contact with another car with in a couple seconds, it's almost certainly the rejoining car's fault. The penalty could take those things into account and say to itself "well car A was already in an abnormal state by the time the incident occurred with car B, so car B is clearly not at fault". The game already detects these situations and sets states for yellow flags and ghosting, and could easily take that information into account for proceeding incidents as well, and the number of incorrect penalties and SR Downs would plummet, even if the system was strict.
This is the kind of **** that makes me extremely apprehensive about GT7, because I have no confidence that they won't just "copy and paste" the current penalty system into that game. It sucks because I've never been so consistent at Suzuka as I have this week, and the few good, clean races I have had were amazing. Ah well, maybe I'll start a new season in F1.
. Just sayin.
