ELO Hell.

[quikk]

How do you get out of ELO Hell, besides driving on the last position? I got stuck in rank C for 3 days now. The game punishes your SR for a slightest mistake, for mistakes of others, and promotes being a ****** on the track, yes i have never seen any professional racers giving away their positions or driving away from the track so they could avoid getting this annoying orange SR text. My point is , other players dont respect you, they would rather see you off the track than have a clean race. There are few tight tracks in which you cannot avoid contact and if you want to stay competitive ( at least in SR rank C) you either play like everyone else or enjoy being behind everyone.
I was fine for couple of days in rank B but since i got demoted for quitting due to bad connection. Ever since that I stopped enjoying the game. Another annoying thing is when you get off the track, make a mistake,l ose couple of seconds and you still get punished with negative SR ! Not to mention, the faulty Yellow flag which is so counter-intuitive.

 

[Downhill Dino]

If you'e not up to being the caboose, I recommend spending more time in qualifying for a better position. My DR and SR have climbed easily because I start a majority of my races up front. Even then, you have to know when you shoulf and shouldny be aggressive. I give position up a lot as to not create issues. If I am truly the faster driver I will get that position back regardless. Ranked play in any game requires patience.

 

[quikk]

Yeah it does require patience, although it wouldnt be a problem if everyone played by the same rules, lets say theres a slower guy in front of you, you can slow down, lose times to those in front of him , and that would be okay if the drivers behind me had the same mentality, but no, when i slow down there is definitely a guy coming back from the back trying to take both of us (ruining the game for at least one person), ive lost count how many times i said out loud to myself "what a ****" the worst thing is that the SR suffers. My problem is that I cant get out of this crappy rank by giving away races, especially where 1or2 mistakes (sometimes not made by you) can spoil your SR more than you earn driving clean.
I understand it is easier for better players, qualifying with in top position does help a lot, in my rank i do have 3-4 tracks where i feel fast while there are some where I struggle, such as (Suzuka and Nurbubring).

 

[MikeTheHockeyFan]

There's no such thing as ELO hell. I enjoy Overwatch and the community over there whines about it as well while many commentators and experienced 'luminaries' dismiss it entirely.

The sad reality is you are where you are, after 100s of race events, for a reason.

If you drive consistently safer/with more awareness than the people around you, you will eventually end up in SR-S. If you drive consistently less safe than those around you, you will wind up in SR-E eventually.

The game [...] promotes being a ****** on the track

Yeah, if that's the attitude you have then you're just another one of those "no really guys I'm a clean and fast racer" people that thinks they know how to drive fast in traffic and puts their car in dumb situations, expecting everyone else on track to be a perfect driver.

Eventually you will learn to drive with the radar and have better situational awareness, or you will just sit where you are. There's no need to run at the back to rank up in SR.

 

[TeWheke]

By driving cleaner, do not farm your SR as then you'll just be a false S and probably not clean enough to have that rating and be able to keep it when you are actually racing rather than just circulating at the back of the field.

I genuinely felt the same about SR when I typically bounced from C to B but then I had a particularly bad race at B that dropped me to C which started a spiral, I knew what I'd done wrong but felt others were just as responsible. Then after a few more races I dropped to D for the first time, I was convinced this was because Suzuka and the Oval Races were just bad tracks for contact and I was unlucky, after that I bounced between C and D for a while. I'm not really sure what changed but at some point I started getting more and more clean race bonuses and suddenly my SR started skyrocketing until I hit S.

Looking back at my replays the difference between how I drove then and now is huge, I wouldn't say I was dirty before but I always found it easier to justify why I took a course of action that resulted in a collision rather than consider how I contributed to it. Whereas now I just don't put myself in those situations unless I've made a genuine mistake and when I do make mistakes if there's a way to stop my mistake from hurting others (i.e. throwing it off the track instead of plowing through a corner), I often take that course of action.

Basically the trick to raising your SR is to stop blaming other people and race cleaner, sorry if this sounds like a git gud answer but awareness and decision making are the key to racing clean, sometimes you'll get hit but if you race clean the rest of your race you should make up for that and you'll have a white rating at worst. Try not to get pissed off at other people, and if you do it's probably better to take a break rather than keep racing.

 

[MikeTheHockeyFan]

Looking back at my replays the difference between how I drove then and now is huge, I wouldn't say I was dirty before but I always found it easier to justify why I did took a course of action that resulted in a collision but now I just don't put myself in those situations unless I've made a genuine mistake. Plus when I do make mistakes if there's a way to stop my mistake from hurting others (i.e. throwing it off the track instead of plowing through a corner) I often takle that course of action.

Basically the trick to raising your SR is to stop blaming other people and race cleaner, sorry if this sounds like a git gud answer but awareness and decision making are the key to racing clean, sometimes you'll get hit but if you race clean the rest of your race you should make up for that and you'll have a white rating at worst. Try not to get pissed off at other people, and if you do it's probably better to take a break rather than keep racing.

I've gone through this whole process already by getting up from Rookie to B License in iRacing, so to read someone else articulate the mental process here is really heartening.

Your old "it's everyone else's fault" ego really does need to go and die as a driver. People really don't want to hear it, but you won't rank up to cleaner divisions if you're racing with a chip on your shoulder.

 

[Kirkus04]

As mentioned above. There is no such thing as an "ELO hell" in GT Sport. The majority of your performance (SR/DR improvement) is based off your own decisions that you make on track, there are not other people who are making them for you. If someone leaves, it doesn't affect you, if someone goes off the track, it doesn't affect you.

Now, I can already hear you saying "but someone hits me, THAT affects me!". Correct, yes, partially... As a driver you have to make a decision when is the right and wrong time to pass overly aggressive drivers. If you make the wrong decision you get a slap on the wrists (SR decrease).

Its actually quite simple, make the right decisions, and work on qualifying towards the front of the pack so you have to make less decisions. Thats the best way to up your SR. If you make one or two bad decisions over a race, you'll find that your SR will still climb.

 

[Tristan Jones]

There's no such thing as ELO hell. I enjoy Overwatch and the community over there whines about it as well while many commentators and experienced 'luminaries' dismiss it entirely.

The sad reality is you are you are, after 100s of race events, for a reason.

If you drive consistently safer/with more awareness than the people around you, you will eventually end up in SR-S. If you drive consistently less safe than those around you, you will wind up in SR-E eventually.


Yeah, if that's the attitude you have then you're just another one of those "no really guys I'm a clean and fast racer" people that thinks they know how to drive fast in traffic and puts their car in dumb situations, expecting everyone else on track to be a perfect driver.

Eventually you will learn to drive with the radar and have better situational awareness, or you will just sit where you are. There's no need to run at the back to rank up in SR.

Lol, i agree, ELO/ MMR hell doesn't exist.

The real way to get good/ improve rank is practise an insane amount, then watch the best racers, and practise some more. The <cheat> way to get better is to find the best/ very good racers, spectate/ race with them, save the replay then sit on their bonnet watching when they brake, turn in etc. Then imitate.

MMR Hell especially doesn't exist in GT! At one point I thought there was an argument for it existing in HON (a moba like LOL but better), due to it being a team sport (5 vs 5). I thought having team mates of a certain low skill level meant there was a low cap on how far you could rise. After seeing more skilled people easily beating teammates/ enemies, I disregarded the idea, and realised that people got the rating they deserve. There are little inconsistancies, but they average out and the rating gets more and more accurate with the number of games/ races.

I believe this also applies to DR rating - you will eventually move up or down to your appropriate rating. From there, if you do nothing you will drop when doing your next race - as everyone else is generally practicing and better - if you don't get better quicker than them, you fall behind, relatively. I consider myself good at the game - however I am DR D. This doesn't feel right, surely, with S A B C in front of me, and only E behind me. Hurts, but its probably right. With more practise I hope to get to C, will be hard to stay there for me!

However, what about SR? Not that it has MMR hell, but I don't believe it is measured in the same way? I think, based on how quick I got to SR S, (though spent 20 races getting to SR B, felt like a while doing that!) that there is no cap on the amount of people in SR S, whereas each DR category would have a cap eg max 20% of players can be in each category. What happens when we are all SR S?

 

[OdeFinn]

@quikk forget your driver rating first, concentrate on safety rating, drive behind pack, even it means last position, just staying out of problems. When you get your safety rating up to S then start pushing faster qualification times and try to gain places on races. Remember to join only races on good tracks, which aren't easily wreck mayhem tracks.

I'm on B/S level and still not going to go on races which I know or suspect to be too easy to wreck. Even it means at there is only only race to drive on daily selection, or there were some days when I skip all daily races just because of track choices.

 

[Steven Keeney]

I've been playing gtsport since the demo and first day of release. At first it was frustrating but now I just have fun with it. Drive your best and fastest without hitting others or going off track. It takes time to get to know the tracks and cars, plus traction control and brake bias settings. Don't expect to out drive someone who qualified much faster than you. They are a better driver, accept that and keep practicing. I don't give up position to stay clean but if someone behind me is faster I don't get pissed if I get passed. My goal in races is to pick up a few positions, drive clean and enjoy the challenge. I think most people get pissed because they don't think anyone can be better than them.

Also I am better on certain tracks than others so I do most of my racing on the tracks I like with cars I like. There's usually one daily race I'm just not good at, like those ovals. I don't blame someone else or the penalty system when things don't go my way. It's a game, have fun and enjoy it. Don't expect to win every race.

 

[Phoenixsui]

Tried to overtake 2 opponents in the first manufacturer race in saison 5 and got smashed into the wall because they had bad connection and while we were side by side in the corners they seemed to lose grip in the exit for a second and due to bad connection they were moving like the spin in that lag time and hit me like a meteorit. I smashed into the wall while they could continue the race normally. But there was anyway no good result expected ion kyoto for me. I had a hard time to even do a 1:34.xx time while the faster guys did around 1.33.xx constantly. Dont know was it the Mustang or me or both that were the problem. Last season was a lot better. But its only 1 Race.

 

[Scaff]

The ranking and penalty system in GTS has its issues, but ELO hell isn't one of them. I don't personally recall them even confirming that ELO is even used (and the matched ranking in rooms would indicate it's not).

I would argue that GTS issue on SR is the exact opposite, that it's too quick and easy to rank up and down.

 

[quikk]

I genuinely felt the same about SR when I typically bounced from C to B but then I had a particularly bad race at B that dropped me to C which started a spiral, I knew what I'd done wrong but felt others were just as responsible. Then after a few more races I dropped to D for the first time, I was convinced this was because Suzuka and the Oval Races were just bad tracks for contact and I was unlucky, after that I bounced between C and D for a while. I'm not really sure what changed but at some point I started getting more and more clean race bonuses and suddenly my SR started skyrocketing until I hit S.

I am having exact same issue, just bouncing back between those ranks. I am a new player so definitely my experience is also a big factor.

@quikk forget your driver rating first, concentrate on safety rating, drive behind pack, even it means last position, just staying out of problems. When you get your safety rating up to S then start pushing faster qualification times and try to gain places on races. Remember to join only races on good tracks, which aren't easily wreck mayhem tracks.

I'm on B/S level and still not going to go on races which I know or suspect to be too easy to wreck. Even it means at there is only only race to drive on daily selection, or there were some days when I skip all daily races just because of track choices.

I am happy with my driving rating all i want is to have fun, competitive races that measure my skill, however sometimes i feel i might be limited by the SR system if other drivers dont care about.

I uploaded a video of the first race of the day:



First turn, i try to stay clean, then had to drive a lil bit of the track to avoid contact, let cars pass behind me in case i get penalised by touching them.
then 0:50 if the car didnt ghost i would have to drive off the track to avoid losing sr
2:31, drive off the track or lose SR,
3:50 not sure about it, but pretty sure the guy deliberately tries to block me?(lose sr) on the previous lap i was in front of him and drove cleanly


Here's another video, in literally 40 seconds i can say goodbye to ranking up:


I start the race pretty slow, maybe breaking a little bit too early but still the get hits me with full speed(!) and im getting penalised, then 3 guys go full speed on the next corner, yellow flag is up, i am getting penalised 5 seconds plus negative SR, like what was i supposed to do in that situation?

As you can see, i am far from being a pro driver, i have started not long ago and still make a lot of mistakes. I dont want to be in top 5 all the time but in order to have fun from the game I need to feel some kind of competitiveness and if i stay at the back by giving away position it completely ruins the experiences for me. Feel free to point out some of the things i do wrong when racing. Thanks

 

[TeWheke]

The first corner at Interlagos can be a little crazy on the first lap, try racing using the bumper cam for that corner so you have the rear view mirror available but a SR down arrow is fairly common at all levels. It also looks like the Evo driver you're battling with just has really poor awareness, rather than deliberately trying to block you. You you did well enough cope with that though so at worse you'd have come through that race with white SR. In the second video you didn't lose SR when the 3 Meganes went past you and I suspect the penalty was a just a yellow flag glitch where it didn't register that all 3 cars went off the track. That said I do have to question why you started moving to the inside of that corner when your radar clearly showed another car was already coming up your inside?

The other issue I saw in your videos is the new phenomenon of hyper aggression from the Megane drivers, unfortunately because they are so overpowered right now it gives their drivers a sense of entitlement which leads them to do dumb things to get past (applies to Scirocco drivers too). The only solution isn't much of a one as all you can do is just be prepared for it and concede places to avoid a damaging crash as they'll probably be able to get past you eventually so battling them for position is just going to encourage them to do stupid things. Of course not all Megane and Scirocco drivers are like this, however it's a trait far more common in the mid and lower grid runners - who unfortunately are the ones who will be looking to force their way past you. If I find myself in a high grid spot these days the first few laps are usually spent dodging Meganes and Sciroccos until they're all ahead of me and then I can actually settle into the race. PD will have to do something about the BOP and then the situation will change it's just that when you have a situation where a couple of cars are so overpowered it makes all other cars uncompetitive it makes people think they own the track - do your best to avoid them and try not to get frustrated until the next BOP update. Also remember this is a BOP issue not a SR one.

 

[stevenhiggster]

There's no such thing as ELO hell. I enjoy Overwatch and the community over there whines about it as well while many commentators and experienced 'luminaries' dismiss it entirely.

The sad reality is you are where you are, after 100s of race events, for a reason.

If you drive consistently safer/with more awareness than the people around you, you will eventually end up in SR-S. If you drive consistently less safe than those around you, you will wind up in SR-E eventually.


Yeah, if that's the attitude you have then you're just another one of those "no really guys I'm a clean and fast racer" people that thinks they know how to drive fast in traffic and puts their car in dumb situations, expecting everyone else on track to be a perfect driver.

Eventually you will learn to drive with the radar and have better situational awareness, or you will just sit where you are. There's no need to run at the back to rank up in SR.

Agreed. I've been SR S since the first or second day of playing. Dropped back to an A once after a rather messy Gr3 at interlagos. Went back to S after one race and have never been back down since.
You are where you are because that's where you pretty much should be. Unless you really are the most unlucky person in GTsport world.
As others have said, it's not just about not being an idiot yourself, you have to learn to avoid idiots. Always assume that the other guy is an idiot.

 

[Tekku]

Just keep at it and the system will sort it out eventually. Judging by the videos you posted you are quite unpredictable yourself in your driving style. Don't forget that your SR will go down when you go off track, cut corners, bump into objects etc. It's not always about your opponents.

To increase the chance of success I would recommend you to do the circuit experience and then lots of qualifying laps before the race. Being unsure of braking points, racing lines and what not will only cause unnecessary problems for both you and your opponents. Being unpredictable and inconsistent is the worst thing to happen on a race track, as you've clearly experienced yourself.

 

[MikeTheHockeyFan]

@quikk forget your driver rating first, concentrate on safety rating, drive behind pack, even it means last position, just staying out of problems. When you get your safety rating up to S then start pushing faster .

This is terrible advice and will lead to a guy in SR-S who has no idea how to run in traffic at race pace, and will just end up running into people when the other cars on track don't react exactly how he expects to a situation.

SR isn't something you 'farm'. It will increase naturally over time as you develop better situational awareness.

 

[OdeFinn]

@MikeTheHockeyFan it will lead guy to DR:low SR:S and if he's worth of SRS he'll manage to keep it high and start to build up his speed and gain higher DR.
If he just believes on system and trust natural increase he'll face lot more destruction derbys on that way.

I did personally exactly as I suggest him to do and it was pretty joyful journey to B/S rated driver, now ~100 races later I have had under 5 bad race experiments, but those are individual brainiacs, not destruction derbys which people are posting here with YT videos.

Here's one example of bad feeling, but that wasn't big bad feeling, don't know was it just big mistake or what happened, but it gave bad vibes for 25 seconds, still leaving good overall feeling from race.

And here's one from journey to B/S, it's not bad, but it annoyed a lot, rest of five races are just some dive bombs gone wrong or similar. So not bad on low rated drivers with high safety ratings.


Edit: remembered my worst race ever(D/S):