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So, this is my proposal:
1. The races will be held on a weekly basis. Day and hour to be discussed.
Weekly event confirmed. Day and hour will be each Saturday, 11:00 PM GMT. If all goes well, the event will start Saturday 24th January 2009
2. Each week, a different car. We start with the F430 Challenge and after that one we follow the order we get on trophy mode (you can see that order in the "trophy mode achievements screen").
Confirmed
3. Each week we have 5 races, each of them in a different circuit. Length of races to be discussed. At least 1 of the weekly races will be held under rainy weather.
In pre-season test #1 we started at 11:00 PM, with 5 races set to 10 minutes and, with all the troubles we had, we still managed to finish the test within two hours. So, I'm inclined to do this with 4 races set to 10 minutes and the last set to 30 (more 20 minutes of race time overall). This also happens because the event will be run in two lobbies (simultaneously racing)and the last race will be special, as explained below. I'd like to have your feedback on this.
4. Tracks to be voted on a weekly poll here, to be closed at least 3 days before the event in question. In two consecutive weeks we can't repeat more than 2 tracks.
Confirmed, I just need to add that I'll be responsible either to open the poll or to ask someone else to do it, and that the poll for "next week event" should be open in the night of "this week's event" (sorry, but my poor english makes me write these confusing sentences, I guess you understand what I'm trying to say). I've been checking how to setup a poll and I don't have an option to limit the number of options any user can make - the idea is that everyone should have only 5 votes, and at least one of them on the wet version of the track. So, I'm still trying to figure out exactly how a poll can work. This is very important, and I can't leave it to the host's choice, because we all have our "favourite" and our "hated" tracks, and the host will enter the races and compete as anyone else.
5. Every week one of the players will volunteer to be the host (we are talking about more than 20 weeks, so a team work will be needed), it's his duty to open up a room at the scheduled hour, with all slots reserved, and invite all others (I don't think we'll get more than 16 players in each week).
Confirmed, this will be based on team work, and the first test showed me that being host isn't as easy as it should be. Again I must set a deadline for "host volunteering", I think Friday 24:00 GMT is enough. If by Saturday no one volunteered, if I'm present in that event's weekend I'll host one of the lobbies and name the poor soul that has to host the other.
6. Race settings to be discussed, but I think we should have all assists off, except maybe to allow the racing line to the ones that want it (I think we can set the room leaving for each player the "Racing line" choice, I'm not sure). To avoid lag problems and misunderstandings I also think we could leave the collisions on "Off", but all this is to be discussed of course.
All "car behaviour/physics" assists (ABS, TCS, ASM) will be set to OFF. And the only racing line option available for the ones that want to use it will be "braking zones". Collisions will be ON, with penalties.
7. The points system will follow F1 present rules (10-8-6-5-4-3-2-1). The weekly host is responsible to take note of the finishing position of other players.
I'm thinking differentely now, because we'll need to run two lobbies at the same time. So, it will be like this: The first four races (10 minutes each) will give points according to F1 present rules, but only to qualify for the last race. The first four of each lobby (in case of players tied for 4th place, the 4th race finishing position will define 4th and 5th places overall) will then reunite in one single 8 players lobby, and the last 4 of each lobby will do the same. Points are then reset to ZERO. Then the 5th race (30 minutes) begins and, in lobby 1 the finishing positions will be rewarded with 16-15-14-13-12-11-10-9 points. In lobby 2 the finishing positions will be rewarded with 8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 points. Lobby-hosts will be responsible to take notes and post them in the apropriate thread
8. It's not mandatory to participate in all weekly events, but of course if you don't race you don't get any points and you're compromising your position in the final standings.
Nothing to add here
9. If more than 16 players want to race a weekly event, only the first 16 applying to race (here, in this thread or in a dedicated thread) will receive an invite from the host. Sorry, but the points each of us gets will mean nothing if we have more than one room where the event races are held.
Ok, here's the tricky part. I think we'll surely have more than 8 players each week (we had 15 applying, and up to 12 entering a race in the pre-season test), and therefore we will need to open 2 lobbies. But the fact is that in some weeks we won't have 16 players, in some weeks we may have "overbooking". This is my idea about it:
a) Players wanting to enter one weekly event must apply for it in that event's "track poll thread". The first 16 to apply there get the right to participate. If any player doesn't show up to race until the end of thefirst race, the host can invite other players to race (that he notices are online) to fill the vacant spots from the 2nd race onwards.
b) Players will be split as equally (in numbers) as possible between both lobbies (if, as an example, only 12 racers show up, we'll run 2 lobbies of six players each). I'm not sure how to pick the racers for the first event, but for each of the following ones the lobbies will be formed based on the previous week's last race.
10. We could also think about creating teams (I belong to a GTP team - T&L - but sadly none of my team mates is a FC player) and give "team points" (something like a "constructors championship").
The "sadly" part is now over, many T&L racers now race with FC also. However, I think teams may be just a litle bit too much for me to think right now. Any ideas on this are welcome, of course, it's not a closed subject.
AAND-All face up to the club for running meetings, before during, and after the course to oppsumer how it went
) to change it to friday nights, so that's yet undecided. Anyway, my plan is to start the 2009 event in two weeks, after all details have been sorted out.
