Forza Motorsport 7: Leagues

[PJTierney]

Leagues is the competitive Multiplayer mode in Forza Motorsport 7.

• Leagues consist of multiple Seasons, which run for 4 weeks at a time.
• Each Season consists of 4 Series, which run for 1 week each.
• Each Series is made up of 1 or more Events.
• Events are your typical Multiplayer Lobbies, based around a specific Division, Class or other restrictions.

• Players are split into 5 Skill Bands.
• Each Band is split into 5 Ranks (A top-ranked player would be “Pinnacle 1”, with players just below that being “Pinnacle 2” etc.)
• Players gain points for their performance in League races, which allow them to be promoted or demoted over time.
• Points are awarded after every race based on your starting position, number of players who started, finishing position and relative skill of your opponents.
• Players that drop out of a race early are given the same number of points as a last-place finisher (in other words they will lose points).

• Players can earn CR bonuses every day, for taking part in their first race, getting their first podium of the day or moving up to a higher Rank.
• CR rewards are greater in the higher Bands.
• Exclusive cars, Badges and Driver Gears will be awarded for participation or performance in Leagues.

 

[PJTierney]

The first League Season begins on December 5.

The initial Series will consist of 2 Ghost Events, followed by 1 Ghost and 1 Simulation.

 

[urmie]

"Exclusive cars"......ugh.

 

[ELmarcotuff]

Hot hatch, I am interested

 

[RaceFuchs]

So, there is no such thing as sportsman rating? Instead they are doing ghost races? I guess i give it a try, but so far GT Sport has been the only racing game i'm regulary playing online.

 

[RikkiGT-R]

Definitely interested in this, I like having something to "achieve" instead of mindless racing against idiots.

 

[ImaRobot]

So, there is no such thing as sportsman rating? Instead they are doing ghost races? I guess i give it a try, but so far GT Sport has been the only racing game i'm regulary playing online.

If I remember, it always starts a bit light concerning the difficulty.

 

[EngieDiesel]

So, there is no such thing as sportsman rating? Instead they are doing ghost races? I guess i give it a try, but so far GT Sport has been the only racing game i'm regulary playing online.

The first round is all ghost leagues to help sort out the rankings more efficiently. In theory, that will have the more serious people who show up for most of the sessions filtering to the top faster, where they can get a better experience when the non-ghost races start next round. Meanwhile the crash kiddies will get bored since they can't ram into anyone and forget about leagues for a while, leaving them down in the lower end of the spectrum if/when they do come back.

 

[PJTierney]

I got some answers from Triton over at Turn 10:


1: How is your initial Band/Rank determined for each Season?
[Triton – Everyone starts at 0pts.]

2: Will your Rank/Band at the end of a Season carry over to the next one?
[Triton – Everyone carries their points forward, when they start a new season, there is a slight decay to their points. In most cases this might only drop a player a Rank or two.]

3: Is there a League Leaderboard?
[Triton – No, players are governed by their Band and Rank. Rewards are given out based on this as well. In FM6, the leaderboard was to only give out a % of credit payout. This no longer applies.]

4: Are there time penalties for people who cut corners or crash into other players?
[Triton – Not currently, but vote to kick has been enabled for Leagues for the 1st time as well as having active Marshals.]

5: How are starting positions determined in each race?
[Triton – All Events should be setup with Bestlap grid ordering. If you haven’t raced in the lobby yet, you will be randomly assigned a grid spot after the prior players.]

6: Will League Hoppers be open 24 hours a day?
[Triton – Not at this time. We still want players to race at key times. This helps regulate the amount of play. We will start with smaller windows until there is enough players to make them wider.]

7: Are Prize Cars awarded for participation or promotion to a higher Band?
[Triton – While possible, no. Cars are currently reserved for end of Season/Series rewards. Band up and Rank up rewards are currently credits. You can only earn these 1 time per season.]

8: At what Bands are various assists disabled?
[Triton – Because players can now be moved after a race to a new Band and new lobby, each event has it’s own settings that allows any Band to participate currently. We will try to offer options for everyone so that you can play what fits you. That said, all Events start with a minimum of ABSOn, Steering Normal, Automatic and FrictionAssist Forced Off no matter the Band or Rank.

9: Can players be matched up across Bands? (A “Grassroots 1” in a lobby with “Enthusiast 5s” etc.)
[Triton – No cross Band matchmaking]

10: Will opponent rankings be visible in races, in Lobbies or both?
[Triton – Yes, you will know their Rank but you won’t know their exact points]

 

[eAxis Patohm]

This is a let down to be honest

- why no ranks for a league Lederboard
- Rank is worthless again, because of no leaderboard or Gifts...
- no cross band matchmaking means your screwed if you are high up --> no playerbase again...

Why call it "Leagues", when there is no league of competition?! This is stupid (again)...

 

[UnshavenYapper]

It seems to be more glitchy then the rest of the game ever was, had 1 race in 45minutes as we speak.


It just keep leaving me in the lobby when the race starts.

 

[PJTierney]

Quick tips:

• The 1997 Honda Civic is the leaderboard car in Event 01
• If you race at Homestead your car may revert back to stock. You’re better off quitting before the race starts than to continue and lose points.

 

[Gotbeefboy564]

Why does it seem that everyone is faster than me? Highest I got was third from last and it seems like everyone is pulling away even with the civic. Mine is homolageted stock with no tune.

 

[EngieDiesel]

It seems to be more glitchy then the rest of the game ever was, had 1 race in 45minutes as we speak.


It just keep leaving me in the lobby when the race starts.

I'm guessing it was due to the servers being hammered from everyone trying to get in right away, I did a few races around midnight EST and had no trouble connecting.

I'm very disappointed that leagues seem to adhere to the old ways of "buy the leaderboard car to even stand a chance", though. In the four races I did I ended up losing points simply because I would start around mid-pack from my previous race's lap time, only to finish near the back because all the rocket-tuned Civics would fly away after the first lap and get so far ahead that even though they kept botching every other corner it was impossible to catch up. And since i have no chance of progressing unless I specifically buy a car for league events instead of just using the ones I like to drive, my interest is pretty much gone for this.

 

[Snorevette]

Really not a fan of the best lap grid ordering. If you stay on the track you end up falling behind everyone who cuts corners and lose points, then you start at the front of the pack in the next race because everyone else got dirty laps. I hate cutting corners but I was finding myself actively trying to stray off the track just so I wouldn't start at the front. I'd be a lot happier if the grid order counted dirty laps or was based on your finishing position.

 

[PJTierney]

Looks like the top players have already figured out that high grid slots give you predominantly less points per race than if you started further back and gained spots (which is easy to do in Ghost racing if you’re fast enough).

Basically, if you start towards the front there’s a higher chance of you losing points due to how Starting Position score is calculated, and vice-versa if you start toward some the back.

That’s makes the optimal point strategy one where you quit out of every race and join a new lobby, which will put you behind everyone that did the previous race. If you’re fast enough to finish near the podium that’s a massive point haul.

 

[IceMan PJN]

Why does it seem that everyone is faster than me? Highest I got was third from last and it seems like everyone is pulling away even with the civic. Mine is homolageted stock with no tune.

I had a similar problem. I was several hours late to the League party due to work, but I tried some hot hatch races last night after work and kept getting left in the dust. I was fine in the corners but they were way faster in a straight line. It didn't help that it kept picking circuits that favored top speed over cornering, but we kept getting simple loops with few corners. I was finishing like 13th out of 17.

 

[PJTierney]

Looks like the top players have already figured out that high grid slots give you predominantly less points per race than if you started further back and gained spots (which is easy to do in Ghost racing if you’re fast enough).

Basically, if you start towards the front there’s a higher chance of you losing points due to how Starting Position score is calculated, and vice-versa if you start toward some the back.

That’s makes the optimal point strategy one where you quit out of every race and join a new lobby, which will put you behind everyone that did the previous race. If you’re fast enough to finish near the podium that’s a massive point haul.

Note, this is only an issue if a player is significantly faster than half the field.

Once you get promoted to a higher Band the skill gaps narrow and playing “normally” is less discouraged.

Myself and @UnshavenYapper are in Enthusiast right now, which is where most of the Leaderboard-toppers are too. #1s are being set after every race.

Also, the Division name has changed, to Honda Civic Spec Series

 

[UnshavenYapper]

Myself and @UnshavenYapper are in Enthusiast right now, which is where most of the Leaderboard-toppers are too. #1s are being set after every race.

Also, the Division name has changed, to Honda Civic Spec Series

There is some FAST boy's is this Band, im not sure if anyone has gone into the next yet? Been at it for a few hours and its wearing me thin, just trying to keep pace.

And yes, it really is "Bring a civic or dont bother" type of deal.

 

[-Fred-]

Time to start working on a Civic slayer then.

Though tbh, I'm a huge fan of the EK9 CTR so it doesn't bother me.

 

[PJTierney]

There is some FAST boy's is this Band, im not sure if anyone has gone into the next yet? Been at it for a few hours and its wearing me thin, just trying to keep pace.

And yes, it really is "Bring a civic or dont bother" type of deal.

The TX3 drivers just started moving up to the next Band, which means we won’t get paired with them for a while. PPS drivers not far behind. Haven’t seen any other major teams grouping up in the Lobbies.

Speaking of Civics, has anyone made a competitive RWD tune yet? Everybody seems to be driving FWD right now.

 

[UnshavenYapper]

Just made it to rank 2 in Enthusiast now, and that me done for tonight!!

Im not even sure i would like to move up in rank, my hands are sore and my ego hurting. but what a night of racing it has been, if only the people in the hoppers could drive like this!

 

[Omologato]

I am also in Enthusiast, and good grief. My brief stint mixed in with other enthusiast-spec racers was not great. Pretty much everyone was cutting corners, which was made worse by the selection of tracks, which were COTA, Yas, and then Yas again. And there's really no comeuppance for the cutters. Vote to kick? Who cares if nearly the entire lobby is doing it. I could try and report dirty racing, but if you're in last, guess what? You've no idea who else was dirty aside from the dingdong in the E36.

I understand and have always accepted that I am not the fastest racer, but this tier is proving a tough nut to crack. At this point I fear being sent back down to Grassroots.

 

[turbofozz]

I’ll get into enthusiast today after work, grassroots 2 at the moment. It’s a shame how the civic became the OP car so quick. Hypercar is a little more balanced.

 

[HBR-Roadhog]

I was in a race today where the game was acting a bit flaky early. Took longer than usual to load the race then the screen when black and I see race in progress. It then shows my car on track in the wrong view and everyone else has already left the line before I can give any throttle. I should have started up near the front instead when i am able to get moving I am dead last with a margin to make up just to gain one position. I almost quit right there but thought oh well lets see how I can do anyway. I pushed hard made it up to 4th before the end of the race, my best lap was about 1 second faster than anyone else and then to my surprise it awarded me the win

Not sure what was going on there but clearly if it had started me properly I would have been fast enough to win the race, or should have been though it is possible that the handicap it gave me made me drive a bit harder to try and catch up.

 

[Heldenzeit]

Having fun with the 323 compact. Got a couple podiums, but the Civics are just too damn fast. Rank 4 in Grassroots after about 30 min of racing.

 

[FendaBenda63]

I have tried the Civic with a number of different tunes and I can’t get close to top 10.
I am by no means great at Racing games but I’m not as hopeless as leagues is making me feel.

 

[UnshavenYapper]

Not everybody had time to play the leagues yet, there must still be lot of fast guys in Grassroots. I think after the weekend it should be spread out more and the different ranks will start to work as intended.

 

[HBR-Roadhog]

I have tried the Civic with a number of different tunes and I can’t get close to top 10.
I am by no means great at Racing games but I’m not as hopeless as leagues is making me feel.

I built the Honda myself and have had mixed results with it. Have won a couple of races with it and placed top 5 in others and much worse in a few. Partially depends on the track and how many mistakes I make. There are some fast guys that show up in some of these events so don;t feel to bad if you are having trouble getting to the podium.

Have you checked your leaderboard position with the car on any of the tracks running in the league?

 

[FendaBenda63]

^^^ No have not done much racing yet in the game, I think I am expecting too much from myself at this stage. You know what it’s like.. the desire to win everything lol
I am just going to chill and enjoy the game without putting to much pressure on.
As @UnshavenYapper said it’s early days and when more players join I might fare better