"Learning to be a better driver", then you see the state of FM7 online lobbies... Yeah, nah. There was zero incentive to learn to become a better driver before, there is even less over here in Horizon - every online race is one I dread. To incentivize a player to be a better driver, you kind of have to teach them one way or another what that even means.
Even a literal license test system, Gran Turismo style, would have been better than zero at that. I'm not saying that gamifying every corner, which is the approach they seem to be going for, is the solution, but it is absolutely better than nothing. I know it's one of those little things that might help me keep going a few more laps. The absolutely trashiest drivers will, yes, earn their XP more slowly, but, and crucially, there is a penalty system, a driver rating, and a safety rating system in multiplayer, now. Of all the things to copy from Gran Turismo, this is absolutely one I'm going to welcome.
Trash drivers will always be trash drivers, but if it can incentivize some to get better and learn a car, it can't be a bad thing. If you are good enough of a driver and you don't care for the XP system, you will probably unlock what you need for each car you want relatively quickly anyway, since, as you put it, you seem to be of the mindset that you want to be a better driver to begin with. You're probably good enough already, this system will not teach you to drive better; it'll only reward what you already know to do. All that I hope is those who won't or can't improve stay in their corner under their own safety rating.
"Trash drivers will always be trash drivers" was kind of what I was trying to get at, just... less harshly. If people have had all these games over the years and never put in any effort or cared if they suck and are embarrassing themselves in public lobbies, is the "car mastery" or whatever it's called thing really going to be the thing to finally change that?
It doesn't teach anyone anything more than the previous games did with their "perfect corner!" and "good overtake!" things popping up in the top corner of your screen, it's just that now they have an XP number associated with them. The new practice mode could help in theory, but it could help just as much without locking parts behind a grind.
I've organized and raced in league and community events in a variety of games since FM1. One thing I've learned is that you can't do anything to make people get better or learn anything, they have to want to do that on their own. If you try, they either keep doing the same things they were doing before but complain more and find new things to blame their struggles on, or give up because it's "unfair" or "bull****" or whatever... And that's among people who go out of their way to join organized leagues, so you would think they would take it a bit more seriously than a significant portion of the playerbase.
I think the rating system for multiplayer is far more likely to improve the standards than the car mastery system will. The public shaming of having a big fat "F" rating next to your name telling you that you suck and no one wants to race with you will likely inspire people more than the grind will. Inevitably though, it will also hurt people's feelings who will just quit rather than try to learn and improve.
It is what it is at this point I guess, but we can hope if we complain about it enough T10 will look at changing it and making it less restrictive. Hopefully something that is a bit better "balanced" for the community can be found, HokiHoshi's suggestions were good compromises I think.
Aeqnx has a list of (potential) car divisions.
A few disappointments in there, like "Forza GT" still being a thing, meaning that we will still have a horrible mash up of GT4/GT3/GT2 (of 2 generations)/GTE (also of 2 generations)/ST/Challenge/etc/etc/etc for our GT classes. Same for Forza Touring Cars instead of separate BTCC, TCR categories. Can't say I'm surprised though.
A few interesting ones though like Group C and GTP being separated into their own division, and whatever "GTX Sportscars" will be.
Formula Mazda is also the only spec one on the list, was hoping we would see some things like GR86 Cup, MX5 Cup, Clio Cup in there. I guess it's still an early build so they could turn up, but it's getting harder to hold out hope for them.
