I noticed you didn't answer my first question Johnnypenso.
I mention it below because I wrote that first but it seems like you have been a little confused by the online system. Maybe not but I'll just point out that there is an Online system that is similar to GT6 and there is the Sport mode which is a separate online racing service. Yes the focus is the Sport mode, PD have said so and I'm not debating that. But if you think about GT6 as having a online system and a offline campaign what GTS is doing is keeping the online system but replacing the offline campaign with a shorter offline campaign that leads into an online career, the progression of these 2 combined is deeper than the offline campaign of previous titles and I can see a number of people are having trouble understanding that but if you think of the way offline racing used to work it had a path set out and sure you didn't have to 100% and you could stick with what you enjoy most but the events determined what you raced where. So in this game you will start in a similar way for 117 events which hopefully will prepare you better than the old license tests but this time they seem to be different to those of old and look like an improvement. So they will prepare you and rate you as you go and when you finish then you will start your progression through your online career in Sport which replaces the offline racing in GT6. So Sport doesn't replace Online, Online is still there, Sport replaces the old offline races and in that regard I don't see the big issue other than sometimes you might not like the track they are racing your favourite car at. But the thing with the old game is you didn't really get much say in that either all the time, in the old offline you also sometimes raced cars you were not particularly interested in at tracks you didn't care much for. Now you can pick a favourite class or race them all and if you like cars in each class then you have a choice of tracks if all you want to do is jump in and race. And if that is all you ever do the racing will be great if the matchmaking system works. The big thing I've been trying to point out is in offline you were racing against moving road blocks in the old game and now you are really racing real people. That is why I said it is an improvement. And while I kind of get that people want an offline racing experience against AI with some kind of path to follow and a reward system I do think about how Kaz said he didn't want to compete with other sims and there are other sims that are just doing this aspect so much better than GT was. The way I see it if GTS delivers they will be the benchmark on console and although they will not match iRacing in certain features they look like in a number of important ways they will have iRacing beat for an online racing service. There is still an offline component to this game and I earlier I was responding because I was under the impression you said there was no offline but there is still both campaign with 117 events and arcade and although we only know of racing and TT's in arcade at the moment I'd be surprised if we didn't see more later.
As far as the in game economy goes I don't see how we can complain about something we know nothing about but as far as the things you can do in game I just don't see it as being as barren as people are making out. And we could still see things like a track path editor announced closer to release. There will no doubt be special events, they will be online sure and I get that people don't like how much of this is online but as long as playing online is accessible there will be plenty to do and there still is a very decent offline game as well, I'm pretty sure if the physics in GTS turn out to be as good as AC I'll probably never play it after GTS comes out as everything I actually do in AC I will still be able to do in GTS.
I must say I'm a little surprised by many of the complaints here, I thought most people primarily used sims for hotlapping these days, I guess people here are a little more serious than those.
You do realise that GTS will still have exactly the same online experience as GT6 and that the Sport mode is extra, another service in addition to the online lobby system?
I know you have read about the ratings systems now so you now know the performance level and that drivers will be only driving against drivers with the same Sportmanship level, I saw a post where someone mentioned that is a lot of levels but I wonder if they realised just how many possible grouping that might be. I'm wondering how they will use Sportsmanship Points to divide drivers, say if a driver is on 1.3 would he only drive against 1.3 drivers or 1.x drivers? And how many levels are there? And at what point does performance come into it? Because if drivers are first groups by SR and then secondary grouped by Driver Class and we already know there is 6 driver classes even if SR only split drivers into 4 groups that is already 24 groups. 6 SR groups would result in 36 groups, what if groupings were done in finer increments and there were 40 SR groups? That would make 240 total groups. Time will tell but clearly the system described is already more complex than iRacings and that's a good thing if they deliver but it should start to be easy to see how you could potentially bump into the same guys in races. The top guys will especially be bumping into each other and you can be sure since Kaz has announced that the ratings of other drivers will effect your own rating that because the system is similar to iRacing drivers will organise strength of field time slots.
Of course all the interview really says is that people will be split based on SR but I doubt it will end there because that would not work at all, surely SR first splits the drivers and they are split again by DC as required. Maybe they will use qualifying? I've got no idea but surely you can see how it is possible to bump into drivers repeatedly with the same speed and rating as you especially if you tend to race at the same times. So I don't think I'm dreaming but I admit that it really comes down to the splitting system.
I get what you are saying, in the official races the group of people you race against will be different each race, yes of course that is correct. I was only suggesting that you may bump into certain rivals in those races but on a whole the group will be different and that is what makes each race unique. And yes I imagine in official races that if you do back to back races in the same class you will be racing the same track each time and I'm not sure of the frequency of rotation in daily races. It should be that way so you can practice for a race before you enter, many will not want to practice and just jump into a race but the system works well on iRacing.
What you need to understand is you still have the GT6 system, this is an additional mode and I've already seen some people getting confused and I suspect that you have been and I'm not sure if you have worked that out yet but the combination of Campaign mode and Sport mode is what replaces the traditional career and the online mode is unchanged and carried over from GT6, well it may be improved, I don't know. So if you like the old online service you will still like it and I'm sure people will still use it, hosted sessions are always more popular than official racing on iRacing. You will not lose that social aspect. And the social features in GTS also look to be an improvement so that is another way I think GTS will be more social. I know you think that racing against random people in official races is too impersonal but the way these ratings systems will work people will be racing against like minded people (hopefully) and yes emotions run high in races and sometimes people don't get along but on iRacing after the race people usually stick around for a bit, congratulate each other and have a quick chat before moving on and after a race it isn't uncommon to get a friend request from someone you raced against so that is where the advanced social functions will be a very nice addition. I have made a number of friends on Facebook from racing on iRacing so I'm sure that having something like Facebook on Sport will work very well. I'm also sure there will be plenty of teams form ranging from just social right through to the most serious.
I can see you are concerned and think it will not be good but I wouldn't be surprised if you completely change your mind once you start playing it.
I'm not talking about open public lobbies, I'm talking about racing services like iRacing and SRS. Name one other racing service that doesn't care if you cheat or intentional crash into people? The others ban you because you spoil the experience for others, GTS is welcoming them and rather than punishing them GTS will just put them with like minded people. I know people have drawn the comparison between matchmaking on iRacing and in GTS but from what Kaz has already described this is a unique improved matchmaking system that could actually succeed in making this a game for anyone.
Again I think this comment stems from a misunderstanding of the 2 different online experiences Sport will provide. in Sport mode clean drivers will be placed with clean drivers, it is a whole different thing and revenge contact will hurt the other guy as much as you. But unless you are a bad driver yourself you shouldn't be in races with people of that mindset in Sport mode and like I said you don't have to listen to anyone, just turn chat off and it will sound the same as offline.
Yes this is what will happen, it is the same no fault system iRacing uses.
The way it works is it averages over time. This system will literally drive people crazy when the game is first released because everyone will be a noob to it and if iRacing has taught us anything it is that noobs take a while to understand it, some never do and a annoying percentage of new members complain about it due to their lack of understanding.
Here is the first tip and this is one of the reasons it works well, never rage quit. The system works on a score of incident per corners in iRacing and GTS has already said race length is a factor so the system will be similar to iRacing in the way it counts. What this means in iRacing is if you take damage instead of rage quitting after you take your pit stop you continue the race to reduce the impact. This is good because one of the issues with online racing is rage quitting which leaves a race barren, this system encourages people to take repairs and continue racing if they can like in real life because if they quit the effect on their rating will be worse.
It also works because it is an average of your incidents over time. Sure when you start out you haven't done many laps so early incidents can be fairly nasty but after you have been racing a while your incidents do average out and your actual score is a genuine indication of how clean you are. Yes there are some crashes that just aren't your fault but the vast majority each party can take some of the responsibility, it really comes down to situational awareness and race craft and when you have been racing for a bit you start to work out when it might be better to just back out of a fight and let the other guy go to avoid him hitting you. The thing is if you are a good driver and you don't rage quit the guy who hit you will make many more mistakes and you wont so your score will still go up and his will go down, soon you wont be racing with guys like that because they will be too busy playing crash up derbies with each other and you will be with the good guys.
You will find the no fault system is an intelligence test that in addition to weeding out the worst drivers also exposes those who are not so bright since they will go crazy complaining how terrible and unfair it is. The vast majority of people realise how the system actually works and have no issue with it, it does take a little persistence at first but once you step above the ranks the way PD are saying they will implement it seems like the best implementation we will see of such a system.
The good thing about GTS to keep in mind is you will be scored before your first race so as long as you stay clean during the campaign you should be in good company. The negative is all a wrecker has to do is stay clean during the campaign and be in your race. Hopefully those 117 events take long enough to act as a deterrent to this, and another deterrent would be to limit account resets or perhaps never allow them but that wont stop griefers creating new accounts and the campaign needs to be long enough to act as a deterrent.
