GTP Online Racing Bureau (GTP ORB) Now Hiring!

[CAM]

Dude, you are doin' work! I'm ready to start already, this is making my head numb.

 

[JLawrence]

Ok.
Let me get your license theory straight here -
One track, one car, three separate times for three licenses.
Ex. SLS on Nurburg 2:12 Amateur, 2:10.5 Intermediate, 2:08.5 Advanced.
Then to qualify to take a different test you must have a certain number of wins?

I really like the concept of licenses, but I am still on the fence about them. I just don't know that they are really the best thing to be done with this as of now. I know we are looking for a way to gauge driver skill in order to maybe promote races that take place on a certain skill level, so why not use the driver's in race skill to measure it? I mean at this point we are only sanctioning what? 6 race series? That isn't a huge amount to keep track of. Why not make a separate points system from everything else based on race wins and championship final standings?

Maybe like this:
Race Win 5pts
Championship Win 10pts
Championship 2nd 5-8pts
Championship 3rd 3-5pts

At first it wouldn't allow us to organize anything for the fast drivers specifically but after a while we would have been able to compile enough data to set up a system. And the good thing here is you wouldn't have to keep track of every driver. Just have the race director report individual race winners and the top three from the championship. Only those that have won or placed would have to be put in the system reducing the amount of work for us.

 

[leowan731]

How about to get each license, each 10 in-game golds would get you a license.

With my ideas, I think they are scrapped.

 

[Wardez]

That wouldn't work 'cause a really good driver could just sandbag by going into a really easy series full of inexperienced drivers and get tons of wins. I do not want to turn this into a stat padding thing where people just do race after race to "go through the levels(licenses)". It's not about that at all.

and we're still thinking through the licenses to make it as easy as possible but part of it is dedication so yes, we will need people that are dedicated to go online and test people.


That's just the thing I keep going back to as a working system. We'll keep thinking though.

 

[JLawrence]

I'm happy to do whatever testing needs to be done. I just loving driving.

True... I'm trying to think of some way to integrate the races themselves with a license system. Just from talking to the guys in my series I am under the impression that they have no real interest in taking the time to take a test. They just want to race.

 

[Wardez]

There's a lot of casual drivers but you'll be surprised at just how many drivers are more than willing to take the time to test if the thing they're testing makes it so they don't have to worry about finding the right series. That's what this is really all about.

If we wanted to somehow integrate licenses in race performance we'd have to overdtep our boundariea with control.

 

[leowan731]

If someone is going to hand pick people to be tested and placed, they can directly say "you have obtained a B-level license; you are able to join any race that has the blue B in its thread." Would that be possible?

 

[Wardez]

Uhm, can you explain that differently? I don't quite get what you're trying to say.

 

[leowan731]

You said someone would literally test people right? When a firm answer is made about the ability of the driver we would give them a A-level, B, or C-level license. The bureau would assign each series with a-level or b-level license as required in order for someone to race in that particular series.

 

[Wardez]

We're leaving all decisions on what series take what license holders entirely up to the race organizers.

Our licenses are Beginner, Amateur, Intermediate, Advanced @ then three more A class licenses gained from winning races and championships.

Have you read the entire OP?

 

[leowan731]

I've tried. Lol. I'll take a long gander.

---

I have now read it all. Going to keep quiet now.

 

[JLawrence]

Ok, well how about this:

Same SLS example, 2:12 Amateur, 2:10.5 Intermediate, 2:08.5 Advanced, but, you can also be granted an Amateur license with a Championship or 5 wins. Then the other two are based solely on the tests, unless we think of something else? I figure that much would discourage people from sandbagging because it would be infinitely easier to just take the test, but it still awards the casual drivers who don't necessarily care about having it.

 

[JLawrence]

We give up on this already?

 

[Downhill Dino]

I'm not sure what happened. Maybe stuff is being made or something. That's what I thought.

 

[JLawrence]

I'm leaving for NYC shortly and I expect to see results when I get back!

 

[Downhill Dino]

Have fun in New York!

Now, what's being produced at the moment..

 

[CAM]

I haven't seen Wardez or gatrs up here in awhile. We need to get this started fast, or people will lose interest. I already feel like I'm not helping.

 

[BrandonW77]

I'm leaving for NYC shortly and I expect to see results when I get back!

We need to get this started fast, or people will lose interest.

Why is there a need to rush through this as fast as possible? If you guys want this to work it's probably going to take a few more weeks at least before you have something solid enough to present to the GTP Community. Don't get me wrong, it's a great idea but if it's going to work it has to be incredibly solid and well tested. From what I've seen there's been very little testing done besides random people doing laps around tracks to decide what would be a good time for the licenses. Since it's up to the league/club director to decide if licenses will even be required, I don't think licenses should be the main focus right now.

If you want league/club directors to join this and actually have some participants you need to layout guidelines for what's expected of a sanctioned league/club. Right now it looks like you're just accepting anybody that wants to sign up, so if we see an "ORB Sanctioned" logo all it means is somebody wanted to add their league and doesn't speak to the quality of the league. I would think they would at least need to conform to a few key formats or procedures before being considered as an official ORB group. Assigning "tiers" to different groups just means the lower tier groups won't get any members because everyone will want to sign up for a top tier group. It also doesn't make sense to rate groups based on non-ORB seasons/races, it should only be done after they've completed a season under the ORB sanctioning.

This message board is full of examples of rushed ideas that failed and I don't think that's what you guys are wanting out of this, so take your time and make sure it's done right. Start small and grow into bigger ideas. 👍

 

[Downhill Dino]

Right. At the moment I believe we're still on licenses. Now... where were we...

 

[CAM]

Good point. We need to do something to start on that road though.

 

[JLawrence]

You're totally right Stig, but keep in mind I was kidding in that earlier post

I have spent many hours testing for those license times with several friends, and people that I picked up in random lobbies, and I plan to continue when I get back. My goal for this organization is to be fully functional by mid to late October, and I believe that that is something like the time it's gonna take to get everything figured out and perfected.

 

[CAM]

Do you guys need any help with anything? The judging aspect seems to be pretty much done but I don't want you guys to think I'm just concerned with my position.

 

[JLawrence]

Come do some driving. We need times from all skill levels.

 

[CAM]

When?

 

[JLawrence]

I'll be on until about 2:30 or 3, so now if you'd like

 

[CAM]

Okay, how do I find your room?

 

[CodeRedR51]

My goal for this organization is to be fully functional by mid to late October, and I believe that that is something like the time it's gonna take to get everything figured out and perfected.

That's just in time for the winter rush, when it starts getting cold outside and people start migrating indoors to spend more time playing video games. That's why I have postponed the FMSC start until October. 👍

 

[JLawrence]

You're on my friends list, just go to community, click my name, then the orange dot next to the coffee mug.

That was my thought R16. Not to mention it gives us plenty of time to dial in every little aspect of the project.

 

[CAM]

Gotcha. Obviously, I don't race online much. That's a cool feature. I'm the only one in the room, though.

 

[BrandonW77]

You're totally right Stig, but keep in mind I was kidding in that earlier post

I have spent many hours testing for those license times with several friends, and people that I picked up in random lobbies, and I plan to continue when I get back. My goal for this organization is to be fully functional by mid to late October, and I believe that that is something like the time it's gonna take to get everything figured out and perfected.

👍 I couldn't tell you were kidding, sorry. So many are trying to rush through this, and having experience with this kind of thing (both in online racing and in the normal world) I know that this isn't something that can be rushed through. It's a great concept and something I've thought we needed for a while, but not everybody agrees so we need to present a product that puts everybody's concerns at rest and instills confidence in the organization.

I think one of the main goals of this idea (correct me if I'm wrong) is simply to standardize and improve some of the leagues on GTP. That's why I think it's best to focus on the league/club elements of the ORB first and then worry about classifying drivers with licenses later (based on their ORB participation). We should present would-be series directors with a list of tested/proven options to organize a league with (qualifying/points/penalties) which would go a long way in helping get groups off the ground instead of letting them try to come up with ideas on their own (which may or may not work). If the options are spelled out clearly it would even encourage more people to form groups because they'd have templates to pick from and know they are "proven and approved" by a majority of racers.

I like the idea of different tiers, but there needs to be a set of standards that define what qualifies for the different tiers first. I also think that tiers should only be assigned after participation under the ORB banner. Meaning, accept groups into the ORB with just the "ORB Approved" designation to begin with and after they have run a season within those parameters their series can be assigned a tier rating based on how well they adhered to the parameters.

Or maybe forget the tiers all together and just have 3 ORB Official Organized Series that are run by ORB members under ORB rules and regulations. Have a Beginner Series, an Advanced Series and a Professional Series and allow entrance to each series based on drivers performance in other ORB sanctioned leagues. A race winner/champion/podium finish in championship gets admittance to the Professional League; 2 podium race finishes/top 5 in championship gets admittance to the Advanced league; completed 3/4 of races in an ORB sanctioned season gets admittance to the Beginner League. Or something like that. This would eliminate the need for license tests and classification of tiers for different leagues. If a directors group meets certain standards they get the ORB Stamp of Approval and then any drivers that participate in the majority of that series season can qualify for the ORB Organized Race Series. This also eliminates the appearance that we are "telling people how to run their leagues" because only the ORB Organized leagues would have to follow all the rules to the letter. A sanctioned series would only have to meet a percentage of the requirements based on what they want for their group.

Meh, just some thoughts.