Matchmaking In Sport Mode Making The Game Overly Difficult

[ChaseHQ]

Is anyone else other than me having problems with matchmaking in Sport Mode?? My driver rating is "D" & my sportmanship rating is "A". Now as far as I'm aware I should be placed with other drivers who are DR "D" & SR "A" but every time I race in Sports Mode (which is the main/career game I've been led to believe) I'm always placed with drivers who are not just one Driver Rating ranking up from me but sometimes 2 or even 3, which means I'm always starting from the back of the pack & can never catch the leading cars due to them always having faster pace from me. The thing is during the 4 day demo I was having a blast with this game & the matchmaking was bob on, but with me now unable to really race anyone its not as much fun any more. I've actually not played for about a week to see if there were any improvements but alas no, I'm still getting placed at the back of the pack.

I've attached 2 pictures of the startup grid (& before any of you clever clogs chirp up, yes I realise I'm at the back of the pack in one of the races due to no qualifying time, i've just posted the pictures for the driver ratings of the other drivers I'm constantly racing against).

I'm just wondering if anyone else is having this problem???

 

[TenderLoins]

Is anyone else other than me having problems with matchmaking in Sport Mode?? My driver rating is "D" & my sportmanship rating is "A". Now as far as I'm aware I should be placed with other drivers who are DR "D" & SR "A" but every time I race in Sports Mode (which is the main/career game I've been led to believe) I'm always placed with drivers who are not just one Driver Rating ranking up from me but sometimes 2 or even 3, which means I'm always starting from the back of the pack & can never catch the leading cars due to them always having faster pace from me. The thing is during the 4 day demo I was having a blast with this game & the matchmaking was bob on, but with me now unable to really race anyone its not as much fun any more. I've actually not played for about a week to see if there were any improvements but alas no, I'm still getting placed at the back of the pack.

View attachment 686520 View attachment 686522

I've attached 2 pictures of the startup grid (& before any of you clever clogs chirp up, yes I realise I'm at the back of the pack in one of the races due to no qualifying time, i've just posted the pictures for the driver ratings of the other drivers I'm constantly racing against).

I'm just wondering if anyone else is having this problem???

Yup. I’m DR D & SR S and I’m constantly matched with DR A&S drivers with laptomes 5-6 seconds faster. If I’m lucky I start middle of the pack but usually near the back. I usually just try to gain 1-2 spots and stay clean.

I’m going to get a wheel and hopefully improve my times and consistency. Using a dpad now.

 

[VFOURMAX1]

Makes you wonder if the numbers racing online are not great enough at certain levels to fill the grids up for a race so they use who is online and waiting to race and apparently it is a wide spread of levels and speed differences to get enough racers to fill the grids at certain times .

 

[Pfei]

Happened to me all last night. One of the Kyoto races had a 10 second qualifying spread between pole and last!

This is worrying. After hundreds of hours of World of Tanks, I can affirm by experience that this "unfair" matchmaking is due to low player counts. PD might want to think about putting more downtime between events.

 

[ChaseHQ]

Yup. I’m DR D & SR S and I’m constantly matched with DR A&S drivers with laptomes 5-6 seconds faster. If I’m lucky I start middle of the pack but usually near the back. I usually just try to gain 1-2 spots and stay clean.

I’m going to get a wheel and hopefully improve my times and consistency. Using a dpad now.

Exactly what I've been doing, but just gaining 1 or 2 spots to finish 14 or around there is kind of wearing thin after knowing what the game is like played against a more level playing field...

 

[Ryan Dungey]

I have a feeling what's causing this is alot of drivers are your typical ram everyone off track to get first so the majority of this games player base will be in the E bracket. It is definitely an issue but out of the being paired with horrendous drivers and fast clean drivers I would take the fast clean one even if I'm slower.

 

[ChaseHQ]

I have a feeling what's causing this is alot of drivers are your typical ram everyone off track to get first so the majority of this games player base will be in the E bracket. It is definitely an issue but out of the being paired with horrendous drivers and fast clean drivers I would take the fast clean one even if I'm slower.

You could be right but surely there's more than a grids worth of players the same category as me when the sport mode races are on instead of about 2 & everyone else is on a different plane. I'd even settle for a grid where it didn't allow any other players from different categories so a reduced number of competitors, at least i'd have chance to obtain a 1st place then (which is totally unobtainable at the moment)...

 

[Ryan Dungey]

You could be right but surely there's more than a grids worth of players the same category as me when the sport mode races are on instead of about 2 & everyone else is on a different plane. I'd even settle for a grid where it didn't allow any other players from different categories so a reduced number of competitors, at least i'd have chance to obtain a 1st place then (which is totally unobtainable at the moment)...

There most definitely is more players in your bracket but if they are all searching to its just going to be entirely down to RNG on what bracket you get paired with. I also have a feeling the matchmaking is based entirely off SR.

 

[Blowy]

...and you're not actually D A but D S which is why the game is having trouble matching you (at this point). Generally drivers who have progressed up to SR-S are faster, which just means their DR rank is higher too. It is unusual to have a very high SR and a low DR (but very possible) and it's primarily SR that races get matched on. As more average drivers hit SR there should be more good matchups for you (and your speed should be improving as well making you more competitive...

 

[VFOURMAX1]

I have a feeling what's causing this is alot of drivers are your typical ram everyone off track to get first so the majority of this games player base will be in the E bracket. It is definitely an issue but out of the being paired with horrendous drivers and fast clean drivers I would take the fast clean one even if I'm slower.

The bad part is that PD will not have many opportunities to get GTS with the right balance before the average gamer will grow disenchanted and puts it down and moves on to a different game.

The initial daily (weekly) races seemed to be heading in a good direction from a competition standpoint and there were many races where there was only about 2 seconds a lap in difference from 1st place to last place and that was with what was it 24 cars?

Now with the daily events and only 12 racers needed you see a lot of 6 seconds difference from first to last and if your DR level is lower you will be starting mid pack or further back.
Even the more serious racer will only play so long always being placed on the grid at the rear and having a good race means a high of maybe 7th place if there are not enough players of his skill level to have an opportunity to start from a grid position where a podium finish or a win is at least a possibility.

Many racers that apparently were spending a lot of time racing on line when the events were not changed so often are sitting out the carnage that the daily races have become. I know I have not raced in not even one on line race since they went to the daily rotation.

I prefer knowing the track better before I race with other racers. I like everyone else is watching what this game with its experimental format turns into, it could be really good or it could fall flat on its face. All we can do is voice our opinions and wait and see what adjustments or changes PD make to the game next.

 

[Skygrasper550]

Might be due to low player count. I mean, look at Titanfall 2. During the first few months you could have a pretty good game from time to time while being average, but nowadays you have an incredibly high chance of coming across a player who has mastered the movement and wallruns like crazy, while using the EPG, Softball or any of the Grenadier weapons.

 

[Johnnypenso]

Makes you wonder if the numbers racing online are not great enough at certain levels to fill the grids up for a race so they use who is online and waiting to race and apparently it is a wide spread of levels and speed differences to get enough racers to fill the grids at certain times .

That sounds very plausible to me but we're talking PD here. The could be mixing up the grids on purpose for some reason unbeknownst to the logical man

 

[marc9600]

Yep, same problem here. First week I played managed to get a win and some pole positions but now consistently starting in 8th place in worse and drivers at the front of the grid are often two levels higher with much faster lap times. SR is A and DR has been fluctuating between C and D so maybe that has something to do with it. Hoping it is not due to lower player counts as that would not be a good sign for the longevity of the game.

 

[breyzipp]

I got 28 races done. While they were mostly fun, if you are after the in-game achievements then it’s just overly depressing:

0 poles
0 wins
0 fastest laps
1 clean race

 

[Cfft555]

It has already been established that PD is matchmaking on SR ahead of DR. So it is looking for people of the same SR rank. As others have mentioned it is unusual to have a SR of S and DR of D, so the pool of players at your rank would be minimal thus why you are getting matched with other faster drivers.
Im a B:B and 99% of the time are getting matched with people who are A:B, B:B or C:B. Im normally top 5 in qualifying and top 3-5 in races, so its the right level for me. But sometime we get the odd E:B in there aswell who just cant compete.

 

[Zenjungian]

I’m DR D and SR S as well. I’m not too unhappy about the matching though I’m regularly at least half way down the grid. I just try to improve my qualifying times - but what I’m wondering is where the quicker drivers are getting the extra 7 or 8 seconds a lap from?

 

[Earth]

They need to get rid of the region lock and the problem will be solved

 

[TT92]

This has saved me from starting this very same thread.

I am looking at this from the trophy point of view as these are the last trophies I have to complete before I get the platinum

I am currently a BS (funny initials) ;-) With the same lap time I have qualified 2nd with a 0.2 gap and gone on to win the race and then the next consecutive race I have been placed midfield with a 3 second gap to first!

So how does matchmaking actually work? And why are track limits not being respected? Yesterday at Nurburgring GP the chicane cutting was horrendous >:-(

Also the tactic being used is to bounce off my car mid corner apex so I get punted back a place and lose points for causing the collision :-( One Japanese driver would literally slide sideways in a full on drift into corners and consistently take out the player in front. Well until he got me anyway and then he finished last ;-) ;-)

So with pole positions apparently being a random thing how does one control them so the trophy is achievable? At this point in time I am at a complete loss to figure out how to race clean, win races and get poles.

Anyone have any insight into this?

They need to get rid of the region lock and the problem will be solved

Except it will cause lag issues and this would be worse.

 

[rono_thomas]

So with pole positions apparently being a random

Are they random now?

They weren’t.

 

[toddstar77]

Happened to me all last night. One of the Kyoto races had a 10 second qualifying spread between pole and last!

This is worrying. After hundreds of hours of World of Tanks, I can affirm by experience that this "unfair" matchmaking is due to low player counts. PD might want to think about putting more downtime between events.

I've found you get into a loop with the same guys/girls, so definitely leads me to believe there is a lack of numbers online at times.

 

[Sloppy Shades]

Seems to me also a B/S that grouping is decided

1) SR Rating
2) Q Time
3) DR Rating

then Q time for final grid IF #3 has enough players to make more than 1 group.

I've done my time at the back of the pack, now with the higher ratings I spend couple hours practicing track with same car then get qualify time right on my skill limit, but a consistent one.
For last 7 races Ive started mid pack to 2nd, won 4 of them. Each time by relentlessly lapping at my qual speed until one by one the leaders flake out. My racing/passing skills are weak, I'm
just relentless is all.

 

[TT92]

Are they random now?

They weren’t.

Hence my questions regarding how the system actually works. Some races, as I have just said, have a very even spread of qualifying times while others are just ridiculous.

So rono_thomas how do you go about getting a pole position? I have never had one, lots of seconds but never a pole. Also, if we knew how many people wee actually in online races we could have a better chance of nutting out this system.

The closest I have come to understanding how the system 'may' work is by assuming the game looks at a region, skill and safety rank, applies a "standard deviation curve" to that number of people's qualifying times, then divides it by 12 or 16 to fill a room. So you end up with some very fast, some very slow and lots in the middle type rooms. Otherwise you would have rooms filled with very slow people or very fast people only.

I have even tried to deliberately qualify slow to see where I would end up. Last in a fast room appears to be the answer ;-) I have also started races midfield in rooms without having a qualifying time at all.

So to sum up, it appears to me, from my experience it is more a random chance of a lottery situation than anything to do with actual skill. Unless you are actually the fastest person in your region, online at that particular time. And then, from what I have seen they are often 3 seconds slower in their race lap times than their qualifying time so that then begs even more questions ;-)

I should add, unlike PCARS2 I have not had one disconnection or had my rank slammed through no fault of mine ;-)

 

[Adrenaline]

This is a lose-lose for PD. As stated you're an odd combo of D-S.
So either they pair you with clean drivers who are usually faster drivers and we get this thread, orrrrrrrr they pair you with weaker and slower drivers and we get the other 10,000 threads of people complaining about dirty drivers.

With no offense intended, I think the issue is with people all assuming that the goal is to be S-S (or A-S I don't know what's highest) when in reality, that's NOT the goal of this system. But unfortunately most of these threads seem to be people complaining about the SR\DR and their inability to level up rather than a realistic goal of simply balancing out. Based on your picture, you are 8 seconds off the pace in a 2 minute lap.

Realistically, maybe that pace is just a D rating (I have no clue) and the SR\DR is working perfectly. Your complaint would then lie not with the system, but with a lack of drivers of corresponding ratings. That's not really a flaw in their system, nor is it their fault.

You're a tough type of driver to accommodate, you'll likely never see a full room if D-S drivers. So I'll ask you this; If you had your choice, to be in a clean room with guys faster than you, or a dirtier room with guys the same speed, which would you choose?

I will say I think the matchmaking system too heavily weighs SR over DR, I'd like to see a better balance, so in that regard I agree. But even so it still circles back of which class of drivers you want to be in. I'll take the clean racing with people that push me to be better every time.

Edit to add:
19 races
8 poles
8 fastest laps
6 wins
0 clean races
DR B
SR A

 

[rono_thomas]

Hence my questions regarding how the system actually works. Some races, as I have just said, have a very even spread of qualifying times while others are just ridiculous.

So rono_thomas how do you go about getting a pole position? I have never had one, lots of seconds but never a pole. Also, if we knew how many people wee actually in online races we could have a better chance of nutting out this system.

The closest I have come to understanding how the system 'may' work is by assuming the game looks at a region, skill and safety rank, applies a "standard deviation curve" to that number of people's qualifying times, then divides it by 12 or 16 to fill a room. So you end up with some very fast, some very slow and lots in the middle type rooms. Otherwise you would have rooms filled with very slow people or very fast people only.

I have even tried to deliberately qualify slow to see where I would end up. Last in a fast room appears to be the answer ;-) I have also started races midfield in rooms without having a qualifying time at all.

So to sum up, it appears to me, from my experience it is more a random chance of a lottery situation than anything to do with actual skill. Unless you are actually the fastest person in your region, online at that particular time. And then, from what I have seen they are often 3 seconds slower in their race lap times than their qualifying time so that then begs even more questions ;-)

I should add, unlike PCARS2 I have not had one disconnection or had my rank slammed through no fault of mine ;-)

I’ve had Plenty of poles nothing random in it just set the best possible qualifying time you can. Your going to be matched with DR B so setting a slow qualifying time is pointless.

In my experience your sorted SR first then DR, qualifying time just gets you a position in the grid that is then formed out of that group of players. Its no lottery.

Edit: 12 poles out of 27 races.

 

[TT92]

I’ve had Plenty of poles nothing random in it just set the best possible qualifying time you can. Your going to be matched with DR B so setting a slow qualifying time is pointless.

In my experience your sorted SR first then DR, qualifying time just gets you a position in the grid that is then formed out of that group of players. Its no lottery.

Edit: 12 poles out of 27 races.

Mmmmm................ must be nice to be a fast person in a slow region ;-) Please treat that with the humour it was intended.

So let's put some context here. Did you do the Alsace or Nurburgring races in the Audi TT? If so what were your qualifying times? For future reference if we are to compare times it would be best to use a slow standard car rather than a faster tuned one.

Nurburgring I gave up on as the full rooms of Japanese were testing my patience with there driving techniques ('nuff said). I Qualified at 2:22.1** and was racing against corner cutting, wide running crash artists that qualified at 2:19 (2:21.*** actually in the race). I think I saw one guy with a low 2:17 time as well!

At Alsace Village i qualified at 1:21.*** and was against one guy that qualified at 1:17 and the slowest in that race was a 1:30something!! I actually won 2 races there.

Also do you run any aids? I only use ABS.

 

[Norxman]

It must be player count. As I've noticed for me in Europe the matchmaking works well in what I would consider people's peak gaming hours and then progressively worse the later it gets.

 

[azrilnazli]

the race held every hour. PD should make the official race ( gr3 ) every 4 hours. so bigger pool of drivers will sign up.

The A and B driver will only race maybe once or twice a day.

 

[breyzipp]

It has already been established that PD is matchmaking on SR ahead of DR. So it is looking for people of the same SR rank. As others have mentioned it is unusual to have a SR of S and DR of D, so the pool of players at your rank would be minimal thus why you are getting matched with other faster drivers.
Im a B:B and 99% of the time are getting matched with people who are A:B, B:B or C:B. Im normally top 5 in qualifying and top 3-5 in races, so its the right level for me. But sometime we get the odd E:B in there aswell who just cant compete.

I'm SR S - DR D now, so I basically need to decrease my SR now to have some more challenging matches.

 

[RotorHed]

To be honest, if you spent all that time getting your SR high but you’re slow enough to be D, really you’re getting what you deserve.

This is a racing game, if you can‘t be clean AND fast, then you should expect to be beaten. Ideally, you should have your DR/SR close together.

Personally I love racing against the D/S drivers. They’re slow and easy to beat because they can’t/won’t race and think they’re doing something useful just getting their SR up while being beaten.

So get faster and you won’t be overmatched.

 

[breyzipp]

So get faster and you won’t be overmatched.

Or dirtier