Official GTP Online Racing Discussion Thread

[Jawehawk]

Not everyone wants to fill out forms to take part though... I'm sure there are people like me who prefer to just say "sign me up" on the thread.

I'm not sure if you're refering to my idea, but if you are, only the race organisers have to contact the thread OP (possibly me) with their racing series. The participants won't be getting any kind of extra work what so ever.

If we take it a step further, and includ info on whether or not the different racing series still have room left, I can check up on them 2-3 times a week, and write "Participants list full" next to the racing series name, in the thread.

 

[Wardez]

Very much a set of fair points. I think we should wait until we learn more about GT6's features first however.

Obviously there's a lot of things we don't know about GT6 at this point.

For example, one huge thing is whether passworded lobbies will be a new feature or not. This would make Pappaclart's proposal totally obsolete. It would be such a small feature but so entirely useful for the type of system Pappaclart's talking about. No more need for making dummy accounts, just keeping tight control of password information.

Having said that though, there's no reason we can't work on discussing the problems we already know we're going to encounter and talking about contingencies to avoid them repeating in GT6. Also, the main purpose of this week's thread (new one going to be posted after points are collected and organized for Jordan from the previous thread) is to establish the discussion and idea in the first place, and to mainly discuss how the forum itself can improve for our needs and those we can think of for others thus far unrepresented.

 

[R0ssingt0n]

No man, it's a form for series organizers to submit their series data to for us to collect and store. Not anything to do with drivers signing up.

Oh I see, I read your post wrong. My bad!

I'm not sure if you're refering to my idea

See above...

 

[Wardez]

Oh and btw, just to put it across clearly, I'm against coming up with yet another new "classification/ranking system." entirely. I definitely think WRS already has an absolutely amazing set up already, but I just hope they evolve it with GT6 to make it more open and easy for people to run the qualifier (hopefully the necessity of having a GTP_ tag will go away depending on whether or not GT6 has support for in-game tags). That way we can just have a universal classification system for all.

Series organizers can still definitely choose to run with or without the idea of classes, it just makes things easier for those that want to run at a certain speed or implement handicaps.

 

[GTP_ADE]

Hi. Thanks for the invite to be part of this discussion. Ive been keeping an eye on this thread throughout the day to see how it develops. Its very interesting seeing all the different suggestions. I will be sticking to the way I have run The Sunday Cup since its creation in Feb 2012, as I feel it works really well, with races every 2 weeks over an eight race season, with regular online practice sessions in between race weekends. Keeping the OP up to date with everything drivers need to know, as well as latest results and driver standings, and next event details is very important.

The use of social networking sites such as facebook and twitter is also an excellent way to get your series more exposure. I have made some great friends doing the Sunday Cup, many of who are now on my friends list. After each race weekend, my Sunday Cup facebook page is updated with the same graphics and pictures which appear on my thread. Racers are then tagged in pictures and tables. This gives me a huge amount of exposure, with typical views of albums at about 300 people. Recently I have had new racers sign up through the facebook page, not GTPlanet.

The current season is coming to an end this Sunday, and that will be it until GT6 comes out, and we get to see what new tools we have to create more great racing.

 

[Snaeper]

Lots of creative suggestions I'm reading here. Here's what I think so far:

• The "semester"-idea clearly has some merit, because it would allow to seamlessly change from one series to the next.
• The "semester"-concept on the other hand has the problem that you would have to have 5 weeks off between recurring racing-series between season n and season n+1.
• If you can "book", say, a 10-week schedule, and then only use 7 and use the first week for a test-day or something similar, that could work. Nobody would be forced to actually use only 5 or 10-week schedules, right?

I did state in the original post that not all of the weeks have to have events scheduled. It's why I used the term weeks instead of races. You could offer a 10-week commitment to drivers, with three of the weeks being open practice and testing sessions, then the last 7 being races. This way you have a group of committed drivers helping to test and balance the series, instead of relying on yourself and two-three others. It would greatly help develop series in my opinion.

One could also use the Semester system to do a play-off style of racing. They could have two 5-race lobbies, and then pick the top 8 at the end of the 5 races to do a 10-15 race schedule.

Hi. Thanks for the invite to be part of this discussion. Ive been keeping an eye on this thread throughout the day to see how it develops. Its very interesting seeing all the different suggestions. I will be sticking to the way I have run The Sunday Cup since its creation in Feb 2012, as I feel it works really well, with races every 2 weeks over an eight race season, with regular online practice sessions in between race weekends. Keeping the OP up to date with everything drivers need to know, as well as latest results and driver standings, and next event details is very important.

Glad to have you! I just have one honest question (I asked it earlier to someone else but they didn't answer): Why do you do races every two weeks? I feel like having an off weak is a carryover from real life racing, in my opinion. Why not just race every week? As a driver, you just took my time commitment from 3 months to 6.

 

[GTP_ADE]

Glad to have you! I just have one honest question (I asked it earlier to someone else but they didn't answer): Why do you do races every two weeks? I feel like having an off weak is a carryover from real life racing, in my opinion. Why not just race every week? As a driver, you just took my time commitment from 3 months to 6.

Because not everyone can commit to every week. By making it 2 weekly it gives people a chance to reschedule, so they can compete. My driver line up consists of racers who joined from the very start, so I must be doing something right. Also, I offer real prizes, so if you want to win one, you got to give a bit of commitment. 15 weeks is all a season takes.

 

[trustjab]

I like the idea of color coding based on a PP value for a series. Sort of how Forza has the tiers like R1 etc. Maybe the thread title itself could be color coded to reflect the level of performance points the cars run in said series. Its what I suggested on page 2. If you go that route, the idea of the days being color coded would not work in conjunction. I don't think it would work because it would add confusion if two things are colored. The best way to do it imo is have an abbreviation of the day its held. SUN MON TUE WED THU FRI SAT. The problem with that is not everyone lives in the same time zone. So perhaps regions could be added according to the host of such a series?

 

[polarbear345]

Oh, sorry for this, but the first idea in the OP was my idea, not Zuel's.

I think that if you could somehow filter the threads by day, that would be very helpful.

 

[Snaeper]

Oh, sorry for this, but the first idea in the OP was my idea, not Zuel's.

I think that if you could somehow filter the threads by day, that would be very helpful.

👍👍 I knew that, too! I had accidentally multi-quoted Zuel's post for some reason.

 

[polarbear345]

👍👍 I knew that, too! I had accidentally multi-quoted Zuel's post for some reason.

It's fine, just didn't want someone else's name on it incase that person didn't like the idea or something.

 

[Furinkazen]

My idea: Large organisations and groups retain the clubs section, so PURE can have its own thread, FRL can, GTP NASCAR perhaps can, and any others.

 

[Whitey093]

I am 1 million percent behind having officially recognized pre-balanced regs for certain groups of cars. It would simplify the process of joining certain series such as gt300/500, gt1/3, lmp or touring cars if there were one set of specs that were universal.

I hate having 3 miata tc's with different tuning levels, multiple iterations of my yellowhat gtr etc... It is cumbersome and tedious. This past year there was a new series i was extremely interested in that featured mildly tuned ff cars that were balanced by the creator. There were 12 cars and they didn't test out equal in my practice runs. I spent 3 weeks building and testing each car before i just burnt out and said forget it.

I want to just join, get my car set and race. I do not have vast amounts of spare time to dedicate outside of racing. With a 2 week old baby now, my gt6 playing time is going to be severely limited. So if i join a series, ease of entry will be a top priority

 

[Furinkazen]

Variety is the space of life. Regulations evolve, change. In my ToCA series, I've evolved from 305hp and 1250 kg through seasons to 305 and 1100kg, to now 325hp and more. You have to change to keep fresh. Otherwise it becomes boring. A ton of clone series are boring.

 

[Snaeper]

Variety is the space of life. Regulations evolve, change. In my ToCA series, I've evolved from 305hp and 1250 kg through seasons to 305 and 1100kg, to now 325hp and more. You have to change to keep fresh. Otherwise it becomes boring. A ton of clone series are boring.

Once again, like most ideas out there, these standard regulations would not be mandatory.

And again, it would be nice to have a solid baseline at the very least for series similar to yours to develop cars from. Making a resource to justify cars and how they compete against each other could benefit everyone.

 

[Furinkazen]

I will say, the colour coding is a very good idea indeed.

 

[ITCC_Andrew]

I believe you're misunderstanding my Semester suggestion. Nothing changes at all from how a series is currently run on GTPlanet, with the sole exception that you share your start date with every other series, and your end date with whichever have selected the same season length as you.

If you want to run Friday's at 6pm, you'll run Friday's at 6pm for the next 5-10-15 weeks.

If you take the time to make a good OP, and someone else who wants to run a Touring Car series on Friday's at 6pm doesn't, guess who's going to get all the drivers on Friday's at 6pm? You are.

No. If every single GTP series all take place at the same time, we're spreading the competition thin. I believe the opposite should happen. Fewer series, more competitors per series. More series, fewer competitors per series.


Like, I can compete with ToCA and BTCC, but if we had 8 touring car series... crap, so many options for the other GTP members to join.


Now, there have been about 10 touring car series (at least) here on GTP for GT5. ITCC is one of ten. ToCA, Bankfin, BTCC, WTCC, etc. And suddenly there are too many options and too few competitors to fill the grids. No one likes races with 5 cars.


ITCC has had rounds with 20+ competitors, and those rounds are simply epic. We build our series around the competition, and the spectacle. We want full grids with full practice, qualfying and racing, with race reports and such, so that we can "imagine" our lives as racing drivers. We want to feel like we're racing real cars in real life.


If we don't have full grids, it just feels like a track day session.


Please don't synchronize the racing series, because otherwise there will not be an off-season of one series (Bankfin/ITCC/ToCA) for the others to get a full grid, whilst the planners/organizers of ITCC/Bankfin/ToCA) plan the regulations for the next season. That's just how it works.

 

[Com Fox]

If these changes are at optional use, I'm happy.

Something doesn't feel right if they are all mandatory.

 

[Furinkazen]

Also different times. ITCC runs a totally different time. BTCC runs different. It sorts itself out. TOCA regularly has 30 plus drivers a season, without issues, and in itself has its own unique specs and options.

To get the right package you have to stand out from the crowd. I for one would happily help someone if they asked me for assistance (has happened).

On the race organisation side there is no issue. The aforementioned calendar needs to be more prominent... How about bringing it up as a pinned topic or listing at the top of if racing series forum? 💡

 

[ProjectWHaT]

The calendar should be like an appointment book. Race series could reserve a time on the calendar so all races wouldn't over lap.

 

[Furinkazen]

The calendar should be like an appointment book. Race series could reserve a time on the calendar so all races wouldn't over lap.

I don't get what the whole avoidance thing is about. People plan things around when they can race, and may not know final dates. When I'm planning TOCA on GT6 I will happily adjust my schedule and push it forward or forwards depending on test progress. Much as its optional all this, I wouldn't see many casual racers taking this up.

 

[Zuel]

I’m glad that I did decide to withhold some of my other thoughts and to my surprise Jobyone, PAPPACLART, Jawehawk, Wardez, Iforce V8 along with others have thought of the same areas, projects I’m in the process of working on, let me touch bases with those areas. Besides needing a more detailed and comprehensive racing structure or body for members that wish to develop a series for the casual player or core play and those series should be easily defined. So current and new members will be able to find what they are looking for. Looking for a series that fits your driving, play can be very daunting to find in the large mass of racing threads with know what you’re looking for. I recently started working on a spread sheet that will have all the current series ordered in an easy to read form so that series can be easily placed and found according to the type of series. There is also a section that lists all the series that follow the GTP OLR. I’ve asked my buddy ITCC_Andrew for some photos from his series to help me with the spread sheet and presentation that I would like to share with Jordan, GTP Board members, WRS, Board members and 3D3 racing. Though now I must put that on hold due to an idea of mine.

Racing Series search and clarification

To rectify the confusion of finding and knowing if a series is for the core driver or casual driver is to have those series clearly placed or marked so the member or new members is clearly informed.

Performance Structure

This area may or may not work seamlessly due to we don’t know of what is offered in the building of motor, if we’ll be able to continue to follow the norm of building out the motors using the power limiter to manipulate the performance points to a desired number. We all know that this type of tuning greatly limits the amount and type of cars with in a series. For example GT500 HSV cars, RM Vetts, RM NSX, and 4WD GT race cars along with a number of street cars; all these cars will be the top cars within a race. I’m hoping that this type of tuning doesn’t continue in GT6 because it needs to evolve unlike GT5. GT5 was on its way to evolving but it didn’t happen due to some poor choices. I feel casual race series should be able to structure the performance of the cars as they wish.

Though core race series should follow a performance structure that will allow drivers to compete in any car within that classification, flow between other series without having a multiple copies of the same car. Or compete in a series that runs a different class field. For example, FIA GT, Blancpain series GT3/GTE class, ALMS P2, GT, GTC, Rolex Daytona Prototype, GT, GX, TUDOR United Sports Car Champion Prototype (P) combination of P2 and Daytona Prototypes, Prototype Challenge (PC), GT Le Mans (GTLM) current GT3/GTE class cars, GT Daytona (GTD) current Grand-AM, ALMS GTC class cars and GX. GT cars within these series will be able to move freely from racing body to racing due to the new FIA performance ruling, which gave birth to the TUDOR United Sports Car Championship that starts at the beginning of the year with the Rolex 24hrs of Daytona.

Series entry

The same is as before with the casual series they’re free to do as willed for entry as for the core series a qualifier should be in place along with a feeder series or series’ and the best qualifying formula we have operated in the WRC Time Trail and race series. This would allow drivers to be placed with drives within their skills allowing for better racing along with better those drivers racing and competition. The feeder series would be great for new drivers not wanting to be overwhelmed by the competition.

Series ruling

The series creator can rule their series as they please though if they decide to follow the GTP OLR that series owner should get a perk.

GT Planet Perks

Members who decided to form a series casual or core should be allowed to have a tag displayed under their names within the GTP forms. Similar to the Moderators tags stating they’re a series owner, director, and promoter or however it may be along with being colored to differ from casual to core. For series creators that wish to follow the GTP OLR along with the (GTP Performance ruling, if developed) should get another perk which I have no clue what it could be. The GTP Performance ruling should follow the current racing bodies’ rulings to make things a lot easier for series creators.

 

[polarbear345]

Not really sure where all this is coming from. Mel, if there are 5 touring car series running at once, but all at different times, no one is really effected. The problem comes when races are happening at the same time. There will be an insane amount of series at the beginning of GT6, and there is nothing we can do. We just need to keep things organized.

The semester theory will not effect anything, except when series start and finish. This will actually help us. When people want to leave series and do new ones instead of leaving mid season, they would just leave at the end of a season. There should be a week inbetween seasons, as a "breather" of sorts.

Problem is, the majority of new organizers will just blast in with a OP tossed together in 10 minutes saying it starts in 40 minutes. If we do make changes and sort of have a "code" of sorts, the rules need to be in a sticky thread with bold and shooting stars all around it so everyone looks.

 

[ITCC_Andrew]

No one should have the right to reserve a time slot. No one.


I have documented proof, that I've changed my own time slots for ITCC for both Furinkazen's ToCA and polarbear345's Rolex Sports Car Series. I don't mind that. But if someone came along and kicked me out of my Saturday timeslots, I'd be very upset.


Having a series that runs on two days for different groups of people, I know that the timezones/timeslots can make or break a series. Since I expect a majority of touring car fans to be in Europe, I schedule ITCC around the European timezones, and a bit for the North American timeslots...


It's perfectly fine to have a NASCAR series overlap a touring car series... But if you put four touring car series together against each other, on the same timeslot, that would cost a lot of attendance rates from all 4 series.

 

[Furinkazen]

Zuel. Hell that's over complicated. And what does real life USCR have to do with anything?

Whatever happened to "click on the thread, see time, date, cars, sign up and race"?

Some people are going little over the top here in all honesty. I'm probably going to get some flak for it, but in my view GT is just a game only. The day online stops being fun is the day I stop.

And who is 3DS Racing?

 

[ITCC_Andrew]

^ This.


All we need is that there's a search button. Let's search for the series by "touring cars," "NASCAR," "Formula 1," "WRC" and such, just like how you can see in the motorsports forum.


Let's make a standardized OP.


Every time a member creates an OP, they can fill out basic information: (cars, car type, racing type, etc.) With multiple choice for the type of racing (NASCAR, touring cars,) keywords (Civic, Accord, Ferrari, BMW) for the cars, and a multiple choice option for "time-trials" or "racing."


Then, someone who wants to find the series can search "BMW touring car racing" on the GTP thread search and find the series (ITCC, ToCA, Bankfin, VLN) that use a BMW touring car.

 

[Zuel]

Zuel. Hell that's over complicated. And what does real life USCR have to do with anything?

Whatever happened to "click on the thread, see time, date, cars, sign up and race"?

Some people are going little over the top here in all honesty. I'm probably going to get some flak for it, but in my view GT is just a game only. The day online stops being fun is the day I stop.

How is it complicated? The focus here is to find a way to better structure the race series within GT Planet. If you look back at the pass you notice that have a large enter list and attendance all have been well structured. For example PURE was the first racing series not like the GTP WRS TT to put a foot print within the GTP racing community. The GTP WRS has evolved three time since I've been a member and this is why drivers keep flocking. Both of these racing bodies have developed a professional core and this is why they have such a large field.

3D3 racing control the WRC racing series. They've been controlling the WRS racing division for some time now, maybe two years now.

 

[LancerEvo7]

Whatever happened to "click on the thread, see time, date, cars, sign up and race"?

Some people are going little over the top here in all honesty. I'm probably going to get some flak for it, but in my view GT is just a game only. The day online stops being fun is the day I stop.

This sums up my thoughts as well. I'll put this bluntly: The less bull:censored: you have to go through to get into a race, the better. Likewise with starting a series.

 

[Com Fox]

I had a thought and personally I think we only need a calender update and a colour dot telling you what day the race is.

Everything else seems unnecersery and/or too complicated to me.

 

[ITCC_Andrew]

Then we'll go ahead with my search idea, to make it easier for the competitors? If there's any way I can make things easier for the competitors in ITCC, I will. Doing a questionnaire during the OP process wouldn't be an issue at all.