Online lobbies: issues, problems/solutions, discussion

[twitcher]

What is going on with these lobbies?

Half of the ones I join, I either disco as soon as I exit the loading screen, or I end up at a screen where I can't do anything except exit the lobby.

I'm now in a lobby I joined part way through qualifiying. I was on track when the session ended, but not on a hot lap. AI took over my car, drove 2 laps back to the pits, acquiring 2 penalty strikes along the way. The whole time AI was driving, the only option I had was to exit the session. Now the car is back in the pits. I see a timing screen, it saying Waiting at the top of the screen, but I've been sitting here for 10 minutes. It also says Continue at the bottom of the screen, by pressing X does nothing. I can select different drivers in the lobby, and click Square to see their profile...so the game isn't frozen....it just doesn't work.

Anyone else having major issues with getting into online lobbies?

Edit: forgot to mention, I did complete a race earlier. Only contact I had was when I lifted to avoid a spin and got rear ended. I then ran out of fuel on the last lap (as there's nothing that estimates fuel consumption, nore is there a way to view how many laps the race will be once you've loaded to the circuit), pulled off to the side, and retired. I lost 30 U points, or whatever the 🤬 that rating thing is...at 1470 instead of 1500.

Really? Rear ended, and screwed over by the game failing to provide accurate detailed info, and I lose reputation for it???? Wtf

 

[rono_thomas]

What is going on with these lobbies?

Half of the ones I join, I either disco as soon as I exit the loading screen, or I end up at a screen where I can't do anything except exit the lobby.

Seven races in have experienced no online issues - From the UK, bandwidth hungry house with two xbox's (kids) and me playing PCars 2, the only real issue is the pausing, stuttering as players join/leave the lobby. If this is something that Can't be fixed I would rather players couldn't JIP during qualifying.

Edit: forgot to mention, I did complete a race earlier. Only contact I had was when I lifted to avoid a spin and got rear ended. I then ran out of fuel on the last lap (as there's nothing that estimates fuel consumption, nore is there a way to view how many laps the race will be once you've loaded to the circuit), pulled off to the side, and retired. I lost 30 U points, or whatever the 🤬 that rating thing is...at 1470 instead of 1500.

Really? Rear ended, and screwed over by the game failing to provide accurate detailed info, and I lose reputation for it???? Wtf

The only real issues I have had is spins - although the game tell you receive a warning off the race director if you end up facing the wrong way I don't think it penalises you as my driver rating has only gone up, so maybe you get heavily penalised for retiring, I don't know.

 

[CodeCmdr]

Yeah, multiplayer is buggy as hell and the user interface is ****. I've also experienced tons of different issues, such as getting disconnected immediately from lobbies, the transitions between P, Q, R, and R-finish getting stuck in that "Waiting" state, or the game suddenly exiting during a race to the main menu without any error message whatsoever.

It's a shame. The core of the game is amazing, but with all these issues, it's nowhere near being an enjoyable online experience like iRacing. If SMS don't sort out the issues quickly, I'll probably end up playing GTS online, assuming it's polished at release.

As for the fueling issues: I really wish the game would just fuel up the car for you with an appropriate amount automatically like F1 2017 does, and give you real-time information on whether you're above or below the target consumption rate during the race.

 

[HarlemG27]

I played a online race last night. My car spun out in a turn, so that's how it turned out.(using a new car with wheel set up). Gotta practice more, but no issues

 

[jake2013guy]

The only issue I have is having to choose the same livery again despite the car not having changed. It's rather small though.

 

[Ian Bell]

Seven races in have experienced no online issues - From the UK, bandwidth hungry house with two xbox's (kids) and me playing PCars 2, the only real issue is the pausing, stuttering as players join/leave the lobby. If this is something that Can't be fixed I would rather players couldn't JIP during qualifying.



The only real issues I have had is spins - although the game tell you receive a warning off the race director if you end up facing the wrong way I don't think it penalises you as my driver rating has only gone up, so maybe you get heavily penalised for retiring, I don't know.

We're working on improving the JIP stutter time. We think we can 'almost' eliminate it with some very smart coding but there might remain a hint of a stutter. It shouldn't affect your driving though even if in corner if our projections are correct.

 

[Ian Bell]

Yeah, multiplayer is buggy as hell and the user interface is ****. I've also experienced tons of different issues, such as getting disconnected immediately from lobbies, the transitions between P, Q, R, and R-finish getting stuck in that "Waiting" state, or the game suddenly exiting during a race to the main menu without any error message whatsoever.

It's a shame. The core of the game is amazing, but with all these issues, it's nowhere near being an enjoyable online experience like iRacing. If SMS don't sort out the issues quickly, I'll probably end up playing GTS online, assuming it's polished at release.

As for the fueling issues: I really wish the game would just fuel up the car for you with an appropriate amount automatically like F1 2017 does, and give you real-time information on whether you're above or below the target consumption rate during the race.

It's absolutely the most solid, least buggy, out of the gate multiplayer release we've ever experienced. When all players are on the same patch/version number most of the issues are gone. When they aren't you get those lobby issues. Those will occur occasionally with each patch until everyone is on the same one.

 

[zr1chris]

It's absolutely the most solid, least buggy, out of the gate multiplayer release we've ever experienced. When all players are on the same patch/version number most of the issues are gone. When they aren't you get those lobby issues. Those will occur occasionally with each patch until everyone is on the same one.

How is it possible for players to be on different patches? I thought it doesn't allow you to go online unless you are on the newest patch. That's how all the other games I play work.

 

[Ian Bell]

Because some haven't downloaded it yet at that point... This is release day I'm referring back to. We have a play whilst downloading system which is pretty much mandated by 1st parties. Given the downloads can be many Gigs and the download rates for some can be slow this can be the case for a short time.

 

[zr1chris]

Because some haven't downloaded it yet at that point... This is release day I'm referring back to. We have a play whilst downloading system which is pretty much mandated by 1st parties. Given the downloads can be many Gigs and the download rates for some can be slow this can be the case for a short time.

I see. Thanks for the reply Ian!

 

[Ian Bell]

I see. Thanks for the reply Ian!

The metrics we're getting today and late yesterday on multiplayer is looking very good after the initial versioning issue was resolved. I suspect if OP retries he/she'll find it much more solid.

That's not to say there won't be the odd issue. We're still collating those and will patch ASAP.

 

[Pubs16]

I haven't had any disconnections yet, pretty fine joining any lobby I've been in and going through right till race end. I have found the stuttering when people JIP, living with it though and very happy to hear SMS is resolving it .

@IanBell One thing I've noticed is that when you join a race spectating and you wait for the end, going back to the lobby afterwards for the next event seems to count that spectated race as start? I'm not 100% sure, however I have completed every race I've been in but it doesn't show that finish rate, 2 out of my 7 races aren't completed with 0 DNF and 0 penalties/DQ. I've been scared to test it again in fear of destroying my finish rate lol. So only join lobbies that are not in Race mode yet to avoid this.
Also on a rolling start at Red Bull Ring before we had manual control there was contact round the last bend with the car beside me and I received a 5 second contact penalty. I wasn't controlling the car lol.

 

[twitcher]

@IanBell i haven't tried online since yesterday, I've been giving career a try, attempting to figure out these AI settings. I'll give online another go tomorrow, hopefully with better luck.

Thanks for the reply, I appreciate it. Also know that despite my issues, I'm very impressed with most of the game so far, as far as the cars, tracks, and driving feel. It's just some of the UI and other things that are giving me fits. It's reassuring to know that you're working on improving things. Thanks again.

 

[jonyvf]

Ian
We need a form to choose another car when we are in training in a online event
To try another car i have to exit the lobby,so annoying
The host choose the cars then we start the training but we have not acess to the garage to play with other car
If i leave the training seesion i´m out of the lobby, but the game should permit when we leave the track jump to the lobby and not for out of the lobby
We pass the time invinting the players to joint the lobby again
So annoying

 

[twitcher]

@IanBell, I tried some more online lobbies last night. I managed to do 1 race out of I forget how many tries. I spent almost an hour going back and forth from one loading screen and menu to the next.

My stats now read, for online, 17 Quali sessions entered, 4 Races entered, 4 Races complete.

Maybe I'm in a minority having this issue, but I'm sorry, 4/17 successful lobbies is completely unacceptable. I pay for premium internet, and had no issues with PC1 (edit: I had far less issues with PC1, not issue free though), or with other games I play online (MMORPGS like ESO, bandwidth intensive).

I'm also not convinced 4/17 is the correct stat, as I feel that's not counting the number of times the game has frozen while in a loading screen and I've been forced to close the app, or getting a blue screen error message and having to restart the app or system.

 

[TX Executioner]

Occasionally the starting lights won't appear at race start. It's only happened for rolling starts, but I don't know if it's isolated to them or not. I've been run over a few times because of this which caused some big pile ups.

 

[Elitekilla29]

I'm also noticing a lot of disconnects as well.

 

[sgohsixthree]

Not sure this is the place, but I'll throw these out there. If anyone knows if its coming, or I'm just missing it please let me know. But I'm hoping the following is added / fixed:

• Display names of vehicles next to image or drivers name in lobby.
• Ability to change lobbies to identical/sameclass/multiclass after a race, or if the host leaves.
• Ability to invite midsession.
• Ability filter out public races already in progress.
• Ability to share(copy/paste) the lobby password as a PSN message.
• The “Exit Session” button is too easily pressed after the session ends.
• Races in the snow in RX auto starts cars on Dry tires, its funny the first time.

I had some other issues today regarding not getting invites (maybe PSN's problem) and actually had half the grid in a full lobby be invisible (maybe related to the patches being out of date as Ian said).

 

[Ian Bell]

Ian
We need a form to choose another car when we are in training in a online event
To try another car i have to exit the lobby,so annoying
The host choose the cars then we start the training but we have not acess to the garage to play with other car
If i leave the training seesion i´m out of the lobby, but the game should permit when we leave the track jump to the lobby and not for out of the lobby
We pass the time invinting the players to joint the lobby again
So annoying

Maybe but there's a solid reason for it. All other players would need to get your new car loaded each time so they could see you when you come out on track. That means a potential stutter each time as we update their machines with your car and livery. We can't start to preload all cars on all machines as there are nearly 200 of them multiplied by liveries...

 

[TX Executioner]

Just did an online race at Daytona road course. 20 laps with day to night transition along with clear to rain to rain and fog conditions. Set my fuel load to 84 in the tuning screen and when the race started I had 52.6. Everyone else's fuel load was changed as well. Other than that it was great. The puddles on the track, the spray from the car in front, the fog killing the remaining visibility. Absolutely awesome.

 

[David Brooks]

Here's my wishlist/ constructive criticisms regarding online play (PS4):

* When browsing lobbies I would like to be able to filter to only show ones with higher safety ratings as minimum entry but you don't seem to be able to filter on anything other than race type, race length etc.

* I would also like to be able to filter out lobbies where the race has already started

* The list always shows only 20 lobbies. You can refresh, but from what I have seen you mostly get the same lobbies come up. Surely, there are more than 20 online games of PC2 being played (PS4) at any one time around the world? How is it selecting these lobbies for me?

* Once in the lobby I would like to see a return of the vote buttons for track change, etc, like PC1 had.

* It's too easy to accidentally exit the lobby.

* Once on track you can't get back to the lobby. The (big) problem I have with this is that if someone remains in the lobby and you haven't muted them before you enter the track, there is nothing you can do, as their name does not appear on the participants list that you can access from on track, and the volume mix is such that it is REALLY loud.

*While we're at it, let's just have a mute all button.

* I think we do need the ability to change car (return to lobby). I note the concern re stutter every time someone does that, but I also noted the intention to greatly reduce the stutter. If that is successful I would like to see car change made available.

* My 3 letter identifier still shows as DAV even though I am pretty sure I changed it on day 1 to DJB. I'll have to double check that.

* The flag symbol seems to represent the car manufacturer, not the driver, and I think it should be the latter.

*Sometimes when you are at a "waiting" screen it seems to take a really long time and it is not clear whether the game has hung or if you really are still waiting for something. Some feedback on what you are waiting for might help (and if it is because some player has somehow exited or hung it needs to time out on them so the rest of us can carry on).

* As others have said in different threads, it would be nice to have some breakdown of the changes to the competitive license at the end of the race.

* A chat box would be helpful, especially for league races

Thanks for reading!

 

[Scuderia Paul]

Last night it took until my eight attempt to actually get out on the circuit when online. I kept getting the Disconnected from Server message. Very odd and most frustrating. Bar the random incorrect fuel load and stutter issues all is good.

Just did an online race at Daytona road course. 20 laps with day to night transition along with clear to rain to rain and fog conditions. Set my fuel load to 84 in the tuning screen and when the race started I had 52.6. Everyone else's fuel load was changed as well. Other than that it was great. The puddles on the track, the spray from the car in front, the fog killing the remaining visibility. Absolutely awesome.

I get Fuel Load readings randomly changing too. I was only caught out by it once luckily but that is not the point.

 

[jonyvf]

Maybe but there's a solid reason for it. All other players would need to get your new car loaded each time so they could see you when you come out on track. That means a potential stutter each time as we update their machines with your car and livery. We can't start to preload all cars on all machines as there are nearly 200 of them multiplied by liveries...

But is so annoying
At least when we leave the track should do to go to the lobby,not to leave the lobby because then we have to joint the room by invitation and the host need to stop the car to make the invitation.
That is more annoying

 

[Anomalistics]

Some interesting issues I've encountered whilst on PC.

• Stuttering (i.e. if a player joins whilst you're in a practice or qualifying session, you receive a stutter)
• Chat Box (Character limitation, which if you exceed, will only show the first line of text)
• Chat Box (You're unable to use the chat box function when spectating a race or when the AI take over during the end of practice, qualifying or the race).
• AI (When a practice, qualifying or race session has ended and the AI take over, they're INCREDIBLY slow. This causes a lot of crashes)

 

[VBR]

*While we're at it, let's just have a mute all button.

* A chat box would be helpful, especially for league races.

Still no text chat, & still no option for the host to disable voice chat for the whole lobby!

 

[Markeeez18]

In PC1, the amount of fuel gave you an estimate of how many laps your fuel will last for, but I cant see this anywhere in PC2 so it's really hard to know how much fuel you need, maybe there should be a way of the game automatically adjusting your fuel to match how much time/laps your car needs for a race.

 

[Anomalistics]

In PC1, the amount of fuel gave you an estimate of how many laps your fuel will last for, but I cant see this anywhere in PC2 so it's really hard to know how much fuel you need, maybe there should be a way of the game automatically adjusting your fuel to match how much time/laps your car needs for a race.

Agreed. Also - in public lobbies people are constantly asking how many laps or what the race length is before we start. If we can get a number added this would be so helpful!

Right now I'm always driving with max fuel because i've seen people run out during the race lol!

 

[Ian Bell]

Agreed. Also - in public lobbies people are constantly asking how many laps or what the race length is before we start. If we can get a number added this would be so helpful!

Right now I'm always driving with max fuel because i've seen people run out during the race lol!

Agreed, we'll get on that.

 

[BrandonW77]

I've had a couple oddities/frustrations/glitches.

You know the driver tag you see over another driver's car that shows their name, etc.? I never see those over the car, instead they have become disconnected from the car and randomly zip all around the track like ghosts. Even when I have it set to not show the driver names, they're still there randomly wandering around the track looking for their lost host car.

Server list never shows more than 50 lobbies up. My friends could not find my lobby because it wasn't showing in their list of 50, and they were seeing a different 50 than I was. Is there no option to search for a specific lobby name? I had to manually send invites through Steam, and when I would do that the Steam invite interface would bug out and get stuck on the screen. I'd have to click on the X about 15 times before it would actually close.

 

[danardif1]

Agreed, we'll get on that.

I know you can see it when you are in the 'pre-' lobby, but often you are in a rush to choose your car and get connected to the on-track action, and it is then a problem not being able to see how long the race is.

Also the laps of fuel estimate given in PC1 is sorely missed as well, made even more so by sometimes not knowing how long the race is going to be!!