Please PD, Give Us Restrictor Plates & Air Restrictors!

[Solid Lifters]

I just got done watching Bernd Schneider win his 4th DTM championship in the last 7 seasons, and it got me GT4 horny. I went to play GT4, DTM Championship races no doubt, and it left me with a pair of blue balls.

This race series should have been my most favorite race event in GT4, but it was pointless and boring. The reason? I win every single race easily using the slowest car I'm allowed to. Easily winning races is no fun. I want and need a challenge. That's why I like, no love, using much slower race cars in the Family Cup race series, which happens to be the best thing in GT4.

So, what I'm asking, no, BEGGING Polyphony Digital to add in GT5 are restrictor plates and air flow restrictors for the cars. They have and use them in real racing, so why not in a GT game?

I would like to see them in a wide verity of "sizes." Being able to add our own restrictor plates or air restrictors to our cars will increase the challenge and fun of GT5 for most of us. So, why exclude this simple to add feature?

The "sizes" I would like to have are, 10hp, 25HP, 60HP, 170HP and 285HP. Perhaps being able to use more than one plate at a time will give us more options of limiting HP, but that might not be realistic since I believe only one can be used at a time, IRL. But, I don't see that as a problem.

This is something I really want to see in a GT series game. Something like this will make 300, 500, DTM, Super GT and ALMS style races MUCH MORE enjoyable.

Click below on a previous thread I made about the type of race events I would love to see in GT5. I think both features go hand-in-hand.

https://www.gtplanet.net/forum/showthread.php?p=2081748&highlight=restrictor+plates#post2081748

 

[Earth]

I've said since the beginning PD needs to include this basic option found for all cars in NASCAR 2003 which was made 5 years ago. Much more advanced and better then just air restirctors.

It's called the opponent manager and boy, can you manage the opponents down to the finest settings

[img=http://img265.imageshack.us/img265/7603/settingsbw8.th.jpg]

 

[Duke]

I assume you've already cranked ballast all the way up? Not that a heavy car is as much fun to drive as a light one, if you're trying to adjust PWR.

Restrictor plates are an excellent idea, and I agree with all you've said. As an aside, there has apparently been some breakthrough in GT4 hybridding, so it may now be possible to hack lower power values into your cars. I remember doing a hybrid series with the Lamborghini Diablo from GT3, where Uncle Bob/Old Geezer set up a series of downrated Diablo racecars, each tailored for stiff competition in a given event.

 

[Solid Lifters]

I assume you've already cranked ballast all the way up? Not that a heavy car is as much fun to drive as a light one, if you're trying to adjust PWR.

Restrictor plates are an excellent idea, and I agree with all you've said. As an aside, there has apparently been some breakthrough in GT4 hybridding, so it may now be possible to hack lower power values into your cars. I remember doing a hybrid series with the Lamborghini Diablo from GT3, where Uncle Bob/Old Geezer set up a series of downrated Diablo racecars, each tailored for stiff competition in a given event.

Oh yeah, I did the ballast thing. I hate doing it, though. The cars understeer like mad, and it wears out the tires too quickly.

I even tried running the cars in B-spec mode in a bunch of long races to get that oil dirty, thus lowering the HP. Doesn't help much.

The only cure is using a restrictor plate or air restrictor. I really like the idea of using more than one at a time, so I hope that's possible. PD could just skip the sizes of air restrictors and just let us "custom design" one for our use. Say, from 10HP, to 400HP. But, I can see the fun of adding several to give us what we want, too.

 

[Tenacious D]

The bigbuzz at Forza central is "homologation," something I believe JohnBM brought up some time ago. Restrictor plates are one thing, but I'm hoping that Kaz and the lads set up the cars and races so that the cars they give us are matched fairly evenly. Untuned race cars could have their essentially unbridled glory, but in events, the system should do something to the cars as racing leagues do in real life to bring them all into some sort of performance harmony, so no one car outdoes the others.

 

[Solid Lifters]

The bigbuzz at Forza central is "homologation," something I believe JohnBM brought up some time ago. Restrictor plates are one thing, but I'm hoping that Kaz and the lads set up the cars and races so that the cars they give us are matched fairly evenly. Untuned race cars could have their essentially unbridled glory, but in events, the system should do something to the cars as racing leagues do in real life to bring them all into some sort of performance harmony, so no one car outdoes the others.

This is something that really wont help me out. The cars are pretty much uniform in performance, except for the that GT trade mark "lone flyer" that seems to grossly out-perform the rest of the field. Which, I'm sure, PD is now getting rid of, since it screws up the races.

I want to use the same cars for a particular race event, such as Super GT or DTM, but have much less HP so I can have a challenging race. It's just no fun to completely beat the competition by a full lap, or so. That's why, again, the DTM races in GT4 for me were boring and a chore, which is why I ran them mostly in B-spec.

What I want is the exact opposite of car mods that increase the performance of a car. If we have parts to make a car go faster, then why not parts to make it go slower? Especially, since it's so easy to add. Not ever body needs a faster car.

 

[TheCracker]

If you don't care much for the ballast idea, why not try stretching your gearing out a little?

It should, in theory, reduce your acceleration ability.

 

[Solid Lifters]

If you don't care much for the ballast idea, why not try stretching your gearing out a little?

It should, in theory, reduce your acceleration ability.

I do. I usually setup six speeds for five. I also try using harder tires, but then I'm getting into car handling issues which I'm not looking for.

 

[Duke]

The cars are pretty much uniform in performance, except for the that GT trade mark "lone flyer" that seems to grossly out-perform the rest of the field. Which, I fervently hope with every fiber of my being and pray to any gods that will listen to my tortured soul, PD is now getting rid of, since it screws up the races.

Fixed.

 

[Tenacious D]

Hrm... I don't know what to tell you, Solid. Homologation is what they do in real life, since no two different makes are alike, and that's about all they can do besides make everyone drive the same model race car.

I guess we'll get a better idea of what GT5 is going to offer us when Prologue hits the net (or store shelves) this fall. I bet Kaz is thinking this very subject over, or has already.

 

[David Brooks]

If the cars are all set to be even in performance you should not be able to thrash the field by a lap. That is unless you are actually a considerably better driver than you opponents (or they all suffer mecahincals [damage please please ]).

So to me the real solution is that the AI needs to be upgraded so your opponents are just as smooth, precise, determined, and opportunistic as you are. 👍

If this is a real racing simulator then we all know what should happen if you drive a car with a big horsepower disadvantage. It doesn't happen that way on gt4 but hopefully it will on GT5.