- 3,076
- Massachusetts
- GBO-Possum
What I'm suggesting are special events such as described in the thread about the Ouninpohja Rally stage in Finland, with the ability to increase the difficulty and rewards.
Ouninpohja is a long and complex rally stage, with blind curves just beyond crests. From the video in that posting (scroll down), it's obvious that merely surviving this rally stage would be a significant achievement. For a track like this the ONLY access to this track would be for timed events, and would require paying for realistic damage, up to, and including, complete write off of the car, plus the cost of salvage. So the ONLY way to learn the track would be to drive it knowing that there is a risk of costly mistakes.
Drivers arriving at the end of the stage will be financially rewarded. Rewards are greater for faster times, but are significant even with slow times in recognition of the risks involved. Rewards are increased at higher difficulty levels.
There would be settings for adverse lighting, weather and the inclusion of track damage such as washouts and areas of reduced traction due to water and gravel movement. These settings would be able to be chosen individually in any combinations, such as difficulty 0 lighting, difficulty 5 weather, difficulty 1 track damage and difficulty 3 reduced traction areas.
Higher levels of difficulty would include effects such as:-
Here is why I like this proposal. It provides a significant, long term challenge where the player can choose the amount of risk and reward. It requires dedication and skill to succeed. There will be a challenging learning curve. As in real life, it will not be a good plan to just rush at the problem to solve it.
In order to make it possible to create leaderboards where it's possible to compare players' performances, there should be a limited, but non-zero amount of randomness resulting from these difficulty settings.
Links to related threads:-
Ouninpohja Rally stage in Finland
https://www.gtplanet.net/forum/threads/ouninpohja-rally-stage-in-finland.302671/
Paying for car damage
https://www.gtplanet.net/forum/threads/pay-for-car-damage.298347/
Ouninpohja is a long and complex rally stage, with blind curves just beyond crests. From the video in that posting (scroll down), it's obvious that merely surviving this rally stage would be a significant achievement. For a track like this the ONLY access to this track would be for timed events, and would require paying for realistic damage, up to, and including, complete write off of the car, plus the cost of salvage. So the ONLY way to learn the track would be to drive it knowing that there is a risk of costly mistakes.
Drivers arriving at the end of the stage will be financially rewarded. Rewards are greater for faster times, but are significant even with slow times in recognition of the risks involved. Rewards are increased at higher difficulty levels.
There would be settings for adverse lighting, weather and the inclusion of track damage such as washouts and areas of reduced traction due to water and gravel movement. These settings would be able to be chosen individually in any combinations, such as difficulty 0 lighting, difficulty 5 weather, difficulty 1 track damage and difficulty 3 reduced traction areas.
Higher levels of difficulty would include effects such as:-
- Weather
- Driving in up to complete darkness requiring the purchase and use of rally lights for improved vision.
- Flooded gullies which, when the car hits the water, would slow the car and the splash would temporarily "blind" the driver.
- Fallen tree branches which may cause damage to the car including disabling some rally lights.
- Electrical storms with thunder and severe lightning flashes to distract the driver.
- Washed out gullies. Hit them hard and the bounce may be hard to control. Hit them harder and the car is damaged, performance impacted, repair required to restore the car.
- Ruts in the track from previous cars. These ruts may catch the wheels of the car making steering difficult and requiring steering correction.
- Drifts of gravel which will slow the car and reduce its ability to steer.
- Snow impacting visibility.
- Hail which not only impacts visibility, but will also make a lot of noise and possibly damage vehicle lighting.
- Fog in gullies.
- Etc.
- Disabled vehicles will require the use of a salvage service even if the car is a write off. Salvage services must be paid for and are more expensive than towing services.
- Partially disabled vehicles may attempt to continue to the end of the stage, or the driver may call for a towing service.
- Vehicles may be equipped with "ruggedized" rally components which are less prone to damage or provide a degree of protection against damage. Purpose-built rally cars may already be equipped with some ruggedized components.
Here is why I like this proposal. It provides a significant, long term challenge where the player can choose the amount of risk and reward. It requires dedication and skill to succeed. There will be a challenging learning curve. As in real life, it will not be a good plan to just rush at the problem to solve it.
In order to make it possible to create leaderboards where it's possible to compare players' performances, there should be a limited, but non-zero amount of randomness resulting from these difficulty settings.
Links to related threads:-
Ouninpohja Rally stage in Finland
https://www.gtplanet.net/forum/threads/ouninpohja-rally-stage-in-finland.302671/
Paying for car damage
https://www.gtplanet.net/forum/threads/pay-for-car-damage.298347/
