Simple HUD improvement for penalties.

[nuu1212]

No, I am not gonna rant about the penalty system itself here... It's been OK recently.

Just the following simple idea:
The HUD should contain a penalty icon that flashes up (just as the driving aids do)

I really like the "delayed" penalties.
But as it is now, it's just guesswork, where you have actually violated the track boundaries!
So, when you shortcut or go wide some part of the track, this icon will flash and light up, so you instantly know about the mistake.
If you slow down (or let the opponent pass again) the icon will turn green (or off) and you can avoid the penalty.

Let me know your thoughts!

 

[Draggon]

I like the idea of instant notification. On tracks like Monza, it's near impossible to figure where you violated track boundaries in the chicanes when you get the penalty notification several seconds later.

 

[simsimsheree]

I'd rather hear a bell, or a beep, whatever, than clog my screen or distract my eyes any further than they already are..!

I think that most racing games would benefit from a practice mode with penalties off but a bell for whenever you exceed limits and would be penalized if they were on.

There's also a case to be made for a line (maybe blue?) that delineates the absolute track limits of your outside wheels on the outside and inside for practice purposes, easily enabling vision of where the spots you can push limits and spots where you can't. Obviously, this would need to be a movable overlay, as cars with different widths bring it in or out (I'm presuming the car's centerline is what is used to determine position, not edge). But being able to see the absolute limit line would stop a lot of 'he said, she said' BS as players who cut to the limit get into drivers driving closer to real life limits.

It seems such a 'gamer' thing to have to drive the track deliberately pushing limits beyond what would likely be allowed IRL to find where the game puts track limits. But if you do, be nice to have a bell to tell you while you still keep your speed up in practice mode!

 

[rono_thomas]

It seems such a 'gamer' thing to have to drive the track deliberately pushing limits beyond what would likely be allowed IRL to find where the game puts track limits.

Youve just described real life racing.

 

[simsimsheree]

No, IRL there is a drivers' meeting, and the stewards will generally spell out what corners they will be paying close attention to, and what the penalties exceeding the limits they spell out will entail.

 

[rono_thomas]

No, IRL there is a drivers' meeting, and the stewards will generally spell out what corners they will be paying close attention to, and what the penalties exceeding the limits they spell out will entail.

And racers will still push the boundaries

 

[simsimsheree]

But they will know where they are in advance. That was the point I was trying to talk about. Some kind of mechanism short of incessantly driving the track pushing further and further out until the penalty kicks in.

 

[rono_thomas]

But they will know where they are in advance. That was the point I was trying to talk about. Some kind of mechanism short of incessantly driving the track pushing further and further out until the penalty kicks in.

It only really takes a few laps to work out where the boundaries are.

Its strange you argue alot against the magic powers controllers have but yet want another visual/audio aid.

 

[simsimsheree]

I'm not asking for those in-race, practice only.

And, to be honest, no, it takes more than a few laps to know EXACTLY how far you can push on each and every turn. You have to first trigger the penalty, lose speed so the next few corners are not taken full speed, trigger it a few corners on, rinse and repeat until you have taken every single corner as wide as possible at full speed and triggered no penalties at all.

When an inch too far triggers it and an inch less doesn't, it takes a long time to get a flow going for a whole lap. Being able to see the limit, or hearing a warning bell but not losing time (so the next couple of corners are still attacked full speed) would speed up the process, for me, at least!

And then, once the slow zones finally come to Sport Mode fully, it's going to be rinse and repeat again as we work out whether the cost outweighs the penalty.

If you can confuse the difference between the machine helping your driving inputs with a visual aid to simply see track limits, perhaps we are done here.

 

[O604]

HUD notice would be nice. More clarity on penalties in general would be nice.

Also, I know it's not possible due to the short amount of time post race. But I think a post race video highlighting penalties might be a way into shaming drivers to learn.

Often incidents get forgotten by the end of the race. Sometimes drivers are so focused on what is in front they don't see what's around them.

If I cause an incident, I should learn from that experience. Not just lose points.