Thanks for clearing that up DTW_Metro. I didn't know servers could crash from too many players, thats interesting. I did play again with the same GTP player that was hosting those crashed races, and with less players the game played out smoothly, makes sence.
That was probably me hosting those races. Here's how it works. In the GT5 in-game manual under, I think, network connections, it tells exactly how much speed ( both upload and download) is required to host a race. They break it down into required speed for 8 player races, and for 16 player races. I can ping a website to get my approximate upload/download speed. This is the speed provided by my CABLE company. My computer or router has nothing to do with it. AND, the speed can vary, depending on the time of day (amount of traffic on the cable).
When I race online, 99% of the time I'm chosen as host. I have NO SAY in the matter. The online race computer pings the entrants and assigns the hosting to the one with the fastest connection. My connection speed (my cable provider's speed) can only handle 8 racers. If there are more than 8, some or usually ALL entrants will be disonnected.
There is a "crawl" note at the bottom of the screen (when waiting for a race connection)that says that PD is tracking the hosts and will make note of who can handle the amount of racers. But so far, in my case, PD hasn't made any changes.
I hope this is something PD will improve soon. As it is, I will not enter into anymore GTP arranged races or tournaments, until PD makes adjustments or we get private rooms. If I enter a race, I am almost automatically made the host. And if there are more than 8 racers, that race will surely get disconnected, ruining the pre-arranged starting time.
It pretty much ruined our GTP tournament last night (NTSC Tounament #2, 5/27). Maybe if I hadn't entered, another host who could handle the load would have been chosen.
The problem for me is that most of the racers don't know these facts, and assume that I am doing the disconnecting on purpose. So I get a bad online reputation.
My online racing creed is...I will never quit a race (on purpose) that I am hosting, for any reason, unless I am the only one left...position marker 1/1.
I never disconnect from any race, even if I'm not the host. ( Even the punt-o-matics)