Right, my report on the first time ever online with this game (that was last night). As soon as I fired up the game I did a lobby search, found 1 and entered, not knowing who was the host and - evidently - who was there.
(first note: lobbies have no names and no ID of their hosts. If you see a list of many, to find the one you want is a question of trial and error)
Turns out was bigjizzy's lobby, I noticed a few familiar names there (Hereward, Duncst) and I remember thinking
"oh boy, here comes a lamb to the wolves, let's see if at least I don't take anyone out and wreck their races" 
Thing is, lately I haven't played much and I'm still coming to grips with the handling.
Anyway, first race was at Monza, managed to be 3rd almost to the end - Hereward was a few seconds ahead fighting someone else for the win) but Duncst (also in a JAAG
) passed me, in the penultimate lap I think, so I ended 4th.
I had this race troubled by a BMW sitting sideways in the parabolica for the entire race. Everytime I passed there I made a mess (and lost a lot of time) of trying to avoid it until I realized (4th lap) that the car, although appearing solid, was "ghosted".
This got me really mad because I thought some moron in the lobby left the car there on purpose.
Post-race debriefing: -
Lots of downs that make me want to go to Italy and torture with unspeakable sadism the devs of this game.
1 - The 🤬 deadzone makes me drive horribly, the car is all over the place, especially in long almost-straight sections.
2 - Cockpit views are nice for those who like'em, but I don't. So ... I don't have rear view mirrors and have no clue on what's going on around me, or behind me. To look back I have to take the hand from the wheel and press a button on the shifter unit ... and that also is a mess.
3 - Sound from the coms is pitiful, I don't even try to speak. During races it seems that to speak you need to press another button ... guess where that button is ... on the shifter unit! Arggh, I'll remain silent I hope people understand my mistakes, or bumps, are unintentional. In lobby you don't need the button to speak but I can't understand anyone so I remain silent also.
Still, I went for another race, hoping some "getting-used-to" made it all a litle better, or more bearable.
It was Imola.
This time, I had two or three cars stopped in the start/finish line for the entire race. But I knew better so I didn't mind them and just went through, lap after lap. Still not sure about this, but I think theywere cars not from morons but from people that lost connection to the lobby (I think one of them was Hereward's car).
I spent almost the entire race battling for position with a guy called "gb-7" or "7-gb" (can't be sure, it was something like this) and although I am sure he was a correct driver, we had far more contact than I think it's acceptable. And, in what is my fault for that, it all was caused by a complete lack of situational awareness. I really don't know/can't tell what's going on around me. No sound from other cars, no rear view mirror, no rear view button for a quick flash on the wheel ... I just don't know what's happening around me.
Before the end of this race the lobby collapsed and soon after I got an invite from "arvore" to join his lobby. There' I met also Bullie, turnupdaheat and JoaoPereira_P and we did a few more races (1 at Portimão, 2 at Vallelunga and 1 at Monza). The experience was a litle better this time but to be entirely truthful, I think it was because this time 100% of my race-opponents were guys I know very well so I was relaxed with the knowledge that nobody would question my mistakes as being intentional.
btw, after Derek (turnup) entered, I experienced a sensible framerate drop at Vallelunga (4 humans, 12 AIs) that I didn't have before. But still, no lag.
All in all, I am dissapointed with this game's online performance. a few litle meaningless things make it a lot less agreable experience than what it should be and that is a shame.
I really hope the guys at Milestone are listening, because one thing is very clear in my mind. Even with the many great features they have, they are miles behind other devs like eutechnyx.
And if you consider how much the online of SCC is better than the online of FC and how much of that is the result of community/players feedback, I guess that Milestone/BlackBean are doing a HUGE mistake by not having a direct channel to their game's buyers.
To end: I think I'll invest my time in the offline mode for the time being, and when I feel more comfortable with the deadzone and lack of situational awareness I will return to online play.
.
but it does show the deadzone movement about 30 second in......
) rather than plonk him online in the deep end.
and, I think, maybe waited for me in the 2nd 👍👍
Tonight my first babysteps into the world of V8 
