Taxi645
Registered
*arrogant mode on*
Unlike Walter Röhrl I prefer a good fight over a 10min lead. The problem is drivers pace/talent is like a pyramid, the faster you are the fewer there are to meet of similar pace. If you look at rFactor many very fast drivers are spread between different leagues and hidden behind multiple server passwords. You won't find many on public servers, cause there are a lot of goons out there who can mess up your race no matter how good you are. These fast drivers might be on password servers, but how do you know if it's worth the hassle of going on the web to search the password if you have no idea of the level of the competitors there?
In other words in rFactor as a fast driver it is very hard to find a race with a full field of comparable drivers. Many fast rFactor drivers have since moved to iRacing since rFactor became less and less interesting. Any remotely serious sport has a class system. Why? Because if you have people of roughly the same level the game becomes a lot more interesting both for players as well as spectators. This is not only true for the fastest drivers, but for drivers of all levels. So to find people of comparable pace, you need a system that:
- tracks people's pace
- and easily indicate where they are.
To achieve this, I reckon there should be a well thought out driver rating/class system. Something similar to rFracing just with further fine tuned algorithms, added functionality (server browser, admin options) and more integrated into the game:
- Implement a decent driver rating system, either publicly visible or not, with rating for speed, cuts, contacts and spins (and make it compare identical cars only).
- Allow admins to set server access based on thresholds for speed, cuts, contacts and spins and possibly make this visible in the server browser
Allow admins to determine what level of racers they want to have, perhaps they want very fast drivers, or perhaps they don't care about speed, but for instance like huge events just that people drive safely (low contact and spin rating). This can all be controlled with the rating thresholds.
- In the (internet) server browser give an indication of the average speed and safety rating level of the drivers on that server (for instance by using a colour or icon system) and allow the server list to be sorted accordingly
Use a colour code in the (internet) server browser to indicate the average rating level of the drivers on that server and split it into the current average rating and the average driver rating of the past month for instance. That way you can immediately see what the level is on a server at that moment, but also if it is server where fast drivers tend to gather so it might be useful to join even if there aren't many fast drivers on their yet. If for instance you see a passworded server with a very high average rating you might get interested and take a look at their website and perhaps register or get the password, while otherwise you wouldn't have bothered cause you wouldn't know it was worth it in the first place.
- Make the ratings ranking system visible at the server browser website, the in game server browser and on server if player and server admin chooses to
Introduce a ranking list in game and online for all four ratings, giving people an extra built in challenge (this is an optional feature, not really necessary for the system above to function).
I was thinking to separate each rating; contacts, cuts, spins, finishes like the following:
Level C: All drivers
Level B: top 67% (just to weed out the wreckers so to say)
Level A: top 33% (if you want really safe and fair races etc.)
For speed I was thinking to use some sort of ELO system to determine the rating with the following levels:
Level E: all drivers
Level D: top 33%
Level C: top 10%
Level B: top 3%
Level A: top 1% (which prolly well be almost never used as a threshold)
All ratings would be quite sticky meaning then they won't change by one or two races, but take longer to change (longer than rFracing for sure). So if someone for some reason wants to mess up your rating it won't work and they prolly end up hurting their own rating much more.
EDIT: Just wanted to add that there are a few possible implementations, adopting more or less of the above characteristics:
1 The most modest one would only indicate the average level on that server without individual stats being visible to anyone.
2 Then you could have a system, where individual stats still are not visible (at least to others) but servers admins CAN set thresholds for the different type of ratings
3 Same as 2 but with the addition of ratings being visible to others and perhaps adopting a rank list as well.
In short a well working driver rating/class system is essential for me and I suppose many for rFactor 2 to be a worthwhile step forward compared to rFactor. I really hope something along these lines will be implemented and I hope to hear ISI's thoughts on this subject. Thanks.
*arrogant mode off*
Unlike Walter Röhrl I prefer a good fight over a 10min lead. The problem is drivers pace/talent is like a pyramid, the faster you are the fewer there are to meet of similar pace. If you look at rFactor many very fast drivers are spread between different leagues and hidden behind multiple server passwords. You won't find many on public servers, cause there are a lot of goons out there who can mess up your race no matter how good you are. These fast drivers might be on password servers, but how do you know if it's worth the hassle of going on the web to search the password if you have no idea of the level of the competitors there?
In other words in rFactor as a fast driver it is very hard to find a race with a full field of comparable drivers. Many fast rFactor drivers have since moved to iRacing since rFactor became less and less interesting. Any remotely serious sport has a class system. Why? Because if you have people of roughly the same level the game becomes a lot more interesting both for players as well as spectators. This is not only true for the fastest drivers, but for drivers of all levels. So to find people of comparable pace, you need a system that:
- tracks people's pace
- and easily indicate where they are.
To achieve this, I reckon there should be a well thought out driver rating/class system. Something similar to rFracing just with further fine tuned algorithms, added functionality (server browser, admin options) and more integrated into the game:
- Implement a decent driver rating system, either publicly visible or not, with rating for speed, cuts, contacts and spins (and make it compare identical cars only).
- Allow admins to set server access based on thresholds for speed, cuts, contacts and spins and possibly make this visible in the server browser
Allow admins to determine what level of racers they want to have, perhaps they want very fast drivers, or perhaps they don't care about speed, but for instance like huge events just that people drive safely (low contact and spin rating). This can all be controlled with the rating thresholds.
- In the (internet) server browser give an indication of the average speed and safety rating level of the drivers on that server (for instance by using a colour or icon system) and allow the server list to be sorted accordingly
Use a colour code in the (internet) server browser to indicate the average rating level of the drivers on that server and split it into the current average rating and the average driver rating of the past month for instance. That way you can immediately see what the level is on a server at that moment, but also if it is server where fast drivers tend to gather so it might be useful to join even if there aren't many fast drivers on their yet. If for instance you see a passworded server with a very high average rating you might get interested and take a look at their website and perhaps register or get the password, while otherwise you wouldn't have bothered cause you wouldn't know it was worth it in the first place.
- Make the ratings ranking system visible at the server browser website, the in game server browser and on server if player and server admin chooses to
Introduce a ranking list in game and online for all four ratings, giving people an extra built in challenge (this is an optional feature, not really necessary for the system above to function).
I was thinking to separate each rating; contacts, cuts, spins, finishes like the following:
Level C: All drivers
Level B: top 67% (just to weed out the wreckers so to say)
Level A: top 33% (if you want really safe and fair races etc.)
For speed I was thinking to use some sort of ELO system to determine the rating with the following levels:
Level E: all drivers
Level D: top 33%
Level C: top 10%
Level B: top 3%
Level A: top 1% (which prolly well be almost never used as a threshold)
All ratings would be quite sticky meaning then they won't change by one or two races, but take longer to change (longer than rFracing for sure). So if someone for some reason wants to mess up your rating it won't work and they prolly end up hurting their own rating much more.
EDIT: Just wanted to add that there are a few possible implementations, adopting more or less of the above characteristics:
1 The most modest one would only indicate the average level on that server without individual stats being visible to anyone.
2 Then you could have a system, where individual stats still are not visible (at least to others) but servers admins CAN set thresholds for the different type of ratings
3 Same as 2 but with the addition of ratings being visible to others and perhaps adopting a rank list as well.
In short a well working driver rating/class system is essential for me and I suppose many for rFactor 2 to be a worthwhile step forward compared to rFactor. I really hope something along these lines will be implemented and I hope to hear ISI's thoughts on this subject. Thanks.
*arrogant mode off*
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