| ithis said: I am of the opinion that the relatively small number of tracks and cars is actually good for the online focus of the game. Not many tracks and cars to learn, yet the online races are interesting by themselves, no matter the track (well, unless you suck on the current track). Having a one-make championship on just Interlagos would be quite satisfying I think(well, if one get's better with time that is). I don't believe everyone that hits you in a corner is "cheating". I mean, in the lower rankings people are just bad at driving and being aware of their surroundings at the same time, so mistakes happen all the time. Knowing that I hit some people because I was trying to be "aggressive yet clean", and they may have thought that I am a "cheater" because of that makes me believe that most of the other drivers are the same and not actually cheaters. Sometimes it get's out of hand, that's all. What I don't like at all though is that if you have a bad race you don't get to finish it. In DR.E races there are often very fast drivers that just started the game, so their DR is low, and they are 5 seconds per lap faster than the slowest 5 drivers. Combined with off the track excursions that easily becomes a 40-50(more) seconds difference at the end of the race, which makes the last racers not be able to finish the last half a lap, and often there is one more car to overtake in that last half a lap. Frustrating. |
There's a difference between small mistakes and forcing openings that aren't there. You can easily spot the difference by the follow through. Someone who accidentally hits you will let go off the gas at least. If they have some sportsmanship in them they will slow down and back off, let you recover, sometimes wait to let you go in front of them, or apologize in chat after the race or by message. Intentional ones do not let go off the gas and steer a little bit extra into you then keep pushing around the corner. The difference is quite clear in how their car comes out of the bump.
You can expect that people that start with a decent qualify time at least know the track. It doesn't matter what DR rank they are in as that's very easily manipulated. I have seen plenty DR.D drivers with qualifying times at DR.A level and driving at that level.
Mistakes happen, it all comes down to how you behave after making a mistake. Knock me out of a corner by not holding your line or hitting from behind and pass at full speed ahead anyway, that's no longer just a mistake, it's bad driving.
When I accidentally hit someone by misjudging a pass, I back off, apologize if I send them off track. I don't pass them, slow down to let them pass again if it made them loose speed against the wall. Ofcourse they could still see me as a cheater, since if I hold my line and they bump into me, then I keep going. I see no reason why passing on the inside would be bad behavior as long as you cling to the inside and not go wide cutting them off. Same for passing on the outside as long as you stay away from the apex on the outer half. Yet some people think they have the right to every inch of track in the corner and will hit you anyway. In that case the response of their car quite clearly tells you whether it was intentional or not.
That's my experience after 350 online races, I wonder if you could train an AI too to spot the difference in behavior :) Atm the system simply deals out a penalty on contact without looking at anything else. It only detects hard hits from behind at corners, the only time you don't get a penalty. (Unless that hit sends you into the car in front of you)
Not getting to finish the race sucks indeed. Waiting sucks too yet you're never late for the next race anyway. Why not let late comers keep driving while sending the leaders to the result screen already. It shouldn't be that difficult to implement.
