Is it just me or AC public MP is dead?

[Pablo Cortes]

I dont know if its my time zone and the hours I play.. but public servers are pretty much dead..
there is a bunch of servers with pre-registered players that are never there and you get tricked into playing empty servers with cars sitting in the pits.. it SUCKS
maybe its time to get that league rolling? even the club races are low in grid numbers...

back to SP race weekend!

 

[Terry Rock]

Is anyone else having serious issues with the booking timer as well? Sometimes when it reaches zero I am not able to join. The timer is clearly out of sync. I fully agree with the thoughts here. Rfactor is what I was used to, and that system was much better.

I had a similar thing happen on my first attempt at trying to join a session. It's happening to me quite a bit but I find that if I click the refresh button two or so time and then again click join, more often than not I can get into the session.
It does need a bit of help, but we still have to remember this is their (KS) first time offering multiplayer.
I won't get too ticked unless it's an issue long after release.
To be fair, there is a disclaimer upon joining online session indicating as much.
RF2 version of MP is also not perfect.
I still find it a bit of a PITA when you wait for a track to load, only to find you don't have half of the required components required to run the session.
They all need help of some kind.

 

[Leemstradamus]

I had a similar thing happen on my first attempt at trying to join a session. It's happening to me quite a bit but I find that if I click the refresh button two or so time and then again click join, more often than not I can get into the session.
It does need a bit of help, but we still have to remember this is their (KS) first time offering multiplayer.
I won't get too ticked unless it's an issue long after release.
To be fair, there is a disclaimer upon joining online session indicating as much.
RF2 version of MP is also not perfect.
I still find it a bit of a PITA when you wait for a track to load, only to find you don't have half of the required components required to run the session.
They all need help of some kind.

This is KS second time offering multi-player. First time for AI.

 

[Terry Rock]

I stand corrected....forgot about NKP

 

[Raig Strehlow]

Still if you click refresh serverlist or playerlist, the waiting time gets higher each time.
Lost so many minutes already

 

[cerebus23]

Hope they do not delay netcode again.....

 

[Ghoults]

The booking system is really just horrible. There is no way around it. Doesn't matter if it is early access, doesn't matter it is unfinished or that it will be improved in the future. At the moment it is just really bad. The booking system needs to die in a fire and never be seen again.

 

[Martymcfly]

Best way to fix MP and make it better is to attract mote racers to join in.. right now its all empty

 

[Adria Perez]

Best way to fix MP and make it better is to attract mote racers to join in.. right now its all empty

Best way to attract more racers to join in is to fix MP..

For instance if I want a quick race I race vs the AI... only if I have enough time that I can spend 10-15 minutes trying to discover which server is full of active cars and which not I might have a go at MP...

 

[Leemstradamus]

I've found that racing the AI is such a crap shoot. I'm basically addicted to online racing now lol. They really need to update the server tools.

 

[Martymcfly]

Best way to attract more racers to join in is to fix MP..

For instance if I want a quick race I race vs the AI... only if I have enough time that I can spend 10-15 minutes trying to discover which server is full of active cars and which not I might have a go at MP...

I know what you mean. I book a race as early as I can and watch to see if the numbers of racers joining goes up or not... Even then once the session begins I just drive slowly in the pits to see if anyone else drives off with me. Unfortunately I just don't think there is enough interest in this game at this time. Servers are empty.
It's too bad cause once I find a good race and it's over I feel like a kid that just got his favourite candy taken away.. I want more
This game is great.

 

[Blkout]

This is not true. I have a similar server set up to what you describe above..20 slots with 9 prebooked drivers...What are we supposed to do? We have to use the booking system so that if our team drivers come to race, they can join straight away with out us needing to reboot the server or having them staring into space for 15 minutes until the booking session comes around again. Which is what we had to do before we used the Entry list.

Don't blame the hosts, blame Kunos for this really poorly thought out system.

Unless they change this system, Assetto will just be another sim that has masses of potential but ends up just being an offline mod testing and playing sim (the way Rfactor was for me) because it is crippled by a bad multiplayer system. That would be a crying shame.

There is one benchmark for how online sim racing should be done and that is LiveForSpeed. Any one who has played this will find it very, very hard to live with this current Assetto MP method.

Kegetys showed that the system can be more flexible, so hopefully there is glimmer of light here.

IRacing is the benchmark for online racing.

 

[Ghoults]

IRacing is the benchmark for online racing.

I don't think the iracing system is without problems. For me it just did not work at all when your favourite car had maybe one time slot during the whole week that I could do a race. Just one race! I much prefer good online racing where during couple of hours I can do 5 races instead of waiting an hour to get do one.

If we compare the racing system and normal open server racing (like in lfs) I think both have their pros and cons. Some things matter more for someone than for someone else. I like to race when I can. I don't want to spend hours just training and hotlapping to get consistant enough to finish my first 40 minute race. I'm the kind of guy who gets close to good speed relatively quickly but needs lots of laps to practise to stay on the track. I can finish 10 lap race without spinning out but not 20.

And because iracing is so serious I don't want to enter into a race and lose it on lap 3 and then either take out someone else or just end up having to wait 2 hours for the next race. But for someone else that same seriousness is a good thing. They like to practise and do a race that feels like it means something. Do a race every season. Do a season. Do well. I did not enjoy that season type of approach either. To me it felt like the system just picks random races I've done over certain period of time and then says you finished 8th and division 3 even if I just did 5 races out of 12. If I want to do a season with certain type of cars I'll much rather join a league.

The best thing about teh iracing system is the track and car usage. It literally forces you to drive combos that are not your first choises. In open server system you generally end up having few popular car/track combos while some others are rarely used. I think mugello/gt3 is one such combo. In oval racing that is the daytona and talladega type of tracks. In lfs it was as3 with the gtr cars. In nkpro it was the F2000s on prato. And I'm sure rfactor and pcars have their own. I think it is great that in iracing you can get full grids driving the a class nascar on dover or richmond. Or the radical in lime rock. Or the lotus 49 in sebring.

Tl/dr. I like different cars and tracks, hate waiting for a race and would like to do a lot more races. For me it is a pro that ac doesn't have a system like iracing. For someone else it is a con.

 

[xRacF1x]

the problem for me is the amount of players in MP. in the first days i remember i raced vs full grids every time, and now its even hard to find one with atleast 5 players in it, this means the community got disinterested in it. and if people are not interested in it anymore, you can develop the sound/graphic engine what you want but its not gonna help, because after all its not about SP experience, its about the resources in MP that keeps people interested. thats why it annoys me they work on the things that are not primary atm but secondary.

 

[Georg Siebert]

the problem for me is the amount of players in MP. in the first days i remember i raced vs full grids every time, and now its even hard to find one with atleast 5 players in it, this means the community got disinterested in it. and if people are not interested in it anymore, you can develop the sound/graphic engine what you want but its not gonna help, because after all its not about SP experience, its about the resources in MP that keeps people interested. thats why it annoys me they work on the things that are not primary atm but secondary.

Well, I think you are conflating two different things here and I don't want to single you out, the following is meant as an explanation for others as well.

First is player interest

Player interest, the participation rate in our club races at the moment is a case in point, has dropped significantly in the last few weeks, you're right about that. Nevertheless, it is summer time and the World Cup is going atm, you have to keep that in mind.
A further reason is i think a symptom of current player culture, and that is to buy a new game, preferably one on sale, try it for a limited time and then move on to 'the next cool thing'. Assetto Corsa is certainly not equivalent to the abomination and 'Pewdiebait' (Trademark Jesse Cox) that is Goat Simulator in that respect, however this player behavior is now more commonplace then ever. I think nowerdays gamers lack the patience and stamina to stick to one game for an extensive period of time and then move on to the next one. Look at the steam profiles of your friends and/or other steam users. Most likely they will have one or two games they'll be very into, with hundreds of hours of play time, but most won't even have a handfull of hours played and many games won't even be started by them at all.
I think the appreciation of being able to buy and enjoy games in general has dropped in recent years, especially for prolonged periods of time.

The second one is marketing and commercialisation related

The marketing budget for movies is absolutely massive and oftentimes equal to their complete production costs. The marketing budget for tripple A titles, and hyped games like COD, is in the hundreds of millions as well. The genre and targeted demographic is what differentiates Assetto Corsa from other games. Just being a racing game, AC has naturally not the breath of audience then a FPS for example. In addition, AC is a racing simulation, what further narrows down the intended player base and Kunos is not a big development studio with a giant publisher in their back.
Assetto Corsa is still in early access phase. While this gives players the opportunity to play the game before it's officially released, it's not the right time to advertise and long for a bigger playerbase while this game is unfinished. I think AC has 'beta testers' enough for this purpose. Kunos will be in a stronger postion to make their case for AC, if it is fully developed.

 

[xRacF1x]

yh i think you were much more diplomatic then me Georg, you summed it up quite nicely

 

[Jempy]

The reason is also ....not a single important change in Multiplayer since the beginning except the ... Packager.

- May 9th MP is released
- nearly 2 months later: same as at the start.

- Booking not a good system for quick public races.
- lack of essential features: no flags, no rules definition possible , a ridiculous penalty system, and so on and so on.

Most people are feeling that maybe something goes wrong in the game evolution.
The new -50% Steam offer for AC ... is giving me this same impression.

From AC fan at the start, I'm loosing more and more interest ... and I even begin to doubt about the finality of V1 !

Please AC, before foreseeing marvellous things for the future, improve first what needs to be improved... step by step.
Marvellous projects ok .... but first finish the base perfectly ... else these marvellous projects will never come to life.

 

[Georg Siebert]

I disagree, Jean.
The netcode and collisions have been improved, also has the performance of the game in multiplayer.
Even if the game is on sale now, the price drop won't probably convince the sceptics, it's the quality of the game, or better yet their percieved quality of the game, what sways their decision.

If you want to talk to Kunos directly and give suggestions, the official forum is much more suited for this purpose than this one.

 

[Jempy]

Right but saying there what I begin to think should mean: ... banned !

Or starting a movement of disagree with their commercial politics should mean ... closed topic.
I feel a great lack of organisation in their system.

Realistic aims step by step for a near future ... should be fixed in place of dreams for a further future.

MP has to become adult ... with more settings possibilities and more utilities on track: correct penalties and flags .... first and urgently ... as they are a base utility on track.

Not only public servers are suffering ... the leagues' ones ... also ! Lack of interest for online races begins to grow more and more. ...

 

[Cote Dazur]

Just curious as one of those player still very much in love with AC, actually more than ever, but really not that much interested in MP, in any shape, neither iRacing or other formulas.
Is MP just not that many attractive to most people, as in yes racing against other real drivers is a great concept, but when you factor real life issues ( like, but not limited to, time available, different level of talent, some people attitude, time zones, network issues, etc....) then it is not that practical and exciting anymore.
I personally like AI a lot, someone mention they are a crap shot, compare to what?
Not MP, MP is much worse, as far as being varying from worst to good. if it is compare to the very elusive perfect AI that nobody has, then maybe, But as it is AC AI is by far the best I have experienced in any SIM.
So I hope AC continues to address aspect of the SIM that is important to most of ( the silent one) us, because MP really is never going to be like what people dream it should be.
This post my not be so popular on this site, but I thought some of the very expressive MP aficionado had to hear it,

 

[xRacF1x]

i played iRacing - GTR2 - Race07 - rFactor ...... but nothing comes close to the fun that once GT5 offered me. although its not really sim, it was a blast racing against people in that particular sim.