Racing Club Suggestions

Yves Larose

Premium
after running the new racing club format and monitoring the attendancy we feel that we need to make some changes. in order to make the best changes possible the staff need to know what the members wants and why they are not racing in the racing club so this thread is for that purpose and that purpose only, so please don't discuss others suggestions. also keep in mind that we will not use all suggestions but will read them all, we have to take in consideration the work load that some suggestions will bring on the staff so please keep your suggestion as real as possible. if someone already suggest the same thing as you would please post it anyway that will help us determine better what the majority of the members wants.

we already have pointed some things that members wants so please save yourself and the staff time by not mentionning the following:
  • sign up, the automated sign up is ready we are waiting to make the changes to impliment it
  • US\AUS time zone, they are gonna be separate from the EU time zone and the racing club will meet their needs
finally we will ask you to post in the following format:

Time Zone: EU, US or AUS
Racing club experience: number of races in the club (approx.)
Your suggestions:

thanks in advance for your suggestions and be assured that they all will be read.
 
Time Zone: EU
Racing club experience: No idea, maybe around 50?
Your suggestions:
1. Same as Dariusz above. Bring back the mods/addon tracks and addon cars.
2. Mix the cars up a bit. Single make cars, or 2 or 3 cars, or various cars from various mods that have similiar performance.
3. Various types of races, with or without pitstops. Race distances of 10, 15, 20, 25 and 30 minutes or number of laps
4. Throw in the odd enduro now and then, or something completely different?
5. I think variety is the key here, instead of the same old same old (stock content, standard event format etc..)
 
Time Zone: EU
Racing club experience: Too many if you ask my wife.
Your suggestions

the races are not always updated in the calender.
And as it was before, when you looked in the forum. All races was at the bottom to look.

Easy to find races =more people will join.

And i find the racing style in leauge more after my liking.

Now its sommer and this can have an affect too.
 
Time Zone: EU,
Racing club experience: 300+
Your suggestions

Same as above really;
1. Addon tracks- I understand some previous concerns when it comes to learning new tracks, maybe select 1 or 2 tracks at a time and run them for a week or something along those lines.

2.Mods- so much high quality community content out there - had no problem filling grids when we ran mods before.

3.Race Club rules enforced-for example there is no consequences now if someone takes out another competitor and fails to give the position back.
 
Time Zone: EU & US (if a ARC is established once again)
Racing club experience: ~150
Your suggestions:

1. Good use of addon tracks and quality mods in a nice mix with stock content.
2. Not too much races i.e. not every day, to bring more people into the same events, maybe with leaving out bad days for racing like Saturday and maybe another one + a sort of special event once in a while
3. A race per week for every taste, for example: 2 different mods + 1x WTCC + 1x GT-class + 1x open-wheelers
4. A consequence/motivation for good driving (like seeing their progression in some sort of stats) and bad behavior (like the infractions used to be)
 
  • Time Zone: U.S
  • Race EXP (10 I'm new but not new to driving)
  • Suggestions : Bring back previous club format and please lets use more than just stock or current content. Lets spice up the track section as well. There are so many great courses to race yet only a small fraction of them are being used. I still think the site is great, you all are a great group to associate with, BUT club racing has lost it's appeal here. There used to be certain people I would join track with but they have all disappeared .
 
Time Zone: EU
Racing Club Experience: ~110
Suggestions:

1. addon tracks and mods
2. special events from time to time (i.e enduro, 3 tracks 3 races, sprint races, hillclimbs, vs eachother when retro is released or via time attack replay files/records with the ones out already)
 
Time Zone: EU,
Racing club experience: since 2008 (500)
Your suggestions: If we could go back to what we had, just tweeked to make less work for the admins which was quite high with the old format. S2000 race were great.
 
I don't know if this is going to go down well and I am 10/1 going to state the obvious but so be it because I like the site, the racing and the people I meet around here. So I am really sorry for the book below but with my dyslexia I can't really do it any other way.

Time Zone: EU,
Racing club experience: ~100
The Obvious:

I have been away for nearly a year but when I came back about a month ago and started racing again the first thing that struck me was as if club racing has lost its soul. People come and go as they want. Some put their names up for racing but don't pitch up (with no excuse) and with no consequence.

It is as if club racing became cheap (if you understand what I mean). It seems as if anything goes these days as well as in the club racing forums and also in the racing rooms from borderline abuse to hissy fits. The once strict to the code blew out of the door and it really feels as if the diversification and constant changes to the whole site left club racing out there as a casualty of circumstance just to become another by product.

In the past you’d never see “Will race if >10”. I know how it feels to sit in a lobby and wait and one single soul pitches up.

Some of the faster racers (if I can call them that) left the establishment to go elsewhere. Just have a look at some of the names in the previous leagues. Some of them for a reason :wink:

Think about it… 120000+ members (I don’t know how many are actually active) but for argument sake let’s assume 20000. Of that 20000 let’s say about 2000 are active in the clubs of sort. So why is it always the same people signing up for events that are not filled to the brim? I can only speculate and throw numbers out there but proper stats won’t lie.

Above might look as if I am just replying with the obvious but sometimes you find the answers in obvious places.

Suggestion:

  • It is the duty of every member to act and react in a professional manner not just in the forums but also in the lobbies. This should be enforced and driven home.
  • Report unruly members/racers and give feedback. A proper channel (easy to use) reporting system should be put in place as hyperlink or plugin in all club events and people should be encouraged to use it if things get out of control especially now that staff/event managers can’t attend the races that much anymore. As an example about a year ago I complained about being called names in one of the league qualification lobbies. Needless to say I am still awaiting feedback.
  • Reward members who regularly attend races over a year even if it is just a badge behind the username. People want to be made feel good about themselves and not cracked down around every corner.
  • Encourage and embrace newcomers or slow drivers. Advertise these races on the site to encourage new people and show them we care. Help them to become better and faster drivers.
  • Change racetime into laps. Some of us don't know how to convert minutes into laps :lol:
  • Sometimes include mandatory pitstops to spice thing up a bit
  • Don't mix classes because lapping and being taken out is going to an issue. People tend to jump for the fastest because there are no prizes for being 2nd.
  • This is 10/1 a dream but a rep system for drivers even if it is manual tick box.
  • Like some said bring back the old and tweak it to be modern.
  • Instead of having just just race after race introduce a small point system on a monthly basis where points are allocated in every class over the period (mini UNOFFICIAL league). That will encourage even me to try and get my name on the leaderboard. This will work quite well in the current WTCC club racing because it is weekly. I am sure we the drivers would be happy to maintain a small little list in the forum.
  • Lock certain races to a specific car to increase the fun factor.
  • Not everybody has all the RACE'07/RaceON etc paid add-ons
 
Time Zone: EU,
Racing club experience: Did club races since October 2008
Your suggestions:
1. I have told this to a race staff before but I like to point it out just incase more people think the same, please no raped changes.
Make slow changes so we all (new to RD and old RD members) can adapt.
2. As it have been mentioned so many times, addon mods and tracks.
3. Complitly Random events as Nick Deeley mentioned.
4. Traditional RD club events, more like an club event that RD runs once or twice a year. (I belive such events motivates evryone to participate because they are special.)
5. I know that there are already so many different club races for evry day but as much variation on the club races as posable.
6. Experimentation.
 
Time Zone: EU,
Racing club experience: no idea, 100.. 200 something in between, i guess.
Your suggestions: What has been said, bring mods back! Hi- quality addon tracks from the community, we don't make the tracks for ourselves..
1. Cold Laps: the track and the car will be announced at the last minute, no practicing before event start. Best way to do it to put up a 5 track list and only the original cars..
2. Use the Friday Minis to present new tracks to the community.. ( i know, little bit barking my own tree here..) And keep that event the most informal of the lot..
3. Expansion pack races max 1 per week, preferably fewer.
 
Time Zone: EU
Racing club experience: Over 100 probabaly over the years
Your suggestions:
1. Propersign-up list, rather than a "drop in" system, which just in basically a glorified public server.
2. I like the idea of mystery events, the track and car class isn't announced untill one hour before practise, so the people who sign-ups have no idea what to expect
3. Please fewer WTCC 2010 races, as we tell by the recent poll, barely anyone has bought this expansion, compared to other ones.
4. S2000 Wednesday's were fantastic, especially when you had to pick a random number and whatever number you picked you got a random touring car - was a really enjoyable system and made you drive cars you had never driven before :thumb:

I appreciate this thread a lot, and I definiately appreciate the work that the staff guys put in, but as we could all tell; the old system wasn't that successful - I'm glad you guys are moving forward from it now , and we can go back to the successful racing club days of old!:thumb:
 
Time Zone: Asia/Oceania
Racing club experience:250+
Your suggestions:From my point of view,the old system worked best,now the club racing just seems to lack a sense of occasion.
Before it felt like a proper event,you signed up and looked forward to a well run simulated race meeting,now that has just gone.

I know people don't like change and my feeling is that alot are boycotting the new system especially when views were asked in the forums and a lot of people voiced their concerns only to be ignored and for the changes to go ahead anyway.

For me personally being from a (what seems like) underpopulated timezone the new system means i can race more if i had the time/energy to.
Before the only racing available was a Euro event(early morning for me)(weekend) or the friday US event (saturday afternoon for me)(even this is out now because of work).Now i can race every night of the week if i choose,so thats a positive from the new system for me,the only downside is that there is no one to race in my timezone.
I do applaud admin though,i asked for a earlier start time for our timezone and was granted that wish.I can now say that i have raced with 3 other Kiwi's in the Sunday night meeting(the old Euro sunday breakfast club S2000).which has been getting good numbers ,not like the old events though.



Maybe a "Club Championship" needs to be started to bolster numbers,points allocated for every meeting run to make the new system work.
Use the non stock tracks that are available in the "Download" section,whats it for if we are not going to race them??

Something has to change to get folks back racing again and talking about it is a good start,lets hope some good ideas come forth that work for everyone.
 
Time Zone: US Eastern
Racing club experience: Over 160
Your suggestions: I would suggest that the club events become events again instead of pickup races. Schedules tend to make it more important to attend than just having people try and setup their own races by signing up for a given time and hope that someone will show to make it a race.

Using add on material is also a good idea as there is quite a bit of great add on tracks and cars that will continue to make the game fun to race. The only issue I can see is that someone needs to make sure that a link to the track or car add on is posted and that the server is loaded with the correct mods in order for everyone to be able to race. I know this worked out well in the past, but that was when the race admins were actually racing in the events. With that being said I would suggest that the person who is doing the organizing should be able to attend the event as well. In this way they can be there to see how people like the event and to take suggestions for further events. The staff really needs to show that they are as involved in the community as they want the community to be involved in their events.

Having the numbers that this site has and with it supporting quite a number of different racing games, I understand that at times it can be technically challenging to ensure that you have people dedicated to the events that are put out. Paying attention to the community and seeing who is involved the most in trying to keep things going might lead to more people willing to donate their time and energy in order to make events enjoyable and fun for all. Pay attention to what is happening with your community or it will leave you.
 
Time Zone: EU
Racing club experience: New in Racing Club, so ... only 4
Your suggestions:
1) I think 18.00 GMT for EU is a bit too early. Summer hour in most european countries, a chance that's 20.00 for the moment, otherwise I could not participate. That's worse for others: 19.00, just time to come back from work or school and nearly no time to eat !
2) Never known the previous schedule but having read most reactions, it was better and might be adapted to make something new.
3) Using addon tracks or mods besides the stock ones is better than using too many expansions. You might not have this or that expansion, but can easily download tracks and mods.
4) Maybe too many events in the week: maybe better 3 or 4 events that might get 10 or more drivers than divide the potential number of drivers by 7 events. Sure it's not everyone being able to participate 4 or 5 times in a week !
5) More variations in the race formats: mixed models, same car model for everyone, random car, changeable weather or wet races sometimes, short races or or endurance ( +- 1 hour ), mandatory pitstops, ....
6) Special event on saturdays later in the evening +- 21.00 GMT. This could be interesting for familial reasons in Europe ( my case :) ) and maybe getting presence of other drivers from different time zones ( afternoon or begin evening for US zone and sunday morning for Asia ).

Anyway .... thanks RD and admins for organizing and asking members their opinion.

PS: Hoping to be able to drive twice a week in my case.
 
Time Zone: US Eastern
Racing club experience: New in Racing Club, so ... less then 10
Your suggestions:

1)Create some sort of license/ability system or even a classes of events(GT1, 2, 3). I applied for my RD license and got it, and promptly went racing with the Club. But the drivers there were all superior to me in ability and knowledge and the experience was intimidating. Everyone was friendly and encouraging but that only goes so far when I am 2-3 seconds off the pace. I'm at Iracing now and enjoy the license system but the community is so big it lacks soul IMHO.

2)Keep running mods and add-ons and if possible seek out a modder who could add a "school" version of the track to the repertoire. Throw that track up on the server for a few days before race time to allow drivers with less ability to learn the turn-in, apex and exit points.

3)I'm a shift worker and I really appreciate any system that offers me the chance to race often. But as posted before too many events are bad thing as well. It would be great to have a points system that awards me for running events even if I miss the "main event" for that week.

4)Perhaps once a week have a special event that allows for true GT racing with all of the classes combined. This one event would have to be policed to avoid abuse due to the combination of newer drivers on track with the quicker more experienced drivers.

5)Make it real. Pit stops, weather, all flags and forced cockpit view.

6)A points system for participation. If the site can award copies of SimBin titles for some races, then they could possibly reward someone with the most event start/finishes for a 30 day period.....sounds neat but probably a ton of work.
 
Time Zone: EU
Racing club experience: Over 100 races
Your suggestions: For the 'Race' club events i've found there's far too many events being scheduled through the week. Sticking to 3 or 4 would perhaps encourage more participants at each event and prevent 'dilution' of numbers. Also, as mentioned before, not everyone has all the add-on content, so a move away from this and into proven, quality mods (ie: True2Life's DTM & V8 supercar mod, and how about AndreasFSC's BTCC98 mod?) and on great add-on tracks (as well as some of the classic default ones.... Puebla?!) would boost attendances.
 

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