I have not driven in the league, but I have driven in most of the thursday club races, and I would like to drive in the league.
I notice the opinions on damage are pretty evenly split. With the main reason to lower damage to increase the fun factor and lower the demands on participants:
If the damage is reduced to a significantly lower level, we should not have to see any more drivers leave the league for good, because their races only lasts a few minutes.
while those in favour of keeping a high damage level say things like:
im happy with the damage etc, .. It also makes driving a clean race worth it.
Often lower damage levels are equated with more fun, casual, allowing people to be more competitive etc. There is another side to it.
The qually and race times at Istanbul were significantly lower than the real life race. That in spite of the track being a lot more bumpy. Presumeably the track has been resurfaced since 2007. The F1 drivers were praising the smooth track. (Hamilton - “I think we came away from Monaco with a respectable result, but the MP4-25 wasn’t particularly well suited to a tight and bumpy track like that. At a place like Istanbul Park, our car will be back in its element. It loves smooth, fast circuits..").
It is not unusual for sim drivers to be a lot faster than real life, however realistic the sim or mod is reckoned to be. Why is that? Perhaps the fact that there is no danger of seriously injuring or even killing yourself when you crash has something to do with it?
I believe many sim racers continually drive at the limit of their ability to control the car. They can do things with the sim car that a normal driver could not - would not do. Often they go over the limit - and crash. Never mind! ESC and pick up another car. In any typical practice session before Qually guys take out the car drive like hell, crash, take out another car etc.
In real life you cannot go over the limit time after time to find out what the car and track is capable of, you have to creep up on the limit. If you have a family it's best to stay safely on the right side of the limit. On several occaisions I have heard the following comment after a televised crash "that will slow him down a bit"!
Personally I hate crashing. When practicing I will go out with a full tank and go round and round and round, hopefully getting a bit faster along the way. My aim in the race is not win, or even to finish near the front. My aim is to get to the finish! My aim is not to overtake people at the start or on the first lap, it is to get through the first lap mayhem.
Laugh at me if you will. I am not a fast driver, but I have finished a few more races this spring than many others, and I have finished in front of a lot of faster drivers. I regularly end up in a hare and tortoise race with someone that is "faster" than me. Overtakes, spins, catches up, overtakes, spins. :turtle:
To me and presumeably to any F1 team owner it is better to finish 10 races and get points in a few of them, than to finish 2 races and get points in one of them, wrecking the car in the others. For that reason I believe better driving is not being faster over one (of many laps), but finishing races.
Saying that "people" can be more competitive and finish more races with lower damage levels is not accurate. "Careless people" can be more competitive and finish more, would be more accurate. Keeping damage high promotes careful driving!
All sim driving is driving without physical or economic risk (with the possible exception of professional sim racing) which means clever drivers or players can do things with the cars that normal racing drivers wouldn't dare to do. Driving with low damage turns all sim racing into arcade racing.
Sure you can have fun, but why bother with a PC sim, when you can use a PS3 or Xbox, then we can all get to the finish just running along the armco?
The only way to introduce risk to a PC sim race is to have high damage levels. The risk is - if you go over the limit you won't finish!
So how can we keep damage levels high and get more people to finish races? Well I would like to think you could do that by encouraging people to drive more carefully. By promoting careful driving as "good" driving. People are not "unlucky" when they crash, they are careless.
By careful I don't mean you have to be as slow as me, just give yourself, and the rest of us, a tiny bit more margin.
"Oh no! I won't be competitive if I drive carefully", yes you will! You will be competitive with the other guys, at your level, who are driving realistically within the limit to maximize finishing chances.
I can promise you, you can have more fun and satisfaction getting to the end, knowing that you have driven well, without taking unrealistic chances. Instead of being proud of doing a good qually, pity you were "unlucky" in the race.
Please don't misunderstand me I don't regard myself as a better driver than anyone else. Also I am far from being as fast as I would like. I also sometimes pass people only to spin a couple of turns later. I am not getting at anyone. I have driven with a lot of you on Thursdays, and I enjoy driving with you all, both the league racers and the club racers. :thumb:
I also truly admire guys who finish at the front with no mistakes!
Well that's all from me - time to put on flameproof clothing, I guess.
