United States & Canada

[Timothy Miller]

I was wondering why we aren't taking advantage of the new update to Evo. The weight restrictions...I believe that this would even out the field and make it more enjoyable for everyone involved, not just the small groups running together. Maybe like, place 1-3 get max weight added and places 4-8 get lighter weight restrictions than the top 3. Just a thought that maybe we could make all the races a little more interesting.

Let me know what you think!

:dance2:

 

[Yves Larose]

it would be difficult to determined who is given the weight restriction since some are faster with a certain type of car the others type and it also depend on the track, lets take for exemple, with the WTCC i'm usually part of the top runner but if you take last Tuesday event the bimmer wasn't fit for the track so it made me a back of the grid runner, we would have to kinda like run pre-qual before each event and that would increase my work load far too much since i have other things to intend.

cheers

 

[Eric. K]

I second Tim on that. I think the big issue with most of USA events is the size of the field and the spectrum of the skill level (which isnt very balanced). The few times I raced in Euro events I was in the mid pack and always found someone to battle with. In 99% of the US events I end up lapping all alone. I understand why it could be very discouraging for new US drivers to join and mostly stay in the Club.

How about creating a US league like the Oceania zone has? then assign weight restrictions based on the standings? You might be disadvantaged on some weeks, but it should even out after a few weeks and create some much closer racing...

 

[Timothy Miller]

Yves, can't you set the server up so place #1 gets X amount of weight after race 1 for race 2? Taking for example the Ledenon track like you mentioned. Okay, the bimmer wasn't well suited for the track, but depending on where you placed in the first race, the front runners that are now in the back of the field have more weight therefore will have a harder time getting to the front. Now I finished 8th in that race, and according to my first thought in the post above, I would've had a weight restriction too, albeit, not as much as those in the back row of race 2...And I think you finished out of the top 8 in the first race, so you would have the advantage on the second race with no weight restrictions.

Eric - A US league is a good idea, but when could we run? Saturdays are busy for most people, we already race Sunday and Tuesday nites, add the RDGTC league and that's another Sunday afternoon once a month (i think). It's a good idea, but I think it should be looked into more...

 

[Eric. K]

Eric - A US league is a good idea, but when could we run? Saturdays are busy for most people, we already race Sunday and Tuesday nites, add the RDGTC league and that's another Sunday afternoon once a month (i think). It's a good idea, but I think it should be looked into more...

No no Tim.. there would not be any addition events. Instead of just throwing away the results from our Tuesday and Sunday races we would keep on accumulating the points. Some people might care about them some wont. It's more of a friendly club league opened to everyone that an official RD format (take a look what the Oceania zone has implemented, I think it is pretty cool and makes thing even more interesting).

Oceania
http://forum.racedepartment.com/au-racedepartment-com/

 

[Warren Dawes]

Actually, I have been thinking along similar lines re the weight penalties.
It would be a good means of evening things out a bit. If you win a race and have to carry extra weight, even on a track that may not suit you, it still gives others a chance that they may not get too often. That's certainly how it works in the real life series of WTCC.

Only one major problem. As far as I know it requires someone to allocate the weights on line via the server when everyone has entered. So someone needs to be server admin at the time of the race. If you want to test it, we can arrange for a server admin to be present and you could test it. I can probably try to help you for a test session, but that will have to wait until I return home sometime next week.

Maybe other server admins can help out also, depending on the time.

 

[Yves Larose]

don't get me wrong guy's i think its a good idea but the weight penality is kinda unfair since the drivers that will get them won't have time to adjust the car to it, its true that in reality they use that system to even the field but in reality the team also have the time to adjust the car to it which will not be our case so it come to tell the faster drivers " hey your too fast lets makes you slower " which in my opinion is not fair.

as Warren pointed out it also involve having a server admin in or monitering the event to apply the weight penalities manually which i'm not. thats a bigger problem since that for most of the server admins its in the middle of the night for them, unless i'm a server admin ( which i don't wanna be since i already have load of work on my hands ) its gonna be hard to acheive. if you guy's want to do it you'll have to do the work and find the server admin that will do it and make sure its there every event.

 

[Yves Larose]

i also want to point out that the north and south american community have enought members to fill a grid ( did some digging last night ) but it seems that there is a lack of interest for it no matter what effort i'm putting in it and i have to be honest i'm starting to get frustrated about it. its not my community its our community therefor not only to me to put times and effort in it, if you need tips on how to search within RD to find the members that are from this side of the atlantic i'll be glad to help you. Tim and Eric don't take this personnal its not against you, i just need to get it out of my chest.

 

[Eric. K]

Yves I understand your frustration and I have been trying my best to recruit new drivers (Mitch is one of them). I also just went through the list of new applicants, but only a handful are from US/Canada. The fact that Brazil is now 3 hours ahead of EST isn't helping either. Maybe moving the Sunday race to a slightly earlier time might attract some of our Brazilians friends?

Also, the entire process to race with RD is great for Europe where there is a lot of interest, but here in the US it seems a rather new concept. When I explain the application process to some of my friends they roll their eyes. Unfortunately the US is the country of instant gratification and waiting 3 weeks just to play with us is hard to comprehend for all.

 

[Yves Larose]

Eric there are registered members and/or trial members and/or premium members from north and south america that never join us, those are the ones we should focus on and try to make them be more active in our community. as for the Brazilians members thats also the idea behind making the Sunday event earlier once a month so they could join us.

 

[Eric. K]

Eric there are registered members and/or trial members and/or premium members from north and south america that never join us, those are the ones we should focus on and try to make them be more active in our community. as for the Brazilians members thats also the idea behind making the Sunday event earlier once a month so they could join us.

The question is "Are they active at all?". I saw a few names that signed up, but have not been on RD for months. Obvisously we can't count those, but I am willing to help. I'll PM whoever I can over the weekend.

 

[Warren Dawes]

Yves, hang in there, I know how frustrating it can be. I'll be joining you again when I return from the outback, and I'll see if I can raise any Oceania interest. The biggest problem for your group is that your timezone difference is really difficult for the Euro guys, and for the Oceania guys too if they work during the week. We need more retired freeloaders like me.

 

[Corey Theman]

Well to be honest I'm thinking that the weight restrictions may not be necessary. I have only been racing here for a couple months, but what I have noticed is when I started the gaps in qualifying times used to span 4-5 seconds - maybe even more. These days it seems like the gap between pole and low qualifiers is more like 2-3 seconds. I understand the frustration of attempting (and not succeeding) to catch the front runners, but the reality is the newer/slower guys like myself are catching up. No weight penalties are making us better drivers and soon enough the core group we have now will close up the gap amongst ourselves, and a new group of fresh guys will come in that will have to catch us.

As for the other source of frustration - filling race grids with N.A. bodies, I for one think there has been amazing improvement. Again in just a few short months I've seen the grids go from 3-4 cars to 15+ cars. I know some of the racers are off-continent, but the interest is growing quickly. Our region seems to spread well via word of mouth due to some competitive racing, and I would be willing to bet that if you looked at the ratio of N.A. RD members that take part in the weekly races that are eligible to race in the events, its probably near the top of all regions. The fact of the matter is sim racing just isn't as popular here as it elsewhere in the world, so we have a smaller pool to draw from. That said, it really seems like we've picked up some momentum in recruiting new N.A. racers. Don't give up just yet, I'm willing to bet in another 2 months we'll be filling the reserve slots on our race sign-ups!

 

[Marty Pierce]

Yves I just want to say that I really enjoy the USA events and appreciate all the time and effort you put in to make them happen. I probably do more Europe events because I can race earlier on my days off before my family gets home so I don't take away family time and the wife is happier. My days off rotate each month right now they are Monday and Tuesday. I work 3 to 1130 pm. So I am limited what I can do. I wish I could be at every event because I love the USA events. I am not going to be happy when my days off rotate to Wednesday/Thursday in a couple months and I wont see the USA guys for a while in the events. Keep up the great work Yves and everyone else who is helping. Marty:Banane19:

 

[Warren Dawes]

but what I have noticed is when I started the gaps in qualifying times used to span 4-5 seconds - maybe even more. These days it seems like the gap between pole and low qualifiers is more like 2-3 seconds.

Oh no!!! Does that mean that when I return you guys are already a lot faster. I'll be flat out seeing you guys after the first lap or two. Maybe we need a weight reduction bonus just for us really old guys. (older than Yves that is). :violin:

 

[Yves Larose]

rFactor

who have rFactor or planing to get it ? i will ask that only members from the north and south american community to participate to this poll

 

[Eric. K]

I do I do I do...

Awesome game!! A little rough on the edges, but with some time and patience I think it is a better sim than GTR. Let's not mention about the millions of mods!!

 

[Gaynall Hudgins]

Got for the mods!:dance2: Luv the F1 '55 & '79, Bathurst Legends, Legends, NAGT, Trucks & Sprint of '76.:in-love:

 

[Chris Vick]

Got it, but have not really used it yet.:wink2:

 

[Eric. K]

If guys are interested, I could put together a single package with all the main mods for an easy install and put it somewhere online. Much easier than having to run around to figure out what is needed.