Community Question | What Stops You From Racing Online?

[cangrejin]

time, ... and money, I live in a shack.
I forgot ... having something "legal".

except old games that are already supported by the community ... those yes.

 

[madhopz]

I find it funny that people complain about every games' AI and when I watch online races I honestly can't tell the difference. Pileups in turn 1, not giving racing room, braking too late, unpredictable behavior. The only thing AI is missing is profanity and threats. I will stick with self contained racing. That way when the Internet melts completely down, I won't suffer withdrawal.

 

[giulio0079]

It's not the end of the world, you can race again another day. But many people, once attacked in this manner, will simply abandon the human element and return to the civility of offline racing.

I no longer listen to the voice chat in the races; I am happier not hearing all the complaining, swearing, brow beating, and name calling. But I continue to improve and my enjoyment is increasing all the time. Humans span the entire spectrum, from abusive to civil and encouraging. It is sad that when emotions run high and frustration sets in, the tendency is towards the abusive, and that in turn discourages many from enjoying all that online racing has to offer.

This also

 

[BillGuy]

I need to try leagues but I kinda dislike the fact I need to be online here and there and when I do not feel like racing I also have to be there.

Thank you! I’m a middle-aged guy and one of the things that legitimately gives me joy about offline racing or hotlapping in sims is that I can do it whenever I want to. Having sim racing become an “obligation” isn’t something I want. It’s not just the scheduling either. If you’re taking up a slot in a league or organized club race, I can only imagine that human nature kind of makes you feel like you have an obligation to the other people to show up.

 

[guidofoc]

Reading the comments. Well if you have bad internet, fine. I used to live in China and it was hard to find good lobbies with decent ping in ACC/AC. The other reason, "I'll have to drive what other people choose" is a valid one in games like AC, which have tons of content. But in ACC, for example, you just pick your car and click "quick join". You will be put on a server with people who have a pace comparable to yours. I find this refreshingly good, less choice and more focus on racing. And once you're in, yes you need to learn how to deal with traffic. Fine. How did you learn to drive your car in real life? Yes you practiced a bit in a parking lot, but at some point it's time to be in the traffic and learn how to deal with it. You can do a couple of races against the AI to learn the track with other cars on it, and that's fine. But that does not replace racing against real people in any way. In ACC multiplayer, after a rather shaky start my safety rating has been improving steadily, despite some first-corner bumps and other racing incidents. Yes, stuff happens and it's normal, just take it easy and learn how not to put yourself in bad situations, how to brake early when following someone close, how to have awareness of what's around you. The other drivers also care about their rating so it's actually fair, and on average people are not getting mad for racing incidents. It's not really hard, and racing against real opponents is why I paid the ticket. In this respect I find ACC to be a good formula for decent "casual" multiplayer.

 

[michelforest]

Many reasons. Like many people have mentioned before me, I'm not very good so I would probably end up crashing into someone or finishing 5 laps behind. There's also the fact that I'd rather race when I want, on the track I pick, in the car that I want. Basically, I simrace to relax and for fun. I'm not a competitive person at all, it's not in my nature. I'm sure that if I entered an online race, I would become tense and the fun aspect would be gone. Offline racing against the AI or just trying to get the best lap possible are perfect options for me.

 

[Michael Hornbuckle]

Completely burnt out on the whole scene.

 

[Cheesenium]

1. Not interested to race online at all
2. Want to drive cars other than GT3
3. Want to have full control on where to race, not only racing on Spa, monza or nords
4. Able to race in multiclass with any combination desired.
5. Able to race and end a race at anytime I want. I can play any game I want at any time.
6. Dont want anyone online ruining my race or vice versa
7. Don’t have to deal with networking or player population issues
8. Not interested in having a time slot locked in for league racing.
9. Don’t want to deal with toxic players online.

dear developers, would be nice if MP isn’t shoved into players face and please continue to work on AI.

 

[Isaac Chavira]

Driver or Safety rating plummeting due to the unclean racers on the track. Basically getting punished for being rammed or pushed of the track.......................

 

[Chris]

Life unfortunately

The RD racing clubs used to the best part of my week. Unfortunately I just don't have time any more.

Still get the odd occasion to jump back in the saddle though!

 

[nangu]

Because life. I don't have the time to properly do my homework before a league race for example.

I start the sim when I have spare time, and it can happens at not programmed hours so it's difficult to enter some random server and take the risk to not have fun at all at the end. I stick with hotlapping or some AI race instead, to maximize my limited time on the sim.

I think may be iRacing would be suited to my MP "schedule" the best, but I don't like their subscription model.

I'm waiting for simracing.gp to go live and try it to see If I could find good scheduled races to spend my limited spare time.

 

[CDwyer]

I sim race to relax and the risk of encountering a toxic personality who gets a kick out of ruining your race, is just too high. I suspect that a better female / male balance would improve things but we’re a long way off from that.

Leagues would be perfect but that needs time commitment and scheduling that’s beyond my resources for now. Maybe when I retire.

I had a rare venture in to online this week. With AMS 2, a rolling start at the A1. Before I cross the start line I get hit, then before I can turn my car around, the same car hits me again. I assume they are just wreckers and expect them to hit me as I pass them, after I get up and running, they don't, and I don't see them again all race. However on looking at the replay, I see they tried to avoid someone elses collision on the start straight, then they hit me accidentally when they try to spin themselves a round, after the first mishap. They drive the rest of the race without incident. It felt like they were just out to wreck and destroy, but they just had a bit of bad luck a few times, and it rubbed off on me.

 

[Adrian Herrera]

Lack of talent to compete for podiums
Lack of time to train properly and commit to race schedules
Lack of ability to develop setups

 

[Fireball_Ryan]

Bad internet for me. Surprised more people aren't quoting this.. really makes me feel even more frustrated at being tied to Hughesnet. But I do also have verizon service, have to research more about using 4G for online racing. My few attempts to use my verizon internet have also resulted in being booted for high ping...

 

[Michael Curry]

I do race online, but with just a few friends. We usually pick 20 lap race and fill the field with AI. We start from the back and do not start racing until lap 2, as ai is so slow lap one. We set ai at 100-110 percent and race each other thru the field. Simple and fun.

 

[testover]

Timing. I don’t really have a set time. Kids, family responsibilities, other hobbies mean I take sim fun time when I can get it, but that’s never a regular set time and sometimes I have an hour or so, other times, a 3 lap sprint is all I can fit in. Anything organized will have a set schedule. Anything pickup is still hard to get the timing right on. Maybe that public lobby will be just starting an hour long practice session, or will have just started a race. And end of the day, you’re stuck with the car (class) and track combo that’s chosen, unless you’re the host. When I play a sim, it’s usually because I want to try a particular car and track.

That said, I’m about out of patience with AI drivers. No one has it right, except maybe ACC and that limits you to GT3 cars and a small track selection. Definitely no one has oval AI anywhere near right and I’ve been wanting to get into oval racing. I’m ready to bite the bullet and set a scheduled sim time so online, here I come.

 

[Cote Dazur]

I use to race online a lot more, but little by little it was less and less until now, I hardly ever race online anymore.
Most race to win, I race for the pleasure, the art of it. I prefer to finish last after a 25 laps racing with the guy finished before me, if we had a clean and fair fight, than finishing first because the fast guys on qualy cannot do more that 3 consecutive laps before crashing and rage quit and most of the other took each other out because they want to win so bad (win what? I will never know!)
Since I SIM race for fun and AI have improved over the years, I much prefer organise my own races offline, usually a one hour race, with the cars and tracks I feel like racing, with carefully balanced AI. In my book AI drive way better than human sim racers, at least this is my experience.
I drive SIM for fun, racing online, for me, was getting to be too much work, extensive practice, getting a decent set up, pushing the limit (exploiting) of the SIM, we all know the drill, in order to be competitive. I am not fast enough to make a living out of it, so I have a day job and I get my racing fix with my pals the AI, they are always there, drive where I want to drive, never rage quit, never say I cheat because I am faster, stay on track most of the time, they drive for fun, like I do.
Maybe I do not race online anymore because I do not have anything to prove to anybody or to myself anymore, so I spend my SIM racing time having fun instead.

 

[Stereo]

Mostly the scheduling, I'm not someone who can come into a 30 minute practice and be up to speed for the race. so if I want to race online I have to plan ahead, and I don't want to plan ahead... iracing's spec miata series had the most success with this for me, cause I could practice any time in the week and then race on Friday/Saturday in about a 10 hour time range where multiple splits were forming. But ultimately I didn't actually like driving that car, and no other road series on ir had the participation level for that to be true.

For RD in particular, real name rule and joining voice chat, of course it makes for better organization but I'm uncomfortable wearing a microphone and I'd rather listen to music and read a chat window if someone has a message to pass. Also low attendance on NA events, not really RD's fault but it's just what it is, I can't join a race at 11am my time.

 

[M D Gourley]

1. Not interested to race online at all
2. Want to drive cars other than GT3
3. Want to have full control on where to race, not only racing on Spa, monza or nords
4. Able to race in multiclass with any combination desired.
5. Able to race and end a race at anytime I want. I can play any game I want at any time.
6. Dont want anyone online ruining my race or vice versa
7. Don’t have to deal with networking or player population issues
8. Not interested in having a time slot locked in for league racing.
9. Don’t want to deal with toxic players online.

dear developers, would be nice if MP isn’t shoved into players face and please continue to work on AI.

I have already posted here....but I agree with your post 100%

 

[blueferrari]

I don't do many online races anymore, due to the idiots that just want to play dirty and run you off. Joining a league would be good, but just time consuming, so not an option.