Crowded Tracks

Hello all fellow racers.

I have been giving some thought to the last race at Laguna. As it was, the track there is very tight and not much room for over taking even more so when we have a full field of nearly 20 cars. (19) i think in total. Please don't get me wrong I'm not saying that more is worst. Quite the opposite more is better, it makes for a strong league.

I know there were other issues that unfolded during that race but the one point i would like to raise is that of Qualification for the main race.

I found during that 15 Min's that we had to qualify, constantly being hindered by drivers either on out laps or on laps that they might have messed up on and had backed off, ready to build back up for the next lap. The actual qual session felt more like a sprint race!!! During the week i was managing to get consistent lap times of either low 1.07's or better. I did not manage this at all during the qualifying for either the main race or the sprint races. In fact one of the sprint quals i got shut out on the last corner which blew my last chance of getting a good grid spot. I do realise that the sprint qual because it is so short is more of a fight to get a good time & you need to measure it properly to get the best slot on the track.

However i do feel that maybe we could look into a way of easing out the qualifying for the main event. During the last race at Laguna whilst i was desperately trying to gain a good qual time i noticed that the drivers who had already put in a good time were sitting it out in the pits. Positions pole to about 6th on the grid sat out the last 5 Min's of qual. This has lead to my thinking for this new style of qualifying.

15 Min's broken down into two sections;

First 10 Min's everybody puts in a timed lap.

Final 5 Min's just the top 10 drivers do a F1 style shoot-out for the pole to 10th place on the grid.

I'm not sure if this could be achieved but would add a more competitive way of qualifying for the main races.

Im sure there will be people who say what about us!! the ones who regularly struggle to get into the top ten for a race. But i do think it would cut down on the disruption to qualifying & make the top ten shoot out very entertaining.

I'm sure there will be comments galore on this topic and I'm sure I'll get told what to do with it but I'm sure the members of this league would relish a new challenge and keep pushing things forward to make the championship more interesting.

Ian

Why not go one step further and have a Q1 and  Q2 with Q1 a free for all and only the top 10 go through to Q2, and Q2 having PARC FERME in place. Just a suggestion.

In talking with Mike before he left, a side topic on fun theory came up.  In that this issue came up.  Later Hoss and I decided, based on this talk, to go to proivate feature qual.  We just had not announced it yet.

Here is an excerpt (missing some context) from some talking we did with Mike before he left:

In my case, because it was obvious.  The analogy racing has with golf
is strong in many aspects.  This is yet another.

But analogies and characterization do sometimes break down.  For
example, in your example, I'd say the "lapping game" goes zero sum
when cars are in proximity, but is golf-like positive sum otherwise
(they can both do a corner par, or get in the sand trap, equally, when
not near each other).  However, when near each other in a race, the
game itself changes, and the summing works different -- and is much
more driver specific.  I tend to get above average game value just
dueling anyone, but some people see it as a necessary evil.  For the
guys at that end of the spectrum it slides back to zero sum (or less,
if both guys are at the end, and if the drivers slow each other down).

Note that this is a strong argument to have private qual.  Qual is
fundamentally the lapping game, and only the lapping game.  In this
case, shared space always degenerates the positive sum game of lapping
to zero sum.  The only reason to have non-private qual is the
immersion value wrt RL racing.  And we all know where the league
design typically goes with that, as it should, when other important
considerations are counter to it.

 I've lobbied for private feature quals in the past, and I look forward to giving it a tryout.

As for multiple qual sessions as an alternative to private sessions (Q1, Q2, etc). I don't think rFactor has a mechanism in place for that. Now, our league is such that we could probably pull it off with a gentleman's agreement...everyone is on their honor to pull off prior to the end and only the top 10 go out for the last 5 minutes. It might be something to play with, but ultimately I think private quals is the best way to go.

Now, Parc Ferme is another thing entirely. With our new emphasis on racing without refueling and tires being the determining stint-length factor, parc ferme could be an interesting twist to that. Do you go with soft tires for a fast lap, expecting to pit early? Or harder tires, hoping to pit later and gain position through pit strategy? I know rFactor can do Parc Ferme, and this might be a really interesting twist to the game. I'd certainly be willing to give it a whirl, at least once to test it out, preferably on a well known track so that parc ferme is the only gaming variable that's being tested.

rFactor can do Parc Ferme? Cool.

If we go to Private qual, would we eliminate the 10-minute intermission? Seems that it could take way to much time unless we had it so a car does an out lap, and upon starting their qual lap, the next car came on track. That would make for a max of three cars on track at a time.

Should we open another thread to discuss rule changes, because I had another idea for next season I'd like us to consider based on something that almost got me in trouble at Portimao.