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TIME-SHIFTED SEMI MULTIPLAYER EVENTS

27.01.2016 Category: Site news

I like to introduce an idea to make events more challanging and even more like real life racing. This idea would not apply to all events, in fact it could be a separate category of events. Also, racers who don't have good hardware will probably not be able to compete in such events, but that can't be a reason not to offer such a format to racers who have good hardware.

The 2 main problems with multi-player are time zones and latency. It is virtually impossible to organize mp events where all racers need to be available at a certain point in time. Latency depends greatly on your modem, router and internet provider. We already have what we call time-shifted multi-player, i.e. racing against opponents who posted their result and replay file before you.

The idea is to force opponents in the main final round, this would turn such an event in kind of a time-shifted multi-player event. You would then have opponents who raced in the same event, same conditions etc. but not at the same time. We could give you up to 3 opponents max., 1 faster and 2 slower for example. To make things even harder we could even set collision on, which means that you must avoid crashes with opponents as it will obviously only affect your car. I know this is tough, but we want to make it tougher, more demanding and ore exciting for you!

You already can choose an opponent voluntarily but most racers prefer not to race with opponents simply because it is harder. But in real life racing you will also have opponents to contend with.

This new racing format would be the closest to real life racing as you can imagine besides real time multiplayer.

One of the issues would be that we need to have an intermediate run or even a round to make sure that in the main final round everyone will have to race against opponents. We will have to think more about how to do this, we will come up with some kind of solution for this which is fair to all.

Before we start the development of this new racing format we like to have some good feedback from our racers.

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Christoph R	03.02.2016 [06:57] I think it will not work with collisions on and ghost cars. I´ve tried it in practice mode with ghost cars and collisions on. The ghost cars drove through my car and i flew away. :( But I think it will be fun realtime national events with collisions on... Like multiplayer. Thank´s Pieter for your new creative Ideas.
Warren J.	03.02.2016 [06:41] Posted by: Pieter Bervoets (NL) on 1.2.2016 12:13:30 (UTC) You should race with opponents who are in your main final heat, that would be the next best realistic option after real time multi-player. An intermediate main final round could be an option to achieve this. You must race that round. We could consider to give points for both rounds so in both you have to do well...! Yes, that would work with collisions off. Should be fun!! Everyone racing their 3 nearest opponents so it stays close on track. Points in both final rounds. Thanks Pieter for the creative ideas! Look forward to this! :)
Aljosa J.	02.02.2016 [16:18] i would like to see that you need to do well in two rounds of main final instead of just one good or lucky drive. Just like in real rc races....
Pieter B Founder	01.02.2016 [12:13] collission on or off is not the isse, we can control that easily in the settings, so if nobody wants it we can just turn it off for the events we create with this format. It is really about trying to give you a more realistic racing experience by having to race with 1, 2 or 3 real opponents who are in the same event and main final with you. Personally I don't think we should use opponents from another event, that undermines the whole purpose of this idea. You should race with opponents who are in your main final heat, that would be the next best realistic option after real time multi-player. An intermediate main final round could be an option to achieve this. You must race that round. We could consider to give points for both rounds so in both you have to do well...! Again, this new format idea is not to replace the current format, it could be used for some special events. Organized multi-player events are not really an option at this moment as that requires a lot of development, additional servers etc. while the timezone issue remains the biggest obstacle to roll this out world wide. If you want you can start organizing mp events yourself, we have already the option to start mp sessions as 'Organizer' so you don't race yourself but just organize. Edited by author: 1.2.2016 12:16:07 GMT
Josh V.	01.02.2016 [04:47] Love the Idea!!!
Warren J.	31.01.2016 [23:59] Posted by: Robert Hillman (SE) on 30.1.2016 23:43:37 (UTC) In the next race when someone race against your replay from that race it will seem realy strange when you suddenly, whithout obvious reason, just fly of the track. Hahaha, yes, that's true! A live multiplayer event would be better.
Anders L	31.01.2016 [18:27] This is a great idea! I´ve tryied to practice for about 100 laps with collitions on and it is more realistic than racing without. Keep on and make this happend! :)
Robert Hillman	30.01.2016 [23:43] Posted by: Warren Jones (US) on 30.1.2016 19:42:09 (UTC) ...I think Jodie had the best suggestion for time shifting (using same 3 opponents from previous event for everyone)... From start I also thought that this was a great idea, but then I took it a step further. If you race with Three racers from a previous race with collisions on and suddenly collide with one of them you probably will fly of the track. In the next race when someone race against your replay from that race it will seem realy strange when you suddenly, whithout obvious reason, just fly of the track. Either we race with collisions off or we need a better suggestion. Edited by author: 30.1.2016 23:44:00 GMT Edited by author: 30.1.2016 23:45:03 GMT
Warren J.	30.01.2016 [19:42] It would be great to be able to practice more in traffic, so I'm glad to hear VRC trying to come up with ideas for more realistic events! I think Jodie had the best suggestion for time shifting (using same 3 opponents from previous event for everyone). But I don't think one-sided collisions will work. I've driven a lot with replay cars and collisions on... it's fun but honestly too often they just drive into you from behind causing you to crash...! :) So rather than time-shifted multiplayer, I think live multiplayer events organized by VRC would be the best way to go. The collision detection isn't perfect but at least with both drivers trying to avoid eachother (or both paying the price!) it works pretty well & makes for quite realistic racing. I think people will learn how to deal with the timezone issue if events are scheduled properly, especially if they are regional events.
James Le Pavoux	29.01.2016 [10:58] I love VRC. I think it is very realistic. I am from a little island and only go away to race the big races so it is hard to practice on bigger tracks. This is great for that. For me the biggest think is more offroad tracks. I wouldnt mind paying a little bit extra to help fund this.