Terry, you may find it absurd, but I happen to think it's a perfect way to set the grid for the big race. I guess you failed to comprehend the pupose of the event schedule, but it's mostly my fault since I didn't write my usual exhaustive explanations in the sign-up thread.TCrouch wrote:Either way, you still have guys who are faster, forced to blast through traffic on a tight track in 2 laps? Just seems bizarre. I guess my rating was the highest and placed first, so either way I was screwed, but that's just weird. It's asking for cornholing and bashing?
Basically the warm-up session is not a competitive race, not by any means. It is merely intended to be a 10 minute warm-up session, for people to work on their laps, get the hang of the car, and learn where the pit entrance is and so on. The point of it is that if people are comfortable in the car and have a sense of where the trouble-spots are in terms of braking zones for tight corners, then they are less likely to accidentally corn-hole other drivers in those tight corners when we are actually racing for position.
The 2-lap qualifying race is intended to be just that, a competitive race to determine the grid for the big 1/2 hr. race. The reason I have it set to 'reverse rating' (not 'reverse last results') for the start of the qualifying race is indeed to force the better drivers to have to race through the pack. The purpose of this is two-fold; one is to mix up the starting grid of the big race, so that it is not always the top-rated drivers up front every time, race in, race out. And secondly to allow people to race aggressively, in a no-holds-barred fashion, at least once during the evening's event, since a bit of damage, or even a huge mistake is not the end of your night, rather it just means you will end up in a worse spot on the grid than you had perhaps hoped.
And I will not have random grids for a long, 1/2 hr race, especially in a season format. Personally, I would prefer a standard qualifying session of some kind, for example the setup they have in MotoGP2 was ideal. But lacking any such feature in ToCA, I came up with a compromise, which frankly I think is a very good solution to the problem. Yes it's a bit crazy and weird, but it's the best solution I could come up with, and I don't think I am the only one who likes it.
Terry, I hope you still had enough fun to consider joining us again sometime, in fact I was hoping you'd be interested in the season. It's great having you there running your laps, and the longer format, with the admittedly silly mandatory pit stop, provides for some interesting racing, at least I tend to think so. I would love to have you involved every time.
As to chicanes and cutting corners, basically I think a circuit like Surfer's Paradise, since it is entirely walled, is pretty much up for whatever line you can get through there. Those two corners with grass in them, I would prefer people not cut, but the chicanes, like Terry said, have tar inside them, so I never really considered those to be 'cuttable;' basically any way you can get through should be fair. And ultimately, there is no way anyone can enforce any rules or regulations; drivers have to go by the honor system, which means if you see someone cutting a big-time chicane, call him out. And try not to take advantage of such cheats yourself. If you can't seem to do that consistently, then eventually you will become noticed by someone out there enough times that you will not be allowed to race with us anymore. But of course, occasionally people cut corners or chicanes completely accidentally. I figure you can go ahead and do what you want if no one is around to see it, but I for one always drive the chicanes (like the ones at Oulton Park Long and Nurburgring), even if it means I get T-boned or passed every time. I would hope those who are willing to run the long races would feel the same way, but if not, there's really nothing I can do until it becomes a pattern or a problem.
......Sounds Like I missed one hell of a time.