Open Room Settings Archive

[fndrbndr]

I am, at least according to Dirt, an optimist.  I like racing online.  Sometimes, you guys aren't on, and I want to race without leaderboard cars.  A B-class room turns into Team Mugen pretty fast.  I want to start putting together a list of restrictions that can open up each class for good competition without the leaderboard cars.  Here are a few of my ideas.  Pick them apart, debate them, etc. 

D after 1990 (or 1995, or whatever the most recent limit date is.  This removes the Golf, Chevelle, and Charger, while still leaving all three regions and lots of good cars open.  I hate that it cuts out so many of the older, smaller foreign roadsters, though.)

D from Asia only (this, again, removes the Golf, Chevelle and Charger.  It also cuts out the Pugeot, the other potential LB car.  It includes several small roadster options though, such as the Mazda roadster, Fairlady Z, and 2000GT.  It eliminates the Elan and 914/6, though.  This is a little better than the 1990 option as it includes a better mix of FWD and RWD cars.)

C Front engine only.  This cuts out the 5Turbo and Elise, which are both MR.  It doesn't count out the missiles, though.  It also cuts out a couple of old Porsches.

B North America, modern only (1990-present, or whatever).  With the Pug and Mugen so dominant, this seems like the best option.  Getting rid of the older cars gets rid of the missiles, but it also gets rid of the coolest cars in the game.  The problem seems to be that hp caps must be set in 100-hp increments.  You can't run 200-450hp, for example, which would solve this problem.  With this group, I'd be more than happy to leave it open to all North American cars.  Even with the age restriction, though, there's a nice mix of stuff; There are a few mustangs, a camaro, the sockmonkeys, etc.  It's not ideal, but it's playable.

[fndrbndr]

I guess I should start by isolating the cars that I want to remove in each class.  Remember that not all of them are a problem on every track.  Basically, they're the ultra-grippy cars and the missiles.  The list is, admittedly, a little bit inclusive.  the 206 Probably doesn't show up dominantly in three different classes, for example.

D.  Golf MKII, Chevelle, Charger, Pugeot 206
C.  Pug 206, Lotus Elise, Renault Turbo5, Chevelle, Charger
B.  Lotus Elise, Charger, Pugeot 206, Mugen Integra
A.  Lotus Elise, Lotus Exige, Stingray.
S.  Not sure
U.  Mercedes CLK-R (I think that's what it's called), Saleen S7

[TheJohnNewton]

I would think you would add the Renault 5 in the lower classes, at least C.  And I guess one of the Ferraris in the new dl pack is taking over some scoreboards (F50?).

I've not messed with the race filters but I've been in some rooms with good ones.  By good I mean they weren't so much eliminating certain cars but rather certain builds.  For example I have a Charger in C class that is built totally for grip.  I was in a room with a horsepower limit running against a bunch of small, traditionally grippy, cars.  As I said I'm not familiar with the filter options but I think it was limiting both min hp (so the grippy guys had to add power) and top hp (to eliminate the missles)  I could almost keep up with them in the corners, actually I could pass some less skilled drivers, and they could almost keep up with me in the straights.  It was some good racing. 

So wield that filter like a surgeon’s knife rather than a sledge hammer if you can.  The D filter you have, for example, seems rather extreme.  I'm not even sure if I have a late model D car, maybe a Mini?.

I'll check out the filters this weekend so I'll have some clue what you have to work with and see if I can come up with any good ones.

[fndrbndr]

Thanks for the feedback.  I added the Turbo 5 above in C class.  It doesn't seem as dominant in D, B, or A. My only problem with hp restrictions is that they're, well, too restricted.  They work in 100-hp increments.  I like the low hp vs. high hp thing, and think that can be some great racing.  Also, with the differences in weight that are possible, it's almost necessary to restrict both if you restrict one, and that can get very restrictive very quickly.  That's my logic in going the car-specific instead of build-specific filters.  At this point, these are all untested, as I've been lucky enough to have lots of Muscle, Inc. guys on when I've hit XBL lately.  However, I'm pretty flexible, and if someone just explained that they had a grip charger they wanted to run, I'd allow it.  Frankly, once you've got the room going, the LB types either bring LB cars or figure out that they're not wanted.  Also, I'll be trying to make these more track-specific in the future.  For example, there's no need to worry about the missile chevelle in a D-class race around Tsukuba.  Similarly, you can go ahead and bring your Golf to Road America; it won't be effective there.  I guess, however, that I should try to refine some of these a bit.  They're kind of global in nature at this point.

[TheJohnNewton]

Oh bummer so the HP restriction is only in single 100 hp wide chunks?  I have stock power in my Charger so it must have been a 300-400 hp filter.  Would be great if you could set the min and max independantly to whatever you wanted.  Hmmm...   

In the higher classes there are many cars that can be made into missle builds so that one could be really problematic.  I mean everything from a little Civic to a big old Baracuda could be missleized.

Total aside, Not too long ago I had a race with Bufford (I think) on the full Motegi course.  It was just the two of us.  He had a total grip monster, I had a total Stingray missle.  I was behind him for the entire 5 laps, gaining on the straights, losing ground on the turns, until the final straight.  I passed him in like the last 20 yards for my ONLY lead of the entire race to just barely win.  Now that was a fun race allthough he might disagree,     That's probably the most balanced course between power and grip cars though.

[fndrbndr]

Yeah, a lot of the restrictions are poorly put together, IMO.  It's like instead of assigning the cars actual values, say 238 hp, they've just assigned an ordinal-level (ranking-oriented) variable indicating that a car is between 200 and 300 hp.  Same thing for year, in fact.  I'd love to wield these setting like a scalpel, but the fact is that T10 only gives us a chainsaw.  It's not the precise, surgical procedure I wish it were.  We can prune branches, but we're not allowed to cherry pick.  Wow, that's a lot of metaphor.  Anyway, I'll probably jump online here in the next few days and try out some of these settings.  I may put the "tried and true" ones in a second thread, and leave this one for discussion and debate.  Also, look for a few more PI project cars in the next few days. 

[TheJohnNewton]

I just took a look at the restrictions in the game... hmmmm...       I ran a D room with a weight restriction to get rid of the super light grip machines.  That's as far as I've got, lol.

[fndrbndr]

I'm still wondering about restricting weight without also restricting hp.  The thing that actually matters is weight/hp ratio.  Check out Bimmer's B-class E36 and my 2000GT.  They ran neck and neck for 25 laps at Maple Valley in an enduro.  I had about 100hp less than he did, racing slicks, and was about 1k lbs lighter.  He was heavier, more powerful, and on DOT tires, if memory serves.  The goal of these settings is to allow this diversity while still paring away the very tip top of the leaderboard cars.  I like ultra-light grip machines.  I like powerful cars.  I pretty much like anything on four wheels, as long as the group is relatively competitive within itself.  I'm basically trying to put together the largest groups of internally competitive cars possible.

[TheJohnNewton]

Good goal.  I didn't realize before how limited the restriction options are.

[fndrbndr]

Yeah, I'm thinking if this were easy, there'd be popularly accepted room restrictions in the various classes already.  That said, I need some input from people who have driven some of these LB cars.  What makes them special, and how is that expressed in terms of room restrictions?  Here's what I already know in D class, which is where I have the most experience:

Chevelle:  High hp.  It can fit well over 500 hp (or even 600, depending on how silly you want to be with it) and still be in D.  An easy solution would be just to lock TCS off, especially on power tracks like Road America, but that isn't really a solution IMO, because I want the guy who needs it to run his Boss 'Stang to be able to use it.  Basically, I figure assists are your business, and I don't care what you run. 

Golf MKII:  IIRC, this will fit slicks, full WR, and some width and still be in D.  That said, the more I look at it, the more I wonder whether this car is the class-breaker everyone claims.  I want to open up the class, but I want to do it in a way that encourages these other small, grippy cars.  I want to leave as many of the little roadsters and hot hatches in as possible while getting rid of this particular car. 

[fndrbndr]

I tried some of these online last night.  Thanks to Detrick and the others for their patience.

Well, D-class Asia was a bit too restricted.  A few of us had pre-built cars, but a few had to run stock machines.  I'm going to have to re-think this.

D-class modern was a problem because "modern" means 2005-present, so I'm not sure whether that works.

C-class front engine was, IMO, a success.  Everyone, save one beginner without a mic, had something built, tuned, and ready to go.

[Snyder005]

B.  Lotus Elise, Charger, Pugeot 206, Mugen Integra
A.  Lotus Elise, Lotus Exige, Stingray.
S.  Not sure
U.  Mercedes CLK-R (I think that's what it's called), Saleen S7

B-Class: I'd reccomend TCS off.  North American Car Region, or Asia Car Region, though you still have the Mugen in this one. 

A-Class: Once again TCS off.  maybe weight restrictions could get rid of the Elise, and the Exige, which are super light-weights.  Also a simple limit to RWD would eliminate any potential Lancer's from taking over, though i don't see them being raced often.

S-Class: Limit to RWD (takes care of Kruz Missile, Cayman, and the 432R, which can be run without TCS, so beware)  That just leaves the Saleen and the Lotus's, though they don't get much seat time online.

U-Class: Tough with the CCGT, CLK-GTR, and F50.  Region limit would work, but that kills any car from Europe. 

[fndrbndr]

Hm....you can tell how often I run U-class. lol

[fndrbndr]

The Saleen in S class is good, but I'm not sure whether it's dominating or just a good grip car.  I can't catch my Supercar-spec Z06 on Sunset, for example.

[Snyder005]

Basically the S-Class Saleen is incredible unbalanced.  It has the same accel, handling and braking stats as my S-Class Exige, but still holds an incredibly high top speed rating (similar to that of say a porsche cayman S-Class, though i think it's higher). 

In U-Class it's good, but now where near a threat.