rec.autos.simulators

Ed,

We are all looking forward to the NRL!

I have a question though, do you have any idea about how it will be structured?  I mean there are alot of drivers out there, will there be many divisions within the NRL for us to progress, with the best drivers up top and the others below?  Many leagues within the NRL?  And how will NASCAR be able to officiate all of the races?  Will we all start at the same place, the bottom and work ourselves up, will our currect skill levels be transferred?

Please answer all that you are able, we appreciate it!

Regards,

Todd

The NRL will be structured very much like the existing Hawaii
prototype, except it will be done on a much larger scale.  The
existing skill level system will still be in place, however, you will
have an individual skill level for each track.  

Tracks will be grouped together (there will be 5 of them) based on
similarity: Super Speedways (Talladega), Speedways (Atlanta, Michigan,
C***te, Darlington, Pocono), Mile Ovals (Dover, Louden, Phoenix,
Rockingham), Short Ovals (Bristol, Martinsville, N. Wilkesboro,
Richmond) & Road Courses (Sears Point, Watkins Glen).  

Don't worry, if you become a 10 at 1 track in the group, you will not
start at the bottom of the pack (i.e. a '0') on the other tracks in
the group. For example, if you become a 10 at Michigan but have never
raced Atlanta, you will start as a 5 at Atlanta.

In addition to the existing pickup races & user created series races,
there will be NRL sanctioned series.  NRL series will have multiple
iterations based on skill level groupings (5 divisions) & times (for
convenience).  The beauty of the virtual world is that we can run an
unlimited number of races on the same track at the same time!  So,
there won't be multiple leagues, per se, but there will be mutlitple
tiers & multiple times within each series to accomodate everyone.

NRL series will have a points system similar to Winston Cup events.
That way, we can crown a champion based on performance over a number
of events even if the users don't all race against the same people all
the time.  Think of it in terms of the 6 divisions in baseball (AL &
NL / east, central & west).  At the end of the season, there is a
World Series Champion.  I don't mean to suggest that we will go with a
won/lost situation like baseball, I'm just saying that we can run
multiple iterations of a particular series at the same time & still
come out with a single champion that the end of the series -- even
though you don't race against the same exact set of drivers every
race.

The system itself will be much more robust at monitoring the events,
and races approaching the championship level will be monitored live by
NRL officials.  We've talked about a "mega championship event" where
we bring the top drivers together for the final race... like maybe the
day before the Daytona 500.  We're even talking about a Champioship
Banquet!

As for current skill levels, there will be a provision to transfer
your existing levels over to NRL.  We are keeping all data from all
races on Hawaii.

Ed Martin
Producer, Series Director
NASCAR Racing League
Papyrus / Sierra On-Line, Inc.

Ed Martin
Producer, Series Director
NASCAR Racing League
Papyrus / Sierra On-Line, Inc.

That's pretty exciting stuff, Ed! So will the NRL Championship drivers get
a chance to hobnob with the real WC drivers at the Waldorf Astoria?

Dave "davids" Sparks
Sequoia Motorsports

David Martin

In Winston Cup racing, there are only 50 teams.  Those teams compete
for slots in each race.  It works very well... it's very "clean".  In
the NRL, there will be thousands of potential teams... probably
hundreds in any given NRL series.  That makes it "not so clean" to
whittle the field down to a championship race.

Ed Martin
Producer, Series Director
NASCAR Racing League
Papyrus / Sierra On-Line, Inc.

My suggestion is regional divisions that lead to a world division of the
ELITE.  I'm not sure how many divisions it would take but if there were
about 10 BGN-type leagues world wide, regionally placed, and 4 ARCA
leagues for each of these BGN-type leagues, that would be 51 leagues
(that includes the Elite League).  There are 396 racing spots in the top
11 divisions.  That is 36 spots per race.  Those who don't make a race
at one level may try to make a race at one lower level in their region
if they are eligible.  With 40 ARCA divisions, that's 1440 more racing
spots.  A total of 1836 racing spots.  There are over 2300 people
involved in hawaii.  Only 70% of those are seasoned drivers capable of
running competitively in a heirarcal system like I've described, so
there should always be empty spots at the bottom for people to start
ONCE THE BGN Divisions and the Elite Divison is established; I would
suggest short seasons of 5 races each; the top 12 gain eligibility to
move on; the top 5 from each BGN Division moves on to the Elite
Division.  Once the divisions are established, the seasons should be
lengthened.  Drivers work their way up through the system.  They earn
the right to keep a car number in a particular regional division.  I
think it's important for drivers to be able to identify themselves with
a particular car number week in and week out until they lose their
eligibility.  Eligibility is established at the beginning of each
season, and invitations to participate in higher divisions would be
extended at the end of each season.  Eligibility should not be
established based on the current skills rating system.  It should be
based on how you finish in each division you compete in.  The top 5
should be eligible to attempt to qualify in a higher division, the
bottom 5 should be able to compete at the lower level division.
Everyone stays in their region, no crossing over unless you move your
residence.

I think that's more than 2 cents, but hey. :-))

David Martin
IVL Series Director
dgm26sam

The only reason there are only 2300 people on Hawaii is because it's a
very long distance call for almost everyone.  That number would multiply
many times if there were local numbers and a flat entrance fee.

Chris

I can just imagine... "My goal for the summer, to become skill 15 on
hawaii... It may take the whole summer..."

Gregory Fung

Vancouver, B.C., Canada

David

Ed,

Do you think there will be digitized sound in Nascar 2?

ttyl

Todd