states that you cannot save and restore part of the way through laps. I had
naively assumed that people were in general driving laps all in one go, but it
turns out that under this rule, some of the current records are not valid.
Now, I personally consider save-and-restore laps cheating, since you get to put
together a virtually perfect lap without actually ever driving it. Others
evidently do not share my view. So, should I back down and allow such times, or
continue to outlaw them and ask people to withdraw any current records set
using this technique.
If you have used this technique, please mail me; I'm not going to single out
players and remove their records, but I do want to get an idea of how many are
doing this; if it's sufficiently widespread then I guess I have to allow it.
On a similar note, I've had a few questions about slipstreaming. At the moment,
it's legal to slipstream computer cars, but not human cars (during linked
play). It has been suggested that I mark times set using slipstreaming in some
way, so that players who are trying to beat a time know how it was set.
Obviously, it will not be possible to do this with total accuracy for the
records already in the HOF.
There is another possibility. I could insist that records be set on an empty
track during non-race practice sessions; the qtyres patch could be used to get
the `right' tyres, or I could mandate D-compound tyres. Of course, most of the
current times would be invalidated, but at least this way would all be playing
on a level field.
Now look at the above together. Would this be a good point in time to abandon
the current HOF, mandate an empty track and no save-restore laps, and start
again. Or should we forget the whole thing, and squeeze a quick championship
in before F1GPv2 comes out and we all migrate to it anyway. Perhaps I could
take this opportunity to try out the HOF under Personal Oracle 7 (now shareware
- can you believe it?).
A final possibility: continue as things are now. Not perfect, I know, but
perhaps, with F1GPv2 on the way, it's not worth getting upset about it now.
Help! I'm confused! Send me your opinions. Please!
-- Gizmo van der HOF