What's the purpose of vanishing cars in iRacing?

Not sure if this is a bug or intentional, but in a race yesterday I got some good acceleration out of a corner and moved in for an overtake. As I got nearer the opponent's car just disappeared which was very disconcerting. At this point I realized there is probably a high chance that said opponent would reappear at some point, so I had to put the brakes on for fear of being in the same spot as the opponent when he eventually became visible. Lost enough time on that lap that I got overtaken myself. Is the disappearing cars (which I have seen more of lately) a bug or an inbuilt iRacing 'safety' feature? RobP

"Rob P" <[email hidden]> wrote: > Not sure if this is a bug or intentional, but in a race yesterday > I got some good acceleration out of a corner and moved in for an > overtake. As I got nearer the opponent's car just disappeared He disconnected? -- The first big front wheel rollerblades. http://www.flickr.com/photos/27532210@N04/2565924423/

> Is the disappearing cars (which I have seen more of lately) a bug or an inbuilt iRacing 'safety' feature? When the game loses positional update information from a car for more than just a brief moment, it needs to do something to prevent collisions with that car. It's a lag issue. NR2003 does the same thing, cars simply vanish if the connection to that player goes away for a while. LFS turns the car into an non collidable lag icon. I and others would prefer a ghost car that couldn't be collided with, and for a smooth transition via flashing the ghost car before collisions become enabled again, so that a car wouldn't suddenly appear within the boundaries of another car, causing a crash. Some players disconnect and reconnect on purpose during a race, since it's an easy way to avoid collisions (when you disconnect, all the other cars vanish, then when you reconnect the cars reappear), mostly on oval type races like NR2003's restrictor plate ovals, where typically 1/3rd or more of the field is wiped out on many races from a single incident. iRacings safety rating may cause this method of avoiding pile ups to be used more frequently than it was for NR2003. Using "induced lag" to avoid collisions is a "grey" area for me.

On Aug 19, 4:34 pm, "jeffareid" <[email hidden]> wrote:

Quoted text (21 lines)

> > Is the disappearing cars (which I have seen more of lately) a bug or an inbuilt iRacing 'safety' feature? > > When the game loses positional update information from a car for more than > just a brief moment, it needs to do something to prevent collisions with > that car. It's a lag issue. NR2003 does the same thing, cars simply vanish > if the connection to that player goes away for a while. LFS turns the car > into an non collidable lag icon. > > I and others would prefer a ghost car that couldn't be collided with, and > for a smooth transition via flashing the ghost car before collisions become > enabled again, so that a car wouldn't suddenly appear within the boundaries > of another car, causing a crash. > > Some players disconnect and reconnect on purpose during a race, since it's > an easy way to avoid collisions (when you disconnect, all the other cars > vanish, then when you reconnect the cars reappear), mostly on oval type > races like NR2003's restrictor plate ovals, where typically 1/3rd or more > of the field is wiped out on many races from a single incident. iRacings > safety rating may cause this method of avoiding pile ups to be used more > frequently than it was for NR2003. Using "induced lag" to avoid collisions > is a "grey" area for me.

You shouldn't be able to physically hit him for a few seconds after he re-appears. Yes, it is a safety feature. It is, believe it or not, a rarity. It's caused by the person dissapearing having a bad connection. If everyone is dissapearing in your view, you're the one blinking to them and it's your connection though. Tim.

Quoted text (8 lines)

> Some players disconnect and reconnect on purpose during a race, since it's > an easy way to avoid collisions (when you disconnect, all the other cars > vanish, then when you reconnect the cars reappear), mostly on oval type > races like NR2003's restrictor plate ovals, where typically 1/3rd or more > of the field is wiped out on many races from a single incident. iRacings > safety rating may cause this method of avoiding pile ups to be used more > frequently than it was for NR2003. Using "induced lag" to avoid collisions > is a "grey" area for me.

Are you sure that is possible with iRacing?

Tim Wheatley <[email hidden]> wrote: ... > You shouldn't be able to physically hit him for a few seconds > after he re-appears. Yes, it is a safety feature. It is, believe > it or not, a rarity. It's caused by the person dissapearing having > a bad connection. If everyone is dissapearing in your view, you're > the one blinking to them and it's your connection though. That sounds correct. FWIW. As a host in other games, a frequent question is "what is my ping?" I usually point out that it's like distance (you are the same to them as they are to you), therefore what you see is what you are.

"Tim Wheatley" <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:[email hidden]...

Quoted text (37 lines)

> On Aug 19, 4:34 pm, "jeffareid" <[email hidden]> wrote: >> > Is the disappearing cars (which I have seen more of lately) a bug or an >> > inbuilt iRacing 'safety' feature? >> >> When the game loses positional update information from a car for more >> than >> just a brief moment, it needs to do something to prevent collisions with >> that car. It's a lag issue. NR2003 does the same thing, cars simply >> vanish >> if the connection to that player goes away for a while. LFS turns the car >> into an non collidable lag icon. >> >> I and others would prefer a ghost car that couldn't be collided with, and >> for a smooth transition via flashing the ghost car before collisions >> become >> enabled again, so that a car wouldn't suddenly appear within the >> boundaries >> of another car, causing a crash. >> >> Some players disconnect and reconnect on purpose during a race, since >> it's >> an easy way to avoid collisions (when you disconnect, all the other cars >> vanish, then when you reconnect the cars reappear), mostly on oval type >> races like NR2003's restrictor plate ovals, where typically 1/3rd or more >> of the field is wiped out on many races from a single incident. iRacings >> safety rating may cause this method of avoiding pile ups to be used more >> frequently than it was for NR2003. Using "induced lag" to avoid >> collisions >> is a "grey" area for me. > > You shouldn't be able to physically hit him for a few seconds after he > re-appears. Yes, it is a safety feature. It is, believe it or not, a > rarity. It's caused by the person dissapearing having a bad > connection. If everyone is dissapearing in your view, you're the one > blinking to them and it's your connection though. > > Tim.

That makes sense. It was quite a few that night, so I guess I had a dodgy connection at this end. Haven't seen it since though. Thanks RobP

Quoted text (10 lines)

>> Some players disconnect and reconnect on purpose during a race, since it's >> an easy way to avoid collisions (when you disconnect, all the other cars >> vanish, then when you reconnect the cars reappear), mostly on oval type >> races like NR2003's restrictor plate ovals, where typically 1/3rd or more >> of the field is wiped out on many races from a single incident. iRacings >> safety rating may cause this method of avoiding pile ups to be used more >> frequently than it was for NR2003. Using "induced lag" to avoid collisions >> is a "grey" area for me. > > Are you sure that is possible with iRacing?

Unless players can collide with "vanished" cars I don't see why it wouldn't work. I don't "rent" iRacing so I don't know for sure. I can vouch for the fact that it worked in NR2003, as this subject came up a few years ago and I did a few "warp tests" on open servers back then to verify it worked and saved some of the replays. Although I din't save them all, I still have a few and made a video. If theres a pile up ahead you switch off the internet connection and all other cars dissappear, then you switch the connection back on after getting by the crash, and the other cars reappear. To the other players, it is your car that dissappeared then reappeared. You can see the issue with how NR2003 handles this in the second clip in the video, when I reappear, another car taps me because reappearing cars have collision instantly enabled. In the case of NR2003, the disconnect limit was about 5 or so seconds before you were out of the race by the time you reconnected. http://jeffareid.net/nr2003/nrwarp.wmv Warping, even by accident, can be a problem in the case of NR2003, since collisions are instantly enabled when cars reappera. I think it would be better if the cars stayed in flashing ghost mode with collision disabled for a couple of seconds after reappearing (similar to reset car feature in arcade racing games). Here's a video where there two independent crashes occur in front of me. I'm at the back of the lead back, with more cars converging on the lead pack from behind, a car trying to come down from the outer lane, but I can't risk slowing quickly becase of the cars behind that are closing in. Then a pile up occurs in front of me but I get through as the cars go above or below. However just up ahead, there are two more cars that have crashed while in "warp" mode, which suddenly appear, but I get knocked through by cars from behind and end up going from 8th to 1st through this carnage on the last lap of a race and end up winnig. Not my best win, but my most memorable. http://jeffareid.net/nr2003/nr8to1.wmv By the way, the best brand of car for avoiding accidents is a "Dodge".

> > Are you sure that is possible withiRacing? > > Unless players can collide with "vanished" cars I don't see why it wouldn't You take a safety rating hit whether you hit the other car, the other car hits you, or the ghost (invisible car) does. I have a video up on YouTube where my DSL filter went bad and I got disconnected from a race by an incoming call. I carried on driving and had incidents from after my disconnection - as did the person who I hit. The invisible car penalises you with safety rating... But I guess if what you're saying works with iRacing it would allow you to avoid car damage. I've never even heard of it though with iRacing... I'm kinda doubtful as many things were changed.

>> Unless players can collide with "vanished" cars I don't see why it wouldn't > > You take a safety rating hit whether you hit the other car, the other > car hits you, or the ghost (invisible car) does. I have a video up on > YouTube where my DSL filter went bad and I got disconnected from a > race by an incoming call. It's possible that your disconnect in this case was one way, still transmitting positional updates but not receiving anything. Were other players able to still see your car even though you couldn't see theirs? What if you lose your connection entirely, and the entire field drives through your invisble ghost car on every lap for the remainder of the race? Will the game register dozens of incidents for all those players and you in this case? This can be tested with a ethernet switcher, if anyone has uses of these, in conjunction with an ethernet based connection, like a cable modem. Switchers are nearly instantly up and running after turning them on. Just use a power strip to turn the ethernet switcher off and back on again.

On Aug 22, 2:16 am, "jeffareid" <[email hidden]> wrote:

Quoted text (19 lines)

> >> Unless players can collide with "vanished" cars I don't see why it wouldn't > > > You take a safety rating hit whether you hit the other car, the other > > car hits you, or the ghost (invisible car) does. I have a video up on > > YouTube where my DSL filter went bad and I got disconnected from a > > race by an incoming call. > > It's possible that your disconnect in this case was one way, still transmitting > positional updates but not receiving anything. Were other players able to > still see your car even though you couldn't see theirs? > > What if you lose your connection entirely, and the entire field drives through > your invisble ghost car on every lap for the remainder of the race? Will the > game register dozens of incidents for all those players and you in this case? > > This can be tested with a ethernet switcher, if anyone has uses of these, in > conjunction with an ethernet based connection, like a cable modem. > Switchers are nearly instantly up and running after turning them on. > Just use a power strip to turn the ethernet switcher off and back on again.

From what I have seen of disconnection, the car inviaibly continues along it's present course for a few seconds. If someone is trying to avoid an accident, I don't think they could avoid a safety rating penalty... I can't test it myself, but I'll ask about it. :)

Here's an idea for those having disconnect issues. Download PingPlotter: http://www.pingplotter.com/ Fire it up and start a plot before you start racing. If you have a disconnect, take a look at the plot after you exit iRacing and see if it shows where the failure is. After a month of getting "There's no issues" from my cable company once, a weeks worth of charts from PP finally got me some action and the problem fixed. They could not ignore the data, and when the finally actually LOOKED, the issue was found and resolved. -Larry "Tim Wheatley" <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:[email hidden]... On Aug 22, 2:16 am, "jeffareid" <[email hidden]> wrote:

Quoted text (26 lines)

> >> Unless players can collide with "vanished" cars I don't see why it > >> wouldn't > > > You take a safety rating hit whether you hit the other car, the other > > car hits you, or the ghost (invisible car) does. I have a video up on > > YouTube where my DSL filter went bad and I got disconnected from a > > race by an incoming call. > > It's possible that your disconnect in this case was one way, still > transmitting > positional updates but not receiving anything. Were other players able to > still see your car even though you couldn't see theirs? > > What if you lose your connection entirely, and the entire field drives > through > your invisble ghost car on every lap for the remainder of the race? Will > the > game register dozens of incidents for all those players and you in this > case? > > This can be tested with a ethernet switcher, if anyone has uses of these, > in > conjunction with an ethernet based connection, like a cable modem. > Switchers are nearly instantly up and running after turning them on. > Just use a power strip to turn the ethernet switcher off and back on > again.

From what I have seen of disconnection, the car inviaibly continues along it's present course for a few seconds. If someone is trying to avoid an accident, I don't think they could avoid a safety rating penalty... I can't test it myself, but I'll ask about it. :)

> From what I have seen of disconnection, the car inviaibly continues > along it's present course for a few seconds. If someone is trying to > avoid an accident, I don't think they could avoid a safety rating > penalty... I can't test it myself, but I'll ask about it. With NR2003, cars dissappear within a fraction of a second after disconnection. This is something you could easily test with iRacing during a test session. How long after you disconnect before the other cars dissappear? If there is someone online that could help with this, you could chat on the phone and state when you disconnect, and the observer could state how long it takes before your car dissappears.