Hello,
I was hosting one of my first races at VROC yesterday, about 23.30 CET, and I have been thinking a bit about that experience.
First, I have noticed that the attitude among the drivers are pretty different. The race yesterday was a novice race at Monza with 4 drivers. I was second on the grid with a 1.32.xx lap with the Eagle, and a Lotus on pole with a 1.28.xx lap. Two Ferraris was behind with 1.37 laps.
This could get interesting I thought, and I feared that the field would not even be close at all. Anyway, the race started and I think I did one of the best starts ever. The Lotus on the pole was going faster, so I hang on all I could.
Then, at Parabolica, the Lotus went in the graveltrap, and I thought, so much for speed, what about concistency. I passed him and waited for some green rocked filling my mirrors. It never showed up. Instead he disconnected. This could of course be because of a bad connection, but up until then the connection looked fine. What I think is that since he went off, he realised that the possibility to win was rather reduced, and gave up.
So, the race went from what could have been really exciting, with me in front and a hungry Lotus charging from begind, to a rather dull one with a Ferrari some 20 seconds behind. The other Ferrari disconnected too.
What I've been trying to say, is that i don't hope many people have so much pride and blown up ego that they disconnect when they can't win. A race is still a good race even when battling midfield. And yesterdays sensation of winning could not even remotely be compared with a 17 car race where everyone was competetive I attended a week ago. At that race my pulse was as high as when i race indoor rent-a-go-kart. Really terrific.
At last, one more thing yesterday's race showed me was how many potential drivers who just keep pressing that Reload button on VROC, hoping that a novice monza race, or any other of course, show up. I mean, just 2 minutes after I started hosting, the field was full, 4 of 4 cars.
My following suggestion for the next version of VROC, is to have some sort of counter, showing how many players are waiting for a race in each room. Something like number of people connected to VROC minus number of drivers racing og practicing. I guess the number would be quite high. Is this even possible ?
btw, I have started to practice Rouen and Watkins Glen, since those two tracks seems to be the most popular next to Monza. (I don't really understand why some people have principal problems with a banked Monza add-on track. You don't HAVE to race it. I think it would be just fantastic.)
--
Olav K. Malmin
remove spam when replying
I myself have been racing VROC for about a month now, and I really enjoy the
mid-pack and back-of-the-pack skirmishes.
Just when you thought you were on your own, someone ahead of you wipes
out , and you have a new racing partner, or better yet, one of the faster
drivers catches you after his poor start.
One thing that would help on the small 4 driver races is if in the
comments the host included his race average, that way someone looking for a
competitive race could find it more easily.
Jeff Flechsing
I personally don't have the free time to practice all the
tracks or all the cars. So I often find myself reloading
a lot hoping for a race that meets my requirements
(or lack of them ;)
- Matt
> At last, one more thing yesterday's race showed me was how many potential drivers who just keep pressing that Reload button on VROC, hoping that a novice monza race, or any other of course, show up. I mean, just 2 minutes after I started hosting, the field was full, 4 of 4 cars.
