Should we continue our iRacing League?

[Kenadian]

Hey all,

I've given this a lot of thought and, even though I feel the AI are in a good spot, I know now everyone will be happy every single race due to an AI related mishap.

So, with this in mind, I feel an anonymous poll is in order to ascertain whether or not you think League is viable?

Please be honest, popular vote decides whether we continue or not.

...and please do not allow yourselves to be influenced by my efforts.

There's plenty other things I can do in place of League so I've no real stake in the game. I'm not running League for my health, it's really just a means to get our iRacing Community together at least a few hours/week.

 

[Deb]

I am enjoying the league, so I would prefer to continue it. It keeps me iRacing and I enjoy driving with everyone.

 

[Skid_Marc_]

I need to do a better job focusing on the social aspect, because I really enjoy racing with you guys. It's too easy to get down when taken out by AI. Could we maybe try it without damage?

To be clear, I believe ANYONE going out of their way to ruin the AI race, whether it's blocking or using their car as a weapon, is going to ruin the experience for everyone else...

...but also, contact with AI generally requires repairs, and any required repairs basically takes you out of the race entirely. If I get spun by the AI, I think that time-loss is easier to swallow. I can work to try to claw back the 10-30 seconds I lost. Maybe (or probably) it's my fault, but obviously sometimes it's not. The moment you loose a minute, or two, limping back to pit-road +40 seconds on pit road, you're not coming back from that. There isn't enough time, the AI is only worse when you're a lap down, so there is no hope, your race is just over.

It's not fair to expect the AI to be perfect, it's going to vary week over week, and they're going to make mistakes. I just think it'd be easier to swallow if every mistake wasn't race-ending.

 

[Kenadian]

Yup, we can try without damage, great idea.

...hopefully it doesn't go the other way and the AI turn into battering rams, at this point, I'd not be surprised.

 

[Deb]

After trying the new Nord Series twice this week, I am more convinced that league is the place to be. I could not believe how absolutely atrocious the driving was. At least at my level, there were a ton of drivers with SRs in the 2s. It was more like demolition derby. There seemed to be no one interested in developing racecraft. The way to pass? Bump them off the road Seriously, the first lap is an absolute nightmare, yellow flag, don't slow down and just smash into the person in front of you. Slow down early for traffic going into a corner, nah, just use the person in front of you to brake. It was so bad, it was comical. How do you lose SR driving the Nord???????????? Race with these idiots. Sorry for the rant, seriously, I got black flagged in my second race for too many incidents, mostly from people not slowing down in traffic situations. In my first race, an idiot took me out, I had a 4 minute tow and 13 minutes of repairs and still finished 17 out of 26 in a 4 lap race, this is unfortunately a joke and I was so looking forward to this series

 

[Kenadian]

Honestly @Deb, I think it's an imbalance across all iR levels in iRacing; too much testosterone, too little patience and/or common sense.

For League however, in most people's minds, it's better to be taken out by a human than an AI because you can bitch to a human.

Every single one of us has bitched about the AI at some point (present company very much included), but if I'm taken out or take out one of you, we piss and moan, make fun of each other and then move on.

 

[Kinger]

It's been fun racing with the folks in league again when I can. (Easier for me to do this when the weather isn't so hot.) Not sure I care if it's AI or in actual official series honestly. To me it's more about just having fun with the crew.

 

[Anson Bennette]

I for one really appreciate having the league, and the banter with you guys that goes along with it. Maybe Marc's no-damage idea may have some merit.

 

[Noodleguitar]

I won't vote because there are too many times where I can't join the league races because of my time zone. I'm also working more often on Friday, which doesn't help.

When I'm there I always enjoy the casual nature of the league sessions, and occasionally the competition. I'm not a huge fan of racing AI cars, mainly because they do not have enough awareness and are bypassing a lot of the physics. And I think we've exhausted all the options. Ken has put a ton of time into configuring and testing the AI, which has improved their behaviour more than I thought was possible.

But we can't deny that it has always been difficult to keep enough people interested in the league on a weekly basis.

Turning damage off is a pretty good idea in my opinion, but it does take away a little from driving against the track. You could bounce off the walls at Mt. Panorama endlessly without significant consequence.