Column: Sometimes, Open Lobbies Are Not So Bad After All

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Open lobbies have a negative reputation among some sim racers. They can offer a much more pleasant experience than the stereotypical Monza Turn 1 punt fests – if you are lucky.

Organized online races are usually the way to go for many online sim racers, be it via competition platforms, leagues or special events. On the other hand, racing in random open lobbies have attained a meme status of sorts, with race starts in particular often resulting in carnage.

For the most part, this seems accurate. Sometimes, however, it can be pretty rewarding by just jumping onto a server with a random combination of track and cars that you normally would not pay any attention to. This happened to me recently on a random evening session in Automobilista 2.

Having recently gotten into the world of sim racing in VR, trying new scenarios using the headset has become a favorite pastime of sorts for me. So, after thrashing around the Nordschleife in a GT3 in singleplayer (which is dramatically more fun in VR than it already is on a screen), I figured I would try an online session to see if cars I would otherwise rarely drive would see the same sort of improvement in enjoyability.

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Open Lobbies: Fun In A Caterham​

It did not even need much scrolling to find what I was looking for. A lobby hosted the Caterham Superlight at Cascavel, one of the hidden Brazilian gems that AMS2 has to offer. Not a combination I had ever driven before, but perfect for what I was trying to do. So, into the session I loaded, and onto the track I went in no time.

Now, I had tried the track before, but that was what felt forever ago. Luckily, Cascavel is not exactly long or complicated, so getting to know the layout again was not much of a problem. However, what struck me most was the visibility inside the Caterham. Due to the front-engined track day toy’s lack of doors or any notable bodywork where you might expect it around the driver, you can see the the front wheels better than in many open wheelers, making positioning them for corner apexes a breeze.

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Image credit: racingcircuits.info

Even better, though, was the race. The Caterhams do not rely on aerodynamics much, instead being all about mechanical grip. As a result, the racing can be rather close – and it sure was in this lobby. Running side by side through the corners while being able to look at another car only centimeters away was absolutely thrilling, and, dare I say, the most fun I had in quite a while in an open lobby.

Side By Side And Up The Order​

As in many cars in VR, the battles felt much more natural than on a screen, although this sort of close racing is perfectly possible on a monitor as well – I had plenty of that myself, mostly in leagues. But I cannot help but think that VR was a big helper in this session. Running the race without the HUD on only added to the immersion and shifted focus to the things that were happening on the track a little more.

Having only managed eighth on the grid, I soon found myself gaining positions as other drivers made mistakes in battles or just crashed out on their own. Encouraging for a 15-minute race – if you can avoid getting caught up in these mishaps. At one point, I locked wheels with another driver, which caused us both to go wide and into the grass until we finally untangled. No damage incurred, though, and I continued my pursuit of a better finishing position.

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What followed was an outstanding battle for fourth that spanned multiple laps. Side by side through Cascavel’s sweeping corners, different lines through the final turn resulting in good runs into turn 1 – all while being extremely fair. In the end, I even managed to finish third by just a couple of tenths as another car had its difficulties with lapped drivers, to put it mildly.

Open Lobbies: Worth A Try From Time To Time​

I took off the headset with a big smile on my face that night. Now, I am not trying to say that random online lobbies are going to be super fun all the time with this approach – they just will not. And they most likely will not make up much of my rig time moving forward, either. But sometimes, dipping your toes into something you might have ignored otherwise can be very much worth it that way. And maybe will take to driving the Caterham a bit more frequently, too.

What are your surprisingly good experiences in open lobbies? Let us know your best stories on Twitter @OverTake_gg or in the comments below!
About author
Yannik Haustein
Lifelong motorsport enthusiast and sim racing aficionado, walking racing history encyclopedia.

Sim racing editor, streamer and one half of the SimRacing Buddies podcast (warning, German!).

Heel & Toe Gang 4 life :D

Comments

OverTake
Premium
Absolutely! Overlooked them until just recently, but they're really good fun to slide around.
 
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OverTake
Premium
Most often, free lobbies are not bad if you have control of your ego & accept that ppl are making mistakes and your life doesn't depend on a sim race with random ppl.
That should always be the attitude going into these, I agree. Even then, some lobbies just aren't enjoyable when there are tons of absolutely preventable incidents. That's why those like the one I described above stand out even more, though :)
 
open lobbies are fun at lower levels, watching the fools take ppl out push to hard overtake in BS areas, now the deliberate punting not so much. just start from the back watch the carnage take the positions when they come up.
 
Problem with open lobbies in anything other than iRacing is that there is zero incentive for people in the race to stay until the end. That will only happen in league races where people know each other and are racing for either season stats or doing an endurance race, again with people you at least know or are starting to be familiar with.
 
With the green light issues open lobbies are a nightmare just waiting to happen...

The rare race that is good is in the same quota as the rare race that is bad in the scheduled races online in rF2 or LMU... Hence rF2 took over from AMS2 public lobbies and LMU has taken over from rF2 for my pick up and race fun... Plus the fixed set ups aren't ridiculously fixed...
 
Problem with open lobbies in anything other than iRacing is that there is zero incentive for people in the race to stay until the end. That will only happen in league races where people know each other and are racing for either season stats or doing an endurance race, again with people you at least know or are starting to be familiar with.

You need to do more rF2 online and LMU online mate...

A DNF tanks your SR which means less options to race... So you need to stick it out in order to keep your SR in the positive...
 
Premium
Since I used to be a total VR enthusiast, but now often prefer the monitor as a display device due to my videos, I still use Meta Quest 3 every now and then (with VD on alien settings) and notice again and again - and there it is It doesn't matter in which simulation I do the comparison - my feeling and perception of the FFB in VR alone is completely different from how I feel when I'm driving on the monitor. Completely different. And in VR, regardless of which sim I use, I always have to increase my settings with a monitor by at least 20% so that I notice the same strength in VR. But it's not just the strength that changes in my perception, but also the entire characteristics of the FFB. Sometimes I find my FFB, which I think is MEGA GOOD on the monitor, completely "wrong" in VR...
Are there other drivers here who feel the same way?
 
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Since I used to be a total VR enthusiast, but now often prefer the monitor as a display device due to my videos, I still use Meta Quest 3 every now and then (with VD on alien settings) and notice again and again - and there it is It doesn't matter in which simulation I do the comparison - my feeling and perception of the FFB in VR alone is completely different from how I feel when I'm driving on the monitor. Completely different. And in VR, regardless of which sim I use, I always have to increase my settings with a monitor by at least 20% so that I notice the same strength in VR. But it's not just the strength that changes in my perception, but also the entire characteristics of the FFB. Sometimes I find my FFB, which I think is MEGA GOOD on the monitor, completely "wrong" in VR...
Are there other drivers here who feel the same way?
Im glad its not just me that found this! I had to rework all of my FFB profiles for VR cause it just felt off. Also had the same issue with my motion profiles, what feels right with screens feels strange in VR.
 
Since I used to be a total VR enthusiast, but now often prefer the monitor as a display device due to my videos, I still use Meta Quest 3 every now and then (with VD on alien settings) and notice again and again - and there it is It doesn't matter in which simulation I do the comparison - my feeling and perception of the FFB in VR alone is completely different from how I feel when I'm driving on the monitor. Completely different. And in VR, regardless of which sim I use, I always have to increase my settings with a monitor by at least 20% so that I notice the same strength in VR. But it's not just the strength that changes in my perception, but also the entire characteristics of the FFB. Sometimes I find my FFB, which I think is MEGA GOOD on the monitor, completely "wrong" in VR...
Are there other drivers here who feel the same way?
Can't say I've experienced the same regarding FFB, would be an interesting study getting to the bottom of the difference in perception though.

Regarding public lobbies, I agree that there's plenty of fun to be had. If I can't qualify near the front row, I'd usually prefer to be at the back though. The middle of the dogpile can certainly get hairy, depending on the caliber and competence of your peers. Would love to see most sims implement safety and skill ratings moving forward, just having something to lose or gain has a pretty drastic impact on behavior from my observations since race control rolled out in rF2. Even if you're more tortoise than hare, you can stack clean races towards the rear guard and work your way into cleaner and more impressive splits when those who can't race clean remain stuck in lower SR tiers.
 
Can't say I've experienced the same regarding FFB, would be an interesting study getting to the bottom of the difference in perception though.

Regarding public lobbies, I agree that there's plenty of fun to be had. If I can't qualify near the front row, I'd usually prefer to be at the back though. The middle of the dogpile can certainly get hairy, depending on the caliber and competence of your peers. Would love to see most sims implement safety and skill ratings moving forward, just having something to lose or gain has a pretty drastic impact on behavior from my observations since race control rolled out in rF2. Even if you're more tortoise than hare, you can stack clean races towards the rear guard and work your way into cleaner and more impressive splits when those who can't race clean remain stuck in lower SR tiers.
Another problem of AMS2 (throw it into that pile) is that turning on ranking system affects the end performance of users, and a session with +15 racers usually causes many stutters on several ends. That's why the sessions don't use ranking a lot, and filtering drivers via it is also useless, as people who are clean drivers may have a low rating and class, due to just not taking part of lobbies where it can be increased.

I love AMS2 as much as anybody, but there are improvements needed that will not come before 2025.
 
Premium
Im glad its not just me that found this! I had to rework all of my FFB profiles for VR cause it just felt off. Also had the same issue with my motion profiles, what feels right with screens feels strange in VR.
Good to know I'm not the only one with this. Thank you for the feedback
 
Moderator
Premium
Kenny, it is what it evolves into and what the community feels inspired to do by this article. ❤️
No it's not, there's a reason why the article has a title. One of the biggest complaints we get is threads being dragged away from their topic.
Evolution is gradual not a leap from public lobbies to ffb and VR.
There are plenty of discussion threads that are relevant to VR both for and against this I don't think is one of them.
 
That should always be the attitude going into these, I agree. Even then, some lobbies just aren't enjoyable when there are tons of absolutely preventable incidents. That's why those like the one I described above stand out even more, though :)
Honestly, I'm OK to be on pole & get taken out by the last guy who doesn't even attempt to brake. I'm suddenly having the chance to come from last to the podium or even win :) It's all for fun.
 

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