Club Racing penalties??

Kenny Paton

Moderator
Premium
There has been a suggestion that we try Drive Through penalties as the Slow Down's were causing crashes. It hasn't been an issue previously but Moscow Raceway is a very tight track and they did cause problems for several racers.
We could try it out with the DTM's at Circuit Park Zandvoort next Tuesday if members want, just let me know.
 
Why? I'll try it but it hasn't been an issue until tonight,People are getting too serious,it's a fun club event,The club is here for us to hone our own skills,help others to develop their skills,If people who go wide and do not hinder anyone else because they are learning have to do a drive through three times in a race they won't learn anything and they certainly won't race in the club again,There are rules in place and video replays are available,If any cases of poor driving standards are displayed they can be reported and dealt with in the appropriate way.If it was a league and it was about winning & points then I would say 100% yes.
 
I'm going to say no as well.
I'm not against penalties per se, but while the slow-down does have some disadvantages, especially in the beginning when people are fairly tightly packed together, drive-through and stop/gos are IMO way over the top.

As it is, you spin out across the track-limits. That'll cost you 10-15 seconds, what with getting back on track, and serving the penalty. That's hard enough to get back, and it applies even if you accidentally get knocked off the track.
Let's not forget that R3E can't tell the difference between deliberately abusing track-limits, and crossing the lines due to rubbing an opponent.
With drive-throughs, you still lose 5-10 seconds getting back on track, plus the penalty will cost you a further 20-30 seconds depending on the pit-lane in question.
So if you get a drive-through, you'll end up being very lonely doing laps and trying to stay out of everybody elses way.
Speaking for myself, I do online races to have fun. If I wanted to do hot-laps, I can do that on my own. :)

Finally, looking back at the past few races, I don't think I've seen one yet where anyone didn't get at least one slow-down penalty. So with drive-throughs, you could theoretically win the race by simply keeping it on the track, and never taking a risk.
That's not racing, that's a Sunday drive in the country.

The only real solution, which unfortunately is out of our hands, is for Sector3 making all cars getting slow-downs into 'ghost' cars until the penalty is served.
In the meantime, all we can do is ask people who do get slow-downs to stay off the racing line when they rejoin the track.
It's not always possible, especially on tighter tracks, but I don't believe drive-throughs are the solution.

Having said that though, let's try it.
I still think it's a very bad idea, but trying it out is the only way to find out for sure.
 
I really don't think we need to enforce drive throughs in a club that is lucky to get going again.
Running wide (more than two wheels over the white line) is already prohibited in RD rules. Still I recognised many (me included!) who came veeery close (no one crossed it ;-) ), but in the end I really think we yet have a fair club! Hope we keep it this way.
I would not draw conclusions from this one event. We did a very tough combo, and don't forget WTCC cars are one of the most difficult to drive. Maybe wait a few more events?
In the meantime we may focus on usual club rules (more mutual respect, wait after hitting someone, sign up for the event, no chat till everyone has finished, lapping cars are responsible for a safe pass and the likes), not chase away new folks with five drive throughs per race while they are learning.
Yes I respect others' opinion that you mustn't learn online...tough decision either way...
 
The R3E drive trough system is more forgiving then the slow down system: A lot of the off track incidents that were penalized with the slowdown penalty setting would be forgiven under the drive trough system and I would argue that the game taking the control away from you also goes against the spirit of a club event.
And bear in mind: This is a one off - We can test drive troughs to see if they work, and if they don't we can run the rest of the events with slowdown (or no penalties?) indefinitely
 
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If it's between slowdown and drive through then the latter is preferrable imo, slowdowns are awful in any game!
But unless you've been having issues with people going off track and making problems for others when rejoining, then adding penalties is pretty much adding a solution to a nonexisting problem.
Personally I don't mind drive throughs, but I agree that it can kill the fun if you are going off track without really causing any problems for anyone else but yourself.
 
It's only a test to see how/if it works.
One race with drive-throughs won't kill anybody.....
Hopefully. :D

As Lars said it's only one race. Strangely enough I was almost caught out by a slow down in last nights race. I'm not normally close enough to any cars for it to be a problem.:redface:

Got it. It's worth testing, but I would think it's just going to lead to even more spread out grids. Too bad they don't ghost cars that get a slow-down, that seems like the best solution (outside of everyone driving in a manner that would eliminate the need for penalties, of course).

Looks like another week or two before my wheel comes back from hospital. I'm going to be seeing one of my buddy's Thursday who has a DFGT and I think I'm going to borrow it from him so I can scratch my racing itch. What a terrible time to have to send back my wheel, right when this big R3E update and AC 1.3x make major improvements that I've been wanting in both sims for some time. :redface:
 
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