SA not fit for purpose!

[Rob Every]

Ok hear me out here, click bait title but for certain players (like me) I believe this to be the case.

I enjoy this sim, it is rewarding and challenging.

But I do not want to race in leagues, I do not like the set times, rules etc, so tend to spend my time either racing offline or mainly racing in open lobbies.

Now this is where the problems arise as you can imagine.

I have struggled to get anywhere near 90 regularly as an SA rating, despite everything else being in that area, am currently 82 and this to 85 is about my area, but ONLY if I top that up with offline races glued to Ai for 20 minutes which is dull. I would imagine online only it would be in the 70's.

My point is, if you race in leagues, SA doesn't matter or in big groups like here or others, as long as you prove you can race clean it makes no difference other than splits say. If you race with friends it doesn't matter, you all know each other and dick moves are sorted out. If you race in open lobbies it doesn't matter as a lot of people don't care at all and drive accordingly. So really SA rating is totally pointless here.

However if you TRY and be careful there, you have no chance, start at the back, you are with the bottom feeders, retards, morons and people who picked it up in sale earlier and try it on a joypad. I try and race cleanly, but obviously in open lobbies this is borderline impossible.

But if you are attempting to maintain a decent SA rating this is massively frustrating and makes the game overly based on a pointless points system that massively criminalises ANY contact regardless of fault and hardly rewards you at all even if you race clean. It ONLY benefits being close to cars which in most circumstances is very rare and in open lobbies is fraught with hazards, maybe one chance in 30 to get a decent length race there with someone close.

So my point is this, in leagues, SA rating is needless once you get to a level, with friends it is needless and it seems in open servers it is needless, so please explain to me why does it exist? It is not like Iracing where it decides where you race at any level?

For me it creates an annoying aspect of the game that seems to be unnecessary.

 

[Hor-hay]

I'm not able to commit to a league so open lobbies are the most convenient for me. I'm able to maintain SA between 80-90. I rarely race AI these days. I find that if you qualify in the top 5 you have a very good chance of some clean racing.
I think SA is needed but needs work. No SA from racing AI, people just farm SA with AI, get into a race and have no race-craft. Also you should loose SA when going off. ACC rewards you with SA for close racing but should also reward consistent driving. I know ACC has a CN rating but it's not used, maybe servers should use CN, RC and CC as well as SA.

 

[BrightCandle]

What people want is clean races but what safety ratings does is removal of most of the intentional wreckers. Some pelople try to play these racing games like they are arcade games and run other people off the road, those people don't last long and for that safety ratings work really well.

But the holy grail is racing with very few contacts especially getting away cleanly and through the first couple of turns and that usually only happens if you are at the front as the mid pack invariably gets killed every race. The issue there is one of skill, we aren't professional racing drivers and the cost of a crash is low so a lot of incidents will happen during races as a result and especially when everyone is close. Safety rating doesn't really help with this much and it exposes all the mistakes when there is so little room for error.

It is perfectly possible with ACC's safety ratings to do without needing to resort to racing AI but it requires some effort on your part. Just like in iRacing you need to look at every incident and work out what you could have done differently to avoid it. How could you have spotted they were going to hit you and how could you avoid it. It doesn't matter that it is their fault and what the rules of racing are this is about you not getting a damaged car and how to avoid incidents. There are a few skills to learn here that can really help reduce your incidents. Dave Cam (Youtube) has a great introduction to rookies in iRacing and his mentality and his general mentality to racing is something everyone should adopt. He remains competitive but he only races people that look like they can be raced with.

 

[Killg0reNL]

Stick in there.

Racing with AI does not help improving my SA. They somehow are less predictable than human opponents.

I always try to join certain public servers with high SA ratings, the lower, the harder to get arround cleanly.
And i prefer public league server as i expect the league drivers there aswell. Qualifying more to pole also helps, unless youre just in front off an rearender.

Best is not to try to hard to win places in the 1st lap, even when it means you loose one or two places. Consistency is key

I think the SA system works rather well.

 

[BCJM76]

Stick in there.

Racing with AI does not help improving my SA. They somehow are less predictable than human opponents.

I always try to join certain public servers with high SA ratings, the lower, the harder to get arround cleanly.
And i prefer public league server as i expect the league drivers there aswell. Qualifying more to pole also helps, unless youre just in front off an rearender.

Best is not to try to hard to win places in the 1st lap, even when it means you loose one or two places. Consistency is key

I think the SA system works rather well.

This, right here is what I believe to be key. While it's great to grab a couple positions on the start, I find laying back and getting the lay of the land to work out much better, for me. This way you can see the guys who like to swerve all over the place, or the guy who likes to park it at the apex and plan accordingly.

The bad drivers will usually sort themselves out and those couple of positions you would have gained at the start, you will probably get by the end of the race, anyways.

 

[Rob Every]

I take most of this on board, but most of what is said simply does not match my experience sadly.

Eg earlier, 3 races, SA starts at 82

1, Monza, only 7 cars, car was a pig, impossible to drive, so quit, one touch from a gormo at 5mph at chicane as usual, though I was in sand giving room, lose 1 point.

2&3, one a 30 min at Spa where I race close with a guy for half race, second a good one at Zandvoort, not much close stuff, but no incident, Gain 2 points.

So 1 is lost for a touch at the tightest and stupidest bend in the game, 2 are gained back for 50 mins of racing, no touches and not many off tracks. It is simply not rewarding of anything but driving in the two of a car, and that rarely happens in my experience.

 

[782369]

Past week I’ve driven only open lobbies...SA has increased from 78-86.
It really is not that difficult to drive cleanish, just have to be careful and not try to win EVERY corner. I often like to start from back and be very careful for the first 1-2 laps.

 

[Hor-hay]

 

[Rob Every]

I think the idea he explains at the end is very useful. Nut broadly similar to what you have now.

The fact that you can achieve great safety ONLY by racing close to others is a bit daft to me, it should be based AS MUCH on not colliding in a short race as a long one. The system as it is seems to say if you follow a guy for half an hour in a half hour race you will get platinum SA points, if you take the lead, win by 10 seconds in a race you will get bronze. It ONLY rewards racing right up with others, not being careful at starts avoiding incidents etc. As they simply cannot create a system to calculate that.

I suppose it is a start, but it needs a lot of work for it to truly reflect your experience, In mine, I try to avoid stuff, but a lot of times I start near the back, pick my way through and still get taken out or have minor collisions. This can be for many reasons, lagging, poor racecraft, or just panicky driving.

And in reality very few 99 level guys are ever going to go on open servers and race so why is this rule even there? It only prevents people trying to be careful, becoming embroiled with a few wallies who dont care or are easily stressed.

 

[After_Midnight]

And in reality very few 99 level guys are ever going to go on open servers and race so why is this rule even there

I'm one of the "99 level guys and open lobby racing is all I do.
So it's possible to achieve SA 99 this way and keep the rating.

But I've to admit the system works very inconsistant. Sometimes you'll get points for slightest touches with no negative outcome for both involved cars, sometimes not.

The fact you've mentoined about driving alone will end up in a decrease of your Trust is true, actually.

 

[Rob Every]

But what can you do if you are in races with few drivers, an alien freak out front, 2 secs a lap faster, one guy behind slower and the rest morons, you cant really do much other thin finish the race, you get no trust

 

[Killg0reNL]

Yesterday i reached SA 99 again came from 76 (let a friend drive in SP ans forgot to turn off the SA system....)

But it was/is mainly done in public lobbies, where i gained most of the SA points. Just join higher SA rated lobbies when you can. The better it gets.

But when i read Monza... i don't know whats about monza, but i think its known for bad public races. When you gain or even hold points on a PUBLIC Monza server, you sould consider yourself lucky.

When you care about SA, i think its best to leave the Monza lobbies alone.

I am certainly not an alien, but its all due to ur driving style.

 

[Rob Every]

Are you sure you are for real chap.

Every single race this week I have done and I mean every single damn shitting one, I have been hit by people, regardless of the tactic, starting last, starting first, starting anywhere trying to be careful, trying to find people to race.

Every single race I have done for seemingly weeks I have been hit by people, yes I have made mistakes too, but when you are getting trust 30 and 15 incidents, and 90% of them are not your fault, something is very wrong. What am I supposed to do have eyes in the back of my head, have a sixth sense, nearly every one of these was unavoidable, and as I have had such a bad run your average goes down and one incident seemingly means double crapping, shitting points. it is utterly penalising and monumentally dispiriting.

If you managed to get to 99 doing ONLY online open lobbies then you are some kind of bloody driver mate, as I do not think it is humanly possible, regardless of your approach. I am down to 80 now due to some complete retarded cretin stopping on a straight at Monza, after spending 30 minutes doing close AI following again to get back 2 precious points. And to be fair I don't believe you as I don't believe that is possible, if you are that good how the hell did you get to less than 80 anyway.

it disappears within 18 seconds of a race start, and you can't get it back as you have to pit, and then the resinous control lock comes in so you get abou3 points anyway

As I say this system is TOTALLY not fit for purpose in any way shape or form. Unless you only race leagues or are an alien freak, which lets face it is what this stupid game is designed for, not mere mortals with a life like me.

I LOATH systems like this as they never work for the majority, only for the idiots and aliens, the people in the middle, the vast majority find it a total turn off

 

[Killg0reNL]

Rob Every, i do a 60 min league race every two weeks. I expected that was the place where i would have gained more.. But instead of gaining points i stayed level there.

But yess, for real, i got back on 99 on driving public lobbies. I Also had difficulties getting clean through races, but somehow i am luckier now staying out off trouble. But as said earlier, its better to give one position away, than get hammered out by pushing tó hard.

Also think off it this way, you can drive well. But all others drivers have different skill levels, some better, but expect the worst, and adapt to that. Take wider line, brake earlier, when you see someone come in to hard, expect them to miss their braking and turnin / brake point. Hold your line, brake and dont turn in, as thats the place where you will be hammered out. Yes you loose time and perhaps a few position, but you did not loose the race at that time.

 

[Grumps82]

I have about 65hours in ACC.

I did my first RD race on Thursday and that's been my only proper organised race.

Before that I raced purely in online public lobbies and still have an SA of 99.

Yes most of the public lobbies are dreadful. But it is possible to race on them and keep a high SA.

I'll still continue to race on public lobbies when I can.

But yes the online side of things is pretty terrible, the etiquette can be awful. I wish we could report blatant bellends and get them banned in some way.

 

[Rob Every]

I would seriously love a blatant bell end report button

 

[After_Midnight]

@StefanoCasillo
I can easily understand everyone who's getting upset about the SA rating. Especially if it's not working as intended like at the moment.

Laughing about these guys will not help in any way.

 

[Deleted member 379375]

I have 99SA and only race public lobbies and almost always Monza for months now.
I think the trick with Monza and generally regardless of the track is to be quick and up with the better drivers or start at the back, pick your overtakes and get clear of the passed car ASAP.
Online is far the quickest way of gaining SA.