Why do people drive so badly?

[KillSlim]

I don't want to generalize all racers in this game under one roof, I've met and raced against many who are very kind, helpful, and mature. However, when the race begins I'm often rammed off the track by players who don't know what the brake pedal does, or don't know how to check their surroundings. 30+ minutes of practice and qualifying goes out the window when my car is wrecked at the first turn, and I'll be lucky to finish 9/24. I do my absolute best to be a good driver. I always try to give room to overtakers, I never block or ram anyone, I just try to be wary of what other people are doing.

I wish the same could be said for most who play this game.

[Paul McCluskey]

unfortunately it won't improve , been like this since beginning of online racing in public servers, there are good racers out ther like yourself who is respectful of other racers and expect the same back, people think they can win the race in turn 1 lap 1 too often and its a wreckfest at turn 1, it's all about being prepared for it and can sometimes best to just take it easy at start and pick your way through the crashers.

[IDrive]

Paul is right. Just take the first lap easy as cars get spaced out. You know you will pass the wreckers when they wreck so might as well give a little room on the first couple of turns and let the wreckers crash. You can also join racing league where all racers aren't looking to wreck. I joined the group called acworldusa and they have their own server. Racing is very fair and they keep track of points for the month. You need to contact Alan Bernardo or Chris Nichols both are on steam if you are interested. Here is link http://acworldusa.com/
you are going to want to go to forums and make an account that is also another way of joining.

[IMPERIAL]

You have many kids playing that never drove a car in real life.
So they lack some basic spatial awareness and maybe think that the car breaks faster than it actually does.
Some others just forget about the next corner when trying to overtake, so they break too late.

[-=STONE ISLAND=-]

Ursprungligen skrivet av KillSlim:

I don't want to generalize all racers in this game under one roof, I've met and raced against many who are very kind, helpful, and mature. However, when the race begins I'm often rammed off the track by players who don't know what the brake pedal does

This happened too me yesterday when I joined a server for the secound time on Spa, I came on track no cars too be seen got to the top straight then someone rammed into me knocking me off the track. So I sat there for a bit to work out what was going on then got bashed again twice by the same person.
I must admit, I only have a 2.6mb internet connection so whether I lagged and didn't see any one there I don't know.

[KuBr0]

happened to me like a million times. I found out that in most of the cases, if after the start or during the race, if someone rammed me from behind it was due to not being able to break as fast as I did, also using downshifting ect. Watched countless replays where I was rammed from behind and they got one thing in common, we both start to break at almost exactly the same moment (I start breaking, he sees the red lights and starts to break too) but the opponent wasn't able to slow down the car as fast as I did, so bam, off track I go :D

[delirivmcordia]

Even in iRacing (which has some of the best multiplayer moderation around) I found it best to start from the pits 90% of the time.
Don't force anything for the first few turns -- focus entirely on safety -- because unless you've raced alongside the people on a server before, you can't rely on them to race respectfully/well.
(not to mention, the tires are uselessly cold; so overstressing them isn't going to do your any favours.)

Personally, I've not had an issue with AC's multiplayer; because of my location (Australia), there are very few servers with a suitable ping. Luckily, the one reliable server is also one of the most well-moderated servers available, and thus has a trustworthy userbase. And should any disrespectful people join, they're usually banned immediately.

So, yeah... Find a reliable server, join a league, or get so fast that you don't need to worry about the back-half of the grid.

[rudski]

don't bother to qualify it's safer starting at the back and if you're quick enough you'll still catch up to everyone.

Find a server with an active admin and watch the idiots get banned. I found one server like that, Martys group of servers and it's been the best online experience I think I could have (in a public server).

What Kunos now need to do is stop people from joining a server once a race has started, or at the very least prevent them going onto the track (closed pits).

[delirivmcordia]

Ursprungligen skrivet av rudski:

don't bother to qualify it's safer starting at the back and if you're quick enough you'll still catch up to everyone.

Find a server with an active admin and watch the idiots get banned. I found one server like that, Martys group of servers and it's been the best online experience I think I could have (in a public server).

What Kunos now need to do is stop people from joining a server once a race has started, or at the very least prevent them going onto the track (closed pits).

I qualify and haven't had an issue (on Marty's server).
Although I'm generally in the front two rows, so my immediate company is reliable.

I think people who join mid-race should still be able to do laps/work on setups, but perhaps have them be completely invisible to the other competitors until the race has finished.
I mean, it's multiplayer. I'd like everyone to be well-practiced.

I had an event spoiled by a fast-ish late-joiner who defensive-line blocked me for a few laps until I resorted to an outside pass, only to have him force me off-track on the exit. That's really my only online issue. So doing something about non-competing people clogging up the track would be good.

[Marty]

The starts are a strange thing and seems many just dont pay much attention to others around them. More accidents happen on the straight then into t1 and its simply people moving acorss when not clear. People trying to drive through others rather then around them seems popular too.

At times there are stationary cars on the grid and these cause lots of chaos so lets hope kunos fix that soon in an update. Only cars ready to race should be allowed on grid, also if pits were closed during a race and people werent allowed to escape from track and rejoin from pits. They may take more care to avoid wrecking their cars and others on the first lap. Otherwise they will be stuck in pits watching others racing, if that doesnt improve their starts then nothing will.

The odd person that on multiple occasions does the big dive bomb into t1 and forces a race restart wont survive long on my servers either. If someone is good enough to make a move fine if they keep hitting others and causing wrecks they will be kicked. At times the starts are so bad that you cant actually find the main person at fault lol but other times ive been amazed when 24 cars get through the first lap with hardly any incidents.

[Actionjackson]

i dont find it so bad it will often happen on a public, so many cars all in a hurry, limited view left and right maybe, some with wheel some with controlers waving about, and last but not least you have a modulated break point after start as you likely wont reach same speed as in hotlaps where you can accelerate the whole straight.
that means all cars that did not practice some starts befor, will need to judge break point intuitively. some break later some earlier in the tight pack, again problems preprogrammned.

i rarely see an uneventfull start and i dont rly mind if i get taken out, it would just ruin my concetration if i pay attention to that.

however with that said, the morons that just plow into the field in first turn need to be kicked, the guys that spin out while going straight need to be kicked, with the retardos gone your chances for only minor incidents at the start go up a lot as the start crash can be like a domino effect. one car starts it and it take like 5 others with it.

[TheSeaPeoples]

In my experience, some of the biggest complainers are some of the biggest culprites. You get a lot of quick guys showing no respect for others players levels of ability.
Some get too obsessed with their hotlap like pace that they don't think about other players having less than optimal breaking zones and just plow into the back of them. Instead of using a bit of racecraft and waiting for a better spot, or giving them a chance to yeild.

[Marty]

Ursprungligen skrivet av TheSeaPeoples:

In my experience, some of the biggest complainers are some of the biggest culprites. You get a lot of quick guys showing no respect for others players levels of ability.
Some get too obsessed with their hotlap like pace that they don't think about other players having less than optimal breaking zones and just plow into the back of them. Instead of using a bit of racecraft and waiting for a better spot, or giving them a chance to yeild.

Its pretty common for "hotlapers" to be bad racers, these are the guys that cant adjust their driving to deal with traffic. But I think these are very rarely the quickest guys its more those a second or so off that are overdriving to hang on to that pace. The quickest guys are quick because they can place the car where they want and hit near perfect laps due to high prescision and consistancy. If they can hit a near perfect lap then they can also do it in the race and quite often they wont have issues passing people as they will have more pace and control then others around them. To be very fast you need to be in full control of the car and your not really overdriving it in a race unless your needing to push 100% due to others around being quicker then the pace your comfortable with..

Some faster guys do tend to push their way through slower cars but I think this is less common then slower guys doing the same thing and much more often. They dont necessarily do it on purpose but simply lack the control needed for close racing, driving at their limits making lots of errors that cause them to hit others.

I havent had many issues with quicker guys racing, but those slightly slower guys overdriving also tend to be the ones that block like crazy trying to make up for their lack of pace. I see a few of these types of guys and just pass them with more caution, if I see them pull a dive bomb that will never work I just delay my turn in let them run through the corner and continue on as they have their own off.

Also they are more desperate then a quicker guy in most cases trying to make a pass. If you know you have the pace over someone its not so urgent to get by as it is for someone that thinks they need to pull a desperate move then defend to stay ahead. These would also be the typical guys that give it everything in qualy to be mid pack then try and make up all the spots into t1 thinking that they will be able to beat guys they may be quite a bit slower per lap against simply by dive bombs and blocks.

[Bean™]

I think it will always be like this if there is no type penalty system....I dont really want to make comparisons but for example Iracing, has a safety rating system which somewhat tries to control bad driving behavior, whether it be accidental or intentional. It seems to work out pretty good for the most part especially in the higher class license races. Basically in AC there is nothing to loose on public servers and some try to win on the first turn. The best solution is to join some type of racing league which has ruless and guidelines, which im sure there are alot out there for AC.

[Actionjackson]

i think the most interessting expiriences are the ones you made yourself, i got my first sim, GT Legends in like 2005. it came out 04 but i think i got it 05 with my logitech momo back than.

i was never a agressive or unfair racer, never ever took someone out on purpouse or drive in the wrong way on track and stuff like that.
that does not mean i never took ppl out, far from it.

there is, no matter what game it is, a factor in mutiplayer where you play real persons that just wrecks your nerves and clouds your, normaly better, judgement.
cause of my lack of better english i call it simply nervouseness or pressure induced nervouseness.
its the feeling you get when someone is breathing down your neck and you feel you are not quick enogh, its when you play a shooter and you find you are last in your team and have to carry the team to victory, possibly against multiple enemy, your whole team spectating you.

i hope you get what i mean, the feeling of pressure, true or imagined, that just wracks havock on your "perfect" skill that normaly works. you get jumpy movements, sweaty hands, heart rate picks up, and generally a uneasy feeling that makes you make misstakes where you would not do any in a solo situation.

no matter what game it is, this factor, this nervouseness, you can only reduce by expirience, at least for me. the more expirience i have in any game and the more often i already was in this situation, the less and less i suffer from this uneasy feeliing of pressure, may it be real or imagined.

now i remember back, me driving GT legends with nada expirience, getting freaked out so fast, you just had to drive up to my rear and be there for few turns, and off i went. not cause i did not know better, but cause i was rly kinda panicking.
the same kind of panic i observe years late on other people, the drivers you come up to the rear, go one gear deeper and make a lot of noise, and you can be sure you have this guy make a accident next few turns, no overtake needed.

the same works the other way too, at the point you start to think you are no utter noob, and you maybe worth something in your horribly pushing car you set up yourself cause it feels "stable"(i did that in GT legends, way to much rollbars, i had no clue :D ) :D
in this case the pressure may be imagined and selfinduced, to get the guy in front of you, cause he "may be" in reach. and you get carried away again, make some moves that are slightly over your ability and off you go, possibly with the other guy.

in simple hotlap/practice servers you can find a lot of these people. on a well filled nordschleife practice server, very many drivers are like i describe. i often see "myself" years back, on the track in assetto.
the guys that are not there yet to get to the top 5 in a average practice server, but are faster than the guys that cant post a lap time at all.
these drivers often suffer the most from said factors. they are easylie scared off the track, they feel slow, yet they have the desire to be faster and put lot pressure on themselfs.
there would be no reason to go off track short after i get in their back, but they panic they have no trust, the same way i paniced, and off they go.

i can remember how horribly worked up i could get in a race, i remember a bierbude event in GTR evolution, field of 40 to 50 starters, nordschleife 24h layout(schleife+GP track).
i did not qualifie as i wanted to avoid the mess in the start, race start, nürburgring turn 1, horrible accident, more and more accidents up to after flugplatz section. so i was passt flugplatz and suddenly i looked i was P3, in all the chaos i made it to P3. it was at that point where i lost it, i was not used to this at all, and i never was so far in the front before in such a big race.
i put myself so much pressure to hold this position, a position that was absolutely unrealistic to be held for me. why? i am not sure, cause i wanted too i guess, i wanted to get better and just try.
sure enough the fast guys catched up to me and i was already a nerve wreck, in the accidents that followed i was handed down to place 15 to 20, something like that, is was no good feeling at all.
than it was back there where i kinda recovered, got my stuff togethere and felt more compftable again. it was a 90minute race event, and i ended after 90 minute on p8 of 12 guys left.

now i wrote down these ancedotes to show that even if i got quiet a bit better over the years, far from perfect though, i still can get worked up and suffer from all these problems, it happens a lot less.
and i am sure everyone in this thread suffered from this kind of suff at some point or another.
but we forgett all to quick that we where in the same boat at one point of time.
the boat where you can not trust the guy in the back, where you allway have to watch your back, cause they are out to get you in their panic.

these days i am alot more chilled, and i cut these guys a lot of slack, as i posted befor i dont mind the crashes, its part of the game for me. some days i wish everyone would be perfect sim drivers, and then again i wish they dont, or i could beat no sigle dude :D
there must be room for error and mistakes.

[Manwith Noname]

Ursprungligen skrivet av Actionjackson:

...i looked i was P3, in all the chaos i made it to P3. it was at that point where i lost it, i was not used to this at all...

Yeah, I've never been a competitive sim racer. Mainly just enjoy improving my times but this line right here is something I have experienced in a number of online games, not just racing. The realisation of how well you're doing brings errors you'd not normally make. Adrenaline kicks in and all of sudden from being totally relaxed you are completely on edge.

Thumbs up, great post.