Simulator update & Server migration

We have made significant progress on a number of developments projects over the last few months and on Saturday October 6th we will release a patch update with some of these changes. Going forward we plan on grouping similar tasks and development goals into releases to maximize the efficiency of the development and deployment process.

This release will focus on the simulation side of the iGP Manager game with an emphasis on bug fixes and improving the stability of the product.  We have also redesigned some of the more frequently reported issues regarding weather and tire choices before and during races.

Finally in an effort to secure the long term health of the service and future expansion we will be moving our site and infrastructure to a hosted facility with a 24/7 365 day a year staff dedicated to keeping iGP Manager up and running.  This change required a significant amount of development work to take advantage of the resources the new site offers us but it should serve us for many years.

These changes will require approximately a 6 hour window for us to make.  Any races between 1 GMT and 7 GMT will need to be postponed so that we may be able to migrate the site to the new location.  We will do everything in our power to minimize the downtime and the number of issues that may pop up during the move but we ask for your patience and understanding during this exciting change for iGP Manager.

We hope to have another group of updates ready for deployment in the coming weeks which will include a complete redesign on the design process for the cars. In essence, the October 6th patch reflects about half of the updates coming to iGP in the near future. The overhaul of the web game and design system will follow as soon as it is ready.

Release Notes (coming Oct 6th):

• Fixed bugs with the wrong tyre compound being selected when it starts raining. (Serious bug fix)
• Altered initial car set up so that the rain start/stop compound is added to the car if the scheduled compound does not suit the weather. (High-priority redevelopment)
• Altered automatic weather strategy implementation such that the Pit Strategy window is updated as soon as the weather strategy is triggered.  The player can now manually modify the strategy settings after this point to make any manual adjustments. (High-priority redevelopment)
• Added mistake information to practice laps. (New development: Delayed Q1 feature)
• Significantly altered interface between website and simulator. (Significantly improved efficiency of simulation startup, particularly for practice laps. Improved stability and maintainability)
• Fixed difficulty of overtaking backmarkers. (Bug fix)
• Fixed problems with DRS sometimes not applying when it should. (Bug fix)
• Fixed issue with DRS being triggered by cars in pit lane. (Bug fix)
• Fixed a mistake in sidepod condition calculations. (Bug fix)
• Made pit releases a little bit less paranoid. (Tweak)
• Built a new subsystem to respond to and attempt restoration of any broken threads of execution in the simulator to increase overall stability.
• Standardized, simplified and optimized a great deal of the core systems. (Improved stability, efficiency and maintainability)
• Refactored and simplified most of the networking code. (Improved stability and maintainability)

The new architecture will provide:

• A considerably more scalable service suitable to support much larger numbers of users.
• Greater stability through a larger number of servers with more specialized tasks.
• Greater efficiency as each machine will be more highly tuned to its individual task.
• An expert team of dedicated support staff on hand to monitor, maintain, and develop the service.