New Design system

The new system attempts to address all of the flaws of the old (current) system, which are:
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[*]Starting the season with a perfect car (too much control over next season designs)
[*]Being uncompetitive for a whole season and how that causes an activity pattern over the seasons something like: VVVVV
[*]Lack of variation in approach (everyone does the same thing once they "figure it out".)
[*]Due to all of the above it becomes too predictable after a while, lacks excitement
[*]Rookie tier can intimidate new players as people can have 100% perfect cars
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Under the new system:
[list]
[*]You don't get to micro-manage the next season design, but it is not random. The car inherits the strengths and weaknesses of the Chief Designer that built it. Levels start low and in no tier can any team reach total perfection.
[*]Variation: teams can design for street circuits, low downforce circuits, high downforce circuits, and how these characteristics perform can vary with the weather. This means windows of opportunity within a race as well as from circuit to circuit. Something like how in F1, the Renault could "switch on" in hot climates, and other cars suit other conditions.
[*]Reliability also has to be managed now, so it's no good investing everything in performance if you don't finish the race.
[*]There is a design cap and project limit for each tier. Rookie has the lowest limit for performance and projects and Elite is essentially "unrestricted" making the tiers truer to their names. Rookie will be far less intimidating to new players, with less to do it will be easier to learn the ropes. Plus nobody in Rookie can have a car above 40% of the performance of an Elite car.
[*]If you get promoted or relegated your next season design is scaled up or down accordingly, meaning being a Pro team coming to Rookie doesn't give you an edge in design, only your drivers and staff will likely be better. The scaling isn't noticeable though, because relegation occurs first, then the design is released and you start with that platform for the season.
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Whew, once I started I couldn't stop. I'll refer anyone to this post if I get more questions. :P

Initially the driver will probably have a bigger impact, because levels start fairly even. But as the season progresses and people take different design paths then absolutely, the car will start to be the key. Reliability on its own is an attribute that is bigger than the driver. If the driver can't finish, as with performance upgrades it's not going to matter what they do. It will be down to the manager how far they want to push the envelope.

At least it's safe to introduce such a concept under the new system because there is clear feedback. If we made DNFs a regular occurrence now people would be confused I suspect, but with a "reliability" rating it will be fairly obvious why the DNFs are happening.

Well, I'll be doing my best to port over whatever "current season car" you have, as of yet I'm unsure of the fate of the next season car. There will be plenty of notice before it goes live (weeks, if things are going well and predictably enough).

Something I didn't mention but was reminded by working on it today... all suppliers will have the same basic level, but each offers a bonus to the design. It's about choosing the one that brings the levels up that you want to target.

This will stop everyone flocking to an obvious choice as when there is a "best" and "worst" supplier. As you may be starting to notice, this update has required virtually every aspect of the game to be altered or rebuilt to match this new system, from assembly to suppliers to design to the simulation of the cars.

It's hard to reply if you haven't made a post to reply to. Telepathy is not my strong suit.