Manager's Service Poll

One simply can't tell if this app has been abandoned or is simply too far gone to repair the many technical issues it has been carrying over. Or, the devs are focusing more on the business aspect of it.  Either way it's not setting any records in the costumer service books. I think this poll knocks on the door of feedback if anything. 

I voted for more technical variables bc it's obvious the devs have little interest in what it would be a major undertaking to address all the technical bugs. Just writing it felt long....lol! 

However, in a perfect world the game would be 100% optimum and anything added would be to complement what's already working. But we're not in a perfect world and neither is this game. It has enough merit to keep a lot of us coming back and that seems to be enough for devs. 

Not meaning to be rude at all Jack but there are a lot to list!! I will hit up my managers to put up there thoughts but my first one would be fix Monaco! It should be the hardest track to pass on and its just a SS fest at the moment. Cane we at least make it realistic? 

I would also add the deleted strategy before some races. Even when placing it and Saving it sometimes at the start it reset and goes to Medium and 2 pit standard

Hi Jack, and all the DEV team ;)

• #1: In my opinion, it is a no-brainer, 'would fix all 'Technical' bugs before doing anything else'
  
  It's a great, fun game to play :-)) But for the intermediate experience players (lets say the upcoming players who have completed 1 full season, and are enjoying the game) and want to take it a bit more seriously, some of the current, niggling technical issues* they would have then encountered could be a game quitting situation, if it resulted them losing a good result. And of course the same situation can also apply to the many loyal long term players on here, where it effects Championships :-)

*Rain tyre bug (random tyre fitted), auto pit when the rain depth crosses below 3.0mm

• #2: I would actually choose the 'Aesthetics' for the 2nd priority, but only certain aesthetics. The current Driver images could be further improved with a colour background (perhaps one linked to your team colours, with sponsors showing on the background, similar to the F1 press conference)

I would also make the actual images of the Drivers customisable, and if possible with more different options (possible with separate Token and Cash only options) It would instantly add a 'Wow' visual impact factor for new players starting out and also adding a more 'human' factor to the drivers, which could open up more markets for the game :)

I would also add a more detailed track circuit map, including the various corner/speed trap speeds and gears, Start/Finish line, DRS zone for a more technical visual factor.

• #3: Technical: This is more for the technical, more experience players (myself included :D), but can also apply for the intermediate experienced players. At the moment, in my honest opinion, the car variables in set up are far too simply. We all end up with the exact same set up, and there is no variable options to make gains on the set up side, making further seasons on this side, less interesting.
  
  

I would do a few things. Firstly remove the same 'Perfect Set Up' especially from the driver messages (A good example of this is the 2010 Italian GP, whereby McLaren ran Jenson ('high wing/downforce set up) and Lewis (very tiny wing/downforce) on very different set ups, and still achieved very similar lap times) and add 1 more set up variable 'Gear Ratios' (More complex variables such as Roll Bar stiffness, Suspension Dampers, Weight distribution, Brake Bias should be avoided to keep the set up options 'clean' and manageable for the average player)

With 'Gear Ratios' and the current set up variables, I would add a 3 point summary for the set up. 

'Top Speed', '0-200 kph' and 'Maximum Cornering G' to briefly summarise the car set up in stats, and give the manager an idea of where the car is. This would greatly enhance the player experience, from the said players mentioned above, but implementation could take time.

And regarding the driver messages, I would put 'Good, 'So-so' and 'Not good' for the various ranges of good set ups, outside 'good' set up, and miles off set ups respectively.

Long read, but hopefully insightful, at least from my side! xD

from my experience and participating in the forum i can say the biggest frustration occurs from bugs, then from not understanding the System and/or having no impact to manage.

1. on the bug side, i just experienced advanced strategy problems and i know you are already working on it.
Bugs are the most frustrating, so should be target first.
2. not understanding e.g. quali Process and league search. plenty of poeple think they have a disadvantage, by the game, in Quali or how their league is shown, or how they can get beaten by lower level Manager. happens in my view because of a lack of understanding of the process, by the players.
Maybe you could Publish more Information how these Systems work....
3. no ability to manage, mainly in the Quali. in good leagues from Hungary on everyone has literally the same pace, because of the same car and driver, so really bad Quali results can happen. the only way to manage this at the moment is by tire choice, which not always makes sense, so an additional option would be great, maybe quali on the fuel of the first stint....
another example would be the CD market, i still find decent CDs, but from level to level it is getting harder and i read a Lot about complaints about that, so an option to build/train them could be a solution.

Under which category would creating (at least 1 or 2 and over time even more) new tracks go? I think that's what many managers are also eagerly awaiting. I know that it takes time and that is better to sort out all bugs before releasing it (after you gained the experience of what went wrong after releasing the new GB19 track).

I think many managers would also appreciate it if someone from the development team could post regularily in the forum and inform us about what's on your (developers') mind. Maybe every month  or couple of weeks would be nice. It would give us managers the feeling of not being neglected and also improve our understanding of what is going on.

For me personally the devs shouldn't focus on aesthetics atm. Sorting out bugs and creating/improving (new) technical features would be my priority if I could choose it.

Last but not least I would like to thank the developers to make such a poll, as things like these give us the feeling of not being left out of the process and also provides good customer service about which I wrote earlier.

Obviously all bugs should be fixed so all of us can be happy playing the game with no problems on track and off track.

Aesthetics in race should be another thing developers focus on, the game looks good but maybe change the lighting system and some other stuff in the live race, the game is a bit too dark for me sometimes. The grandstands could do some changing to, overall what i ask for aesthetics is a better looking live race where it looks a lot realer.

On the technical side of things I think setup could do some changing. There's only 3 parts to the setup and we all remember the setups for each track, and almost everyone has the exact same setup except ride height and at times wing levels. We need more to the setup part of the game, maybe add gear ratios and alignment, brake balance, tyre pressure and differential. We all know what these mean so I won't waste time going over it. Driver knowledge should impact setup a lot more if this was added to the technical side of the game. Maybe have this in the league settings as an option to turn on or off, having more basic or advanced setups.

A lot of what I'll be mentioning is a rehash of what most have said, but to summarize what I remember off the top of my head:

In terms of bugs:
1. Weather and advanced strategy - especially qualifying on a track that's under changing weather; very easy to find a mix of wet and dry compounds for both qualy and race without the manager intending for those tyres, for example qualifying on Inters when you had chosen the faster Dries in setup, or starting on Dries when the rain has already started and when most of the grid is on Inters or Wets.
2. Track bugs: for example lap 3 DRS in Spain, or strange lines on the first lap of Eur which cause the pole sitter there to almost always lose the position come the first corner.
3. Occasional glitches in the system whether it be race schedule or race start time going wonky, investment/engines/parts purchases not going through (personally never had this issue, but seems to be reported occasionally), game getting stuck in "go to race" after the race has finished (some leagues face this issue, others don't)
4. Graphical glitches: cars jumping around, boost or DRS icon still showing even after they've been closed. Doesn't happen often but when it does, it could be a thorn on the eyes.

Thankfully we've long been rid of things like the autopit bug, where most managers would have the pit in button flash 1 lap before their scheduled pit; used to claim lots of managers back in the day.

Rather than talking about technical variables or aesthetics, as I believe others would be more comprehensive on those, one improvement to the game I think could help would be:
1. Better league search and league customisation. I used to bring league search up ages ago. Make it easier for managers to find leagues using the league search function, allowing them to sort by more filters such as:

• Race speed, race distance


• activity in league (no. of managers in league). It would even be a neat option to have fully occupied leagues be shown should managers check the option to do so.


• average reputation


• more that I might remember later

On league customisation, I appreciate the effort lately to give more functions to league hosts and league members, from the reply function to the welcome message and league message features. However judging from demand, I think most managers would be even more satisfied if we had options to:

• have custom league rules, especially a tyre compound rule for leagues who'd want to run one.


• custom race schedule; don't have to have all the 17 races in one season. Able to switch races around, etc.


• There could be more fun things like whether all managers in the league would start the season with regular base design or something like 1 base design the next season for all managers. Different points systems too.

I may remember more bugs/ideas eventually, but I'll end this post here.

Jack, first and foremost, thank you for acknowledging the various issues. As you can see these issues tend to disrupt our playing experience by various degrees.

I know most of us(active/loyal managers) admit to the sizable workload this would take to come up with comprehensive solutions. No one is demanding a revamped app within an unreasonable time line, but time it definitely is to begin the process.

Most of us find info on the "bugs" and/or "help and support" sections of the forum to really get a reading on the common issues from a variety of level managers.

I'd like to extend a thank you to all the managers that made their points here and those unheard voices that refuse to call it quits without reaching out. That's the part of this app that keeps me coming back, the human aspect.

Leave aside the "improvements" of: new circuits, point for the best lap, accidents, ....

I believe that the priority should be the correction of bugs, as for example the one of the "advanced configurations". When, on a wet track, a dry track tire enters.

List of bugs that need fixing:

1- Turkish IGP: Pit exit is broken, the cars go super super super slow. (I don't think that's intensional)

2- Brazilian IGP: half the grid get DRS on lap 2.

3- Spanish IGP: Always have one car jumping around.

4- Advanced settings needs serious attention, it seems to work randomly.

For "Advanced Strategy", I suggest revamping it to have 2 settings:

• Use Inters if water depth is above _._mm (one decimal precision)


• Use Wets if water depth is above _._mm (one decimal precision)

This would be much more intuitive than the current system.

I also have a suggestion: allow front wing adjustments during a pitstop, while at the same time introducing the possibility of a random change in car balance between quali and race. Script the drivers to give feedback on whether they want more or less front wing for the next pitstop. This is something in real-life F1 that can be migrated into iGP to provide an incentive for players to actually attend the race, and prevent the races from feeling too static.

I think focusing on fixing ALL the bugs in the game gives me an impression that the game will not working for give us some news. I understand that fix bugs should come in parallel with the release of news and some technical parts. So my vote goes to adding variables to the game. Following list:
- MORE IMPORTANT: Get to use simultaneous KERS on two pilots for managers who use smartphone.
- Review urgently the reputation gain criteria in the game. Suggestion: Increase to 20000.
- Add new circuits as it is in F1 today.
- Get to select which track will be used in the season and in whatever order you want.
- Get better filtering in search for drivers CDs TDs etc, as there are many of them still lost in the game, and could be useful for anyone who is starting in the game.
Anyway. That's what I remember right now.

After having a chat with some of the managers in our league or leagues that we have now they all seem to say the same thing as most have mentioned above.
Fixing the QFing bug is the biggest one of all. I have had it happen to me a few times and so have all the others. To have it just as a random QFing is so wrong. We have some of our top drivers being run by our top teams that have been way back sometimes in the last spots of QFing. Yes it makes it a challenge to get back up the front but its ruins a fair competition of the championships then.
We had been hit hard in our league by the time bug but looks like that one has been sorted.
Advanced strategies bug with it selecting the wrong tyres etc is also wrong. We have managers raing from all around the world throughout the whole game and if someone uses that setting as they cant make it they should be able to rely on it. 
I guess some of the bugs are also to do with the development side also. Visually the game is ok. The tracks well yeah they need an update as like Monaco where its just a SS sprint and you can overtake so easy where as the real track you cant. So just little things like that need to be sorted out with the tracks. The development of cars etc is all pretty good but a lot max out so fast now in Elites and its hard for the lower teams to catch up but that's also not a bug or a fault really, although it could be sorted with needing a higher level to get into Elites etc.
Most of all just keep talking to us the people of the game and i'm sure we all want to make the game better but baby steps is better than big leaps! 
Keep up the great work guys!!

I also remember Spain was the one with at least one car jumping around. 


Belgium was where I last experienced the graphic glitch of boost and DRS icons showing even after they've been closed. 

I feel that the game could have more variability but not to the extent it takes forever to do a setup. If front wing/rear wing were separate and the optimal setup having some variance for temp/cloud cover and depth of rain water. 

I feel the Bug forum is enough provided it is tracked often and maintained to roll similar issues into the same thread.
Tackle the issues that need addressing right away and plan on a maintenance downtime for bigger issues. 

It really depends on how much time you have and do you even have support for all this anyway Jack, in terms of another coder or two?

If i wanted something quick done in terms of the race itself i would like to see all DRS zones included, being within 1sec of the car in front that pits giving DRS, tire compounds as Soft, Med, Hard and a 2-compound rule toggle for hosts. 

Some glitches may be easily dealt with by the user by clearing cache etc, lowering the game settings and even being in a league more within their region. Seems to be an issue of latency to the host (A Euro trying to join a South Pacific race for example). I would assume this from experience but feel free to correct me if i'm wrong. 

Still a mint game, keep up the good work.