"Jason
Ethan, whether you agree with me on this or not is beside the point, but I've said it before and I'll say it again just to refresh my POV.
I can almost guarantee you that 90% (or more) of the paying users, only pay for this game because it's an advantage. I am one of them, and I know many others are the same. I'm sorry but it is true. If you take away the advantage paying users get, iGP will lose most of its paying users. It's all well and good to throw around the ideas you have, and I agree they sound plausible on paper, but they are not practical in the real world. You know just as well as I do that almost everyone will stop paying if they gain no advantage in doing so.
I've ran over this idea a million times in my head and in the end I can never think of one single perk that would make me want to pay if I had no advantage on track. Liveries and things of that nature are cool, but I would not pay $60 NZD a year for them. You would be asking for iGP to run on donations essentially - It just won't happen.
I'm not saying everyone shares my opinion, but I think you will find most will. I pay for 2D. Give me 2D for free and I won't pay, it's that simple in my eyes.
I completely agree with you. Had I known they were going to do this I wouldn't have paid for it. When it comes down to it there really isn't a massive advantage to the 2d viewer right now. Most of the time if you know what to do for the first lap or so then you're golden for the rest of the race until you pit and it's just a case of rinse and repeat. Sure running that situation you might be a little off but what's a few MS between friends.
I understand that being able to see the data from everyone else offers a look in to their strategies. If we take away what data we have with the current viewer and just look at it as a way to watch the race, who in all honesty would pay money to watch badly animated cars go round a track, I wouldn't have. I'd actually think it's a bit of a kick in the teeth and I hope they have their terms and conditions down because having suffered bugs and now this I feel like I've been taken for a bit of a mug.
I have seen some people saying it's such a big advantage and you have to pay which makes it pay to win, but really I think it offers the finer details of what's happening. Last few races I was unable to log on and I still won. So how much of an advantage is it now, let alone when they take away that tiny advantage.