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Wheel to wheel

Hi guys!


First of all, I would like to say thank you for the recent updates. There have been positive changes in at least three important areas. The game is better than it was in January, so well done!


Since there is complete silence around w2w, I wanted to bring this topic up.

If I'm not mistaken, the main intention of introducing w2w was to make the game more realistic. I don’t want to put it harshly, but do you really think it’s realistic for three cars to go side by side at Monaco in the Grand Hotel Hairpin, lap after lap? There are countless tracks and corners I could mention, but this is certainly one of the most illustrative examples. On top of that, ghosting still appears randomly in certain situations. So, what’s the point of w2w? Honestly, these visual issues wouldn’t bother me if ghosting hadn’t been removed in the name of realism, and if the gameplay experience compensated for it.

But it doesn’t.

What’s more, w2w has brought a lot of frustration instead of excitement. I’m a calm person, but since the update was released, the game gets on my nerves almost every single time I race, regardless of the result. Sometimes I’m in a better mood after finishing P15 than after a top 5 finish, depending on the number and severity of the w2w-related problems I experienced.

Maybe I’m simply bad at w2w, and the fault is mine. Nevertheless, I believe the game is much better when you can understand and explain why things happen on track, and when you can learn from the mistakes you make. That was the case under the old ghosting system. Now, however, there are times when I record races to analyze them, but even when I rewatch them, I can’t see how I could have come out of certain situations more favorably, or how I could have avoided a particular lane change, invisible wall, forward/backward sliding, or sudden slowdown.
 

The problems with w2w:

• The game seems to force w2w situations as if the cars were magnets.
  


• Cars randomly gain speed out of nowhere or suddenly slow down, under the same conditions.
  


• Cars fail to change lanes at the appropriate moments, meanwhile, they switch lanes in completely meaningless situations. Sometimes the car behaves like it’s gone crazy.
  


• Cars often hit invisible (and visible) “walls”, and there is a constant sense of unpredictable movement in every race. 
  


• As a result of “visible walls” (cars), DRS sometimes feels like a gamble. You either collide (and lose 5–6 positions at key moments), or end up ghosting.
  


• Cars slide back and forth next to each other uncontrollably, sometimes at crucial moments (for example right before DRS zones).
  


• Sometimes the cars literally move forward while visibly shaking. This is one of the strangest phenomena, and it genuinely looks as if they cannot decide what they are supposed to do.
  


• Carefully timed small boosts are often pointless, because the game simply drags you back immediately into your row.

The final laps used to be the crown jewel of each race. Now it often comes down to luck: how clear the game makes the track ahead of you and how favorably your car changes lanes. Whether you get stuck behind someone (and for how long), whether you hit an invisible wall (and how many times). There are races where you waste more than 30% of your boost simply because of these factors, which is massive. A lot of the time, the game restricts you (or makes it practically impossible) to choose the right moments for overtakes, small positioning moves, launches, drops etc. These are important management-related elements that, under the previous ghosting system, made iGP manageable, enjoyable, and exciting. Not to mention that these issues sometimes limit the viable strategic options, as well as the boost-related tactics that are closely connected to them.

I should add that I’m experiencing these issues on another account, in one of the game’s most active leagues, with more than 30 members, where most players have fairly similar pace. I understand that in leagues where at most 10 players race online and 4–6 cars compete for victory, this may seem like a marginal issue. However, based on the feedback I’ve read on the forum, league walls, and Discord chats, I’m not even sure that’s true.

I am aware that you have invested a lot of time, money, and energy into developing w2w, so it is obviously not realistic to expect you to completely remove it. However, something has to be done, because in its current form, w2w makes the old SC update look like a masterpiece. Yes, I know classic mode is coming, but honestly, I think it would be much better to make w2w available as a Gold League Boost option and set ghosting as the default. At least until w2w overcomes these issues.

There was also talk about e-sports-style community events. Frankly, I couldn’t take such events seriously under the w2w system. In medium or larger grids, luck plays a far greater role than before, especially during the final stint, which is the most important part of a normal race.

As an additional note: most e-sports-level players left because of this update, primarily due to w2w. It would be great to see them return, increasing both the size of the iGP community and the quality of these future events.
 

Question:

So my question is: what’s next? What are your plans for w2w?

We already saw a video about it 9 months ago, and honestly, there hasn’t been much visible change since then. I’m genuinely interested in what the future of w2w looks like and how you plan to make it more enjoyable and manageable.
 
Have a nice day, everyone!

I agree with every single point.

I agree with everything you said. Thanks for writing it down. Unfortunately, this is the situation these days. 

Agree with everything you've said. 

A few main points I've seen: 

1) as you said, cars seem to magnet together, almost regardless of individual pace and tire conditions. Then just before drs, you'll overtake and give the dead tire you were stuck with drs. This happens a lot.

2) drs has become too overpowering. 

3) tire temps were adjusted but still off. Tires are heating up and maintaining temp too easily. 

Everything about this is true, and I would also like to bring more points up that aren't exactly w2w.


The tire heating update has gotten rid of the supersoft tire at most tracks, and even the soft. The medium and hard tire are now insanely overpowered, and it is no longer fun to compete with this type of racing. The "good finishes" are forced. 

One last point, you now have to spend tokens on engines if you want to be competitive each race. After one race, might as well call it scrap metal and send it to the dumpster. There are people in my league who really shouldn't be racing with the big dogs, including me in some cases due to this. 

Overall, there needs to be adjustments, or more people will walk out the door.

It has basically become Scalextric with cars on 1 of 3 lanes around the track; there is no longer dirty air so you can't break away at all - which I think is part of the problem. Tyres also don't heat up easily enough and lose temperature too easily. I did a race at Bahrain where I left the car on the highest push level for five laps and it made no change to the temp. After even 2 laps of running the highest push level the tyres should be overheating - F1 drivers don't go flat out all the time for this very reason.

I like the game being more realistic, but I was never bothered by the ghosting visual, and the changes made to remove it has made the game far less realistic.

All the points made by Vince are entirely correct.

I don't understand how anyone can think tyres heat up too easily. At circuits like Sepang, Marina Bay, Bahrain or Yas Marina the tyres lose all their temp down straights and you can't get the temp back. Tyres don't heat up easily enough and lose temp too fast

Literally just done a sprint race a Abu Dhabi and the tyres don't heat up. Using the hards because that's the quickest strategy in a short race, but it's a hot climate and they don't heat up AT ALL. Managing normally for 2 laps and the tyres just edge down towards the blue and then you can just stick it on the highest push and it makes 0 difference for 5 laps. After even a couple laps of running the at max push the tyres should be ON FIRE! It's ridiculous. They cool down way too easily and then there is no way to recover temperature. Needs to be massively altered so they heat up much more easily or so they don't lose temperature easily at all once heated. Preferably the first one - something that requires frequent management and changes like the game used to have years ago because atm you just watch your car run around on the highest push level and generate ZERO tyre temp. It's neither skilful or rewarding; stopping your tyres overheating should be a massive challenge and right at the start of the update it was just about alright, but now it's just terrible. Still only full wets in Singapore at 3.1mm of rain has been an acceptable tyre for temperature.

It's terrible how the game throws the car backwards these days. All I notice is that the game slows down in corners and throws 1-2 cars behind me in front of me. From the perspective of others, it's like applying a vice brake. At least that's how they see it. It's simply nerve-wracking that I can't utilize my skills on the field because of such mistakes. 

I also had a race at Sepang last Saturday, and whilst it was possible to keep temperature in the hards - which I ran all race - it certainly wasn't excessively easy. Never found that I had to run a whole lap at PL 1 or 2. 

Frankly no idea, but tyre temp management seems less of a skill than previously. I wonder if the way tyres work is different in quick races to league races due to lighter fuel loads and shorter distances so higher wear?

Having done a lot more quick races today, it's the same experience. The second you come off max push level you drop tyre temp astronomically and going back onto max push just maintains it rather than increases it again. Exceptions to this are full wets in Singapore and super softs in Monaco.