Patch Notes & Survey - Q1 2012

Warm-up lap before race start
The cars will form up on the grid before the race begins

Will this effect the fuel needed at the beginning of the race or will the warm-up lap consume 0 fuel?

No I don't think so - it will be the same as qualifying.
Jack will no doubt correct me if I am wrong.

More control needs to be given to the free to play racers. After qualifying 4th and 5th, my drivers ended up dropping to 16th and 17th. While a friend whose drivers are of the same level finish 3rd and 4th after starting in 6th and 10th. 

Without actually seeing what is going on, there was nothing I could really do. I doubt this would e ver happen in real life where I ould have access to my drivers.

so will we be able to change tyres???

Either your strategy was wildy off (wrong tyres or wrong fuel calculations) or it rained and you didnt set advanced to swap to wets (or vice versa). There should be no way you should drop from 4th/5th to 16th/17th unless one of those factors comes in to play.

You should be able to be competitive without having a subscription if you put some effort in to planning races/tyre wear/fuel loads etc or buy a subscription.

If too much control is given to free players where does the developer make any money? The game would disappear in no-time if this was the case.

That was his own fault on this issue...

He put on Hard Tyres and didn't push them on a track that was -2 in temps.. So cold tyres for the whole race. Not a good setup.... and not the games fault on that one..

But yeah. Free needs more so they don't just get bored..

Also on a note to Silent Bob... The game was advertised and launched as a free2play game.. Making it that paid players have way to big of an advantage is just crazy.. If you've not paid into it, then please do, then you will know what is what... I lapped everyone again on the 2d. It's no comp.. If you are a paid player, then it's probably because you don't want to lose your advantage to the others.. well.. tuff.. No one will be around if they can't even keep up to a paid player. it's boring watching your guys go back if something happens and you have no control over changes..

In Rob's support, here's something interesting :
2D vs Live Timings
http://igpmanager.com/play/?url=race-result/24793#race
You're kinda guessing correctly who was using the 2D and who was not. You can argue that there are 2D trials, but they're only 3. After you're done with them, you can't do anything about the race. The winner, 2 laps ahead of everyone else, is a fresh account by looks of things. Not sure even if he's a subsriber or not. Fact is, he seems to be understanding stuff, reading the forums and so on, squeezing out the best out of his cars and drivers. The rest of the field are kinda new comers too, some might be secondary accounts (smurfs), but did not used the 2D. The outcome - if I was in the same position when I started racing here, I'd prolly just walk away and forget that iGP even existed.
Watching times is fine, but not being able to figure out if your drivers are overheating the tires or not pushing hard enough, and then being able to adjust that on the fly, makes it extremely ... numb to watch the races.
Quick solution could be if you guys just unlock the 2D trials and make them unlimited before you implement the changes mentioned in the 1st post. I plead that to be the case, because being unable to influence the behavior of your drivers is pretty disheatening at the moment. Qualifying ahead in the field and then watching your drivers dropping off coz of something as small as your initial settings (which might have been a brilliant choice 2 minutes before practice is over, but due to unforeseable weather changes that choice now sucks) is terrible.
That needs fixing ... ASAP-ly :/

I currently have a subscription to watch in 2d and thats all I do because Ive done my homework and know how to set the car / strategy up.
Ive a mate who is a non-subscriber and showed him how to set the car/strategy up. At his race in monaco (50%) he lapped the entire field without using 2d

Once youve done one season (or in my case half a season) and you understand the game mechanics / strategy (by numbing crunching) you rarely need to touch 2d to win / be placed in races (unless the weather changes drastically). I doubt I'll be renewing my subs when it expires unless major features are added.

+1 to Silentbobs post above, although you dont really get tyre wear at monaco, if you have a better setup/strategy and no1 runs 2d you can still easily lap most of your race [even experienced]

i'm actually about to subscribe, but even just a basic controls for free users [like being able to change tyre type during race] and you wouldnt end up with a race like this

http://igpmanager.com/play/?url=race-result/24152#race
[I'm Vote For Pedro RACING 9th & 14th]

i gambled on intermediates, got it wrong, but as soon as the 3 managers with 2d pitted and put on wets they were running 10+ seconds a lap faster so there was no point in even watching the txt [or chatting away on skype like we normally do] although gettin lapped 9 times and still getting points was amusing

BASIC extra controls for free +1 [Tyre type at next pit stop, or emergency pit stop due to changing weather conditions] but not as much as 2D currently has

You absolutely have to make mobile version as soon as possible. Current web page is almost unusable on mobile phones (though you CAN use mobile phone atm, at least android phone, been there done that).

And one more thing that I have said before: Consider pay-per-race option as well, or some kind of coupons to buy "5 2D turns" and you can use them whenever you want or something similar, alternative to montly payment.

Good luck!

-e- oh and one more thing. If it rains in the beginning of race and user has not chosen rain tires he/she should still start on wet/inter, starting on soft/hard is ridiculous.

hey im a subbie and personaly think that Darrens right, bigger teans= better and better facilities= betting designing=better cars= engines=great drivers etc... they dont have an advantage over the race timing/watching/tv things. so maybe give the subs better/more backstage stuff but let the little free playershave their 2d features. Just gotta be a advantage somewhere for subs so possibly larger facilities/staff and with the livery painting maybe give us a little more choices or something.

Hi Jack,

Great news on the progress of the patch thank you - particularly excited by the livery designer - I am a sucker for any sort of customisation :o)

I am a subscriber from day one and run a 13 player league, of which only two other players are currently subscribers. I do think that being able to use the 2D viewer each race gives us subscribers too much of an advantage - I know at least three races where it has enabled one of us to react and keep the race lead.

Now, whilst I think everyone shoudl subscribe to this great game and fund the great new features (interested in the 'big' improvement to design already!) we know not everyone will and I would much rather play in a competitive league of 13 than one of 3...  I certainly dont begrudge paying.

So in short, I think there should definitely be some level of control from the normal 'Timings' view and give us subscribers chrome such as the livery designer or other such stuff that does not give such an in-race advantage - a hard balancing act I know. 

Further chrome ideas could be:
[list]
[*]A Helmet designer and the ability to add finished helmets to the car in Livery Designer view
[*]Driver view adds team livery colours to their race coveralls
[*]The ability to add custom graphics to the car livery, such as team logos, driver nationality and/or name (have you seen the Forza 4 designer?!)
[*]The ability to choose driver traits or quirks that add flavour and a little advantage maybe, on or off the track. 'Schmoozer, Playboy, Techie, Rainmeister etc.
[*]And/or the ability to 'earn' tags/nicknames from race results that can then be selected as part of the official driver's display name 'The Professor', 'The Engineer', 'Champ', 'Reckless' etc. This couldbe extended to all staff to make the other roles a little more interesting. A hugely experienced doctor with a fondness for drink is far more colourful.
[*]The ability to choose different driver portraits. I like the anonymity so maybe just no hair/short hair/long hair and hair colour could help. Would skin colour be too contentious?
[*]The ability to hire a third and possibly fourth driver to gain additional test laps and/or fill in for an injured driver (I expect this is already on your roadmap)
[/list]

Finally, we have 26 cars running in the race and have now completed 6 races of our first season... but with no crashes. Are these present in the current code?

Many many thanks for such a great game!

Matt

can u paste the spanish forum url?pls

http://igpmanager.com/play/?url=forum-thread/109
i believe, but theres 2

I'm very sad to see the Design improvements are not making it into this patch, the current system is rather clunky. I'd be very interested to hear what kind ideas you have for the new design system if it's something you're willing to divulge at this point?

I too wonder whether the warmup lap will require additional first stint fuel?

Luke it should since the cars are not going into the pits like the test runs. should be very min since they are going at a slow pace.

is there a definitive list of the final changes?

Would be nice to know this for sure too.