Where are we these days?

As Kevin mentioned: lot's of good ideas are popping up here. But for example ... W2W racing... honestly, I don't know if it's really going to add "something extra" to the whole story. It'll take quite some time and money and at the same time people are pointing out that the current tracks need to be updated. It's a matter of priorities. The thing that worries me most -the lack of new players- seems to have faded away during this discussion. If player numbers keep on going down we can have as many ideas as we want, it  won't help. Correct me if I'm wrong and I'm typing this with all respect but I never really understood the reason behind the "big 3D upgrade". I cannot imagine playing in 3D... It just doesn't work for me. I'd also be surprised if it attracted large numbers of newbies. As far as I'm concerned the main question should be: how to (re)gain new players? When you tell a new player he'll need to play one year or more to upgrade his team to level 27-28-29-30 ... most of them will abandon the game quickly. Those are issues that should be discussed rather than good-looking updates as far as I'm concerned... And once again: I'm saying this with all respect to everyone involved in game development. 

Where are we these days, i think this has become an impossible discussion, has become a wishlist of things experienced players would like. We as players don’t have the full picture of igp, for instance finances, costs, rival games, so making assumptions as to why some decisions were made, just doesn’t make sense to me. It’s like trying to understand maths when you only know 1 to 5. And I also understand if the studio doesn’t want to share all that intel with competitors reading this forum.

Also, new players are not attracted by deep strategic decisions, they are attracted nowadays by flashing images, hence the importance of 3D and wheel to wheel (makes for awesome looking video’s, that’s what attracts newbies). So that does make sense to me.

Also, most answers are written from a lvl 30 players point of view, end of journey you could call it, not the most profitable player base lets be honest guys 😉 

So if new updates concentrate on newbies, I’ll stomach that, the choice is simple and rude in my opinion: either have a game tailor-made to lvl 30 and studio goes bust or have a game tailored to newbies and studio keeps the lights on.

By the way: not every game has a community manager, it’s the perk of this game, a hidden usp if you like, studio willing to listen to the community (Jose does read it all) that’s golddust guys

As a new player the 3D isn’t interesting. It looks good, but it’s way harder to oversee the whole race from this perspective. I’ve been doing plenty of sprint races and occasionally I see other players, but they’re pretty rare… And that’s not a matter of math or “numbers 1-5”, that’s just reality.

If you’ve read my proposals, you’d see that I’m not defending the interests of level 30 players—quite the opposite. I’ve taken time to think in the interest of the game's survival, not my own. My focus is on helping new players stay motivated, and ensuring that level 30 players remain on their toes—because level 30 shouldn’t be permanent. It should be earned the hard way. It should be a proud peak achievement and not a final destination.

New managers doing a fine job deserve real, visible performance gains—not 14th and 15th place finishes. This could drastically shrink their disadvantage and boost motivation. EXACTLY THIS is the key objective we should aim for. It's what makes them stick around.  Please check my earlier posts for details. I hope my efforts are being noticed and appreciated.  I’m not claiming it’s perfect, but what do you have?

Sure, 3D and W2W might catch the attention of new players. But please stop treating new players as if they're idiots. Once they realise no one else is active in their category and they’re facing a massive, hopeless disadvantage against the regulars, their interest fades quickly—of course it does! W2W isn't going to change that.  I can’t be bothered with endless debates over whose interests we're supposedly defending. If you don’t hear our message, our plea for attention, that the game is dying because new players don’t stick around, then by all means keep parroting the management line about how cool W2W is, if you really think that’s going to save the game. We're not here to be negative, we're trying to help and denying the obvious will not help anything.

I couldnt summarize it better than you... 


IGP responsibles want/ have to secure a profitable business, we want to have thrilling close races in a full grid, we want to have new features, new tracks and a developing game. 

Both targets can only be achieved with a game, who doesnt frustrate new players and veteran players. With a sustainable player base, this game will have success again. 

As many others already commented, i also dont care about 3D, ive always been playing in 2D, because its simply the better mode to play. 

@Jose: We all appreciate your support, so please dont feel personally offended, when we all only try to revive the game. 

And Slo, about level 30 managers no longer being profitable: 

my proposal could create a massive boost in income for the iGP enterprise. As level 30 would remain a slippery and temporary milestone, something players could regress from, no matter how long they've been playing. This means they couldn’t afford to sit back once/if they’ve reached the peak.  Reaching level 30 won't be a certainty either. Recurring headquarter maintenance and driver/staff training could be sped up with tokens by impatient veterans as well.

And the beautiful thing is: even if you've been buying tokens, no one can accuse you of buying your way to success: because only results on track will keep you there. You can build your HQ faster with tokens, but you'll fall back just as quickly, making it redundant in the long run.

Agree 100% !

@Ben: you certainly will not attract new players with just 2d. No 3d, game would’ve been gone already but that’s just my thoughts

@Elias: level 30 should have some sort of perk for it to be worth to keep grinding so even what you propose has a balancing act to it. Going all up to level 30 has to be worth it or no one will invest in the road to level 30. I think your suggestion has merrit, it deserves a thread of its own.

Empty leagues, I’m hoping would resolve itself after a marketing push after w2w release. The tier system works, I’ve always said that, but it needs enough players to work and right now there aren’t enough because of no marketing. I think that is the cause of player base not growing, it’s no marketing, hence less players starting their journey to level 30.

This is my personal opinion, as I’ve always voiced, no parroting any line. I guess I always have the business side of igp at the back of my head, having studied economics that’s just part of how I think.

No offence intended to any ideas or suggestions, I’m merely a player of the game, gentlemen.

Hi Slo, no offence taken, thanks for your balanced reply and not taking offence either.

Concerning "some sort of perk for level 30". It must be an advantage indeed: having level 30 and being good at the game is obviously better than having level 27 and being as good at it. The advantage between level 30 and 27 would be the same as it is now, or there about.  The only difference will be how to reach level 30.  At the moment, a level is purely based on XP alone, so no other accomplishment required other than just stick around and be patient.  (very patient for new managers) While in my proposal, a level would be based on a formula like (simplified) "XP x Reputation". In other words, XP will still count but your Reputation score could count just as much (you could debate and tweak the formula). It would give more satisfaction for all involved, don't you agree? And the higher your reputation, the harder it gets to improve. To me it sounds completely fair within a league, you only need a solution when changing leagues, maybe set to a default (no more league hopping). Cheers, Elias

I dont care, if you have studied economics or not, but when i have started to play the game in early 2020, there were only 20 levels, no 3D, no marketing, no pit crew, no engine manufacturing and no W2W racing... And many leagues were full and active, even Rookie and Pro classes.


Within a couple of months you could have reached a level, where you were able to compete with the other guys in Elite, thats why people have spent money and continued to play the game. 

Compare this with the current situation... If you havent done it, create a new account and start playing... Lets see how far you can get... 

That's very true indeed, I fondly remember that time, nothing fancy and it worked like magic, the game was never more popular than around 2020 in my perception.  That's what I meant with the game has never been about visuals and deep simulation, it's all about simplicity and hard fought battles on track against full grids and banter.  We need to get back to that type of career pace and the game will be fine I'm sure.

Well the 2020 game (remember the old menu and old visuals) in my honest opinion would not survive today, that’s what I think. 

Newbies having no competition is in my view the problem of not enough players coming in, not the problem of not immediately beeing able to compete with the absolute elite of the game, but I guess we won’t agree on that. If newbies have other newbies to compete against, they’ll work their way up until they’re able to attack the elite.

@Elias I understand but reputation isn’t a perfect system, it’s open to farming and favours 7 days a week racing. So it would need reputation to be changed structurally. So once again, has its merrit, worth the discussion in a seperate thread.

Totally agree, Elias and IGP is in the comfortable situation, that they have a real unique game on the market and no real competitors in online multiplayer F1 manager mobile and browser games. 


If we would focus on fancy graphics and real simulation, we would buy a premium F1 product from EA, but IGP has other strengths and advantages... So back to basics would be a pretty good idea in my opinion. 

I quote my friend Pedro about the imperfections of the current Reputation system. It's worth the debate for sure!

I completely agree with Hell Raiser – that’s exactly what I wanted to say.

The fact is that before the "big updates", there were more active leagues, more motivation to play, more competition – just more of everything. All tiers from Rookie to Pro to Elite were 75% or 100% full with plenty of active players. When we from Bosnia and Herzegovina had our own league, there were almost 20 of us online at the same time, and now, season after season, you’re struggling to find active players and leagues with even 10+ people online.

I’m not saying that the user interface didn’t need to be changed – it did, time demanded it, and the redesign is fine as far as I’m concerned. But as most people mention, a lot of time and effort is being spent on cosmetic changes, which are okay, but don’t really help bring in new players. I’ve tried the 3D view – it’s interesting, yes – but it’s not clear. You don’t know where others are in relation to you. Maybe if there were a mini-map on the side showing the track and positions of other cars, it would be a different story – I don’t know. That’s why I’m still loyal to the 2D view (and I can only imagine what it's like for those playing in 2-car leagues trying to race in 3D).

We have a lot of good, constructive feedback on the forum from experienced managers who’ve been playing this game for a long time – I think they should be listened to more carefully and their suggestions taken into account. Because our main problem is still the lack of new players, empty tiers, and more and more inactive leagues.

The league system needs a major reset – and if it has to start from scratch, then let it, but it should be properly thought out.

I want to post a bit of a summary for anyone joining the conversation and for Jack:

1) I think it’s pretty clear that almost everyone agrees the biggest issue is the lack of new players and/or them not sticking around once they find out they’re in for a long and hopeless struggle to become competitive.  In the past a new manager needed a few months to become competitive and the game was at the peak of its popularity back then.

2) I hear more and more voices wanting to go ‘back to basics’ with this game, as Hell Raiser said: this game has a unique position in the gaming market that offers simplicity and hard fought online battles over fancy 3D visuals or hardcore simulation.  There are enough games of that.  And I personally completely agree and think we’re hitting the root of the problem here. iGP needs to focus on their uniqueness and strength: the hard fought online live racing, banter, simplicity and accessibility.   

We’re all different individuals and people never tend to agree on anything.  Therefor it’s pretty remarkable to have a group of experienced managers giving this clear and united message to the iGP developers about the direction the game needs to go in.  We all have our ideas about how the details should be and that’s the hardest part to agree on.  But let’s first get our message to Jack straight. 

Isn’t it possible to have a poll on this forum?  For example: “what do you foremost want from this game: a) better graphics and wheel to wheel visuals, b) more in depth strategy and car simulations, c) restructuring the tier system, d) back to basics, less is more, keep it simple, e) easier/shorter road to competitiveness for new managers …. (just an example)
I would be very curious to see the results from this poll. Having said that: I personally think it’s sometimes better to have a limited group of dedicated and open minded players voicing their concerns than seeing a flat and undifferentiated poll result.
Honestly: it's great we have this forum and that it's being read, no doubt, but I still feel the iGP management is out of touch with it's playing fanbase, more should be done before making development decisions if I may say. But it's not too late, I hope lessons are learnt.

Hi Kevin,
 
About your concerns that making performance proportional to reputation will result in bigger gaps on track instead of smaller.  I’m not saying you’re wrong.  If that’s true, I’m not a fan of that either.  I’m just not sure if that is the case, I always thought the reputation score works the other way round but I may be mistaken.

My only knowledge is my own experience and perception of this, and what it says in the sporting regulations of the game:







My take is therefor that, within a league,  the manager with the highest reputation will have the hardest time further increasing his score, while the lowest reputation managers can gain quickest and close the gap. Therefor the number one manager will always be fighting against being overtaken. In other words, in a league with similarly talented players, the gaps will decrease instead of increase.  Do I get that completely wrong then?  

Anyway, the reputation system could be in need of some fine tuning indeed, to further help the lower managers closing the gap quicker. I’m thinking of a system like the sponsors expectation: expectations for results to achieve could be based on your XP score and not on your reputation score.  That would mean that a newer team with lower XP will have an easier time achieving expectations and increasing reputation, while an experienced team with huge XP will have big factories but also big expectations and if they don’t get the required results their reputation score will drop.  Just an idea, I'm not saying this is the only way but something needs to be done for the lower levels.