I joined when there was 10 minutes on the counter (it was an open G4), did some qualifying laps, then waited as the last 2 minutes counted down. Then the checkmark just went grey and nothing happened. I’m not sure what’s supposed to happen and when, though, so I’ve no clue if I missed something or not.
That’s weird not sure what happened there, you should have been matched into a race once the qualifying timer ran out. Maybe try another and see what happens? know it’s frustrating when you spend time for nothing.
Practiced a bit on Brands Hatch and jumped into my first online race today. It was really pretty fun. There was a lot of careening about, but you could tell people were trying to race with civility and just messing up. I came 5th, but I was running 4th most of the race until an unfortunately timed ghost rematerialized in front of me out of turn one. Ah well.
I really like what they are dong with this game. Much like a fighting game, online is the beating heart of a racing sim and I think they did a great job. Looking forward to running more.
Feel free to add me if people are into lobby practice sessions/races (PSN is the same as my Forum Name).
That sounds really weird @Equisilus, I just went straight to matchmaking once the qualifying time ran out. I wonder if you maybe just lost connection to the server for some reason.
Okay, I figured out what was wrong. I thought the green checkmark meant I was entered, so I was just running qualifying times on that screen. I didn’t realize I had to click the green checkmark, then run the qualifying times while waiting. That’s what I was missing, so I hadn’t actually entered the race. Must have missed the pointer that said ‘click here to enter’ since I thought choosing the race meant I entered. Doh.
Once I was in the race, though, I have to say I hope I can make it away from these other drivers quickly by racking up my SR points. I did terribly in both races I tried because I was slammed off the track a couple of times in both races and couldn’t make up the time I spent in the sand traps. One thing I have to say about the AI in the arcade is that they at least can drive. I mean, I’m not that great either, but the only way I’m going to survive these races is if I qualify near the top of the group so I don’t have anyone in my way and can get way out in front of the crazy drivers. I did lose an SR point while I tried passing on the inside on a turn and the other car made a sharper turn than I did so I bumped his side. Sorry dude!
I can see Sport mode being enjoyable once I can move to some better drivers. Of course, I’ll never win against the better drivers, but at least they won’t be playing bumper cars. I don’t mind legit losing one bit.
Yeah I’m not great either:). What I’ll usually do if I’m not near the top of the field is pick the few cars around me and make that my goal, try to move up from 10th to 8th say. That usually makes for really enjoyable racing. You’re right though the SR system is still a work in progress. If I end up at the back of the pack I’ll actually drop back some more and just focus on running clean laps which ups my SR. Once you hit your first race where everyone is racing clean and competitive you’ll be hooked:)
There were definitely a fair number of crazies in the race I was in, but usually those folks will hang themselves if you let them. I gained 3 spots by just biding my time and letting folks go flying off, and only had to overtake once to get a 5th place finish.
I do hope as I play more it cleans up a bit, it is annoying when other people help themselves to your brakes. I wonder if a system where all contact causes ghosting, but penalizes rankings, would be better for low ranks. Or maybe just do it in turn one. I am always fearing for my life in turn 1.
I agree with @agapepilot that only trying to gain a spot or two is probably realistic in a 5 lap race (at least for a scrub like me), baring some absurd pileup or something. Even if you are running faster you just won’t have time to make up that many places in 5 laps.
Started racing online more and man, this game is good!
Finally got enough credits for a GT3 car, man this thing is fun!
New updates inbound:
November: free cars and offline campaign
December: expanded single player race series
I’m so excited to see these awesome updates so close to launch!
Awesome. I’m loving this game!
Truthfully though I hope we also see some new tracks. I miss Cote De Azure and Laguna Seca.
Same here but this update only increases my confidence that they’ll add tracks at some point too.
Great that they’re expanding on the single player races. I’ve done 6 of the Sport races, found them less than interesting and too time-consuming to bother with, and don’t do the Lobby races, so I’ve been fiddling with the school, missions, circuits and arcade mode mostly since launch. Having something to use all my garage cars in (I’ve 55 or so, I think) would be nice.
I’m curious what you find less than interesting about the online races. Those are the best part of the game! (For me at least)
I’m not sure. I certainly should enjoy the Sport races considering I love the game itself. Something about how the other drivers race just throws me off, or I’m too focussed on driving in a sportsman-like fashion so that I don’t bother anyone that I don’t compete like I do against AI. It’s just not as fulfilling as getting all gold in the driving school, missions, or circuits. In those, I really feel like I’ve accomplished something.
Maybe we should do some QT3 lobby races?
Picked this up on a sale earlier this week because my fellow QT3 racers above were so enthusiastic. The online is incredibly tense and exhilarating. The whole setup seems weird at first. Races start at set times, every half hour or something like that. About 15 minutes before the start you can start doing qualifying laps which determines your starting position. Those laps are actually incredibly useful to get into the groove of the track before starting the race with actual people around you.
Surprisingly enough the whole SR rating system combined with invisible cars really seems to work out. People are actually racing instead of pushing. I have to admit though, I haven’t taken all the training wheels of yet. Even the intermediate driver setting has some breaking assistance. Which is a good thing for me, because everything in this games seems super hard. This way I can ease into it. I think the whole “everyone can race” thing really worked out.
Another thing I noticed is that even if you don’t win, the online racing is gratifying. Ending up fifth place after driving about 30 laps (15 for qualify, 15 of the race) on a small track yesterday with a fast car felt great.
Huge update today adds in all the extra single-player content I’ve been waiting on.
The GT League is going to be awesome. I’ve been craving something to race my 105 or so cars in, since I rarely have the chance to use my garage cars. Awesome.
This is such a weird aspect of the game. Most of the things you can do in the game, except for arcade mode, are limited to a single car. So you hardly get to use your stable of cars.
Appears the servers have been down for a while. Random reports from around the world that they’ve been down since after 2 EST. And here I was just trying to get some time to play the new content.
Yeah, I’m a little bummed the servers are down. :(