Problem is then it becomes a private club server where only the people registered can race, which defeats the whole purpose.

If you want a server like that there are hundreds already available, virtually all of them empty =)

It's a good idea, but not the direction intended.

Quote from Viper93 :

Problem is then it becomes a private club server where only the people registered can race, which defeats the whole purpose.

If you want a server like that there are hundreds already available, virtually all of them empty =)

It's a good idea, but not the direction intended.

no no i dont mean a private server. They just need to fill in there pass anyway. So why not make it a must. It is a 1 time deal. You dont have to fill out a pass every time you enter. Just onces.

Sending them to a web page to read the rules isnt going to make them read the rules that are already infront of them.

Accessibility is a key ingredient in the popularity of the CTRA, if we complicate the process of either connecting to our servers at any time, or connecting to them for the first time, then we would be turning people away and soon the whole thing would collapse in on itself.

It's true, Race 1 is impossible to race with...if i'm pushed out any time i can't progress in license, and if i don't do that, i'll never get to Race 2...

Sorry becky dont wanna wind but oeff quality of racers this night was terrible. I have 3 complete races out of 12. Damn this T1 is starting again. It seems people believe you can actually win a race at T!. Well the way they did too night you just knock out competion. You win then. Sorry, but it was just crap tonight.

We'll process your reports in due course then.

I spent most of the night on Single Seater 1 and it seemed pretty good in there .

Well it was all HR and UKCT that might have something to do with it. But starting more in front gives usually cleaner racing. If i start at back i usually hang back a bit and watch them all spin in the sand and cruise to the midfield and take it from there.

My post referred to the night before, last night wasn't so clean and actually I got a bit aggravated myself at one point and took a break. Came back, and found on my return that it was much cleaner save for the fact that I couldn't drive for toffee last night, but at least I took my incompentacy out on the grass not other cars ...

Hi Becky

I was a couple of cars behind you on one race last night and the car in between seemed to be targeting you (or maybe just playing with you?). So I think you were right to be frustrated.

Similar to SpikeymarcoD, I tend to hang back at the start, let the middle field do their thing and then chase, usually ending in around 7th place. Suits me. I know I am not fastest and I try not to hold anyone up (well maybe not always!). But I do enjoy the racing (obviously).

But in his opening email Dark Times talked about the language used and although at times this can be humourous - I like omg, noob, etc but I hate the seemingly now normal use of the F-word (or the shortened versions which bounce around in your head). I realised that this going to happen when going multiplayer - but it still annoys me. Apart from allowing the system to work only with a set of phrases I don't see that you can do anything about this but....

Anyway, still love the game. CTRA is still the best. Keep up the good work.

Red 240Z

Isn't the act of purposefully trying to avoid the swear filter an offence under CTRA rules ? Why not report the offenders in the usual way using the report system. Just fill out the report as usual with the lap the incident/bad language occurred along with the appropriate replay and explain in more depth on the CTRA page what happened, then file. I don't see how the procedure differs from any other track issue you might wish to report, or have I missed something

Quote from Becky Rose :

We'll process your reports in due course then.

I spent most of the night on Single Seater 1 and it seemed pretty good in there .

I've never had many complaints about SS1, it was more R1 that was chapping me arse. That said my PC is borked so I've not been able to get on over the last week, so hopefully it's improved.

It hasn't

Me, S14 Drift and Dustin had loads of fun being taken out...

Great system though guys and like DarkTimes said in his first post, its not an attack on X-System.

Must admit I've had a frustrating time on Race 1 today too. It was BL GP and I was carrying more speed than the driver in front (who shall remain nameless). I moved right after drafting for a bit and at that point he veered right sharply, putting me onto the grass.

I asked him why he did it after the race, to be met with ''I can take any line I like if you don't have overlap, noob.''. I said that surely he could see me in his mirrors and he knew that his move would take me out. This was met with ''Learn to drive..''

Following race I find myself flipped on the kerb on the chicane (my mistake). This caused a few near misses with following drivers. I then get a barrage of abuse. (The word 'noob' annoys me more than anything else..)

The whole incident left me fuming and I exited the server.. I fail to see the point of trying to drive fairly and cleanly, only for people to take liberties and hurl abuse when you make a legitimate mistake.

Quote from Origamiboy :

I fail to see the point of trying to drive fairly and cleanly, only for people to take liberties and hurl abuse when you make a legitimate mistake.

That's exactly how I felt a couple weeks ago, as I was struggling to score the last few points to help me get to Silver. I really felt like driving like an ass and taking out anybody who didn't get out of my way, as I had happen to me so many times. I very rarely race on Race1 anymore now that I'm able to race on Race2, and on the occasions that I do join Race1 I find I don't get annoyed as easily because I don't need the points as much as I did before; if I want to score points I'll race on Race2. Before, it was just so frustrating to know that I was stuck on Race1 and was forced to endure all the things you described in your post. Now, if I notice there's too many careless drivers on I just calmly leave the server

There are some really bad drivers. Some people, even ones in this thread who mocked the standard of driving on Race 1, can't even do a single lap without crashing. At the end of the day ALL public servers will be occupied by these people and we try to educate these drivers rather than throw them out, we will do that if we're forced too though.

Ultimately though, whether you get a good nights racing is down to you. We provide a place to race, you provide the drivers. Not us. We've given you every tool we have managed to develop to make the servers a cleaner place, we cant do any more. So it's down to you guys.

Posting about it here, about any server, will do not good. The server isn't the problem. LFS provides the server functionality and we've added to it but that's all we can do. We have trained marshalls sitting waiting to take your reports but they just cannot be on the servers 24/7 to baby sit you, and if you need baby sitting, then grow up.

That's pretty much all I can say on the subject.

Quote from Becky Rose :

There are some really bad drivers. Some people, even ones in this thread who mocked the standard of driving on Race 1, can't even do a single lap without crashing. At the end of the day ALL public servers will be occupied by these people and we try to educate these drivers rather than throw them out, we will do that if we're forced too though.

Ultimately though, whether you get a good nights racing is down to you. We provide a place to race, you provide the drivers. Not us. We've given you every tool we have managed to develop to make the servers a cleaner place, we cant do any more. So it's down to you guys.

Posting about it here, about any server, will do not good. The server isn't the problem. LFS provides the server functionality and we've added to it but that's all we can do. We have trained marshalls sitting waiting to take your reports but they just cannot be on the servers 24/7 to baby sit you, and if you need baby sitting, then grow up.

That's pretty much all I can say on the subject.

I think you may have taken my post the wrong way. It was not directed at the CTRA servers exclusively, this kind of thing can happen in ANY public server. In fact, it seems that it happens less on CTRA, but it is still just as annoying when it does.

Theres something cathartic about letting off some steam about it on these forums though..

But you post your findings in the CTRA section so it must be assumed that your remarks are directed at the CTRA and it's servers ?

Quote from Swiss_Tony :

But you post your findings in the CTRA section so it must be assumed that your remarks are directed at the CTRA and it's servers ?

If I couldn't connect to the server, or the points were messed up, or people started running hacks etc, then that would be a complaint against the system itself.

As it stands all complaints in this thread are to do with people USING the server. And, as Becky said, you can't control this on a public server.

The topic is entitled 'Standard on Race 1', and I had a negative experience on Race 1 that I thought would add to the topic. I don't think anyone here has a vendetta against CTRA, infact I think most would be lost without it.

Quote from Becky Rose :

There are some really bad drivers. Some people, even ones in this thread who mocked the standard of driving on Race 1, can't even do a single lap without crashing.

Ya know, I really wonder who you're talking about here. I've looked up the CTRA licenses of almost all people who posted in this thread (which aren't even that many) and they've all got a yellow flag ratio well below the CTRA average - save for one, but I know he's not that bad a driver. So I assume it's just a matter of interpreting some statistics differently, but I've seen you make such comments before and it just makes me curious on what those statements are based.

I shouldn't have said that really, but that's what the day after severe alchohol abuse does.

Quote from Origamiboy :

If I couldn't connect to the server, or the points were messed up, or people started running hacks etc, then that would be a complaint against the system itself.

As it stands all complaints in this thread are to do with people USING the server. And, as Becky said, you can't control this on a public server.

The topic is entitled 'Standard on Race 1', and I had a negative experience on Race 1 that I thought would add to the topic. I don't think anyone here has a vendetta against CTRA, infact I think most would be lost without it.

It's OK. I know what you mean. I understand you don't blame the CTRA for the bad driving on CTRA1 and agree your comment is a fair one and that you have a point.

The thing is, that's the way it's gonna be as far as I can see it for the forseeable future. It's the nature of the beast. CTRA1, by it's nature, is a beginners server and is always going to have it's fair share of new and mediocre drivers. It's users either get better and move on or get booted and move off ! You will not get a set standard of quality in this server because the driver turnover will be high and so the skill level will be
constantly changing and can be quite erratic, as you know.

Look upon CTRA1 as a great big driving school with no teachers

Sometimes, not so often now, some of the higher licensed guys would drop into CTRA1 because we liked to race the cars but we were made feel a bit unwelcome by those who accused us of taking points and positions away from the new drivers there. I actually think this was a pity as it took someone to "set an example" to the rest of what was expected in the higher tiers. I hope that doesn't sound patronising, it's not mean't to be. The truth is, we want new drivers to progress in order to give us more people to race when they move up to the higher servers. Not to mention that teams are always looking for good drivers as well. They also sometimes look in CTRA1 for early fledglings, although they won't be aware of it. At this stage the're not looking for raw speed but clean consistant drivers who can drive in a pack and read a situation. So, in fact, if you do go all "Days of Thunder" at that stage you may well spoil your chances later on down the line when looking for a good team spot.

My advice is stick with CTRA1. Do not become part of the rabble who wish to drive like morons. Keep your head down and avoid collisions as much as possible (you need to keep that yellow flag ratio as low as possible). Set a goal to achieve x license in y days. Treat it like a baptism of fire and you will come out the other side a much cleaner, faster and better all round driver than before. You will know a lot more about racecraft than when you started. Don't forget, we all had to endure CTRA1 at first but I don't think the racing on the higher servers would have been anywhere near as good if it weren't for CTRA1. CTRA1 sorts out the wheat from the chaff Good slogan, no ? Shame it couldn't help stop me from waffling so much though

DarkTimes as put is it in very plain words what's going on in CTRA1.

I enjoy very much driving XFG (specially in SO), it's a very good car for disputed races. But since it's a low powered car, the driving differences between drivers show off much more than in powerful cars. So, imagine what goes in the brain of a newbie which sees a better driver slowly moving away after exiting the corner faster. What the newbie concludes is that he must brake later with those cold tires to eliminate the difference. And the result is, usually, a rear abused vehicle...

The overlap disrespect, late braking, no lift and other abuses are, indeed, recurrent in CTRA1 (but no exclusively). We have people that don't know how to race cleanly nor fast. Sure there's the report tool, but it takes ages to perform action, and is clogged by the newbies who report fast drivers whom they don't like just because they were lectured by them, after making something messy.

Of course that I respect the work being made. The X-System is a great idea, and I think it might be a nice platform to implement even better ideas that improve quality at the servers. Which ideas?

More plainly, give the newbies an environment where they can learn how to race. A kind of CTRA1B, where newbies start and bad drivers get depromoted. That server should be a heavily monitored one, either to teach newbies the correct path to good racing, or to definitely ban really lost cases. CTRA1A should then be much more quiet, not needing much monitoring from the admins. Maybe setting new standards on the X-System based on yellow flags ratio, retirement ratio, etc, should suffice to automatically depromote the ones needing tutoring and leaving CTRA1A in a self-admining state, which would permit to apply more effort in teaching newbies and recycling some crashers in CTRA1B.

I end by saying that, most important of all, cleanliness is one of the most important things to achieve pleasure driving in the servers. Not being afraid of getting a great race ruined by a slow racer who doesn't respect a blue flag or a newbie that brakes late as a hell is a step closer to sheer driving pleasure.

Quote from Nitrofurano :

DarkTimes as put is it in very plain words what's going on in CTRA1.

I enjoy very much driving XFG (specially in SO), it's a very good car for disputed races. But since it's a low powered car, the driving differences between drivers show off much more than in powerful cars. So, imagine what goes in the brain of a newbie which sees a better driver slowly moving away after exiting the corner faster. What the newbie concludes is that he must brake later with those cold tires to eliminate the difference. And the result is, usually, a rear abused vehicle...

The overlap disrespect, late braking, no lift and other abuses are, indeed, recurrent in CTRA1 (but no exclusively). We have people that don't know how to race cleanly nor fast. Sure there's the report tool, but it takes ages to perform action, and is clogged by the newbies who report fast drivers whom they don't like just because they were lectured by them, after making something messy.

Of course that I respect the work being made. The X-System is a great idea, and I think it might be a nice platform to implement even better ideas that improve quality at the servers. Which ideas?

More plainly, give the newbies an environment where they can learn how to race. A kind of CTRA1B, where newbies start and bad drivers get depromoted. That server should be a heavily monitored one, either to teach newbies the correct path to good racing, or to definitely ban really lost cases. CTRA1A should then be much more quiet, not needing much monitoring from the admins. Maybe setting new standards on the X-System based on yellow flags ratio, retirement ratio, etc, should suffice to automatically depromote the ones needing tutoring and leaving CTRA1A in a self-admining state, which would permit to apply more effort in teaching newbies and recycling some crashers in CTRA1B.

I end by saying that, most important of all, cleanliness is one of the most important things to achieve pleasure driving in the servers. Not being afraid of getting a great race ruined by a slow racer who doesn't respect a blue flag or a newbie that brakes late as a hell is a step closer to sheer driving pleasure.

I'm a slow driver, and I disagree with this. How can you make sure that the 'new drivers' as you call them, will learn if they are put with other slow/new drivers? Also, why should they be demoted just because they have x ratio of yellow flags? Becky said that one of the CTRA's key points is that it is easily accessible by everyone. Why should that be disrupted due to a few drivers? Somebody (I forget who) hit the nail on the head IMO, they said 'it's down to a number of kids/new racers coming from arcade titles', Why should the CTRA have to educate them, why can't the racers on CTRA1 educate them, the times I've been on there, I've been angry at the treatment slower/newer racers get, with 'noob' thrown around casually. IMO, it's not up to Becky opening another, but the racers on the current server getting their heads out of their asses and HELPING the slower guys, teaching them about the rules. It's all very well and good having the rules page when you join, but many people click 'I agree' without reading them, or read them and then forget them.

Quote from DieKolkrabe :

I'm a slow driver, and I disagree with this. How can you make sure that the 'new drivers' as you call them, will learn if they are put with other slow/new drivers? Also, why should they be demoted just because they have x ratio of yellow flags? Becky said that one of the CTRA's key points is that it is easily accessible by everyone. Why should that be disrupted due to a few drivers? Somebody (I forget who) hit the nail on the head IMO, they said 'it's down to a number of kids/new racers coming from arcade titles', Why should the CTRA have to educate them, why can't the racers on CTRA1 educate them, the times I've been on there, I've been angry at the treatment slower/newer racers get, with 'noob' thrown around casually. IMO, it's not up to Becky opening another, but the racers on the current server getting their heads out of their asses and HELPING the slower guys, teaching them about the rules. It's all very well and good having the rules page when you join, but many people click 'I agree' without reading them, or read them and then forget them.

I think you are missing the point, or maybe I didn't explained myself correctly. I'm not talking about slow racers (I'm slow, BTW), I'm talking about racers that crash often (them or others) because they are newbies or bad drivers. Hence the yellow flags ratio, by e.g.. A slow but clean driver has a good yellow flag ratio, so it shouldn't be preoccupied.

I think that this and other measures could be applied, because what you say about self-admining in CTRA1 is a nice but utopic concept, in my opinion. It only generates a wave of discontent against those people who crash leaders, either newbies or bad drivers, and soon harsh reaction will be promptier between the two sides.

I have a suggestion...two servers, ctra 1a and 1b, like in (not so) old stcc days. Currently ctra race 1 is permanently full and if you manage to get in it's impossible to join a race.