DDRS IS MIGHT BE BACK, BABY!
Much has happened with GT7 since last spring's release. Polyphony has been busy pushing out incremental improvements, and it looks like GT7 may now be able to support the DDRS series! However, the 1.20 release has made things murky again, read on below.
GTSport and GT7 are just different enough that we're going to need to try some things out and fine-tune the process before we kick the season off for real. Part of that will be looking at whether we continue with the 89 BMW M3 Evo Sport, or change to something different.
Before you remind me of how well that worked out the last time we tried it, well... yeah, I remember.
...Which is why I'm going to propose we do a media day.
Media Day
Let's plan on a test & tune night sometime in the not too distant future. Scroll down for the schedule of events. For the media day, things will kick off a bit earlier than usual, let's say 8:30 or 9:00pm EDT (exact time is TBD). The format will include a lot more open practice - more in a moment - with the usual three races. The track is TBD as well, and I'll likely decide where we'll be when I open the room. This isn't a points race, so hopefully no one's feelings will be hurt by that, but please let me know if with what amounts to a surprise venue causes anyone any heartburn.
Now, about that open practice... I'm looking at a variety of small format tweaks. Based on your feedback from the media day, some of them may make it in, some of them may not. Regardless, here's what's being considered:
- Perhaps we switch up the car? MR2RAT and I have been testing the Toyota 86 GRMN, and it has some potential. It's slightly lower in performance points than the BMW (we can fix that), but the suspension feels a lot better. It's available in the new car dealer, so no waiting for it to come around in the used car lot.
- Maybe a different car from that? I'm open to suggestions.
- Perhaps a modest level of tire and/or fuel degradation? Some testing so far suggests there may be a larger gap in tire performance than we saw in GTSport.
- Since I started writing all of this up, Polyphony Digital dropped the 1.20 release, and there are some infuriating changes. Notably, the damage model has changed, and it's FAR easier to incur damage from seemingly minor contact. The intent of having heavy damage turned on in DDRS events was to serve as a deterrent for general ass-hattery. The prior damage model worked much like GTSport's damage model, and allowed for close racing -- a little rubbing -- before damage was assessed. The indications right now are that it's much easier to incur damage from minor contact. That would be detrimental to the enjoyment factor. We'll need to experiment with damage settings and see what works. I'm open to doing away with damage altogether, but that will necessarily require the DDRS competitors to adult-up.
Some other changes that are done deals:
- The game supports random weather, and so will DDRS. The clock speed will be x1, so the weather is likely to be slow changing over the course of a session. If the night's track supports rain, well... it might just rain. But it will be up to the PlayStation's random number generator to decide.
- We're still sticking with sports compound tires. They offer decent enough stick, tolerate a little abuse, and let the car dance around. And if there's rain, they provide a reasonable grip level.
- We're only visiting real racing circuits.
- Expect some required livery elements. There will be a new required number ball and windshield banner, so look for details on those elements when they become available.
Event Schedule
- Date is still TBD. The real racing season is making choice of a virtual racing season start and cadence a challenge.
- Room opens at 8:30pm EST. Open practice until 9:30pm.
- Race 1 @ 9:30pm. Race 1 will be a number of laps that yields about a 20-minute sprint race. Race 1 will be for the 89 BMW M3 Evo Sport -- the 'old' DDRS car.
- Open practice follows until 10:15pm.
- Race 2 @ 10:15pm. Race 2 will be similar length to Race 1, with reward ballast being awarded based on Race 1 finishing position.
- More open practice until 11:00.
- Race 3 @ 11:00pm. Race 3 will be an invert grid based on Race 2 results, also with reward ballast. Like races 1 and 2, Race 3 will be the same length.
- Bonus Race 4: This race is for the Toyota 86 GRMN Stay tuned for set-up details on this car.