154 replies to this topic

[JForce]

Im starting the AtlasF1 GT3 World Championship. Right here, right now.

I've thought about this for a while, trying to come up with the right format, and wondering if anyone will even bother to join. But basically you never know until you try.
So here goes.

The AtlasF1 GT3 World Championship is a series of races that take place over a period of weeks. Points are allocated based on lap times of a given circuit, using a given car. There are individual points, as well as team points. The object is to finish first in both the drivers championship, and the team (constructors) championship.

Here's how it works.
Everyone who enters gets placed in a team with other players, completely at random. How many per team largely depends on how many people sign up. It could be 2 per team, it could be 4. We're just going to have to wait and see.
At the beginning of each week I will draw a GT3 circuit at random. That will be our track for the week. I will also draw a car at random, which will be the only vehicle allowed to enter, I will also set a horspower limit. You may tune your car however you like, but you must not go above the set limit.

You then have one week to set your fastest time. At the end of the week, points will be allocated based on lap times. Constructors points will also be allocated based on the average lap time of your team, taken from it's members fastest laps.

Easy huh?

A few notes:

Horsepower limits: This was done for two reasons.
1) I still have doubts about the comparitive horsepower figures between the two versions of the game (North American etc and European etc), and this is a way of evening things up.

2) It makes things a bit more interesting. Now, instead of just concentrating on the fastest lap, you'll also have to make sure your car is performing how it needs to perform. Twisty circuit? More low-down torque perhaps. Test circuit? (god forbid) More top speed! You'll also be wanting to swap info within your team, maybe having different members try different modifications.
The horsepower limit will be set at APPROXIAMATELY 70% of the vehicle top HP. That should give us plenty of room to make changes.

Which game mode to run: I don't mind. Use free run, time trial, a race, whatever you like. Some of these allow you to use different tyres, some don't, so feel free to experiment.

Proof: If required, all participants must be able to prove a lap time with a screenshot. I may also conduct random checks. But basically, it works on an honesty system. We can't prove that you're cheating, just as we can't prove that you're under the horspepower limit. But I'd hope that everyone here enjoys a challenge enough not to ruin it for everyone else.

Method: If you're interested, PM me. I'll make a list, and after about a week I'll pick the teams, and we'll kick it off with the first race. After that you have one week to post your times in the thread I open.
Results will be posted in a results thread, and on a website I want to set up if I can find the time.

Points: Standard first six placings, 10-6-4-3-2-1

THIS IS OPEN TO SUGGESTION. I am always interested in ways to make the game better, so if someone thinks of something, feel free to let me know. We've got a week before it starts, so there's plenty of scope for improvement.

Also, if we don't get enough players, I'll just cancel it. No sweat.

Feel free to post suggestions and comments in this thread, but if you wanna sign up (please?) then PM me.

JForce

[Brian O Flaherty]

I have one concern and it is the honesty. Quite simply we can not trust people to only tune to 70%.

Put it this way.

There's no difference in making everyone tune the car to 70% or making everyone tune the car to 100% except that you can be sure noone will go above 100% and it rules out conspiracy theories. You see what I mean ?

I dont like it but c'est la vie.

I also think there's a massive difference in performance between people who use wheels and people who use pads. So, although the selection process for teams is random - maybe it would be an idea to have a hat full of pad people and a hat full of wheel people. Pick randomly from the hats but put equal amounts of each on each team, and maybe have a seperate championship for the two, like Class A and B in the rallies

As for proving laptimes. How do I take a screenshot ? At the moment I wouldn't be able to prove a lap to you because I'm pretty dumb or pretty badly equipped *fnarr fnarr* if you know what I mean.

[TT6]

Originally posted by Brian O Flaherty


I also think there's a massive difference in performance between people who use wheels and people who use pads.

I don't think so. I'm used to pad and I really sucked with wheel.

I have one concern and it is the honesty. Quite simply we can not trust people to only tune to 70%.

Maybe we should give up the horsepower limits.

As for proving laptimes. How do I take a screenshot ? At the moment I wouldn't be able to prove a lap to you because I'm pretty dumb or pretty badly equipped *fnarr fnarr* if you know what I mean.

I can' t do it either.


And a question of my own Are we allowed to cut cut corners?

[JForce]

Brian, I see your point with the horsepower limits. Maybe we should remove the HP limit. I'd like to hear the views of anyone else who wants to play first, but I am leaning towards getting rid of it. As far as screenshots go, just by a digital camera!! Nah, just take a photo if necessary and scan it in. I dont think it will be a problem, im tempted to trust everyone as far as laptimes go.

I like the idea of even distribution of pad/wheel players throughout the teams. But I dont think there is much of a difference in performance. I use a pad, and I havent met anyone yet who can beat me using a wheel, so i think it just psychological!! Harden up!!;)

[Brian O Flaherty]

About the pad/wheel. Maybe I'm wrong, it's just that in every game I've ever played, if you take the top end of both sets of players, the wheel players were quicker simply because they can give 50% turn and 50% throttle far more easily than a pad player.

Of course there'll be loads of players like myself who fumble around being decent to good, but the very best will always eek a little extra out of the equipment available. I think it would be an added bit of interest to compare the times of both sets anyway

Why not have a

Drivers championship
Constructors championship
Wheel Championship
Pad Championship

all working off the same set of lap times I dont think it would be much more work - a good spreadsheet should sort it out ;)

As for cutting corners !!!! Absolutely. Hey that's the way the track is laid out. The point is to get round as fast as possible, put some steroids in the tank and leave your scruples in the pits It's corner cuttin' time

[JDeRosa]

I'd definitely be up for it. I do agree that the hp could cause problems. Time trials I suppose is one thing you may want to think about...same cars, and can't change the set up. However, I think in the spirit of the competition, an element of honesty has to come into it, we need to trust each other. I do have a digital camera therefore I could provide proof of my lack of pace , but I would honestly believe anyone who claims a fast time, there's no honor in cheating so if they want to win unfairly...so be it. I'd like to think that we're all above that and having fun would take priority over winning at all costs.

So that's me in at least.

[StickShift]

I believe that we should either do it 1 of 2 ways:
1. Unlimited HP limits. Unlimited anything that way no one can sneak a few extra HP.
2. Use the cars found in arcade mode. I.E. Class C, B, A, Racing.


As for what game mode to run it in, definelty run in arcade mode.


Apart from that, sounds good JForce!

[StickShift]

secondly, how do you want us to take screenshots? You can't unless you have a digital camera or have hooked your PS2 to a computer monitor.

[JDeRosa]

hey Stick...nice sig

[Garagiste]

Could be a hoot, though I may be the equivalent of the fat speccy kid when it comes to picking teams... Good excuse for a game though - "but honey, I've got to have this race or I'll be letting the team down"
I have a digital camera, but no webspace (keep meaning to sort it out and share some photos of Goodwood and Rockingham, but can't be arsed) - can we just email them to you JForce.

Stickshift - notice a couple of people have admired your .sig - thought you ought to know that in these parts "wang" is a female, not a male organ!

[StickShift]

Garagiste: I only got it from this online cartoon.

Where I come from, I think Wang is understood as the Male reproductive organ.

[JForce]

I'm relenting.

No HP limit. I agree that it makes everything even...even if it does smack of the whole FIA-traction control saga!!

Screenshots will only e required if you post a ridiculously inflated time. If you go five seconds faster than the fastest time posted, you should be able to reproduce a similiar time in order to take a photo and scan it in or whatever. But don't worry about it, i wont ask!! it's easer not to.

I still want the cars to be open though. If the car designated for a race is a Corvette C5R, then you can do what you like to it (no shark-porting!!). You may set your times in whatever mode you feel most comfortable in. Some people like to take them during a race with friends, as this often bringds out their best performances.

So far we only have six people: Myself, Brian, Stickshift, Garagiste, TT6 and JDeRosa.

Thats enough for three teams of two, but the more the merrier, so spread the word.

[iconic]

im interested, though my skills arent very good as i just got gt3.. would like a challenge.. though i've only done like 4% of the game

[Silent Bob]

Go on then, I'll come out of retirement. Could do with a challenge!

If you're interested in how we organised things in the bad old days of GT2, check this thread:

http://www.atlasf1.c...&threadid=15538

[Earthling]

Count me in....and i got a digital cam.

[StickShift]

I might be able to commandeer a friends digital Camera for screenshots. They might not come often though.

Anyword when the series will begin?

[JForce]

Will be up and running by the end of the week. Screenshots out.

[JForce]

Well, we're up to 8 players:
JForce
Brian O'Flaherty
Stickshift
JDeLaRosa
Garagiste
Iconic
Silent Bob
Earthling

The game will be up and running by weeks end, hopefully.

No HP limit...just go for it.

Ill send everyone PM's with the info I require to start things off....at this stage looking like 4 teams of 2. ill find out who's running with pads/wheels, and even it out. There'll be two championships...but ill see how many use each before i work it out.

ill try and get the website up and running this week as well.

Start practising

[Jerry Lee]

OK, I'm in. Got a digital camera too. Some weeks are a little more busy than others, so don't yell at me when I turn in a weak time.

[Viktor]

Im in if it's ok. Im not fast but its fun to play

/Viktor

[StickShift]

make sure when you announce the new challenge that you tell everyone what championships they must win to get the car. Some cars aren't in Arcade mode or are able to buy.

[TT6]

I'm in (playing with pad). I promise no screen shots but I'm nt that fast either...

[HardRock]

Hey JForce I'm in too. I have steering Wheel, no digital cam though.
We are 9 now.

[HardRock]

We need 1 more to make 10 for teams of 2.

[Earthling]

Yesterday i bought an IEEE 440mbit/sec connection for the digital cam, connected it to the PS2 (near the USB sockets), but didnt get anything on the cam!!!!

Im not sure how im supposed to make the screen appear on the camera so i can take snap shots as im new with this camera too, cuz ive only had it for about a month and havent played around with it much. But i grabbed the Manual and started readin on how it should be done with a PC(cuz thats all it talks about with that connection), and got nothing.

Im gonna try and connect the PS2s cables to the TV directly to the cam and fiddle around with it today a bit more.

But thats gonna have to wait cuz im at the office now.

:

[Brian O Flaherty]

Just take a picture of the TV with the lap time on it Earthling No need for a perfect resolution picture that proves you just whupped my ass

[ozf1]

Sounds like a great idea. If youre after more people, I,m keen.

If you need a photo as proof, thats no problem.

As an alternative suggestion, if you wanted to make it so that it was all about driving skill and not about setup, you could run it through the special licence test mode, where the cars cant be modified or walls bounced off.

[TT6]

Originally posted by ozf1

As an alternative suggestion, if you wanted to make it so that it was all about driving skill and not about setup, you could run it through the special licence test mode, where the cars cant be modified or walls bounced off.

Please, don't. A bit of touches to the wall here and there is more fun. I think there's too many sites where people are driving GT with these kind of rules and are very serious about it.

[Garagiste]

Yeah, agreed. Otherwise I'll be sending in screenshots with a big "FAIL" in the middle of the pic!
Just practising excuses early: I did set a good time, but then Shuey came in the living room, studied my telemery and stole my joypad. Now I have to qualify with the joystick from my old Dragon 32.;)

[JDeRosa]

Originally posted by Garagiste
Yeah, agreed. Otherwise I'll be sending in screenshots with a big "FAIL" in the middle of the pic!
Just practising excuses early: I did set a good time, but then Shuey came in the living room, studied my telemery and stole my joypad. Now I have to qualify with the joystick from my old Dragon 32.;)

That would be something.....challenging schuey on the PS2 on F1 2001 at SPA.....and kicking his ass.

[TT6]

Originally posted by JForce

I'll find out who's running with pads/wheels, and even it out. There'll be two championships...but ill see how many use each before i work it out.

Start practising

Just and idea: if pads/wheels are quite even (in number) you could put one wheel and one pad in each team.

It could be more fun if there's many teams in a serie.

[StickShift]

Originally posted by TT6


Just and idea: if pads/wheels are quite even (in number) you could put one wheel and one pad in each team.

It could be more fun if there's many teams in a serie.

That's a good idea.

[Viktor]

Originally posted by TT6


Just and idea: if pads/wheels are quite even (in number) you could put one wheel and one pad in each team.

It could be more fun if there's many teams in a serie.

Just one question, are the tests the same (same car, power) in Europe, America and Japan??

/Viktor

[StickShift]

Viktor, for the most part they are. I have read however that Polyphony001 and the F/94 are different in horsepower by 10. Advantage going to the Polyphony. All in all I belive they are the same though.

[Viktor]

Originally posted by StickShift
Viktor, for the most part they are. I have read however that Polyphony001 and the F/94 are different in horsepower by 10. Advantage going to the Polyphony. All in all I belive they are the same though.

If there is only an advantage for the PAL version then it's ok, I need it!;).

/Viktor

[bigbrickz]

If you need anyone else I'm also keen. Otherwise I'll just be one of those armchair racers that plays video games instead of doing the real thing.

Few questions / remarks :

1) If it's going to be a random selection of any car in GT3 please let us know how to win the ones we can't buy.

2) Will the tracks include the dirt tracks as well?

3) Will you publish times mid-week so everyone knows roughly where they stand before the final rush or leave it to be a big surprise?


It's a shame Polyphony doesn't include a private/public encryption scheme for comparing high scores. i.e. they could display a serial number that encrypts consoleserial#/laptime/track/car/date(?) etc and their website would allow you to enter the number and display the information. In fact they could even enable people to register their names, etc at the same time and have a full online topscore list.


Anyway I'm really looking forward to this...

[Brian O Flaherty]

Yeah we'll have to avoid F1 cars because of the PAL/NTSC differences.

One other thing. It may be difficult for certain people (i.e. me) to win certain cars at short notice so I suggest printing out the schedule of cars that will be needed to race well before they are needed.

However, in order for people not to be able to practice the track with the car well before time, I suggest only the track be kept secret right up until that rounds of competition starts. This way everyone will definitely have the equipment required, without having already done their blinding lap 3 weeks in advance

[bigbrickz]

Originally posted by Brian O Flaherty
Yeah we'll have to avoid F1 cars because of the PAL/NTSC differences.

Let's list the specs to see if there is actually any difference between the Polyphony001 and the F094.

Polyphony 001
Power : 774 @ 14'400 (after oil change 813 @ 14'000)
Torque : 41.7 @ 12'500 (after oil change 43.8 @ 12'500)
Weight : 540 kg
Height : 930 mm
Length : 4150 mm
Width : 1910 mm
Wheelbase : 2890
Tread(Front) : 1670 (shouldn't this be Track?)
Tread(Rear) : 1600

I don't have the Polyphony002 I'm guessing that it's the same as the F688/S

However there probably won't be an equivalence to the :
F686 / F090 / F687 and I agree that we should avoid these.

[Jerry Lee]

Originally posted by bigbrickz


Let's list the specs to see if there is actually any difference between the Polyphony001 and the F094.

Polyphony 001
Power : 774 @ 14'400 (after oil change 813 @ 14'000)
Torque : 41.7 @ 12'500 (after oil change 43.8 @ 12'500)
Weight : 540 kg
Height : 930 mm
Length : 4150 mm
Width : 1910 mm
Wheelbase : 2890
Tread(Front) : 1670 (shouldn't this be Track?)
Tread(Rear) : 1600

I don't have the Polyphony002 I'm guessing that it's the same as the F688/S

However there probably won't be an equivalence to the :
F686 / F090 / F687 and I agree that we should avoid these.

Another problem with the F094/S or H is that I haven't been able to win one yet. I tried for months at one point and never could get one. Most other cars are fairly easy to win but not these. I have all the other F cars.

[TT6]

Originally posted by bigbrickz

2) Will the tracks include the dirt tracks as well?

I hope not. A true gentleman drives only on tarmac, not in dirt tracks, to avoid his car getting dirty. But if you insist I will. We finns do quite naturally kick ass as rally drivers.

About the F1 cars: I don't think it's a huge problem with PAL and NTSC cars. They all pretty fast so we could just state that car we using some week is whatever F1 car.

[bigbrickz]

Originally posted by Brian O Flaherty
It may be difficult for certain people (i.e. me) to win certain cars at short notice so I suggest printing out the schedule of cars that will be needed to race well before they are needed.

To some extent the same issue might apply to the tracks but that does seem less of a problem. Once you have a decent car (say an F1) completing the arcade mode is pretty easy.

I'd say that picking the car a week ahead should be enough.

[bigbrickz]

Originally posted by Jerry Lee


Another problem with the F094/S or H is that I haven't been able to win one yet. I tried for months at one point and never could get one. Most other cars are fairly easy to win but not these. I have all the other F cars.

I made this post a week ago in another thread so someone stop me if this is getting annoying (but this trick amuses the hell out of me ) :

The easiest way to win the Polyphony 001 or the F094(?) is to do the endurance race on the oval. You can win this with a 500bhp car fairly easily (no need to change tyres, just lean on the walls). Use an elastic band and a small piece of plastic to hold the accelerator key down -- it's less tiring this way.

If you don't win the F1 car at first sell or tune the car you win so you can get a 1000 bhp car. With this you can use the full "elastic band trick" to win. You put an elastic band around the two analog sticks and then adjust the left stick so that your car is always brushing against the right wall in the straight lines. This way you can let the car race itself. With a 1000 bhp you can only have it lightly brushing so it will often bounce away from the wall and you'll need to keep an eye on the game to help if it bounces into a crash.

If you still haven't succeeded buy the suzuki escudo and tune to 1800 bhp. You can then use the elastic band trick so that it's completely stuck against the right wall (no bouncing). This can be left to win the race over and over completely unattended.

Incidentally, beyond winning the F1 car this is a good way to get a load of cash.

[bigbrickz]

Originally posted by bigbrickz
The easiest way to win the Polyphony 001 or the F094(?)

Just had a look and it seems that in the NTSC version you only win the F090 this way.

Also the F094 is given as 829HP @ 14000rpm & 44.7ft.lb @ 12500rpm which means that it should be a bit faster than the Polyphony001

[StickShift]

I hope we don't do rally mode. I (yes, the perfect one) am really no good at it!

[HardRock]

Where is JForce. We need the rules to start this. I can't wait.

[Brian O Flaherty]

Originally posted by bigbrickz


To some extent the same issue might apply to the tracks but that does seem less of a problem. Once you have a decent car (say an F1) completing the arcade mode is pretty easy.

I'd say that picking the car a week ahead should be enough.

I dont get you

The way I see it - If we're told to start racing special stage 11 reverse can we not simply go to that race in one of the cups regardless of what level we're at and what we've won.

Whereas if we're told to use the Polyphony002 to do it, we'd have to win the car first which could be a problem for some.

I really have to explore the Arcade level, I never race it, I always do Gran Turismo mode :

[Jerry Lee]

Originally posted by Brian O Flaherty
...I really have to explore the Arcade level, I never race it, I always do Gran Turismo mode :

You should know that arcade mode counts toward your overall game completion percentage.

[Brian O Flaherty]

I knew the Time Trial did and i've done some of them (5 or 6 I think). I'll investigate the rest next time I get some precious time with it

[HardRock]

Originally posted by Jerry Lee


You should know that arcade mode counts toward your overall game completion percentage.

Oh boy I'm learning something today . I had no idea and I'm allready in the pro league.

[bigbrickz]

Originally posted by Brian O Flaherty
The way I see it - If we're told to start racing special stage 11 reverse can we not simply go to that race in one of the cups regardless of what level we're at and what we've won.

I have a feeling that some of the tracks (cote d'azur for instance) are only available if you have the Super license (or whatever it's called) or if you've completed most of arcarde mode.

But you're right for the most part it shouldn't be an issue.