MULTIPLAYER Multiplayer & Rating - 1.0

Changed everything? My message was "no scheduled racing", and the context was the word "Matchmaking". CP doesn't change anything on my message.

But I see that the topic soon went its ways, and also tackled dimensions like "meaning" and long term motivation - but that wasn't my intention nor expectation. Still at this point I could see how bad expectations can get out of control, so I didn't feel motivated to add another thing that again raises expectations - and you probably know we don't really like to talk about features that aren't ready-to-go and finished yet - which simply wasn't the case until the past days.

Anyways, we're happy if this looks good to you, and this kind of organization gets a fair chance to be evaluated.

Yes, only one suggestion at a time. Tbh. we had to manage our forces and could only go one way, and given the last discussion it felt like we can go with the "forced" variant, which gives us full control about join decisions - which ofc. delivers best results, but also cuts your freedom and overview. It's also still compatible to a few of the options how this can evolve further, but nothing is set to stone. Moving the CP servers to the list is totally possible.

At least looking at our tests, the long formation lap makes this a lot less critical. Starts look quite good in comparison to the short formation.
Yes we totally see the problem here, and revisiting this is on the list - still I cannot promise anything. Would be a lot easier for SP, but in MP you have to consider so many cases (never forget about the trolls), so it's a tougher problem to solve than it may look in the first place.

Yes ofc. points are distributed based on CP, technically "on the expectation to win". Compared to all the other Ratings, the CP math is ridiculously easy - it's simple result based ELO math.

Don't think so. I see why this is appealing, but I'd be surprised if the major isse wouldn't remain "driver count". Forcing people to race in teams both costs drivers due to the necessary organization effort - but the main problem is that running in teams cuts down the available drivers to 50% (Sprint) or even 25% (3 driver teams) - or even 12.5% (4 driver teams). If we end up in a situation where we have no problems to run only with 12.5% of our "capacity", I'll gladly reconsider my stance
Until then I think serious leagues are the way to go for team oriented series.

Ya that would be cool. Need to see when we find time for that though.

In theory, there's a huge chance to get assigned to a server with your friends online when using Quickjoin. Improve the chances by letting the worst driver (by ratings) join first.
But you can still use the old server list, you'll find servers with friends online within the top 5 for sure.

Atm, we only run overall rankings. I'm very interested in extending to multicategory, and even mix up CP servers - but to be honest that's only one thing on a very long list, and realistically I wouldn't bet on it.

Don't know yet. Let's see how EU and US use the servers, which future concepts we go for and how everything plays out.
You are not forgotten of course, @martcerv is active and around here for so long that I'm not sure if Australia isn't getting a part of the EU soon.

Well to be fair I wouldn't recommend to start a team series immediately. It's a complicated feature that will need a bit of ironing (under real conditions)

Yes, 30 (or less if the track doesn't have 30 pitslots) is the current global limit. And it will most likely remain the limit for public and CP multiplayer; if we can do what is necessary to support more, it'd be only for private (=pw protected) sessions.

Yes.

That's a bit more complicated, I'll try to create a proper documentation for the Server Admin thread.
In general, Spectators still cost server CPU and bandwidth, but linear (y = x), while cars have a exponential (y = x²) resource hunger. So they will be "slots", but e.g. do not care about available pit garages.

Yes I guess we will do this on some way, at least the TopX should be rewarded that way.

Oh no not again please

The idea behind CP servers is that they are special (and non-casual) - as the public MP already offers the other side of the coin.
It's not meant to be the default game mode you go for, but when you have the time, preparation and mental capacity to do it. We always have to balance different views and preferences, but as we gave our best to protected the more casual and quickly paced public MP not to become less casual-friendly, we will do the same with the highly competitive equivalent.

And to be honest, 1h races are the *least* to really experience what ACC can do (personally I'd love to use 1.5 or 2 hours instead). Any kind of fast-forward in terms of weather, time acceleration (or stuff like fuel/tyre wear multipliers) is removing lots of the real sensation.
Having a realtime stint with realistic weather, the tyre dynamics and all that stuff is the way to enjoy what ACC can do. Trust me.

If we're talking about public MP, yes that's a good point. I think I can insert a preference here.
For CP servers, the FP phase is important to collect drivers.

I'm sorry to say that, but others keep telling me SA is too easy and they never drop below 99 (MP only drivers). At some point we have to draw the line, and I want CP servers as clean as possible.

Yes sure, that's the concept. Go back to the screenshot, you already see the example server is running 0-15, so once you're past 15 you cannot annihilate beginners anymore, and need to face real competitors
How exactly the brackets look like is dependent on a) how quickly drivers build up CP and find "their" level and b) how the actual distribution is. We need to observe and adjust permanently