ACC Season 1 review thoughts/feedback/suggestions for future seasons

Discussion in 'ACLOZ Past Seasons' started by marty, Jan 21, 2020.

  1. marty

    marty AC Server Legend

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    Hey all and thanks for joining our 1st ACC season, as I will be going away soon after this season ends for a month I want to see some feedback and opinions on the current season.

    What people liked, what they didn't like and discussion about what may be worth changing or trying in future seasons.

    We have had a pretty good number of signups for this first season, 37 signed up but of this 5 never started a race. It would be interesting to hear some reasons for those that never got around to doing a round.

    Here are the max grid numbers per round, considering the actual number of signups the numbers have been a bit lower then I had hoped for all rounds. There have been issues with ACC in general for many users which is a likely reason for many missed races, then there is always 20% or so of people that cant make each round for other real life reasons. I was pretty close to missing a couple of rounds too but just managed to get to all races so far.

    Below is starters per round
    1. 1.5hr enduro at Monza 21
    2. 1hr sprint Brands 21
    3. 1.5hr enduro Floods at Silverstone 23
    4. 2hr endure Paul Ricard 19
    5. 2x30 Sprints Misano 23
    6. 1hr Sprint Zandvoort 19
    7. 2.4hr Enduro Spa 17
    8. 2x 30m Sprints Nürburgring 19
    9. 1hr Sprint Hungaroring 17
    10. 2hr Enduro Barcelona Finale TBD
    Season race distances were determined by this thread pre season.
    [​IMG]

    Race rules were kept as close as we could to the real Blancpain Europe Sprint and Enduro rounds.

    Enduro's have a 65 minute max stint limit, this helps in ACC to balance the cars out also. Some cars have much bigger tanks then others and also burn less at race pace, without stint limits and fixed fuel fill times some cars would have a significant advantage in any longer races as was noticed in pre season fun runs.

    Sprints in the real season have a 10 minute mid race pit window, we ran single 60 minute races or 2x 30 for the sprints, no refueling is not allowed during a real sprint round so it was also disabled in our season. Real sprint rounds are 2x 60 minute sprint races.

    Driver swaps havent been used as they still arent ready. Server setup is still really quite limited and a few annoying bugs are still persistent that have likely negatively impacted a few peoples races during the season.

    Weather has been dynamic for the most part, with Ambient set around what the real 2019 race temps were. Dynamic weather was fairly broken early however with heavy thunderstorms effecting some or most sessions in the first few rounds.

    What would people want to see to make them more likely to join more races during a season, or where most rounds missed due to external non sim/pc related issues.
    Last edited: Jan 21, 2020
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  2. tezpez85

    tezpez85 Professional Gold Member

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    Yellow thunderstorms make some cars totally undriveable. Silverstone was ridic. I'm ok with rain, but torrential stuff like that should be a server reset. They wouldn't race in those conditions in real life as it would be too dangerous.
  3. Pablo

    Pablo Rookie

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    I have thoroughly enjoyed the season. The organisation and communication is top notch. The only race I missed was due to a family holiday to the coast so not much I could do there.
    Even though I am fairly slow, I've loved the fact that I'm just a single point away from the AM Championship lead. I also like the concept of Sprint and Endurance championships. It gives me something to shoot for from a points perspective and I've been on the lookout for other AM class drivers in each race. For example, @AGK started ahead of me last night, I somehow got ahead of him through the pit stops and then battled to hold him off and he chased me down towards the end. Perhaps only he and I would have been aware of this little "race within a race" but I loved it.
    The only thing I would suggest is to limit race lengths to 90 minutes. Spa almost killed me!
    Last edited: Jan 21, 2020
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  4. Rolz

    Rolz ACC Nutter Team Raceonoz Gold Member

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    speculation is rife when the DLC will drop... even big name sim teams (Redline) are planning a Bathurst 6hr event on the 6th of Feb...
    Happy to get some fun runs going whilst Marty is away...
    nanlatt, marty and Pablo like this.
  5. Flamebadger

    Flamebadger ACC Server Legend

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    I think the season has been great! I'm aware I missed a good half of the season, but that was all real world stuff getting in the way and nothing to do with my desire to race.

    I have also been a fan of the race lengths; and whilst I wouldn't want to do it more than once a season, (and I did not get the chance to do it at all this season), I like the idea of keeping Spa as a one-off 2.4hr race. At the other end of the scale, I wouldn't want anything shorter than 2x 30min sprint races, because then you get in to fairly standard pub server style races.

    I also enjoy the difference in sprint races with no refuelling and enduros where we can - it means that even though some enduros have only been 90 mins, which is only 30min longer than the 1hr sprints, they feel different to the sprint races. For the Enduros the 65min max stint limit is a great rule, as it allows plenty of flexibility in strategy but also means those who have picked cars that happen to be more thirsty don't have to accept that they are just going to be outgunned by the couple of more frugal cars than just about reach 90mins on a single tank - this was one of the best picks ups I think from the early fun runs as you say, so a big thumbs up for this rule.

    Whilst it would not conform with how the championship was run in 2019, I would also wonder if it might be interesting to widen the pit stop window in the longer sprint races. So if we have a 1hr sprint, maybe a 20min pit window? It just seems in Sprint races the Best Strategy is literally always to Undercut if you're closely racing with someone. A wider pit window, where if you try to undercut as soon as the pits open means you're going to have to run for 40 mins on tyres, and someone else may then pit right at the end and have 20 minute fresher tyres, which depending on track could be 10 to 15 laps difference - might just allow for different strategies and bigger tyre differentials. Just a thought bubble.

    Whilst I haven't been in a wet race this season, and the last one outside of a public server I was in was back in the fun runs mid year last year, I would agree with Tez that if we end up with thunderstorms we should not race in conditions which in real life would not be used, as it's often not super fun to drive in rain that heavy.

    I think for Season 2 it would be fun to incorporate some of the new tracks provided the DLC drops soon. Bathurst would be an amazing season opener or closer I think.

    I personally also think at this point that with ''only'' grid numbers in the high teens or just sneaking into the twenties that driver swap races should just be ignored for the time being. Whilst interesting, if everyone partnered up you might only have 8 or 9 car races,

    Oh, and Marty and Andy have to race in reverse for Season 2 :p
    Last edited: Jan 21, 2020
  6. marty

    marty AC Server Legend

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    All good points there, no reason not to change up race rules a bit in future seasons.

    With driver swaps the main advantage I see with them is for endurance races if some arent racing because they dont want to run 90 minutes or more on their own.

    If they are fully stable and useable then it could allow people that want to run long runs and those that dont to both participate.

    I dont see any reason to have a forced team and driver swap for regular season races. The option to allow some to team up could possibly boost numbers if that was to be the case.

    It could even allow people to team up with others in opposite time zones if start/finish times dont suit them too well.

    Regarding the yellow thunderstorm, this is the main thing I have been asking Minolin to give an option to set a max rain level. In a proper race they would red flag those sessions but no matter how conservative we set dynamic weather its still currently possible.

    I would like dynamic weather to be actually more dynamic and variable but within raceable conditions. A decent weather forecast per session and actually more changeable conditions for different days of the week.

    Make it any more dynamic and it turns into an Asian wet season race atm lol.
    Last edited: Jan 21, 2020
  7. Wally

    Wally Team Driver

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    This: "I would like dynamic weather to be actually more dynamic and vairable but within raceable conditions."

    I liked everyone having to keep the same car all season, and I liked the mix of race lengths and formats. I'm not that keen on driver swaps - I'd rather be driving than waiting.
    I also think everyone but me should have 200kg ballast.
    tezpez85 and marty like this.
  8. SteveDrivingSlowly

    SteveDrivingSlowly ACC Results Ste(ve)ward

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    I have really enjoyed this season it has been a blast! My first ever in sim racing, so I don’t have much to compare it too. I have enjoyed the variety in race formats/lengths and did enjoy the 2.4 hour race at Spa even though I have to admit I wasn’t feeling it on the drive home from work that night...but once I started racing I was having a lot of fun.

    the crazy rain at the start I think we cannot really use to make any kind of comparisons/decisionss - that was obviously not intentional or for almost anyone enjoyable - but it was interesting nonetheless! The conditions at Spa were fantastic with transitions from dry to soaking to slowly drying throughout the race - and somehow timed perfectly to really mess with pit strategies. This was very cool and although it shouldn’t be like that for every race, it was a great extra layer of challenge.

    the stint limit and pit stop rules have been working well I think and the manual rolling starts were definitely a huge upgrade.

    i still have a bit of work to do on the results site before we close out the season (dropped rounds, sprint and enduro cup table) and I have a heap of notes on what I need to do for future seasons to make it better. Some will be pleased to note that I have also started to prepare the site for https/SSL which I hope to implement soon. If anyone has any other ideas, feel free to drop me a msg (so as not to clutter this thread) and I will add them to the list I am keeping.
    Flamebadger, krunch, tezpez85 and 4 others like this.
  9. Flamebadger

    Flamebadger ACC Server Legend

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    I don't have any suggestions for you, but just for my part want to say I've found having your results site available and how you've collated and presented our results a particularly excellent cherry on top of the cake that has been this season :)
    SteveDrivingSlowly, marty and Pablo like this.
  10. Godzilla

    Godzilla Team Driver

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    Overall the season has been really good. I would like to see spa as a stand out length wise with a full 24 hour cycle, something like 3 hour length, it is suppose to be long and grueling after all. 1.5-2 hour normal endurance rounds are good as are 1 hour straight races and 2X30 minute sprints.

    Would be interesting to look at implementing a tire set limit from when official practice starts, not sure how well that would work though, may just make people hide offline until the last minute.
    marty and SteveDrivingSlowly like this.
  11. marty

    marty AC Server Legend

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    I like the tyre set limit, hopefully if and when that gets added as a server option we could set which sessions to limit tyres and I would think limit tyre sets for qualy and race only giving free sets for practice as otherwise people would just avoiding joining practice early.

    It would give us the option to have for example 3 sets for qualy and race or even 2 sets so 1 set would need to be re used during a a single stop race. If someone used an extra set in qualy they would then also be putting more laps onto a race set so that's something that would spice things up.

    Unfortunately we are still massively limited in how we can set servers so lets hope the DLC patch also adds some more goodies to the server setup.
  12. Godzilla

    Godzilla Team Driver

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    With IGTC tracks coming “very soon” we could run both the normal championship as well as IGTC at the same time. All IGTC would be endurance rounds, not running in them wouldn’t affect the normal season in any way.
    Rounds would be in the same order as they are in real life, so a Bathurst enduro would be the first race but the points from that race only go towards the IGTC championship.
    Kcender87 likes this.
  13. marty

    marty AC Server Legend

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    That would be an option if people were keen to have another full SRO season, it sounds pretty good to me this can include the IGTC cup, Sprint and Enduro cups so kind of 3 seasons in one and IGTC being independant whilst still sharing the Spa round with the enduro cup and overall season. By the end of that season ACC could have its Asian or US dlc too ready for season 3.

    There could be a short 4 round mid season using the new DLC tracks to keep people keen between seasons. Set this in whatever format @Rolz and the rest want to run it then we could start season 3 possibly with a week off after that one. With a few new tracks Im sure soon after they drop there will be a spike in ACC interest so best to try and take advantage of this period when it comes. Everyone will want to run the new tracks too with an awesome selection plus maybe a bonus thrown in. My guess Vallelunga and extra special bonus surprise Nords. ;)

    That purely depends on when the DLC hits, its quite likely to be around the Bathurst race weekend or soon after which is next week. I will keep an eye on the forums and discussions while away but will be on the opposite european timezone so will leave most admin stuff and servers setup up to others.
    SteveDrivingSlowly and Rolz like this.
  14. Kcender87

    Kcender87 Rookie

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    1000% yes
  15. fRZn

    fRZn Team Driver

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    I had a great time racing with everyone this season. I hope I didn't cause any of the faster guys any dramas when they were lapping me.

    I didn't make it to any of the races in december because I was very busy with work and didn't really have time to stay up to race unfortunately. Then I missed two rounds after christmas because I was on a holiday. I tried to run a couple of laps when I came back from holiday to get back into the swing of things but I couldn't get into a rhythm and took a break for a while out of frustration. I was pretty disappointed that I missed the Spa enduro, but there wasn't much that I could do about it.

    Thanks to the admins and @marty for organising the first season. I'm definitely looking forward to the coming seasons with the IGTC tracks!

    As a for suggestions:
    • I'd be keen to try an enduro that begins at sunset and finishes at sunrise. Sort of like an all-night event, for 2-3 hours with an appropriate time multiplier of 6 or 4? It would be interesting to see how the tyres evolve through the night and then once "magic" hour comes around.
    • Or even a race that begins before dawn and finishes a few hours later?
    • Hopefully kunos have sorted out their thunderstorm probabilities so that dynamic weather can be re-enabled as well.
    • Since the 2019 blancpain calendar was used in the first season, maybe we can mix it up a little this time with, say, an enduro at Zolder or a couple of sprints at Paul Ricard, etc. Though, I'm perfectly happy to adhere to the official calendar as the sprint races serve as a nice buffer between the longer races.
    Hopefully this game continues to succeed so that we get more SRO-operated series DLC like GT Masters (for the Callaway Corvette!).
  16. krunch

    krunch ACC Server Legend Team Raceonoz Gold Member Super ROOZ

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    Great job @marty, @Rolz, @SteveDrivingSlowly and any other contributors to the first ACC season at RaceOnOZ! Can't have been easy having to grapple with the buggy and un-intuitive server functions multiple times each week, not to mention patches dropping in on us on race nights!

    Well done also to those who competed in the races, as there was some absolutely awesome racing. And when the racing occasionally wasn't so awesome - I believe solid lessons were learned :D.

    I started at ROOZ in 2015 and I always enjoy racing here because the style of racing we encourage is a great mix of 'competitive driver' and 'gentleman driver'. Yes, we can be both! Plus with the forum and Discord there's cool social interaction too :). Added to that I continue to learn a huge amount of stuff from everyone here including setup concepts, driving techniques, race craft, bad language, dad jokes :roflmao: so thanks all for that.

    Overall I think our ACC Season 1 was a good combination of race types, weather and time of day settings. Hopefully with ongoing updates we can start adding more custom restrictions and include driver swap races.

    My personal preferences:
    - Avoid scheduling seasons school holidays if possible. I will almost certainly miss at least one round and maybe more in school hols. Maybe just have fun-runs or a mini season at those times.
    - Shorter season of 7 or 8 races in total.
    - 2 or 3 90min enduros in that total (maybe driver swap optional?).
    - Save any longer enduros for a separate enduro cup with driver swaps (possibly on a different night of the week). Points not included in main season to allow those who cannot commit to long races on a weeknight to still contest the main championship.

    Looking forward to ACC Season 2 :thumbsup: