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Race2Play's "Season-6" begins in September and runs though December 2007. S6 will consist of 30+ championship series of open wheel, sports car, stock car, and touring car events. Some series are broken into divisions based on geography while others will have a single 'Masters' division suitable for most time zones. Most of the S5 series are making a return with minor changes coming to some. New series will be able to be added as demand dictates. =================================== Additions this season
Rank restricted events - Some series will now have some minimum and maximum rank restrictions associated with them. This serves multiple purposes, one of which is to require a certain skill-level to compete in the more difficult series. Another is to prevent the 'super-aliens' from dominating all the series. Any restrictions will be minor as to not leave out too many people on either side of the fence. Rolling rank - To go along with the rank restrictions the rolling rank will be calculated from your most recent races, not only career long stats. Your rank will now change more dramatically from one week to the next, allowing members to more easily transition into higher-skilled series. This new rank will be in addition to the current career-long rank, so both crowds will be happy. More fun-runs - A consolidation of the schedule allows us to schedule additional fun-runs and one-off events and even add new addons and simulations in our near future. Member suggestions for fun-runs will be welcome as there will be many more opportunities. Race tutoring - As promised, Race2Play will hold driving and setup tutoring 'lessons'. These lessons will be structured to focus on specific elements of racing and car setup techniques. From the basics of lapping in traffic and passing or being passed, to the more advanced setup changes and how they effect your car. TeamSpeak will be a requirement as instructions will be given via voice, not text chat. =================================== Open Wheel Series Formula Trainer - Continuing the already popular series, FT will continue to be short and fast-paced sprint racing using the default Advanced Trainers. There will now be both European and American championships for Welcome Division racers.
Formula BMW - Formula BMW slots perfectly between FT and F3 championships with two championships (European and American) running slightly longer races then FT. A great entry level open wheel series where sim-racers of all experience levels can find some great racing.
Formula 3 - Using the default rF3 cars, F3 is still a very challenging and competitive series. This series will continue it's S5 format with one minor change; slightly shorter races. American and European divisions will be run.
Historic Formula 1 - The GP '79 addon continues its presence with two divisions (European and American). The ultra-realistic formula cars will race over an 80 kilometer distance.
Formula 2 - iDT's ChampCar addon is already growing in popularity and it is fully expected to be supported at Race2Play after it's performance patch is completed. Formula 2 will be loosely modeled after the ChampCar series with some additional R2P flavor added to it. A single division will operate suitable for all time zones.
Formula 1 - Formula 1 will continue to be the premiere open wheel series, with full-distance races and all the challenge and drama that comes with it. A single division will operate suitable for all time zones.
=================================== Touring Car Spec Rhez - Spec Rhez will be included on the schedule. More info to come... Elise Challenge - Elise-only racing will be included on the schedule. More info to come... rFactor Touring Car championship - With the use of the default rFactor cars, newcomers to rFactor and/or sim-racing can experience great racing without all the headaches of downloading and installing too many addons. Race length is 80k with both the Howston and ZRs on track together, though fighting for separate championships.
Panoz/Porsche Racing Challenge - The new Panoz GTS and the tenured Porsche GT3 will be on track together in a dual-class Touring Car series. The two cars will not compete against each other for points or position, but they will have to share the track and battle amongst each other for racing real-estate. Two divisions split among Euro and Americans are already operating and will continue into S6.
RACE '06 - Fast paced sprint races with door-banging action... it doesn't get much better then this for all out action. The race length will be shorted slightly over the S5 lengths. This series is fully expected to transition to RACE '07 when Simbin releases their updated title.
V8 Supercars - GTR2 and the GTR2-V8 tracks bring a true V8 Supercar feel to this series. Some changes to this series will be one less pit stop during the race making it even more important to manage the tire wear.
=================================== Sports Car Historic GT - A very popular series with a large variety of cars and race configurations is a perfect recipe for a close championship. GTH's "rental credits" has proven to keep the races and championship very close over the course of a season. GTH will operate a single division suitable for Europeans and Americans alike.
Extreme G3 - G3x will continue it's current format but as a Welcome division series. Two divisions (European and American) will compete for their separate championships.
Extreme G2 - G2x changes from a 1-hour, 2-stop race to a 45-min race with only 1 mandatory stop. Tire wear multiplier will continue to be used over the race distance making tire management will be top priority. Three divisions (European, Atlantic, Pacific) will allow anyone to complete.
Extreme nGT - One of the most popular current series, nGTx expands to three divisions (European, Atlantic, Pacific) and given a prime-time slot in the schedule to accommodate everyone. The tried and true formula of 60 minute races with 2X fuel consumption will stay unchanged.
Extreme GT - GTx will run the will run nearly the same format as S5, but with 15 minutes chopped off the overall race distance. A single 'masters' division will run on a mix of GP tracks as well as some of their shorter "National" cousins.
GT-Open - No major changes will take place to the GTO series. The GT & nGT divisions will continue to run 2-hour endurance races with the G2 & G3 events running 60 minutes with 2X fuel and tire multipliers.
Panoz Le Mans Series - The Panoz GTR-1 and Panoz GT2 cars will continue to compete over 1.5 hour races, ending in after sunset. PLMS will operate a single division suitable for Europeans and Americans alike.
GT-Invitational - GTI has been running since 2003. A very exclusive series where teams must be invited in by the other teams already in GTI. 2+ hour endurance races, changing weather conditions, and some of the strongest sports car teams at Rce2Play, make these races some of the most difficult and prestigious. =================================== Stock Car Friday night shootout - Imagine the final 20 minutes of a long Cup race. No holds barred, no cautions, all out action oval racing where winner takes all. Quick, fun, high action oval racing without all the interruptions. This series will run only on 1.5 mile or smaller tracks.
Stock Car Challenge - The big brother to the Friday night shootout series much longer races. Cautions are enabled to allow many different fuel and tire strategies with many of the standard oval racing rules in place. This series will follow the Nextel Cup schedule as closely as possible.
=================================== Answers to some questions/suggestions from this discussion Most series will continue to operate on the same day/time. Some are changing but not many. Rhez, Megane, and Fabcar are still very much being considered. I'd also like to bring in the one GTR2 car that can not be used in the R2p format as it stands (Vertigo). The schedule is intentionally left much more sparse then S5 so I can do just this... add more series based on what you guys want. European events have NOT been doubled at this time, though I am schedule all Euro events a little later in the evening to assist the Western Europe times. |
Looks nice. Race tutoring sounds ace! I have a strong feeling Jeff will suggest something. :P | ||
Just a thought for the popular, but now rank-resticted events like G3-X and GT-O G2/3, why not allow higher ranked drivers, but in lower ranked cars? Like Elise/Z3M, Morgan/Mosler etc. Might add a bit more variety. Edit by TM - That is a great suggestion and might just work out. With the rank restrictions a high-rank player will not even get the sign up link, but I can still manually add people to an event with certain conditions like you suggest. Maybe Todd will have a better solution, I will discuss it with him for sure. | ||
Some nice additions here for S6. Especially curious how the rolling rank will work out. Two things I'd like to mention: 1. G3 is a very popular series in S5. Not happy to see it being transformed into a Welcome Division series. I also see a ranking of 0-5 in Touring Car is needed, but the serie itself is placed under Sports Car. 2. Like in S5 the only Touring Car series with GTR 2 is the V8 Supercars series. I still believe that's a bit thin. Is there room for another Touring Car series with GTR 2? Possible solution for both "issues" ... two series of G3, both under Touring Car: A. Welcome G3 for ranking 0-5
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Yeah, I'm extremely disapointed to see that I will be completely restricted from running in the G3 class and Formula Trainers. Just because we have a high rank doesnt mean that we dont mind missing out on racing the slower cars :( Also, I still think the rFactor V8s were more popular than the GTR2 versions, but I guess that ship has sailed... it just means that in S6 I wont be doing any Touring car racing at all, despite there being a tonne of great rF touring car mods (Meganes, Caterhams, V8s, Octavias, Lupos, Rhez, etc) | ||
Yeah that's a bit bitter. I wanna beat Scott :P | ||
I was thinking about requesting race tutoring the other day and am glad to see it being implemented. tks, | ||
All sounds good to me and always interesting to see how this place will develop. Can you confirm though will events remain on the same nights, or will some change. ie will F BMW / F3 always be Wed/Thu (Euro I am talking here) or will it swap around a bit each season. Also there was discussion on splitting time zones in Europe, ie east and west to aid the UK drivers getting home in time, is that likely to happen? Although I know some will have issues with the rankings etc, I am happy to race whatever I am able, and just try and improve my overall experience and success in wahatever I can run. Cheers | ||
Wow, what a cool mix of series! The ranking restrictions are a welcome inclusion to the already great R2P schedule. You can't satisfy everyone, but I think you guys did a great job with the S6 events. Thanks guys, you really do respond to the memberships wishes! Looking forward to some great racing in S6. : ) Dan | ||
Along the lines of what Scott is saying, maybe we can arrange a series of fun-runs with some of the better rfactor mods. | ||
I am stressed that I won't be able to race FT or G3 anymore. :-| Most of my time in GTR2 is in the G3's, and having everything else in GTR2 on a Friday or Saturday night (when people go out) or conflicting with PLMS or GT-I just means even less GTR2 racing. That and the lack of Touring Cars. Is it time to make a big push to include Meganes or Rhez now? Or change the Elise over to a Touring Car and make a series? Have they released the Mini mod for GTR2 yet? |