I was just made aware of something someone called "online effect".

It happens when there are many cars on the track and your PC is connected to the internet through a router.

The effect is a loss of grip, causing your car to be slower through the turns.

Is this for real?

I so, is this why I'm so pathetically slow?

Does this mean that on my next race hooked directly to my DSL modem I will be kicking everyones you know what ???

This effect was really bad during the original GTR races. I would be 3 to 4 seconds per lap slower with a car that felt like it was on butter.

Hope someone can clear this up so I can think about all the races I would have won! LoL

I have often felt that I have A LOT less grip than the faster guys through the turns. Hmmm....

I think it's more down to the dynamics of the game. I'm always half to three-quarters of a second slower online in P1 than I was offline. However, in P2, Qually and the race, the differences are much smaller. Router over modem made no difference.

Its down the simulated levels of grip available through a simulated race weekend in GTR2. I find that if I practice off line and choose 10am 1st practice, I usually get the same level of grip as online. The worst way to practice is to use time trial (or whatever its called). Its gives you maximum grip levels and never translates to online grip.

In addition to what Pete said, I think that after a rainy session times will again be slower and the racing line could be much less visible.

MAN!! if that is true, i am on wireless broadband to my house and router to my computer...no wonder .. lol

I'm through the router and I don't think there's any difference if direct... At least I hope not :p

Was looking for this thread. sorry to bump it but im quite interested in this problem.

I entered the GP79 race at Rouen today, and after being able to set 1:44 seconds a lap over and over and over offline i was very confident with the race. However, arriving at the race i found i could not brake near as late, could not corner as fast, and could not accelerate at all without spinning up!

Now if i could have done those 1:44's it would have been enough to battle for 2nd and maybe even first. So, is this problem proven to be real, and is it fixable? Because if it happens again im gonna be annoyed lol.

Thanks for any help!

I've always thought "online effect" was all in the head. When you have other things on your mind (such as cars around you) you tend to get throw off a bit. Also pressure/tension/nervousness all contribute to this problem.

I always do most of my practicing online, in case there really is an "online" effect.

You should always, always, always do your testing for an online race... online. Even if you create your own server that no one else can connect too, do it online.

It has been known since the beginning of online racing, that there are subtle differences in the car and track feel between on and offline.

I most likely has to do with the extra processes going on for a multiplayer race. Your PC has some extra work to do online, so it may very well be a little sluggish in the physics department to make up for it.

When I was working in the sim-racing software industry there were discussions in the office about how many times, per second, the physics are calculated. This is determined by the CPU speeds really... the more calcs per second, the larger the CPU load. If your CPU also has to track all these other cars on track and TCP handling, then it is very probable that the physics calculations had to be cut back to allow the CPU a little breathing room.

Moral of the story, practice online only and you will never know the difference.