Crashing and griefing in multiplayer

[PJTierney]

It looks like we’re set for another 2 years of talking amongst ourselves about the state of Multiplayer; I’ve seen most of these topics come up during Forza Motorsport 6’s lifespan and since no tangible improvements have been made to the Public Hopper system in Forza Motorsport 7 we’re set to repeat ourselves.

So, rather than write something new, here’s a few (relevant) quotes from the past, now available in 4K and HDR

@PJTierney

Unless we get some back-and-forth about game philosophy (which isn’t likely based on how Turn 10 seem to communicate around here) we’re just going to be going round in circles discussing issues like corner-cutting. It needs to be brought up but when you have 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 threads on the front page about unsportsmanlike conduct with little to no official response then there’s not much you can do. Concerns are being raised which is all well and good, but until we see some results I fear it’s going on deaf ears.

@PJTierney

I think we’re going round in circles when it comes to making online racing a cleaner experience.

There are a number of things that can help remedy the situation, some of which we can do ourselves, and some of which rely on Turn 10 taking some initiative:

• (Player) Report persistent troublemakers via Xbox Live’s features and policies.
• (Player) Vote to Kick a problem player while in a lobby with them.
• (Player) Leave a lobby and find another one which may hopefully be cleaner.
• (Player) Start using the League Hoppers.
• (Player) Race privately with friends.
• (Player) Get involved with Racing Clubs and other people who organise private races & championships.
• (Player) Educate yourself and others on the fundamentals of clean racing.
• (Turn 10) Improve the effectiveness of Vote to Kick in lobbies.
• (Turn 10) Have grids sorted by some form of performance metric rather than random assignment, such as Fastest Lap, Previous Result etc.
• (Turn 10) Have some sort of system in place that rewards clean racers and punishes dirty racers.
• (Turn 10) Have some in-game features that can help educate more players on the fundamentals of clean racing, such as loading screen tips, tutorial videos etc.
• (Turn 10) Have a subpage on Forzamotorsport.net which gives tips on how to have an enjoyable Multiplayer experience.
• (Turn 10) Open up League Hoppers to be active for longer time periods.

That’s just a small summary, I’m sure there are more things that both we and Turn 10 can do to help make racing more enjoyable for everyone but until something changes there’s not really much point in talking about the same things over and over.

I was quite vocal on the forums about the negative Public Hopper experience in Forza Motorsport 6 but after seeing that no meaningful improvements have been made in Forza Motorsport 7 I’ve come to accept that this is going to be the way it is. I’ve given up trying to make feature/philosophy suggestions, Forza Motorsport does not consider the “clean racing enthusiast” their target market anymore.

We can’t change this environment and Turn 10 don’t see it as a priority either, so we just have to suck it up and deal with the potential for crashes (both accidental and deliberate) in every race.

If I want a guarantee of clean racing I’ll go play Gran Turismo Sport; I’ve already had plenty of good racing over there so far. I’m not going to get that in the majority of Forza Motorsport 7 races, as many players either lack the skillset or respect required for that kind of experience.

Nowadays most of my Forza Motorsport 7 Hopper races end up with me starting near the front, desperately trying to escape the pack and either winning on my own or having a battle with 1 other car. Pack racing is “dead” in this game for me unless I’m on the Forza Friday livestream with Mechberg and like-minded players.