If we just completely ignore the fact that what we really should have gotten is the ability to set up the same kind of race-weekend lobbies as in featured multiplayer, not only are private multiplayer lobbies a letdown - They are now borderline unusable.
For reference, I’m an “event coordinator” for a Swedish Forza league. We’ve run tournaments since 2018 and played FM7 and held tournaments since its release up until the launch of the new FM. And even though FM7 lobbies lacked some QoL stuff there was usually a work around, but with this “new” system, it’s borderline impossible to run a community driven league, and I’m gonna tell you why.
__
1. No ability to sort grid order by last position? (only Best lap, PI, or Random)
1.5. No way to manually sort grid order
Listen to me, you can’t sort your race BY LAST POSITION. So if you win Race 1 and think that maybe you should start first for Race 2? Better hope that you also sat the fastest lap time!
And lets say someone disconnects or needs their position on the grid adjusted, the option to manually set a grid is now also removed
Solution: Add function to sort by last position and adjust grid manually. (Just as in FM7)
__
2. Doesn’t show previous race result in lobby
Oh you missed to manually click your way in to show results when the race ends? You didn’t have time to take notes on who got what place for later so you can assign points? Too bad, you’ll never see that information again…
Solution: Add button to show last race results on lobby screen. (Just as in FM7)
__
3. A fast dirty lap will win over a slow clean one
For some reason, and this is carried over to both single player and featured multiplayer as well, I think, if your fastest lap is dirty, a clean lap will never replace it unless it’s faster. So if I cut the track and gain 10sec, that lap will still count as the fastest lap I did.
Solution: A dirty lap should never count towards the fastest lap. (Just as in FM7)
__
4. You can’t see other peoples best lap times in meetup (only distance / time to next car)
4.5. You can’t get ‘sector-times’ in meetup
We usually use the meetup lobby as a practice/tuning session before the race. And the ability to see other peoples best lap times was really nice to gauge if you were way off pace, and push you to do better. For some reason now completely missing.
And since we can’t get a real practice-lobby, can we atleast get the sector-function?
Solution A: Add ability to set up practice/qualify lobbies as in featured multiplayer (with adjustable duration)
Solution B: Add the ability to show best lap in meetup (Just as in FM7)
Solution B.5: Add the ability to show sector-times in meetup
__
5. Race tires aren’t working
I’ve already made a post specifically for this, but it’s worth mentioning again because it really takes away a big part of racing - Racecraft. There is so little wear that the compounds are completely pointless. I hoped that this was a bug, but by the response from the other thread I’m worried that someone once thought that this was a good decision. In a perfect world we would have a “wear multiplier” slider so that we could adjust it ourselves.
Solution A: Fix bug???
Solution B: Give us a wear multiplier slider
Solution C: Adjust the multiplier to be the same as in featured multiplayer
__
6. Doesn’t show other drivers cars in lobby
6.5 Liveries not loading in during race
So this is both a missing feature and a bug. Since we don’t have an intermission screen where we can look at other people’s cars as in featured multiplayer. And even if the little picture under ‘driver list’ or whatever it’s called was actually working, it’s so small it’s useless.
It’s fun to look at other people’s liveries. And if your league uses its own teams/number plates/sponsors, no one will never know since the liveries never load in properly during the race anyway.
Solution A: Give us the ability to cycle between cars/drivers in lobby (Just as in FM7)
Solution B: Give us an intermission screen before the race
Solution B.5: Fix bug
__
7. FRR Track limits only
This isn’t broken or missing ofc, but the option to use FRR on ONLY track limits would be really nice. Sometimes the system is super wonky, especially when it comes to collisions. And I get that in featured multiplayer it needs to stay on, but for private lobbies, let us turn it off to minimize undeserved collision penalties. I feel like private communities can police themselves on that part.
Solution: Give us the ability to set active FRR for collisions and track limits separately
__
Then there’s a bunch of little things;
- Delayed start per row is missing
- The countdown when leaving pits is waaay off on most tracks (also, why cant we get the pit-option screen to pop up earlier on pits that have a really long entrance?)
- Fuel levels randomly changing between races
- Choosing cars when you have any kind of restrictions is a nightmare because the game freaks out and only sometimes lets you choose cars. So half the lobby is fine and the other half can’t pick the same car, then only some of those people can change fuel/tune without having their car removed…
- WHY DOES THE CAR PICKER DEFAULT TO RENT/BUY A CAR!?
- When installing a tune you get a warning saying that you can’t adjust it, and the default option is to remove it again - It should just be OK or not even be shown in the first place.
__
We are now forced to completely change our usual structure to get a really janky semi-LUCK BASED tournament going just to keep the community engaged. (because of the sort by best lap-time only)
Which is overall a really disappointing start to the new FM and a huge step back for private communities overall.
We would love to help private multiplayer get better, so if there is any questions please ask because I have a whole community of people that’s used private FM lobbies probably longer than some players have been alive.
__
(Repost in a “more fitting” forum because I’m not breaking this down to separate tickets…)