Speaking to a number of others players within the community, I wanted to float an idea regarding expanding the “Introduction Series” in Featured Multiplayer.
Currently, only the “Qualifier Series” exists under the “Introduction Series” tab with car choice limited to the Honda Civic TCR and open tuning. Most players do their 3 races, earn their rating and move straight into much faster class or spec division races and rarely revisit afterwards.
As the Introduction series is focused on helping drivers earn their driver and safety rating (or in some cases rebuild it!), I would like to propose that T10 adds the following single make/spec series under the “Introduction Series” tab;
- Formula Mazda
- MX-5 Cup
- Ginetta Juniors
I would also like to propose the following race setup changes;
- Tuning and upgrades are forced OFF.
- Short races only.
- Increase number of qualifier races from 3 to 5, with a requirement to complete at least 1 race in each spec to gain experience in FWD and RWD cars.
This “grassroots” type racing series will allow drivers to focus on their race craft, knowing that there is a completely level playing field for earning driver and safety rating.
Of course, tuning is a big part of the game and a core skill to learn in order to be fast online but this is a smaller gain in performance from tuning versus knowing how to race and get the most out of the car you are given.
The above are all popular series which could feature on a more permanent basis in the “Introduction Series” with their limited rule set, which would open up the opportunity to run more weekly options in the “Featured Spec” tab, instead of recycling these series.
Cycled Production was always a good challenge in FM7 and used a similar ruleset while giving players a more true idea of their pace knowing that driver skill was the only differentiator between players.
I hope that this gets some votes behind it. These races could become very popular with content creators too, given that many in the community would relish the opportunity to compete with other drivers on a completely level playing field with respect to build and tuning setups.
I don’t think banned tuning will be good, for me in series with disabled tunes cars should already have created one by finest tuners in community applied to the cars, this will be great example how good tune can change car from boat to racing beast
1 Like
I personally think it’s fine as is. There’s no need to reïnvent the wheel.
Adding more series would split lobbies even harder, especially for the qualifier series wich is already somewhat starved in terms of players (makes sense, the game is in it’s 2nd year).
Changing things would make it in my opinion harder for them to get started if they just want to jump in a race of their choosing.
Racecraft can also be honed by them not qualifying and starting at the back, slowly making their way up the grid once they get their ratings.
There’s much more important things to change with the game, and this isn’t one of them.
It’s not reinventing the wheel IMO. It’s just expanding on what’s already there.
Part of the reason no-one does the qualifier series after getting their rating is that there’s only 3x tracks and only 1 car. I’m proposing to expand the tracks (more tracks to learn in slower classes of vehicles) and expanding the types of cars you drive (FWD requires a very different technique to RWD and/or AWD). This is good learning and kinda reflects the natural progression privateers go through IRL when getting into circuit racing for the first time.
MX-5 Cup, Ginetta Junior and Formula Mazda are already fun and popular series, so featuring them permanently in the “Introduction Series” will open up options to do other stuff in the Weekly Featured Series tab (Community Choice, etc…).
Respect your position on this though. I don’t expect everyone to agree.
I agree that the ‘introduction series’ needs to be changed to some extent. In its current form, it does not make much sense. Why were the TCR races chosen? Something like Ginetta Juniors would have been better. Player starts with a series of races in slower cars, accesses a series of races in a faster series, etc. You could even add that a successful pass would only count if there are no penalties at the end of the race.
The game also does not explain to the novice player about any aspects of overtaking, etiquette and other racing things. This series even has “Forza Code of Conduct” but the game doesn’t tell about it either.
As a result, the player simply finishes the three introductory races and jumps into the notional X class, flying into opponents at full throttle in a corner.
1 Like
I hear you, but my view is that stock tunes level the playing field (so you don’t get people worrying about if it’s the tune that’s holding them back or why someone else is quicker).
The series I’ve mentioned above generally all drive pretty nice on the stock tune. Meta tunes in this game are naturally unstable (max front/min rear aero, high roll centers, 100/0 diff etc…) to get the car to rotate quickly. Newer players may not be ready for that and if the cars feel bad to drive, it can put people off.
That said, if this would be implemented without forcing stock tunes, it’s wouldn’t be the end of the world.
1 Like
This is exactly my point. Bring players in a little more slowly with fun races in slower cars. Let them build experience before, as you say, going straight to X-class or GT3 and murdering half of the field because they are not used to cars that are so much more powerful and difficult to control.
1 Like
The point of the qualifier series is to get your ratings and then jump into whatever series you want to race for that week of content, nothing more nothing less.
Mastering different drivetrains can also be done away from multiplayer with rivals mode and just plain testing so again, no need to have this as some kind of requirement for entering the full multiplayer experience. Same goes for jumping into faster cars, just jump into rivals or free play.
Something like a video explaining racecraft and how you should build up your experience in faster cars that pops up in the game, similar to what’s done in Gran Turismo Sport is i think a much more effective way to go about.
Fair points, but why would you be against having this in FMP as well as those other options you mentioned? What’s wrong with gaining experience online vs rivals or freeplay?
Racing against actual people is much better than the AI or time trialling in rivals, which is the point. It’s about building your racecraft against other players in different machinery than just getting used to driving FWD, RWD or AWD.
Ultimately, for those who already have their ratings, you’re just getting more online racing options. Nothing stopping you from going back in and racing those series again if you want. And if you don’t want to, cool. Go race GT, TC or whatever. In that regard, it’ll be no different than it is today.
I personally enjoy these spec series as much as I enjoy Proto-H, TC, GT3, B-Class, etc… So I can’t see how having the option for going back into the Introduction Series to race them whenever I want to is a bad thing?
EDIT: Just to address the point about GT7… It’s much more than just watch a video. You have to complete the music rally, a bunch of menu books to unlock Multiplayer and then you have to watch the “What Is Sportsmanship?” video before you can get online, which is a far longer process than what FM currently has or what I’m proposing. (YT vid for ref: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BCaR_FXwpkA)
1 Like
I been suggesting formula Mazda for a long time now. It’s a perfect vehicle for racers wanting to learn the open wheeled side of things, that’s fairly easy to drive no matter how it’s setup.
1 Like
My main gripe is that you’re going to unnecessarilly thin out lobby population even more for a non-existant problem. It’s otherwise a perfectly reasonable idea your suggesting.
You’d add in another 3 lobbies with this right? That’s 3 more lobbies that potentially draw players away for a series they should only visit one time ever in their entire time on Forza Motorsport. And again, the game is in it’s 2nd year, the qualifier series isn’t populated much, if at all meaning that these changes would be a costly waste of time and resources that could have been used on parts of the game that need much more attention, like the aforementioned AI, Forza Race Regulations, adding in an Offline mode, allowing replays to be longer than 20 minutes wich helps report incidents that happen further in 1h races, reporting incidents that happened in a race much easier and of course fixing many many bugs. I don’t see much gain (lobbies will always have that one guy that struggles hard).
I still think it’s better to get practice away from online so you don’t ruin someone else their practice/race if you suddenly screw up. Once you’re somewhat sure you got the feel of the car down (with or without a setup), you can go online in one of the many lobbies we already have. Then you can train racecraft by starting dead last and working your way through the pack wich automatically mitigates the purpose of these additional lobbies, with the touring cars being a good starting point. Spec series also come by often enough so there’s that as well.
Respectfully, I don’t think that would be the case at all (thinning out lobbies).
A quick glance through the suggestions hub and other parts of the FM forum, various discords (I’m a mod in one with 6,000+ members) and social channels would show you that the general consensus is that there is not enough racing options in online MP.
Some people only show up when their favourite series is on. Some never leave GT and/or TC hoppers. Adding Next-Gen NASCAR and drift mode brought a load of players back into the game (and the addition of Fujimi Kaido next month is only going to boost that further). They are 2 games modes I personally don’t do because they’re not my jam. I don’t get annoyed at the prospect that those series are taking players away from the series I want to race in, because those guys probably don’t want to race in the divisions I race in and that’s fine.
More choice is only going to help increase the player base, not spread out what’s already there.
Additionally, just because these are termed “Introduction Races” does not stop players coming back to them. They would just happen to be the first races you have to do before unlocking the full range of online options. Dictating what players should or shouldn’t race (or how often they get to race them) is already an unpopular move for many in the community - Especially open class racers. How many people have been driven away (or stay away for weeks at a time until their favourite class comes around) due to that decision alone?
Suggesting this is a non-problem is a little short-sighted IMO. It’s about improving choice and creating the opportunity for a better online experience. Practicing offline against AI won’t help you race better against actual players - They are infinitely more unpredictable and adaptable than the AI and the best way to learn how to adapt to that is racing against other players. FM is infamous (rightly or wrongly) for it’s poor driving standards online - This suggestion is an attempt to address that.
1 Like
It’s clear your passionate about what you’re trying to improve and i commend you for that at least.
Unfortunately, while i think your suggestion and the logic behind it are reasonable, i think what we have now is sufficient enough. If we do end up getting exponentially more players (like, a lot more), then i could have been more in tune with your suggestions about expanding it so my concerns would be non-existant.
Let’s agree on disagreeing and leave it at that or else this discussion might turn sour wich i think we both don’t want.
1 Like
No worries! I like being challenged on this sort of thing… You never know what you might learn from someone else’s perspective, so no ill-feeling on my part!
Appreciate you sharing your thoughts on my suggestion.
1 Like
“You never know what you might learn from someone else’s perspective…”
Listen Forza playerbase, this is great wisdom we all could use!
1 Like
I think there’s a value in having two “Beginner Series”, in that you can have one where people learn to race RWD cars (MX-5 Cup) and one where people learn to race FWD cars (Civic TCR).
Renaming from Qualifier Series to Beginner Series could subconsciously have more people keep racing after their mandatory 3 races. Maybe lock the series off to drivers above a certain Skill Rating so that they don’t stomp on newbies, but if they drop below that rating it opens up again.
Up them from 3 tracks to 5 or maybe 10, have 1-2 wet races in each so people can learn how to do those online.
1 Like
I think this is a great idea you have my vote, and from my experience recently I think the player base is increasing.
6 months ago I would go into a b class hopper with about ten people, now I literally have a full lobby every race and it’s good racing too.
I think all the improvements to the game is making racing much better to actually have close racing.
I do think a lot of new drivers could do with learning In more types of cars and speeds.
Getting used to the basic fundamentals of racing drafting closing distances and braking into a corner.
1 Like
