I recently started in an Indy 500 hopper. I had done it once and found it fun. This second time was anything but fun. I think the race started with 9 drivers. I even managed to get into the lead on lap 2. On lap 4 I was taken out by a wrecker. (He has been reported.) He wrecked a few more people before dropping out. That left 8 of us in the race. 4 of us, I am counting myself in that group appeared to be experienced racers. The other 4 appear to be new to the game. 2 of them had driver level under 30. I’m sure they had little or no online racer experience. This hopper is not the place to get that experience. Trying to pass them wasn’t easy because they blocked other drivers. Twice I dodged them and plowed into the wall. I really wanted to plow into them but I didn’t. That would just be wrong. After 20 minutes or racing I asked myself “Why am I doing this?” I wasn’t having fun. I decided to quit the race for that reason.
I understand there will be inexperienced drivers that need to learn. I was one of them once. I started on D class hoppers but quickly moved to C class because I had C class cars with bettered tuning. As I mentioned earlier this is not the hopper to get that experience. I think there needs to be two versions of the hopper set up. One where anybody can enter. The other one should be limited to racers with level 100 or above. Completing the requirements of the challenge in either hopper should result in you getting the medal. I hope that when the 2.4 hours d’endurance is set up they do something like this.
Forza isn’t fun most of the time mainly for the same thing that has happened to you, Wreckers!
Inexperienced racers are also a HUGE problem, fair enough they need to practice but doing it in online lobbies isn’t the right thing to do as they just ruin other peoples races because of their lack of experience, Test Drive mode is to practice so I don’t know why they don’t use that and if they need practice with other drivers around them then just get friends or ask people on these forums to go in a private lobby and race as they will understand if you accidently hit them.
Also your theory on only people over level 100 can join certain lobbies wont make a difference as I’ve seen many people over level 100 who still race like a completely inexperienced racer.
The only thing that will improve all this nonsense online would be to give power to the players aka Public Lobbies from FM4
How do you determine that … I came online when I was lever 1/2 and beat level 800+ because I know the game and am good at it … You cant judge a person by a level, i’ve met people with 1700+ and they are 3 seconds a lap slower than me, maybe the under 30’s were on a second account …
Im playing devils advocate but the Level is in no way, shape, or form a representation of a players skill, anyone can put the time in to level that up, doesn’t make them any faster at the game …
I think what you have experienced is the risk we all take by joining any Collisions On lobby, you get the wreckers, you get the amateurs, its a chance of luck prevailing and unfortunately 95% of the time its a negative experience
I agree that driver level may not accurately predict a drivers online driving capability. I can’t come up with any better measure. The fact that the person put in the time to reach level 100 indicates he has played the game for a while and should know how the game operates. So yes, the driver level in some way represents the drivers skill. The more you play the game, the better you should get.
The fact that the two drivers with the lowest level were also the slowest drivers in the race and displayed the least online etiquette, is another reason I thought they had little online experience. Of course, they could have been total jerks. I chose to be polite and say they lacked experience.
There will always be exceptions. I admit there are some people with a low driver level that may be very good at the game. If you had experience with Forza 4 online, you should know online racing etiquette. Or like you mentioned, if someone started a new account, the level may not represent their skill.
Most of the time these inexperienced drivers don’t bother me. I understand it. Most of the online races are short and the new drivers cause few disruptions. In the case of the Indy 500 hopper, they cause lots of disruptions.
I understand the risk on joining any Collisions on lobby. I wouldn’t say it is a 95% chance of a negative experience. I’d say it’s more like 50%.
This would work very well. With all the effort put into the drivatars why on earth would you ever get put into a lobby with someone who is more than 2 seconds a lap different than you? (Aside from racing with friends)
Each having class racing along with monthly hopper leagues.
Of course the Special races stay the same.
The no collisions lobby has been great. No headache of wreckers or those new to online racing. No pile ups in turn one.
I’m tired of hearing people saying “it’s not real racing”. And the normal lobby racing is? I don’t think so. Far from it. Normal lobbies have no strategy. Just hope to not get crashed and get away from it all. At least with no collisions you can race without fear of lap traffic, blockers, wreckers and even zombies.
I enjoy the no collision lobby! We should have two or three of them each month. I ve also seen those who say its not real racing. If u get wrecked 80 % of the time thats not racing!!! If not for the no collision lobby i would not race online at all.
If 95% of the time you’re not enjoying yourself I highly suggest doing something else. I do agree that no collisions are a nice option for people but I do prefer the standard lobbies.
If you come across people wrecking or generally doing anything that frustrates you. BLOCK THEM then you will not race with them ever again. If it warrants a Report then do that as well.
This has improved my racing experience greatly and keeps the hoppers very enjoyable for me. One last piece of advice USE YOUR MIC don’t assume people can see you or know your intentIons.
I didnt say I didnt enjoy myself, I said its a negative experience in regards to wreckers
I enjoy myself cause I hang back as much as I can let the melee happen in front of me, get through the clean racers cleanly and go onto to set some fast lap times at the front, I have enough fun to tide me over until November
although in principal this is a good idea, it just means it takes the randomness of where the wreckers start out of it and they will always be at the back and going through you on turn 1
I learned to deal with this s-crap since Forza 1 and developed defensive techniques on avoiding these wreckers. They don’t faze me anymore enough to ruin my experience with this game.
This is one of many reasons why developing a friends list of like-minded racers is very, very useful and highly recommended. It is disheartening to hear these kinds of things happening in the public lobbies; but, an avenue exists to circumvent this kind of poor sportsmanship.
i have now got a friends list that enables me to not bother with the publics much more. There is nothing better than good, clean racing, whilst being able to select track, laps and car class.
the public hoppers breed bad driving - as does Forza in general - i mean there’s an achievement for flipping your car!
with regards to blocking players - on the other forums i use we have compiled a list of blocked gamertags between ourselves. This does have such a positive effect on the online experience and everyone should do it. Eventually, all the clowns will.be racing in their own lobbies, leaving the rest of us to race clean.
doing that would mean no need for a ghost lobby. I have tried doing them, and it really is just rivals mode, with more ghosts and less track choice. Some may like it, but IMO these lobbies also breed bad racing. You cant get any good at passing someone, if you would normally drive straight through them.
racing is fun when is is clean. Its at its funnest when your getting sweaty palms, trying your best to legitimately keep a car behind you, or trying to make a pass. You may have someone in the corners, but they catch you on a straight. This fun cant be had in a ghost hopper, only a lobby full of like minded individuals.
talking about ghost lobbies and that racing in them can’t teach you to race well in collisions on lobbies, I’m glad you brought that up. From what I’ve seen in my substantial experience, i absolutely disagree with what you’re saying. If you do a lot of ghost racing you’ll realise that nothing else but skill determines how well you do. If you want to win races, the only way you can do that is to hit consistently faster lap times. Racing collisions off will be an eye opener for a whole heap of people and give them that desire to really push to get better. To learn better lines and better car control. Nobody likes to lose every single race, which is what happens if you enter collisions off races with faster people. You’re going to get that fire in your belly giving you that drive to get better and doing that the right way. Eventually when you’ve improved so much you can win many races collisions off pretty much no matter who is in the lobby you’ll have reached a level where you consistently run great lap times and have excellent car control no matter what. Racing collisions on is equally easy and just comes natural. In fact all the fastest people I’ve raced with collisions off are the fastest and cleanest when racing collisions on. Racing collisions off with the fastest people is insanely good for your development
i completely see your point, and obviously this is all opinions here. My personal experience racing with the fastest drivers is that yes, they are fast, but only when there is nothing in front of them. You can learn the perfect line around every track, but you cant be on that line when another car is already there.
the amount of times i have been wrecked, and the excuses range from “I normally brake later than you” to “i take that corner later” shows a complete lack of racecraft, even if that i what you can get away with in ghost lobbies. There is a massive difference to being able to hot lap consistently on an empty track, to negotiating traffic consistently.
I can normally place higher on a LB in rivals than the people i race with, but they will usually beat me in a race.
I’m not saying i disagree with ghost lobbies. If we all thought the same and enjoyed the same things, it would be a pretty boring world.
I think you have the best solution. I think I’m going to give up on public lobbies. The headaches aren’t worth it. The only problem is the special events. I wish you could make a private lobby for them.
I entered another Indy 500 hopper and there was a wrecker. He seemed to be working with someone. I can’t be sure but it looked suspicious. I reported the wrecker. I was unsure how to report him. I know the system but I wanted to make sure I reported the correct person. I pulled into the infield in turn 1 and looked at the event standings. I knew he was in last. I saw the number above his car. I wasn’t 100% sure of the name. I didn’t want to report the wrong driver. There was no way in the race to report him that I could find. I exited the race and went back to the lobby. In the lobby I selected the driver and both reported and blocked him. I didn’t feel like racing for 2 more hours getting rammed all the time. That is why I left the race. Two other racers had already left the race. Is there another method of reporting the driver?
It is surprising how much the bad actions of one driver can deter from the fun of so many drivers.
I already have the medal. I was doing the race for the fun of it. The first time I did the race was fun. We had one inexperienced driver but he was predictable. I didn’t see him intentional cause wrecks. You just had to be careful when passing him. He wandered a lot.
I didn’t see the fun it getting rammed every few laps.
Be sure to block and report unsporting behavior whenever you come across a crasher. I race public lobbies about five hours a day and rarely come across any crashers anymore. Seems to me that blocking those idiots really does help.
If I see a noob level 1 racer in a lobby I immediately assume this is an experienced FM4 player or a FM5 player on a multiple identity kick. Only a true dipstick would leap straight into online racing straight after loading the game for the first time. No what they need to do is become immersed in the psychopathic demolition derby that someone jokingly called career mode.
The game by its very career format is training new players to drive like crash bandits. Name me another racing game anywhere, anywhere, where coming in third gets you gold?
