Experimental UKGTR driver ballast skin pack released

[Dave 'Gizmo' Gymer]

This is essentially the same as the UKGTR skin pack version 2.4 with some very modest ballast tweaks (mostly just to avoid half-kilo ballasts), but each car is available in 7 versions; the 'standard' one with just performance-balancing ballast, and then success-ballasted versions with -45kg to +45kg in 15kg increments.

The 996 GT3-RS and 360 Modena have both been reclassified as GTC. I do not have a good feel for how much ballast they need so the performance ballast currently assigned may change quite a bit as a result of the test races.

When selecting a car, the performance ballast is shown on the left against the car type, and the success ballast on the right against the team or privateer name.

The practice server has now been updated with the new pack so you will need to download it in order to join. There will be another update with new skins and more ballast tweaks before Season 6 but - assuming no showstppers - I expect us to use this pack for all UKGTR fun and test races until the new pack is released.

Installing the pack will remove any previous UKGTR skin files, but you would be well advised to remove the previous pack first using its uninstaller, and take a backup for your GTR2 directory, before installing this one.

Now, go download the pack via this post.

Please use this thread to discuss the concept and the implementation, ask questions about it, and report problems with it.

[Dave 'Gizmo' Gymer]

The first test race for this concept pack will be held at Oschersleben on Sunday. It would be great if we could fill the server as this new success ballast idea represents a big investment in the future of UKGTR and we need to make as certain as possible that it's going to work.

[psuedo]

Ok, just downloaded and installed...no problems whatso to report.

I take it from the way it's organised then that each driver will be responsible to select the correctly balasted car prior to racing. During the season proper would there be a 'List' or anything posted on the event thread to tell people what balast their on? and will there be 'penalties' for taking the wrong balast?

Great concept by the way....saves a lot of downloading and mucking about before each race. Excellent stuff. 

[Dave 'Gizmo' Gymer]

Ok, just downloaded and installed...no problems whatso to report.

I take it from the way it's organised then that each driver will be responsible to select the correctly balasted car prior to racing. During the season proper would there be a 'List' or anything posted on the event thread to tell people what balast their on? and will there be 'penalties' for taking the wrong balast?

Something like that - that's the technical part which I'll need to solve assuming the concept actually works at all. I don't think it'll actually be that difficult to do but it will fall short of the maximum automation towards which I strive.

[psuedo]

Another question Dave,
what ballast will be added/deducted relative to finishing positions in races?

[Dave 'Gizmo' Gymer]

what ballast will be added/deducted relative to finishing positions in races?

Not totally sure yet - the FIA GT uses a sort of 'floating' system, where the winner gets a certain amount added to their amount, second a bit less, third less still, fourth get a bit taken off, fifth more off, sixth and lower a load off. We'll most likely do something similar but the details, exact numbers and so on are hard to arrive at without these test races to help us understand how much effect the ballasts actually have.

[John Kingham]

Good work Dave!  Seems a shame there's no simple way to just plug in the existing weight penalty system from the game (not that I have any idea how that works).  Also is there a reason the UKGTR system is different from the FIA system in terms of the weight penalties, e.g. the FIA seem to give different penalties to different classes etc, or is it just that you wanted to give it your own personal twist?  Not that I'm bovvered, just out of interest.  Putting this in a single make series would also be interesting... hint hint 

[Dave 'Gizmo' Gymer]

Seems a shame there's no simple way to just plug in the existing weight penalty system from the game (not that I have any idea how that works).  Also is there a reason the UKGTR system is different from the FIA system in terms of the weight penalties, e.g. the FIA seem to give different penalties to different classes etc, or is it just that you wanted to give it your own personal twist?

The built-in system isn't supported in the dedicated server, which is a huge shame.

I picked a single set of ballasts just for simplicity. Using different sets of values for different classes shouldn't actually be technically difficult but if it's not actually needed there's no reason to add an extra level of complexity. I also needed to keep the number of different values for each car down to a sensible discrete set of numbers because GTR2 loads them all at startup and even with just 7 per car I see a measurable increase in loading time for both the game and the dedi server.

[Rich_A]

Firstly you do need set rules for each class. A slower car will suffer more when weight is added because it doesn't have the power to accelerate fast enough, remember it's all about power to weight ratio. Also you've already set predefined weight adjustments i.e. +5kg for my Saleen so I suggest you do not use too much success ballast because the cars are already more even. Ideally it should not be used at all because it punishes the driver and can discourage a driver from participating. But some is needed for sure with cars the have varying performance levels.

At EOAA we have the F550 at +20kg and there is a maximum success ballast of 50kg so that's in total +70kg potentially for the F550. The Saleen is unchanged so it would only get a maximum of +50kg. Actually our initial mass changes are similar to yours http://forum.eoaa.org/index.php?topic=177.0 but I really wouldn't go over board with success ballast. +50 for GT1, +30 for GT2 then maybe  24kg and 18kg for the last two classes. If you put +50 on a GT2 car it becomes a bit of a joke to drive and boring. Not to mention it increases tyre wear quite dramatically.

Here's our success ballast rules http://www.eoaa.org/main/GTR2/rules.htm#. So I don't know how you'd do it with the slower classes. Perhaps GTC and GT3 could be increased in steps of 4kg i.e. 4,8,12 for GTC and 3,6,9 for GT3. I think the general rule is max success ballast divided by two gives the max ballast for 1st at a single event.

It seems a bit funny expecting drivers to pick the right car. Bound to be problems there unless there is a severe penalty for picking incorrect ballast. Apparently this tool can set ballast whilst the client is connected to the server. http://forum.rscnet.org/showthread.php?t=295389 So you could possibly do it during practice one. Got to type this sort of thing as admin in the GTR2 chat window I guess !setpenalty 30 Rich_A.

[Dave 'Gizmo' Gymer]

Apparently this tool can set ballast whilst the client is connected to the server. http://forum.rscnet.org/showthread.php?t=295389 So you could possibly do it during practice one. Got to type this sort of thing as admin in the GTR2 chat window I guess !setpenalty 30 Rich_A.

Interesting if it really works... I wonder how it does it... will try it out sometime soonly as in some respects it's a much better solution (though in others it's more error-prone and obviously if the person setting the ballast gets it wrong then really you have to penalise the driver in the next race for something not their fault...)

[Paul968]

remember it's all about power to weight ratio

Well, no, it isn't all about power to weight. Weight is also a significant factor in corner speeds, which explains why the vertigo can keep up with some GTCs despite a much lower power to weight.

[popabawa]

..though in others it's more error-prone and obviously if the person setting the ballast gets it wrong then really you have to penalise the driver in the next race for something not their fault...

Could you automate a script to input the values for you? I would have thought that'd be a breeze for someone of your coding skillz Dave

[Rich_A]

Well, no, it isn't all about power to weight. Weight is also a significant factor in corner speeds, which explains why the vertigo can keep up with some GTCs despite a much lower power to weight.

Yes but it has more and more of an affect on a car if it has less power. So if you put +50 on a 650hp 1200kg car it might be 1.5 seconds slower. Put 50kg on a 400hp 1200kg car and it will be 3 seconds slower. It is about power to weight believe me Ari explained it to me and he was a professional rally driver.

[Rich_A]

Could you automate a script to input the values for you? I would have thought that'd be a breeze for someone of your coding skillz Dave

It may be possible to paste a whole list into it. Not sure, it may only be possible to paste in one at a time but if you can access the server via VNC or remote desktop then it would be easier to paste in for sure.

[BACKO]

I just instaled UKGTR Skins, Performance and Driver Ballast Pack (v2.5.0.3) and before I unistall old UKGTR 2.4 skins pack,when I start game my screen stay black and nothing happend!!!
(any reaction).So I removed it and now is GTR2 running without any problem.Can someone help me pls?THX