by TuscoTodd » Mon Feb 20, 2017 11:50 pm
I find all of this interesting being an "analog guy" that jumped in on this proxy. I have some thoughts, I thought I would share having been involved with a number of proxies, that may/may not be beneficial to the thread. Feel free to take them with a grain of salt... :)
Single brand verses multi-brand...
In the proxies I have participated in and/or hosted, I have found the best racing / most fun has been when there are a fair number of defined restrictions on the entries (one brand, one class, one motor option, and even in some cases a single model like the Maverick, IROC Porsche, Kafer VW, etc proxies). When the rules are fairly open, there tends to be a wide disparity in performance with experience and in some instances $ dominating the top of the field and those newer to the hobby and/or newer to proxy racing typically getting relegated to the bottom of the field.
For some newcomers, this isn't an issue and is taken as a "learning" experience - but for some, it is found to be very discouraging to be nowhere near being in the hunt and it results in them being "turned off" to the idea of participating in future proxies.
Single format verses multi-format...
In considering multi-format in addition to multi-brand, keep in mind that it will add another large set of variables that will need to be considered, which with the teething issues this first proxy had, could prove to be another "challenging" experience. As a suggestion, and way to expand to other formats, but limit some of the variables, maybe consider a single brand / class of car (Scalextric vintage TransAm as an example) - but with Carson, etc type chips to allow the proxy to run on multiple software formats?
Again, just a thought...
Finally, one of the things that I didn't really understand, and again this is due to my ignorance of digital and this may be "the norm", but was the fact that track owners would be setting power and brake settings differently for different cars.
From my standpoint, as a builder/tuner, I found this information to be very discouraging. I spent a LOT of time on aligning bushings, breaking in the drive line, truing tires, etc trying to eliminate every bit of rolling resistance possible on my car, with the goal being to make it perform at it's peek and hopefully better than those being tuned by others. ;)
In reading the posts in this thread and those associated with the series (unless I misunderstood something) it sounds as though all my effort was really a waste though if the host track, at their discretion, could limit any particular entry's braking/top speed limits to an arbitrary level they felt was appropriate to make the field "more equal".
I'll chalk it up to something learned on my end. But I will say, had I know that was going to be the case, I wouldn't have spent the hours on my entry that I did and to be honest, would have refrained from entering this proxy - as it doesn't make a lot of sense on my end to try to tune a better car, pay to enter it and then have those efforts erased on an arbitrary basis. (especially when the variables that can come into play in digital racing are also applied)
Again, doing this type of arbitrary limiting of individual cars may be the "norm" for digital racing and if it is, I'm sorry, but it would seems to discourage "tuning/building a better car" and/or participation by non-hosts?
Again, please take my comments with a grain of salt - as they are just my observations. If they help in the discussions of next digital proxy - great! If not, no issue!
As I had stated in the other thread, it was great to be part of this as it developed and progressed to completion. It provided an interesting look into a format of racing I had never been exposed to, and as a result, I hope to have an opportunity try first hand in the future! :D
:text-thankyouyellow: