ACC [PC] Better Start Formations and Better Racing

Discussion in 'Assetto Corsa Competizione PC Monday Night' started by krunch, Jul 26, 2021.

  1. krunch

    krunch ACC Server Legend Team Raceonoz Gold Member Super ROOZ

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    Recently the Admin Team have been discussing whether or not there are ways to improve race start formations and consequently reduce incidents in the first lap. Things haven't been terrible so far but if we can improve every driver's understanding of what's required in the formation lap then we have more chance of avoiding nasty incidents in the future. With that in mind please take the time to watch the 3.5min video below but also please think about what is fair to your fellow competitors (hint - 'gaming' the start procedure isn't!):



    Speaking of fair, the we'd also like to remind drivers that redressing is important. This league is to a large extent self regulating. It combines a high level of competition with 'sportsmanlike' conduct. Respectful racing is more satisfying to most of us than simply getting good race results. This is why we encourage redressing and only review incidents in certain circumstances (ie. occur during the start procedure, occur in lap 1, are protested, or are significant enough that they come to our attention).

    Feel free to discuss these topics here as our actions as Admins and Stewards are guided by all the participants in this league.

    Cheers,
    The Admin Team
    CornfordCaster and UrsineSaturn9 like this.
  2. Wally

    Wally Team Driver

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    I think it's always worth pointing out too - redress when it's safe to do so. Sometimes people are so anxious to redress, they stop on the racing line and cause more incidents.
    MusicRacer, krunch and CornfordCaster like this.
  3. CornfordCaster

    CornfordCaster Moderator Team Raceonoz Gold Member

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    Definitely, it's not always the safest decision to do it immediately and especially in turns/sectors where people are on the limit any given lap. Best to do so off the racing line on a straight and treat it as if you were getting blue flags.
    krunch likes this.
  4. krunch

    krunch ACC Server Legend Team Raceonoz Gold Member Super ROOZ

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    Yep spot on! Might as well do another link to the "The Rooz Guide to Courteous Driving" (also known as the Etiquette Guide) which details safe redressing among other stuff.
  5. krunch

    krunch ACC Server Legend Team Raceonoz Gold Member Super ROOZ

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    After Round 6 what are people's thoughts on this subject?

    It looks to me that the Kunos Start System leaves more leeway in the final phase of the start formation than it used to. In some ways that's good as we were getting some odd start penalties in previous seasons. However, that also means that closely following the advice in the video above about the final phases of the start system doesn't really make sense as driver's can end up more than a car length out of position relative to others near them.

    So near the end of the "double file" phase it might be better for everyone to stay near the top of the position indicator (make sure you are within it at the moment it disappears though!).

    Would this improve things? What other ideas do people have?
  6. Rowdy

    Rowdy New Recruit Gold Member

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    I'm not sure about that...I think it would be best if everyone just tried to maintain the indicator as accurately as possible. I think a lack of accuracy is the issue most of the time - sloppy driving at the double grid formation stage. I'm sure if everyone kept the widget perfectly centered the formation would look exactly like that - perfect. For whatever reason, pretty much every start in ACC, someone leaves a 5-10 car gap somewhere on the grid which causes the stagger...If there is a way of "gaming" the start I'm not aware of it?
    krunch likes this.
  7. krunch

    krunch ACC Server Legend Team Raceonoz Gold Member Super ROOZ

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    Thanks for the feedback. Yeah it's quite tricky to figure out the best way to improve formations. It's entirely possible we are at "peak formation" for this group of drivers :laugh:. In reality even the pros get rolling start formations wrong sometimes (not to mention wet starts - can you get any more pro than F1? :eek:) so we don't expect perfection.

    The point is that different sim drivers have a different perception of what is the right spot to be in and also different levels of accuracy for hitting that spot. Mix that up with the very wide tolerances inherent in the widget and speed bar, and we end up with massive discrepancies in the 'legal' positioning of cars in the formation at the green lights. Ultimately we want to avoid T1 and early 1st lap pileups as much as is humanly possible so if we keep 9 out 10 starts clean then maybe that's all we need to do? (even with wonky looking grid formations)

    It's possible for a driver to game the start by deliberately being so far in front of their row partner at the green light that they can almost guarantee gaining that position. They should be side by side and the respectful approach is to accept their grid position and not try to gain a position before the green light. The Kunos system let's that happen way too much. There are likely other ways to game the system too (eg. lateral offset) as the system has such wide tolerances.
  8. Wally

    Wally Team Driver

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    Just as an aside, I'm pretty sure Kunos relaxed a lot of those tolerances in the start widget after people complained that it was too strict and there were too many penalties. It's better to be a bit too loose than too tight.
    krunch likes this.