Can I move you to a reserve? I will do the same with @Mustafur who hasn't been seen for a month and give the 2 new guy reserves a permanent seat at least for the final round lol
I’ve been around here and in Div 1 long enough to know that the most clearcut reason why the numbers dwindle over the course of the season is that once people realise they simply aren’t fast enough to compete for wins against the best, they throw in the towel and decide it’s not worth wasting their time showing up for 8th and 9th places. Hell even I have been guilty of it to an extent. This problem doesn’t seem to impact the slower Divisions as much, as the overall speed and consistency varies a lot more, which often leads to more open title fights. Along with the mantra of ‘I’m here for fun not wins’ which is fair enough. Back when I was youngin’ at Rooz, getting into Div 1 was the ultimate goal, and it was considered a priviliege to be competing in one of the fastest and closest divisions in any racing community. Nowadays it is more of a laughing stock as in what’s supposed to be a premier division, you can crash about 5 times and still pick up a podium. I’m not intending to belittle the fellow drivers in Div 1, (Stigs was the only one not to have a major crash last night) they deserve credit for sticking with it in the face of, well no one really. Like I said before, last night featured just 3 full time ROOZers plus FILO that had been there since Round 1. When Warrior himself is sending messages to random people online to jump in you know we’re in dire straits. I speak of the glory days often and that was truly the best, consistent and competitive grids as at least 8 of the grid all believed they had a shot at the win despite Warrior’s domination. This era basically ushered in a new wave of drivers whom have gone on to win countless races and championships in not just GT but other games too. Mint I’m sure needs no introduction. I’m confident we can put this terrible season behind us with some big grids next sesson but if it happens again I won’t be surprised. Unless we hold guns to everyone’s head, or we get a whole new wave of super fast drivers, there is no easy fix to this problem.
I'm sure it can become competitive again with multiple drivers... Warrior injured atm, quick guys from gt6 like Holland And Nicko currently ghosting but you never know they could be back, Hat said TNR 5zigen has the quickest qualifying lap so far + you never know who could find this site before next season... I agree with your first paragraph though some people don't seem to treat div 1 like the premier division it should be treated, I mean you don't see teams in the English Football Premier League just get relegated because they can't compete with top 6 teams there, I guess there is a lot more incentives to stay in the Prem rather than go down to the Championship eg $$$ but still its any players/teams goal to play in a top tier league...
I can understand people giving up after a few races especially when you have the likes of Beau and Stigs pretty much dominating the league. Would it be an idea maybe having a division 1a and 1b. I remember when i was div 1 this was a thing. It means the guys who aren't as quick as the aliens still have a championship to compete for. Don't forget when Warrior recovers and i've seen TNR race before and he's fast as well hopefully it won't be so dominate next season. Also whilst doing an online race today i found someone who would compete with the likes of Beau, Stig, Warrior and TNR. His psn is GT_zapzap and i messaged him instantly seeing if he was interested in running. Both of us were running the RSR at nurburgring and he was on average 6 to 8 tenths a lap quicker than me (We finished 1st and 2nd).
As much as I love the idea that I'm part of the alien club, at best I've got a very tall ladder which gives me a great view of them, but I'm still not quite in orbit yet. Having raced Beau, Nicko, Warrior and 5zigen I'll be the first bloke to recognise they are on another level. Ever since @ssman244 stepped foot in Div 1 he's been on my radar as someone who could cross the divide from mortal to alien. We've been neck and neck the entire time and from what I understand he's doing it on less than a race distance of practice, so I don't think you guys are too far away from having multiple top end contenders once SS's upgrades kick in. The pace gap on GTS does feel significantly wider at the top end than they did on GT6 which may have contributed to dwindling motivation, however this season we've lost 3 racers to weird stuff, with Bob, SS and Apex having various issues, so worth a bit of context to see that some of the grid has had legitimate season ending issues making the drop-off look significant.
Is been mentioned before but also don't forget it's a new game and season 1, just because someone can throw that horrible lancer around Kyoto quickly doesn't mean they can drive the RSR, once there are promotions and relegations it'll start to even out and the comfort level will improve.
GT6 Div 1 Season 1 had roughly 10 drivers each event, and only grew onto Season 2. It has never ever been this bad.
We will be introducing 1B for season 2. this being the first season on a new game we didn't have a good indication on how to split the field. The top 16 consistent performers this season will probably be considered for movement to the top div next season. Div 1B should then be an excellent encounter for those eligible.
I really wish I could’ve been part of these last 3 races, but I’m away for 3 weeks so I have no choice, hopefully the numbers pick up over the next few seasons and when I finally get nbn I’ll have the ability to race on sport mode and have hopefully lag less races in div 1 which is what I’m really looking forward too! Then the practise can kick in and I’ll be going after those aliens soon enough
Drop the tuned cars, I wouldn’t bother showing up either because I can’t tune for the life of me. That’s just me but I would think others would be in the same boat.