Blogg - The Rally Racing Redesign

The Rally Racing Redesign

The rally system of our game as was implemented at the beginning is not ideal. With no real obstacles and almost useless driver employees, except codriver, the competition becomes soon kind of boring. Therefore we decided to bring more features and change the current system too.

Rally Stages Broadcast

One of the often complaints is a missing rally broadcast. Managers would like to watch the action instead of waiting 30 minutes after the race to see the result.

The broadcast similar to our qualification broadcast is already under development.

More Driver Mistakes and Time Lost

Using the same time penalty for very low risk for racing on circuits and rally stages is also an unrealistic feature of the current system. Obviously running again and again on the well-known circuit is different from going through a forest road with many unexpected obstacles, even with the assistance of a co-driver. Therefore from now the time penalty for low-risk will be much higher.

Also, the time lost in the rally stage for any significant driver mistake will be higher than the effect of the same mistake on the circuit. The reaction of the driver will be understandably better in a familiar environment of the circuit, while the reaction in the middle of the forest should be more self-protective rather than minimizing time loss.

This change is already tested and used in the stages during the last days of season 49 and will be used in all stages from now.

Car Damage

While the current system does not know the damage to the car which would slow down the car during the stages after the one where the damage was caused, the new system offers a variety of car parts that can get damaged, and all of those damages will be inherited to the following stages during that racing day.

The damage can be caused by on-the-track or off-the-track hazards.

• on-the-track hazards, like rocks, jumps, road holes, or irregularities on the roadside, are specified separately for each track section.  Those should be noted by the co-driver therefore more skilled co-driver can decrease the probability of hitting such obstacles. Also, driver skills adaptability, reaction, and concentration in a combination of risks taken during the stage have an effect. Usually, if the driver does not make any mistake in the section, he will pass all the hazards untouched.
• off-the-track hazards, like trees, barriers, irregularities around the tracks, or objects close to the track are also specified separately for each track section, but in this case, they can be hit only if a driver makes a mistake that results in a car going out of the track. Driver attributes and also damage level specified for each section plays a role here.

All of these hazards can cause damage to predefined car parts.

• front suspension
• rear suspension
• engine
• gearbox
• aerodynamic parts
• windscreen
• left window
• right window
• tyres (puncture)

Damages are summed during the stage and have an effect as they are "collected".

This part is also implemented, was tested during the last days of season 49, and will be used in stage races from now on. Collected car damage on the own car can be easily tracked in the race report.

CAR REPAIRS

Currently, all cars start each stage without any damage. As was already mentioned damage is collected and used in the following stages.

After every stage day, there will be an option to fix some of the damages. Each repair will have predefined time and financial costs adjusted by the driver's mechanics skills. They can make as many repair steps as possible during the limited time between racing days. That means the influence of the employees will be greater in the case of rally drivers.

This part is not yet implemented. For now, all the damages are repaired automatically before each racing day. We will first wait to see the stats of the damages as they are defined now. Maybe we will make some adjustments to how the dagame is generated. After that new feature - repair car - will be available for the driver's manager after every racing day except the last one.

Plans for the Future

Of course, there are more plans for how to improve rally racing in the game for the future.

• puncture repair during the stage - in the current system the tyre puncture has an effect on the stage time fixed only after the stage, but there should be an option to change the tyre during the stage with the time needed for change based on the driver's and the co-driver's mechanic and fitness skill.
• puncture repair during the stage options - in the current system the tyre puncture results in a forced stop of the car and tyre change by the driver and his codriver. In the future, there will be an option to select the minimum distance to the finish when a tyre change will not be performed so the driver will try to finish the stage with a flat tyre (driving significantly slower). Time lost for the tyre change will be calculated based on drivers' and codrivers' mechanics and fitness skills.
• new racing systems - besides the current stage races there should come tournament systems usable for rallycross, long rallies based on navigation, etc.
• new season series - inspired by Rallycross, Extreme-E, Dakar, etc.