Announcing NSGP - Fastest Racer alive competition

[Alex Reeves]

Australia Race

Rain, Rain go away! Storm clouds threaten in Australia, and had many competitors frustrated. 3 lining up, PSW missing his flight due to NSGPOC presidential commitments or NYE or something....

Rodney, Spin and Prz resume battle at Albert Park!

Lap 1. Well this is interesting! Prz and Spin have opted for the Soft Tyre to start, but runner-up Rodney is starting Hard, and it seems fueled longer! Strategy time, will the sturdy tyre lead to a more consistent race? They're off! And wow, Rodney makes those Hard tyres sing with the early lead, pulling up .063 ahead of Prz. Oh dear, another slow start for SpinDizzy, nearly a second off the pace! Has age caught up with the veteran, or are these Webber-like starts a tribute to his fellow F1 countryman?

The speed of the Soft Tyres starts to tell. Prz takes the lead on lap 2 and with a stunning 27.119 as the fastest lap of the race, SpinDizzyshoots into second place, only a quarter of a second off the leader. Rodney's holding in there, only .6 off the lead and knowing that his tyres will go deeper than these brash soft kids.

Lap 6 - oh no! Prz has made a mistake, a 28.5 lap a full second off the pace, and drops to third. SpinDizzy takes the lead, although Rodney's times are ominously good considering he's on the option tyre....

Lap 8 - Pit for SpinDizzy and Prz! Rodney speeds off to a five second lead, will it be enough? And more tactics! Prz has a poor in lap and loses time, so has come back on the Soft Tyre, but Spin has gone to the Hard Tyre! Three racers, all on different tactics, this is gonna get interesting!

Lap 10 - Rodney is in the pits! Lap 9 had a 6.5 second lead, is it enough to get in and out in the lead? It's close.... it's..... Spin by a nose back in the lead with a .068 advantage. Both on the Hard, anyone's race. Prz is 2 seconds behind, but those fast tyres willl keep him in contention.

Times at Lap 10 end
SpinDizzy 10 H 4:45:310
Rodney 10 H +0.068
Przemek 10 H +2.199

Lap 14 - Spin has those Hard tyres working well, and has pulled away to a 1.5 second lead. Przemek is battling with the tyres and the conditions, erratic conditions meaning erratic times, still trails Rodney by .3 seconds, but those tyres must be getting rough - the Softs haven't had the same value on the second run.

Lap 17 - Przemek pits! A fine effort on the Softs, Prz makes them last 9 laps and manages a scorching 27.006 fastest lap on lap 16 to come in slightly in front of Rodney. Soft Tyres again! Wow, a 3 pit strategy, who'd have picked that in Australia? But a lot of work to do in this section, as he's now almost 8 seconds off the lead. Spin still holds a 1.2second lead on Rodney, but that pitstop must be due soon!

Lap 20 - Rodney Pits! So it's a 10-10-10 for Rodney, again coming out on the Hard Tyres. Prz shoots into second place, but he's less than a second in front. Not enough considering he needs another pitstop unless he can pull something amazing out.

Lap 22 - SpinDizzy pits! Wow, an epic 14 lap stint on the Hards there, with clear signs that the tyres were dying at the end. But he's come out on the Softs for the final stint! Has that epic run set the stage for a storming finish? Przemek takes the lead by the barest of margins (.032 seconds) and Rodney is a fraction over a second away.

Lap 22 times
Przemek 22 S 10:27.281
SpinDizzy 22 S +0.032
Rodney 22 H +1.023

Lap 25 - Przemek pits! The 3 pit gamble hasn't paid off - Prz pits from the lead, but is only .4 seconds ahead of Spin, and the in lap is a total disaster, a 40.070. He emerges over 12 seconds from the lead, interestingly on the Hard tyres. Spin has 1.5 seconds lead and better tyres, but will they last? Or will Rodney's conservative tyre choice and consistent skill with the hard set win the day?

Lap 27 - Rodney posts his fastest race lap, a 27.482. But the gap is still 1.5 seconds.....

Lap 29 - Disaster for Rodney! Trickles of rain become apparent on his dash, and a rain warning emerges. The slip[periness of the track costs him a full second against Spin.But Spin's tyres a re looking rough, can he hold on?

Final Lap Standings
SpinDizzy 29 S 13:39:924
Rodney 29 H +2.791
Przemek 29 H +13.067

Final Lap - Rodney composes himself and posts a strong 28.013 with conditions turning. Spin's tyres are gone! A poor final lap on 29.407, but there's enough of a lead that he cruises through as the winner of his home GP. Przemek pulls in some 10seconds off the pace, the high risk Soft tyre strategy not coming off this time.

Final Results
SpinDizzy 30 S 14:09.331
Rodney 30 H +1.397
Przemek Kolowski 30 H +11.035

Fastest Laps
Przemek Kolowski 27.006
SpinDizzy 27.119
Rodney 27.482

Race Points
SpinDizzy 25 + 2 = 27
Rodney 18 +1 = 19
Przemek 15 +3 = 18

Again, Przemek scores fastest lap, but inconsistency and strategy cost him here. A special mention should be made to Rodney, he submitted a time that would have won this race, but the .csv was corrupted and as such could not be accepted. Still a top race, tyre and pit strategy really coming to the fore. Join us in 72 hours for the next installment!

Full race stats attached
Australia_result.csv

[Alex Reeves]

Oh, so you're going to simulate the race like we were racing together . Wonder if it works. It would be nice to have the best AI result for reference.

Best performance from an AI car was as follows :

Bahrain :
Mork Wabber 15:38.932

Australia :
Falipe Mussa +1 lap 14:20.854

[Alex Reeves]

I misread the rules (again!). I thought it was mandatory to use both tyre types. It's disappointing that it isn't. If I sucked in BHR, I'm gonna be DEAD LAST in Australia :d.

I did think about that - but as the purpose of this is to see who can make the absolute fastest race time, I figure that if you can make a 1-tyre strategy work, you should be allowed. As the Aussie race showed, there's a lot of ways to play the strategy here! I think Malaysia and China will be even more complicated. And your own Spain testing showed that there's 4 equally good selections there.

[przemator]

My calculations for Spain exclude single-tyre races. Otherwise the best strategy for Spain would be 6+6+6+5 soft or 8+8+7 hard.

It's funny how my expectations turned out to be correct. I only made 1 trial in Bahrain and decided it was good enough (and so it was, only 2 sec behind winner). Then I struggled in Australia, frustrated with rain ruining my perfect attempts, I finally posted the first non-rain attempt I did, which was a disaster (and so it was). Nevertheless, I'm happy to win the Massa-Webber Award for the fastest race lap, despite sucking in the long run.

I really hope Rodney joins NSGPOC, as he is a clear podium material.

I'm definitely going to do better next time, now that I know that I don't have to use both tyres.

One last thing: In settings.ini you can enable debug mode (debug=1). Debug mode allows you to chance things during the race. For fairness, running the game with debug mode disables online mode. However, for offline play, you can press CTRL+R whenever rain comes, and it will get sunny instantly.

As this was unregulated by the rules I feel I should ask, if running the game in debug mode is allowed? There is, of course, a risk of cheating of some sort, but on the other hand it saves a lot of time if you don't have to repeat your attempts due to rain.

[Othello82]

At the beggining i was a little reluctant to this competition, but Spindizzy really made it work!

Although, i think i'm not a "Fastest Racer alive competition" material, so i'll stick to the online racing for now, but i'll stay interested in this one!

Cheers

[peter-27]

i'll stick to the online racing for now

I think i agree, i may enter selected events however i do not want to ruin my chances in the OC and lots of running offline will do just that

[Alex Reeves]

One last thing: In settings.ini you can enable debug mode (debug=1). Debug mode allows you to chance things during the race. For fairness, running the game with debug mode disables online mode. However, for offline play, you can press CTRL+R whenever rain comes, and it will get sunny instantly.

What else can be changed/different in debug mode? Would any of the other changes be noticable within the replay, result screenshot or times? Does it impact the game spped? Assuming that only weather is impacted, I don't mind this. We're running with an honesty system anyway as there are several ways an industrious person could cheat here. My input sheet checks some of these, but I'm sure if someone wanted to hack their results, they could.

[Alex Reeves]

Kinda disappointed that others aren't up for this challenge. This is something different - a new challenge, and a new way to enjoy this game. The main nuisance about this was not being able to control the weather - I think Prz's solution here is a fair way to deal with this (CTRL-R allowed, doesn't seem to impact anything else!). Using this, putting a good time together doesn't take long, and is good strategy practice for the OC regardless. And you can do this anytime, so if you're not able to make the Saturday morning comp, you aren't locked out!

I hope more people take this up. I've just set my Malaysia time, and will spend a little time doing China. If you really think spending 30 mins to work out your tyre and fuel loads and then testing it with an offline time is going to compromise your NSGPOC, then fair enough. Can't see it though - I've learnt so much about how the tyre, damage and fuel ratios work from playing with this that I actually think it will help my OC chances when I race, not hinder. Your call, though.

[peter-27]

I hope more people take this up. I've just set my Malaysia time, and will spend a little time doing China. If you really think spending 30 mins to work out your tyre and fuel loads and then testing it with an offline time is going to compromise your NSGPOC, then fair enough. Can't see it though - I've learnt so much about how the tyre, damage and fuel ratios work from playing with this that I actually think it will help my OC chances when I race, not hinder. Your call, though.

The cars are completely different and it's not easy to switch between the different driving styles required. As for tyres and fuel, i will extensively test that online like usual Don't get me wrong this idea is BRILLIANT - i just don't like it in parallel with the OC.

As for everyone else i just think they are busy over christmas and new year ... i haven't seen most regulars post at all!

[Sida79]

I like the idea and the race reports but I'm not so serious about the game to be doing fuel and tyre tests alone

[Alex Reeves]

C'mon Sida, take it on as a challenge! You've mastered so many aspects of this game, you'd probably kick butt at this.

[przemator]

@Sida: ngga pls. I made 1 (ONE) (0001) attempt in Bahrain, and turned out to be only 2 sec worse than the winner. I think to do moderately well, you first need 2 laps to see how much fuel lasts for how long, then work out a strategy and do the full race. Even if it sucks, you may upload it for the lolz.

[przemator]

This is what debug mode allows (from what i've tested):

ctrl+w - toggle tyre wear
crtl+r - toggle weather
ctrl+t - show/hide on-screen display
crtl+o - toggle high/low graphics
ctrl+p - bring pit menu (yeah, you can refuel and change tyres without pitting
ctrl+d - toggle damage
ctrl+f - toggle fuel
ctrl+c - instant race end
ctrl+l - end race after this lap

And now about cheat danger:

ctrl+w - can endlessly refresh tyres
crtl+r - can avoid rain, this is what we want to use
ctrl+p - can refuel and change tyres without pitting
ctrl+d - can recover damage
ctrl+f - useless, either sets fuel to 0% or 100%

All of these cheats will be somewhat visible in race log (suspiciously long stints) and 100% visible on replay (sudden change of fuel/damage/tyre bars).
To detect if a driver uses debug mode, just look at the screenshot for FPS and MEMORY info displayed on the screen.

Now, the question is: should we allow debug mode or not? It will make rain less painful but it enables cheating.

[Alex Reeves]

Tyre, pit and damage cheats would show in a replay. We actually already have this issue, as we're trusting people to turn damage, tyre wear and fuel on. As you say, anyone using debug mode can be easily seen, and if there is anything suspicious then we can call for the replay. I'm happy to go with allowing the debug mode for Rain management only!

[Alex Reeves]

Less than 24 hours to the deadline for Malaysia and China - so far, three entries in for Malaysia and two for China. One day to go!