2017 Structure and Changeup Discussion

[Scav3nger]

I said this discussion would be starting after Bathurst so here we go.

2016 has been a pretty successful year I would say. We've had our moments but overall it's been good. There are a few things for us to look into which we will be doing over the course of the next few months as we wind down 2016, so let's take a look at a few of these things now.

First things first is scheduling. I have been discussing with z00lu the options for 2017 revolving around our ability to leave space for other programs while still keeping our racing fairly regular. We have come up with one option, and I have one alternative I've come up with but not put a great deal of thought into at this stage.

The format we have come up with (Option A) is racing every first and third Thursday of the month between March and November. This would effectively mean one race a month for Forza and pCARS respectively. 9 rounds each respectively pretty much as it was this year but fixed to the first and third Thursday's of the month as opposed to roughly every three weeks (aside from around the endurance rounds). Under this format March 2017 would look like:
2nd - Forza, Round 1
9th - Other Game
16th - Project CARS, Round 1
23rd - Other Game
30th - Other Game
Apr 6th - Forza, Round 2

The alternative (Option B) I've thought up (rather hastily I must point out) is racing open to every week EXCEPT the third Thursday (and the fifth if there is one) with the first week being Forza and alternating titles. At this stage it will only be Forza and pCARS. So, for example, March 2017 would be
2nd - Forza, Round 1
9th - Project CARS, Round 1
16th - Other game
23rd - Forza, Round 2
30th - Other game
Apr 6th - Forza, Round 3

As you can see the options mean more Forza rounds under Option B, Project CARS would remain the same and stick to one round per month under both options. This is a discussion we'll be able to have in the coming months, we do not need to rush into a decision.

Now, the other big talking point is the racing itself. I'm not 100% content with how SCS has played out this year, the format was good but we just didn't have the numbers to make a multi-class championship work. So for 2017 SCS will be given a rest, and the mainline series will be put to a vote for its replacement for 2017. In company with this, however, we will also be putting to vote the 2017 Forza series as we have several options already available to us. Look for these as we approach our 2017 test night in October.

Lastly for 2017 on Forza we'll be introducing a series of new number boxes to provide more options to better match liveries. At this time there's no solid design information but we'll likely have the basics (white, black, blue, red, yellow, green). Keep an eye on the Number Box and CANZ vinyls thread for updates on this later in the year.

I know we still have a few rounds (and a number of months) left in 2016, but I'd like to start the discussion on this now so we have everything in order.

[x06 The Doc 06x]

I like the idea of option b as it seems to give us more racing. I do appreciate that we are trying to leave space for other games though so as long as there tends to be something on on most Thursdays then I'm quite happy. Would love to see a couple more forza social nights like we had back on forza 4. Would also be great to see some different format rounds, like what Clints IDA series has, with some having longer races and some with two or even three shorter races. I'd also like to throwork the idea out there of some tournament style rounds with rally cross or drifting etc, but there's are things that can be trialled at social nights

[z00lu]

I like option A, but if people want more racing, perhaps just schedule a social night in more often. I always like to take series racing serious enough to have fun but also experience great clean racing, so too much of it didn't work for me (eg. When we raced every Thursday night back in 2014). Having light hearted social racing is a good change, while keeping the main community here active.

While I wont be racing next year, if there are social nights popping up, I am more likely to jump on throughout the year. That said, my opinion shouldn't count for too much as it is more for those taking part in actual series.

[x06 The Doc 06x]

Z00lu your opinion will always be valid no matter what role you have in the community. Could a social-based series maybe help with regular but relaxed racing, similar to the BMW series I ran on forza 4?

[Scav3nger]

There were two trains of thought behind Option B, the first part being that some people have suggested more racing would be good, the second being that we'll have plenty of Tuesday's around Rocket League to go with the third and fifth Thursday's. Unless another game gets added to our rotation we're not really short on nights. Given we're not really making anything in the replay department either I don't particularly see a problem increasing the number of races we do.

Not every Forza week would have be a competitive round either, we could schedule some Forza social nights across the year as well.

[hyboi]

I like option A, yeah and social wise anyone could do racing mid week, just like the muscle cars now.

[Chaos 7h30ry]

Option A sounds good seeing as new games are on their way, there may be a chance to do a Minecraft or Ark social nights too doesn't always have to be GTA or Rocket League also a Cards against humanity night would be awesome, more social nights can include, fifa, battlefield, cod, Halo, Overwatch and battleborn, and ifpossible open up Wii u to our community with Mario kart and smash bros, these are only ideas it doesn't mean I want them all in

[Scav3nger]

I did have a reply here already, but I've removed it to better respond to some previous posts.

I like the idea of option b as it seems to give us more racing. I do appreciate that we are trying to leave space for other games though so as long as there tends to be something on on most Thursdays then I'm quite happy. Would love to see a couple more forza social nights like we had back on forza 4. Would also be great to see some different format rounds, like what Clints IDA series has, with some having longer races and some with two or even three shorter races.

This would be something we can look to explore in 2017, the main thing for 2016 was to get back in the groove since 2015 was a bit less organised than previous years. This year we were just looking to set that foundation. I think the Standard + Reverse Grid races work well, but a feature/sprint format might becoming a bit stale over time, so we can definitely look into different formats for next year depending on what we're racing. See below for my response regarding social nights.

I like option A, but if people want more racing, perhaps just schedule a social night in more often. I always like to take series racing serious enough to have fun but also experience great clean racing, so too much of it didn't work for me (eg. When we raced every Thursday night back in 2014). Having light hearted social racing is a good change, while keeping the main community here active.

While I wont be racing next year, if there are social nights popping up, I am more likely to jump on throughout the year. That said, my opinion shouldn't count for too much as it is more for those taking part in actual series.

Perhaps if we don't use every fourth week for series under Option B but leave it open for social nights as well? For example, if we used every "fifth week month" as a social night I think we'd get four next year (March, June, August and November all have a fifth Thursday from memory) so perhaps leaving the fourth week open to series OR social could be better to add the option of having social nights more often? And organise it so there's an alternation between a series night and a social night. Would essentially be a blend of A and B in that case as we might not schedule a round or a social night on Forza and choose to have a social on another game instead.

So perhaps Option B could look like this:
2nd - Forza, Round 1
9th - Project CARS, Round 1
16th - Other game
23rd - Forza, Round 2 OR Social Night (Provisional)
30th - Other game/Social Night
Apr 6th - Forza, Round 3

Z00lu your opinion will always be valid no matter what role you have in the community. Could a social-based series maybe help with regular but relaxed racing, similar to the BMW series I ran on forza 4?

I like option A, yeah and social wise anyone could do racing mid week, just like the muscle cars now.

I feel like the Muscle Cars are going to provide that, as long as we introduce a racing caution (or two?) to allow cars to catch back up. I think z00lu and I found Brands Hatch a bit boring because we were stuck in no man's land at the back.

Option A sounds good seeing as new games are on their way, there may be a chance to do a Minecraft or Ark social nights too doesn't always have to be GTA or Rocket League also a Cards against humanity night would be awesome, more social nights can include, fifa, battlefield, cod, Halo, Overwatch and battleborn, and ifpossible open up Wii u to our community with Mario kart and smash bros, these are only ideas it doesn't  mean I want them all in

We're not really restricting the community to Xbox One, it's just where the majority of our players are at the moment. If people want to start organising games for PC, Wii U, PS4, they are welcome to do so, it's all dependant on who has the platform(s) and how many people can be introduced to kick start things on a particular platform. As I don't have a Wii U or PS4 it would be difficult for me to try and start anything on those platforms, however, if anyone is interested in starting something up on another platform though they can definitely get in touch and we can have a chat about it.

[Scav3nger]

Pending further suggestions from members in this space, we currently have the following suggestions for series to run in 2017 on Forza Motorsport:

V8 Supercars
GT3/E Series
Open Wheelers (F1, FE, Indy)
WTCC

Some social suggestions (plus a few old favourites):
Bring Your Own Series (where a class is given, A for example, and everyone builds their own cars up to that class, can bring any car to any round)
Muscle Car Masters
MX-5 Cup
Mini Cooper Classic

At this stage I'm looking at a couple of polls to determine what goes through (for example, a poll with all the open wheel series, where the winner might go on to verse the winner of V8SC and GT's). Unless we get a flood of suggestions over the next few weeks.

For Project CARS we have the following:

V8SC (the Ford)
GT3's
Formula A/B

The vote would probably be FA vs. FB and V8SC vs. GT3 and the winners would face off unless we get more suggestions. Though at this stage I would also be tempted to suggest that which ever wins out of V8's and GT's in Forza the opposite is done for pCARS. The votes won't open until later in the year, but now's as good a time as any to start discussing our options and if you already have strong opinions towards or against some of the above then you can start to make your feelings known.

[z00lu]

With the byo series, I have a different suggestion along these lines, which is the Development Series, where everyone has the same car but they choose how to upgrade and tune it to the specified class....to keep it simpler, have 9 rounds, with one car used every three rounds, with the option to change parts on a car between each of its three races....