|
Pieter BFounder
|
Thanks Tony...
|
|
Tony D
|
First, I hope everyone is staying healthy.
Second, I like how Simon compared Rolstrum vs follow to pros equipment vs non-pros equipment. I personally have 60/20 vision (bad) and using follow is the only way I can see far enough ahead while watching my car angles. I have 25K in RC equipment sitting in an extra room. I haven't raced in years.
Regarding racing, out of over 7,000,000,000 people in the world, their is almost always less than 200 participants in an official event counting all 3 classes. Regarding life time subscribers who purchases the subscription, I am sure some would pay the $30 but you would lose so many that VRC would fold in no time. The bigger issue if you force payments is how many you would have to pay back since it's tied to STEAM, other companies and any other individual who wanted out. I don't know the numbers but I'll bet over 100,000 people have played this game at some point. Many of those bought memberships and simply don't play anymore. I personally know 6.
Last, I don't have the answer to VRC (other than let everyone race how they want in all events to get more people) but Pieter had a great idea, brought it to life and he and his team put smiles on a lot of peoples faces. I commend you Pieter for the tough calls and unique creation we all call VRC PRO. It truly is one of a kind sir.
-Dugan
|
|
Gerrenn J
|
Stop trying to be nice and charge people. Membership should be required to race or play in multi player mode.
|
|
Fred F
|
Hi Pieter,
I'm a Lifetime "content owner" as it should be called, but it makes now several months that I'm trying to pay the Membership subscription and it's not working.
I opened a thread on the forum for this problem, but got no answer.
This is the first thing that should be fixed, and you should place a Membership tab on the Home page of the website, with something like one color if it's active, and another color if inactive.
I think there would be no problem to everyone having a Lifetime content license to pay $30 or € and make it mandatory to take part of the competitions, but that should be a 50/50 and it should come with an announcement or future tracks, if not cars, to come.
What I don't understand exactly is how the economic model was able to be good at a moment (Shourt-course was developed and introduced before the Lifetime content offer appeared, same thing for the 3DS system, tracks were added...) and now that there is less new content, there is not enough money.
Don't get me wrong, I don't want to put all the responsibility on VRC staff, it's just that the main problem may come from somewhere and it would be good to find it.
Yes, there was a bad call on your side, and I'm OK to change it to Lifetime content" instead of "Lifetime content and membership" (even if I also spent around €150 before paying the Lifetime offer for things included after that)
It's just that the problem has to be understood exactly before deciding to change the membership work (again, I'm all for an active membership condition to be able to run the different Series, with options of 1month, 6month and 1year as some member are not able to use VRC the whole year.
Edited by author: 30.3.2020 12:16:22 GMT
|
|
Simon Williams
|
Great Summary from Matthew Stacy - inline with my thinking :0)
Agreed the compromise of Rostrum for Modified and Freeview for Spec is a good one.
Then my comments got a bit long:
Hence: short version:
If you have paid 150 Euros to VRC Pro (approx lifetime license) then paying a 30.00 to 35.00 Euro annual 'rent' from year 4 onwards should be fine.
If should be easy to convince all life timers and any new players this is good value for money.
Don’t expect new cars or tracks unless numbers get high enough to pay for it.
It's unreasonable to expect something for nothing.
Rostrum v Follow-D mode (turned into my usual rant...)
Long version:
I appear to be one of the few people who practices both Rostrum and Follow-D (Freeview) mode.
Most people only practise one or the other, sadly it's easy to assume the grass is greener on the other side.
However, most people don't have the time to practice both modes up to the same standard and so they have no proof.
I find at the top level, it makes little difference what mode you use, e.g. Martin Wollanka, Ely Rojas or Reece Hodges and at least 100 others will still be at the top.
If I could beat Reece Hodges using Follow-D then there might be a case to answer, but I cannot.
At the lower levels Follow-D can help a lot, mostly by being more consistent and not crashing (this is more fun for the driver, and attracts players to the race = more bums on seats).
It's a highly sensible compromise setup by Pieter, that Modified Events are run all from the rostrum and Spec Events run in freeview.
Thus for the purists (or those worried about an unfair advantage for Follow-D users), the Modified events are for you.
The rest of us can fight it out in Spec (and just focus on getting a racing fix).
Note at the last modified World Championships in December, Pieter allowed Rostrum and Follow-D to run side by side.
This caused no issues what-so-ever and the best drivers still won. This is a good decision when numbers are small.
The truth is that the only fair competition is with your-self, it's the only place where everything is equal.
I think it’s much better to be practicing and improving your 'personal best' gradually than trying to get in the A Main at your first attempt.
The driver groupings: Club, Sport and Pro, while not perfect, do allow good competition down the levels ("just 1 more run and you can move up a place, Monte Carlo or bust" :0)
I often find trying to win a D final with an unfamiliar track/car just as much fun as trying to win a Pro A final.
Consider this, once you win a Pro A final, where next? It gets much harder at the top, (you have to be made of tough stuff or don't go there).
I think the greatest fun is the struggle to get into the next final up from where you were last time.
Hence, do not worry about, Rostrum v Follow-D driving, just see every result as a fair target and do the best you can.
No-one complains when Joshua Berman or Kevin Bacon beats them because they have more skill, so why complain when someone else gets a good result, it's just a result.
Remember in real R/C the factory drivers have a much bigger advantage, in VCR Pro we have the same motors, chassis, batteries and tyres etc.
I.e. much less to complain about in VRC Pro, just practice and drive the nuts off your car the best you can.
One subject that's not often mentioned is how to help new users get up to speed:
We know for sure that many VRC Pro drivers, in fact 1000's have found a good setup and we know for sure how well VRC Pro works.
The original physics programmer: Tod Wasson, deserves a medal in the hall of fame, (we can be sure he had to leave to earn his living on more lucrative projects.)
This does not stop new tracks and maybe the SC 2wheel drive car from being finished, if only enough drivers (50) would help test it.
All you have to do is disconnect the middle diff on the Modified SC 4WD car and increase the over-steer and it feels like 2WD to me.
(However, when I ask for 50 drivers to try this, next to nobody volunteers, hence, you will not get a 2 WD car off-road car at this rate).
On the other hand we already have so many cars to choose from, each with varying characteristics, my spare time is easily used up getting my racing fix, I have a hard time keeping up.
I feel we do need to focus more guidance on what PC setup is known to work well, I can see many struggle to get their PC working well enough which causes them to give up.
However, we also know that beyond a certain point a faster PC will not make you any faster.
I.e. would be nice if users get a chance to use a high end PC with VRC Pro say at an R/C race event and then know for sure how that feels compared to their home setup.
This way they can plan on buying a decent desktop gaming PC as the lowest cost way to get top performance, which in turn helps them enjoy the game and with any real R/C racing they do.
By the way if you play any sports like Badminton, Tennis or squash, you do not expect a new 'court' or 'racket' every 6 months!
I.e. the amount of cars/tracks we have in VRC Pro would take many years to complete.
However, I would like a simple method to map out any track e.g. just by placing bot dots by co-ordinates on the practice ground
and moving the start finish line to the correct location would be enough, especially if the list of co-ordinates could be imported from a text file and shared with other racers.
E.g. I would map out the London Crystal Palace track in a shot, and I'm sure all the Crystal Palace drivers would love to practice on it. Ditto all drivers / tracks in the world.
So far I've not seen many Life Time members agreeing to paying 30 to 35 Euros every year from year 4 onwards, if Pieter knew this was acceptable and did not upset anyone then
he could make the annual payments mandatory instead of voluntary as he has tried at present.
Anyone who has already paid in say 150 Euros, should be allowed to go onto the annual 30 t0 35 Euros per year scheme from year 4 onwards.
Maybe put it another way, to get out of the lifetime commitment, the easy way is to dissolve the company and sell the rights for 1 Euro to someone else.
New company can do what it likes.
If any lifetime license holder thinks that being forced to pay 30 to 35 Euro per year, from year 4 onwards is a bad thing please speak up or for ever hold your peace and pay the man.
|
|
John P.
|
Having bought Tracks via Steam, I now can't buy a drivers license on the VRC website (Memberships tab has no action), and Steam only offers lifetime membership. Happy to contribute annual fee, just need mechanism to pay
Edited by author: 29.3.2020 16:40:36 GMT
Edited by author: 29.3.2020 16:44:38 GMT
|
|
Simon Williams
|
"is there a possible way to link my old AM system with this simulator?"
Yes any receiver for R/C that can drive R/C servos will also drive the dongle. AM, FM or PPM or 2.4Ghz, I still use my Futaba FM (PPM mode) Transmitter and Receiver from the 80's and it works fine. (Futaba PCM mode cannot be used or anything requiring digital servos - but most receivers can be put into PPM mode for 'normal' servos).
|
|
Matthew S
|
I added the membership. I've been a lifetime member since it came out. For 30 euro a year it is a good deal for lifetime's members to still help. Even if you feel you shouldn't because of how lifetime membership was advertised as never having to pay again.
It was a bad business call for VRC and I thought that when I first saw it but also saw it as a good deal for me as well. I'll gladly drop 30 euro per year for their mistake as they did offer us something special and even without 1/10 scale buggies there is nothing like this in the world. We will never see especially 2wd 10th scale unless a lot of people support and pay.
Hopefully people will continue to support this SIM. It is quite awesome, especially for people like me who due to life circumstances I cannot really race in real life for awhile ...
Keep up the great work.
For people wanting new content before paying it will not happen. Maybe with the quarantines around the world it will help revenue short term at least giving us a better chance at getting new content.
I agree as well, follow view shouldn't be allowed in Mod. Leave it as it is so it can be used in Spec. It is not supposed to be a game (hence the hefty price tag attached). It is a RC racing simulator.
|
|
André P.
|
Hello,
For those asking for the 1/10th scale, Pieter Bervoets explained in an interview dated from 2018 why that scale would not be added to VRC anytime soon. The interview is available on this link: https://bit.ly/2ULbUQB.
From my understanding adding the 1/10th scale would require fine adjusts in the simulator physics engine, which currently is not possible because the physics engine developer left the team in 2015.
Edited by author: 29.3.2020 12:43:44 GMT
Edited by author: 29.3.2020 12:44:25 GMT
|
|
Ludo D.
|
As said earlier...
I also understand the current problems. I always wondered how you would be able to maintain the platform when providing lifetime-susbscriptions. Scuse my french, but that was a stupid decission.
Now I would volontary pay for using VRC .. if only it also provided 2WD and/or 4WD 1/10th buggy offroad-racing. It is what is very popular around me.
I find it strange that you do provide 4WD 1/8th but no 1/10 ...
a last remark: I find the current subscription-pricing rather high when none of the classes I race are not even provided (1/10 2wd and 4wd offroad buggy) as I said before.
|
