Suggested

DRS Options and Clean Air

I just wanted to put some thoughts out there about how cars interact with DRS and what I would like to see done. Right now I think there is an issue where getting your car into clean air is not just weak, it’s actively bad. DRS is so strong that running in a pack, or at the very least having 2 cars leapfrog each other, is almost always faster than getting a car alone into empty space. I believe this punishes teams that try unique strategies, because even if you’d have been faster than a single opponent, you likely won’t be faster than a group of opponents that are all on a shared strategy. There are two changes that I think could help this issue. First, time loss for both drivers when 2 drivers get close and fight wheel-to-wheel. It is both realistic, and would cause teams to not just run their 2 drivers together to slingshot off one another. Second, give leagues the option to turn off DRS. DRS was invented in real life to give cars an ability to pass one another when they otherwise couldn’t. That is not an issue iGP has (although I would like to see it be slightly harder to pass so that drivers can actually defend their position, making track position worth something), and F1 doesn’t even have DRS anymore anyways. Removing it (or having the option to turn it off) will increase the level of strategy in the game, as players would need to better consider their qualifying, track position, pitting into traffic, etc. Right now the racing kind of reminds me of cycling, where everyone stays in a group and works together until near the end, and I’d rather it feel more like an F1 race, with different strategies and cars fighting for each position rather than working together to increase overall speed by being in traffic (which is another problematic example, getting a speed boost by running into lapped cars at the right time).

I completely agree; I always use the analogy of a cycle race where nobody wants to be at the front.
There are often races where you reach the final lap with 7 or 8 cars side by side, and at that point, with everyone on the same level of remaining battery, it’s just a matter of luck as to how the W2W system decides to trap you in the traffic.

I think when you talk about removing DRS, it's because you haven't been playing for very long. If you're racing in a competitive league with good players, removing DRS is a terrible idea because the race would end up the same as qualifying for those players with the same strategy.

Let me explain: if, for example, the top 5 in qualifying use the same strategy , I can assure you 100% that at the end of the race, those 5 players will finish in the same order as in qualifying, because nobody is going to let anyone pass them if there's no DRS.

If you're slightly faster than me and we have the same KERS, and you need to use KERS to overtake me (which is usually the case, using KERS to overtake), I'll use KERS to overtake you again, so we'll be in the same position as at the start and both with the same KERS. Nobody is going to let anyone pass them if there's no DRS; you only have to look at the rain races, which, by the way, are incredibly boring because there's no DRS.

I can understand that in W2W it's difficult to develop a solo strategy, just as it is in classic mode if the strategy isn't good, but the solution definitely can't be to remove DRS. That would be catastrophic for the races and make them incredibly boring, like rain races, which nobody enjoys.

Often, wanting to try a different strategy, depending on the track, the weather, your car, etc., can be a good idea, but that doesn't guarantee a good strategy. You can do SMM in Italy, without refueling, as many times as you want and with as much clean air as you want, and MH or HM will still win in Italy, even if you remove DRS.

I actually agree with most of this. Right now clean air feels less rewarding than staying in a DRS train, which makes strategy variety weaker than it should be. Having some time loss when cars fight closely would make battles feel more realistic, and an optional “DRS off” setting for leagues could make track position and pit strategy matter a lot more.

I could not disagree with this more. You have stated the opinion that “the race will just end the same as qualifying”. If you truly believe that, then you should be able to go back to every race you ever participated in where it rained, and everyone should finish exactly where they qualified. Also, I don’t understand the example of “if everyone has the exact same strategy”…? My initial post pointed out that right now it is to your benefit to utilize the same strategy as everyone else, which is both boring and unrealistic. So if DRS were removed, and if you hypothetically copied every driver ahead’s strategy, you would have nobody to blame but yourself for not being able to advance positions. The entire point is that you should be trying something different to give yourself an advantage. Have you ever watched F1? They don’t all just run the same strategy. And even if they do, like a M->H, they don’t all pit on the same lap, which again, the current situation in iGP is that it does benefit you to pit at exactly the same time as everyone else, or at least close to it. My suggestion would add more strategy and decision making, such as “do I pit earlier for track position?” even if you don’t try an entirely different strategy. Additionally, your example of Italy strategy does not make sense, my suggestion is not “make the game so that bad strategies win”, it is to make it so that getting clean air actually makes you faster, giving you the ability to try something different, rather than sitting in a DRS train the entire race waiting for the final laps. And you compare my idea to racing in wet weather, despite the only similarity being the lack of DRS. In the wet, everyone uses the same compound, and everyone will have similar wear and pace. In the dry, even without DRS, there are 4 compounds to choose from, all very different than one another. A lack of options and control makes wet weather boring, not a lack of DRS. You claim that my post is because I “haven’t been playing long” (level 30 and recently came back to the game btw), but your response sounds to me like someone averse to change, who wants to run the same strategy every race, and who wants to sit in a DRS train the entire race rather than doing any actual race management (it’s literally in the name… iGP *Manager*)

" who wants to run the same strategy every race, and who wants to sit in a DRS train the entire race rather than doing any actual race management (it’s literally in the name… iGP *Manager*)🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣 🤣🤣


See? That's why I say you must be people who haven't been playing for very long 🤣🤣 Our league has had tire rules and regulations for many years that you can't even imagine, and that's what we're known for—praised by some and criticized by others, but known nonetheless. You've accused the wrong person and the wrong league of always wanting to use the same strategies and always wanting to go by train 🤣🤣

PS: This season is actually the first time in many years that we haven't had tire rules, but that's because 80% of the league are managers who haven't played for six months or more. Everything will go back to normal in the future.


PSPS: BTW I respect your opinion, but I'm pretty sure that removing DRS would be catastrophic.