How do you run your championship?

[MaxD]

Good morning people.

This is a question that I don't think has been asked before and would perhaps give everyone some ideas they could implemennt and so it would be great if we could get as many GP2 fans to forward their own comments...

This is the question...

Do you run your own championships in GP2 where you control everything?

If so, exactly how do you do it?

I am running a career-style F1 campaign with me as a driver which started in the year 2030. I am currentlyy into the 2033 season with ficticious drivers, A1 carshape, 1992-spec F1 tyres and collate all driver finishes in Excel, then at the end of every race, allocate bonus 'performance points' to all drivers relevant to their finishing position during that race. The top ten all get positive bonus scores to their 'Race/Practice Grip' performance while all the rest get negative, as shown below:
2033 Performance Allocating Guide:
Constructor Penalties:
Suspension -100 reliability points
Loose Wheel -50 reliability points
Puncture -50 reliability points
Engine -200 reliability points
Transmission -150 reliability points
Oil/Water Leak -200 reliability points
Throttle/Brake -150 reliability points
Electrics -100 reliability points

Driver:
DNF crash = -40 penalty race grip points
DNF Mechanical = 0 points

Race Finishes (all from race grip coloumn):
1st +20 bonus points +100 bonus reliability points
2nd +18 bonus points +50 bonus reliability points
3rd + 16 bonus points +50 bonus reliability points
4th + 14 bonus points +50 bonus reliability points
5th + 12 bonus points +50 bonus reliability points
6th +10 bonus points +50 bonus reliability points
7th + 8 bonus points +50 bonus reliability points
8th + 6 bonus points +50 bonus reliability points
9th + 4 bonus points +50 bonus reliability points
10th + 2 bonus points +50 bonus reliability points

11th - 1 penalty points
12th - 2 penalty points
13th - 3 penalty points
14th - 4 penalty points
15th - 5 penalty points
16th - 6 penalty points
17th - 7 penalty points
18th - 8 penalty points
19th - 9 penalty points
20th - 10 penalty points
21st - 11 penalty points
22nd - 12 penalty points
23rd - 13 penalty points
24th - 14 penalty points
25th - 15 penalty points
26th - 16 penalty points

Pole Position = + 10 bonus points Qual grip
FLap = + 10 bonus points Race grip

1st 15 pts
2nd 12 pts
3rd 10 pts
4th 8 pts
5th 6 pts
6th 5 pts
7th 4 pts
8th 3 pts
9th 2pts
10th 1 pt
Bonus 1 point for Pole Position
Bonus 1 point for setting Fastest Lap

Then, each team is permitted 6 upgrades during the 21 race calendar which are basically done by choosing a random number between 20-60 (i use an internet number choosing site), then apply these two numbers to the Race/practice grip and qualifying grip amounts respectively. So one team migght get both drivers getting a 58 point increase for qualy grip and 41 points for theirr race/practice grip amounts. Everyone follow?
Then I have a seperate word doccument which I use for my drivers transfer market. The best drivers top the table with ability and price (obvious!), teams then try to go after them but I basically decide who drives where. Engine deals are done and are permitted increases (again, amounts chosen by random, so Honda might get a 5bhp increase but Chvrolet might get a 8bhp increase for the following season.

Well, that'ss basically i for me, it is enjoyable and I love running this series. It took me a while to get everything sorted out but I plan to start a proper career in the future. Basically, starting in FPA or something, trying to get sponsorsship, race the entire season or some races, get noticed and try to climb the ladder to F1...

There's my prefference for playing GP2, maybe my ideas might be useful for someone and I'd be interested to see if I can borrow some ideas from someone else.

So now you guys have a go...

All the best,

Max

[jakesanson]

I think your championship structure is fantastic!!

I think we should use it in the WRL for next year!!

[MaxD]

Bllody heck, ddidn't expect that matey!
Thanks a lot.

As I said it took me ages and I still have a few other ideas...

[AD]

I don't use anything this complex. I just use a spreadsheet, normally, where I can have season results, driver and constructors standings (with points differences to each other) on one screen. Sometimes, I log the quantity of pole positions and fastest laps, also, because I enjoy having scoring systems where you get bonus points for that.

[rremedio]

I try to put the real data in the game if I'm making a real carset. So I base my calculations on laptimes.

For my fantasy season I give random values for all chassis and add a value dictated by me for each driver and I make sure my car has the gap I want behind the fastest car. Then I use the magic data and cc setups to garantee that my speed (both straight and corner speeds) is where I want.

[MaxD]

rremedio, can I ask how youi do this?

Your sorting of the magic data with the magic data editor...

Anyone else got any ideas?

regards

[rremedio]

I always use the gp2edit car grip for my car as 16384. It doesn't affect the human performance, but I explain you why I do this.

I setup my car and drive the track untli I'm happy with my driving, running fast. Than I set the ccsetup (in Track Editor) until the ccs have the same top speed than me (usually they need the rear wing about 2 or 3 point above mine).

Than I set all the cars and ccs to have the same bhp and car grip as me. I tune the slot data (mainly cc grips) until they have a laptime about 0.2s faster than me (sometimes more). When I get it, I export the regulat carset performance (with my car with 16384) and it's done.

If GP2Edit tell my car is 0.3% behind the leader, my times will be around it too.

I hope you understand.

edit: you have to do this for all tracks. It's also good to correct the fuel consumptions (in magic data) for both human and ccs finish the stints with the same amount of fuel. It makes the laptimes more fare in the long run.

[MaxD]

Yeah I think I get it...
Many thanks for this, gonna try it myself...

[MaxD]

can someone also explain this to me in the simpliest way possible.

Currently, cos I don;t understand how it works, all my drivers including myself have their Random Grip Range' set to 500.
Now, I run 1 race at a time using diffent slots at a time in the Circuits directory and not run 1-16 in succession.
So, how does the grip range work for single races....
higher number means what exactly? Lower number = what?

Also, in the 'Global Car settings', I have the 'Use Selected Team Power' and Random Power Variation' boxes both ticked but have my ' Grip Factor' set at 198. It seems to be fine for me but I am interested to see what settings people have...

Also, if I were to start a season by giving the best drivers a specific Race/Qual Grip range, then reducing the amounts for each driver lower in the order, what should I set the best drivers amount to? What I mean is in the 16000's or 15000's and then decreasing the amounts...

someone please explain...

many thanks

[rremedio]

TDK explained random grips nicely in another thread. But it's basicly that way:

You have a grip value, lets say 16384, and a random grip, let's say 500. Everytime you join a session you'll have a grip value equal (does that word exist?) 16384 - x where x=a random number between 0 and 500.

-Use Selected Team Power means the player car will have power=team engine power, else it will have the power=the value definaed in the car settings window.

-Random Power Variation means you will have your power (defined by above setting) minus a random value.

-Grip Factor: lower values give more grip (faster car on the corners).

For your last question, it depends on loads os factors but I think the best drivers must be around 16384.

My english sucks, I hope I can get anything.

[MaxD]

I think it's gonna take a few reads of that to sink in but I get most of it so thanks...

Listen, I was thinking, would you like me to organise the stuf I use as outlined in my original post so we can get it onto the site for people to download and use for their own championships?

[MaxX]

Personally I don`t use such complex values, but still there are some different ways for me to play championships.

1) The career, I use an Excel-Tab to calculate manufacturer interest upon my performances and used the standart 16 tracks and savegames. Started in the year 2000 on fictional Simtek (the slowest car) and moved on to be the champion with Benetton in 2001. Currently I did no more races

2) 16 races, if I am too lazy for trackswitching I go for 16 tracks per season (did it for 2009) and patch the driver grip to realistic values per race. I also use 16 tracks when driving ficitional championships.

3) Realistic championship, here I do normal Non-championship races on all tracks of the season, patches carset before every race and keep the stats in excel, last did it for 2007.

[jakesanson]

Hey MaxX, do you think you could send me your Excel spreadsheet for calculating the prize money again? Woulod be really helpful!!

Also, could you take a look at the changes for next year's budget (think it's on the other site) and do a new version for next year and then send that to me? I would do it all myself but I'm not that clever!!

[MaxX]

I`ll take a look at them and send you the 2010 version. I`ll attach the 2009er meanwhile

[Shadowcat]

I use the values in the carset (unless performances are unrealistic, but I haven't found that yet. Which means your carsets are realistic, so thanks ). Because I sometimes play seasons with less (or more) than 16 races, and because I want to use spare drivers, I drive every race as a non-championship race and write down the points standings afterwards in WordPad.