Series: A big mystery

[GRUNZ]

I am still confused on how you guys expect us to use this function. Without a proper manual is a bit hard to guess and the video manual just hints at how this could be used.

Anyway, I wanted to create a series of events where i can set the number of events like in a championship. Basically at the end of each
event the points are given to the drivers based on their ending position for the race. Optionally, it would be also nice if extra points could be given for best lap in the qualifying event.   

Also, a series can be paused to be resumed later. Even better if the settings and results could be exported on a file to be shared between different machines where RCS64 is installed (I am thinking here at a scenario where races are run on different tracks over a period of time). 

The other thing that bugs me is the way drivers are selected for a series. Basically, the order in which they are selected needs to match the order of the controllers/cars on the far right-hand side. I find this very confusing for two main reasons: first there is no way of telling that there is a match between the drivers order and the controller; second as drivers/cars/controllers are already set on another page I do not see why this needs to be done again. On top of this there is no way (or I was not able to find it) of including pacers in a series.

Bottom line: I am not using this feature at all (I have created my own excel file and I need to put in points at the end of every race). To be honest, when this feature was announced when under development I had big hopes  for it. But in its current implementation (or the way I understand it) is a big let down.

[MrFlippant]

I'm not using it, either. For me, it lacks two very important features.

1) Driver has a preferred/favorite car. This allows the car and driver to move from place to place together. As it is, it's only suitable for IROC racing, where the drivers rotate through cars/lanes that remain the same.

2) A "Season" needs to be added so that multiple race meets can be easily summed for a season (what I normally call a series) of series races (what I would call events).

There are a lot of other "would be nice", such as all the things Gio suggests above, but those are the two that keep DRAWW from using it.

[GRUNZ]

I am more of a lone racer, so most of the suggestions are coming from my "limited" experience with racing against pacers. But even like that it is quite limiting what this feature supports.
I am quite curios on how Marcel, Martin and Andy use their RCS. I know that Marcel was hosting races on his home track (from where I came to know about Portimao).

[MrFlippant]

I think they mainly run single races. The series stuff was added primarily for me, and the few other people like me, that race a variety of races in one meeting, rather than just a couple single races. Any time we have more than 6 people, we'll have to use some kind of series system to take care of it. Sure, we can use paper... we have in the past... but we like it better when the computer does the work. That's why computers were invented.

[Minardi]

When I have more time I will try to explain a bit more how it works. You can get a total amount of points over multiple racing nights, I have used it that way. I had a few months of rcs-less life, slowly getting back to It.

[GRUNZ]

@Greg: surely something went missing in translation from what you were suggesting and what was implemented. If I take your Ferrari championship you are currently running, you want to keep scores over multiple nights. It is not just a matter of rotation.

@Marcel: looking forward to it. For the time being I am using an excel file to keep up with the points. Doable but I think that RCS should do this for me.

[MrFlippant]

Correct. We need rotation AND multiple nights. Marcel seems to know how to make it happen, but I must be missing a trick.
I guess that's what happens when I can't get more than myself together for racing on RCS64 yet.

[GRUNZ]

Then what you and the other members of DRAWW would like to see on RCS64 to make it your preferred race manager? 

[MrFlippant]

The seasons/series thing is a big part. Also, I'll be posting another thread with a suggestion for running a series with no rotation that I think we would like to try.
But honestly, the main reason we're still using SSDC is familiarity. I can't just decide for the group to move to RCS64, but I am promoting RCS64 often, and we spent some time at my track a couple weeks ago playing with it. In spite of the learning curve, they appreciated a lot of the features that are unique to RCS64. We just need a LITTLE more from the series system.