Custom car bonuses and rotation

[Duplode]

Something I noticed after the Z217 update: For the sake of peace of mind, I have docked six points from the Indy, and four points from the Ranger. While doing so, I had assumed that custom bonus changes would be reverted at the end of the race; however, looking at the bonus changes around Z212 (which had custom +6 for Carrera and +4 for Acura) shows that is not the case. In this case, I certainly didn't mean to set back the rotation of the Indy by six points.

I'm genuinely unsure on whether we should change that behaviour. In any case, it is worth being aware of that if you are going to tweak bonuses.

[afullo]

Many times bonuses are not modified at all, so reversion would be possibile as a simple modification, inside the ten points threshold.

[Duplode]

Yup -- there's always the option of asking the next designer if they have any points to spare.

[Overdrijf]

I found there's also some value to the current situation, particularly around rule changes. Helping find the balance for new cars and such. The Jaguar can still use a few bumps to get it back up to speed in the new system.

It also makes for a very organic addition to the rotation, cars that are popular get used a lot.

I do see your point though, especially now that the cars get +1 per month automatically but + or - 10 based on the whims of the track designer. Changing the +-10 to being temporary allows designers to adjust the balance for their track without having to think about long term effects. Like in this case making the Indy skip this track. It would be an interesting alternate way of doing things.

[Cas]

This is indeed a good point. I agree that it'd be better if now, with the new rotation system, points moved by the track author did not accumulate and only had effect during that race.

[dreadnaut]

I have bookmarked this discussion, because it's quite interesting: I never thought of the "designer's points" as temporary, applied only for one race, but it makes a lot of sense. The ability to change coefficient for future races is also a kind of feature, but it's a bit of an "abuse of power", and I wouldn't feel to bad about removing it.

For the moment, I returned points to the Indy and the Ranger. But I'd like to discuss this as a rule change for next year, it sounds fun

[Cas]

My feeling about this feature is not very clear. On one end, I like having it, but I also do get the feeling of abuse. When I'm about to post my own track for the tournament, I do take a look at the cars and their current handicaps because I like to design a track thinking on the cars that probably will be used, but in general, it's not that I want to change which cars will be used, just know, so the track fits well.  Yet, I admit that sometimes, I've felt disappointed when the time for my track comes and none of the fast cars has a good bonus to make it worth using, as I love fast races. But most of the time, at least one of the fast cars can be used.