Cars and rules for 2026

[HerrNove]

Orthogonally to the other proposals for PTB I would suggest to not carry over the time bonus across seasons: at season start every driver should be on a blank slate. Moreover, with inter-season carryover, on the final race of the year drivers with nothing at stake would be incentivized to alter their replay posting habits to try to carry as many hours as possible to the new season, i.e. staying just below the 132.5 or the 265 threshold. A ruleset should not force the competitors to pursue these strange goals.

[Duplode]

Orthogonally to the other proposals for PTB I would suggest to not carry over the time bonus across seasons: at season start every driver should be on a blank slate.

I agree, and I'm fairly sure we won't have that. Inter-season carryover was an acceptable compromise under the old LTB rules, but it really isn't so with PTB.

[Matei]

at season start every driver should be on a blank slate.

https://matei.one/invidious.php?v=l5II1EUWbL0

Let's pretend that the world is great,
and everybody gets along, and there is no hate,
and if you make a mistake, you get a clean slate,

[dreadnaut]

Let's get this thread moving again, focussing on PTB improvements — if any.

And for the car selection, there's a new thread.

No carry-over from 2025 to 2026 makes sense to me. Podium time is easier to correct, so a full reset gives the new season a clean slate.

[dreadnaut]

Seeing no further comments, my plan is to confirm the 2025 ruleset, including PTB as-is. Leading hours will start from zero with the first race of the season.

[CTG]

my plan is to confirm the 2025 ruleset

Ex post facto? 

[dreadnaut]

I mean, for 2026! 😅

[Duplode]

Seeing no further comments, my plan is to confirm the 2025 ruleset, including PTB as-is.

That's a sensible choice.

While I'm on record in favour of keeping PTB as-is for this year with an eye to possibly tweaking the system for 2027, I also wanted to do some analysis of the 2025 PTB data and bring it to the table so we'd have a better picture of how well it worked and potential things to improve. I'm sorry I couldn't come up with that on time for this thread, off-Stunts matters to deal with made it hard for me to sustain focus over these last few months. In any case, I'll work on it as soon as feasible.

(Another thing I was thinking about a few weeks ago was yet another approach to try keeping powergear cars in check. It's fine to leave that for the next preseason as well, if it still makes sense by then -- I do think, after all, that we're slowly but steadily learning how to live with PG under the current rule set.)

[Victor Narl]

I propose a slight change to the next PTB rule:

"pipsqueaks who get less than 1 bonus point in a race carry unused hours to the next one."

Instead of "less than 1," change it to "less than 2," and also add the ability to award 1.5 PTB points per race.

[Duplode]

PTB +1.5 is a possibility on the radar for 2027 at least. The system as it currently exists is relatively stingy about points given in order to limit the impact of PTB, both in terms of points accumulated (to avoid PTB deciding the championship on its own) and of spent focus (so that people don't have to defend positions every single week throughout the year to have a fighting chance at the season scoreboard). The flip side is that, given how PTB +2 is currently so hard to achieve, the system could become more dynamic by adding PTB +1.5 as an intermediate step. Since granting more PTB points would have an impact over other aspects of the system, though, IMO additional changes should be considered alongside it to preserve the overall balance.

[alanrotoi]

I don't know. The core of the rule is to help in the same level to top pipsqueaks and also those who follows. Top pipsqueaks will have 2 points more often than the rest so the whole PTB wouldn't have mean to be.

[Duplode]

I don't know. The core of the rule is to help in the same level to top pipsqueaks and also those who follows. Top pipsqueaks will have 2 points more often than the rest so the whole PTB wouldn't have mean to be.

That is a factor too. More points granted overall means bigger gaps between the involved pipsqueaks. Another aspect of the system for which this concern is relevant is carryover. One of the reasons carryover stops at PTB +1 is that it is primarily meant for those fighting for the lower PTB positions, rather than for the lead.