Joining procedures

[Doorman]

A thought came to me and paused briefly as it trundled though my head.
In CS we check out the situation before joining the game. I would appreciate comments on joining a LFS game. The way I see it is; spectate a while to see what is going on. If you can see a race is in progress wait till it's finished. I'm of a mind to make the server 'private' the moment a race starts and re-public it when the race is over. This, of course, won't affect dMw folks as they join with a different password, but it will stop outsiders barging in. This will be good as far as handicap races are concerned.
Discuss.

[smite]

Good idea

[Anonymous]

I prefer polevaulting. Oh discuss. Sorry i thought you said... oh never mind.

Seems cool to me but then I never join anyway

[Gandalf]

I'd hesitate to password the server when a race is on.

What'll happen is people will try to connect. See that it's passworded, and move on. I think it'll affect the server population to the point where no one will bother trying to join anymore

However, a server message saying that a race is on, please join spectators until the end (this really should be an automatic game option) would be good.

[DonkeyCheeseGrater]

This is good in theory for those on at the time but i agree with Gandys comments, it wouldnt take very long before people would give up trying to connect.  Also apart from the lag associated with leaving the pits, late joiners are not too great a problem. The problem with them joining at the start of a handicapped race is something which we cannot do much about , although if you could record previous handicaps, and they are regulars, you would know their normal handicap. The disadvantage of stopping people enter, is that often there is only a short time between races. a) That gives them a very short time of being able to join.
b ) Some people need a bit of practice, to warm up, in the car before racing. There often would not be enough time between races, where as if you can join anytime, you have probably driven at least a lap before the current race has finished. The point with this is if you are racing normaly, a bit of practice before the start, reduces the likelihood of over exuberant first corner driving. (Especially for those who have just come off an MRT5 server) c) If they are new to handicapping, how do you calculate their handicap without seeing them do a lap or two.

So i dont think it would be practical, however if handicaps could be recorded it would help with regulars who join just before a race.

[Doorman]

I guess we'll just have to see what pans out. How if we have a message that says 'Please spectate till the end of race' for when we're in the throes of deadly dicing? This to be used sparingly of course.

[JonnyAppleSeed]

Its good to get a practice lap as you join. As DCG says it helps to stop the first corner crash

maybe sumthing like "Race in progress Dont get inthe way"