Organized iRacing

[vobler]

I'm not sure if this will be of interest for dMr but here is the first "official" proposal of how iRacing will do its upcoming league and hosting. The plan is to have this going for next season that begins I think 3. of november.

This means that dMr could move to iRacing if there is enough racers willing to move.

Organized iRacing Proposal

It is important that some members have the ability to become Organizers. We will offer an Organization Package for $150 to any Organizer who wants create an Organization. There will be an Organizer Forum specifically set up for Organizers. An Organization Package is good for 50 Organizer Credits. (We expect to see a lot of Organizers opt for 4x12 (48) races during a year with 2 special events)

We will also offer all members (including Organizers) the ability to Host a race at any time for $3.50. There will be a Hosting Forum for Hosts (anyone who want to create spur of the moment races or set up scheduled races -- however they want to do it).

Races will be set up for Organizers (using their Organizer Credits) and Hosts (for $3.50) will initiate a PQR (Practice/Qualify/Race Session) anytime they want. They will be the Admin for that race.

Anyone joining a PQR joins for free.

The Admin selects session options on a web page that will include session name (so people can find it), password (can be blank, i.e. none), car, track, fixed setup ability, practice length, race length, qualify length/type, yellows on/off, rolling/standing start, SR min/max, iRating min/max. Not all of these options might be ready by the start of next season.

The PQR session will start moments after it is initiated and run for a prescribed period set by the Admin - long enough to include x minutes of practice, x minutes of qualify and x laps of racingââ,¬â€if someone were using this to run a league, he/she would initiate the PQR perhaps a half hour before the league race time and have at least a half hour of practice. It would have been announced in the Organizer iRacing Forum or on their website. We will be working on a central Organized Schedule Page for the second season of Organized iRacing.

This methodology will work not just for leagues or associations but will also allow a group who are practicing or chatting to organize a race at any time and get a race going right away with people they are in communication with.

While the costs are slightly less than we have been discussing of late, they are substantial enough to keep people who aren't serious or who aren't going to have enough members to race from scheduling a PQR session.

The hosted sessions would all be exactly alike in format: an open practice period, then a qualify period, followed by a race -- PQR. The races would be gridded by qualifying time, then iRating (if no time is recorded for a driver). There will be easily accessible links with results for the 3 sessions (Practice, Qual, Race). Any of the 3 sessions can be skipped by the Admin placing a zero for that session.

The Participation Plan will begin at the same time Organized iRacing begins -- planned launch next season. The Participation Plan will probably be based on what you have suggested >> Up to $60 per year in iRacing Credits will be made available, but based on the level you drive. The higher the series, the greater the Credit.

Sometimes a resolution is the more important than perfection. I'm sure some members will object to this, but we believe these steps will greatly enhance the overall value and attractiveness of iRacing. Now, perhaps, I can go back to concentrating on the official iRacing series. Our focus will remain there. The focus on Organized iRacing will lie primarily with the Organizers -- God bless them!!

John

[Gnomie]

Very interesting idea I think.

I bet a lot of the orgs will wish to charge people for participating, through paypal or something. It would be great if iRacing could alleviate this by making a system where people can pay with iRacing credits or something  when they join a session, to minimize the fuss.

[vobler]

Very interesting idea I think.

I bet a lot of the orgs will wish to charge people for participating, through paypal or something. It would be great if iRacing could alleviate this by making a system where people can pay with iRacing credits or something  when they join a session, to minimize the fuss.

Between "hosters/friends" it must be possible to pay by iRacing gift sertificates for sure, but for bigger Orgs like dMr it must go in the normal budget and they need to raise the money like they do for other servises.

[Lameduck]

$150 to be able to organise races? They are having a laugh :roflmao:

I just dont appreciate this merchandising model.

They charge you to join, they charge you for tracks, they charge you for cars. Now they want to charge you to organise a race and $3.50 to organise a race when YOU want to?

Statement says "Anyone joining a PQR joins for free." so who is going to pay the charges - the organiser? I can see folk queuing up do do that :sideways:


LFS, NKPro and rFactor may have their faults but at least you can race for nowt once you have purchased the sim.:2cents:

[Doorman]

I agree with Lamie, enough's enough.

[vobler]

Statement says "Anyone joining a PQR joins for free." so who is going to pay the charges - the organiser? I can see folk queuing up do do that :sideways:

The drivers pay through the organizer, this is what we do now. .
There is about 15 subscribers in dMw that mostly do racing. That is more than enough to both run the races and the forum services. So the payment structure would be the same as today.

Edit: Yes and I forgot. Good racing in a good environment (leauge/club/team) does not come for free. dMw would also grind to a halt if not for donations and subscribers.

[Lameduck]

The drivers pay through the organizer, this is what we do now. .
There is about 15 subscribers in dMw that mostly do racing. That is more than enough to both run the races and the forum services. So the payment structure would be the same as today.

Edit: Yes and I forgot. Good racing in a good environment (leauge/club/team) does not come for free. dMw would also grind to a halt if not for donations and subscribers.

The difference is that subsciption via dMw is voluntary, not a condition of use and is not subject to commercial pressures.

[Romus]

I'm interested of this. Vobler, have you already heard of anyone planning to be an organizer? Could you be one?

EDIT: not really so interested if it means each race would be 3.50$ extra on top of the 150$ organizer package. Sounds like that would be something only for serious leagues, who have a race per week or something like that. Definitely nothing for dMr type of team racing. I already had high hopes for this...

[vobler]

The difference is that subsciption via dMw is voluntary, not a condition of use and is not subject to commercial pressures.

Yes, but do you think dMw can choose not to pay for their servers and internet services? That is what this cost is covering.

But of course I understand that it would be difficult for dMw to do this because they have their own servers etc.  But any organizer that rents its servers now at som hosting service, could do that in iRacing for a similar sum. That is my point.

[vobler]

I'm interested of this. Vobler, have you already heard of anyone planning to be an organizer? Could you be one?

EDIT: not really so interested if it means each race would be 3.50$ extra on top of the 150$ organizer package. Sounds like that would be something only for serious leagues, who have a race per week or something like that. Definitely nothing for dMr type of team racing. I already had high hopes for this...

No I will not organize anything, at least not in the beginning. The 3.50 is for people that want to host an adhock race. Like in rFactor you set up your own server. The 150 is for leagues and organizers that want to set up a leauge for a whole year like if dMr wanted to do their races there. Only the ones that set up the servers pay, not the racers themselves. Of course some organizers would want to get their money back by charging for participation. All this is up to the organizers.

A lot of people have said that they will set up different leauges. I have heard of Oldtimer leagues,Road Legends, Tona/DegaHeads, and some even mentioning a 1000 member leauge that is thinking of moving to iRacing. There will be a few for sure.

[Gnomie]

What's included in the $150 organizer package?

[Romus]

The 150 is for leagues and organizers that want to set up a leauge for a whole year like if dMr wanted to do their races there.

I was reading through the thread where John Henry announced the new service, and when people speculated that it would cost so an so much - 10 races per night per month = 300 races and that multiplied by 3.50$ makes about 1000$ per month - I did not see John Henry or anyone else deny that kind of logic. I hope I have misunderstood and you have it right. :crazy:

[vobler]

What's included in the $150 organizer package?

From first post:

It is important that some members have the ability to become Organizers. We will offer an Organization Package for $150 to any Organizer who wants create an Organization. There will be an Organizer Forum specifically set up for Organizers. An Organization Package is good for 50 Organizer Credits. (We expect to see a lot of Organizers opt for 4x12 (48) races during a year with 2 special events)

50 Practice/Qual/Race (PQR) sessions. So in its current form it supports only about 1 PQR a week. Not open servers as we know it from LFS and rFactor.

I was reading through the thread where John Henry announced the new service, and when people speculated that it would cost so an so much - 10 races per night per month = 300 races and that multiplied by 3.50$ makes about 1000$ per month - I did not see John Henry or anyone else deny that kind of logic. I hope I have misunderstood and you have it right. :crazy:

The pricing scheme is selected to protect normal iRacing sessions.
And yes hosting 10 races a night will be too expensive. You have not misunderstood. There is two types. Single races and 50 session packs. None will be able to do the same as a fixed server can do. But you can have a weekly private PQR session if you want. Most leagues are one race a week.