General suggestions

Since Rob is posting his suggestions, I thought I'd post mine. Unlike Rob, I don't have specific feature-by-feature suggestions to present; what I DO have are the ideas I have about what would make the game addictive for me.

• Drivers. Right now, drivers are faceless, soulless puzzle pieces. You pick the one with the best stats available, then run with them until they either run out of health or you level up. Then you throw them away like used napkins. The best manager games I have found have given the player the illusion that their players/drivers/etc. behave like real people. I would eventually like to see a system which deepens the manager-to-driver interaction experience. I want to be able to screen drivers based on intangibles as well as tangible stats. I want their "personalities" to mean something in terms of the overall team chemistry. I want to feel a sense of accomplishment if I sign a young driver and nurture his career. Etc.
  
• Team Investment. We're all trying to build racing dynasties, so in a sense following the step-by-step "buy this facility," "upgrade this part," etc. philosophy over time is valid. BUT - everyone currently follows the same path. There is no deviation or variation. And once you hit a certain level, there is nowhere else to go. There needs to be a way to simulate the art of KEEPING your dynasty once it's built, or else people will get tired of the game quickly.
  
• Customization. At this stage of the game I understand that options are limited. But value for subscribers correlates with the amount by which a user can personalize his gameplay experience. The more we can make our teams look and behave the way we want, the more likely it is that we'll pay for the privilege.
  
• Gameplay depth. Maybe it should be league dependent, but some of us are interested in making the gameplay experience more involved, such as hiring test drivers, establishing additional teams in lower levels (without having to create and pay for a new account) to simulate, say, an F1 team which starts a GP2 "development" team, and so forth. Creating more depth drives up interest and shelf-life of the game.
  
• Chance. Right now, teams only DNF if a part fails or if they run out of gas. What about driver error? What about "acts of God"? It's stuff like that that lets the "minnows" succeed on occasion when the big boys fall short. Need more of this, especially in the top levels where teams are maxed out.
  

As a followup, I wonder if it might not be a good idea to reassess whether the three-tier league system works.

In our league, we are consistently at our limit for Rookie teams, but our Pro category is either at the low limit for teams or below it every season. Elite is only slightly better.

We've seen a lot of debate about "too many leagues" - maybe it's more a problem of league construction, though. The idea of relegation and promotion is fun but when you go from a 16-team tier to a tier with 4 or 5 teams it really kills the fun.

I did read the rest of it, and you have some good idea's just felt the need to comment on this as it comes up a lot

In an ideal world everybody wants to get to Elite, it makes sense for there not to just be 1 tier [as experienced managers will dominate, and new players will lose interest fast] thats why there is a limit of driver level for the rookie/pro tiers [although "IMO ONLY" the liimit should be lowered and also drs/kers disabled to avoid teams dominating, i do think that more teams should be promoted from rookie/pro [although only as a % of the total amount of teams] ie if you have 16 teams in rookie and pro the standard [4 or so] should apply, but if you have an empty pro tier 8+ should prob promote so you can still have a competitive next season

Ideally looking at ways to combine/merge leagues with the same settings [time/race length] would benefit every1 and those wishing to mantain a private league for friends/work colleagues etc could still do so by password protecting there league, more racers per league is win/win for every1, its more of a challenge, you learn more, and its less boring

Also looking into the possibility of "friendly races" [race at a specific time/track against people regardless of what league they are in & some kind of "champions league" as such [scaling rookie/pro to be able to compete with elite] and having basically every1 tiered into the same league with winners progressing further on, to show who the real best managers are [as win % / HOF can be manipulated] although the actual timescale needed to create either would be immense and theres other problems/updates etc of a higher priority

Ranted on a bit there lol........
.Brady,

More pondering...

There needs to be a LOYALTY/IMAGE variable for managers. Currently, there is little downside to breaking contracts and signing new ones outside of the happiness indicator going down (and a few positive comments solve that quite easily).

If there was a LOYALTY/IMAGE variable, the longer a manager sticks with a certain partner or driver, perhaps that might boost an overall team performance level for a while. It could act like tire temperatures - the more time a manager sticks with a driver, for instance, the higher the loyalty and better the relationship between team/driver = better on-track performance. On the other side, the more times a manager fires staff (especially after only a race or two), the harder it will be to sign contracts with new partners and staff.

Of course you could add another dimension to that by adding the possibility that after a while the loyalty degrades (like tires!) and turns into stagnation, where the two sides eventually have to go their separate ways.

Managing those relationships could add a big element to the gameplay.

I wonder if the solution is to make the tiers more realistic, like IndyCar's Road to Indy program, where you have, say, Star Mazda as the Rookie tier, Indy Lights as the Pro/Intermediate tier, and then IndyCar as the Elite tier. Instead of automatic promotion/relegation, you have to build your racing enterprise by starting out in the low level and accumulating funds to be able to afford the higher-tier chassis and engines and salaries that those levels require.

It also makes sense to confine aids such as KERS to the Elite tier and only allow DRS at Intermediate and above; it also is unrealistic for some teams to have them and others not to (e.g. all IndyCar teams have Push-to-Pass capability by rule). If the aid is available in the tier, then it must be UNIVERSALLY available - if a team can't afford it, then they can't race in that tier, just like in real life.

• Drivers. Drivers eventually will have several personality traits when in time they become relevant to the game itself, that being when the game has achieved enough advancement in more important areas. Firstly we are focusing on eliminating linear progression from the game which would not include drivers at this time as such DNF decisions are not included as of yet. But in time, we can look forward to that.
  

• Team Investment There is currently an overhaul on Team Progression, particularly in R&D and Suppliers where there will be several researches to choose from such as several different front wing packages, each with their advantages and disadvantages to each other, then you can upgrade specific attributes towards those Components to improve them, thus creating a long but choosable development, such as a Choosing to work on a HIgh Downforce Component would benefit you more when racing at circuits such as Monaco, where Aerodynamic packages would benefit more on circuits like Monza. Then we have the suppliers who will have alternating stats per season, and relationships with suppliers would effect the performance of those particular items.
  

• Customization there is a few bits of customization, some of it are not part of the game itself, sometimes even with a roleplay effect. The game needs to attrach P2P services which would interest players to subscribing, so that the game may benefit and grow. Without which, this game would have a very short life.
  

• Gameplay Depth many of which has been suggested and thumbed up, I would advise you to take plenty of time and browse the suggestions forum. Many of which are on the Pipeline to be implimented, but iGP has a small Management team and work can only be done so fast. This game isn't even a year old yet.
  

• Chance While I am not a fan of RnG, it still adds spice to the game, DNF has been argued to be very frustrating to deal with if your engine suddenly pops out of the back of your car, especially during crucial moments, some careful planning to make sure some issues do not break a player's progression. You would consider the Car's health to be a factor, such as overused parts instead of deteriorated health bars instead. Using the same suspension for several races instead of a 100% to 0% meter, we can use a component test to produce a result of 'Perfect Working Order', 'Working Order', 'Worn Component', 'Tiring Component', or 'Unusable Component'. Instead of knowing, "Component has 22% health left, this will last me another race," It can be said that it's a good idea to be replaced soon. Also you can have things like Compatability with the Component packages as they interact with each other, a Low Downforce rear and high downforce front would have tremendous oversteer problems, or brakes with not enough cooling would increase brake wear to a point where they are damaged.
  
  
  All of which however are in the Pipeline, you just have to wait and be part of the game as it grows.
  

As for leagues, let them play in small groups if they wish, we cannot force them to play in big leagues, even then, iGPmanager has an interactive race environment and different timezones are required as such. For myself, I want a 2-car, 100% League starting at 9pm which atleast 3 of the top 20 in it. The too many league issues, I view it rather selfish on the complainer's part.

Just to be annoyingly precise, while technologies may be mandated in the North American series', they most certainly are not in Formula 1. Some F1 teams do not have KERS even now, whilst in years gone by some would take it off their car for certain tracks then bring it back for the next.

Appreciate the correction; however, in the case of iGP the KERS system is nothing but a turbo-boost for the car. There are no issues of additional weight by installing the system that requires the team to save weight elsewhere, or the possibility of the system subverting the car's performance in any way. Because of that, it's 100% advantage to teams which research it.

Don't get me wrong - I love having it because it has helped me win races in a very difficult series; but imagine a new manager trying the game and having absolutely no prayer of winning anything because they don't have KERS. Most likely, they'll end up leaving in frustration before they can level up to get it. It's like if Lewis Hamilton brought his McLaren and raced it in the GP2 race on a given weekend.

'There are no issues of additional weight by installing...'  - Changes in Q2.
'100% Advantage to Teams which research it' - Ofcourse it is, why would it not be an advantage to have it?

New Teams, start of new with a basic team, they then progress and grow and eventually approach that level cap. Accept this as it is the same for every team that join. We're all in this boat.

Yeah, I started as a rookie in late march. When I didnn't win immediately, I didn't give up. Only people who aren't really racing fans will just sign up and get frustrated because everything isn't going their way immediately

Read what I typed again. The current iGP KERS is a completely penalty-free turbo-boost cartoon advantage. Real-world KERS is an advantage but not nearly to the same extent, and installing KERS results in compromises in car design and setup. The goal should be to model that aspect of it in-game; if that happens in Q2 update then the gameplay will be improved.

As for "[real] racing fans" and expecting "everything [to go] their way immediately," nobody expects that when they're first starting out. I just think it's a more realistic experience to have a rookie tier that doesn't have pro/elite-level features like DRS and KERS affecting the competition. It's not a matter of new managers expecting an entitlement; it's more along the lines of learning the game and having a chance to win at the starter level.

How do you think Real F1 team created their KERS? They weren't just handed it out by the FIA?? They had to research it all and develop the best one they could?? 

Additionally, If KERS was the same in iGP as real life, new KERS would be even more of an advantage over what we currently have. you realise how long KERS lasts right now? like literally a minute or just over. if you had 7 seconds every lap for say a 50lap race, thats already almost 6 minutes of better acceleration, higher top speed etc.?? How would changing it to that make it better a idea?

Also, you can win at starter level, you just have to build up your team so you can afford the top stuff?? Advantage is already with a Rookie with a higher level driver, so what would making it slightly more even to just lose anyway matter to them ?

It's pretty obvious that modeling an accurate KERS system - balancing the advantage with realistic weight and systemic failure possibilities - does not mean that the system cannot be SCALED so that, in leagues where the race distance is 50% for instance, the KERS system duration ratio is reduced to match.

What I'm asking for is increased depth and realism to provide a more nuanced subscriber experience. That should be the primary goal of EVERY game developer. Status quo is largely reserved for devs who are more interested in income and their fans.

looks good...joined last week...going to sign up for a year under the promotion deal....a few things still annoy me however....like how can race best laps be several seconds quicker than quali ;laps...even when u look at race venue lap records....quali is on low fuel....no drs and kers is worth several secionds....