Sidepodcast - All for F1 and F1 for all

We'll have to win it now - Feedback for the Fantasy Racers game as 2008 draws to a close

Published by Christine

As mentioned during yesterday's live show, we had an email from Nigel, who's been in touch with the team behind the Fantasy Racers site, notably Danny.

It's no secret that we're big fans of the Fantasy Racers, the competition has provided hours and hours of entertainment this season. It has a low barrier to entry and you're free to take it seriously, or not so seriously, as you see fit. As a result of everyone's involvement, Nigel was wondering if we had any feedback about the game this year, in order to gather together a list of improvements or things that you'd like to see implemented next time round.

Last year by all accounts, it was a little bit more complicated. There was no budget, and you picked five drivers from different pools of comparable names. You also selected an engine and a chassis, and gained points for all your elements. There were also points available for bonus items, like the fastest lap, and the first driver out of the race.

This year, it was simplified, with the introduction of a budget. Now each driver has a price, and you buy as many as you can afford and rake in the points depending on how well your chosen team fares.

As Nigel says:

This years system has been a lot simpler so is great for the casual observer, but I think last years had merit too and was more geared to the F1 aficionado / anorak / petrol head / geek! I suggested to Danny a combination of both would work well to bring the best of both, for example, you have a set budget limit, from which you must select x numbers of drivers, 2 engines, 1 chassis. And then these all earn points per lap as well as the bonus or minus points depending on how they finish relative to their qualifying position. Obviously the more of your budget you spend on drivers, the less you have to spend on a decent engine or chassis, and vice versa.

I thought this might be a good talking point from your other listeners as we are nearing the end of the season and we could collate the ideas and put them forward to Danny for next years competition, and I'm thinking that as we are going to win the Team League he's got to take our suggestions seriously!

Some interesting ideas in there. The only thing I would like to see added, particularly, is for driver prices to change as the season progresses. It makes no sense that Vettel is still the same price as Bourdais, as one has clearly come on a long way since Australia.

We'd love to hear your thoughts, ideas and suggestions and we'll point both Nigel and Danny in the direction of this thread.