Sounds like a good idea.

It was one of the things I didn't like about, when I was running. It takes out the menuing, but it would be more fair for everyone.

You missed Waypoint 7 in the first Special Stage, that is why you got a 28:45 instead of a 08:45. And the total time is not added together - because Dakar 18...

Fixed that for you

that is strange and I don't know what that could be caused by. Reinstalling AC and removing/renaming the Documents/Assetto Corsa folder maybe?

AFAIK there is no setting to switch anything like that. Do you still get the necessary points for the medal, then it doesn't matter in any%.

Video of it would be nice.

There seems to be a timing bug in Dakar 18 that can occur in Pisco 03 and maybe in other stages as well (time will tell). The bug show it self in the way, that the time that is displayed at the end of the stage (when the onboard shot comes and in the "Stage Completed"-Page) is way off from what it actually should be. In the "Stage-Completed"-Page it states, that there has been a speeding violation and 1 minute has been added. In the second page (Stage Ranking) it doesn't show that penalty time.

Here is an example run where it happened:

For that reason, until further notice, if there is no obvious speeding violation during the run, the time that is displayed on the second page in the Stage Ranking is the time that counts in the Speedrun for that stage.

Currently the Any% category rules state: "Complete series.". Which one can understand as just get through the series (in every event), regardless of the medals or points needed for the series goal.

I want to propose the Rules to be changed as seen below. Unfortunately only CoopeZzXIII can change the rules and he is unfortunately not very active at the moment.

Please read the proposed rules and discuss changes.

Game Rules (for every category): Players are allowed to start with already completed championships. Players must not modify any game files that give other people an unfair disadvantage (eg. Speed boosts, mods).

Apps are allowed within the game. Apps to start the game are allowed.

Skips are allowed. Driving Aids are allowed. Changing of the Realism Settings are allowed. Changing of the AI Strength is allowed. Glitches are NOT allowed.

Timer must be visible on screen at all times and be continues. Timer starts from clicking on any series in the career menu and ends after race end (checkered flag) or after reaching the amount of points needed for the medal or championship points needed. Timer is real time based, NOT game time.

A category is deemed complete, when the series goal has been reached (x amount of medals/points). One Medal can only be counted once. It can however be seen as a lower grade one. A Gold Medal can be seen as a Gold, Silver or Bronze Medal. A Silver Medal can be seen as a Silver or Bronze Medal. A Bronze Medal is only been seen as a Bronze Medal.

Category Rules (Any%): The series goal has to be reached (x amount of medals/points).

Examples: 1 Gold, 2 Silver, 3 Bronze needed, getting 2 Gold, 3 Silver, 1 Bronze. 15 championship points needed, getting 20 points after 2 out of 4 races.

Category Rules (Gold): All series events have to be completed in a way, to get a Gold Medal or the maximum possible championship points.

Examples: 1 Gold, 2 Silver, 3 Bronze needed, getting 6 Gold. 15 points needed, getting 40 out of 40 possible points.

EDIT (2022-08-14): Included "Timer is real time based, NOT game time." EDIT (2022-08-19): Included "Driving Aids are allowed." and "Changing of the Realism Settings are allowed." and "Changing of the AI Strength is allowed." EDIT (2022-09-20): Included reference to start from the career menu

I think I found a solution/skip to this problem. It seems like AC takes the time you take the last time you got the the CP as a reference of how much time you need and gives you more time, if you "need" it. That is why CP1, CP2 and in some regard CP3 gives a pre-defined amount of time (because it doesn't have a reference yet). But on the second lap, AC knows now how fast you are and adapts it. With the fact that, more time = more points, you can skip CP6.

So the solution is to be "slow" to CP1 and CP2 but fast für 3, 4 and 5. Here is a prove of concept:

More extreme idea would be, to try and time it just right, so you get the maximum of points and maybe even skip CP5. I'm sure this CP/Time/Points-Behavior is applicable in other TA too, but I haven't tried it... yet.

Heyho, something is weird about the GT3 TA Split in N2. Lukekek was able to skip the 6th checkpoint at the end of lap 2, because the minimum amount of points (2500pt) have been reached at the 4th Checkpoint. Which saves like 40+ seconds in that split alone.

Because I couldn't find anything obvious in the video, I began gathering some data. Time for some Excel 😁 I opened all the validated N2 Any% runs, some of my tries and even some random YT videos I found as data (although in the screenshots are only the validated runs + 1 of my really good runs visible). Some terminology: "Frame on Checkpoint" means, that on the data is from the first frame the checkpoint message is visible. "1 Frame before Checkpoint" means, that the data is from 1 frame before the checkpoint message is visible.

The first two CPs are all ok. You get around 10 points per sec left on the TA clock and the amount of time on the TA clock is also the same. CP1: CP2:

The third CP is a bit weird. You still get around 10 points per sec left, but the amount of time that is on the TA clock is different. CP3:

CP4 is even more weird. Because now the amount of points that get added per sec left is different. It seems like everyone is faster than Lukekek, but that is only partical true, because Lukekek only had 46.596 on the TA clock. Every other validated run at least a second more. CP4:

CP5 is the target CP to get to 2500pt. Because Lukekek got 0.5-1.1 seconds more on the TA clock in CP4 than niismo and I (in both runs), Lukekek had more time left on the clock in CP5 and got just enough points to get the bronze medal. Eventhough in my test run at the end of the table, I was 3.6 seconds faster in overall laptime, I only got 2447 points. That is because I got 1.1 seconds less time on the clock on CP4. Which equates to 120 points. That would've put me over 2500pt. CP5:

I don't know why that is. What factors play a role into that and how AC decides how much time it adds to the clock. Does anyone know anything about that? Is this known in the AC community? Has anyone good contacts to the devs, who could explain it?

TL;DR: Don't be too fast. Fast driver get punished by getting less points/time. Don't know why.

The "END"-Part of the rules never applied to the level runs that have been submitted and validated, from what I can see. I think it only applies to the Career Any% and Career 100% categories.

In Any% it only matters, that you reach the Series Goal.

Of course we can do chicanes skips basically everywhere. For example for N2 Any% you may be able to skip the last chicane for TA. Not so much for the races, due to the penalty you get. Haven't tried it yet, but was thinking about that.

6:34...and I was happy about a 11 second improvement😲

I have a Fanatec Porsche GT3RS with G25 Pedals. and I just found out that Lukekek also improved on N2 Any%.

Nice to see some action here in this game now 😁 But the verification does take a while.

The shortcut is totally viable in the second time attack. You can even do it both times you come across there. Although it is pretty close. I got 1518 out of 1500 required points.

For the third time attack it is a little tricky not to lose the car or get launched on the right side of the straight and lose more points. But if you can keep it on the track after the last corner, you can get it. I got in my run 1043 out of 1000 required points.

And I gained 11 seconds in total compared to WR with that :D

In the Video at 02:25, 03:53 and 05:40

Thats a good shortcut. I wasn't in the mindset of finding these yet. Thanks for sharing.

Good run. It seems like I have to look into the Content Manager now to beat it :D

I had a second look and it seems, that by default only times with "Content Manager: Yes" are being displayed. Even though "Content Manager: Any" is selected.

What is the Content Manager anyway? Is that a leftover of the old leaderboard?

I think navigating the menu is a part of speedrunning and should be included.

With the starting from a fresh career file, it would take the fun off of grinding the categories, since (I think) you have to close the game, delete the file, start the game every time you want to do redo a run. That can get frustrating quickly.

Why are only the runs from scallywag749 listed in the individual level leaderboard?

So if you want to browse the categories, for example here: https://www.speedrun.com/assetto_corsa/level/N1