Hi. I'm currently new to speedrunning this game, so don't expect me to get WR in the most popular category. I've looked through the rules of Championship, Hard% and it Isn't that hard. I personally race with ABS and Traction control on Medium, with Manual starts and Sim Damage on (even though it can be a bit wonky at time) and I find it to be relatively easy. the difficulty cap I can understand, as the AI on one track at, say, 84 difficulty are tougher than on another track. but I propose some new rules for this category, and I will not do a run on this category until It's confirmed that either these changes are accepted or rejected. here we go:

[Begin Rules] -You are required to complete all sessions; if your runs features a DNF (either through crashing or retirement in the pause menu) or DQ, your run is invalidated unless they are undone with flashbacks or the session is done again -You are allowed to drive in any team of choice -Runs must be done on the most recent patch -You must Place top 7 in the FIA Formula 1 World Championship -The following assists are allowed -ABS -Traction Control: Medium -Racing line: Corners only -Other Assists are forced to be turned off -Video proof of your Racing settings (assists and gameplay settings) is required before you start the run -You are limited to a maximum of [Insert number here] Flashbacks. If you use more than [Insert number here], your run is invalidated. you must let us know how much flashbacks you've used in the run description -Safety car and Parc Fermé must be on -Vehicle Damage must be on simulation -The following Camera types are allowed: ()Cockpit ()TV Pod ()TV Pod Offset -Difficulty must be set on 80 or higher -Changes to the setup that can not be made if Parc Fermé is active are not allowed to be done to the car. No rear wing changes or Tire Presseure changes allowed, but changes to the Front Wing, On Throttle Diff and Brake Balance are allowed. Brake Balance, and On Throttle Diff are able to be changed from the car, whilst you need to make a pit stop to change the Front Wing mid-race

Timing starts when you press the button that corresponds with going to track in Australia and ends once you Finish in Abu Dhabi

[End Rules] These rules are designed to make Hard% actually difficult. the limited flashbacks rule is designed to force players to think carefully about using their flashbacks. However, I don't know how many flashbacks in considered 'fair' in a almost 4 hour long run. let me know what you guys think

As for the first proposed rule, please see the All Tracks subsection. Championship% is purely a race to the bottom to see how quickly you can win the championship whilst making use of the game's mechanics.

Other than that, you're already allowed to choose whichever car you want to use, it's just that having to chase lap time also means that there's no viable reason to use anything except the big 3, so I don't think a rule specifying top 7 in the championship is necessary.

The number of flashbacks is going to have to be a contentious one, I know that I can use anywhere between 10 and 20 flashbacks on average per 100% length career mode weekend (which takes me 4-5 hours) depending on the track, how i normally set the cars up, and how I drive, but a fair number for me might be lower because the default setup is more grippy than my career setups. Admin might disagree and think a higher number is fairer. We also have to remember that flashbacks are a time penalty in and of themselves, so maybe we might consider that a sufficient penalty for pushing too hard on track.

I can see the explenation behind the flashbacks and the championships standings, but I would also like to hear your thoughts on the difficulty, the assists (no assisted starts) and the added camera perspective.

I would understand if you decide to neglect the camera option (TV Pod offset). But the difficulty could be higher and the manual race start DO make it harder for some people, and that is what hard% is all about, isn't it? to be tougher than a all tracks run. (BTW, I will be doing a hard% run with the current rules in around 5-10 days as of me posting this)

Edit: I would also like to see your thoughts on the setup rule (Only changing things that are allowed in Parc Fermé)

Ah, ok, yes.

I agree with the no assisted starts, as it does make a run harder and bring in a more realistic challenge. Difficulty is weird, because not only does AI difficulty vary between tracks, they also don't drive like humans, so even between equally-skilled drivers on the same track, they are going to have to adjust the AI to different levels to match their own performance. Not only that, different people have different definitions of "hard". I personally set 101% AI for career mode, so i think 95% AI is easy, but not ridiculously so, and 102% and up is hard. however i have a few other friends for whom 80% already stretches them to the limit. I agree with 80%, but I also think there's a distinction between playing to speedrun, and playing for a fair/fun challenge. Other than that, I also don't mind allowing the offset TV pod camera, but I also think most people see it as a harder view to drive in than centred TV pod, so most won't choose it anyway. But allowing it in the rules won't hurt. As for that Parc Fermé rule... hmmm, I'll have to discuss this with Admin, see if our philosophy regarding this category allows for metagaming and setup tomfoolery, or if we also consider the realism aspect as part of what makes this category "hard". As it stands, though, I believe most of us prefer to just run the standard setup anyway because navigating to and selecting different saved setups is too risky a time-waste.

Regardless I'll ping Admin after I'm done writing this to make sure they see this thread,