Today, changes have been made to the leaderboards, in order to improve competition fairness and keep leaderboards future-proof.
First, Real Hardware and Emulator runs have been split into two separate categories. The main reason behind this choice is that Emulator runs can use any kind of input device which could give an unfair advantage over who plays on Real Hardware. This is mostly true for Arcade runs, but it could have an impact on the other platforms as well.
On a second note, it's still not 100% clear if all the emulators are accurate to their respective original platform, so the split has been done in order to avoid future issues regarding this matter.
Second, all platforms (Arcade, PC, Dreamcast) have been split into their own separate category. Arcade has been already split from PC/Dreamcast in the past, but now the last two have also been split, to reflect what old online leaderboards already did. It's still unclear if PC and Dreamcast have differences between each other for which one or the other is faster, but this way leaderboards are future-proof.
Lastly, rules have also been updated to be clearer for everyone.
hi, i am new on this board, but would like to share my opinion.
while i liked the combined pc/dreamcast leaderboard more, i can not comment if pc, emulator or original hardware have any sort of significant time advantage over the others. obviously emulator has more options for updated visuals. but also the original hardware has codes for 60fps or stable 30fps (which i personally use). the jp version has technical and content differences vs. us or eu. this already leads to a quite segmented basis and the question how far need this board to be split.
also in regard to inputs it is already quite segmented just by playing wheel or pad. and i use original hardware, but with a brook adapter to use a modern xbox pad. based on current rules, i seemingly have a non legit run posted now.
all this leads me to the question how far these boards need to be split at all while the active player base seems quite low for a nearly 25 year old game. some runs are already >10 years old and no clue if the runner submitted his video himself (maybe a good filter as well).
my individual opinion and feedback is, that smart and expanded filters can already achieve what you are currently going for. larger boards, but options to limit to specific comparisons would suit everyone. my motivation is just beating the next better run, no matter if original hardware, pc, wheel or widescreen 100fps mod.
arcade and home versions are obviously quite different, so a split makes sense.
please also keep in mind that i do not represent a „pro“ speed runner, but just an enthusiast of that game since launch.
thx for reading my individual opinion.
@vsMIC While it's true that the board doesn't have many active players around, I do believe that splitting each platform into its own category is the best course of action to give the chance to all the players to compete fairly with each other. Arcade for example has a lot of differences when you play on Real Hardware compared to Emulator, you just can't exactly replicate how the steering wheel, pedals, handbrake and gear shift of a real machine behave and feel with a custom racing sim setup, without considering you could play with a totally different input device on emulator, while on the Real Arcade you can't, unless you mod the cabinet, so it's totally fair to split between Hardware and Emulator in that case.
Arcade also has different physics from PC/Dreamcast, so the platform split is also reasonable. The only split that could be debated is the PC and Dreamcast one, because there's no proven difference between the two versions in terms of physics, but there are differences in the available cars you can use and loading times which affect the 10 Year Championship RTA, without considering the fact you can use any input device on PC compared to Dreamcast where you're only limited to official or third party controllers.
I don't think at this point I'll revert leaderboards back, maybe I could revert Hardware/Emulator for PC/Dreamcast because I can't see many people playing on PC emulators or Dreamcast emulators, and there aren't many differences in that case to justify the split, but that's about it really.
About the very old runs on the board, I did submit those myself, and those are all the runs that have some sort of video proof, being it a video online or a working replay. I still have to publish a lot of runs but I put that on hold for a while now, but consider that sr.c leaderboards are not even representative of the huge amount of runs that were listed on old Sega Rally 2 online leaderboards for PC and Dreamcast, for which we have text proof but no video proof for the majority of the runs.
To make things clearer I'll create a thread about those leaderboards and make it sticky so that it's clear that those exist as well.
Thank you for replying.
No doubt, Arcade and Home versions need to be split following your reasoning.
I was doubting the split of pc and dreamcast as those home versions are probably similar enough. Bigger board with smart filters may be more interesting. Just my opinion though …
Update about the Hardware/Emulator split:
Since having Emulator runs for PC and Dreamcast didn't make much sense for how many runs there were on the category, the Hardware/Emulator split for PC and Dreamcast runs have been reverted, leaving it only for runs done on the Arcade Platform.
