## 43 The problem with Online racing

For one month, I've been playing with Asphalt 9 (Asphalt Unite since August) on the Nintendo Switch, a free to play arcade racing game. And in this game, there is a multiplayer option with all the problems of human behavior. I had the same experience 10 years ago with Real Racing but also with Forza Motorsport. If a Multiplayer FPS is quite easy to manage and arbitrate, it's different with racing games if everyone is on the same track, at the same time. Collisions, zigzags, Verstappen and Hamilton seems to be gentlemen compared to online players...I won't compare to those gentlemen drivers like Fangio, Moss or Clark.

I also had great races with other good players in Real Racing, but too many races were ruined by "bad losers". Some waited in the wrong way to "kill" other players. Some logged out of the race and sometimes the game doesn't penalize this behavior. Asphalt gives only a few seconds at the start without collisions (the last version "unite" has changed a lot to avoid crash collisions). But the problem with the game is that it's an arcade game and you can knock out your opponent with collisions. It's not a real racing game if some people only play with collisions. But you can have good races with players who play for the beauty of the fine trajectories on the track. As many players fly a flag as an avatar, I can see which countries are more "violent" than others. And I can say that French players are not good, even if some teams are well ranked. Most of them disconnect when they lose. They use this cheating technique to collide with opponents and zigzag to avoid being overtaken. It's the same with American player
s and I had the same experience with Real Racing. I prefer to play with Asian players. But of course it's not a perfect rule.

The problem with online racing is that you're playing in real time on the same track. Everyone wants to get the best trajectory. In an FPS, you are not in the same place, you are trying to shoot your opponent. And in an MMORPG, you are not really in a real-time combat system. But when it's online, it's not real life and you can destroy your car without any damage to ... your body. That makes a big difference in a real race. And because you're still in the race after the crash, it doesn't seem like a big deal. When you add in the "race trolls" who just want to mess up every race, it's very difficult to have a nice race. But there's a bad thing about free play or freemium: you can have more powerful cars if you have money, not just with your skills or because you've spent hours levelling your garage. There are some "whale" players who have money to buy everything, especially the best cars... but are not able to drive them efficiently. How many races have I won with my level 1400 car against a level 3000 or 400
0 car that crashed in the first corner?

But I'm not a very good player, even though I know all the tracks very well. I've had some good races and I'm often on the podium, but it's harder to win. If you play at the top level of these games (or if you compare your lap times in other games), you'll be sent back to (racing) school. I just want to have fun with cars, without risking my life or causing a lot of pollution on a race track. It's fun to see concept cars now, maybe far from reality, because an asphalt race is very far from any physical reality. But when I think about it, I can see that there are too many male players and with this addictive behaviour, it seems normal that there aren't more female players. I'm happy to see that the Iron Dames are now beating men on real GT and endurance tracks. It's just a start. And you will say that there are so many better games to race cars online ... if you have a PC and a wheel. I did it with Forza with a seat, but now I'm not in the ... console race anymore. Wipe Out and F-Zero were also good racing ga
mes without cars.

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