By supportboss on March 8, 2010
- Image courtesy of the BBC
Lewis Hamilton has admitted that he nearly quit Formula One after the lying incident in the Australian Grand Prix.
The former world champion took all of the criticism he received as a result very personally and was not sure if he could continue racing.
“There was a lot to take on board after what had gone on,” Hamilton said. “I care about how people perceive me.
“It was a feeling of ’shoot, maybe I shouldn’t be in the sport’ rather than not in my team. This is my dream team and I am fortunate to have been here from the beginning.
“I never had a desire to drive for anyone else. So it was not a desire to leave the team, just to stop racing.
“For a split second it was ‘this is too much to take. How do I recover from this?”‘
In Pitstopboss, the free online Formula One manager game, developing and upgrading your car can give your times a real boost. Just like McLaren, you can hire the best drivers and then work together to upgrade your car to get it in tip top condition for racing. You can buy upgrades and select when and where to use them, making a big difference to your times and your place on the grid. Your drivers will get the most out of a fully developed car and they’ll pick up experience as they race on each circuit (they even have favourites!) boosting their speed and confidence, bringing you closer to F1 championship titles, fame and glory!
Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged updates
By supportboss on March 4, 2010
There are many competition types to suit all needs and tastes.
Firstly you need to consider the conditions, restrictions and rewards any competition has, for which you need to look at the Information tab. Here you can
see if there are restrictions on what kind of engine, chassis or tyres can be used, and if upgrades are in any way restricted. You can also see how many
points you can win and if there are credits to be won.
The Information tab will also tell you how long each session lasts, how frequent those sessions are and, if there is a fixed time, what time the competition
begins.
It also shows you if there is changeable weather, track rubber changes, retirements and if there are any limits on which managers can join.
In Pitstopboss, the free online F1 manager game, you compete with racing fanatics from all over the world!
Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged updates
By supportboss on March 2, 2010
Image courtesy of the BBC
Michael Schumacher has declared that the McLaren team is looking strong ahead of the first race of the season in Bahrain.
“They (McLaren) looked very strong, no doubt,” he said.
“But then it depends on who is going to bring what to Bahrain. It’s something we’ll have to wait for to find out.
“We have some improvement (for Bahrain), but is it much or is it not compared with what the others may or may not do? It’s a puzzle that’s difficult to read.”
He also spoke of his confidence for his own team Mercedes.
“Those four testing days here in Barcelona have helped a lot, and I am now quite confident for the beginning of the season,” he said.
“Quite often, we were carrying a lot of fuel, therefore the times did not always reflect the true picture. It was positive that we worked in a lot of areas and thus gained valuable information.
“We are heading to Bahrain with a good feeling because we know we will have additional new components on our car. But most of all we know that our prospects for the first races are looking very reasonable now.”
In Pitstopboss, the free online Formula One manager game, developing and upgrading your car can give your times a real boost. Just like McLaren or Mercedes, you can hire the best drivers and then work together to upgrade your car to get it in tip top condition for racing. You can buy upgrades and select when and where to use them, making a big difference to your times and your place on the grid. Your drivers will get the most out of a fully developed car and they’ll pick up experience as they race on each circuit (they even have favourites!) boosting their speed and confidence, bringing you closer to F1 championship titles, fame and glory!
Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged updates
By supportboss on February 26, 2010
Sponsors award bonus credits, liveries and car upgrades upon completion of their tasks.
Tasks include things like …
-complete so many laps in so many rounds
-finish above a certain position so many times
-get so many lockouts (place 1 and 2 in a round)
Always look for the sponsors’ objectives that you think you will be able to complete easily. Don’t go for ones that would be impossible (for example ‘place 2nd or better 3 times in Elite Cups’ will be very difficult).
To access the Sponsors page, look for the Sponsorship tab on your Team page or go to left menu… Team…Sponsorship.
Once the objective has been completed you can cancel it and look for another.
Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged updates
By supportboss on February 24, 2010
A small update today with a few adjustments.
* Adjusted the factory upgrade auto-renew so that it starts on the last day of the contract.
* Allowed drivers to continue in races if the contract runs out mid-race, subject to a 500cr daily fee.
* Adjusted the Beginner comps so they do not have bad weather
* Adjusted the points needed to get to level 2.
* Added SMS payment options for purchasing liveries.
* Added a weekday-only competition.
We will be having some brief (i’m assured it will be very brief!!) downtime at some time in the next few days as the server technicians give the server an oil change and some new boots before the start of the Formula One season.
…and now I go back to the race-coding den for the next few days!
Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged updates
By supportboss on February 23, 2010
Image courtesy of the BBC
Alonso has labelled the car he’s testing with Ferrari, the ‘best car I’ve ever had’.
The Spaniard, who joined the team at the end of last season has been testing the car in Jerez and is very pleased with how things are going, both with the car and the team.
“There are no reasons to be pessimistic,” he said. “As of today, this is the best car I’ve ever had.
“The two days that I tested it was sunny and the track was dry and I could work more than I thought so I’m very happy. We have done a good job in terms of reliability and long runs.”
“Red Bull, McLaren and Renault have been very quick and they have shown their cards, while we are still hiding ours,” Alonso added.
“We are going to analyse the data, but we are very optimistic. As of today, if I were in a different team I would be looking at Ferrari because everything is going very well.
“Maybe where Ferrari needs to improve is in the short runs with little fuel onboard. That’s where the Red Bull and the McLaren have been quicker, and they will be the reference to try and improve the F10 in the next test in Barcelona.”
In Pitstopboss, the free online Formula One manager game, developing and upgrading your car can give your times a real boost. Just like Ferrari, you can hire the best drivers and then work together to upgrade your car to get it in tip top condition for racing. You can buy upgrades and select when and where to use them, making a big difference to your times and your place on the grid. Your drivers will get the most out of a fully developed car and they’ll pick up experience as they race on each circuit (they even have favourites!) boosting their speed and confidence, bringing you closer to F1 championship titles, fame and glory!
Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged updates
By pitstopboss on February 17, 2010
Welcome to a new update. It’s not big, but it has a few minor additions.
Firstly, due to the fallout of alliance-gate, it seems that the passion and commitment members to their teams has resulted in a breakdown of inter-alliance talks. In some cases it’s been so bad that I have had to rustle up an “ignore-list” for the chat area.
For those who reckon diplomacy has failed, they can activate it from in their “community” section of the menu.
A failure of diplomacy comes at a price though, so use wisely and as a last resort!
That list in full, then:
* Added a shoutbox ignore-list.
* Added an option to stop accepting entries to your alliance.
* All new Amateur level Alliance competitions require you to be on level 2 tyres (PSB premiums, Star Performance or Controls)
* Fixed an issue (ok, i forgot) so Academies can now list and send mail by group (should be on the front page of your academy now)
* Issued Stig with another speeding ticket to slow him down a bit more and made some adjustments to fix an exploit.
* Minor bug fixes.
* Updated some language files.
Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged updates
By pitstopboss on February 14, 2010
As the Formula one testing gets into full swing it seems that somehow I’ve dragged myself into a testing session controversy the equal of which can perhaps be the diffuser row or the medals system of a certain Mr Ecclestone.
In an attempt to get a more accurate reading of skill ratings for players, I introduced some code this week that took into account recent form and history… On paper it should have given a much better approximation of skill than just using the equipment… In practice it hasn’t quite worked out as intended, and rather than refine it and add to confusion, I’ll revert to the old system – but make it a little clearer.
(I’d rather get the race ready for the F1 season than spend many days tinkering with the formula for skill)
Some managers have been struggling in the more professional level competitions. The main solution for that is to reduce the amount of maxed out equipment you have, perhaps by going back to premium tyres so that you get reassessed as an amateur rather than a professional.
I’m going to press on with a few seasons of the controversial Amateur Alliance competitions to see if this lower-point scoring competition for amatuer skilled racers is a good thing to have. There is a heated debate about this at present and as with most things and in formula one, testing and analysis will pay dividends.
I think there is room for a competition for those not fortunate to have an stack of pre-saved setups and the best equipment in town, but there is opposition, so we have to test it. I know how it must be like to be the proposed 14th formula one team now!
Where are these updates? I hear you say.
Ok, not much but bugfixes mainly:
* fixed a stig exploit where you could get to see more hints by turning him on and off.
* reigned the tame race driver (stig) in a little.
* fixed an exploit where you could get to see the setup % from older runs.
* added a help page where you can now get help by sending a message to a marshal (it lists who is online)
* added some more features to the academy pages so you can organize your members into groups.
* academies now listed with languages spoken by owner, to help new members who apply
* fixed a bug where the academy ratings were not displayed correctly.
* put back the older rating calculation of earlier this week, so for some, your skill rating will change.
* will restart the league (slightly later that originally advertised)
* made some minor optimizations.
Right, hopefully everything runs smoothly and it’s still dark enough outside so I can nip over to the neighbours garden and cut Mrs PSB some lovely flowers for valentines day!
Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged updates
By pitstopboss on February 11, 2010
Things move fast in Formula one, but at times they move even faster in Pitstopboss!
Anyway, hot off the heels of the earlier update, I bring you another update!
(ok, maybe it’s mainly to fix and improve some issues thrown up from the previous update… but still, it’s an update!)
* Fixed an end of season error message in the Pyramid League when drivers were managed.
* Adjusted the Skill Level calculation to give a better representation of skill (this may mean that some people drop a skill level and some lose or gain equipment performance points). This takes into account some of your form.
It’s not an exact science as there are always going to be some people that will fall into the wrong side of the fence, but hopefully, it will give a little more hope to a lot of managers, who had not a lot in the professional comps.
*Fixed a forum image posting issue.
* Added an amatuer comp for alliances. This is for players that are Novice or Amatuer Level and are in an alliance.
* Updated some translation files.
* Fixed a bug with the tutorials that i fixed already (again!).
* Adjusted the driver limits so they are a more respectable number.
Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged updates
By pitstopboss on February 10, 2010
Well the testing starts again for the new F1 season at Jerez, with some the new Red Bull, the new Virgin and the Lotus hopefully being seen in action.
For those of you wanting to get the action live , there’s a feed at: http://live.autosport.com/commentary.php/id/174
…and now back to the racing of a virtual kind!
Updates today include:
* Redesign of some of the initial tutorials (especially for the tutorial #2) to make it easier to understand.
* Fixed a bug in tutorial #2 that stopped it from being completed.
* Removed some of the unnecessary objectives that didnt work (such as ‘read X’).
* Fixed a few login and other security issues.
* Made a few adjustments to the navigation (removed and reorganized some items).
* Allowed resetting of accounts for old players returning, even if they are on level 1.
* Reinstated Holiday Mode for non-supporters, albeit at a higher pricepoint.
* Made clearer the benefits of being a supporter* (some restrictions don’t apply to current players, but those registered after feb 8th 2010).
* Rejigged the voting, as some vote sites were not working. You unfortunately have to vote a bit more to get the same credits (some of the very poor vote sites may soon be dropped).
* Adjusted the height of pages in the forum.
* Adding a Lower-Skill competition for Alliances that will be based more on results for entry (podiums etc.)
* Increased setup save slots by 25%.
Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged updates
