An Open Letter to Ghost Games

Dear Ghost Games,

This is the fifth time I’ve attempted to properly form my words and frustrations into a cohesive and constructive voice. (Now it’s the sixth time with the changes released to the multiplayer ranked system).

Look. Ghost. Congrats on the release of NFS Payback. You even dropped a DLC with extra content for players that is pretty well priced. The game itself is good. Fun to play, improved handling, more content to race and cars to collect. It’s a good foundation.

After completing the campaign, I’ve been spending some with with your multiplayer, mixing a bit of casual with ranked play. And to be frank, it needs some work. I don’t want to drone on the obvious. Most of the player base is aware of the net-code situation, and the weird desync we experience when racing. I’ll give you the benefit of a doubt that your team knows, and is working to improve the experience.

Instead, I want to address the Ranked Playlist. At launch, ranked seemed like an interesting proposition. Something to keep us playing, to keep us grinding, to keep us collecting, upgrading, and min-maxing. In time, Ranked started to reveal some problems and issues with the game. Issues echoed by the community and content creators. I had my own share of issues, so that’s what this open letter is for. An attempt to decipher what ranked is, how it works under the hood, and how it can be improved for a more rewarding experience.

The Issues

In a nutshell, the Speedlist format is a good idea. And I can even understand where some of the design decisions come from in order to enforce a sense of competition (between voting for tracks after every round versus holding votes for the final round, the final round multiplier). It’s short, it’s sweet, and it’s effective. Part of me wonders if reverting to more traditional tournament structure would be better, trading consistent performance for that exciting comeback last ditch, but that’s a conversation for another time. And the idea of Ranked even existing is interesting to think about in context. But there are some more nuanced decision that make it a bit frustrating to take in as a whole.

Before we begin, please understand that all the issues explained below are from what I’ve experienced. If I get anything wrong, I apologize and will update with a correction once confirmed.

First, let’s chat about how exactly to rank up. From a bunch of testing performed, here’s what I’ve learned so far. First, the number of players in a speed list matter. There is a direct correlation between the number of opponents competing, and the point gain/loss received per race completed. The more racers competing, the bigger the gain or loss. Second, your finishing position. When competing in a speed list, there are a few things to look out for.

If you’re not first, you’re last (more on that later). But it’s not just an overall first place that matters. Since your rating will change from race to race, it’s important to be mindful of your opponents rank as well. If someone with a lower rank finishes hight than you, it can deal a pretty heavy blow to your rating. Vice versa if you’re rank 1 and you defeat a rank 3 in a race, you can expect a sizable increase in rank points gain due to that one win.

It’s funny, because this raises another issue. Your rank will rise and fall as you compete in races. Yet at the end of a ranked session, if you finish where you started, the overall change in rank points feels similar to gaining 5 SR in Overwatch after slogging away in what feels like double overtime. That doesn’t feel fun or rewarding. Rather it’s just confusing.

It boils down to the ultimatum: If you’re not first, you’re last. This here is the straw that broke the camel’s back. The only consistent way to rank up in multiplayer, is to stomp everyone, every time. And that’s not consistent to pull off. It requires two things.

One: Adhere to the meta. As of now, it means driving a min-max Regera or 911 RSR. Sure, we can argue that other options exist such as the 918, Mustang GT, Huayra, or F132, but all those cars fall short of actually being able to compete with the Regera or 911 on a level playing field. It doesn’t help that a lot of events are geared towards top speed favored vehicles (which is a curse of the well thought world design). These events allow the regera to really stretch it’s legs, with only the 911 RSR able to contend at the top. I encourage you Ghost, to check out isuckatdriving’s breakdowns of the Level 399 Cars, offering more detailed assessments on which cars are competitive, and which aren’t in multiplayer.

Two: Play it smart. Most drivers I’ve encountered are pretty aggressive and ready to smash you out of the way if that means giving them the edge. Half the time it turns into a game of Burnout as I try and avoid the wreckage and carnage ensued by my opponents. So there is a level of luck involved in getting a lobby that one, fights amongst themselves, and two, gives enough openings to grab and retain the lead. From there it’s a matter of not being subject to the woes of the environment. This isn’t easy or consistent, and the games net code problems extend the frustration of the experience. I appreciate the option of allowing drivers to use their Runner Cars as counters to aggressive drivers, but it raises two problems as well. One, if a lobby all adopts runner cars, it’s the same problem in a different light. Two, not enough runner cars can challenge the top tier vehicles in the race class, especially on the high speed tracks, leaving people split overall.

The Proposed Fixes

I’m not a game designer, but I am a UX Developer by trade, so I do have some insight into feasibility. “Fixing the net-code” isn’t a simple endeavor, and honestly could require months of work to accomplish (i.e. For Honor with their migration from P2P to Dedicated, which took a considerable amount of time to complete). With that said, I’ll offer some proposed solutions in order to offer the player a better experience when competing in ranked.

First, I’d revert the change that requires at least 4 racers to start a speed list. This requirement is fine for quick play, but according to how points are calculated, and the lockout of introducing new racers when a speed list is already in progress, it’s better to have players wait for at least 6. This will increase the amount of competition during the length of the speed list, allows for higher gain/loss during each race, and introduce more noticeable progression. The 4 racer minimum can be re-introduced in the higher tiers of competition, as the available pool of players reduces.

Second, advertise connection quality and ping. A lot of racing games do this (Gran Turismo Sport is a great example). It gives the player transparency on what to expect in terms of potential ghost hits, desync, and lag. It also lets the player know that their connection is excellent or garbage relative to the server and peers.

Third, I’d work to implement some form of opponent ghosting. Players driving in the reverse direction should immediately be subject to ghosting rules, so as to not ruin the experience for everyone else trying to place on the podium. This feature could be expanded to apply to races with bad connections due to large ping or packet loss, overly aggressive drivers, or other conditions seems fit to apply, in an attempt to reduce the factor that the game is fighting against your ability to win.

Fourth, I’d prevent rank calculations from occurring with every single race completion. Rather, I’d perform rank gain/loss calculations on the overall performance on the speed list. This incentives the player to stick in there, bolstering the usage of the multiplier final round race as a comeback mechanic. It also reduces the attitude a player can adopt where “I’m the highest ranked player in the lobby, therefore if I lose it’s all over”.

Those are my suggestions. Overall, the game is in a much better state that it started, and the single player component provides real value for the consumer looking for a modern arcade racing experience. I hope to see multiplayer become a more competitive experience. It should not strive to be the next esport, but offering the player an experience that allows for impactful progression that’s both well explained, and understood (along with stability — I know, dead horse), can go along way in maintaining player investment over the long term. You got this Ghost!

Thanks for reading,

Domus