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Tema: Quixotic Press |
1199 odgovora
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#91 objavljeno 25 Velj 2016, 15:42:11
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Great read and great answers. And finally a useful notification other than the season calendar :)
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#92 objavljeno 25 Velj 2016, 17:45:05
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One of the best interviews I've read so far [not being biased at all :P]
Nah, but seriously, good job Max and Stu! I'm slightly offended by me being labelled as one of the "kids" along with Ethan but...hey, we're a happy(?) family :D
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#93 objavljeno 25 Velj 2016, 18:02:39
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Thanks admins for the notification! (Stu and Max for the reading of course :))
The start of a new habit? (the notification)
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#94 objavljeno 25 Velj 2016, 18:10:50
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Nice one. Good luck in next season!
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#95 objavljeno 25 Velj 2016, 18:44:52
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Chris
You would never really be only described as 'one of the kids' you know very well that you are LAST of the kids (and the rest of the team come to think of it)
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#96 objavljeno 25 Velj 2016, 18:45:58
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Quote ( Michael Franks @ February 25th 2016,18:44:52 ) Chris
You would never really be only described as 'one of the kids' you know very well that you are LAST of the kids (and the rest of the team come to think of it)
I'm bidding my time Mike...I'll be in Elite by S55
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#97 objavljeno 25 Velj 2016, 19:02:10
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#98 objavljeno 25 Velj 2016, 19:56:50
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#99 objavljeno 25 Velj 2016, 20:36:00
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Yeah decent thanks for that. I agree with the points system when I joined seemed to be a bit outdated :)An extra element in strategy for new people would be fun but tricky with everything else that goes on! Cheers mate!
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Great interview!
good job!
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Most liked interview now Stu - a true pioneer of the game :)
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I wonder if the 2 people who disliked it want to say what they didn't like about it :()
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Quote ( Phil Maunder @ February 25th 2016,21:37:19 ) I wonder if the 2 people who disliked it want to say what they didn't like about it :()
Two options...
- They are jelly (read jealous).
- They don't understand a thing and ended up on it only thanks to notification.
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Quote ( Mairo Toom @ February 25th 2016,21:41:19 ) - They don't understand a thing and ended up on it only thanks to notification. That happens to me. But i think this is the best thing there are in the forum!!
My english is not very well so i lost a few things reading but still its wonderful. And i think its so good beacause Max s questions. With the rooki talk about the interface and how he did meet the game.
Congratulations and i think we need some to translate it to different languages so all the community could appreciate!!!!!!
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I would have given an extra green thumb if there'd been the chance.
Congratulations on both of you gentlemen, that was a really nice read.
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Excelent interview! Grettins from Argentina
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Quote ( Phil Maunder @ February 25th 2016,21:37:19 )
I wonder if the 2 people who disliked it want to say what they didn't like about it :()
Don't know about the other two, but I disliked it because of you moaning about people disliking it.
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Enjoyed the Interview.
Gave me insight into fellow Managers thinking and thoughts, Thanks
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Good work, really enjoyable read
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Quote ( Phil Maunder @ February 25th 2016,21:37:19 ) I wonder if the 2 people who disliked it want to say what they didn't like about it :()
Perhaps they thought the questions were very safe, and almost deliberately uncontroversial.
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If that's the case Jack - maybe people should suggest specific questions for Max to put to the interviewees?
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Quote ( Robin Goodey @ February 26th 2016,12:23:11 )
If that's the case Jack - maybe people should suggest specific questions for Max to put to the interviewees?
Would you like when people from outside suggest you how you should do your job?
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#116 objavljeno 26 Velj 2016, 12:57:11 (zadnji uredio26 Velj 2016, 12:58:11 od Guy Adams)
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It's all an act really. Stu's a total git normally....
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Quote ( Daneks Britāls @ February 26th 2016,12:43:10 ) Quote ( Robin Goodey @ February 26th 2016,12:23:11 )
If that's the case Jack - maybe people should suggest specific questions for Max to put to the interviewees?
Would you like when people from outside suggest you how you should do your job?
The hint is the word 'suggest'......
Max of course is under no obligation to ask those questions.....but you never know, he might like other people to suggest questions, so he doesn't ask every interviewee the same things.....
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Top class manager, and for someone like myself who's only started this season, a very interesting read!
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if you forum search: Elite press, Master press, Pro press etc etc... you will find some other interesting and informative interviews. Good luck Matt!
Roll on next Thursday:)
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Good morning/afternoon/twilight/Edward Cullen. It's time for our fifth feature, you charmed chinchillas! Our respondent on this occasion is sure to offer a unique perspective, for nobody else can truthfully say that they are GPRO's elite champion of S51!
Tell us about yourself, and what you get up to outside The Game.
In real life, speaking by GPRO terms, I am 39 years old. For past 5 years I have been working as financial controller for German based pharmaceutical company. I am married to my wife for 8 years (been together 10) and we have two boys with ages of 5 and 8. It's sometimes really big challenge to keep up with everything. My hobbies are playing actively all sorts of sports (played professional basketball when young), traveling, reading and playing with my kids. It's funny that they are always trying to find my car during the races and always make some sort of smart comment, so I am really glad to be able to "shut them down" this season. But it's certainly new breed of Jaguar generation to come :)
Your 9th season in elite has culminated in you winning your first championship. Tell us a little about how this season has gone, and how it feels to win your first title.
This season didn't start exactly in the most perfect way as I had random in the very first race. After the race I was pretty disappointed and was trying to jump to quick conclusions, but Roland has come to me with some words of wisdom: "One of my championship seasons started off with the random in the first race as well, so don't worry you will be fine. Don't forget your goal and do everything to achieve it". I am really glad that he was right. Just to clarify for better understanding, before this season started, we have made mutual agreement with Roland that in terms of overall package and financial shape, I was in much better position to run for the championship and he would just try to back me up in case of random. Fortunately, there was no need for this plan B.
Having already secured the title with 4 races left, it was huge surprise to me because I was expecting much closer battle till the end, mainly with Zdenek. But fortunately for me, I think he was trying to be financially VERY RESPONSIBLE in terms of parts management which caused him some premature smoke at the end of few races which turned out to be devastating for him in the current standings. We are speaking of some 10-15 additional points for him. He also got hit by few randoms if I remember correctly which helped me to gain much bigger edge.
Also, I have not seen Jukka coming so strong at all before the season started. It came to me as big surprise that he was very much matching my race speed, my Q times and my pit times. But the explanation then came directly from him in his interview earlier in this thread that he was having a "championship push" which explains his "sudden" gain of speed as he upgraded his car level compared to previous season. It was really tough to race against him and I had a bit luck here and there to get advantage in races and in standings. And not to forget, rain races came to me as big help, even dry races with rain in Q1 or Q2 helped me to get better grid position. Also if I remember correctly, he had some premature early pits for some reason.
So in the end, I am really glad that I have reached my Ultimate Goal in this game and I can just enjoy racing from now on without having to worry about future championships. But do not be fooled, it's not that I am not going to go for it in the right moment :)
Btw, on the funny side, I didn’t notice that I have already won the title after R14 after being drunk on that particular race night. I accidentally found out next day in the afternoon that I won. It was the first race I missed this season.
You spent a great deal of time in master before making the jump to elite this time. Was this a crucial factor in your success?
I have to say YES, but there is no right or wrong answer to spending rebuilding time in Masters. After spending 4 seasons in Elite on "wrong" tires, it was really bad for my finances, my sponsors were terrible and my facilities needed massive upgrade. As I like to be competitive all the time, I thought Masters was the right place for me. There is bigger income per race with the same car level costs compared to Pro. Nevertheless, it's not the best solution for everyone as it depends a lot on your overall package and how you handle the hurdles of huge competition in Masters. It almost turned out to be very fatal for me as I completely misjudged my package and almost relegated in S38. But fortunately, Flo turned out to be my true teammate and took a "voluntary" random for me in the very last race. It allowed me to reach 1 needed point for 8th place and it barely saved my season. Another close cut decision going down to the wire was in S39 where I was just at the relegation zone and was so close to going down to Pro again. If you have major doubts about retention at any higher leagues, then Amateur seems to be best place to rebuild while having fun racing. You earn money quick, everyone is on same tires (cheap shit tires), sponsors are almost free for grabs and drivers are cheap to sign with no bonuses. Not to mention there are no TDs :)
When you arrived in elite, it was alongside another hugely successful Czech manager, Zdenek Hladik. It seemed there was almost nothing to choose between you – both financially healthy, both with good sponsors, nearly identical drivers. What do you think gave you the edge over your famous countryman?
This is another great question which I would like to know the answer myself. I know that Zdenek has signed his driver really cheap back in S43 when this driver was having huge potential, but his stats at that time were lacking big time. He invested a lot of resources into training and had to compensate mediocre results in the first few seasons. On the other hand, when I signed my driver in S44, that driver was almost ready to go, just needed some little polishing, sorry to say this Ioannis :) So just in my personal opinion, I do believe that I had slightly better driver to start with and I was maintaining this slight edge forward. Last season as I already mentioned, Zdenek was on some sort of cost saving plan which allowed me to capitalize on it. But Zdenek is far too great manager that I am sure he will still do some harm in the seasons to come assuming he maintains some motivation for the game.
You've been part of Jaguar since S24. Tell us what the atmosphere is like within the team. Was joining Jaguar another vital part of your success?
Before I joined Jaguar, I spent 4 seasons in full Czech team before I even tried to apply to some bigger teams. My first applications were sent to Association One Europe and Gulf Porsche Racing, in the same order, but both got turned down for some to me unknown reasons. At that time, these 2 teams were among my few favorite teams, but I still really do like them now as well :) After this I applied to Jaguar as Zdenek put some words of recommendation together for me. From my perspective, Jaguar were the top team at that moment. His recommendation really helped me to get in and it was one of the best things that happened to me in this game. I will never forget those endless theories and never ending discussions between Chin and Leonardo, those were epic. Some were on-topic and some off-topic. Very often 1 post was half page of reading, you would really have to see it to believe it. The information in the team forums was just true magic, well of wisdom, and it has given me totally new view on this game.
The old era of Jaguar ended with departure of Chin, Mark, Lee and Leonardo, who all were signature members and it was really hard to stay positive for long rebuilding process ahead of us. But fortunately, most of the remaining managers including me stuck together and re-built the team from scratch to become the Elite team and one of the most successful teams in the GPRO history which I am very proud of!!! We had some very fortunate choices of new members including Matthias, Flo, Roland and others. Just a quick note, Roland was total noob when he joined, so we didn’t really try to sign fully experienced managers as we saw huge potential in him, but still it was a little risky least to say. But in the end it paid off as you can tell looking at his profile :) We have built together a great team of guys (and girls) who are fully supporting the team, each other and are active on the team forums. I can also clearly say that I have become a very good friend with few of them. So yes, joining Jaguar was crucial part of my success.
Are there any clearly defined roles within the team (e.g. theorists, mathematicians, Excel whizzes, etc.), and what do you feel your role is?
Ha ha, this is very tricky question as well :) We do not have fully designed roles within the team, we just try to contribute whenever it's needed. For example, at the start of each season, we let Matti do the testing session first so that we know the testing wear for the season. We are all throwing out on team forum different theories, ideas and thoughts and all of us discuss it to try to make full use of it. Roland has put together and been maintaining some very nice tools which have been important to success of Jaguar. And lastly, I think we are all Excel whizzes as I do believe its essential part of success in this game. It's just not happening with pen and paper, no matter what you say, without the knowledge of Excel, I think it's very hard to get to the top. There can be some very minor exceptions to this rule, but rarely. And lastly, my role on the team is probably asking often very noobish questions about different aspects of this game which I have problem remembering, but it helps us all not forget the basics. Everything starts with basics, right? :)
You recently ceased employing one of the few remaining first-gen TDs. Was this a choice on your part, or did circumstances force your hand?
Currently, there are only 2 first-gen TDs left in the game and it is really a no-brainer that whoever gets these two TDs will get total package advantage over everyone, but unfortunately at premium price as well. It is only possible to manage this situation with good sponsor pipeline. I was not going to bid for the first TD because of my low cash balance and inability to offer trophy bonus. See, sometimes having already secured the trophy is not just ideal situation :) Therefore, I could not come up with competitive bid mainly against Roland. Then, I was trying to put together very nice bid for the second top TD and even with partial trophy bonus offer, but it wasn't enough as Ioannis snatched him at very high price. I think may be scratching his head right now with the fact there was some "negative sponsor movement" in his account few races back. It will now be very interesting to see how he manages his finances next season and it clearly shows the dilemma of trying to have the best package vs affordability of resources. It's often dance on thin ice and you could easily end up swimming in the cold water :)
Talk a little bit about how you think the retirement of first-gen TDs will affect the elite division.
Having majority of top TDs retired will definitely shorten the gap between newcomers to Elite and old established Elite players. Right now, all newcomers had to wait at least 10 races just to have a shot at top TD and then if they managed to sign these TDs it took some time to fully utilize its potential. For me personally, it was very costly and long process to get to the point where I am right now and it's just not simply affordable with low cash and low sponsors. Just quick recent example, Jukka arrived to Elite with whopping 174M cash starting S49 and look at his current money balance. It wasn't just top TDs costs for him but also facility investments and cost of racing at the top of Elite. So if this barrier with top TDs is removed now and there will be just a few or none, everyone will have much closer starting line at the beginning of each season in Elite and it will be much more competitive and fun to race. Or I could be totally wrong here and new generation TDs will be introduced during the season break :)
You're now paying your driver a large salary, but he'll still only be 34 next season. Do you think you have a shot at the title in S52, or will you be looking for other driver options?
I have not yet given this a full thought yet as I always prepare all my plans during the reset or within first few races of the new season. I will see if I can hold to my driver within some reasonable salary, but it is fully driven by rising reputation which is another "unwanted outcome" of winning the title. If I am not able to secure manageable salary, I will be looking for new driver. Maybe now, maybe next season, maybe even later. Or maybe I try to drop and re-sign my driver at some later stages. I like to keep all my options open and pick the best available solution when the right time comes. I hope I answered this question clearly :)
Now that you've got experience at every tier of the game, is there anything you would change if you had the chance?
First, I would immediately completely re-design random system. I have no idea how the system works currently, but there seems to be no logic to it at all and the distribution to managers seems to be very uneven. The severity of the random is also way too harsh most of the time. There are players who get random all the time and then there are players that have minimum to none random. My proposed solution would be for everyone to start with the same probability of random happening which would then increase slightly after a race with no random. If you have random in a race, then the next race your probability would decrease substantially. Not sure exactly what % changes would work the best, but it would still keep random as random and the distribution would become more even. The current system can be very detrimental to all new players who do not know how the system work and it just "kicks" them out of this game.
Somehow I feel that random system works partially as what I call "Robin Hood" system: take the wealth from the rich and help the poor. It's just a perception, but based on some minor evidence from Roland's experience: there was only 1 championship season that he won without having any random at all, and that was the one he never really tried to win at all :)
Second, the overtaking in this game is just pure rubbish, especially in higher divisions. If it's not possible to overtake car in front of you with much better pace, it's just purely wrong. I do understand there must be some kind of random blocking system, but it just can't be abused. There is large variety of tires in this game and it's very easy to slip behind someone much slower after your pit. Block few laps is fully understandable, but blocking for full race is just completely wrong.
Any final words for the community?
I think I will take an opportunity here to aim this answer mainly to all new players who have just joined the game and have trouble in their first set of races. This is a long term game with a lot of long term planning required, so do not expect immediate results as soon as you join the game and start racing. Just try to do different things at testing, see what outcome results from different driver training, try to see what is the pace of each dry tire compound at same/different temperatures, see how fuel consumption changes in different fuel characteristics tracks, and see how different strategies work at different tracks. If you can successfully do this, I am sure your game will much improve and you will start enjoying this game at its best. See you in Elite soon :)
Jan, I wish you hearty congratulations on becoming our richly deserving champion, and I'm sure everyone reading will join with me in wishing you the best of luck for the future.
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