Rubberbanding in multiplayer / can't join a pub game with friends / no player communication / weird AI spawns and balancing
So far, I find this game truly amazing and enjoying it a lot. The most intense and satisfying moments occur when you race with real players, and that's when problems start. I'm playing on PC, don't know if such issues are present in console versions. Here they are.
1) Rubberbanding. Even if i play with a friend in a private game, we see each other lag most of the time. Sometimes we don't. We are ~50 kilometers away from each other, so what's the reason for such inconsistent connection? I see problems on EA's servers side, not local connection problems. When you play with other people, some of them lag, some do not. But mostly, around 80% of all people I meet, lag like crazy, obviously it ruins the experience. This is totally unacceptable in a game that so heavily emphasizes on seamless multiplayer. Those 20% of lag-free races are truly the best moments you can get out of this game, so it needs fixing ASAP.
2) It's a HUGE bummer that you can not team up with a friend in a pub game. Technically, you are connected to a pub game with a friend automatically, sure, but only if there is a free slot. With only 6 players simultaneously in a game, it's virtually impossible to, say, join as two cops and chase other players. In three days we play, we NEVER had a chance to play a pub game together. It would be neat to have an option to create a party with friends and join other people's games where certain number of slots are available. Or having an option in a "friends game" setting to enter with your buddies first, and then allow random players to connect to your game.
3) It's bad not to have a text chat, because you can not start a massive event with pub players intentionally. It' be great to have an option to mark an event on the map and invite other players to race. If at least one of them agrees, you are teleported to the start location, kind of like it was in 2012's Most Wanted. And to have an option to send an invite to a head-to-head race through some kind of menu. Because if you simply find a racer on the map, spend some time trying to catch up with him, it's highly possible he is engaged in some event already, and you can not send a challenge to him. Or he simply refuses, it's so frustrating (especially if he doesn't lag lol). I've never seen anybody using their microphone in the game. So, player communication should be fixed, I personally have only one friend who plays the game, but I want some massive player races.
4) Finally, the AI cars spawn. I noticed that in a race there are always identical cars. Like, i start a race, and the game spawns five Ford Mustangs, or five Audi R8s. You should have different cars, that perform in a same way - like, having porche caymans, aston martins etc in early games, and some middle and top-end cars in middle and late stages of your career. In fact, i noticed that EVERY SINGLE car is identical on the map at any given moment of time. If the game spawns 5 Gallardos in a race, be sure to see random racers on the road drive a Gallardo. It's weird and it bums me out. And AI cars are not matched fairly to you either. One time, I was driving a fully customized BMW M3 and struggled in a MEDIUM race against what seemed to be porche spiders. Then, driving a Ferrari I encountered Dodge Chargers in a HARD race and beat them like it was nothing. So the point is, the devs need to balance the AI racers and add some variety to them.
Oscar out.
