grid positions in multiplayer tournaments

[Lion]

how are the grid postitions determined? it doesn't seem to be tied to current scores. is it just random? I don't care if it is, just would like to know. :)

also they seem to be a little buggy...
sometimes I spawn in the middle instead of in one of the lanes on the grid, other times there'll be a few of us on the grid in correct postitions, then come the start, the game will realise that it was different on two PSPs and there''s a collision immediately as one ship appears where the other already is. (I hope this description is clear enough)
I usually notice this while in the rearmost postition on the right, the collision being with the rear-left person

[eLhabib]

true, there are some synch issues at the starting grid here and there, but it's not really bothering.
The starting lineup might be determined by the order in which the players press (x) to continue to the next race. I haven't really tested this yet, but I will look into it on my next xlink session.

[lunar]

You could say that it doesn`t matter for our Kai sessions anyway, because no matter what the grid is we already know the positions at the first corner: Assegai - AGS (if there is one) - VanUber - Triakis ;)

But it does matter, I suppose. The main thing I may have noticed is that the host seems to get P1 on the grid more than anyone else, but that might be a paranoid illusion too. Just as I think I can see a system in it, it gets confounded. It may be just a system which is so complex it can appear to be random, or something that is random, but we`re so desperate to gain an advantage we can`t help seeing patterns in it. Maybe we can work it out, or maybe an SL person can explain :)

I haven`t seen any of the bugs you mention, Lion, maybe it`s just lag and sync issues you`re seeing, as El says, apart from Sinucit Euro, where there always seems to be some crazy wall hitting going on on the grid behind me somewhere. But as we know that has a start grid bug in single player, so maybe it`s the same problem.

[Asayyeah]

I am not sure it's just random.
It could be the El's suggestion : depends on the fastest you press next race. And probably for the 1st race of a tour , the one who hosts gets P1.

We need to do test about that if SL doesn't know the answer.

Lion it happends to me on kai sometimes and not only with euro version , never when you get P1 on the grid but few times when i am at the back.

The only disavantage of triakis is resumed perfectly by Lunar : triakis is the last ship when first corner appears.
But during the race, things may changed :banzai

[Rouni Kenshin#1]

I always found that the rack is determained by the finish order of the last race.(first palce get to start in first and so on)

[eLhabib]

no, definitely not.

[Lion]

Lion, maybe it`s just lag and sync issues you`re seeingI was kinda going with that theory, being almost perfectly on the opposeite side of the world to Asayyeah at least, and always having a ping in the 400s relative to you lot :p
a fast connection (2mbit both ways) doesn't help much with that much distance to cover

[eLhabib]

it is not a lag-induced problem. arnaud and me played last night, and, being reasonably close to each other geographically, we have a very low ping (around 50). still, in one race it happened that his ship crashed into mine right after the 'GO!', which looked to me as if his ship tried to start from the same position as mine did. actually, I think this might happen if 2 people press (x) to continue to the next race at the same time, so they get assigned to the same position on the grid.

[eLhabib]

ok, on tonight's xLink session with Arnaud, Stevie and Leon we tried if the order of pressing (x) to get to the next race has anything to do with the order on the grid.
IT DOES NOT.
it's also NOT defined by who loaded the track first, because i had several games where I was waiting on the grid for someone positioned IN FRONT of me.

I now honestly have NO clue how the positions are determined, but I think it is mostly random.