Wipeout HD pilot assist

[Dogg Thang]

Totally agree. If pilot assist is supposed to help people into the game, it should only be available in the earliest classes. The point of training wheels is to reach a point where they come off.

[JABBERJAW]

When I heard about the 5 percent penalty for the assist taking you away from the wall, I was very leary, despite people saying not to be. I just did some testing on sebenco climb on phantom speed, and this assist If I were to race perfectly without, and then to race a good race with it on, would be within 3 seconds, if not closer, to my perfect race time. This is way too much of a assist. I was able to drive like a douch somewhat, and come close to my good times. Pilot assist should slow you down more IMO. Either that or you might as well use an infinite autopilot. Isn't this supposed to help people get into the game, rather than allow great (yes I mean great) records using it? Lots of people were ticked about fusion's wall riding being faster than perfect turns, what do you think of this feature now, that it shows to be very fast? opinions? Maybe a download to make it a higher percentage hit to your top speed. I think if I used this feature on on hard courses, I would do better than if it was off in multiplayer (read: not moa therma)

[kanar]

haven't practiced enough to test that, but after the incredible power of the autopilot in the turns, if the pilot assist is now a record assistant (haven't tried yet), it would be sad yes.

[eLhabib]

As someone mentioned in another thread before - just make the damn thing be gone for Phantom, maybe even Rapier. Ever seen a guy on the Tour de France with training wheels? Of course not, because as soon as you can keep your balance, you take the things off to learn how to really ride. By the time a player hits Rapier, he really should be that far in his learning curve.

What I would really like to know: can you actually beat your non-PA times with PA?

[leungbok]

Don't care Kanar, the autopilot is very powerfull, it's true, but very short and scarce (it's very strategic to use it at the best moment). But the pilot assist can't help you beat records, even in touching 10 walls in a race you're faster without. No, the problem to me, is the spirit we can meet online with kids (probably) using the pilotassist on the difficult tracks in phantom speed, instead of creating rooms in flash or rapier speed on the tracks they master. That's why i suggested to limitate the using of pilot assist at the rapier class (maybe flash, yes El-Habib).

[G'Kyl]

I agree with Al in that the assist should slow you down just a little more in order to make a significant difference for pilots who might not be able to do 4 or 5 perfect laps at tracks with lots of tight corners.

But then what really bothers me is this: What if some players turn the assist on just before they reach a critical corner - go smoothly around that corner - and turn it off again? What if some of the online records are from such players? The thought alone somewhat spoils the excitement of the competition for me. There certainly are people who simply care about being first and nothing else, I can't see why that wouldn't be happening...

[eLhabib]

You mean someone actually pausing the game just before a tight corner, going into options, then unpausing, riding the PA on the turn, and then pausing again to disable? Wow, who'd want to do that? But I guess you're right, some people really will go out of their way just to have an unfair advantage... :-

Still, it has yet to be confirmed that using the PA for example on the hairpin at Chenghou really is faster than cutting it perfectly without PA. If that's the case, something really needs to be done.

[leungbok]

El, as you suggest it, i'm sure that a cut in a turn is significantly faster than the mid- track turn of the PA. But maybe someone must try it to be sure, G'Kyl ?

[G'Kyl]

But maybe someone must try it to be sure, G'Kyl ?

Absolutely! I'm not saying it works that way and I certainly won't even try. It was just a thought that grew from AP not slowing you down enough.

I guess what I am saying is: Make it yet a bit slower and don't let people change it on the fly. I mean, there is probably a good chance the latter pays off in at least a couple of turns...

[JABBERJAW]

I light tapped brakes, and the auto p assisted me the rest. I think it might be faster at sebenco reverse with those crazy turns, and I bet if used correctly it is faster at any very sharp turns.

[AdrenalineBurst]

Remove it from the game >

As i stated in another post (not that anyone reads it)

Is that if you use pilot assist at all within a race you should not recieve any record of the race I.e. will not count towards a trophy and will not go on the leaderboard

Also, how the hell do these PA noobs do zones lol? thats proberly why im in top 5 for every track, cause the PA noobiekins cant get past the first zone event, lol ^^

[lunar]

if you use pilot assist at all within a race you should not recieve any record of the race I.e. will not count towards a trophy and will not go on the leaderboard

+1. Pre-release I assumed it would be so. I`m all for pilot assist if it lets more people play and enjoy the game, but I think it should be barred from online leaderboards to whatever extent it is possible still to do this. Maybe a patch now could stop too much damage being done. There are a lot of casual gamers who deserve to enjoy the game, but there also a lot of gamers who want to play fairly seriously. If a situation arises where pilot assist becomes necessary to get the best possible times then HD will effectively be broken. As Al suggests, we don`t yet know what can be achieved with it if someone with some skill decides to see how far it can be pushed. I hope it doesn`t come to that.

[Dogg Thang]

I only actually tried pilot assist for the first time last night to see what the fuss was about. I have no idea really what I was expecting but it's utterly ridiculous. You may as well not play it with assist on because it's no longer a game. Just hold X and wait for race to finish.

It shouldn't be allowed past Venom and, even then, if there is a system to ease people into the game, I'm not sure this is it because it makes it so easy that I actually think it would be harder for totally new players to move away from it. Playing a bunch of races with assist on and then taking it off would be like learning to ride a tricycle and then someone throwing you into the cockpit of a harrier jet and saying 'off you go'.

Oh, and shouldn't all this be in here? - http://www.wipeoutzone.com/forum/showthread.php?t=5175

[big_lozbowski]

Here is a big question... Does Pilot assist make much of a difference to lap/race times? If someone has it off and gets a perfect race line, hits boosts etc will it be that much difference?? If not then what is the problem?

Personally I am for pilot assist if it makes the learning curve for the game better. I'm sure some first time players (me included!) to the original wipeout were daunted by the difficulty and the steep learning curve.

I know how rewarding mastering the game is etc. but i think pilot assist will make the game a lot more accessable for new players.

If you can get faster times without assist then this forces players to turn assist off. it is all part of the learning curve.

[JABBERJAW]

the problem is that it is way too close to real records, and possibly faster on tracks such as sebenco reverse, not to mention it might be faster in multiplayer (we can't race perfect all the time, with the possible exception of Arnaud).

[big_lozbowski]

Wow I had no idea, I figured there was a gap..
Hmm I'm going to do investingating tonight!! Thanks Jabberjaw!

[JABBERJAW]

try steering somewhat correctly with it on, and tap brakes to keep the ship from doing the autopilot all over the track thing. I also tested this on phantom, not sure about other speed classes

[leungbok]

I've just made a test. I choose a fast lap's session in racebox, sebenco climb reverse, phantom speed. I started the race with pilot assist on. After 10 laps, i made a record of 0.24.32 (perfect lap with 3 br), i paused the game and removed the pilot assist, after 5 more laps i made a 0.23.04 using the same boost and br strategy. It maybe possible to do better than 0.24.32 with pilot assist on, but i'm totally sure it's possible to do really better than 0.23.04 without. So, even if i don't like this feature (i let friends use it offline when they come home), it can't match against good racing. If someone can beat,with PA on, my 0.23.04 (Arnaud is already beyond with 0.22.86) , i will give another try without.

[JABBERJAW]

Could you try pilot assist again? this time though, you should not get a perfect lap with it on, that is what slowed it down, it's ok to ride the walls on some of the turns, and faster at that. PA if you get too close slows you down, and you already slowed down with the airbrake. I am not good at this track for testing, and it sounds like you are.

[leungbok]

I will try another attempt with PA on. I will let at least 40 laps (did i really said that ? ) and i will edit this post to give the results.
But NEVER, EVER, anyone ask me to do it again !!

Ok i made a 99 laps session and i must admit the pilot assist can really help to do good times. I succeed a 0.23.21 at the lap 61 doing 5 or 6 br and it's pretty close of my 0.23.04 without pilot assist. I keep confident in the fact i can beat my record more easily without using PA. Well, i did my part in bringing concrete examples, now it's your turn, mates.