v0.99c - Major Update (Oval Series Beta)

🏁 TEAM PRINCIPAL — v0.99c PATCH NOTES

A major update focused on building Oval into a complete standalone series, while expanding Formula racecraft, tyre systems, UI, tools, modding support, and stability.

🏎️ OVAL SERIES

Added an oval series as a separate playable series with its own data, managers, configuration, saves, rosters, schedule, tracks, assets, physics, systems, pit crew, and selection from the main menu. This is complete with a 45 car-grid, new entrants system, new development system, and complete realistic physics for oval racing (INCLUDING REFUELING!), on four different types of courses (Short, Intermediate, Superspeedway, Road Course). I am still attempting to get pack racing right. This series is unfinished, and acts as a beta for future expansion.

Some Highlights:

• Drivers use five 1–20 ratings: short oval, intermediate, superspeedway, road course, and control.

• Each entry has four 1–100 car packages: short oval, intermediate, superspeedway, and road course.

• Packages each use chassis, drag, tyre wear, and reliability.

• Added entry-specific performance: each driver uses their own entry’s package, not a team-wide car, more in-line with oval racing.

• Reworked Oval teams, drivers, staff, sponsors, pit crews, engines/manufacturers, and entries into dedicated JSON-driven structures.

• Added a varied Oval roster: four-car powerhouses, weak multi-car teams, single-car teams, part-time teams, 40+ drivers, additional staff, free agents, and inactive future teams, and manufacturers.

🏎️ FORMULA ADDITIONS

Added Formula multi-line racecraft:

• Track corridors/racing lines can be defined on each track.

• The AI can now perform physical lateral passing, change lanes to avoid dirty air, pick up slipstream, and realistic overtakes and defensive behavior.

• Inside/outside corner behavior, line pace compromise, cross-lane dirty air, defensive moves are all present in the racing model now.

Added Formula blue-flag behavior in both practice, qualifying, and races now that leaders have to physically clear backmarkers:

• Lapped cars identify approaching lead-lap traffic, and yield predictably, move to a safe lane, lift only after moving aside, and hold for connected groups.

Changed Formula practice/qualifying racecraft:

• Out/in laps run realistically now at reduced pace.

• Hot-lap cars can overtake traffic.

• Non-push cars yield aggressively.

• Interactive sessions retain dirty air, slipstream, and physical traffic, so timing runs is important!.

Added Formula weekend tyre allocations, similar to recognized rulesets:

• Three regulation sets.

• Physical tyre sets are now unique, with wear and reuse.

• Added tyre artwork across tyre allocation, practice, qualifying, and strategy UIs.

• Added Formula junior-series JSON assignments, allowing modders to explicitly place junior drivers in junior seats in mods.

• Added the ability to define and add retired drivers to Formula roster data/history for statistics flavor.

• Filtered Formula statistics so inactive future teams and never-raced drivers do not appear prematurely.

• Added schedule-aware Formula performance reference calculations, replacing hard-coded chi projections for AI development, gap-to-leader, and projected gains. Your gap to lead should be reflective of the tracks on the schedule now.

🛠️ BUG FIXES, UI & QUALITY OF LIFE

🏁 RACE & SESSION FIXES

• Fixed qualifying tie ordering so the driver who sets an identical lap first remains ahead.

• Improved qualifying AI run behavior, especially repeat Q2/Q3 attempts when tyres and elimination risk justify them. Removed run limit in knockout qualifying. Drivers who think they are safe will only make one run to save tyres now, etc.

• Fixed Formula ERS becoming stranded on former drivers and incorrectly triggering build-limit errors.

• Fixed Formula live save-editor performance edits so acceleration, braking, reliability, dirty air, and fitted chassis baselines actually update.

• Fixed retired drivers/defunct teams showing “International” rather than their recorded nationality.

• Fixed AI development packs without chi.json producing zero projected gains and stalled aero/spec development.

• Removed obsolete AI_DEV_AERO_MAX_ACTIVE references after its constant was removed, preventing startup crashes.

🗺️ TRACK EDITORS & DATA TOOLS

• Added Formula track-tracer nationality editing, corrected track-name/overtake-multiplier preservation.

• Added San Marino across nationality pools, editors, regen generation, drivers, teams, and tracks.

🖥️ UI IMPROVEMENTS

• Added shared smoother scrolling behavior across major Formula/Oval screens, including touchpad wheel support, horizontal navigation, scrollbars, drag support, keyboard fallbacks.

• Added larger entry-selection controls in race UIs for teams with more than four entries.

• Added Formula driver-comparison dropdowns, team logos/flags, and five-point skill radar chart.

• Fixed Formula driver-comparison radar overlap/readability and simplified overall display.

• Added strategy-help tooltips in Formula UI.

• Added aero-development tooltip explaining developing versus upgrading and diminishing returns.

• Added Formula aero-part sketch assets and layout improvements to aero dev screen.

• Changed spectator snapshot text treatment for dark team colours.

🔮 PLANNED FOR SECOND PART OF UPDATE

• A fuller owned Oval junior-ladder ecosystem: team-affiliated junior entries, program directors, simulated junior schedules, junior purses, lightweight development, and entry ownership.

• A hotfix releasing today to fix a soft-lock in tyre allocations

• Much more 🙂

Thanks everyone!!