When it comes to simracing, there’s nothing quite like competing against another human. Whether it’s comparing hot lap times to see who’s best or direct head-to-head competition, the rush you feel while competing against another human being can’t be replicated by artificial intelligence.

What better way is there to compete against other people than league racing, which scores your performance in not only the race you’re in, but also other races across a defined schedule? This is the essence of league racing online, yet for some reason, it’s been completely ignored for years.

Those of you who have raced in competitive leagues know exactly what I’m talking about. When you get into a league that has drivers who will race you hard, but cleanly, you can have the most exciting races imaginable.

Admins and drivers alike are currently forced to keep track of their race performance statistics like tax accountants.

I’m talking complete suspension of disbelief here. You forget that you’re at a computer or on a console, and you genuinely feel like you’re behind the wheel of a racecar, wheel to wheel through every corner. And it’s not just that corner, or that track that you’re attempting to navigate—it’s the entire group of tracks on the schedule. League champions aren’t defined purely by their speed, but also by their consistency from week to week.

So why is it that almost every racing league for every software title in history is forced to run itself manually? League administrators must have some working knowledge of HTML so that they can code a web site, and drivers are forced to go through the ritual of finding the site in their web browser, signing in, and sifting through information manually.

Admins and drivers alike are currently forced to keep track of their race performance statistics like tax accountants. Each lap completed, incident, best time, and finishing position must be logged by hand after every race. Then the administrator gets the distinct pleasure of inputting the data into the standings table and updating by hand.

It’s simply an accepted practice in today’s simracing scene, because there is simply no alternative. My question is a bit more direct: why not?

You have leagues in practically every competitive game for other genres built-in. In-game basketball, hockey, and football leagues have been around for half a decade already. Users simply need to log in, sign up, and they’re ready to go. There is certainly no need to enter all of the statistics by hand in most cases, since you can simply log in and browse a wide number of stats that are all housed server-side.

It wasn’t until iRacing (which I’ll cover a bit more next week) officially launched in June that the lack of league support was so evident. Instead of simply including built-in league support, it made the entire game league-only.

I wouldn’t expect to see that kind of integration on a wide scale for quite some time, but certain aspects of it should become staples in any racing simulation in the future.

iRacing allows its drivers to earn licenses, which then let them drive in more series races and in faster cars as they progress. Everything is tracked by the iRacing servers, right down to their incidents and results for every race of their career. I wouldn’t expect to see that kind of integration on a wide scale for quite some time, but certain aspects of it should become staples in any racing simulation in the future.

Online practice and qualification sessions, for example, are common in today’s simulations on a single race basis, but nothing that spans multiple weeks or events.

A typical league race will have a predetermined start time, after which a qualifying run will begin. After a brief warm-up session, the race will eventually begin. If qualifying times are to be logged, it’s up to the racers themselves to take a screenshot or jot down the results so that they can be posted to the web site.

It’s the same situation with the race results, and anything else related to the event. iRacing records each and every lap and incident during all of its sessions, which include Practice, Qualifying, Race, and even Time Trials (an open competition for the lowest time over a set number of laps).

In a football league, you have the luxury of having time to set up the game with your opponent, sifting through stats and tendencies, and finally hitting the field. In a racing league, you need to get everybody with the exact same slot of time free to be able to race against each other.

The exclusion of those features in the more common simulations needs to change. With this week’s release of NCAA Football 09 and the Online Dynasty mode, it’s more obvious than ever how far behind simracing league support is compared to the other genres.

In a football league, you have the luxury of having time to set up the game with your opponent, sifting through stats and tendencies, and finally hitting the field. In a racing league, you need to get everybody with the exact same slot of time free to be able to race against each other. Then you ask them to do even more work by keeping track of their statistics!

The focus of multiplayer simracing needs to shift from “single race” to “season long.” Provide the drivers with an in-game league utility, for starters. The foundation has already been laid with the inclusion of Car Clubs in games like Test Drive Unlimited. Take it to the next level by allowing league administrators to create and run their leagues entirely within the game environment.

Give them options to have practice and qualification days. Let them generate custom schedules. A well-executed league is what makes any league admin smile, and it all starts with the creation and planning up front. They need to be able to set a custom schedule and specify exactly how much practice time is allowed, what kind of rule set will be used, and setup restrictions.

The more preparation that goes into the creation of a league, the smoother it will run. As it stands now, however, everything is laid in the admin's lap. He's expected to come up with every rule off the top of his head, and too frequently, things are missed. In-game creation utilities would rectify that.

After league creation is taken care of, the invitation process should also be handled in-game. With Xbox Live and the Playstation Network, it should be simple to send invites right to gamers. Keeping the focus entirely in-game also manages to keep the racers right where a developer wants them—in their game. iRacing is really onto something with the wealth of statistical information that is always at a driver’s fingertips, without having to bounce around to individual league sites.

That brings me to the lack of a system for holding drivers accountable for their actions. Anybody with even the smallest bit of simracing experience knows all about “the wrecker” or “turn one incidents.”

Too often a driver can quietly enter a race without anybody knowing the hell he is about to unleash on the field. With the anonymity that the Internet provides, there are precious few consequences for driving like a complete idiot in a sim. League interfaces need to track the driver incidents, did not finish percentage, and overall speed. I know any league admin will take a slow but clean driver over a fast but reckless speed demon any day of the week.

You can even go so far as to say that admins should be allowed to create divisions. Not everybody has the same talent level, but in almost every game, races are pretty open. A league admin should be able to take the statistical information that every user needs to have and apply it to individual divisions.

But bottom line, league racing in simulations as a whole just need to be shown a little love.

Creating these “feeder” series would allow drivers a tangible reward for performing well on the track, as well as creating a consequence for fast drivers who refuse to respect the other vehicles out on the track with them. If you’re in a lower series, but keep your nose clean and are competitive, then you can be moved up a division. If you’re in a faster division but can’t seem to stay out of the other cars, then you get demoted. It’s not exactly a new concept, but a league admin should be given simple tools like this in-game.

But bottom line, league racing in simulations as a whole just need to be shown a little love. Give us an interface that doesn’t require text input immediately after an adrenaline-filled finish. Give us a way to weed out the problem children.

Give us control over our leagues without developers acting like they don’t exist. iRacing is certainly the next evolutionary step for the league racer, but there has to be a happy medium in there.

How many more drivers would be willing to hop into a weekly series if it didn’t entail the extra time commitments of stat tracking, or the fear of getting run over by a “hotshoe,” since they could be placed into a beginner’s series? How many casual drivers don’t even know about leagues at all?