So, one huge problem in #simracing is griefing, especially in public lobby servers. Assholes are gonna be assholes, and it just takes one asshole to ruin everyone's race.
I've heard of three ways to fight this, really.
1. Ban the offender after it happens. This is... not so effective.
2. iRacing's model of a reputation-based ladder system. Get into a lot of crashes, and you'll lose reputation, and be matched against weaker drivers and be blocked from higher-spec #cars.
@bhtooefr I haven't played Gran Turismo in ages, but didn't you have to fix your car or play it damaged in subsequent races?
@mattamatic AFAIK, GT Sport had persistent cosmetic damage, but that was just it, and it didn't persist for long.
@bhtooefr Woops. I quit that game for an entirely stupid reason then
However, as far as I'm aware, almost no sims have a concept of persistent damage. You crash out of a race, exit back to the menu, and your car's as good as new. (The sole exception I'm aware of is Real Racing 3, where damage does accelerate the need to do regular maintenance.)
What if damage fully persisted, and had a realistic in-game cost (and time!) to repair?
As long as griefers are a small percentage of the game's population, this means that many griefers will put themselves out of play.
This could go doubly so if there's some sort of fair mechanism for judging when an accident is a "racing incident" (nobody deemed at fault), when it's "avoidable contact" (a party deemed at fault, and therefore needing to serve a racing penalty, but not necessarily malicious), and when it's something malicious, and fining a malicious player in-game (and not charging the victim for repairs).
Just an idea to toss out there.
3. What Microsoft/Turn 10 recently did with Forza, which is ban some heavier cars that were popular with griefers from online play (yeah, I don't see that working).
I'm going to propose a fourth method: taking advantage of the damage models of some newer sims.
Realistic damage models can help with immersion in the sim - it makes limping the car back to the pits for repairs, especially in a longer race where it may be worth it, more realistic.