The future of CONTACT racing in RaceWars...

Well I was dreading 20+ player contact racing (and I guess I moaned about it slightly on the Racewars thread) but it was nowhere near as bad as I expected. The vast majority want to race cleanly and not annoy other crew members, unsurprisingly. The only real issue (even including JJ's annoying lag) was when there was a crash up front. It meant that everyone got involved as players didn't either stay still or rejoin safely. I think that's not a etiquette or lack of track knowledge thing (which most of the suggestions focus on) but just a numbers thing. I prefer contact racing, but only on the odd occasions when it works, otherwise it's not really racing.

The problems:

1. New tracks - I'd say people just need to drive within themselves to avoid accidents and accept they may be off the pace to people who've played them before. We're not a racing crew so I think fixed circuits each season would be taking it a bit too serious for me. Perhaps releasing the tracks a week+ in advance could work so those who want to take the trouble can. Btw, if you pre-test the races ath then, personally, I think driving off full pelt at the start is unfair (especially in contact). PS3 hosts let everyone else go...  I know it's frustrating as you put the time + effort into hosting then have to handicap yourself as well. 
2. Bad etiquette - I didn't see too much of that. Hardly any pitting, pushing, etc. but loads of huge accidents none-the-less. Driving back onto the track without looking was frustrating but really most of the moves were clean (although I did get pitstopped once on my only appearance in Racewars so far). A sign up system would be ideal to alleviate this issue imo. Sign up - you know the score and have got no excuses. This would also implement the driving etiquette into the equation. I'll drive like that anyway regardless if it's a proper rule or not 
3. Separate championship - I think that's a must. Even with the best will in the world non-contact is totally different to contact. I also agree with mrmellow that a separate event would be better (if needs must straight after/ before Racewars) as having just sign-ups and extra rules for just one playlist could get confusing to new members. 
4. Numbers - this was the biggest issue for me. 20 inexperienced (at the tracks mainly) drivers all flying round the circuit meant that if there was one incident, that perhaps in a 10 player lobby involves 4, in a 20 player lobby it suddenly involves way over half the field. The concertina in large lobbies is immense. How about having a 2 tiered Contact racing event with about 10 in both lobbies? In the "Premier League" it's the best racers, those who pre-race the tracks and take it seriously. The other is made up of those who are a little slower but in their own lobby can still have a clean racing experience. They were some races where slow vehicles at the front certainly caused issues when I attended. That would (hopefully) mean less accidents and more players would have a competitive experience rather than feeling off the pace. Add in some relegations and promotions and you've got some competition going on You could incorporate this idea somehow into multi-class racing (half race a fast car in the class, half pick a slow one) - seen in on NODO and it looks fun + spreads out the field. 

I'd definitely say the most fun I've had on GTA is the Rallycross event on PS3 which was limited to 6 racers. Even though quite a few weren't hardcore racers, and despite narrow tracks full of bumpy roads, the problems were pretty minimal. Sign ups meant everyone knew the score and small numbers meant less lag + if anyone caused a problem we could immediately identify who it was. I got pit-stopped during Racewars but with 20 cars all flying around I had zero idea who it was. On the instance I misjuged the car in fronts breaking point and pitted them (oops) there were so many cars around I wasn't sure which Black car I pitted and should let by. 

I guess the 2 options (as I see it) are to get closer to the Rallycross idea (smaller lobbies, sign ups) or get closer to "proper" race crews like NODO (sign ups, qualifying, grid order changes before start, fixed circuits known extremely well by all). The latter's probably fairest but a pain to organise and is it really what GCCC is about? The former still means creators can submit new tracks, racing should be fairer and problem makers easier to spot and just feels more open + accessible to me (which is what GCCC should be about imo). As Mandible_Claw- says keeping the contact tracks meeting strict criteria will also help. 

Anyway full credit to you for opening the discussion as it's clearly got loads of opinions from everyone. The competitive element is great and anyway it can be made fairer can't be a bad thing. Good luck choosing what to do