Deep Clone Development

In GPMP you can play standard games, private games & matches. So taking advantage of this, I've created a new match that will last about 45 days. This match however is merely a test of the new code that will go into standard game 9. This new code features a lot of game and balancing enhancements as detailed below:

Chassis development
OK, so now you don't just develop individual components, you develop chassis. You can still develop individual components, they're called 'bolt ons' but they won't count towards next years chassis. So you get a toss up of focusing on next years chassis and creating something immence, or focusing on this year, maybe winning the championship and losing your investment at the end of the year.

Testing new components
Please note that although you can test bolt on components in the same way you used to test standard components, the results may be very different - the focus you've specified for the component (i.e. 50% to Grip etc) will come into play in testing as well. 50% of the improvements will be down to this weighting, and 50% of the improvements will be based on the section you select when performing the testing. That doesnt make sense, but it will when you come to doing testing.

Long 'classic' season
As requested, and to go with the above, the season has been elongated to 16 races. The season will now follow a 'classic' path, loosly based on the '96 season, I've replaced a couple of the less spectacular circuits with some special ones from the 21st centuary.
There will be no 'off season' gap between races 16 of one season and 1 of the next, just a continuous flow of races as always.

Tyre wear & refuelling
Tyre wear will play a much bigger part in this game, and is less uniform. Make sure you do do pitstops as it's unlikely a single tyre will last till the end of the race now (yes, they do blow up!). This is to add a bit of spice and strategy to the game, as re-fuelling is now banned.

Leaderboard
Round Rankings
You get points for being in the top 20 of the 'overall' leaderboard every night, these are presented here and will give a better interperitation of who has done the best over the course of the game.

Performer Rankings
This is a sort of 'wins to races' (loosly) leaderboard, you get more points for having more success over a shorter time, so new players can compete with players who started on day one.

League progression
The 'Years in sport' stat will now have a heavy weighting on league progression, so successful new players get to race their peers for a little while longer before being pitted against the more developed teams.