On the
"Not seeing each other, on the Not work", issues... Here's what I
think is happening. They could be trying to avoid a problem that arguably, could be much worse. Such as, not allowing you to connect to a room at all when there is a communication issue between two players. Keep in mind that the Sony network is only one piece of a chain and anything along that chain could make one player's connection not work well with another's.
A player's connection to another non-host player or a player's connection to a host can be the culprit, making it hard to figure out where the "problem
person connection" is. A player is obviously connecting, just not with everyone.
With that in mind, it looks like PD puts some players from one server into a "room" with another group of people (sometimes just 1) using another server. Whether this is a different physical machine or a virtual server with different separate pieces, makes no difference. It could even be a simple matter of chance. It works best for all players in a Room to be on the same server, but
if a server fills up before another person joins, perhaps, that is what causes them to be shifted to another server. I'm not talking about the Room being full, but an unseen server that only has so many spots. In some games, a server and a Room are one and the same, but that does not appear to be the case in GT5 or 6.
If you've seen that line between some players' names in the lobby, that's what it is. It's saying, "these people down here are out in their own universe."
The obvious question them becomes,
why do some players seem to have no issue in any given Room and others have trouble? It could simply be luck of the draw or some geographical reason, like being far apart physically and with some sub-par piece of equipment somewhere in the chain between them and another player. (Not talking about household equipment or even ISP necessarily)
The people with a more reliable chain of communication between themself, the ISP, on through the internet onto Sony/PD and so forth (and back to other players and hosts) will have no problems, while those who do will see issues.
The fact that in my observation, it has always been two-ways lends credence to the theory that it is a problem between two players. The host seems to always be able to see everyone, right? Seems that way to me. But, if player A can't see player B it seems as though B can also not see A.
I honestly don't know what's worse, having some people simply not able to play against each other, or have the total freedom to join up any players we choose, but have problems between certain players
Another thing I've noticed is that new combinations of players in a room seems to be a major contributing factor. Anyone else notice that? If I am racing with a very regular group with no newcomers or people I haven't raced with in a long time, there are almost never problems. It seems to be that the network isn't sure how to connect you yet.
Seems interesting, that when people leave the Room and come back it is often improved, if not cured. That could be the server opening up a spot for them in the meantime, or that it learned something and got it right the second time.
