[PayneTrain]

The update covers one big topic that was not explicitly mentioned for every point: every rule update and internal game administering update was made not to necessarily fix unforseen issues, but to align the GDC's intent of the game with its implementation.

The covering on the bar shows that the GDC meant the bar to primarily be the simplest preventative measure for protecting drivers and coaches from contact and not to make the shots more challenging.

G40 and G28 were adjusted in meaning but not in penalty value because in their opinion, penalty values are being applied as intended but the rules were not allowing for the penalty value to be implemented fairly and not without insignificant cost to referees officiating the other 8.3 million aspects of the game.

Ball return did not see a listed change because the GDC clearly intended to show that by shooting the ball out of bounds to a human player, you are taking a strategic risk of possibly losing time for ball return to maintain very precise control of the ball. You also are being implicitly reminded with human players you have to weight the pros and cons of putting human players in the islands vs behind the glass. Do drive coaches and alliance captains want their best human player available for a fast inbound or a great communicator and cathcer on an island? Will island human players be more or less susceptible to penalties?

It is on the burden of teams to determine their strategy, which I agree with. However, they did not intend for field reset to not go untrained when it came to ball return and they promise to clarify that with those volunteers (I would prefer it if field reset was given a clear diagram on where to return a ball in a certain situation). Maybe our human player will dress up in really bright and reflective clothing so field reset can identify him?

I think the only think you can be left not totally happy or understanding of is the FMS/GMS firmware upgrade, and that's something that we just have to wait to see if it's ready for primetime by Friday.*

*unless you're Brandon Liatys and you have a beef with ball inflation