Forum topic: Driver Salaries

Hi Frank

A bit behind the notice but i wanted to double check something that im sure you have already thought of.
With the driver salaries you mentioned the 50% will be made from the drivers expectations and the remaining 50% from Market value.
e.g. $50,000 expectation $85,000 maket value total is $135,000

When looking at the market value as an average does this take into account that the $135,000 is inflated due to the drivers expectation as well?
What i mean is the below
using the above example after a season the same drivers expectation may not change but the market value is now $135,000.
Season 2: $50,000+$135,000= $185,000

Season 3: the market value has risen again due to the inflated market from season 2
$50,000+$185,000=$235,000

Im sure with your background this wouldnt be the case I just wanted to find out more about how it works.

Would be good to know the market value of a driver - that would be a nice task for the scout, to report the expected value, including boni

Yeah, I was also a bit worried that it may work as Tim described...

I'd also like to see how the negociations work properly and why salary demands jump so much between offers on staff that still don't get signed.

One guy was happy with an 85k salary, not happy with bonuses, so I upped the bonuses, he was happy, then not with the wage.

This makes no sense.

On giving up, I reapproached, and now he wants almost twice the original 85k he was ok with in the first negociation, and nearly 200% on the bonuses he was happy with just days before.

Why do negociations seemingly go up exponentially with each negociation process?

Surely its in their interest to have a contract than none, so with each failed negociation their bite point should be lower, not higher!

They are just making themselves unemployable!

Hi Tim,

That's a good point to rise. It's something I thought of as well when I introduced this dynamic salary calculator. But at the moment it's exactly the way you describe it, inflating the amounts. The reason for this is because it's a way to simulate the increase salaries see through a persons' career. In real life people also compare to other people, and that also inflates their salary.
Also, there's only so many times that one negotiates a contract, so the effect will still be okay.

Hi Frank,

I think this area of the game does need some work. For example it seems like junior staff receive the same rankings boost as senior staff when the team is successful and thus want their wage to be more as their supposed reputation is bigger. I dont think junior staff should be getting into the top rankings of the game, only when they move up to a senior role should they be able to demand a large wage i would have thought.

Hi Frank

Thank you for clarifying this.
Will this cause issues where for example
18 year old driver with very bad stats but great potential has his ranking inflated as he is in a div 3 team who win two championships in a row due more to the car rather than the driver.
Will that mean in the third year when he may be negotiating a contract he will expect the "market value" to be added which by year three may mean he wants an extra $235,000 using my first example? Even though he has had success its hard to see any mangers wanting to keep on a driver who has the potential in a few more years to be really good if he will want so much money

This could be even worse in say another driver as the above but 10 years after the system has been in place. The "market" value could be as high as a million or more.

If so i can see a lot of drivers never getting to great stats as they will end up too expensive and a lot of young drivers getting dropped very early.

Makes sense as you said to have drivers expecting more with age/experience. Would it be possible to remove the compounding value for market value and include say an extra $10,000 per year expected for every years experience the driver has had in a team.
Could also do things like have it on a sliding scale depending on the roles they have had.
e.g extra $10,000 for every year contracted as a 1st driver.
extra $8000 for every year contracted as a 2nd driver.
and extra $3000 for every year contracted as a test driver.
Could also have an extra say
$10,000 per championship won
$5,000 for every year finished in top 3
$2,000 for every year where a podium was scored

This would mean it would be an exact science on what to expect and more experience and success means more to pay.
You could also do a similar thing with main staff and jnr staff.

As Tom mentioned it seems some staff are getting a larger "ranking" boost due to the success of the team which mostly can be down to other staff rather than them which then has them expect more money without earning it to an extent.

It could really reopen up the old finding a random driver who has great stats and getting him for a reasonable bargain.
You can then bask in your own glory of knowing you found a real gem but know the next negotiation he will know he is worth more and ask for more due to his success.

I really dont know the ins and out of the system you have but it could also be why a lot of staff and drivers are demanding more money shortly after signing contracts as you have this compounding "market" value which means even after a few races the market value could have change dramatically making signed staff cranky as they think they are paid less than market.

Just my 2 cents.
The system you have seems to be performing pretty well just throwing up an idea.

I'm signing new staff rather than re-signing my average juniors, some of them have shot into the top 50 staff despite being pretty average and are turning down offers of 5x their current pay (they seem to think I'm joking, I suppose if my boss offered me a 5x pay increase I would also think he's joking)

Exactly the same for me James, its pointless trying to retain staff as they all of a sudden think they are Adrian Newey after designing a wheel bolt on a winning car...