Patch v0.8

***V0.8 Patch Notes*** 🔥  

Fixes/Improvements

• Fixed a few loopholes regarding teams being able to poach academy drivers
• Fixed teams who have left the sport holding academy drivers hostage
• Improved ai team driver signing logic
• Fixed implausibly short lap records
• Fixed development emails from not firing when debug/dev emails disabled in settings
• Team Dashboard tab shows red indicator for both chassis and aero pending approvals
• Engine market shows engine availability/slots available
• Removed obsolete driver simulator facility entry
• Fixed junior series history and standings points coloration to be accurate to whatever the points system they use is
• Fixed injuries and tyre regulations from resetting upon save reloads
• Improved external engine supplier development and scaling as well as simplified the logic behind them in engines.json. Richer engine suppliers will be far ahead of poorer ones.
• Refreshed a ton of UIs with color coded team names and such.
• Made both driver salaries and per race expenses moddable in constants.py for more accurate era scaling.
• Other misc. improvements and fixes I am working on prior to launching this patch

NEW FEATURES

• Completely new financial system & UI complete with team valuations, stockholders, team ownership states.
• Bank loans
• New title sponsors which provide huge $$$, take a small stake in your team, and rename your team
• Board of Directors which activate upon selling shares in your team and have season to season goals. Happy board of directors means less payouts to shareholders and better performing staff.
• Engine Partnerships are now longer term relationships in which you will have to juggle a "Manufacturer Confidence" rating. Happy manufacturers may lead to an engine buyout chain which can transform your team to that engines factory team.
• Teams can buy stakes in other teams, which provide a unique series of benefits past 25, and 51% ownership
• Scripted team buyouts can now occur, providing modding longevity and varying playthroughs. Two types "Factory" which will be similar to the Sauber-Audi buyout, and "Rebrands" in which a team is renamed & receive a funding injection.
• Tyre Suppliers may leave and rejoin the sport; added two new vanilla potential entrants
• New private pre season test systems for teams with test tracks, and a simple pre season focus (mandatory to click on week 2, email highlighted) which allows teams with enough laps in to get small gains from pre season testing. Reserve drivers will also partake in pre season testing.
• Users can now fire drivers either at season end, or immediately (for a fee)
• Added Simulated Races! Self explanatory, players can select to take part or simulate races. The engine will simulate all laps and it will take less than 20 seconds generally to simulate a race
• Added per track DNF rates (optional; tracks without this will default to normal)
• Converted all development metrics to 0-100 values rather than just "-0.231" for everything. Can still see laptime gain alongside the new value.
• Added new "Car Overview" tab accessible within the development screen which gives a rundown of all of your cars current metrics.
• Gave each junior team their own unique points system editable in the respective json files
• Added the ability to invest in and rebrand other teams you own 51% or more in.
• Revisited driver regeneration, ensuring enough drivers are in the games ecosystem to have full junior series grids
• Added ability to specify part slots in parts json
• Sponsors slightly reworked