Why is the Criminal Records race so popular?

I get this race about 40% of the time when joining random races. I don't see why it's so popular. Sure the race is short, but the rewards are crap and it's always a orgy of ramming. I know there's that rp/betting exploit, but hardly anyone is actually doing it.

The money is still a lot for the first three places, so on a $/distance view, it's rewarding.

i hate Criminal Records. Nobody wants to do other races.

I guess it is a decent race for grinding. Down the Drain would be more suitable imo, It probably takes a little longer but the payout is usually around 10k or more for the winner. Criminal Records seems to cap out at 7,000. I've done both of them so many times that I just can't stand to do them anymore. I try to focus more on having fun anyway.

It wont be any more i think. I just did a race with 5 high level people and the top player only made about 1150 and like 600rp with 2 laps. They just nerfed the hell out of it unless it was just a fluke.

That's the frustrating part about it. It's like Stars in Your Eyes was in IV. You could almost never get another race unless you were host and then heard nothing but kids screaming, "Stars in Your Eyes! Super cars!!" and then "kick the host, he's not doing Stars in Your Eyes!!!!"

Well, with the racing nerfs, you wont be seeing Criminal Records probably ever again once everyone else finds out about the change. I havent done any other races yet, but if they have all been reduced this much, you may not find too many races to join at all since they wont be worth the time. Even with the missions, i have to be picky since some you can spend more to complete than it will reward you with. I'm also not 100%, but it seems like survival has gotten harder, but at the least the payout is still 20K, but again the RP for that much work is only 3400 at the end which isnt that great for the time.

If the heists disappoint, then GTA Online may not have a very big or active community much longer. I'm sure CoD and BF4 have already eaten into the base a bit.

The patch notes said races pay based on time to finish now. That's why CR in particular has been crushed, money wise.

@jekyll: I remember reading that when the patch was first released. I thought it would've been a cool addition by making the longer races more popular. I had no idea that it would reduce the payouts by that much. The Commute barely pays a tenth of what it used to. There goes my favorite part of the game.

The longer races are always terrible. People wreck/crash/PIT one another far more than in IV. And it never fails: if catch-up is turned off, you'll get wrecked first thing and be out of the race nearly immediately; if it's on, a wreck behind you leaves you with a huge lead that then is evaporated by the catch-up.

@Kurushio: It feels like R* is funneling its users into their missions, like they're sitting around saying, "we made all these jobs and missions, and we'll get you to do them even if we have to nerf everything else to zero!" They seem dead set on making gamers conform to their vision of online instead of making it rewarding and simple for gamers to do the activities they're actually interested in.

@jekyll: Posted a long paragraph that GS didnt feel like posting!!!! Most missions are not fun and most are too hard to do especially without spending a ton of money to complete. The other thing is that it's hard to find 3-6 players to do a mission. I like it when just a friend and I are able to complete a mission. So maybe they should scale a few missions based on the number of players. Another thing is that they supposedly put a ton of effort into the underwater areas, but they are almost never used, even in the single player. Then there is the fact that there is so much empty space and significant buildings that have no purpose. From the racetrack, the wind turbines, the massive construction project near the desert, the music halls, and more. The MP does almost nothing with great locations and even in the SP most are barely used.

@jekyll: Every race has people trying to crash, wreck, and pit. At least the longer races give you time to recover and catch up to others, and the players usually spread out as the race goes on. You wipe out in Criminal Records and you're just screwed. Everyone has their own preferences though, these are just mine.

Yeah, I kept waiting for a mission where we'd meet that Ron Alternate fellow, but it never happened. The stadium merely gets used for an LTS online. The only time I've ever seen the actual racetrack used was when Simeon wanted a vehicle from the casino parking lot and cops spawned on the track and drove around like they were horses.