"You can't see Alesi's Ferrari because it isn't there!"

The GPL Pit Stop System; the Parallel
 If you think of your Team as a Formula 1 car then the GPL uses penalty points to mimic its time losses during a race. These are split into two parts; the tangible loss making a pit stop and the less tangible loss caused by its fuel load.

Looking first at the pit stop, itself split into two time elements. First there is the "in pit lane" time, which is roughly equal for every car, as they must all observe the same strict speed limit while in the pit lane. This is simulated at your GPL Pit Stop with a fixed Basic Penalty. The second part is the time the car spends stationary in its box. As tyres are changed so quickly it is the amount of fuel a car takes on that determines how long its stop will be. At your GPL pit stop you receive a similarly variable Strategy Penalty.

Back on the track, as each lap passes the car burns off a bit more fuel and as a result of this reduced burden it gets slightly quicker. In the GPL, the Round-by-Round Penalty mimics this effect and in the same way the more Rounds you compete, so this penalty diminishes.

You can also use the parallel when considering Players making an Early Pit Stop by imagining what would happen if a Formula 1 car pitted earlier than planned. Obviously the pit crew would not take out any fuel remaining in the car before putting in fresh fuel for the next stint! They simply top up by the additional amount needed to complete the next portion of the race. Hence for a similar strategy an Early Pit Stop incurs the same penalty as one taken on time.

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