S34.E01: Many Firsts but Don't be Last

[J-Man]

I detest motivational speakers more than just about anything, so the sooner they are eliminated, the sooner I will be able to enjoy this season.

I'm wondering why there is a significant height difference between the "identical" twins? Could it be attributed to the fact that they were brought up in different households that presumably had different diets? Or some other environmental factor?

The two military brothers don't look alike at all. And there was no mention of either of them having spouses or children.

[Netfoot]

25 minutes ago, Skooma said:

My reasons for hating TAR4:  I hated that cast was divided evenly between the mactors and the regular people and it was war lining up anywhere with screaming and shouting.  The mactors were primarily models who had a lot of international travel under their belt so they usually made mincemeat of the regular racers.  Both "sides" basically didn't talk with each other except to shout and scream at them...

Ok, I agree with all... just not sure it was any worse than many other seasons. But I guess if you're considering only "Classic" TAR, I can take your point.

Been fiddling with Google Maps, and the fastest route according to that is:

1. Start
2. Augustiner-Keller Biergarten
3. Luitpold Park
4. SEEHAUS
5. Finisg (Friedensengel)

Using suggested roads, this route was 5 minutes faster than any other. With the finish unknown until the very end, it would not have been possible to work this out at the beginning. Also, Google Maps' recommendations may not be completely suitable. And there was that time they suggested I drive down a "road" that was less than two feet wide...

[Roccos Brother]

I'm really happy with the casting this season. We have one of the most diverse in terms of backgrounds, careers, etc. And less of the stereotypical tokenism of the camera-ready influencer Hollywood types. Even the Big Brother alumni appear to be relatively normal Joes. Unfortunately, no NEL will probably mean less time for us to get to know these individuals, but I'm curious to see how they will (most likely) stretch out certain legs of the race to fill out the same number of episodes.

Edited September 22, 2022 by Roccos Brother

[PurpleTentacle]

35 minutes ago, Netfoot said:

Been fiddling with Google Maps, and the fastest route according to that is:

1. Start
2. Augustiner-Keller Biergarten
3. Luitpold Park
4. SEEHAUS
5. Finisg (Friedensengel)

I got the same by eyeballing it. Not to say that checking with google maps isn't a good idea, just saying the racers could have seen it on the maps they had.

38 minutes ago, Netfoot said:

Using suggested roads, this route was 5 minutes faster than any other. With the finish unknown until the very end, it would not have been possible to work this out at the beginning.

Did you test with the finish unknown? Because it seems to me 1 through 4 should also be fastest on their own in that order.

[Lady Calypso]

1 hour ago, Browncoat said:

I mostly wish it weren't on at 10:00 at night.  My perennial complaint -- how do they not put a family-friendly show like this one on earlier!  It bums me out because I have to get up so early for work, so I can't play in the live chat thread.  

I agree. It really does suck. I thought it was on at 9pm for future episodes but apparently not!

Edited September 22, 2022 by Lady Calypso

[Fukui San]

17 hours ago, susannot said:

OK, who is Rex?  Apparently he was an NFL coach?  Can someone clue me in?

He coached this play.

I still think Rex's partner should've been noted Masked Singer contestant Mark Sanchez.

All in all I think it was a perfectly cromulent opener. I don't mind the different things they're trying race design-wise. Some of it is a response to pandemic filming I'm sure, and they were fun variations. The cast is diverse except that Rex is the only representative for the older and out of shape constituency. We need representation too! 

[mertensia]

23 minutes ago, Fukui San said:

He coached this play.

I still think Rex's partner should've been noted Masked Singer contestant Mark Sanchez.

All in all I think it was a perfectly cromulent opener. I don't mind the different things they're trying race design-wise. Some of it is a response to pandemic filming I'm sure, and they were fun variations. The cast is diverse except that Rex is the only representative for the older and out of shape constituency. We need representation too! 

Rex can't be that out of shape - he did the obstacle course in one try.

[Netfoot]

1 hour ago, PurpleTentacle said:

Did you test with the finish unknown? Because it seems to me 1 through 4 should also be fastest on their own in that order.

Just did. There is a ten minute difference between the slowest and fastest. You are correct: 1-4 as listed above was the fastest option.

[Fukui San]

48 minutes ago, mertensia said:

Rex can't be that out of shape - he did the obstacle course in one try.

Football fans have seen him be in much worse shape than he was here, that is true. 

[Stardancer Supreme]

7 hours ago, iMonrey said:

First off, I don't think they did a very good job introducing the teams. Only nine of them were introduced to us before the opening title sequence. And all of the intros were pretty rushed. I imagine we'll see more of their backstories going forward, but this was the first episode, and its job should be introducing us to these people. I'm pissed off that CBS prioritizes Survivor over this show so much. They could have given this a 2-hour premier too, even if on another day. Or at least cut Survivor down to 90 minutes and give AR that extra half hour.

Other than that I was mostly happy with this. Did they say why they were starting the race in Germany? I guess it just cuts down the obligatory race to the airport for flights. I did like the Scramble twist and the self-navigating, and don't hate any of the teams yet. 

It was a big night for rainbow colored hair on CBS reality shows - a gal on Survivor had rainbow hair too.

I'm generally against Big Brother cross-overs, but if they have to have a Big Brother team, Derek and Claire are relatively unobjectionable. 

I, too am sick of CBS treating TAR so poorly. I would rather have Phil than Jeff any day!

I'm not rooting against any teams yet.  Rich seems like a nice enough guy, but Dom is going to self-destruct. I was surprised that they weren't eliminated! They cut away from them hitting the mat with the other teams so fast. I was sure she was going to cuss Rich during the tasks.

As I watched all the teams drive by Aasta & Nina, I was chuckling and hoping that the time they took to get detailed directions wouldn't bite them later...  

I was wincing watching the teams who were so bad at Saw.  Too much yanking and wrestling with the saw instead of finding a rhythm to quickly cut that piece off.

[aghst]

1 hour ago, mertensia said:

Rex can't be that out of shape - he did the obstacle course in one try.

50 minutes ago, Fukui San said:

Football fans have seen him be in much worse shape than he was here, that is true. 

He said he dropped 50 pounds for the race..

He must be doing it for his partner and for the fun, because it's unlikely that splitting a million, after taxes, would be as meaningful to him as the others.

[Skooma]

1 hour ago, Fukui San said:

Football fans have seen him be in much worse shape than he was here, that is true. 

Also the whole hilarious foot fetish thing.  Google it if you want.  He has even made joking references to it latter on.

[seacliffsal]

So far the team I like the least is Team Motivational Speakers.  Many reasons for this, but having to continually motivate oneself does not bode well for longevity.  I was amazed with how many teams did not know how to saw wood (I use a saw for trimming my trees), so I actually enjoyed watching that challenge.  By the way, I love Munich and enjoyed seeing snippets of it.

I'm glad that there will be more self-navigation as that always provides fun entertainment!

[dgpolo]

I was also reminded of Wil TAR2 using the drill and flamethrower on his ice globe trying to get the clue when the other just used the hammer and chisel and got it out in a few whacks. Not sure who everyone is yet but the firefighter? was using way to much strength on the ice, just tapping a point into the ice was going to work fine.

The hair reminded me of the Twinnies and them having to stick their heads into a barrel of fish? I think. I told my daughter that hair will be a problem on the race. Even if they just have to swim for a challenge.

I had wondered if Rex had had his teeth knocked out and these are implants or something.

So glad TAR is back. Hopefully I'll start remembering names soon.

[HurricaneVal]

I really want to ride on the boat slide.

[chaifan]

FYI, for those figuring out the fastest route, one important factor that you need to consider is time of day and traffic patterns.  What may look like the fastest route today, could have been congested when the racers were there due to rush hour, schools schedules, etc. 

I've noticed there aren't any "extra" clips or mat chats on either cbs.com or TAR youtube channel.  When did those get posted in the past?  Am I just too early, or maybe those are no longer happening? 

[Netfoot]

1 minute ago, chaifan said:

FYI, for those figuring out the fastest route, one important factor that you need to consider is time of day and traffic patterns.  What may look like the fastest route today, could have been congested when the racers were there due to rush hour, schools schedules, etc.

Correct. It isn't possible to cater for every eventuality. And we don't know any and all special instructions the racers may have received. For example, I think one of the puzzle pieces told them where to park. Google's algorithm obviously won't take that into account but in practice it might have an effect. I was only computing a sort of first approximation of the best route as a simple exercise. 

[selkie]

18 hours ago, aghst said:

Were they right that the pit stop was near the park where they did the barrel roll.

I think navigation played a big factor.  Also, onlookers everywhere, including the start.  Looked like most of the teams asked onlookers to look up places on their phones.  And the onlookers were American?

Even though they avoided the main train station/central business district, driving in Munich is not for the weak or directionally challenged and doubly so if you’ve got to rely on a paper map and not GPS. With limited time, they did a decent job of showing the challenges that some of the teams faced- miss one turn and it’s adding 10 minutes getting back in the right direction. 

At least they provide the Racers with parking spots. Though they pretty much had to if they wanted to finish the leg in a reasonable amount of time. 

[aghst]

3 minutes ago, selkie said:

Even though they avoided the main train station/central business district, driving in Munich is not for the weak or directionally challenged and doubly so if you’ve got to rely on a paper map and not GPS. With limited time, they did a decent job of showing the challenges that some of the teams faced- miss one turn and it’s adding 10 minutes getting back in the right direction. 

At least they provide the Racers with parking spots. Though they pretty much had to if they wanted to finish the leg in a reasonable amount of time. 

I think we've had discussions about whether they should just let them use phones.

They obviously ask onlookers to borrow phones all the time.

Sure with phones they almost eliminate the possibility of getting lost.

But is the race more about navigation or is it about performing on tasks?

[selkie]

6 minutes ago, aghst said:

I think we've had discussions about whether they should just let them use phones.

They obviously ask onlookers to borrow phones all the time.

Sure with phones they almost eliminate the possibility of getting lost.

But is the race more about navigation or is it about performing on tasks?

Both tasks and navigation- the best seasons have typically been when Racers aren’t spoon fed how to get from task to task. And given the covid concerns at time of filming, I suspect this season will be heavy on self-driving and the drama of someone accidentally ending up in Lichtenstein or such. 

Did anyone get a good look at the car windshields? I saw Munich city congestion stickers on them but was wondering if there was an Austrian or Swiss toll road sticker too that might be a clue on where they’re headed next episode. 

[Maverick]

 I'm Team Anit-Motivational Speakers.  I don't like motivational speakers in general and these two seem near-Flo levels of fragile.  One of them was in tears because of how inspiring it was to finish the Roll task.  Like, seriously you rolled a fucking beer keg around some hay bales.   You did not cure cancel, qualify to fly into space or paint the second story of your house without help.   Nor does getting that keg from one end of the task to the other herald that you will be able to do those things...or anything of any significance worth crying over.

[PurpleTentacle]

4 hours ago, chaifan said:

FYI, for those figuring out the fastest route, one important factor that you need to consider is time of day and traffic patterns.  What may look like the fastest route today, could have been congested when the racers were there due to rush hour, schools schedules, etc. 

It's not like the racers would know the different traffic patterns between different routes. Even with locals it's unlikely, unless they pull up google maps.

But traffic didn't look bad so I assume it wasn't rush hour. German cities generally aren't thaaaat bad if it isn't rush hour. Also I doubt that even in rush hour, traffic would differ that much between different routes. So it comes down to length of the route again.

3 hours ago, aghst said:

I think we've had discussions about whether they should just let them use phones.

They obviously ask onlookers to borrow phones all the time.

Sure with phones they almost eliminate the possibility of getting lost.

But is the race more about navigation or is it about performing on tasks?

I'm oldschool. I think it's a race around the world and I'm already unhappy how little flights matter in recent seasons (and now not at all anymore) and how much it's now basically just "do tasks that are vagualy realeted to the location in a bunch of countries". So I'll take anything, that is still like a race around the world, I can get.

Asking locals with phones doesn't help some teams from getting completely lost and that's what I like to see. Only teams that are good at both racing around the world and doing the tasks having a shot at first place.

[SVNBob]

7 hours ago, Stardancer Supreme said:

As I watched all the teams drive by Aasta & Nina, I was chuckling and hoping that the time they took to get detailed directions wouldn't bite them later...  

While it didn't help, what really killed them was their poor performance at Roll.  They took more tries than anyone.  The only other team close were the motivational speakers, and it was his fault they had to do multiple attempts.

Contrary to many opinions, I think the Scramble works great as the First Leg format.  It's basically a microcosm of the TAR experience in one Leg, and shows teams' skill levels at the TAR essentials: task completion, decision-making, problem-solving, and self-navigation.  We've all now got something of an idea on how each team is going to perform for the rest of the season, all based on the Scramble.

Would the Scramble work later in the Race?  Of course.  I just think it's a really good way to drop people into the TAR experience, so  it works well for Leg 1.

[dgpolo]

12 hours ago, aghst said:

But is the race more about navigation or is it about performing on tasks?

I think the answer is in your question, it's a Race getting from point A to point B in the shortest amount of time on a set course, so of course navigation is important, and because the 'set course' involves tasks, those are important too. But you can't just throw out navigation.

[Skooma]

18 hours ago, J-Man said:

The two military brothers don't look alike at all. And there was no mention of either of them having spouses or children.

Are the actual brothers?   I just thought they were military bros that met while serving together.

16 hours ago, Fukui San said:

He coached this play.

I still think Rex's partner should've been noted Masked Singer contestant Mark Sanchez.

All in all I think it was a perfectly cromulent opener. I don't mind the different things they're trying race design-wise. Some of it is a response to pandemic filming I'm sure, and they were fun variations. The cast is diverse except that Rex is the only representative for the older and out of shape constituency. We need representation too! 

Lol, thanks!  That play will never ever get old here in New England.

12 hours ago, aghst said:

I think we've had discussions about whether they should just let them use phones.

They obviously ask onlookers to borrow phones all the time.

Sure with phones they almost eliminate the possibility of getting lost.

But is the race more about navigation or is it about performing on tasks?

Navigation first and foremost for sure.  Tasks are important too but many of the best ones have involved navigation as a major component in them as well.  As one navigation detour in TAR2 put it, "Confusion Now or Confusion Later."  Which translates as good time entertainment all the time for us viewers.  (BTW it was that detour that introduced us to the one and only original Fern).

And I too miss the airport stuff of the earlier days and as they dumbed it down some over the years that was sad and now for the foreseeable future covid has killed it totally.  But at least we have some self-navigation left without the silly GPS crutch.  Because even if Racers ask bystanders to see their cell's Google map, it isn't going to help them remember that any more than good, old fashioned paper maps in hand once they get back inside their car.

Edited September 23, 2022 by Skooma

[aghst]

52 minutes ago, dgpolo said:

I think the answer is in your question, it's a Race getting from point A to point B in the shortest amount of time on a set course, so of course navigation is important, and because the 'set course' involves tasks, those are important too. But you can't just throw out navigation.

I just think it's weirdly anachronistic, not reflective of how people travel.

For instance, do people still type on mechanical typewriters?

Or people who might carry cassettes instead of playing music on their phones.

Or people who still have CRT TVs and change channels on the dial rather than by remote.

These are quaint, performative gestures but outlier behavior, like the Amish who use horses and cart as transportation -- which causes some of their children to escape as soon as they can.

[Guest]

37 minutes ago, Skooma said:

Are the actual brothers?   I just thought they were military bros that met while serving together.

The show's descriptor "Military Brothers" is a little ambiguous, but they are actually brothers. If you find one of their cast bios online you can see they have the same last name.

[RockShrimp]

I can’t decide if I need the motivational speakers off my TV more or if I need to watch motivational speakers have to try and actually do something difficult more. 
 

I feel like only two kinds of people become motivational speakers: people who’ve hit rock bottom and persevered or toxic positivity addicts who have never actually faced adversity. 

Edited September 23, 2022 by RockShrimp

[Netfoot]

45 minutes ago, Skooma said:

But at least we have some self-navigation left without the silly GPS crutch.  Because even if Racers ask bystanders to see their cell's Google map, it isn't going to help them remember that any more than good, old fashioned paper maps in hand once they get back inside their car.

I am totally against allowing racers to carry cellphones. The modern cellphone can do navigation, deliver the answer to riddles, interpret clues, use street-view to identify destinations by site, translate languages, identify images, record text, audio and video to assist in any memory-challenge, book tickets on trains and ferries as well as aeroplanes (not so useful at present, admittedly), plus a whole lot more. If racers get to carry these, what will be left for them to do?

Again, I do not want racers to be allowed to carry cellphones. I am only grudgingly OK with them borrowing a cellphone from members of the public!

This is a race. It is about getting from A to B as fast as possible; faster than the other racers. If navigation and transportation are eliminated, or reduced to negligible proportion, we will simply have "racers" competing in one fairground challenge after another and being charter-flown and bussed from one challenge to the next.  TAR will lose that which makes it without doubt the premiere reality show by far, and become another Japanese-type game show with only a changing international backdrop to the games to make it at all different.

[chaifan]

56 minutes ago, Skooma said:

And I too miss the airport stuff of the earlier days and as they dumbed it down some over the years that was sad and now for the foreseeable future covid has killed it totally.

To be fair, a lot of the "dumbing down" of the airport stuff was outside of TAR's control.  So much has changed in the airline industry since the show first started, that it's just no longer possible for the aspect of getting from Country A to Country B to be a major part of the race.  There are far fewer flights to choose from, the airline rules now prevent much of what racers did in the past (last minute flight changes).  

In the few seasons before Covid, we got to the point where everyone was on the same flight the majority of the time, just because there weren't options.  If that's going to happen, then yeah, just cut out that aspect of the race and concentrate on what happens in-country. 

Also, in my opinion, racers were at their worst in the airports.  To each other, to other teams, and to the general public.  All the running and pushing and shoving.  ugh.  Glad to see that gone.

[Skooma]

33 minutes ago, aghst said:

I just think it's weirdly anachronistic, not reflective of how people travel.

For instance, do people still type on mechanical typewriters?

Or people who might carry cassettes instead of playing music on their phones.

Or people who still have CRT TVs and change channels on the dial rather than by remote.

These are quaint, performative gestures but outlier behavior, like the Amish who use horses and cart as transportation -- which causes some of their children to escape as soon as they can.

I don't have GPS in my car and I have it turned off on my phone because I don't want my location info on top of every thing else sold to advertisers.  I don't see the point for GPS anyway.  I guess I hate having my hand held.  I can get around fine without it.  Just as I can park without the car parking me etc.  Is it "weirdly anachronistic"?  Hell, no.  It is still being a bit self-reliant.

I'd love to see people who run after all the new tech changes every 6 months survive when the grid goes down after a solar flare say. We currently live in a fragile house of high tech cards that can collapse for almost any reason from those solar flares to a bored teenage basement hacker.

[aghst]

9 minutes ago, Netfoot said:

I am totally against allowing racers to carry cellphones. The modern cellphone can do navigation, deliver the answer to riddles, interpret clues, use street-view to identify destinations by site, translate languages, identify images, record text, audio and video to assist in any memory-challenge, book tickets on trains and ferries as well as aeroplanes (not so useful at present, admittedly), plus a whole lot more. If racers get to carry these, what will be left for them to do?

Again, I do not want racers to be allowed to carry cellphones. I am only grudgingly OK with them borrowing a cellphone from members of the public!

This is a race. It is about getting from A to B as fast as possible; faster than the other racers. If navigation and transportation are eliminated, or reduced to negligible proportion, we will simply have "racers" competing in one fairground challenge after another and being charter-flown and bussed from one challenge to the next.  TAR will lose that which makes it without doubt the premiere reality show by far, and become another Japanese-type game show with only a changing international backdrop to the games to make it at all different.

it's about getting from A to B in foreign countries with some constraints like you must drive yourself to this location or walk to this location or take a taxi to this location.

So those are rules that determine how fast they can get to a destination.  And in the case of taxis, it introduced pure random luck

So navigation in this game isn't about skill, because a lot of the racers have never traveled internationally so they're trying to figure out new subways or bus routes.

Either bar all cellphones, including borrowing from people, or allow them to have it.

What's the difference if they Google on some onlooker's phone vs. on their own?

[ninjakid]

The difference is that GPS literally takes you turn by turn and tells you each step as you go. 

I'm all for more self navigation. Kim and Penn said that that  was the most difficult and draining part of the race.

[aghst]

3 minutes ago, Skooma said:

I don't have GPS in my car and I have it turned off on my phone because I don't want my location info on top of every thing else sold to advertisers.  I don't see the point for GPS anyway.  I guess I hate having my hand held.  I can get around fine without it.  Just as I can park without the car parking me etc.  Is it "weirdly anachronistic"?  Hell, no.  It is still being a bit self-reliant.

I'd love to see people who run after all the new tech changes every 6 months survive when the grid goes down after a solar flare say. We currently live in a fragile house of high tech cards that can collapse for almost any reason from those solar flares to a bored teenage basement hacker.

As a heavy user of GPS, I've never seen ads related to where I live, the places I frequent or the places I've visited.

I've seen on occasion that a hotel reservation I made would show the location of the hotel on Google Maps because I received the reservation in my Gmail.

Big whoop.

If some alternate hotels in the same destination started emailing me or showing me ads about them, I'd be concerned.  Or if Google had some of these other hotels flash or something like that when I opened Google Maps.

Fact of the matter is, millions of people use GPS every day or in their travels.

Is TAR suppose to be some representation of international travel?  Sure they made a game out of it but it's going to all these foreign destinations.

You don't have to have GPS or Google Maps or even research destinations via Google or some other online resources.  But a lot of people travel that way.

3 minutes ago, ninjakid said:

The difference is that GPS literally takes you turn by turn and tells you each step as you go. 

I'm all for more self navigation. Kim and Penn said that that  was the most difficult and draining part of the race.

Because you know, people find out better ways of doing things or develop better tools for old tasks, like navigating an unfamiliar place.

It's called progress.

What's a greater number, the people who use online maps and GPS in their travels today or the people who don't?

[Netfoot]

Just now, ninjakid said:

The difference is that GPS literally takes you turn by turn and tells you each step as you go.

Thank you.

And if it is always with you, you can seek any of a variety of types of assistance at any time, or essentially constantly. Which is not like having to stop, find some friendly looking onlooker, borrow their phone (for a limited time only) and then give it back.

If you give everyone cellphones you might as well give them an assistant who already knows the route, to run the race for them, and simply bring them along in his pocket!

3 minutes ago, aghst said:

You don't have to have GPS or Google Maps or even research destinations via Google or some other online resources.  But a lot of people travel that way.

A lot of people travel by car, bike, skateboard, and so forth. But when you run a race, you have to run! Not complain that most people use other means to get from place to place.

What we're talking about here is TAR. It's a race around the world. There are rules. Those rules do not necessarily reflect the way people do things in their normal lives. Those rules are subject to change from time to time. My position is that I don't want those rules to change in order to make the "race" any easier for contestants, all in the name of bringing the latest in modern conveniences into the race rules.

It's a race for a million dollars. It's supposed to be hard!

[Skooma]

17 minutes ago, aghst said:

it's about getting from A to B in foreign countries with some constraints like you must drive yourself to this location or walk to this location or take a taxi to this location.

So those are rules that determine how fast they can get to a destination.  And in the case of taxis, it introduced pure random luck

So navigation in this game isn't about skill, because a lot of the racers have never traveled internationally so they're trying to figure out new subways or bus routes.

Either bar all cellphones, including borrowing from people, or allow them to have it.

What's the difference if they Google on some onlooker's phone vs. on their own?

Big difference.  They have to stop and interact with bystanders and find one willing to help with their cell phone.  Then they have to explain a release form and get the person to sign it many times dealing with a foreign language involved as well.  It slows them down a lot especially if they start the process and the person refuses to sign the release form.  So it is a strategic decision when to stop and try and ask anyone.  It could be a decision that costs them the Race or saves them from last place.

As for taxi luck the WHOLE premise of TAR is traveling around the REAL world, not an artificial level field high school race track.  And in real life traveling the globe you have all sorts of taxi drivers from the helpful and happy to be on the show to the take you the long way for the extra cash to the downright sketchy.  (See Season 3 with FireCop in Morocco for one of those).

Navigation is about skill like in reading maps, knowing when to ask directions and knowing when to abandon a shady taxi driver and even in finding a good Fern.  And about luck too because luck is a part to life.  Overcoming bad luck and taking advantage of good luck.  This isn't Big Brotherland shot in a crummy studio "house" outside of LA.  This is the planet Earth in all it's quirky glory filled with all sorts of people in all their quirky glory.  TAR is a show apart from any other show that way.

Edited September 23, 2022 by Skooma

[ninjakid]

1 hour ago, aghst said:

Because you know, people find out better ways of doing things or develop better tools for old tasks, like navigating an unfamiliar place.

It's called progress.

What's a greater number, the people who use online maps and GPS in their travels today or the people who don't?

Phones are great, until your battery dies. And I have absolutely no interest in TAR: Powered by Alexa

[aradia22]

Quote

Even though they avoided the main train station/central business district, driving in Munich is not for the weak or directionally challenged and doubly so if you’ve got to rely on a paper map and not GPS. With limited time, they did a decent job of showing the challenges that some of the teams faced- miss one turn and it’s adding 10 minutes getting back in the right direction. 

Yeah, it was suspicious how often the military brothers were back at the same intersection.

Quote

Are the actual brothers?   I just thought they were military bros that met while serving together.

I wasn't sure what their relationship was for most of the episode (too many people to keep track of) but they mention seeing each other like once a year and explicitly talking about being brothers and a family dynamic at one point.

Quote

Again, I do not want racers to be allowed to carry cellphones. I am only grudgingly OK with them borrowing a cellphone from members of the public!

Same. Though if borrowing phones goes on for as long as it did with the eliminated team, that's annoying. 

Quote

In the few seasons before Covid, we got to the point where everyone was on the same flight the majority of the time, just because there weren't options.  If that's going to happen, then yeah, just cut out that aspect of the race and concentrate on what happens in-country. 

Agreed. It was already feeling less and less like the early seasons so I'm happy they've dropped it for the (hopefully safer) chartered plane. I appreciate them trying to be responsible with the racers' health as well as the health of the people in the countries they're traveling to. And I agree people got nasty in the airports. Part of what I liked about the Scramble (though it might have been early-race friendliness) was that not knowing placement seemed to helped people get on rather than being resentful (though some of that did come out in the Saw task anyway). I like seeing people run their own race. I don't enjoy watching KF or seeing bickering. I like TAR because there's less drama and the main drama is related to the race and not interpersonal relationships.

[seacliffsal]

Another thing about the Scramble was that it made it harder for teams to follow each other.  One may see another car but not know what task(s) they completed and that if they followed that car they may be lead back to a task they already completed.  It also helped change up the order.  

[eel21788]

2 hours ago, RockShrimp said:

 I feel like only two kinds of people become motivational speakers: people who’ve hit rock bottom and persevered or toxic positivity addicts who have never actually faced adversity. 

You left out narcissists who think they are so much better than everyone else that they don't need real jobs. Everyone is going to hang on their every word

[chaifan]

56 minutes ago, aradia22 said:

Part of what I liked about the Scramble (though it might have been early-race friendliness) was that not knowing placement seemed to helped people get on rather than being resentful (though some of that did come out in the Saw task anyway).

25 minutes ago, seacliffsal said:

Another thing about the Scramble was that it made it harder for teams to follow each other.  One may see another car but not know what task(s) they completed and that if they followed that car they may be lead back to a task they already completed. 

Agree on both of these things.  One more benefit to the Scramble, especially on the fist leg...  it makes alliances impossible (or at least a lot harder).  I have a feeling that is still top of mind for the producers after Season 32. 

[anniebird]

42 minutes ago, chaifan said:

Agree on both of these things.  One more benefit to the Scramble, especially on the fist leg...  it makes alliances impossible (or at least a lot harder).  I have a feeling that is still top of mind for the producers after Season 32. 

Anything that will prevent alliances is fine by me.

[Fukui San]

54 minutes ago, chaifan said:

Agree on both of these things.  One more benefit to the Scramble, especially on the fist leg...  it makes alliances impossible (or at least a lot harder).  I have a feeling that is still top of mind for the producers after Season 32. 

I wouldn’t say impossible. I’d say more like a teeny tiny bit harder. If two teams meet each other early in a leg they can still just agree to work together all day unless there’s been a rule change. 

[Bluesky]

On 9/21/2022 at 11:10 PM, InDueTime said:

Welcome back, TAR!

I enjoyed the start in the first country much better than that nonsense last season at their homes.

The Scramble was an interesting shake-up. Is it all throughout the season? I missed that. I suppose that keeps the finish placements more random if they need to drive themselves. Though, I'll miss the Roadblocks and Detours. 

Good effort, Aastha and Nina.

So far, no one's coming off as annoying to me. 

The constant screeching especially at the beginning got on my nerves. I hope they calm down.  I like not having non-eliminations and roadblocks.  Whoever is last is out.  

[dgpolo]

1 hour ago, Fukui San said:

I wouldn’t say impossible. I’d say more like a teeny tiny bit harder. If two teams meet each other early in a leg they can still just agree to work together all day unless there’s been a rule change. 

If you are talking about a leg with a scramble I'd say this was still not wise. Since you don't know the placements of the other teams it could be that you and the team you agreed to work with would have to race each other to the mat. Plus if one or the other team is especially good at one of the tasks and the other isn't, is the team just going to wait around for them not knowing how many other teams are ahead of you? It was my thought also that the scramble was there to prevent alliances. I've never minded them really, after all only one team can win, but I know a lot of people were upset a couple of seasons ago because of the big alliance that was made.

9 minutes ago, Bluesky said:

 I like not having non-eliminations and roadblocks.  

The Smash task was a Roadblock.

[Netfoot]

10 hours ago, ninjakid said:

Phones are great, until your battery dies. And I have absolutely no interest in TAR: Powered by Alexa

A few years ago I toured Great Britain with a friend. We used Google Maps to do all our navigation.

Except when we lost phone service for nearly three hours, while navigating our way through the Lake District. Good thing I had thought to include a copy of Collins Big Road Atlas of Britain for that year, covering every inch of the country. If we didn't have that and know how to use it, we'd probably still be there trying to find our way out!

7 hours ago, dgpolo said:

It was my thought also that the scramble was there to prevent alliances. I've never minded them really, after all only one team can win, but I know a lot of people were upset a couple of seasons ago because of the big alliance that was made.

I don't much like alliances because it changes the race from being about racing skill and ability to a personality contest, where good racers get ganged up on and eliminated by an alliance of arguably less talented people.

It's one thing when you are leaving a challenge to say "Did you look in the elephant's ears?" to a fellow competitor as you run past. It's another to form a named brotherhood with secret handshake and all, with the sole aim of bringing down fellow competitors. But this has been discussed ad nauseam before now, so I will leave it there.

Edited September 24, 2022 by Netfoot

[KittyQ]

On 9/22/2022 at 9:29 AM, chaifan said:

A personal pet peeve for me on TAR is how women with long hair rarely tie it back.  We saw a lot of that today.  But the rainbow dread motivational speaker (sorry, don't know names yet) was driving me crazy with all that hair!  That is going to slow her down at some point. 

This bugged me too. As a person who used to have very long hair, I know that it can get in the way doing many tasks, and I was usually prepared to pull it back and secure it out of the way. Without keeping it back, the hair can also be a risk with certain equipment, so pull it back and be safe!

[PurpleTentacle]

7 hours ago, aghst said:

I just think it's weirdly anachronistic, not reflective of how people travel.

So? It's a race around the world, not a travel show. Races have rules.

9 hours ago, Netfoot said:

Again, I do not want racers to be allowed to carry cellphones. I am only grudgingly OK with them borrowing a cellphone from members of the public!

I really think there should be a rule against the racers touching cell phones. I'm not super extatic about people they ask using phones, but that can't really be helped.

9 hours ago, chaifan said:

Also, in my opinion, racers were at their worst in the airports.  To each other, to other teams, and to the general public.  All the running and pushing and shoving.  ugh.  Glad to see that gone.

Imo that was part of the fun. I don't want the teams to be all out nasty to each other, but some healthy competition is nice and the airport brought that out of the teams. Did some teams go overboard? Sure, but overall it was a plus in my opinion. Recent seasons have been too much of a snuggle-fest. (I'll allow it for last season since those were special circumstances)

You are right that it's just not possible anymore, like it once was, but the race should figure out another way to put the teams at odds. Like I said, not too much, but a little more than your average tasks do.

9 hours ago, Skooma said:

I don't have GPS in my car and I have it turned off on my phone because I don't want my location info on top of every thing else sold to advertisers. 

Your phone knows its location through cell tower and wifi triangulation. So your location info is getting sold either way.

9 hours ago, Skooma said:

I'd love to see people who run after all the new tech changes every 6 months survive when the grid goes down after a solar flare say.

If the grid goes down for long you'll have as much of a problem to survive as anybody else.

9 hours ago, Skooma said:

and even in finding a good Fern. 

I don't think Ferns are allowed anymore, sadly. I think a Fern added a lot to early seasons and racers found one rarely enough that it wasn't overpowered.

8 hours ago, ninjakid said:

Phones are great, until your battery dies. And I have absolutely no interest in TAR: Powered by Alexa

I actually think it could be fun for a leg. Not allowed to ask anybody but Alexa, not allowed to read external maps, not allowed to use the phone manually.

So if Jeff Bezos gets out the big bucks, I wouldn't be opposed. But like I said, only for one leg.

8 hours ago, aradia22 said:

Yeah, it was suspicious how often the military brothers were back at the same intersection.

That was just the editor pulling the same footage a bunch of times. It's exactly the same cars in front of them every time they are there. We don't even know if the bros were ever at that intersection at all or if it was footage from another team. The power of editing.

I've never driven in Munich, only used public transport. But if it's anything like any other german city, taking a wrong turn will cost you more like 3 minutes rather than 10.

[zoey1996]

1 hour ago, PurpleTentacle said:

I don't think Ferns are allowed anymore, sadly. I think a Fern added a lot to early seasons and racers found one rarely enough that it wasn't overpowered.

What’s a Fern?

[Fukui San]

1 hour ago, Lucas Rowan said:

A Fern is a TAR term referring to a local who helps a team or individual racer with directions, sometimes even going along with them.  It's named after a local who helped TAR2 team Oswald & Danny find their way when they were in one country (though I forget which one).  Her name was Fern.

Hong Kong, I believe.