Quote Originally Posted by ouvreur View Post
But... is what we have in 2022 any better than in 2012, or 2002, or even 1992?
What's to be gained from scrapping it? Itineraries were always long days for crews and mechanics, isn't that part of the game? And what's really different? Top 15 cars don't overlap?

Consider this: alllive is not the flagship entertainment package we think of it. The cameras and reporters are there anyway to gather everything for the purpose of highlights and TV live stages, and those on the car are for stewards and safety surveillance in Rally HQ. It's their jobs to stay on top of everything even without all live, so broadcasting live is squeezing extra value, is easy and monetisable.

It was never aimed at being watched all the way through from start to finish by subscribers, there's no prizes for doing that and there are off buttons. So if you're asking yourself "why am I watching?", turn it off once in a while maybe? Typically, rallies get less entertaining as it progresses, so cut Sunday's stages out for a start and catch up on the powerstage. That once-in-fifty-rallies event where the rally leader bins it by mistake on a Sunday really ain't worth it to say you saw it LIVE! Second step is go further when there isn't a race on, stick just to the live TV stages on Saturday, then maybe also Friday. Suddenly the commentators and stage ends aren't repetitive but informative.

I didn't bother with Saturday at all for Estonia after gauging from the Friday leaderboard, scrolled though the chat here to see if there was much to catch up on. No, lol. But you betcha though, when a Loeb v Ogier at Monte comes along you'll be wishing you could see it (all) instead of listening to a chap on the radio speculating and hypothesising.