I tested out the PPs a bit last year when they first came out, and was most interested to see how they would perform at Keeneland - but but missed out due to starting a new job and moving.
So, I decided to try them again and have done that twice over the last month.
Overall impression: very slick - the layout is pretty easy to get used to, sort of like when the Racing Times came out. The figs are awesome, of course, navigation is intuitive, and 90+% of the relevant content from other PPs is available. Having instant access to the charts is sweet. It's still taking me a bit more time to go through a race, but I'm getting faster. I have not used the notes and wagers tools, but with the goal of an online experience without paper, those should come in handy. I'm definitely keying in on some horses that run well that did not jump out to me with BRIS or DRF PPs.
Pricing: Some posters in the thread complained of the price rise when the introductory period was over, but 3 beans for a PP of this quality is great value. What's even better is the "day pass" rate of 6 beans for all tracks. This is awesome for recreational players like myself who can only play 4-8 days per month. The only downside is now I have to go reactivate my TVG account...
Printing: I don't print out the PPs, but this is a legitimate gripe. I have trouble using a tablet or ereader, and still prefer hardcopy when reading a book - but my large PC monitor works fine for the PPs. I can see where the pen/paper/pencil people want easy printouts.
Data Files: I don't know enough about the business to say what's the best model in terms of pricing, penetration of the unique content, and dilution of prices paid to say what's best for TimeFormUS. But like any business, it's always an advantage to create a moat and keep your product unique to optimize profits. So good for them. I'm mostly a virtual pen and paper 'capper, and so I'd rather see the figures retain more value, and distributing them in softcopy would only hurt that value.
Nitpicks: The biggest one was not have the current race come up when changing tracks, and that is being fixed.
Others for me are: retain the M/L displayed with current odds, the post and field size section could be reduced to "3/7" or "1/12", odds the horse went off at in the PPs would be nice, and the workouts are small and not easy to read. I'd prefer them to be displayed by date in between the PPs.
But if nothing was changed from here on out, I'd still be giggling like a chimp.
Question: Maybe I missed it skimming through the 50 pages of comments in the thread, but is there going to an "Expanded PPs" some day versus the "Fast PPs"? Or will the site detect and allow displaying of more data for those not on a tablet or phone?
