[Bird]

The suggestion is to only change the online lobby interface. Nothing else changes. Instead of a list of  servers there is a list of events registered to the lobby by the servers. These events have various attributes such as MR, cars, tracks, lap counts, minimum drivers, time-of-day/continuous, Steam friends, League members etc. Add the ability to queue for an event which is either not available or the combo is listed but not scheduled because there are no drivers. This then gives a interface for what people are currently doing manually.

But then what?  Which/whose server will it run on?  What is the selection criteria?  Who will be on the server out of the 50 ppl registered?  Why?  How can I play with my friends on the same (low ping!) server?
See, it's not simple at all.

[Gratulin]

The suggestion is to only change the online lobby interface. Nothing else changes. Instead of a list of  servers there is a list of events registered to the lobby by the servers. These events have various attributes such as MR, cars, tracks, lap counts, minimum drivers, time-of-day/continuous, Steam friends, League members etc. Add the ability to queue for an event which is either not available or the combo is listed but not scheduled because there are no drivers. This then gives a interface for what people are currently doing manually.

But then what?  Which/whose server will it run on?  What is the selection criteria?  Who will be on the server out of the 50 ppl registered?  Why?  How can I play with my friends on the same (low ping!) server?
See, it's not simple at all.

Haha! One could be forgiven for thinking you were an IT guy!!

You select criteria like maximum ping, only friends, MR AB in your driver profile in AC. Because the lobby lists events rather than servers it will only show events based on your criteria (obviously with a show all option). Events that are due to commence only within a certain time period could be listed. You would then immediately see in progress events plus next events (and the time it is due to start, eg, in 5 minutes, at 8pm etc) with the drivers who are plan to drive in those events.

Alternatively, I might select MR AB events starting in the next 30 minutes. This is what I do now anyway. Except I do it by trolling through the server list and entering search strings in the search bar. I then cannot see who is on each server until I select the specific server, only to find that it is already in race mode. Better to be able to just select that I want to race in the event when it is next available.

Note that is is just changing how the lobby presents the information it already has from each server.

[Rolz]

Haha Gratulin if you specified low ping, you would basically just be listing Marty and my servers   

[Gratulin]

I'm sick of typing 'MR XGN FTW Marty'. IT'S ALL ABOUT ME LoL.

[Freezer]

I installed the app, jumped in a 6 car race last night and despite higher pings there was no noticeable issue during the race.
Not necessarily a fan of waiting for a race start time but then it is handy to see whats coming up etc if you so choose.