<disclaimer> I throw around the words "rookie" and "veteran" a lot during this post. I am in no way implying that anyone who hasn't sunk 100+ hours into the game automatically sucks. I mean, c'mon! That's just rude! </disclaimer>

Even though the free weekend is over, I've still encountered a couple of online racers that haven't had a chance to get super good at the game. It occurred to me that with the influx of new players, there's going to be a lot of new tournament participants that won't be able to stand a chance against some of us "veteran" racers. (Anyone remember when White Dynamite came in dead last for most of the races during the first half of tournament #2?)

That being said, I got the idea that we can use "that thing where rookies and veterans are seperated to prevent curbstomps" for our tournaments (I forget what the exact terminology is). Gold-class being for the rookies and Platinum-class being for the veterans, obviously.

The best things I could think of as "qualifications" for joining the Platinum-class tournament are as follows:
1) Unlocking the AGES Mod [or just AGES itself, needs further discussion]
2) Having passed a certain online race ranking [approx. 2,000 or so?]
3) Having one of the Top 20 Grand Prix times [This can be checked by pressing (RB) when selecting a GP]
4) Winning a previous Gold-class tournament by a ludicrous ammount of points [~50 or so?]

Basically, as long as a player has met at least ONE (or so) of the above criteria, they're advised to join the Platinum-class tournament. Otherwise, they're urged to join the Gold-class tournament. There are no rules preventing a Gold-class qualifier from joining a Platinum-class tournament, but a Platinum-class qualifier can only join a Gold-class tournament if they got their asses handed to them in a big, big way during a previous Platinum-class tournament.

Obviously, this is just a rough concept. We're going to need more ideas, suggestions, and fine-tuning for something like this to not fall apart horribly.