Soft cap and racials?

not sure I seen this discussed before but I was wondering if the racial bonuses just get you to the soft cap sooner or if they increase the soft cap. I am guessing they just help you get there sooner but would like to know for sure

I was reading on Tamriel Foundry last night about races.  The posters there said it contributes to small cap so isn't necessarily that big of a deal since you can put stuff on jewelry that will be similar to a lot of the racials.  Plus who knows how many times the racials will be adjusted during the life of the game.  The main point was...unless you are a min/maxer (who is then going to get mad when they adjust the racials at some point) play a race that you like.  Personally I'm going to play one that has some of the stuff that will help my toon but is not necessarily "The Best."  Plus I like tails :-)

From what  I understand, it just gets you to the soft cap sooner and with fewer attribute points or enchants needed. So if my imperial has 10% stamina, I can throw a couple more attributes into magicka a little earlier. Like Rizara said, I don't think it really makes a difference in the long run. Hopefully they will keep this game from becoming an absolute min/max-stare-at-the-meter kind of game.

Don't limit yourself to just soft caps ceilings, though, unless that's really what you want to do.  Exciting builds will develop for all roles to push way beyond softcaps into the realm of diminishing returns.   This is where choosing the optimal (and stereotypical) races will count.

Just for clarification, soft caps are the point at which diminishing returns start to kick in.

i thought a soft cap was a knitted beanie...