REGLEMENT DE LA COURSE

RACER rules:

Thanks to Eric Alexander of RACER

3.1 Legal Surfaces

a) Drivers shall remain "in-bounds" of the legal racing surface at all times.  The "legal racing surface" is considered the paved asphalt and racing kerbs.  Driving "in-bounds" is maintaining two wheels on the legal racing surface at all times. 

b) On track sections with asphalt run-off (or an apron such as oval racing), the legal racing surface is denoted by the painted line or kerbing separating the track from the run-off area.

3.6 Mechanical Problems

a) A driver experiancing mechanical problems, either simulator based or PC hardware based, they should get off the racing line immediately.

b) (R.A.C.E.R. Addendum) Drivers must be in control of their vehicle at all times.  Should for any reason, a driver must stop or leave their car temporarily inactive, the vehicle should not pose a danger to any other competitor.  Inactive vehicles which pose a danger to competitors will result in that driver being booted from the session in order to clear the vehicle from the race course.

3.7 Flags

FLAGS ARE TO BE RESPECTED AT ALL TIMES.

a) YELLOW: Lift off in a yellow flag zones. No passing is allowed in yellow flag zones. Yellow Flags mean that there is a spin; it does not mean accelerate as hard as possible into the shunt.

b) BLUE [R.A.C.E.R. addendum]: Blue flags are administered insde the simulation. Should the slower driver be given the blue flag for several consecutive corners he/she should move off-line and allow the faster driver to pass. Failure to do so will most probably incur an in-game accessed penalty, and in worst case, result in a post-race official protest by the faster driver.

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Special Enduro Racing Rules (in addition to normal RACER Rules):

Thanks to Daron Hume of NASCC: Edited by Spencer Battersby

For the sake of realism, you will not be allowed to "Esc out" of qualifying and then get back on the track, unless you were in your pitbox when you hit Esc. So, if you crash your car and cannot make it SAFELY back to the pits (it's a qualifying session - do not limp around in a dangerous manner and mess up other people's laps), you are to Esc out and stay there for the remainder of the session. If you drive around to your pitbox, you may hit Esc, make changes in the garage (or whatever you needed to Esc out for), and then rejoin the session. At the end of the session, you are asked to drive back around to the pits and Esc from there.

Any Prototype driver who fails to set a time, or just plain sets a really slow time and is mixed in with the GT field, will be moved up to the rear of the Prototype grid before the race starts. This obviously also applies to any Prototype driver who was late to qualifying and didn't get a chance to make a lap.


Chatting
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In pre-Qualifying Practice, chatting is allowed.

In Qualifying, chatting is absolutely not allowed - not even if you think the session is over.

In pre-Race Warmup, chatting is allowed most of the time, unless the admin is giving out directions (in which case he will say something like "PLEASE STOP CHATTING FOR A MINUTE").

In the Race, chatting is not allowed. The person you just wrecked will just have to assume you're sorry until you can clear it up after the race.

There are currently not actually any penalties for chatting - I am hoping we can just treat this as an ettiquite thing and it won't be a problem. I am also sure the occasional "sorry" or "pitting this lap" will slip out... just don't make a habit of it. If it does become a problem, penalties will be handed out.

Oh yeah, anytime an admin says it is now okay to chat, you can probably do so.

Whispering is fine, as long as the person you're whispering to is okay with it. Like, if you're both GT drivers and it's time for Prototype qualifying. If a driver reports getting unwanted whispers, there will probably be a penalty for that. Generally speaking, don't whisper to someone who is driving. Oh yeah, and whisper with care. If you tell everyone on the server, "w/ Johnny hey john I forget is this how you whisper?", not only will everyone laugh at you, but it will be treated as a normal chat message, and if done at a time when chatting is not allowed, you may be penalized for it.


Race Start Procedure
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Race starts will be of the "manual rolling start" variety. Which is to say, the server will be set to standing starts, but the race will not start when the lights go green. Instead, when the lights go green (and not before, or else you will get a black flag, and deservedly so since it says right here in the rules not to do it), everyone is to roll off in an orderly fashion, in single file, according to how they qualified. The polesitter will lead the field around for one pace lap at 60 mph / 100 kph.

Do not get right up on the car in front of you; leave a gap of a few carlengths. The GT polesitter should keep himself roughly five seconds behind the last Prototype car. The time gap itself isn't really important, we are just looking to avoid any huge T1 incidents, and having a gap between the Prototype and GT fields will help. GT cars aren't racing the Prototypes anyway, so there is no need to be right up on them.

In each class, the polesitter will start the race when he sees fit, but do it within reason. You know what starts are supposed to look like, so just come off the final corner and start accellerating when you think you're close enough to the line. Do not do any brake checking or anything stupid like that. Since there is no offical green flag signal, no one is to pass anyone before the start line. If someone spins or just inexplicably doesn't go when everyone in front of him is going, you are free to pass that driver.

Oh yeah, any of you Prototype drivers who screwed up somehow in qualifying and are either at the back of the pack or stuck somewhere in the GT field, you will be instructed where and when to pass the GT field and take your place at the rear of the Prototype queue. GT drivers, pay attention to any announcement that a Prototype driver is coming through... you don't want to swerve into him or something. Oh, that brings me to my next point.

NO TIRE WARMING. Just drive around and stay in line. I know you're bored and swerving back and forth is kind of fun (admit it, you do it when you're stuck in slow traffic on the highway), but just relax, okay? Some of the field may be being repositioned and passing you in the pacing line, and they don't need you swerving out in front of them because you wanted your tires to be 1 degree warmer at the start.

No burnouts, either. Pull away slowly and smoothly, and try to keep the tire smoke/black marks to a minimum.


Race Length
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There are two race lengths to keep in mind: the official length - the one that appears on the schedule and (11:00)  and the server race length, which will be a few minutes longer than the official race length. This is to accomodate the pace lap. At 60 mph, it takes a minute to cover a mile, so the server race length will equal the official race length (11hrs) + the length of the track in miles (4 miles), total 11hrs and 4mins, so, in theory, the amount of time we are actually racing will be the official race time.


Headlights
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Keep your headlights off, unless you need them to see, which you will at night. Do not flash your lights. The person you are coming up to lap very likely knows you are there. If they hold you up longer than you think they should have, then you can flash your lights at them, but only once, and not in or approaching a corner/braking zone. Really, I don't mind flashing headlights that much, but we don't need it every time someone comes up to lap someone else. No one is impressed that you mapped a button and are impatient.


Track Cutting
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We all know what is and isn't a cut. Basically, stay on the track. If you cut the track making a pass, give the spot back. If you cut the track defending a position (and the guy trying to pass you doesn't), give up the spot. If you cut and gain time, even, slow down until you think you've negated it. I don't want to see people consistently running off the track in a way that gains them time. "The track" is considered to be the asphault between the grass, and the curbing. If the curbs are really big, and you're the kind of guy who likes to put your whole car on the curb, knock yourself out. I don't think there are any tracks that we're racing on with any of that paved runoff that you can sometimes use to exit corners faster or anything like that, so I'm not going to worry about that.


Lapped Traffic
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This is dual class racing - there will be lap traffic. Probably incessantly. As a lap car, the most important thing is that you be predictable. Do not try to pull down out of someone's way when they're approaching you... since they're probably just about to pull out to pass you. If you go offline to let someone by, stay out there until all the faster cars in the immediate vicinity get by. In general, the lap cars can run their line and the fast cars can find their way around.

Now, when someone comes up to lap you who's in the same class as you, it's not going to be as easy as a Prototype lapping a GT car. Just don't hold them up more than necessary. Now, you don't have to wreck yourself trying to get out of the way, just help them out a little. If they pull to the inside coming to a corner, ease out of it early and let them take it. If you're a control freak, you can pull over for them, just make sure you do it early enough that they won't be caught off guard by it.

Restarting the race
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There will be no race restarts, unless something really catostrophic happens. None of that "hey man, we got wrecked, rs?" stuff. You only get one start, so be careful.


Pitting
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When entering the pits, be careful. Don't slow right in front of someone - pull to the side of the track that the pits are on before slowing. When exiting the pits, if there is a pit exit line, stay below it unless the track is completely clear. If there is a pit exit lane, use it (like the one at Laguna Seca).


Passing
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I have no intentions of defining what passing is. We all know how it works. I just want to reiterate, just in case you missed it all those other times it was said, it is up to the passing driver to make a clean pass. Don't go sticking your nose in where it doesn't belong. Now, this doesn't give the driver getting passed carte blanche to drive like a jerk. Safe passing is a two way street. This a long races, so it would usually be wise to not contest a pass too vigorously. That said, it is still a race, and you are all racers, so as long as no one gets overly reckless, I don't really care.


Blocking
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When racing for position, you are allowed to defend your position, but do so in a safe manner. When the driver behind you is about to put you one or more laps down, do not block him at all. When a driver comes up to you who is laps behind you, but faster, it's up to you to decide how you want to handle it. Obviously the smart move would be to let him go, but if you want to get yourself spun racing a lapped car, it's up to you.


Protests
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If you feel you were in some way wronged in the race, and the person who wronged you either went unpenalized, or didn't get a harsh enough penalty, you are free to bring this to the attention of Race Control, ie me. You can contact me however you want, although the best method would probably be a Private Message on this forum. I and any Race Control-type assistants I may have will review the situation and do what we feel the situation warrants. Don't be too shy about sending off a protest - we may not have someone in RC to watch the race as it happens, so it is very easy for us to miss things.

In the event that your beef is with something I did, well, treat it the same way. I will pass it along to the rest of Race Control, and if need be, simply post it for public discussion. I don't want anyone to feel that I am getting preferential treatment or anything, so I will probably actually be more likely to give myself a penalty than anyone else.

These protest may be filed on the day of the race, or the day after. The cutoff will be the end of the day (11:59 pm EDT) after the race.

Conversely, if you were penalized and feel it was too harsh, you are free to do the same thing (contact me about it). You will have the same period of time to file your protest as above, if it was an in race penalty. For a post-race penalty, you will have 24 hours after the penalty was handed out to file. If you want, for protesting a post-race penalty, you can just reply to the thread you were penalized in if you don't feel like being discreet. Let's just not go all public pissing match about it, okay?


Black Flags
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If the game gives you a black flag penalty, serve it. Period.  I will be in RC most likely when in the car myself. No one is going to clear your black flag otherwise. If you think the black flag was in error, file a protest about it after the race. RC will review the circumstances of the penalty and attempt to right any wrongs. It would be nice to fix these problems as they happen, but the reality is things happen too fast during a race to do this.