Official Sporting Code v041025
The General Principle:
Complete your race in the least amount of time, ahead of as many drivers as possible, according to the best of your ability-without doing harm to others. Collision avoidance takes priority over gaining position without exception.
It is a RACE and not a FIGHT!
Drive and generally conduct yourself in a manner that allows you to grow and maintain friendships with the league community. Fun and a sense of accomplishment is the goal, NOT domination, manipulation and conflict.
Do not alter assigned setups. This is considered cheating and will result in a ban from future races. The assigned setups is the foundation of the league’s “fair chance” competition philosophy. In "open setup" races, the Chief Engineer will publish "Suggested" setup/s but drivers are allowed to run whatever they want, on the condition that the setup is reviewed for safety and fairness by the Chief Engineer and "approved" prior to use. Attempts to mislead the Chief Engineer in this review and approval process will result in a ban from the League.
Specifics:
Maintain control. Humans make mistakes, but mistakes are minimized when you drive at a performance level with a small but adequate margin of safety. Failure to maintain control and a margin of safety that results in a collision is considered reckless. Example1: Overdriving on cold tires. Example2; Failure to recognize the need to change braking points with higher speed following in a draft.
Driving that is deemed to be "reckless" by the Chief Steward is a serious offence. Repeated instances despite warnings will result in a ban from the League. (see additional explanation at the end of this code description.) One egregious example is abuse of the draft on long straights, where an overtake is attempted well beyond the normal braking zone that results or risks the possibility of loss of control and collision.
Always allow racing room to other drivers. This prohibits any movement in response to a passing attempt that would be considered blocking. It also prohibits following too close where unexpected moves by driver ahead are likely to result in a collision.
When a mistake leads to a spin and loss of control, use accepted inputs to increase the likelihood that you will slide off the racing surface. If you end up stopped on the racing surface you are required to hold your brakes on and remain stationary until all traffic has passed. Do not become a moving obstacle. (It is recommended that all drivers use a track map overlay to allow for accurate info regarding the position of other cars.)
Apologies for mistakes is not mandatory. Action (adjustment to risk management judgment) to reduce the likelihood of future mistakes is mandatory.
Do not engage in what could be considered as intimidation. Example1: Moving to the inside lane approaching a corner for no other reason than to distract the driver ahead with the threat of a dive bomb. Example2: When racing side by side, moving to threaten a unfair reduction in racing room.
Use three mirrors and chatty spotter. Use of the virtual and both side mirrors is mandatory. If a single monitor FOV does not give full view of side mirrors, adjustment of Look Right and Look Left to allow view of side mirrors is mandatory. The use of mirrors and chatty spotter is absolutely key to safe driving and situational awareness. Drivers are required to anticipate the position of drivers who are overtaking and react to spotter warnings to insure racing room is maintained. This does not prohibit driving a defensive line with one move to the inside on corner approach far in advance of the braking point.
Overtaking is encouraged and an important part of racing enjoyment. Threshold braking contests are also encouraged as long as the driver being overtaken is aware of the overtaking driver’s position in side mirror and chatty spotter warning. Any attempt to overtake where the driver being overtaken has not been warned by the spotter before the normal braking point for the corner is considered an illegal dive bomb. In corners where braking is not required, the “normal racing line” belongs to the driver ahead at the turn in point.
Most overtaking conflicts occur with the faster car attempting the overtake on the “inside” of the turn. But there are important scenarios where the overtake occurs with the faster car on the outside. The MOST IMPORTANT principle is the concept of “NEVER DENY RACING ROOM” except in the special case where you are absolutely committed to a normal racing line at the entry of a corner.
Two cases: 1) Two cars legitimately contest a corner side by side at corner entry. The inside car must not track out normally- he is required to grant the outside car racing room on exit. 2) On some straights, the racing line crosses the track diagonally so that the lead car leaves a wide gap for an overtaking car in the late part of the straight but continues to move toward the outside of the track for corner entry. If a faster car is clearly showing in his mirror as beginning an overtake, the the lead car must allow racing room-he cannot assume or demand that the overtaking driver lift and or brake and back off. If the lead car wants to claim the outside of the track, he must move there soon enough to clearly take “ownership” of that line.
The first turn after the green is out is critical. Standing starts almost always result in chaos. With a rolling start, a “proper” start led by the pole sitter with a “tight grid” should result in a “clean and safe” passage thru the first turn. Generally, a skilled and experienced pole sitter will begin a smooth acceleration as soon as the pace car exits, reaching race pace coincident with the green. If this is not the case, often cars will hold back and create a gap in the grid, timing their acceleration so that they have a speed advantage when the green comes out and the drag race begins. This is considered poor sportsmanship and is akin to stealing. It leads to unsafe three and four wide racing into the first turn with resulting chaos and car contact/s. (It is akin to a driver in the last row holding back and timing his arrival at the green with enough speed to pass most of the grid before the first turn—which is a violation of iRacing Sporting Code.)
To avoid this, the Senior Sportsmanship League races always use a rolling start, a tight grid and PROHIBIT passing other humans for the first corner of the first lap. This “No pass until AFTER the first corner” rule applies to the car ahead in your “lane”. It does not apply to cars in the adjacent “lane” that may be slower due to cars ahead in that “lane”. Violators will be black flagged. (This can be problematic when AI Drivers are in the mix as they do not comprehend the Sporting Code—this makes the the actions of the human drivers in the first row especially important in avoiding “drag race” starts. You are allowed to pass AI cars that are not keeping pace with cars ahead but take special precautions to avoid entering their programmed space and avoid entering the adjacent “lane”. See clarification statement below for more on this subject.
Finally, in regards to dive bombing. Keep in mind that qualifying is a very good indicator of relative pace. Aggressive passing can in some cases result in a slower car advancing ahead without having the pace to sustain the position. This often results in incidents, spins or car contact as the faster car behind is able to pressure the slower car ahead. Clean and fun racing requires overtaking that is the result of a sustained higher pace and generally takes place on straights where the faster car is able to pull fully aside before the upcoming corner’s braking point. The pass should never be a surprise to the driver being overtaken. Earn your position-don’t steal it.
A note about racing with AI cars. AI in iRacing is still in development so there may be room for improvements over time. But, AI does add interest and desired complexity to our racing. Be aware that these AI are designed to drive like humans and in that sense they are unpredictable and not robotic. Do not abuse them by engaging in intimidation or aggressive defensive “crowding or pinching moves” driving other than the normal racing line. They are programmed to avoid contact but will not react kindly to what they are programmed to sense as an invasion of their “racing room”. They will not yield in a side by side contest and will react very negatively to late braking go for the gap dive bombs where their “space” is violated. Despite being set for low aggression, they tend to drive very much like hyper competitive humans-particularly those that are set for high skill levels.
More clarification about “No passing until after the first turn” rule:
An unexpected collision occurred in a race resulting in the P2 car being taken out by the P3 car in T1. The rule was initiated to allow passing of slow starting AI cars in the adjacent lane which caused both lanes to be slowed by these slow starting AI. It never contemplated allowing a car in P3 to attempt a pass from behind to overtake the P2 car in the front row.
That said, the clarification desired by the majority is that there will be two distinct lanes from the green flag thru the first corner.
This places a great burden on those placed in the outside lane. In many cases it may result in the loss of two starting positions as the inside lane may be able to gain significantly. It places special responsibility of the P2 car avoiding a slow start. To help with this issue, the P1 pole sitter will be required to use voice chat and call out “three two one go” while going to full throttle only simultaneously with the word “go”.
It is very important for the inside lane drivers to understand they cannot track out normally on exit. The lane width the “outside” drivers must allow for the “inside” drivers at the apex must also be granted to the “outside” drivers on exit. The “inside” drivers are warned that a skilled “outside” driver will be moving with a significant speed advantage at the turn exit which may allow them to overtake before T2. This is a very likely possibility regarding the P2 and P3 cars.
Please keep in mind this rule is intended to eliminate car contact. You are expected to put collision avoidance above the goal of overtaking.
This illustrates the “Stay in your Lane thru T1” Note that “O” must leave racing room at apex for “I” and “I” must leave racing room for “O” at entry and exit. Racing Room is generally considered 1.5 car width. Incidents caused by “I” tracking out into “O” space on exit will be considered careless driving and will result in loss of two positions. Note being ahead does not change the requirement to leave the racing room. The “lane” ends on exit three car lengths after the steering wheel of “I” is straight.
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