Rules and Regulations Season 2018

1. Racing Rules:

1.1 Clean racing:

1.1.1
● Race cleanly at all times. No contact should occur between cars on track, and as a driver you are required to do your best to avoid this from happening. Accidents can happen, but if you are at fault for causing a collision, you are likely to be penalised.

1.1.2
● deliberately crashing into another car will result in being permanently excluded from the league.

1.1.3
● if you accidentally take out another car, or are responsible for causing an incident, you have to slow down and safely let the affected car(s) back in front of you on track, as long as the circumstances allow it. Even if it doesn't benefit the other car that is the punishment you have to take for causing a collision. If you fail to follow this rule, you are likely to receive a harsher penalty by the stewards if the incident is reported after the race. This rule can only be overruled by the affected driver telling you over voice chat to keep going.

1.1.4
● the above rule still applies even if lag (connection issues) is the cause of the incident, when it is obvious that your car's lag is the cause of another driver going off, as this would still be classed as an unfair overtakes. Please be more careful around other drivers if you are regularly involved in lag-related incidents.

1.2 Overtaking: 

● don't be too aggressive when trying to overtake. As the chasing car, it is generally your responsibility to not make contact with the car in front.

1.3 Defending:

1.3.1
● Excessive weaving and blocking is not allowed. When defending from another car, choose a line on the track and stick to it, and make sure the attacking car has sufficient time to react to your movement.

1.3.2
● do not force another car off the track by leaving it too little room on corner entry or exit. If the attacking car is alongside you when going into a corner (at the turn-in point*), or when exiting a corner, you must adjust your line to avoid contact. Being sufficiently 'alongside' to warrant being left room is generally judged as the attacking car's nose being alongside or ahead of the defending car's side pod.*The 'turn-in point' in this setting refers the natural turn-in point as per the standard racing line. If the defending car causes contact due to turning in earlier than what is considered the standard, he will be seen at fault.

1.3.3
● Excessive weaving on straights with the purpose of breaking slipstream is not allowed, even if the car behind is not physically close enough to make an overtaking attempt. Weaving in this situation is deemed excessive if the car ahead makes more than two moves across the track on the same straight.

1.4 Qualifying etiquette:

1.4.1
● In qualifying, it is your own responsibility to find free space on the track when starting a flying lap. A car on a flying lap does not have to yield for a faster car approaching from behind. If you are on an in- or out-lap, however, you have to let faster cars pass you without blocking them.

1.4.2
● In qualifying, it is not permitted to retire from the session while you are out on track, as this may cause your AI car to park on or next to the track and hinder or distract other drivers. If you wish to retire from the session, you must do so while in the garage.

1.5 Spatial Awareness:

1.5.1
● Being aware of where another car is, is majorly important in a race so taking extra care is vital both at the start of a race and in battles.

1.5.2
● if you spin off whilst the pack is close, rejoining the track immediately is ill-advised. The game may fail to ghost your car, in which case it could easily cause an accident. Staying still is the best option until the other cars have avoided you. It is far easier to avoid a stationary obstacle.

1.5.3
● If you go off the track, rejoin in a manner that is both safe and in no way a danger to other drivers.

1.5.4
● when you're coming up to lap another car, it is advised to alert that driver through the chat so they are aware that you will soon be lapping them.

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2. On-Track Regulations:

2.1 Being lapped:

2.1.1
● When the game shows you the blue flag, you have been caught up by a car on a lap ahead of you. When being lapped, it is your responsibility to let the leaders through safely at the earliest opportunity, without blocking them.

2.1.2
● If you are going faster than a car that has lapped you, do not attempt to un-lap yourself unless it is safe to do so and doesn't hinder the car in front.

2.2 Safety car & virtual safety car guidelines:

2.2.1
● During a virtual safety car, or while catching up to the train during a safety car period, you must not exceed the delta time indicated by the game.

2.2.2
● If you are the lead car and driving to catch up to the safety car, please take caution when approaching it, as it will be moving very slowly while waiting to pick you up. Approach it slowly and then the safety car should pick up its speed. Make sure you keep a safe distance to the safety car to avoid potentially hitting it if lag or other inconsistencies occur, as this may lead to the game disqualifying you from the race.

2.2.3
● as the leader of the pack following the safety car, do not intentionally slow the pack down to a ridiculously low speed when controlling the pace ahead of a restart.

2.2.4
● while in the safety car queue, do not drive dangerously by weaving excessively or suddenly slowing down in front of someone. Keep a safe distance to the car ahead, but without creating an unnaturally big gap in the queue.

2.2.5
● No overtaking should happen under safety car conditions, even if the car ahead of you is a ghost car driven by the AI, or a car that is lapped. Although it may be frustrating to sit behind a slow-moving ghost car until you reach the pit-lane or catch up to the pack, this will avoid problems such as illegal overtake penalties being awarded.

2.2.6
● it is prohibited to park or crash your car for the purpose of initiating a safety car situation. Anyone found to have deliberately crashed out (Example: rage-quit in a manner that can cause a safety car situation) will be severely penalised, regardless of whether this actually ended up causing a safety car or not.

2.2.7
● if you want to make a pit stop and you are driving closely behind the safety car, then you must leave a gap to the safety car to the extent that you definitely do NOT overtake the safety car in the pit lane. If you don't follow this, everyone in the queue behind the safety car will be told to overtake the safety car which will cause major delays to the safety car period and possibly other issues.

2.2.8
● when a driver makes a pit stop while the safety car is out, it may happen that the car in 1st position will momentarily be shown as 2nd place by the game and therefore be told to overtake the safety car. If this happens and you know that you are the lead car, then you should ignore the message to overtake the safety car and stay behind it until the positions are fixed and the safety car resumes a normal pace. This should happen within a few seconds. Be careful in this situation though, as in the seconds where this glitch is active the safety car will go very slowly because it wants to let you through.

2.2.9
● If we experience a major glitch with the safety car (for example someone being unfairly and unavoidably disqualified due to a safety car glitch), we reserve the right to disable this feature with immediate effect if deemed appropriate.

2.3 Formation lap guidelines: 

2.3.1
● For the sake of fairness with regards to tyre wear, all drivers are required to complete the formation lap. It is not allowed to skip the formation lap by intentionally driving in a manner that sends you back to the grid. Doing this, or being at fault for an incident that sends you back to the grid, will see you awarded with a post-race penalty.

2.3.2
● at the start of the formation lap, please do not move away from your grid slot until every car ahead of you have started moving.

2.3.3
● during the formation lap, do not drive dangerously by weaving excessively or suddenly slowing down in front of someone. Keep a safe distance to the car ahead, but without creating an unnaturally big gap in the queue.

• ● during the formation lap, any driver that makes a mistake and as a result loses positions from their starting point is under no circumstances allowed to try and re-overtake the cars to regain their starting position. Since the game does not punish you by making you start when you end up there is no need to be causing incidents by trying to get back to the front. Drivers caught doing this will be awarded a 10 second post race penalty regardless of the situation.
• ● during the formation lap, any driver that causes an incident that results in both drivers being removed from the lap and put back on the grid will be given a warning, this warning will be dictated upon footage to prove the move wasn't incidental. Drivers get 3 warnings then 5 second post race penalties will be given to any further offenses. If a driver uses their 3 warnings up and then doesn't impede the rules for 6 races in a row, they are then permitted their three warnings back. The warnings list will be recorded to allow people to know where they stand.

2.5 Pitstop rules:

2.5.1

● drivers must merge into the blend lane when entering the pits for the sake of keeping themselves out of the racing line and to avoid incidents from taking place with drivers opting to switch choices on wither they pit or not. If you miss the pit entry then you are to carry on for the next lap despite the circumstances of doing so. Failure to see this will result in a reprimand that could later be dealt to as a post race or points penalty. 

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3. General Behaviour: 

3.1 Communication: 

● please use a working headset while in the race lobby in order to effectively receive any potential messages or instructions from the League Coordinator. Having the ability to communicate with other drivers during the race can also make it easier to avoid - and resolve - any on-track incidents that may occur. Using a headset is not mandatory, but desirable.Please note that you should set your headset to "Push to talk"-mode.

3.2 Lobby/Skype etiquette: 

3.2.1
● Shouting, name-calling and generally speaking rudely is not acceptable. Drivers who are a disruptive influence on the lobby atmosphere will be penalised accordingly, or in extreme cases removed from the league.

3.2.2
● Respect the other drivers. Keep a friendly atmosphere in the race lobby and treat your fellow drivers as equals, regardless of them being quicker or slower than you.

3.2.3
● Respect the League Coordinator. Listen if they are giving a message, and accept the decisions they make. If you feel any actions/decisions are wrong, address the issue calmly and maturely. Coordinators' decisions are final within the lobby, but may be reviewed later if you feel an error has been made. Please accept that making a call instantly can be tricky and the Coordinator, even if participating in the race, is expected to be entirely neutral.

3.2.4
● Only the Coordinator - or the lobby host after consulting with the Coordinator - will start the lobby, continue over to the race and start the race. So please, as a normal driver, do not press the button which initiates the timer. This is to ensure that all the drivers are present, and also that all necessary screenshots of the results can be taken.

3.3 Race etiquette: 

3.3.1
● if you are involved in an on-track incident, don't overreact. It may be frustrating, but you need to stay calm and get on with it. Losing out due to another driver's mistake or recklessness is no excuse for retaliation or acting against the rules.

3.3.2
● if another driver does something you feel is against the rules, report it to the Stewards Panel after the race rather than argue about it over the voice chat.

3.3.3
● if you are having a bad race, don't act foolishly. As a driver, you have to accept that some races will be better than others and you can't always have it your way. If you are unable to enjoy the racing due to not always being at the front, this is not the place for you - there are many drivers in the league, and someone always have to be at the back.

3.4 Quitting the race: 

3.4.1
● deliberately quitting the race in any way (whether that is by quitting through the pause menu, getting yourself disqualified or deliberately crashing your car) is not allowed. Regardless of how frustrating your race has been, you should always remain in the lobby until the end of the race. This is because of potential problems caused for other drivers when a car gets abandoned, such as the car driving around as an ghosted AI, the car parking at the side of the track and remaining there for the duration of the race, yellow flags or a safety car being triggered, and other potential connection instability and bugs.

3.4.2
● the above rule can only be ignored in the case of an emergency - such as something important and/or unexpected forcing you to leave your screen, or that you're clearly a danger to other drivers on track due to connection issues or inability to drive properly. Quitting due to being angry at something or having a poor race - rage-quitting, in other words - is not a valid reason.

3.4.3
● if you do have to leave the lobby during the race due to an emergency, you must park your car in a safe spot on track before retiring from the session. This is to avoid your AI car taking over and potentially causing dangerous situations for the other drivers in the race. Drivers who leave the lobby without retiring first will be severely penalised. Note: This does not apply to legitimate disconnections.

3.5 Forum activity: 

3.5.1
● you need to be an active member on the TNC forum while being a driver in our leagues. We aren't forcing you to make several posts every day, but we prefer drivers who are involved with the community. We will occasionally check how long it has been since a driver has been logged into his forum account - if you have been inactive on the forum for a long time, you may be removed from the league.

3.5.2
● you are expected to behave in a respectful manner on the forum, like in the race lobbies. Please avoid name-calling, baiting and other behaviour that is intended to aggravate other members of the community.

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4. Connectivity:

4.1 Connection & Lag:

4.1.1
● It's an unfortunate aspect of online racing that having a stable connection is critical to being able to race closely with other cars. While we understand that not everyone can have a perfect connection, and that occasional lag can't be avoided.

4.1.2
● We do our best to ensure that the best available connection in the lobby acts as the lobby host, so that any connection issues are most likely a result of a fault on the driver's end. Please ensure that your internet connection is in an optimal state - and that your NAT type is open - before entering the race lobby.

4.1.3
● in an effort to minimise the chances of bugs, we advice drivers to restart their game before connecting to the race lobby.

4.2 Disconnections & rejoins: 

4.2.1
● If a driver loses connection during qualifying or the race, they are allowed to rejoin the lobby through a pre-session backup invite if they have one available, or via a fresh invite from a spectator or other driver in the lobby if you are lucky (however please don't spam drivers or coordinators for new invites when they are racing). Please only attempt to re-connect once in order to avoid causing unnecessary stress on the lobby. If it doesn't work on the first try then its tough luck. The lobbies will be kept as 'Invite Only' for now for security reasons and to avoid constant attempts at rejoining which can cause lobby instability or de-syncing.

4.2.2
● If a league is experiencing notable or recurring issues (connection-related or otherwise) caused by drivers rejoining race lobbies, the coordinator(s) reserve the right to ban rejoining from being allowed within that league. If a driver attempts to rejoin a race lobby after such a ban has been implemented, they will be disqualified from the race.

4.3 Mass disconnections:

4.3.1
● during qualifying, if 4 or more drivers lose connection to the lobby and are unable to get back in, then the lobby will be restarted and qualifying run again from scratch.

4.3.2
● during the race, if half (or more) of the drivers in the lobby lose connection at the same time, or over a short period of time, that counts as a mass disconnection. A "short period of time" would generally mean a couple of minutes, up to a maximum of 5 minutes. This also includes major de-syncing where the lobby gets split up or the other drivers turn into slow-moving ghost cars on everyone else's screen, even if they are technically still racing on their own screen.

4.3.3
● if less than 50% of the race was completed at the time of the mass disconnection, the race will be restarted immediately, preferably with a new lobby host. The new lobby will be created without another qualifying session, and the grid will be set up in the same order as the original qualifying results, using the new 'grid editor' feature.

4.3.4
● if more than 50% of the race was completed at the time of the mass disconnection, the race will end, and the race order from the time of the first disconnection becomes the final result. Half points are awarded to all drivers.

4.3.5
● if more than 90% of the race was completed at the time of the mass disconnection, the race will end, and the race order from the time of the first disconnection becomes the result. Full points are awarded to all drivers.

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5. Participation:

5.1 Missing races:

5.1.1
● If you are unable to attend a race, you have to give notice for your absence before the race starts. This is done by informing your League Coordinator of your situation, either by sending them a private message or by making a post in the official race thread. It is your responsibility to make sure the Coordinator gets your message.

5.1.2
● when informing the Coordinator of your absence, a proper reason should be given for why you can't attend. No-showing a race because you don't like the track or other similar reasons are not accepted and will be marked as an uninformed absence.

5.1.3
● When informing the Coordinator of your absence, it must be you who contacts the Coordinator, not a friend or fellow member of the league. Additionally, sufficient notice should be given. For example, 15 minutes before the lobby is set up is not sufficient notice. Letting the Coordinator know after the race will be marked down as uninformed absence unless an acceptable reason is given.

5.1.4
● if you get marked for an uninformed absence, you will be given a reprimand. As per the reprimand system (see section 6.4), accumulating 3 reprimands leads to being removed from the league and placed on the blacklist.

5.1.5
● getting another driver to race under your name is prohibited and will result in serious punishment.

5.2 Pulling out mid-season:

5.2.1
● if you have to pull out of the league while the season is ongoing, you must inform your League Coordinator about the situation. If you leave by simply not showing up for the races, without informing anyone, you will be placed on the blacklist, which means you will not be allowed to rejoin the leagues in the future.

5.2.2
● it's impossible for us to stop you from leaving if you've made your mind up, but keep in mind when signing up that pulling out of the league without a proper reason while the season is ongoing will see you placed on the blacklist. A proper reason would be something happening in your life that forces you to quit - something that you didn't expect when signing up - or that your equipment (hardware or lag issues) renders you unable to carry on. However, choosing to quit due to getting bored of the game, having a bad season or because something goes against you, is not a good reason. Remember, when signing up you commit yourself to racing for a full season, not only for a few races.

5.2.3
● If you find yourself in a situation where you are not enjoying your league because all other drivers are too quick or too slow compared to yourself, contact a member of the F1 Team rather than just giving up, and maybe we can find a solution. We may grant league swaps for drivers during the season if it's clear that they've been misplaced, given that this doesn't upset the balance between the leagues in terms of driver numbers.

5.2.4

● Note that the above rules only apply while the season is ongoing. We obviously don't have a problem with drivers choosing to leave after a season has finished, for whatever reason.

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6. Rule Enforcement:

We can't possibly control all the actions of our drivers, but we have ways to penalise drivers who break the rules.

6.1 Stewards Panel: 

The Stewards Panel forum can be used to report incidents and other rule violations that occur in a race. A proper explanation and/or evidence of the incident must be provided in order for it to be investigated. This will then be looked into by the F1 Stewards  and appropriate action will be take

Template:

Category (F1 or F2)
Date: (Race weekend obviously)
Members Involved: (Example: Kart1979 and Narashi_Uzumaki)
Description: Enter a description of the situation here. Please try to remain impartial, but remember that all parties involved will have their chance to speak. (Example: 'Narashi_Uzumaki purposely spun me on turn 1 at Hungary)
Evidence: Photos/Videos of the incident (Mandatory if wanting a protest or to clear your name)

What you can make a stewards enquiry for:

● Racing incidents: If you feel another driver has caused an incident - Example: Hitting your car, forcing you off the track, rejoining the track unsafely, or generally driving too aggressively - you should report this to the stewards for investigation.
● removing an unfair time penalty: If you receive a time penalty from the game, and you feel this was awarded unfairly, you can make an enquiry for the penalty to be removed. When making such an enquiry, you need to provide evidence of the penalty being applied. Evidence can be either in the form of video footage, or a picture of the post-race race director screen showing what the penalty was for and the time of when it was applied. Any appeals without this will be dismissed.

Bear in mind that we will not be giving compensation for penalties that affect your position on the track during the race. This includes drive through penalties and extra time spent in the pit box as a result of a stop-go penalty. A stop-go penalty not served in the pits, however, is converted into a time penalty and may therefore be removed if received unfairly.Warnings for exceeding track limits will normally not be removed, unless it was clearly received unfairly (such as time clearly is having been lost or another driver causing you to go off track). For a warning to be removed, it is required to provide an image or footage of the race director screen showing the full overview of warnings you received throughout the race (alongside evidence of how the warning was received), so that we can see if the removal affects the amount of time penalties you should receive. Direct time penalties (not accumulated through warnings) for corner cutting may be removed or converted into a warning if deemed excessive or it's obvious that the driver lost time from it.

6.1.1
● Time limit for enquiries: Note that there is a time limit of 24 hours after the race has finished making a stewards enquiry for an incident you have been involved in or witnessed during the race. If any new rule violations come to light through videos released after this time, it is still possible to report this, but only if this violation is something that would not have been visible to other driver(s) in the race at the time it happened.

6.1.2
● Uploading video evidence: Any video evidence submitted in a steward's enquiry must be uploaded to a video streaming site (such as YouTube or Facebook) before being embedded and/or linked to in the enquiry thread. Stewards should not have to download video files in order to watch your evidence.

This is also essential to back up your claims that an incident has taken place. Failure to provide evidence via video that an incident took place, there will be NO investigation. The same goes for the person on the receiving end of the investigation, if they provide no video footage to state wither it was lag or the other parties fault, they will be penalized for reasons such as 'hiding information' 'guilty conscious' or just plain 'unfaithful of the system'

6.2 Penalties:
The stewards have a variety of penalties that may be applied to punish drivers who break our racing rules, depending on the severity of the violation. The available penalties are sorted below, in order of severity. Breaking a rule also leads to penalty points being added to your name - see further down for more details.(Note that penalties may be added together in the event of multiple violations in a race, which could result in total time penalties of a higher number than what is suggested below)

● 5-second time penalty
● 10-second time penalty
● 15-second time penalty
● 20-second time penalty (or higher)
● Qualifying ban for the next race (may also be applied in place of a time penalty if the driver did not finish the race)
● Disqualification from the race
● One-race ban
● Multiple-race ban
● Permanent removal from the leagueAny penalties will be aimed at the person who has done wrong - we cannot compensate anyone else as a result of someone's actions. All penalties applied, are for that specific league and are not transferable. All penalties are discussed by the Stewards Panel (consisting of the members of the F1 Team - Admins, Moderators and Coordinators - from all platforms) before being issued and the driver will always be informed of the outcome. The Stewards Panel is completely neutral and will not include anyone who may be affected by the incident in question.

6.3 Penalty points system:
The penalty points system is a way of keeping track of a driver's record of breaking the rules of clean racing, and to more severely punish repeat offenders. Penalty points will be applied alongside normal race penalties, as per the list below.

● 5 points - Driving dangerously or unsportingly
● 5 points - Causing a minor avoidable collision
● 7.5 points - Causing a minor avoidable collision + failing to wait for the affected driver
● 10 points - Causing a moderate avoidable collision
● 12.5 points - Causing a moderate avoidable collision + failing to wait for the affected driver
● 15 points - Causing a major avoidable collision
● 17.5 points - Causing a major avoidable collision + failing to wait for the affected driver● 15 points - Quitting out of a race without retiring first (not counting legitimate disconnections)
● 25 points - Deliberately destroying your car
● 50 points - Deliberately crashing into another driver

If you accumulate 25 points, you will be awarded a qualifying ban.If you accumulate 40 points, you will be awarded a one-race ban.If you accumulate 50 points, your league position will be put under review, with the likely outcome of being removed from the league.Penalty points will usually be reset ahead of a new season.

6.4 Reprimand system:
While the race penalties and penalty points system are aimed at dealing with on-track issues, the reprimand system deals with issues that may occur off the track.It's simple - if you receive 3 reprimands, you're out. 

Receiving 3 reprimands would also see you placed on the blacklist, meaning you will not be allowed to return to the leagues in the future.You can receive a reprimand for the following:

● No-showing a race without giving prior notice to the League Coordinator
● Rage-quitting or deliberately crashing out of the session for no good reason (as specified in rule 3.4.1)
● Showing abusive behaviour towards another driver, either in the race lobby or on the forumNote that if we encounter situations where someone's behaviour gets completely out of hand and is extremely serious, a ban may be applied directly regardless of reprimands accumulated.

6.5 Blacklist:
The blacklist contains the names of drivers who have been removed from the leagues - either through accumulating 50 penalty points or 3 reprimands - and drivers who have left the leagues during an ongoing season with no good reason.Having your name applied to the blacklist generally means you will not be allowed to rejoin the leagues in the future.