This is supposed to be fun, damn it! All we want is clean racing and camaraderie. While we all sink a lot of time into learning the tracks and creating car set-ups, it is still just a simulation.
Don't get too bent out of shape over the little incidents that are bound to happen. On the other hand, we all expect clean racing, so there are a lot of rules and regulations here that we don’t really want to use. But they are there if we need them, and they may whack you occasionally. So to repeat the mantra: Don’t get mad if you break the rules and get caught. We tried to make penalties fit the crime, and make sure that they are not capriciously handed out.

Rule Revisions

The rules will not undergo major modification during the season. If minor corrections are needed, they must be accepted by an e-mail vote of the majority of the members. Major direction changes will have to wait for the next season unless they are deemed necessary by the Commissioner and supported by a majority of the divisions involved.

League Organization

Mara Europe

League & Division Membership

Membership will be by referral and approved the League Director. The membership may protest the addition of a new member and a vote will be taken.

To fill the grid if some regular members are absent, the leagues may allow for “Reserve” racers at the discretion of the Divisional admin.

Membership in any division will be determined by the methods discussed above, with the following caveats:
1. Only the active members of the concerned division will vote on prospective members in that division.
2. Within the driver limit specified above, preference shall be given to current members in any MARA division.

Membership applicants must meet a minimum age requirement of 30 years.

Members who miss 3 consecutive rounds will face the possibility of being excluded. The aim here is to prevent meaningless races as a result of a lack of competitors.

Divisions

The membership is split into two divisions running at different time slots. The early time slot is the Eagles division, the later one the Owls. Members select their preferred division at the start of the season. The League Director will ensure the numbers are reasonably balanced’

Management

League & Race Director

The League Director is responsible for managing the league, championship schedules, assuring availability of a server and server replays, sending race invitations, managing attendance and recruiting and guiding new members.

This role will also act as the Race Director (otherwise known as Clerk of the Course) and make real time decisions during the event, for example concerning race restarts. They receive protests on incidents and gather information from other drivers involved. They then forward the lot to the stewards for assessment and act as the contact point for the handling of the protest. Unsolicited reviews by the Race Director will be done only in special cases, like new drivers on probation or drivers recovering from penalties. These reviews will be for comments only and by themselves will not lead to penalties.

It should be noted that these events are rare within MARA where the driving standards are generally high.

Race Stewards

The Review Stewards will judge incidents reported to them via the Race Director. The Appeal Stewards will bindingly handle appeals to the judgements. The role of Appeal Steward will be filled by an admin member of another division. Again these are rarely called upon but provide a due process in the event of their need. Where the Race Director is not in attendance one of the Stewards will assume that responsibility

Technical Director

The Technical Director is responsible for managing the race server, the software configuration and bandwidth management. Any new patches will be tested by the technical director before adoption by the league.

Testing Coordinator

The Testing Coordinator is responsible for testing all new client configurations, software patches cars and tracks used in the race series. This includes determining relative performance of cars for future championship formats.

Scorekeeper

The scorekeeper keep the scores for each race, calculating the championship total. Also they will determine the actual finishing order in the following cases

1. The sim has stopped scoring one or more drivers.

2. The sim has issued a black flag that is later overruled by the stewards.

3. There was a guest driver who must not be scored.

4. A driver has illegitimately made use of the reset function and continued his race

Media Officer & Webmaster

The Media Officer is responsible for articles included on the web site. The Webmaster is responsible for updating the website.

Forums Manager

The Forums Manager is responsible for developing and maintaining the web forums, blogs and chat facilities for the Mara membership.

League Officials

This table lists the league officials:

Mara
Mara E	League & Race Director	Tony Rickard
	Review Stewards	Keith Lawrie, Barry West, Glen Field
	Technical Director	Bart Westra
	Testing Coordinator	Shaun O'Brien
	Media Officer & Webmaster	Tony Rickard
	Forum Manager	Bart Westra

Official Regulations

Membership

Reserve status

In addition to the membership that is described in the general rules, the GTR2 Power & Glory league recognize a Reserve Status, or Reserves. Reserves are registered by the League Director as normal members, but without a guaranteed place on the grid. If there is a full turnout, the Reserve members will have to refrain from racing. This is the only restriction. Reserve members may qualify normally, score championship points, use the mailing list and participate in voting. The rationale behind this rule is to better fill the grid, and not have drivers on the waiting list while in practise there is still room. The League Director shall keep the number of Reserves limited in such a way that they have a reasonable chance to join in.

Series and Championships

Championships

There are two championships split across the two divisions, Eagles & Owls.

The first is a 60s GT championship running the over 2 litre class. Drivers have to select their car and run with it for the 10 race season. Drivers can drop their 2 worst scores to allow for holidays, business trips etc. getting in the way. After a period of testing it id generally agreed the Ferrari 275 GTB/C Speciales and the Chevrolet Corvette C2 L88 Coupe give too great an advantage, so these are excluded.

The second championship is a single make championship. Again it is a 10 race series with the best 8 results counting.

Each championship will crown a winner, second and third giving us up to four champions:

· Mara Eagles GT Championship - GTR2 Power & Glory 60s GT over 2 litre

· Mara Eagles Single Make Championship - GTR2 Power & Glory Single make

· Mara Owls GT Championship - GTR2 Power & Glory 60s GT over 2 litre

· Mara Owls Single Make Championship - GTR2 Power & Glory Single make

The climax of the season will be a single race shoot out between the top Eagles and Owls drivers from each championship to crown the winners of:

Mara GT Championship

Mara Single Make Championship

Finally the member with the most combined points from the two finals will be crowned the Mara Champion 2009.

Championship points will be awarded to the top finishers. See Race Points Scoring for details.

Choice of Formulas and Marques

Choice of Marque (both series)

Drivers may choose any marque at the beginning of the season for the GT over 2 litre championship. Once the season has begun, drivers may change to a different marque. Only one such change will be allowed, except that drivers may return to their original marque if the change isn't to their liking.

Marques are fixed for the single make championship as per the schedule.

Game settings

Cars

Graphical car updates are allowed. However, updates that change the physics of the cars are not allowed.

Tracks

The tracks as provided by the League Director must be used. It is allowed to use graphical modifications like enhanced textures and higher resolutions. However, track modifications that add, delete or alter objects that the car can collide with are not allowed.

GTR2 Power & Glory Options

Set the replay to be dated in the plr file to ensure you get a replay. It is not necessary to save the replay of the qualification runs.

Server Settings:
Wear factor = 1X
Formation – Standing start
Pace lap & pit road speeds = as coded into GTR2
Aids allowed = auto clutch only
Cockpit view only

Events and Race Formats

Events

Each race meeting will consist of a single race as detailed below

Variable Weather
Approx 70 miles total distance
Only race finishers score points
45 mins practice
20 mins qualifying
5 mins warm up
Points are awarded as follows
20,16,14,12,10,8,6,5,4,3,2,1

Of the 10 race meetings the best 8 race meetings count to the final score for the championship.

Events schedule

The race schedules will be publicized on the MARA Racing League web page. An email will be sent to all drivers at least 24 hours in advance of each race. This email will specify the server, the track, the number of laps, the time (preferably in all affected time zones but if not then at least in Eastern USA/Canadian time for MARA A races, CET and GM for MARA E races), the IP address of the server, the password and the method of joining (e.g. lobby, VROC and/or TCP/IP). If a change is required, notification will be sent to all drivers as soon as possible. If a last minute change is required, we will switch to the back-up server for that race. GTR2 Power & Glory races will always use the direct connection TCP/IP.

MARA E Races will generally be held at 20:30 CET and 22:30 CET on Wednesdays for the two divisions

Weight Penalties

Not Applicable

Race Restarts

In the event that a large number of participants are "booted", or disconnected from the server, and are unable to complete the first lap, the League Director will red flag the race, and restart it, using a random grid. The race will be restarted with 5 minutes on the practice clock, however, drivers may not leave the pits during this time. If the race is delayed by more than 30 minutes for whatever reason, the race is cancelled and all drivers will score 0 points.

The League Director may not red flag and restart a race due to on-track driving incidents. In the event of the simultaneous disconnection of the majority of currently running drivers after the first lap and before 75% of the race distance has been completed, the race will be cancelled and all drivers will score 0 points. If 75% or more of the race has been completed, the results will stand as of the point of the disconnect.

If a server crashes, results and replays will be unavailable, and all drivers will score 0 points.

Re-runs at the end of the season will not be held. The failure of a race is covered by the new rule that 9 out of 11 race meetings will contribute to the championship (scratching of the two worst race meeting results).

Race Points Scoring

Championship points

Championship points will be awarded as per the chart below, which uses the "CART' (Championship Auto Racing Teams) points scoring system. Points will be awarded as follows for each class:

Class 1 Race Points

1st	20
2nd	16
3rd	14
4th	12
5th	10
6th	8
7th	6
8th	5
9th	4
10th	3
11th	2
12th	1

Class 2 Race Points

1st	20
2nd	16
3rd	14
4th	12
5th	10
6th	8
7th	6
8th	5
9th	4
10th	3
11th	2
12th	1

Should there be a dead-heat in any race counting for the Championship, each of the drivers so classified is attributed a number of points equal to the arithmetical average, taken to one decimal, of the points corresponding to the places which they would have occupied if they had been classified one after another.

Note that only drivers running at the end of the race will be classified for points scoring

Penalty Points

A Points Penalty may be assessed by the race steward for violations of the rules, particularly the Code of Driving Conduct below. Penalty points will be subtracted from the race total. The race total can never be negative: if the penalty points exceed the points score, the resulting score will be zero.

Final Classification for the Championships

The season consists of 10 race meetings. Of these 10 race meetings the 8 best results will be counted towards the championship total. So every driver may drop his two worst results (or miss two race meetings without consequences). The remaining results are then added to give the championship total.

Championships will be awarded for each division (Eagles & Owls) for each series

The climax of the season will be a single race shoot out between the top Eagles and Owls drivers from each championship to crown the winners of:

Mara GT Championship

Mara Single Make Championship

Finally the member with the most combined points from the two finals will be crowned the Mara Champion 2009.

In case two or more drivers finish the season with the same championship total, the driver with the most wins shall be champion. Should the number of wins be equal, then this step is repeated for 2nd places, and so on.

Protests

Right to protest

Every driver has the right to file a protest against another driver who he thinks was the cause of an incident or otherwise showed behaviour not in line with the Code of Driving Conduct.

Incident, as described by the FIA, means any occurrence or series of occurrences involving one or more drivers, or any action by any driver, which is reported to the stewards by the race director (or noted by the stewards and referred to the race director for investigation) which :

· necessitated the stopping of a race under Article 155;

· constituted a breach of these Sporting Regulations or the Code of Driving Conduct;

· caused a false start by one or more cars;

· caused a collision;

· forced a driver off the track;

· illegitimately prevented a legitimate overtaking manoeuvre by a driver;

· illegitimately impeded another driver during overtaking.

If a driver escapes a collision by taking evasive action, he may still file a protest against the driver who made him do so. Mind that it will be harder to prove that the other driver was at fault in such a case.

Lodging of Protest

Protests should be lodged via e-mail to the League Director within 24 hours after the race has ended. Protests should specify the lap number and the race clock on which the incident occurred, a description of the incident, an identification of the other party(ies) involved and the local replay clip if it is available. (Normally all drivers should save their local replay after the race. An early disconnect however would prevent this.)

Hearing

The hearing of the protester and of all parties concerned by the protest shall take place as soon as possible after the protest has been lodged. All parties will have an opportunity to review the charges, send their local replays, and respond to any allegations.
The protest, the reactions and all evidence will be reviewed by the Review Stewards. If a Review Steward is himself involved in the protested incident, an Reserve will be selected from among the drivers at-large by the Clerk of the Course if needed.

Groundless or Frivolous Protests

If a groundless or frivolous protest is filed by a driver, the driver may be reprimanded or assessed a one (1) point penalty, at the discretion of the Review Steward. This decision may be appealed.

Appeals

The decisions of the Review Stewards may be appealed. The appeal should be directed to the Clerk of the Course. He will then forward the case to the Appeal Stewards for a final decision. If the Appeal Steward is involved in the protested incident, a Reserve will be selected from among the other Stewards or even the drivers at-large by the Clerk of the Course.

Incident Reviews

Replays

Incidents will be reviewed for all of the first race lap, and on the basis of a protest from one or more drivers. All drivers involved will send their replay clip, starting at a point where the racing was still normal and lasting sufficiently long to cover the whole incident. Also the server replay will be examined.
Thus there are three replay types when viewing one car in a specific incident:

· Local Replay, the cars own replay

· Server Replay

· Remote Replay, a replay from another client in which the local car is visible

These replays may show slightly different car positions for the same car due to the online latency and the sim’s position prediction mechanism.
It happens quite often that a remote replay will show a hit by the local car, while the local replay still shows some gap to the remote car. To a certain extent, this is due to how sims online work, and the stewards will handle the case as a possibly accountable incident. The difference between the local and the remote replay can also be the result of warp or sim error, when the distance in the local replay is too large to attribute the collision to latency alone. The stewards will handle such a case like a racing incident. Alas it is not possible to give exact distances to distinguish latency effects and warp effects. The stewards will have to go by experience.

View and Field of vision

The responsibility for incidents will be judged mainly on the basis of what each driver can see from his cockpit and mirrors at the time, that is what is shown in the local replay using the In Car view with the standard Field of Vision. It is allowed to use other views or another field of vision, but the driver is then expected to have compensated in some way for possibly degraded vision. For example by focussing on sound, or a talent for estimating the speed and position of other cars.
Note however that all drivers are supposed to be familiar with the effects of latency and take these into account. Simply saying “But I did not touch him in my replay!” won’t do if one was driving so close that the “kiss of latency” could be expected.

Responsibilities

A driver can only held responsible for his own actions in the course of the incident. Among these are:

· Unsafe behaviour as mentioned in the Code of Driving Conduct

· Loss of control over the car during overtaking or while in close combat

· Deliberate actions aimed at damaging another driver (we should never see one of these!)

Drivers will not be held responsible if the root cause of the incident was determined to be:

· Malfunction of one of the cars involved (this includes malfunction of the computer and controller)

· Loss of control over the car as the result of an incident caused by someone else

· Singular connection troubles or warp

· An error of the sim prediction mechanism (the car “stepping out” in the local replay of the affected car)

Racing incidents, where there is shared blame, do occur, and won’t be penalized where neither player is clearly at fault.

The primary responsibility for avoiding incidents in passing manoeuvres lies with the overtaking driver, and in most cases, that driver will be held mostly accountable. The Stewards will penalize overly aggressive passing manoeuvres most severely of any infractions, because they are avoidable. Haste to get round the track does not make it necessary to run into people. However, it is also the responsibility of the slower driver to make way, and allow him or herself to be passed. Deliberate blocking of the racing line will not be tolerated, and will also be severely penalized.

Collisions from behind will in general be attributed to the driver behind, unless the driver in front made an unsafe move, lost control over his car or suffered from malfunction, for example engine failure. Stalling on the grid will occur from time to time, and shall in general not be seen as unsafe behaviour.

Sideways collisions will be attributed to the driver who makes a clear move towards the other car, or who has lost control over his car by his own actions. If this applies to both drivers in more or less the same amount, or if it applies to neither driver, it will be called a racing incident.

Incident chains are sequences of successive incidents that are linked by one or more cars, where these cars do not regain control in the meantime (call it chain collisions if you like). In general, only the first incident of a chain will be reviewed for responsibility of one of the drivers involved. An incident chain ends when all drivers involved are in control of their car again; and likewise stops the involvement of a particular driver when he is in control of his car again.
IMPORTANT: this means that recovering from the incident(s) is usually NOT part of the incident chain, as drivers are then in control again. So collisions/incidents that take place during recovery and re-entry of the track will generally be regarded as a separate incident and will therefore be reviewed separately for responsibility.

Penalties

Any breach of the Code of Driving Conduct may be penalized by the race stewards.

Penalties may be imposed as follows, in order of increasing severity :

1. Reprimand (Blame)	A reprimand will be a written warning to the competitor determined to be at fault in a violation of the Code. Copies will be sent to the Race Stewards and the Clerk of the Course.
2. Warning	A warning can be given in place of a light penalty for a first time offence. Warnings will be remembered for 3 additional three races. A second offence within this period will receive a more severe penalty.
3a. Points Penalty	Points penalties will be deducted from the driver's points total for the race. If the result would be negative, zero points are earned for that race.
3b. Time Penalty	Time penalties will be added to the driver's race time. They can be in seconds or in laps.
3c. Position correction	A position correction will move the driver back a number of positions in the race ranking.
4. Disqualification	Disqualification means removal from the race results and scoring no points for the championship in that race.
5. Exclusion	The person so sentenced shall thereby be excluded from taking part in one or more events. Exclusion will be reserved for severe or repeated infractions of the rules, where it is determined that the simple points penalties are insufficient to punish the infraction. Exclusion may also be used in the event that a driver’s internet connection is so poor as to cause severe warping or disconnects that may materially affect the quality of racing or outcome of the event for other drivers.
6. Suspension	A sentence of suspension shall be reserved for grave offences. A sentence of suspension, for as long as it remains in force, shall entail the loss of any right to take part in any capacity whatsoever in any competition. Suspension of any driver will require the vote of a majority of the currently active drivers.
7. Deprivation of membership	A sentence of deprivation of membership shall entail the permanent loss of any right to take part in any capacity whatsoever in any competition. This sentence will be reserved for offences of exceptional gravity. Deprivation of membership of any driver will require the vote of a majority of the currently active drivers. Warnings and penalties apply separately to points events and practise events. So a penalty in a practise event can never influence the next points events and vice versa.

Penalty assessment table

Following are the guidelines for assessing penalty points. Warnings will be remembered for the next two events. A second offence after a warning will incur a penalty. Note that if two or more penalties are to be applied to one driver in one race, only one offence will be eligible for a warning.

The stewards have considerable freedom in determining the “right” penalty. In general, the penalty will be aimed at undoing the advantage gained by the offending driver, or compensating the disadvantage for the offended driver. The stewards must take care to maintain consistency in their rulings throughout the season.

Infraction	Warning possible	Penalty
Frivolous or Groundless Protest	Yes	1 point
Causing an incident (see Incident Reviews)	Yes	Moderate Points, Time or Position penalty
Ignoring the blue flag for more than 1 lap	Yes	Moderate Points, Time or Position penalty
Unsafe driving (see The race)	Yes	Moderate Points, Time or Position penalty
Deliberate blocking of opponent	Yes	Severe Points, Time or Position penalty
Ignoring a black flag for a jump start	No	Disqualification from the race. Note GTR2 Power & Glory will DQ the driver regardless
Deliberate or egregiously negligent shunt or damage to opponent	No	Disqualification from the race
First Lap Incidents	No	2 points in addition to the normal penalty; extra strong warning in the case of a warning
Reset after lap 1	No	Score corrected as if there was a disco at the time of the reset.
Ignoring a black flag (excluding jump start)	No	The GPL scoring is maintained if the stewards determine that GPL issued the black flag correctly; else the score will be corrected by the scorekeeper as if there was no black flag by analyzing the server replay. Note GTR2 Power & Glory will DQ the driver regardless
Using updates to car, track or track side objects that change the physics	Yes	Disqualification from the race
Frequent repetition of infractions above	No	Exclusion for one or more races, Suspension or Deprivation of membership.

Code of Driving Conduct

FIA regulations adopted by Mara

Following are rules taken from the FIA’s regulations that lay out the rules of the road for drivers being overtaken.

a) During a race, a car alone on the track may use the full width of the said track. However, as soon as it is caught up on a straight by a car which is either temporarily or constantly faster, the driver shall give the other vehicle the right of way by pulling over to one side in order to allow for passing on the other side. (As a general rule, it is safer for the slower car to maintain the current racing line and ALLOW the faster car to select when and where to pass. If there is enough time and the faster car is clearly able to see the slower car’s intention, the slower car may pull over to the side if it can be done safely.)

b) If the driver who has been caught does not seem to make full use of his rearview mirror the flag marshal(s) will give a warning by waving the blue flag to indicate that another competitor wants to overtake. (The blue flag is part of the sim, BUT it is only used during the race in a situation in which a driver is about to be LAPPED by a faster driver. In that situation, the slower driver must give way to the lapping driver within a lap or penalty points may be charged. The blue flag in Qualifying is only advisory and will not result in penalties.) Any driver who does not take notice of the blue flag may be penalized by a deduction of points imposed by the Stewards. Systematic or repeated offences may result in the exclusion of the offender from the race. (In the case of MARA races, repeated offences may result in the expulsion of the driver from the league.)

c) Curves, as well as the approach and exit zones thereof, may be negotiated by the drivers in any way they wish, within the limits of the track. Overtaking, according to the circumstances, may be done either on the right or on the left. However, manoeuvres liable to hinder other drivers such as premature direction changes, more than one change of direction, deliberate crowding of cars towards the inside or the outside of the curve or any other abnormal change of direction, are strictly prohibited and shall be penalized, according to the importance and repetition of the offences, by penalties ranging from a fine to the exclusion from the race. The repetition of dangerous driving, even involuntary, may result in the exclusion from the race. (See above for MARA applicability.)

d) Any obstructive manoeuvre carried out by one or several drivers, either having common interests or not, is prohibited. The persistent driving abreast of several vehicles, as well as fan-shaped arrangement, is authorized only if there is not another car trying to overtake. Otherwise the blue flag will be waved.

e) The penalty inflicted for ignoring the blue flag will also be applied to the drivers who obstruct part of the track and shall be more severe in the case of systematic obstruction, thus ranging from a fine to the exclusion from the race. The same penalty shall be applied to drivers who swing from one side of the track to the other in order to prevent other competitors from overtaking.

f) The repetition of serious mistakes or the appearance of a lack of control over the car (such as leaving the track) may entail the exclusion of the drivers concerned.

g) The race track alone shall be used by the drivers during the race. Repeated use of off-track shortcuts may result in the driver’s exclusion.

Additional Mara conduct regulations

The pits

As a suggestion, but not a rule, when you are sitting in your car in the stall and start to drive away, be sure to FIRST swerve to the outside. Why? If you don't, some other car may be just "appearing" in the pits in front of you and you'll have a horrendous crash that does awful things to the nerves.
When you're leaving the pits, look first and be careful that you're not entering the track in front of someone else who's already on the track. Some tracks it just can't be avoided, so be careful and try to get out of the racing line until you're up to speed.

Qualification

During the quals, if you're on an "out" lap (the lap where you are leaving the pits) or if you've blown the lap already, be kind and move aside to let faster cars get by. Remember that they're likely on a hot lap and you don't want to screw it up for them.

The race

Everyone is expected to take extra care at the start of the race and during the first few turns. Incidents in this phase can easily destroy the competitive nature of the whole race and they can easily involve many cars. Overtaking in this phase is not prohibited, as it can sometimes be safer to overtake than to brake, but by all means save the neck-to-neck racing for the rest of the race.

In normal racing situations, a car in front has full freedom to choose where he drives. However, blocking a faster car by swerving across the track is not allowed; you may make only one move in a sideways fashion to protect your position. Note that “Driving wide" is not blocking, unless the driver in front is making repeated or erratic moves to vary his racing line, especially on a straight.

In any situation where cars are going side by side, even if there is only a partial overlap, both drivers must leave each other enough room to be able to stay on the track while avoiding a collision. This may mean that one can no longer steer for the apex of a turn and is forced to drop off some additional speed. Remember to account for the latency effect by leaving a bit more room than seems necessary!

Unsafe behaviour must be avoided. This includes among others:

Braking unexpectedly (outside of a braking area or incident), thereby effectively forming a blockade. Instead, steer the car away from the race line and off track if possible, then slow down.

Braking too late in a straight line behind another car. Remember the extra effect of latency here! Either brake early enough, or pick a line not directly behind the other car.

Slow driving on the race line or in the path of other cars. When returning to the track after an off, or coming up to speed after an incident, spin or pit stop, stay well out of the way of the normally racing cars until you are up to racing speed again. When you need to stop the car for some reason, first get out of the way and then slow down and pull off track or into the pits.

· Showing persistent lack of car control, to a degree where it puts others at risk.

· through each turn. You will need this in encounters with other cars.

· Not observing yellow flags.

In Car Chat

The chat feature is not to be used AT ALL during the race. If there's still a car on the track, please don't chat until they've crossed the finish line. This includes the traditional "I'm Sorry" and "You #^%$*$&%^(@IDIOT". We can chat after the race. We are a bit more loose during the quals, but as a general rule keep it short so you don't distract everyone who's trying hard to get in a good lap.

EXCEPTION TO RULE: If you have to pit during the race, please indicate that you are leaving the pits after your penalty stop by typing "PO", "Pit Out" or something similar to let other drivers on the track know that a slower car will be leaving the pits.
Qualifying: Again, please indicate that you are leaving the pits in the same manner during quals.

Specific conduct regulations

Black Flags

Since checkpoints are now generally switched off for online racing and most black flags are wrongly given as the result of warp, if a driver thinks or knows that the black flag was wrongly given he can ignore it and hope to be reinstated by the stewards after the race. Note: Black flags that do have to be served at all times are for jump starts. There is no way that a jump start can be the result of a warp. If the black flag for a jump start is not served ok, the sim will DQ the driver and that DQ will stand.

Yellow Flags

A yellow flag means trouble ahead. So ease off a little, and refrain from overtaking until you pass a green flag that signals the end of the danger area. A woven yellow flag means big trouble ahead. So ease off considerably until you pass the green flag.

Internet multiplayer

All drivers are expected to be familiar with the peculiarities of racing online over the Internet and act accordingly. It is a mistake to assume that you can drive online in the same fashion as locally against the AI. The most important thing is to keep larger margins in the distances to other cars. Most importantly while braking in a line behind each other and while cornering side by side. Here are two sources of very helpful information:

The Recommended Driver Behaviour page, pay particular attention to the section on blind spots. Note that these are recommendations and not rules!

Drivers are also expected to make sure they have a good quality connection so as to guarantee that racing is actually possible. A high latency in itself is not a problem as long as one’s car is well visible to others and displayed in the right position. A driver suffering from persistent connection troubles that lead to the car warping, winking in and out of view, or jumping across the track, is expected to leave the race.