GT3 Season 6

Being lapped

We are running with the in-game rules & flags system, which means that the game should alert you with a blue flag when you are about to be lapped. When receiving a blue flag or know that a car is going to lap you and is approaching from behind, you should prepare to let them pass, without interfering with their race, when safe, within the next few corners. In single class races, this is done best by the car that is being shown a blue flag moving off the racing line and easing on the accelerator on a straight, or lifting / braking early, and/or giving up the inside line to a corner to let the lapping car pass. The exception to this rule applies when the car being lapped has completed their mandatory pit stop, and the car approaching to lap them has not yet completed their stop. In this, and only this, situation the car being shown the blue flag has no requirement to move out of the lapping cars way, and may stick to the racing line until the lapping car attempts a pass. However when the lapping car goes for a move, the blue flagged car should not defend in any way. This means that you're not allowed to brake later than the lapping car.

As a means of helping with blue flags, we advise the leaders to flash their lights at cars due to be lapped. This should not be done excessively. This is their cue to inform that the driver on the lead lap is about to go for a move on the driver being lapped. Flashing your lights at a competitor you are racing for position is not to be used as a "distraction technique" or in anger at an incident.

If you are faster than a car that has lapped you already, you are allowed to try and unlap yourself. Immediately after unlapping yourself, you are allowed to try to build a gap to the car behind giving you blue flags. If you don't manage to do so within one lap, and are still receiving blue flags, you must adhere to them as per rule 2.1.1.

Pit stops

Stay within the white line and obey the speed limit when entering and exiting the pit lane. If you cause a dangerous situation by crossing the pit entrance or exit line, or if this is done in a way that blatantly gains time or track position, you will be penalised. Remember to assign your pit limiter button as well. The speed limit line is enforced by ACC.

A pit stop with tire change is mandatory in every 60 minutes race, refueling will not be allowed. Every driver will have the ability to make their own choice on when to pit similar to the in-game Competition Races. A pit stop is mandatory in every 90 minutes race, but changing tires and/or adding fuel are not requirements.

A pit stop must be served after the official widget start and earliest at the end of lap 1. A pit stop must also be served before the final lap of a race. This takes into account the potential for having been lapped. Failing to observe this rule will cause a race DSQ.

Driving in different conditions

For races that take place at night time, all drivers are required to have their headlights on in order to make your car visible to others, and to make the road more visible for you. If you're involved in an accident which damages both of your headlights, you must return to the pits immediately for repairs. Please also make sure you have a button assigned to turn the headlights on.

The above rule about having headlights on also applies to running in the fog and in the rain.

During rainy conditions, having the rain lights turned on is mandatory.

For races with rain or a chance of rain, please make sure you have a button assigned to turn the wipers on, or have the auto-wipers feature turned on.

If at any point in qualifying you want to return to the pit box, please do this off-track or manually drive to the pits.

If you are disqualified from the race in-game and you feel it's unfair, submit your full race replay to the stewards. If we feel that the disqualification was justified, it will remain. However if we feel that the disqualification was unfair, or a result of a game glitch, then you will be classified as the last finisher and score full points for that position. In case you get disqualified when coming across the finish-line, you can be put back to your original finishing position.

Drivers are at all times supposed to strictly follow the instructions given by the in-game widget. Drive through penalties awarded by the game will not be reverted.

Restarts

In case of a major incident involving a massive number of cars in the first lap of the race, or general problems with the servers, the coordinator(s) of the tier are allowed to announce a session restart at their own discretion. The decision made by the coordinator should not be discussed during the race, if you feel like the restart wasn't needed then please contact your coordinator after the race. Only one restart will be done per race week.

Any incidents happening before the restart, are still reportable and will be looked at by the stewards.

Communication

For the PC leagues, usually a driver briefing will be done by the coordinators in the AOR Discord channels before races. A driver briefing can be done through voice chat in Discord, or through the in-game chat. This depends on what the coordinator prefers and the coordinator will announce it before the start of the season.

During the driver briefings, it is not allowed for the drivers to use the in-game chat or talk in Discord. Not being up to date due to not attending a briefing or reading the chat, cannot be used as an excuse.

Once qualifying has started, drivers are expected to no longer use the in-game chat function until the race has ended (for all drivers). Not obeying this rule may result in a penalty. It is advised to have the in-game chat pop-ups enabled, so messages written by the coordinators are being read. PC leagues have access to the Discord server, which acts as one of the official communication platforms in AOR.

Lobby etiquette

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.

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.

Respect the League Coordinator. Listen if he is giving a message, and accept the decisions he makes. 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.

Race etiquette

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.

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 or in the forums post-race.

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 will always have to be at the back.

Wait until everyone has finished the session, both qualifying and race, to discuss the race either on Discord or using the in-game chat.

The cool down lap is part of the race event and therefore the same rules are being applied. Crashing into each other is not allowed during the cool down lap or any other particular time during the race event.

Penalties will be applied to drivers who knowingly take out brake marker boards and other signs that could be used as reference points.

Rage-quitting

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, unless you have a very good reason to do so. Accepted reasons for quitting could be that you are a danger to other drivers on track due to poor driving or connection issues. Quitting because you "couldn't be bothered" or due to being angry at something - rage-quitting, in other words - are not good reasons.

Excuses such as 'poor driving' and 'connection issues' will be monitored. These are not a get-out of jail free cards if you can't be bothered. Poor driving is occasional, if perhaps life has been unkind and you haven't had as much time to practice. However, turning up each week having not practiced, and therefore not enjoying your racing because you're struggling will see you put under review. We don't expect every driver to complete a certain amount of practice each week, but we expect you to be able to control your car and be safe on track. Also the more practice you do, the more competitive you are.

Connection issues can strike anybody, but drivers who are continually unable to race safely due to connection will be removed from the league - see Connection and Lag under Participation.

Repeatedly quitting the race before it has finished, gives your coordinator team the freedom to remove you from the league. This may also mean that you will not be accepted in the league for the next season.

Forum activity

You need to have an active account on the AOR forum while being a driver in our leagues. We aren't forcing you to post messages every day, but we do prefer drivers who are involved with the community.

You are also 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.

To be eligible for being classified points after a race, you must have completed at least 70% of the race. The amount of laps the winner of the race drove, is considered to be 100%.

If you are unable to attend a race, you have to give sufficient notice for your absence before the race starts. PC: As a main driver, you can sign out from a race through the apexonline.racing webpage. For every race there is an option to sign out from the race. PlayStation: This is done by informing your tier's coordinator of your situation, either by sending them a private message or by making a post in the race thread on the forum. It is your responsibility to make sure the coordinator gets your message.

When informing the coordinator of your absence, a proper reason must be given for why you can't attend. No-showing a race because you don't like the track, because you "can't be bothered", or other similar reasons are not accepted and you position in the league will be put under review immediately. If your social life/work/school is taking up more time than you anticipated then we may consider a reserve role for you. Ultimately we can also decide that it's best if you withdraw from the league completely. Drivers are required to regularly race on race day as part of the sign-up process.

When informing the coordinator of your absence, it must be you who contacts the coordinator, not a friend or fellow member of the tier. Additionally, sufficient notice should be given. As a main driver, you are supposed to sign out from a race at least 90 minutes before the race. This gives the coordinators enough time to contact reserve drivers who can then still practice as well.

If you are absent without informing your league coordinator or signing out through the webpage at least twice, the coordinator of your tier can decide to remove you from the league. This may also result in you not being allowed to join the league the following season(s).

The official starting time of a race will be stated in the race thread of every race. If everything goes according to plan, races start at this official starting time. In case of a race starting earlier or later than the official starting time, a coordinator will let all drivers of the tier know.

Getting another driver to race in your name is completely prohibited and will result in serious punishment.

It's an unfortunate aspect of online racing that having a stable connection can be critical to being able to race closely with other cars. While we understand that not everyone can have perfect connections, and that occasional lag can't be avoided, we reserve the right to ask a driver to step down from the league if their connection is causing too many issues for other drivers.

Commitment and good communications are very important on AOR. If you have to pull out of an ACC league while the season is ongoing, you must let a member of the ACC Coordinator team know. If you leave by simply not showing up for the races, without informing anyone, the coordinators reserve the right to remove you from the league and put your name on the blacklist, which means you might not be allowed to rejoin the leagues in the current and future seasons.

It's impossible for us to stop anyone from leaving if they've made their 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 possibly 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) leave 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.

If you find yourself in a situation where you're not enjoying your league because all other drivers are too quick or too slow compared to yourself, contact one of the AOR ACC coordinators 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 with regards to driver numbers.

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

We have two systems in place to enforce rules and penalize on-track wrongdoing: - Live Stewarding - Stewards Panel system During live stewarding, stewards will be spectating a race, investigating incidents and handing out penalties while the race is ongoing. The Stewards Panel system will be in place during every official league race where live stewarding is not in place.

As a means of helping the stewards with their inquiries, all PC drivers are required to save their race replays and keep it stored for at least one week after the race has taken place. If possible, it's better if you can record your race so we can see a live view of your screen, although this is not required. PlayStation drivers are required to record their race and also save a replay at the end of the race, to make sure it covers their entire race.

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 stewards and appropriate action will be taken.

What you can make a stewards inquiry for: Racing incidents: If you feel another driver has caused an incident - eg. hitting your car, forcing you off the track, or generally driving too aggressively - you should report this to the stewards for investigation. Track limits: If you witness another driver persistently gaining time by abusing the track limits by either running wide or cutting corners, you should report this to the stewards for investigation. Dangerous driving: If a driver rejoins the track in an unsafe or dangerous manner, or drives in a way that is a danger to other cars, you should report it to the stewards. You should report incidents that you are involved in. Reporting an incident that you heard about, or saw behind you for example, will not be accepted. This is to lower the risk of a "nit-picking" environment. Two drivers may collide, shake hands and speak no more of it. If someone goes and starts causing trouble for the sake of it, the inquiries will be closed if those involved in the incident prefer it to go no further. Members of the @ACC Coordinator group, may open steward inquiries on any driver.

Time limit for inquiries: Note that enquiries need to be submitted before Thursday 23:59 PM UK time for incidents you have been involved in. 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 was not visible to the other driver(s) in the race at the time it happened.

Uploading video evidence: Any video evidence submitted in a stewards inquiry must be uploaded to a video streaming site (such as YouTube and Streamable) before being embedded and/or linked to in the inquiry thread. Stewards should not have to download video files in order to watch your evidence. The following elements, recorded from the race replay, are required in the video: - Cockpit and Chase point of view of the driver submitting the inquiry, recorded at normal speed and with HUD activated - Cockpit and Chase point of view of the driver who caused the incident, recorded at normal speed and with HUD activated Any additional point of view can be added after the required elements. When the enquiry is related to ignoring blue flags, the cockpit point of views are not a requirement. If the video evidence is part of a longer video that also contains other parts of the race, a time stamp must be provided next to the video to guide the stewards to the relevant part of the video where the evidence can be found. Failing to do this may lead to the evidence being dismissed.

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 received in the stewards panel are sorted below, in order of severity and will depend on the Stewards decision. Penalty points may or may not be added to the Drivers License - 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) 0-5 race results points reduction - Driving in a dangerous or unsporting manner. 0-20 race results points reduction - Causing a minor avoidable collision. 0-40 race results points reduction - Causing a moderate avoidable collision. 0-60 race results points reduction - Causing a significant avoidable collision. 0-80 race results points reduction - Causing a major avoidable collision. The above means that the winner of a race could receive fewer points than the driver who finished in P2. This would mean that the winner of that race was to blame for causing a collision, while the P2 finisher had a clean race.

Modifiers to Race Penalties in the stewards panel Returning the position after an avoidable collision may result in the points deduction being reduced. Stewards encourage giving the position back or an attempt at waiting. Causing an avoidable incident in the opening lap may result in an increase of result points deduction. If the consequences of a penalty are worse or not as bad as the contact itself, the points reduction may be higher/lower than the usual punishments mentioned in the overview above. Not slowing down when clearly witnessing an incident in front of you, may result in an increase of result points deduction.

The Driver’s License 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. Driver’s License Points will not be influenced by external circumstances related to an incident, they will only be given for the severity of an incident. Driver License Points may or may not be applied alongside race penalties, as per the list below. 5 points - Driving in a dangerous or unsporting manner. 5 points - Causing a minor avoidable collision. 10 points - Causing a moderate avoidable collision. 15 points - Causing a significant avoidable collision. 20 points - Causing a major avoidable collision.

Modifiers to Driver’s License Penalties: +5 points - Causing an avoidable incident in the opening lap

Clean Racing Award: -5 points - Completing a race without any penalty. (Note: points balance won't go below 0)

Driver’s License accumulations: If you accumulate 15 points, you will be awarded a Race Drive Through * If you accumulate 25 points, you will be awarded a Stop&Go 30 Sec * If you accumulate 40 points, you will be awarded a Race Ban If you accumulate 50 points, your league status will be put under review, with the likely outcome of being removed from the league. * Penalties will be applied by coordinators via ACC admin commands at the start of the formation lap of the next race. DT's and SG30's must be served after the race starts, not the formation lap. ACC allows three laps to serve the penalty. Drive Through and 30-second stop/go penalties, must be served after you cross the start/finish line starting your race and at the end of a race lap.

Driver’s License points will carry over to a new season

Any 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 are discussed by the Stewards Panel (consisting of the members of the AOR ACC 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 with race results or championship points.

The available race penalties during live stewarding are: ● 5 or 15 second time penalty - Dangerous driving, driving in an unsporting manner or causing a minor avoidable collision. ● Drive-through penalty - Causing a moderate avoidable collision. ● Stop & Go 10/20/30 seconds - Causing a major avoidable collision. ● Disqualification - Intentionally trying or crashing into another car and other unacceptable behavior. The penalty points system will be used when live stewarding is announced for a certain tier (or multiple). Penalty points will be added to a driver's record when they receive an in-game penalty. • Receiving a 5 or 15 second time penalty during the race, will result in 0 penalty points • Receiving more than two 15 second time penalties during one race, will result in 1 penalty point • Receiving a drive-through penalty during the race, will result in 2 penalty points • Receiving a Stop & Go 10/20/30 during the race, will result in 3 penalty points Reaching the following amounts of penalty points will have consequences: • 5 penalty points results in receiving a qualifying ban. You will not be allowed to leave the pit-lane during the next qualifying session. • 8 penalty points results in receiving a race ban. You will not be allowed to attend the next qualifying and race session. • 10 penalty points results in being removed from the league. After every race, an overview of penalties awarded during the race will be published. In case an incident is overlooked by the stewards, drivers can still create an enquiry through the Stewards Panel. This will be looked at by the Stewards and a verdict will be posted before the next race. Time penalties will be added at the start of the next race, while drive-through and stop & go penalties will be converted into a qualifying ban. All penalty points will still be added to the driver's total.

While the race penalties and penalty points systems are aimed at dealing with on-track issues, the reprimand system deals with issues that may occur off the track. If you receive 3 reprimands, you're out. Receiving 3 reprimands would also see you placed on the blacklist, meaning you would not be allowed to return to the leagues in the future. You can receive a reprimand for the following: ● Deliberately crashing out of the session ● Showing abusive behavior towards another driver, either in the race lobby, discord or on the forum ● Intentionally hiding/removing evidence and/or footage to avoid receiving a penalty in an inquiry Note 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.

The blacklist contains the names of drivers who have been removed from the leagues - either through accumulating 50 penalty points from the stewards panel, due to not attending races regularly - and drivers who have left the leagues during an ongoing season without a valid reason. Having your name applied to the blacklist generally means you will not be allowed to rejoin the leagues in the current and next season.