[Giuseppe Iaria]

About the very frequent incidents that happens at T1 or within the first corners of a race, I would like to suggest to the SRS staff the possibility, if feasible, to penalize the driver's rating multiplying the incidents at the first lap like this:
- Incidents in the first Sector: x3
- Incidents  in the middle Sector: x2
In this way it could be possible to enforce a more conservative and respectful approach to the online races.

[Pawel Kusmierek]

Not a good idea, as good drivers are inevitably involved in these incidents as well, and they would be penalized harshly just for being in a wrong place at wrong time, having basically no way to avoid contact. Not to mention that many of these incidents are inconsequential taps, It would be much better if penalties could take into account the severity of the incident (force of contact, resulting loss of position, resulting spinout or being pushed off the track), but that's probably too hard to automate.

[James Blint]

Not a good idea, as good drivers are inevitably involved in these incidents as well, and they would be penalized harshly just for being in a wrong place at wrong time, having basically no way to avoid contact.  Not to mention that many of these incidents are inconsequential taps, It would be much better if penalties could take into account the severity of the incident (force of contact, resulting loss of position, resulting spinout or being pushed off the track), but that's probably too hard to automate.

I'm wondering if this isn't the case already, there are incidents count (or not) that i cannot explain. One example, the other day with the Porsche on Spa, a guy hit my rear first lap, surely unintentional and it was a soft contact, but i get 1 incident while he didn't in the race results. Some races i knew i had 1 contact and it didn't show. Is it because the contact was just a breeze or something else. I d really like to understand how the system works exactly.

[Russell Sobie]

That makes it sound like incidents are reported from the client to the server, and whatever the server gets it believes. I know I've had cases where I've been right on someone's back and they've spun out as though I gave them the old PIT maneuver even though I had no contact at all on my end. I've been on the receiving end of that as well. I go flying off after a big smack, but the guy that hit me cruises by like nothing has happened.

As to the original suggestion: that method of deterrence is not going to adequately communicate the importance of being extra mindful on the first lap. Some people just don't "get it". And those people certainly don't bother to read these forums, the rules page, or even the Message Of The Day when they join an SRS server.

Someone does something boneheaded during T1 Lap 1? Save a video, use the protest form. They'll get the message if they try to register for a race and find they've been suspended.

[Pawel Kusmierek]

 or even the Message Of The Day 

What is the Message Of The Day? I don't even know 


Also, whether people are or are not extra cautions, incidents in first few turns will happen. Like they happen IRL. Remember how great the start of the 1998 Belgian Grand Prix went? And then the restart?

[Russell Sobie]

Well yeah, they'll happen. But they don't have to. This isn't Real Life™. This is a bunch of video game nerds using toy wheels and pedals to pretend they are driving cars that cost more money that they will likely make in a lifetime. We aren't talented enough to squeak out a couple of positions on turn 1 and expect to hold off the entire field for 20 minutes. We aren't all in the same skill level... if you are lucky, there might be one or two folks with similar lap times and consistency to you in any given race. Most of the time you are going to be quite a bit faster than the guy behind, and quite a bit slower than the guy in front. In real life, those differences are tiny. Here in pretend race car land, they are huge.

It would be best for everyone to understand the above paragraph and act with those points in mind when they compete online. If the majority of us do that, we can all safely get through turns 1 and 2 on the first lap, and then go about the fun part of online racing: safely and cleanly passing and getting passed until the time runs out and everyone crosses the finish line with their suspensions intact.

Oh, and Message Of The Day is a big billboard that shows up whenever you join a server with text created by the server administration. It's been a thing since the days of Quake, and SRS servers have one as well. I'll admit I haven't read one in a very long time... but you can bet that I read it the first time I joined a race on SRS.

[Will Dawson]

Hmm I just realised that the message board hasn't shown up for me since early last season.

[Giuseppe Iaria]

Not a good idea, as good drivers are inevitably involved in these incidents as well, and they would be penalized harshly just for being in a wrong place at wrong time, having basically no way to avoid contact.  Not to mention that many of these incidents are inconsequential taps, It would be much better if penalties could take into account the severity of the incident (force of contact, resulting loss of position, resulting spinout or being pushed off the track), but that's probably too hard to automate.

I get your point but, what you mention is the effect as it is now, my propose is directed to be a deterrent in order to be more caution in the first seconds after race start, that is the moment with highest risk because cars are all packed together.
I know that in case of incidents, that will happen as well, some driver would get an heavier penalization despite themselves, but the perspective of a rating and point loss will definitely reduce the probability of occurrence (can't say how much though), thus reducing the overall risk, with benefit for every driver.

[Pawel Kusmierek]

Yes, this may make some careless drivers think twice before they divebomb into the first corner... but as they are careless, they probably won't think even once. That's the problem, you are trying to influence people who don't have right priorities. I think that they care more about their final position in a particular race, not their rating, so they still may chose to race unfair. And if penalized, they will keep racing bad, saying to themselves, OK, the stupid system gave me few points, but I finished 3rd (after bumping 5 people off the track), so I am the king anyway.

On the other hand, imagine a gentleman driver. He starts middle-pack. He is very careful approaching T1, leaves space in front, brakes early despite risking being passed. But an idiot (or just overexcited and inexperienced driver) behind him brakes too late and hits him from behind. The gentleman manages to avoid spin but still is pushed into the car in front of him. He goes through T1 but on exit someone goes pedal to the metal and spins out, the gentleman cannot avoid slight contact. Even worse, a driver next to him, seeing the spin, swerves blindly and hits the gentleman from the side. So with current rules, the gentleman will lose 12 points for 4 incidents and maybe 2 positions. If your rules are in effect, he will lose 2 positions and 36 points. There is a good chance that at this point he will say I was penalized harshly for being nice, screw it, i am switching to iRacing.

So the net effect may be that SRS will start losing nice drivers while the bad ones will stay. And things will become worse.

[Robin De Groote]

What if SRS could differentiate between "the front car" and "the back car" in rear-end collisions? Wouldn't that be better? Is that possible?

It would mean that, just like in real traffic (at least over here), the rear driver would be penalised and the front driver would go free... The idea is that anyone should always keep eyes front and be ready to brake...