[Russell Sobie]

I've touched on the fact that the regulations page is pretty sparse when it comes to specifics, but I was reminded of this having watched a recent video on youtube created in part by RaceDepartment that goes over the fact that what the rules for Blue Flags differ quite a bit depending on the series/platform/league/club/organization/whatever. How can you "respect blue flags" if you don't know how to respect them in the first place?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=71Xc_i7VjpE

I've always treated blue flags as "just keep doing what you are doing, don't defend, and let the passing driver decide when to pass safely" and occasionally "lift PREDICTABLY on straights if you want to just get the pass over with sooner rather than rely on the passer to do so safely." This is pretty much what this video recommends as well, I'm happy to see... but that doesn't mean everyone racing in SRS (especially in open wheel "F1-like" racing series we sometimes have on here) is on the same page.

Maybe make it a bit more explicit on the regulation page what is expected of racers here?

[Michael Martin]

I think you have pretty much covered it.

Blue flag = carry on as normal and leave space for the faster car to safely overtake.

ie. lifting on a straight or taking a wider line.

It is also the responsibility of the passing car to overtake safely.

[Ilmari Ylitalo]

I feel if you get lapped on a 20min race you should make the pass very easy, and go a bit out of your way to make it happen as fast as possible. Being lapped in such a short race usually means you're totally unprepared for the race, so it would be polite to not mess up other peoples races that have actually practiced for the event. Longer race is a bit different, I'd expect less of a slowdown, just little lift on a straight or so. Unless you're REAL slow...

[Michal Janak]

in last days i saw many times drivers lapped 2 times, and slowing so much and specialy in middle of the road or corner, causing a lot of incidents

[Sergio Mendez]

Blue flags, flashing guys and endurance races. You could write a book lol

[Alexander Persil]

To be fair, blue flags isn't just a sim racing problem. Even in the last F1 race at Austin it was an issue, and almost changed the race outcome. The most important thing is just to be aware of your surroundings, make sure you know who's infront and who's behind. The more you race, the better your perception becomes. Unfortunately in sim racing, there is no penalty for ignoring blue flags or reacting in the wrong way, so it's hard to punish a driver for that, unless you file a protest.

[Sergio Mendez]

I've been in both sides, and I'm going to talk about endurance races, not the SRS experience. To be a backmarker, especially in endurance races, makes you understand part of the problem. Blue flagged guys are not -usually- AI drivers, are guys like us trying their best -most of the times-. I guess it's important to be nice when you are lapping another person. It's not only about "not losing time lapping" or "being fast in traffic", it's about being safe and letting the others keep "playing" and not "feeling" like they were bots. Yesterday we were doing a 12 h race, we were unlucky in the start. After repairs because a crash on the lap 1, we started to be lapped and, as usual, we had some tricky moments. All my mates -and me- are safe when letting others to pass. We even use our indicators in ACC, looking for the best place to let them pass and trying to not lose a lot time because we are racing too, even being in the position 35, we are driving fast and trying to come back. Then, you find some approaches by the guys lapping, i.e. the flasher: he is flashing you even when your virtual mirror is not able to load the cars behind because they are so far away, and he keep flashing when he is 1 second behind, of course. It makes you feel like if you weren' t racing the same race. I would like to tell the guy "I see the blue flag, I am racing and I know where I am placed right now". The more they flash you, the more angry you get, because you are looking for a safe place to let him go. And sometimes they dive you. Sometimes you use the indicator, you give them a lot of space and when you are trying to make the corner, they invade your line and you have to brake even more, and if you were going to lose 2 seconds, then you lose 4 seconds. And you try hard to not get angry.

When you are in a long race, and it's the turn to be a blue flagged car, you realize of how important are blue flag cars, their existence. If everybody rage quit after noticing they won't get a podium, the endurance races will be a 10 cars show, or even less. In fact, yesterday 10 cars retired. We got an internet disconnection, a crash in T1... and we lost like 3 laps with both issues, and we kept driving, even driving in p35/37 and having blue flags in every corner at Kyalami. And there were 25 cars like us that couldn't get more than the satisfaction of finishing a very long race -and it's a big reward imo-.

I really know 20 minutes races are different, and there are some guys who can't manage with being lapped - I knew some too-. But we need to give some love to most of these guys keeping trying even when being a lap down, not rage quitting. Sometimes they are learning to drive faster and safely. At least, we must give them an opportunity.

[Russell Sobie]

Some interesting discussion here, to be sure... but the purpose of the original post was to get some rules clarification here on SRS. Not on the forums, but on the regulation page.

[Alexander Persil]

Iracing sporting code is pretty much spot on:

BLUE FLAG
In all cases, it is the responsibility of the faster car to safely overtake the slower car. It is the responsibility of the slower car to maintain a consistent line. It is strongly recommended that a slower car being lapped makes every reasonable effort to facilitate a safe pass.