[Simone Saviolo]

Hi everyone. I've just been in a cursed race. 

Halfway through the first lap, I got run into from behind while entering a corner, which sent me into a spin and caused a huge crash, with six-seven cars involved. I watched the replay, and I could count about 11 or 12 incident points just for that - of course I didn't count them during the race. 

After that, racing went on, even though my race was now ruined. However, I started reducing the gap to drivers in front of me, which I managed to overtake - until one of them bumps into me, sending me into the barriers - at least 3 more IP. 

Then I go on, get on his tail again, try to take his slipstream, he goes right, then left, then right again; I finally pick the inside, outbrake him and get into the corner way before him... but he ignores my attack and just slams me in the back, sending me into a spin, and - unlucky timing - crashing into a driver that was going to lap us. Fortunately that didn't cost him any positions, but it cost me even more IPs. 

All through the race (but I noticed that in other races too), several drivers showed a bad habit: they spin (legit), they try to recover (legit), but as they do so they slam into other drivers. Some even seemed to like to drive the wrong way for a bit before trying to recover. 

To sum up, I ended the race with 22 IPs, and I got banned for a week. 

Now, I know that IPs are never removed, and, while I could protest that driver (he wasn't the only one causing havoc, though), even if I won the protest I wouldn't see my ban cancelled. 

So, I would rather wish to know: what is the best course of action in case I get involved in a mega crash, or if the race is spoiled by drivers who behave badly? Should I give up the race before I accidentally end up having 20 IPs and a week-long ban? It seems wasteful (and probably against the rules) to leave a race after three turns because a driver stalled on the starting grid and everyone got a handful of free IPs. In case of a mega crash, even if I stay where I am and wait for other drivers to go away, the other drivers could run into me and give me IPs. Do I have a way to know how many IPs / collisions I've already had during the current session?

Also, what is the best practice after a spin? When I find myself stalled in the middle of the track, I usually stay put until approaching drivers have gone past me, then I start to move. Is this correct? Is this what I should expect from other drivers too?

[Pawel Kusmierek]

So, I would rather wish to know: what is the best course of action in case I get involved in a mega crash, or if the race is spoiled by drivers who behave badly? Should I give up the race before I accidentally end up having 20 IPs and a week-long ban? It seems wasteful (and probably against the rules) to leave a race after three turns because a driver stalled on the starting grid and everyone got a handful of free IPs. In case of a mega crash, even if I stay where I am and wait for other drivers to go away, the other drivers could run into me and give me IPs. Do I have a way to know how many IPs / collisions I've already had during the current session?

No there is not way, you can only try to guess it for yourself thinking how many hits you had against other drivers and objects - but it is close to impossible to be accurate of course. Should you give up the race or continue?  Nobody knows, the decision is yours, you actually stated arguments for  and against and there is no way for anyone else to decide, I am afraid.

Also, what is the best practice after a spin? When I find myself stalled in the middle of the track, I usually stay put until approaching drivers have gone past me, then I start to move. Is this correct? Is this what I should expect from other drivers too?

This really depends. If you are staying in the middle of the track, even if not moving, people can still hit you depending on the track configuration, typical speed there, sight distance, and of course their skill. Some will freak out seeing you, hit brakes too hard and spin into you. In online racing you cannot count too much on people being able to do maneuvers off their normal racing line.

 You can try to judge how close the incoming cars are and base you action on that. It is easier in VR when you can look sideways or if the game has a track map showing other cars. My preferred strategy is to look for even a small a gap in traffic and if there is one, quickly get off the track onto the grass, there I can turn the car in the right direction, speed up a little while off track, and rejoin more safely. As opposed to turning the car while still on the track, as this more likely to confuse the incoming traffic and cause a crash. Of course if there is no traffic then I do whatever puts me back in action in the least amount of time.

[Martin Smith]

The best practice when you spin is the same as best practice when you race for position, best practice when you lap or get lapped, best practice when you qualify, best practice when you rejoin the track, best practice when you go to get your groceries...

And that is to avoid do anything that might cause another driver to take sudden evasive maneuvers. If that means sitting stopped in the middle of the track because you're very visible and off line, then do that. If that means getting moving ASAP to get out of the way, then do that.

The answer depends on your circumstances in each situation, so use your judgement but always, always, avoid being the one who provokes emergency avoidance reactions from others.

[Simon Meisinger]

What Martin says plus accepting that sh*t like this happens. Worrying about it doesn't help. Yes, those 22 incident points suck, but after a couple more races they're only a single spike in your statistics.

As a new sim racer it appeared to me as well as if the whole world was against me and only joined the races to crash into me. But with some experience you learn how to anticipate those things and take action to avoid them long before they actually happen. Sounds cheesy but it's kind of an additional sense you develop over time.

You can't rush that learning process,I think, but watching "Surviving Rookies" on Youtube is a great foundation to it. https://youtu.be/uqsKm8irA7U

[Simone Saviolo]

What Martin says plus accepting that sh*t like this happens. Worrying about it doesn't help. Yes, those 22 incident points suck, but after a couple more races they're only a single spike in your statistics.

As a new sim racer it appeared to me as well as if the whole world was against me and only joined the races to crash into me. But with some experience you learn how to anticipate those things and take action to avoid them long before they actually happen. Sounds cheesy but it's kind of an additional sense you develop over time.

Yeah, I guess But more than the statistics, I'm interested in not being banned for a week... otherwise the learning process will take a lot!

You can't rush that learning process,I think, but watching "Surviving Rookies" on Youtube is a great foundation to it. https://youtu.be/uqsKm8irA7U

I'll watch it, thank you!

[Tim Cullingworth]

Have to say that the "Surviving Rookies" is an excellent series of videos.

If more racers on SRS, server 1 as well as higher servers, made avoiding incidents their number one priority, the racing would be so much cleaner.

It always surprises me that racing on server 1, we still get racers crashing in to each other on straights on lap 1.  Or when you lift off due to an incident in front of you, others are so bad at anticipating what's going on they run in to the back of you.

I have to say that even just reading your first post a couple of alarm bells rang.

Now I'm not trying to be over critical of you as I have no idea of how much racing you've done,  just some things to think about.

Halfway through the first lap, I got run into from behind while entering a corner, which sent me into a spin and caused a huge crash, with six-seven cars involved.

First lap and you obviously have someone close behind you, try moving off your line, so they aren't directly behind you and slow a bit, give them space.  If they are breaking that late they will probably spin off anyway.  At worst, you lose a place rather than however many you did lose, and no incidents.

However, I started reducing the gap to drivers in front of me, which I managed to overtake - until one of them bumps into me, sending me into the barriers

Why are they at the back?  They have probably been involved in other incidents, so give them loads of room.  Maybe even wait until they crash again, and just drive past the wreckage

Then I go on, get on his tail again, try to take his slipstream, he goes right, then left, then right again; I finally pick the inside, outbrake him and get into the corner way before him... but he ignores my attack and just slams me in the back, sending me into a spin, and - unlucky timing - crashing into a driver that was going to lap us.

So you know this guy can't drive safely, then he warns you by swerving down the straight, yet you still put your self just in front of him expecting a different outcome than last time .  What worries me more here is that there is a faster drive coming up to lap you, and rather than leave space and let them past safely, you have carried on battling.

All this does come with experience, and some times you just can't do anything to avoid a wreck, but you are doing one of the best things a racer can do to improve and that's ask for advice.

[Dario Bucalo]

I think the problem is that many drivers don't know the all the basic rules for staying in the track... This is the reason why I think is a good idea a list of rules to sent via mail to the newcomers. This is the proposal, take a look and comment and support it if you agree https://www.simracingsystem.com/showthread.php?tid=9460

[Alexander Persil]

I've only been racing on SRS for a short while, but my best advice: Don't punch above your weight. If the car behind you is a lot faster, don't do whatever it takes to keep him/her behind, because that's only going to end in a crash. Try to pick your battles. I've noticed a lot of improvement just racing and gaining experience. Not just understanding your own driving skills better, but also being able to understand how other drivers react. Winning the battle is half skill, half adapting to the opponent. I'm driving mostly midfield (a lot of the top drivers here are ridiculously good!), but I find I'm getting into more top 10 battles the more I drive. The first lap is usually the worst, try not to take too many risks on the opening lap. And then it's mostly consistency and getting to the end. See you on the track. And most importantly, HAVE FUN! It's only a game

[Simone Saviolo]

Have to say that the "Surviving Rookies" is an excellent series of videos.

If more racers on SRS, server 1 as well as higher servers, made avoiding incidents their number one priority, the racing would be so much cleaner.

It always surprises me that racing on server 1, we still get racers crashing in to each other on straights on lap 1.  Or when you lift off due to an incident in front of you, others are so bad at anticipating what's going on they run in to the back of you.

That race happened on server 2, but still. I know I often miss the opportunity to avoid a crash, I'm trying to pay more and more attention to that, but a few of the backrunners behave like you'd expect on a public lobby.

I have to say that even just reading your first post a couple of alarm bells rang.

Now I'm not trying to be over critical of you as I have no idea of how much racing you've done,  just some things to think about.

Please do, I need that too.

Halfway through the first lap, I got run into from behind while entering a corner, which sent me into a spin and caused a huge crash, with six-seven cars involved.

First lap and you obviously have someone close behind you, try moving off your line, so they aren't directly behind you and slow a bit, give them space.  If they are breaking that late they will probably spin off anyway.  At worst, you lose a place rather than however many you did lose, and no incidents.

I was trying to be very cautious, I was P5 after a good start and saw two drivers in front of me battling for position, so I lifted off and braked a little early twice. The first time, P6 dived and I let him run wide more by instinct than by skill (I kinda expected that). But the second time he ran into me instead. I know it was a red flag (not in the racing sense ), I had been warned that he wouldn't brake any earlier than on quali, and still I did what turned out to be the wrong thing. I should have known better.

However, I started reducing the gap to drivers in front of me, which I managed to overtake - until one of them bumps into me, sending me into the barriers

Why are they at the back?  They have probably been involved in other incidents, so give them loads of room.  Maybe even wait until they crash again, and just drive past the wreckage

In my defense, I was much faster, 2-3 seconds per lap But yeah, I should have been more careful.

Then I go on, get on his tail again, try to take his slipstream, he goes right, then left, then right again; I finally pick the inside, outbrake him and get into the corner way before him... but he ignores my attack and just slams me in the back, sending me into a spin, and - unlucky timing - crashing into a driver that was going to lap us.

So you know this guy can't drive safely, then he warns you by swerving down the straight, yet you still put your self just in front of him expecting a different outcome than last time .  What worries me more here is that there is a faster drive coming up to lap you, and rather than leave space and let them past safely, you have carried on battling.

Well, the lapping driver was not really close to us, he got close to me after I had been hit and spun. If it weren't for the crash, there would have been about 4 seconds between us and him.

You're right that I shouldn't have expected clean racing from that opponent, but what should I do? There wasn't really another point where it would have been safer to overtake, he was probably going to do some diving elsewhere. Should I just keep waiting that he makes a decisive mistake? I know IRL drivers often lose ten laps or more behind slower drivers, but we're in 15-laps races and after all we should have some fun! On the other hand... yeah, it was not fun to make a good pass just to get hit and spin and cause another incident and then be banned for a week. 

All this does come with experience, and some times you just can't do anything to avoid a wreck, but you are doing one of the best things a racer can do to improve and that's ask for advice.

I've been watching races and playing games for almost thirty years, but it's incredible how little you learn until you actually try to race other people, even if it's "just" a sim. I really look forward to learn more, it's fascinating in its own terms.