Rules

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[A] GENERAL PARTICIPATION

The staff of RRLeagues (RRL) consists of administrators and stewards. In the following, the designation “staff” will be used to refer to administrators as well as stewards. The designation “administrator” will be used to refer to the administrators. All items covered in the rules are subject to RRL staff discretion where necessary.
The rules covered in sections A, B, C, D, E, F, G & H are general and apply to all series.
Admin reserve the right to amend these rules at any point should it become necessary. Any rule changes will be announced in the rules category on Discord.
Names used on the race servers of RRL must resemble 'real' names. The name used on the race server must match the username used on Discord & RaceApp.
Before being allowed to compete in league events a new driver MUST complete a test session with a staff member. This is to ensure a stable connection is present and that the driver is able to drive safely.
The official voice communication for RRL is Discord. Drivers are required to be present on Discord 15 mins before the Qualifying session for the driver briefing.
Any driver who fails to show for 2 races within a series risks having their registration cancelled.
Guest drivers must apply at least 48 hours before the official practice session of an event is set to commence. Guest drivers applying within 48 hours of event commencement will not have their request confirmed.

[B] COMMUNITY RULES

Persistent foul language will not be tolerated in any written text or Discord voice channel. Offending or disrespecting drivers, admins or any other fellow members will be punished without exception.
Excessive use of capital letters in posts or on discord is prohibited.
The official language of RRL is English. Every member is responsible to understand publications made by admins/stewards in English. The usage of other languages in the forum is strictly limited to rare exceptions for the purpose of explanation.
Every driver is asked to post their matter in the right channel in Discord to prevent unnecessary confusion.
The promotion of other sim racing communities on discord or on the race servers of RRL is strictly prohibited unless explicit permission to do so has been given by the administrators.
Any action taken by members of RRL violating these rules may be punished by the administrators. The punishment can include warnings, in-game penalties, exclusions from individual series within RRL as well as a total ban from RRL.
1. Drivers who receive a total ban from RRL may ask for the ban to be reviewed after 1 year.

[C] SERVER REGULATION

The restriction of Driving aids is up to the discretion of the administrators.
In-game text chat is not permitted in Qualifying or Race sessions. Anyone who posts a message during these sessions will receive a penalty (unless it is regarded by the stewards as critical information).
Races are only restarted in the case of obvious & significant server issues (see rule C.4).
In the event of a mass disconnection, the race may be restarted or a result declared official by the administrators. Races may be rescheduled if necessary. If more than 75% of the race distance has been completed, the result will be declared official based on the available log data from the server.
Drivers must finish the race to be eligible to score points at each round.
If a driver endangers fellow competitors due to frequent lag he/she will be asked to leave the session. Before racing again this driver has to go through a test session again as described in rule A.5.
Sharing the passwords for the race servers with anyone outside of RRL is strictly prohibited unless explicitly authorized by an administrator.
Any driver entering the race server in any other car/livery than the one they selected at series registration will risk being disqualified from the race result, at the stewards' discretion.

[D] STEWARDING

Each race is reviewed by a team of stewards. Findings and decisions will be posted in the steward’s channel at least 48 hours prior to the next race. Drivers are responsible to check the stewarding post before the next race.
The Stewards will always review the first full lap of each event. Any exceptions will be announced during the Briefing.
Any further incidents must be submitted via the Incident Review Submission Form (IRSF) which can be found in the relevant series stewards/incidents channel. IRSF's received within 8 hours of event completion will NOT be accepted. After 8 hours have passed, IRSF's will be accepted for a period of 24 hours.
Sportsmanship is encouraged and will be taken into consideration when stewards are judging incidents.
Where possible, stewards will consider over-ruling in-game penalties but only in the instance of a penalty being given before the race start (lights out) or after a driver has finished the race (crossed finish line). Any in-game penalties received during race conditions must be served in the appropriate manner.

[E] DRIVING STANDARDS

Sportsmanship is a cornerstone of racing at RRLeagues and this is expected to be upheld by all participating drivers.
Analogue input steering is recommended for safety reasons although exceptions may be made if a driver can demonstrate the ability to drive smoothly on track with a digital input controller or keyboard.
Track limits will be determined by the game, however additional cut rules may be enforced if necessary and will be covered before the race in question.
1. In the event of an off track, it is the responsibility of the driver in question to find a suitable and safe place to re-join the race in a predictable manner.
It is the responsibility of all involved drivers to contribute to safe driving when lapping and overtaking.
1. At no time may a car be driven unnecessarily slowly, erratically or in a manner that could be deemed potentially dangerous to other drivers or any other person.
Defending and Blocking
1. Drivers are allowed to change their line once per straight when a car behind is in distance to benefit from a tow, as long as they are outside of a braking zone. This change has to be done BEFORE the car behind started their overtaking attempt.
2. Should the defending driver move back towards his original racing line he has to leave at least one car width room for the attacking driver.
3. Any blocking attempt is prohibited, blocking is not defending.
4. Any move done by the defending driver within the braking zone or as a reaction to the attacking driver is considered blocking.
5. Changing the line within a braking zone in order to defend a position is considered blocking (see rule E.6)
In the event of a spin/slide drivers are expected to hold their brakes until all immediate traffic has moved past their car. This ensures a predictable trajectory of the spinning car. On top of that, a stationary car is easier for oncoming drivers to avoid.
Pit Lane Procedure
1. Pit entry/exit lines have to be observed in their entirety. Any driver involved in an incident and is found to have exceeded these pit lines will be punished.
2. Pit speed limits MUST be respected during Qualifying and Race sessions. Anyone seen to be exceeding the pit speed limit in a Qualification session will receive 1 verbal warning followed by 1 official warning thereafter.
3. A car driving out of their pit stall after a pit stop always has to give way to cars driving down the pitlane or entering their pit stall.
Intentional contact with another car is strictly prohibited and will be punished.
Blue Flag
1. If a driver is shown a blue flag, this is to notify him that a faster car is approaching and should be prepared to concede the position when it is safe for both parties to facilitate the overtake. We recommend drivers use the method described in guides
2. The slower car should yield at the earliest opportunity and not at any point try to engage in racing with the faster car or prolong the overtake longer than is necessary. The lapped & lapping car should remain predictable at all times.
3. Backmarkers are allowed to unlap themselves as long as they are visibly faster than the car in front. Should a backmarker attempt to unlap himself he/she has to execute this manoeuvre with utmost caution. Should the former backmarker fail to separate from the leading car after 2 laps he/she has to let the leading car pass again and this time must stay behind.
When 2 drivers are contesting a corner, the behind driver must establish substantial overlap with the car ahead before a corner's turn-in point to have the right to keep his line and attempt the overtake. Substantial overlap means that at least the front of the car behind is up to the driver's position of the ahead car. See #guides for a full explanation.
Should a guest driver pick up 3 or more penalty points in any RACE, where the stewards agree reckless driving was evident, they will be prohibited from appearing as a guest in future races of that series.
Headlights/Lights
1. Headlights are a mandatory requirement in night driving.
2. Rain lights (where available) are a mandatory requirement when driving in rain.
3. Flashing of headlights when in blue flag situations is acceptable but must be used reasonably. Excessive headlight flashing or flashing when not under blue flag is not permitted.

[F] RRL LICENSE

The RRL Licence has been introduced as a simple method of accruing punishments from incidents over a given time.
Each licence has a maximum amount of points that can be accrued before action is undertaken on the driver.
A driver will be given a licence for each championship he enters which can only receive penalty points from incidents within that season (unless a driver has points to carry over from a previous season. See point 7)
Points will remain on a driver’s licence for the entirety of a given season, or up until the time when maximum points have been exceeded.
If the points limit is exceeded the licence will be suspended for the following event, forcing a 1 race ban onto the driver. The maximum points allocation will be removed from their licence once their suspension has been served. Any excess points will still show on their licence.
1. If a suspended driver receives 0.5x more than the maximum points again after returning from a suspension, he will be excluded from the series for the rest of the season.
If a driver receives a suspension, the race he is suspended for cannot be used as a 'dropped result' when tallying up his final points score for the season.
Points received in the final race of a season that exceeds the points limit of a licence will be carried forward to the next licence they are given.
Upon taking part in their 1st race of a series, the maximum points a driver can accrue on their licence before action is undertaken will be decided using the following simple formula: Number of rounds left in season x 1.5 (rounded up)

[G] PENALTIES

The following is a guideline of what penalties to expect for infringements of the rules, however, the stewards’ interpretation of incidents, penalties & the rules is final.

There are 3 classifications of incidents:

Light Incident | 1 Penalty Point
Causing a collision of little magnitude and disruption* to another driver(s).

Medium Incident | 2 Penalty Points
Causing a collision of significant magnitude and disruption* to another driver(s).

Heavy Incident | 3 Penalty Points
Causing a collision of severe magnitude and disruption* to another driver(s).

* Magnitude and disruption levels will be judged by, but not limited to, contacts/slides/spins/time loss/speed/awareness.

Lap 1 IncidentsDrivers who persistently cause Lap 1 incidents during a series that are judged to be more than a light incident shall receive penalty points (pp) on a sliding scale.

	1st occurrence (x1 pp)	2nd occurrence (x1.5 pp)	3rd occurrence (x2 pp)
Light	1pp	1pp	1pp
Medium	2pp	3pp	4pp
Heavy	3pp	4.5pp	6pp^

^ Will also result in no qualification and a pit lane start at next race attended.

In addition to the above 3 levels of incidents the following penalties can also be served:

Time Penalties: 5s/20s/40s
Gaining a position unfairly when judged to have been at fault for an incident. Drivers who return/concede/show sportsmanship within 1 lap of gaining a position unfairly will have their time penalty rescinded.

No Qualification Penalty at next round attended
Receiving a +20s time penalty but the driver recorded a DNF

Drive Through Penalty at next round attended
Receiving a +40s time penalty but the driver recorded a DNF

Other Infringements | 1 Penalty Point
2nd & subsequent instance of any mix of the following:

In-game text chat during Q or R sessions
Speeding in pit-lane (RaceRoom)
Absent from Briefing without notification

Disqualification
Failure to comply with steward imposed No Qualification/Drive Through penalty requirements. 2 instances will result in a ban from the series

Race Suspension
Disrespect of RRLeagues rules
Exceeding maximum amount of allowable points on licence

[H] AM CUP

The AM Cup is a 'drivers only' championship that will run alongside the main drivers' championship in a given series.
1. The AM Cup will be announced in 'Series Info' channel of a specific series if it is to be contested.
2. The AM Cup will not be contested in a multiclass series'.
3. The AM Cup must have a minimum of 5 eligible drivers to take place.
Those eligible for the AM Cup will be drivers who do not fall within 101% of an average RACE lap time (based on the top 5 lap times) in the opening 2 races of a series.
1. Staff will also impart reasonable judgement to further refine the list of eligible drivers for the AM Cup if they feel it necessary.
2. Drivers eligible for the AM Cup will also be included in the main drivers' championship.
3. A driver can only win the AM Cup once in a calendar year but can compete multiple times.
A final list of AM Cup drivers will be posted in Discord after eligibility has been confirmed after Rd 2. A provisional update after Rd 1 may occur.
1. Any driver not wishing to participate in the AM Cup may contact an Admin to request being withdrawn from the competition.
2. Any driver wishing to be included in the AM Cup but did not make the initial list may contact an Admin to request being included in the competition.
3. Decision regarding 3.1 & 3.2 will be at the Admins' discretion.
The AM Cup will be closed to new sign-ups after the completion of Round 2. After Round 2, new sign-ups will only be eligible for the main drivers' championship.
A driver cannot win the main drivers' championship & AM Cup in the same series. Should this happen, they will be declared the series main driver champion and whoever finishes 2nd in the AM Cup will be declared AM Cup winner. A driver who becomes the winner of the AM Cup in this situation will still be eligible for the AM Cup in the same calendar year..
There will be no separate success ballast for the AM Cup in series which use this feature.

[I] GUIDES

RRL GUIDE TO CORNER RIGHTS

Whilst there is no major problem at RRL when it comes to clean and fair driving, there are every now and again incidents that the stewards have to judge on where 2 cars have contested the same bit of track at apex during an overtaking move, often with the result of 1 car spinning off. Whilst no 2 corners and incidents are the same, we hope this goes some way to make clear what we will look for when judging any incidents regarding corner rights.

The etiquette we are enforcing at RRL is fairly common practice in many communities and real-world motor racing. Just because you see a gap doesn't always mean you can throw yourself into it. In the real world, adopting this mentality could well see you banned from even the lowest level of motorsport. When real cars that need real money to repair and a real-life to race them are at stake, then many moves you see on the virtual race track are not tolerated and this is what we want you to bear in mind when racing at RRL.

So, the concept that we are sticking by at RRLeagues is, you must establish substantial overlap with the car ahead before a corner's turn-in point to have the right for room to be left for you by the ahead driver. Substantial overlap means at least that the front of your car is up to the driver's position in the ahead car. The ahead driver has every right to fully commit to the racing line of his choice without any interference if there was no overlap at corner turn-in.

If there was sufficient overlap at the corner turn-in point, then the behind driver has the right to the inside line through the corner. The ahead driver can still challenge for the position but must do so from a wider position, leaving room for the behind driver.

If a behind car doesn't have overlap before the corner turn-in point then they should not attempt the overtake but stay tucked in behind. If they want to disappear up your inside line then they should do so before you reach the turn-in point. If they disappear up your inside line after the turn-in point, then its really up to you how you play it. You may decide to enforce your rights and risk a contact, or your may be willing (reluctantly) to leave room because you don't want to crash.

An exception to this is where an ahead driver has clearly made a sufficient error to warrant a passing move. For example, they brake too late and wash out wide of the apex and have to reduce speed etc. This would be a valid passing opportunity regardless of whether there was pre-existing overlap. However, there is still substantial responsibility on the overtaking driver to take all necessary care.

Small errors by the ahead driver may not be sufficient to allow a safe passing move, however. Just because the ahead drivers gets a bit out of shape at times it doesn't give you an automatic right to room. You still have to judge if their error provides sufficient opportunity for a safe pass to take place.

Having said all this, there is no exact science to corner rights, there will more often than not be certain variables. What has been described above is just the basic concept of driver etiquette when it comes to corner rights.

Even in real life, with full vision, full sensory feedback, infinite fps and resolution, its not uncommon for real drivers to come to grief with this - usually saying it was the other guy's fault. With blind spots in sim-racing its, even more, hit and miss.

RRL BLUE FLAG GUIDE

If you see the blue flag you should allow the faster car to overtake you within 3 reasonable opportunities to do so. We suggest you best facilitate the overtake by:

1) BE PREDICTABLE - Don't panic! The car being lapped should stick to the racing line. This affords the faster driver to know exactly where your car will be at all times. This is especially helpful to the lapped car if there is a train of fast guys behind.

2) FACILITATE THE OVERTAKE - The car being lapped should lift off the gas to make the overtake easier. This should only be done on a straight and never through a corner or immediately at corner exit. This may be done at corner entry if it is obvious the faster car will not be caught out by your drop in speed (if he has already shown to the inside).

3) WITHIN 3 REASONABLE OPPORTUNITIES - Lapped cars have 3 opportunities after seeing the blue flag to let the faster car through. RRL Stewards class straights as 'reasonable opportunities'. If the lapped car driver is skillful enough to facilitate a safe overtake at other parts of the circuit then they may do so of course. But, it is in a lapped car driver's rights to keep on the racing line until they feel a reasonable opportunity has arisen.

Last updated: June 2, 2023