Rules & Regulations

1. Sim Racing Alliance Mission Statement

The goal of the community and the purpose of this document is to establish a friendly environment where everyone can experience the best online sim racing has to offer. We are a community built on collaboration and encouraging community where everyone can improve and enjoy this shared hobby together.

2. Community Code of Conduct

The Sim Racing Alliance is an inclusive community. Discussion of politics, religion, and/or other controversial topics is prohibited. Incidents of racism, discrimination, or hate speech will not be tolerated and will result in an immediate ban.

Members are expected to demonstrate respect, courtesy, and humble behavior toward others. The league encourages openness to differing perspectives while condemning disrespectful behaviour such as harassment, -isms, hateful content, insults and name-calling.

The organization enforces a zero-tolerance policy for toxicity, including excessive trolling, persistent negativity, personal attacks, flaming, harassment, behaviours intended to provoke or offend others. These violations can result in removal from the community.

Members should use proper channels for concerns: race incidents should be reported through the ticket system rather than public confrontations.

3. General Rules

3.1 Custom Liveries

Custom liveries created outside of the in-game editor are permitted. Drivers must upload livery files with unique names to the Awesome Simracing tool. Additional instructions are available in the Graphics & Liveries Discord channel.

3.2 Assists and Cheating

Included assists except auto-steering and stability control are allowed to be used on the practice and race servers. The league reserves authority to request telemetry data from any driver suspected of using third-party performance software. Failure to provide requested data or a guilty verdict may result in season or league bans.

3.3 Scoring

The league awards championship points based on finishing position, with bonus points awarded for pole position and fastest lap during races. Points details appear in the championship tracker's points reference tab.

3.4 Driver Divisions and Classes

3.4.1 Driver Classes

In GT3 Team Series competition, drivers are divided into divisions with 50 maximum participants. Each division contains two splits: Gold and Silver. Classification is determined by race data and hot stint server performance. New drivers receive provisional assignments based on qualifying results. The organization reserves rights to adjust classifications for competitive integrity, typically after race two. Split adjustments occur after race three, then remain locked.

3.4.2 Driver Names

Driver's name in ACC and Discord MUST match. The use of one's real name is NOT required. Names should be readable and pronounceable, with numbers and symbols discouraged. Registration occurs at simracingalliance.com/profile.

3.4.3 Driver Numbers

Driver number 1 is reserved for the previous season's Division 1 champion. Numbers 2–999 are available through simracingalliance.com/profile on a first-come basis. Numbers are retained under specific conditions:

• —Two months as new members
• —Two months post-participation in official championships
• —Indefinitely for current champions and sponsors
• —Through administrator discretion

Numbers are locked during active championship schedules.

3.5 Practice

Free practice sessions are available throughout the week with the same weather conditions as qualifying and the race. Drivers are encouraged to practice and adjust setups. Social interaction is permitted. While practice sessions lack stewarding, courtesy toward other drivers is expected.

3.6 Drivers Briefings

Race nights begin with mandatory drivers briefings in the designated Discord channel before official servers launch. Attendance is mandatory for all drivers participating in the race. Briefings cover race details, rule addendums, announcements, and server passwords. Drivers unable to attend should inform teammates of important information. Direct messaging administrators post-briefing is prohibited. All drivers are presumed knowledgeable of enforced rules on race day.

3.7 Race Delays Due To Server Issues

Should there be a problem with ACC servers, the organizers will provide LAN join instructions for official Sim Racing Alliance events. If problems persist beyond 30 minutes, staff may delay the event to a later time. The organization may modify these rules based on attendance considerations.

3.8 No Chat During Qualifying and Racing

Use of the in-game chat at any time in official race servers is strictly prohibited. Chat is reserved for administrators or staff communicating critical information. Drivers should remember others may still be racing when they finish. Violations may result in penalty warnings. Questions should be raised in appropriate Discord channels.

4. Qualifying Rules

Qualifying is held prior to race start and sets the starting order for the race based on each drivers' fastest lap time.

Qualifying will typically be split into two halves where the lower class drivers will set their times first, followed by the upper class drivers. For split-qualifying, drivers may finish their valid hot lap if the lap was initiated before their allotted time runs out. All other drivers who cross the finish line after their allotted time must pull over and return to the pits.

If a driver has been issued a qualifying ban, the driver is prohibited from participating in the qualifying session and must stay in their pit box. Failure to properly serve a qualifying ban may result in a disqualification in the qualifying session resulting in a pit lane start for that race, or the qualifying ban will carry over to the next race at the stewards/series managers' discretion.

4.1 Blue Flags During Qualifying

After invalidating a lap, a driver is then required to yield and leave sufficient space on track such that they do not hinder any driver behind on a flying lap. Drivers are required to make a clear and obvious effort to slow their car off of the racing line so as to not hinder oncoming drivers on flying laps, and only return to the racing line given a sufficient gap to the next driver behind.

Making a concerted effort to slow on a flying lap is construed as abandoning that flying lap, even if the lap is still valid. That driver is then required to yield and leave sufficient space on track such that they do not hinder any driver behind on a flying lap. Drivers are required to make a clear and obvious effort to slow their car off of the racing line so as to not hinder oncoming drivers on flying laps, and only return to the racing line given a sufficient gap to the next driver behind.

4.2 Overtaking During Qualifying

A driver is not allowed to overtake cars ahead that are on a flying valid lap unless it is clear and obvious that the car ahead has abandoned their lap and is leaving sufficient space to pass. Every driver is responsible to make sure there is a sufficient gap ahead at the start of a lap such that they will not overtake a car ahead on a flying lap.

4.3 Yellow Flags During Qualifying

Drivers on flying laps do not need to slow down or yield for yellow flags, but have the responsibility of avoiding collisions should there be an incident ahead. Do not report incidents where a lap was compromised due to avoiding a driver who has spun out and is stationary on track.

4.4 Pit Exit Line During Qualifying

During qualifying, drivers on a flying lap have the priority over cars exiting the pits. Take care not to impede those on a flying lap when exiting the pit lane. Note that the priority is reversed for the race in which cars exiting the pits and cars on track are both required to leave space for each other and all other racing rules apply.

Not observing these rules may result in qualifying warnings leading to a qualifying ban in a driver's next race.

5. Racing Rules

While we want to maintain fair and clean racing, accidents will happen. We will not tolerate abusing a driver that makes a mistake. Unless otherwise specified, we have a stewarding process to handle all on-track incidents through private tickets. Communication about tickets in public channels or direct messages to drivers, staff, and/or stewards will not be tolerated. Concerns may be brought to the attention of the administrators using the Admin-Help ticket tool. Harassment of others may result in a league ban.

While not mandatory, Sim Racing Alliance strongly suggests keeping the radar and a partial circuit map enabled while racing to prevent incidents.

5.1 Overlap

Overlap is defined by the front axle of the attacking car being alongside the rear axle of the defending car at the turn-in point of the defending car. This is not an exact science, so there is some leeway for drivers and Stewards to judge overlap; particularly on lap 1 where drivers are expected to be predictable with their positioning through corners while the grid is side by side.

5.2 Overtaking

In general, it is the responsibility of the car behind to choose a safe point to attempt an overtake, and to do so without causing an incident. Once the car behind establishes overlap, it becomes the responsibility of both drivers to avoid an incident.

While cornering, the driver behind must have established overlap to the car in front at the lead driver's turn-in point for the corner before they should attempt an overtake. If there is no overlap at this point, the leading driver has the right to their racing line and does not need to leave space for the attacking driver.

Any collision during an attempted overtake may be subject to a penalty. If a rear-end collision is predicted in a braking zone, it is recommended to aim for the outside of the corner to avoid contact. Note that the turn-in point is not the start of the braking zone; drivers can still out brake each other to establish overlap before turn-in.

5.3 Overtaking and Violating Track Limits

If an unfair advantage is gained from an off-track event, and an unfair advantage is gained from going off-track during an overtake (either as an attacker or defender), the position should be yielded to the other car, except if the off-track was made to avoid an incident. Stewards reserve the right to penalize keeping an unfair advantage from track limit violations.

5.4 Defending on the Straights and Squeezing

The leading/defending car can choose any line they want to drive as long as they are fully clear of the car behind. However, they may only make one change of direction to defend their position, and the defensive positioning must be done before the trailing/attacking car's pass attempt. Any reactionary defensive move that attempts to cut off the trajectory/momentum of the attacking car after they pull out is considered blocking/squeezing and subject to penalties at the steward's discretion.

After the leading/defending car has made their one defensive move off the racing line, they are allowed to move back towards the racing line before the braking zone if there is no overlap or the move back is done early enough for the trailing/attacking car to adjust their braking point. If the trailing/attacking car has gained overlap, the leading/defending must hold their line and give space to the attacking car.

On a straight, any amount of overlap entitles a car to side-by-side space (unlike corners where axle to axle overlap must be achieved before the turn in of the lead/defending car). After overlap has been achieved on a straight, both the attacking and defending cars are entitled to their current line and are not required to move away from their current line as they approach the next corner. A driver attempting to guide or squeeze a car across the track while overlap is established will be found at fault for any resulting contact.

Weaving, or continuously altering your driving line on a straight in an attempt to break the slipstream or deny overlap to a car behind, is not allowed and may be penalized at the steward's discretion.

5.5 Incidents During the Race / Failure to Hold Brakes / Unsafe Rejoins

If a driver has totally lost control of their car in an incident, they are required to hold their brakes until control is regained and there is a sufficient gap to rejoin the racing line. The goal is to be as predictable as possible so other drivers do not cause additional incidents.

If a driver is off-track, they must return to the track in a safe and predictable manner, and yield to cars that are on the racing line. More often than not, this means rejoining parallel to the track, off of the racing line. Unsafe rejoins and/or failure to hold brakes may result in a penalty at the discretion of the stewards.

5.6 Avoiding Incidents

Stewards will review incidents and assess whether or not more cars were indirectly involved. Actions such as forcing 3-wide, risky defending, and risky overtaking in the immediate vicinity of other cars can lead to such incidents. If cars that were indirectly involved are found to be at fault, they may be penalized by the stewards.

After crossing the checkered flag, intentionally making contact with another car is prohibited and doing so may result in a penalty based on the severity. This safety rule is due to the possibility of a wheelbase causing real physical harm to a person who is not anticipating contact.

5.7 Yellow Flags

Under yellow flags, drivers are advised to drive cautiously and approach the incident prepared to reduce speed and take evasive action, if necessary. Stewards will penalize incidents caused under yellow flags more severely.

5.8 Black and Orange (Meatball) Flags

In most cases, drivers are shown the black and orange flag when they need to pit for repairs or turn on their headlights. If repairs are needed, drivers may attempt to drive back to the pits. If they do so, drivers are recommended to activate their flashers (left and right turn signals) and do their best to stay off the racing line to allow faster traffic to overtake safely.

If drivers find they can not drive back to the pits, they can stop their car off track and teleport to the pits. This will result in ACC holding them in their pit stall for approximately 2–4 minutes. There is no additional penalty for teleporting to the pits. Note that the game will automatically disqualify any cars that finish a race under the black and orange flag.

5.9 Blue Flags

In a race, a blue flag being shown means a car is about to lap a driver. When under blue flags, a driver is not allowed to defend from the lapping car when the lapping car makes an overtaking attempt. This does not mean the blue-flagged driver has to immediately slow down to let the lapping car through. Instead, it is up to the car behind to make a safe overtake, and for the lapped car to make sure they do not defend going into the next corner. Blue-flagged drivers should drive predictably and hold their line to avoid an incident with the lapping car.

With that being said, it is still advised that blue-flagged drivers make it easy for lapping cars to pass them as this most often leads to the least amount of time lost for both cars. The best way to accomplish this is to lift while off of the racing line in the middle of the straight.

Drivers must yield the position to the lapping car within one full lap starting at the first marshal post to wave blue flags, regardless of pit strategy.

5.10 Unlapping

Drivers are allowed to unlap themselves from cars that are laps ahead. Please only do so if you are confident that you are significantly faster than the car ahead and can pull away from them. After you have unlapped yourself, remember you are still not allowed to defend as long as there are blue flags.

5.11 Pit Lane Etiquette

Once cleared of the white line, drivers are free to race. Dotted white lines may be crossed freely. Incidents resulting from pit line infringements will be punished more severely.

During qualifying sessions, drivers exiting the pits must not interfere with drivers currently running hot laps. During a race session, drivers leaving the pits have priority, therefore, must be left space by drivers on track.

Drivers are expected to adhere to pit lane limits at all times. Stewards may enforce pit entry/exit requirements during the race defined by failure to keep 4 wheels within the white lines on pit entry/exit.

Drivers are not required to signal entering the pits (although it can be helpful at some circuits).

5.12 Unsportsmanlike Conduct

Drivers are expected to race with intent to uphold the league mission statement and generally understood principles of sportsmanship. Intentionally ruining your own race with intent to influence the result against the favor of another driver(s) is subject to stewarding or additional disciplinary action from the admin team.

6. Penalties

Penalties are announced in the weekly incident report and remain subject to appeals for 24 hours after the report is published.

Sim Racing Alliance officials will not tolerate on-track retaliation of any kind. Any on-track retaliation will result in a race disqualification or a one-race ban. Depending on the severity, it may be escalated up to an immediate ban from the league.

6.1 Qualifying Penalties

Qualifying penalties are noted separately from race penalties. Stewards may apply qualifying warnings which include, but are not limited to completing a lap outside the assigned qualifying window, pit exit infractions, hindering/impeding, overtaking, and causing a collision. Two qualifying warnings in one season will result in a qualifying ban for the following race, but no penalty points are applied. For severe infractions during qualifying, stewards can assess a direct qualifying ban for the following race.

6.2 Race Penalties

6.2.1 Penalty Tiers

No Further Action (NFA): When the stewarding team believes there to be no incident, or no need to apply a penalty onto a single driver (i.e.: a racing incident).

Warning: The smallest penalty denomination that stewards may issue. Warnings may be issued to call attention to aggressive or unsafe driving behaviours such as excessive bump and runs, excessive weaving, moving under braking, etc. One penalty point will be issued for every two warnings awarded within the span of two races.

Penalty Points (PP): For mild to severe infringement of the sporting regulations, the stewards will issue penalty point(s) against the infringing driver's License. Penalty point(s) will remain on the license for 8 races.

Time Penalties: For mild to severe infringement of the sporting regulations, the stewards will issue time penalties that will be added to the total race time of the offending driver in the respective race.

Post-Race Penalties: For severe infractions, the stewards will issue additional penalties that must be served in future races after the infraction occurred.

Penalty Tier Summary:

6.2.2 Penalty Point Structure

Multiple penalty point infractions acquired in the same race or consecutive races will result in an additional penalty point being applied. This behaves similar to the "warning" system, where two infractions result in a full penalty point. For example, if two penalties for 1pp each are earned in consecutive races, a third penalty point will be automatically applied. See section 6.2.1 for further information regarding warnings.

Penalty points will be calculated on an 8 race rolling basis, including between seasons. Penalties for each tier of penalty point accrual will only be administered once per season (i.e.: one qualifying ban (4pp), one pit lane start (6pp), one race ban (8pp)). However, the penalty points are not cleared after serving a penalty. Additionally, the penalty must be served in attendance of an official race, meaning failure to attend does not count as serving a penalty. See below for further details.

Post-race penalty summary:

6.2.3 Serving Penalties

Time penalties will be retroactively applied to the respective race results by the organizers. Stop-go-30's are the exception and must be served during the following race.

Qualifying bans and pit lane starts will be enforced by the organizers at the start of the driver's following qualifying session. Enforcement will be issued in the form of in-game disqualification during the qualifying session.

All penalties that affect future races will remain active for TWO races, meaning the driver will have to serve the penalty even if they voluntarily skip one race. If a driver skips two races, the penalty will be cleared. Penalties will not roll over to the following season.

Note that all stacking penalties must be served. If two qualifying bans are earned, they must be served across two races. The attendance rule above still applies, however.

6.2.4 Returning Position

If a driver waits to return the position after causing an incident, the time penalty will be downgraded while still retaining any penalty point(s) if given. For incidents at a penalty tier that include penalty point(s), the additional warning will also be removed.

6.2.5 Lap One Incidents

All lap one incidents will be automatically reviewed by the stewards and will be classified as L1AUTO in the penalty report. It is still encouraged to submit tickets for lap 1 incidents to provide further context for the stewards to consider.

All lap one incidents will have the penalty escalated by one tier because lap 1 incidents often detrimentally affect the race outcome. For severe cases, an additional penalty may be administered in the form of a 30s time penalty applied to the offending driver's next race.

6.2.6 Returning from a Season Ban

If a driver accumulates 10 penalty points over an 8-race span, they will be assessed a season ban. If this occurs during the first 4 races of the season, at the discretion of the admin team, the driver will be banned for at least 2 races and will not be able to race again until their penalty point total is below 10. Once both of these criteria are met, they may then be allowed to race under our probationary policy for the remainder of the season. Drivers returning from a season ban from the prior season will be allowed to return for the next season but must begin the season under probation.

Probation policy: Previously banned drivers must not accumulate 3 penalty points in the first 4 races they participate in. If 3 penalty points are earned in the 4-race probationary period, the driver will receive another season ban and will not be allowed to race until the following season.

6.3 Reporting Incidents

Sim Racing Alliance stewards use the ticketing tool in Discord. A driver must create a new ticket for each incident that they wish to report using the Submit-a-Ticket ticket tool in Discord. Drivers MUST review their own incidents via replays before submitting a ticket. The ticket must include the information requested in the prompt provided by the ticket tool. This includes screenshots or videos for each incident.

While not required, if a driver causes an incident, the league strongly recommends our community members to reach out to the involved driver(s) via direct messages to apologize.

6.4 Post-Race Stewarding

A driver must submit incident reports within 24 hours after the respective race ends. Tickets are to be strictly limited to submission by the cars involved, or by teammates of the cars involved in an incident. Reporting a third-party incident is strictly forbidden.

Stewards will go over all tickets and post a penalty report in the penalties channel of the Discord. If a steward or a steward's teammate was involved in an incident, they will not be involved in the ruling for that particular incident.

6.5 Report Format

Ticket submissions are required to provide the information requested in the prompt provided by the ticket tool. If a ticket does not follow the format or fails to provide all information requested, the ticket may be deemed invalid and may not be reviewed by the stewards.

6.6 Appealing

Drivers can appeal post-race stewarding decisions if they feel that the penalty issued in the penalty report was unfair. Only the penalized driver may submit an appeal.

To submit a post-race appeal, the penalized driver must submit a new ticket within 24 hours after the stewards post the penalty report in the Penalties channel of the Discord. In the new ticket, it is required to reference the original ticket number for which the appeal is opened and include justification for a different ruling. Drivers are limited to 3 denied Appeals per season. Once a driver reaches 3 denied appeals, they lose the ability to have their appeals reviewed for the rest of the season.

Stewards will have a fresh look at the incident and post an appeal report later in the week.

Appendix A: Changelog

Season 17 Changes

• —Updated Section 6.1 to expand qualifying penalties

Season 16 Changes

• —Updated Section 6.2.6 to adjust season ban policy when ban occurs during the first half of season.
• —Adjusted probation policy to better align with the repeat offender clause.

Season 15 Changes

• —Added verbiage to Section 5.1 regarding expectations for lap 1 racecraft and behavior.
• —Added verbiage to Section 5.4 regarding weaving on the straights.
• —Added new Section 5.12 for unsportsmanlike conduct.
• —Added a denied-appeal limit to Section 6.6.

Season 13 Changes

• —Updates to Section 5.6 - Avoiding Incidents, Section 6.2.1 - Penalty Tiers, & Section 6.2.4 - Returning Position.

Season 12 Changes

• —Updated and clarified Section 5.4, defending and squeezing on straights.

Season 11 Changes

• —Added details to Section 5.11 regarding consequences for removing pit boards.
• —Changed the harshest lap 1 penalty from 30s in the following race to a qualifying ban in the following race. See Section 6.2.1.
• —Tweaked penalty point application, adding an additional penalty point for any two infractions during the same or consecutive races. See Section 6.2.2.

Season 7 Changes

• —Added details regarding driver number selection and availability.
• —Added the admin right to request telemetry data if a driver is suspected of cheating.
• —Changed the 4-penalty-point tier from a pit lane start to a qualifying ban.
• —Implemented an absolute blue flag rule, active regardless of pit strategy differences.
• —General condensing and clean-up.

Season 6 Changes

• —No changes.

Season 5 Changes

• —For races with greater than 50 drivers, priority goes to drivers with teammates instead of fastest practice times.
• —Included LAN server clause if Kunos servers are down or causing delays.
• —Added "Drivers' Briefing" section.
• —Included clause for qualifying bans in the "Qualifying Rules" section.
• —Clarified all qualifying rules, no major changes.
• —Clarified all racing rules, no major changes.
• —Clarified grounds for qualifying warnings.
• —Removed penalties that award 3pp for a single incident, removed the SG30 penalty, created a warning +5s.
• —Replaced qualifying ban for 4 accrued penalty points with an additional pit lane start.
• —Added "Serving Penalties" section for race-to-race rollover.
• —Added "Returning from a Season Ban" section.
• —Added clause limiting drivers to submitting tickets on their own or their teammate's incidents in the "Post-Race Stewarding" section.
• —Removed limit of 3 failed appeals.