1. Introduction
Welcome to the RaceDepartment PS4 GP F1 2020 League. Below, you will find the Official Race Rules and Regulations from RaceDepartment which will be adhered to within this season.
2. Definitions
- RaceDepartment: The organisational body and host located at www.racedepartment.com and sub-sites.
- Staff: The group of persons organizing the leagues for RaceDepartment.
- Driver: The operator of the car.
- Chat/Messages: This refers to the use of the console chat function/ Discord and private messages which drivers can use to send messages to each other and staff can use to make informal announcements. Formal announcements will be made on the forum ONLY.
- Cutting/Extending: This refers to a driver taking an illegal line through a corner. In this league, cutting will be determined by F1 2020's in game rules but staff may apply subsequent rules on a track by track basis.
3. Orientation
3.1 Forum
The forum is the most important tool of communication between the staff and the drivers. Every driver therefore needs to have a forum account on RaceDepartment to allow this communication.
The drivers are expected to keep themselves updated on the contents of the forum of the specific league they wish to enter. That forum contains the important information about the league itself (such as the calendar, briefings and sign-up instructions). It is the driver's responsibility to maintain up to date with the forum based information.
If a driver is going to be absent for an upcoming event, they should inform the organisers on the forum in the relevant race thread.
3.2 League Management
Hasnain Aslam - PS4 GP Lead Organiser
3.3 Conditions
Sim racing is a difficult sport that requires preparation and practice from drivers to perform well. RaceDepartment demands of their drivers that they prepare themselves well before a league. This means that the driver has to have enough control over the car to drive a series of clean laps at a reasonable pace without spinning, or crashing it. It also means that the driver knows the tracks well enough to cleanly drive the ideal line and to overtake or be overtaken without causing an accident. The driver must adopt a clean driving style, through which he always tries to avoid heavy contact with other drivers and the barriers. RaceDepartment leagues are meant for clean and competitive races, not for demolition derbies..
Every driver that enters this league at RaceDepartment automatically agrees to respect and keep to the RaceDepartment League Regulations as written in this document and agrees to respect the authority of the staff.
Any member of staff holds the right to remove or exclude any driver at any time from any league held at RaceDepartment if they think that driver has failed to meet these conditions. In this league, warnings will be issued verbally and in writing prior to dismissal.
4. General Information
Races will be held on Tuesday evenings at 8pm UK Time. Races will be run using the Short Qualifying Format, and race length will be set to 50%. The Championship will start on 28th July and will finish on 24th November with break weeks on 1st September and 13th October. This league will be run with no assists.
5. Raceday
All drivers must state their availability in the relevant race thread before each race. Drivers are expected to be on time and ready to join the lobby at least 10 mins before the official start time. If a driver is expecting to be late to the event, they are expected to inform one of the organisers in advance to avoid major delays.
5.1 Qualification
This is the official start of the event. Through this session the grid order for the race is determined. At the end of the session the fastest lap of each driver counts and the driver with the fastest lap-time gets to start from pole position.
Alternatively, if significant issues arise, organisers reserve the right to manually set the grid via a restarted session.
5.2 Race
The final session and the one it’s all about. The race length can either be determined by an amount of laps or an amount of time. It is decided before the season starts which one applies to the races of that season. The first driver to cover the distance wins the race. This season will run 50% race distance with no time limit.
5.3 Start procedure & formation lap
Races for this season will start with a formation lap leading races to commence with a game automated standing start. In the very rare event that a manual start is required. Drivers will organise themselves into qualifying order manually on race lap 1 and then the race proper will be determined by the driver in P1. If a second lap is required, this is the staff decision. Alternatively, staff may decide to restart the session using a manual grid creator on F1 2020.
5.4 Point distribution
After the race has finished points are awarded to the drivers. You can find the scoring system below. It is the same for all RaceDepartment´s official leagues unless stated otherwise in the specific league forums.
P1 - 25
P2 - 18
P3 - 15
P4 - 12
P5 - 10
P6 - 8
P7 - 6
P8 - 4
P9 - 2
P10 – 1
1 bonus point is awarded to the driver who scores the fastest lap provided they finish within the top 10. If no driver within the top 10 gets the fastest lap then no bonus points are awarded.
A driver can only score points when he has covered 75% of the race distance. This may vary on a per-league basis.
5.5 Team championship
Drivers enter the series on an individual basis. However they can sign up under a team banner. Depending on the type of series a team entry consists of two drivers only. Unless stated otherwise in the league rules. Formula One rules permit two drivers per team. Teams are selected once signups have been completed and selection priority is based on results from previous seasons in the RaceDepartment PS4 F1 league.
6. Driving & Behaviouristic Rules
Racing can be complicated and difficult situations arise in nearly every event. To provide some footing RaceDepartment uses the following rules on driving and behavior.
6.1 The track and cutting
Racing happens on the track, not off the track. To create a clear picture of what the track is and where to drive a definition is provided here. The track is a strip, usually of tarmac or concrete, edged by clearly defined lines (usually white, sometimes yellow). Everything outside these lines is not part of the track. So curbstones, grass areas, gravel traps, walls and tarmac or concrete outside the lines are not part of the track. Sometimes there are no lines. In that case the track is edged by curbstones, grass areas, gravel traps or walls; whatever is the nearest.
Drivers must always, whilst being in control of the car, remain within the track edges and thus over the track surface with at least two wheels. When a driver takes a shorter, off-track, route through a corner, the move is considered as cutting. Cutting is forbidden at all times. When a driver is reported cutting he risks a penalty. When a driver takes a longer, off-track, route, around the corner, it is also considered cutting. RaceDepartment tolerates minor violations of the rules in the case of taking the longer route, however excessive violation will still be penalised.
The adjudication of track limits is at the discretion of the league administrator as to whether there will be post-race checking for cuts, or to rely on reports from drivers (see article 7). To be on the safe side, all drivers can approach track limits by weighing up the following scenarios:
- Remain within the track limits, and never worry about being penalised.
- Exceed track limits and then have to lift off, thus losing an appropriate amount of time.
- Lose control of the car and lose a lot of time.
- Don't lift off and risk receiving a penalty.
6.2 Overtaking and Defending
Passing an opponent is harder than it looks and often results in tears. Therefore, RaceDepartment uses some basic rules to prevent accidents.
A) Overtaking means going past someone, not through them. Drivers are not allowed to push cars out of the way in order to overtake them. Though contact may not always be avoidable, it may not act as a means to make the pass.
B) A driver can only attempt a pass when there is room for it and when the chance is reasonably high that it becomes successful without heavy contact. On road courses this means that the overtaking car must be able to get a significant overlap** with the defending car before they get to the point of turn-in for a corner. On ovals any bit of overlap is enough to claim space.
C) The defending driver is allowed to defend his position by changing lines once per straight. As soon as the overtaking car has overlap on the straight the defending driver can only use the width of the track between the overtaking car on the one side and the track boundary on the other side to move in, without applying physical force to widen it. Retaking the racing line for a corner is not classed as making a defensive move, provided it is done safely and does not contravene other racing rules.
**"Significant overlap" is defined as the attacking car having any portion of it's front wheels in-line with any portion of the defending car's rear wheels. Any less than this, and the defending car will not be obliged to leave room.
6.3 Chatting
To drive a proper race a certain amount of concentration is required. To make sure this concentration is not broken it is forbidden to text chat during qualification and race sessions. Only the staff may use the text chat to communicate important information to the drivers. There are no exceptions to this rule. Offenders will be penalized. Verbal communication via console party chat is voluntary and accepted. Chat must not be made in-game.
6.4 Re-joining the track
If you accidentally leave the track for whatever reason you must wait until there is a clear, safe gap before rejoining the track. Upon rejoining the track you must get up to speed as quickly as possible without blocking the racing line.
7. Incidents, Appeals & Penalties
It may happen that rules get violated. In such cases it is up to the drivers to report the violation in the appropriate stewarding thread. The staff encourages the parties involved in the incident to discuss the incident before reporting to the stewards. The stewards will only investigate incidents that are reported by drivers within 48 hours of the start of the event.
No report = no investigation = no penalty
An incident report must always contain.
- The name of the reported driver (the violator)
- The race name/number and lap number of the incident
- A private YouTube video (or similar) is recommended showing the incident from various angles (Top view, chase view, cockpit view, other drivers view etc). (No music please).
- A short description of the incident, without rant.
You must always send the report with your own forum account. You can only send a report if you were actually in the race. A report from an outsider will not be considered. You may ask another driver to send their footage of the incident as well to support your report The staff will then investigate the incident. Incomplete reports will not be considered.
8. Lobby Settings
Session Options
- AI Driver Level - 90
- Category - F1 2020
- Car Performance - Equal
- Maximum Players - 22
- Practice Length - None
- Qualifying - Short (18 min)
- Race Distance - 50%
- Quick Weather - Dynamic
- Sessions Start Time - Official (unless stated)
- Session Privacy - Invite Only
Race Settings
- Parc Fermé Rules - On
- Collisions - On
- Vehicle Damage - Full
- Ghosting - On
- Car Setup - Full
- Safety Car - On
- Rules and Flags - On
- Corner Cutting Stringency - Strict
- Formation Lap - On
- Race Starts - Manual
- Tyre Temperature - Surface & Carcass
Assist Restrictions
- Anti-Lock Brackes - Off
- Traction Control - Off
- Gearbox - Automatic
- Pit Assist - Off
- Pit Release Assist - Off
- Dynamic Racing Line - Off
- ERS Assist - Off
- DRS Assist - Off
- Fuel Assist - Off
9. Disclaimer
By entering in a RaceDepartment league the team, team owner and any of its drivers accept the following terms:
A) RaceDepartment can and may expose the name of the teams and drivers, as well as their cars and liveries in live broadcasts, preview and review movies, screenshots, articles, news items and league-related posts publicly on the website, forums or social media.
B) RaceDepartment cannot and will not be held responsible for the unauthorized use of branding and logos on the livery of the cars. This responsibility always lies with the driver. RaceDepartment advises drivers to ask for written permission of the companies, associations and foundations whose branding and logos they use.
The staff wishes you a great racing experience at RaceDepartment!