Post by NothelleN340 on Oct 14, 2020 15:47:49 GMT
Welcome to Series 5 of the AX2R BTCC.
This is a series based around the infamous British Touring Cars Championship using Forza Motorsport 7 on the Xbox One. Whilst not all the cars and tracks are available, we use what we have to emulate it the best we can, using 6 different pre-built Touring Cars balanced to the best standards we can get to, for a multitude of circuits - some cars will suit some tracks and not others but over a season we hope it will bring a good balance of performance.
- Audi RS3
- Audi S3
- BMW 1 Series
- Chevrolet Cruze
- Honda Civic
- Mercedes A45
When possible we use the tracks available, though, we have worked hard to find replacement tracks to offer the same mix provided on the actual BTCC Calendar.
The season starts Friday October 30th and will run for 8 consecutive weeks from this date.
Ending the week before Christmas on December 18th
The series is restricted to 32 drivers and two lobbies, if you don't believe you can make all the races then be sure to make note of this on your sign up sheet. Series registration preference will be given to those who have competed with us previously and completed series, rather than those who fail to show up.
Qualifying
Ensure you have both myself, NothelleN340 and NWR Bradders (formerly SVR Bradders) added to your friends list. We will not send invites, unless there are server issues preventing you from joining, in which case send an Xbox message, it is up to you to get into the lobby as our lobbies will be open to anyone to join (those not registered for the series will be kicked from the lobby. There will be a 15 minute qualifying session starting at 2230 UK (1830 week 1 USA Eastern, 1730 week 2 onwards due to a clock change) this will be determined by laps equating to 15minutes, so this will vary across the season depending which track we are at. Qualifying will be ghosted (ensure your car does not have tinted windows), with simulation damage on, and carry on until the end, no need to stop on track to take results. Traction control is not allowed, friction assist will be off, whilst ABS is allowed. All cars will qualify UNRESTRICTED for each and every round
Qualifying will determine which lobby you start in as both lobbies times will be collated and sorted, the fastest 16 will make Lobby 1 with the remaining spots going into Lobby 2
Racing
There will be 3 races in total, with Race 1 set to start at 2300 (or as close as possible to that time). The grid(s) will be determined by qualifying as above and will last for the equivalent of 20minutes including the warm up lap to ensure all the race is included in the replay when possible.
There will be 1 warm up lap with each driver proceeding round the track at 80mph, leaving a generous space to the car ahead, any damage incurred on the warm up lap is your own responsibility, you may enter the pit lane but must wait for the pack to go past as you wait at the end of the pit lane off the track. Anyone damaged by another driver on the warm up lap may go to the pits to repair damage and retake their spot on the grid - the offending driver will then face a post race penalty so please drive carefully on the warm up lap.
The pack will form on the grid in the correct order. On certain tracks without grid markings (mostly US ones) there will be a 25 foot gap (7.6m) between each car. Once the last driver is in place, inform the party host who will give a time for the race to start (usually 15 seconds after the last car is in place) using the race timer (not the lap timer)
Race 2 will be the finishing order of race 1. The top 3 of Lobby 2 will be promoted to Lobby 1, taking the place of the bottom 3 who will go to Lobby 2 and start at the front of that grid in the order they finished, ie, P14-P1, P15-P2, P16-P3. Any one who missed qualifying will start at the back of Lobby 2 due to not setting a time
Race 3 will be the finishing order of race 2, again with the top/bottom 3 of each lobby trading places, but with a partial random grid reversal for the top 6-12 positions in Lobby 1 only. This will be done by a random number generator (Alexa) so if number 6 is called, then the top 6 on the grid will switch around. If number 12 is called, then the top 12 will switch around and so on.
Restrictions
As in the BTCC, we use a success ballast system, but as we cannot add weights to the cars we do this via a Grip Handicap. There are 3 restriction groups to be used:
Group 1 (RED) - unrestricted. All cars outside the top 6 in the championship will use this group to start the race weekend. Any finishers outside the top 6 will then go into this group
Group 2 (BLUE) - Top Restriction. This will be a 5% grip loss to the driven wheels*. This will apply to positions 1-3 in the championship for Race 1. The finishing positions from Race 1 and Race 2 will then have these restrictions applied to the following races in Lobby 1 only. Lobby 2 will be UNRESTRICTED all evening to allow for fair promotion back to Lobby 1
Group 3 (GREEN) - Middle Restriction. This will be a 5% grip loss to the non-driven wheels*. This will apply to positions 4-6 in the championship for Race 1. The finishing positions from Race 1 and Race 2 will then have these restrictions applied to the following races. Anyone joining from Round 3 onwards will instantly go into the Group 3 restriction (non-driven wheel grip loss) for their first race if they qualify for Lobby 1, this is to ensure they are not joining late on to avoid any early restrictions that others will accrue from the first 2 rounds and to give a sense of fairness due to the following dropped races feature below.
*For any BMW drivers, you will be in the opposite restriction group to the FWD cars even if you are in the same grouping, 1-3 or 4-6. So if you are P1-3 in the standings, you will go into Group 3 which will affect the rear grip of your car as this is a bigger penalty than a front grip loss on that car.
The final Round of the season will run without any restrictions applied to any car, meaning there is no reason to sandbag in the penultimate round to help avoid any restrictions.
Dropped Races
We understand people cannot make it to every race weekend as life can get in the way with work, holidays, social meets and the like, so as a result we use a dropped races feature. For this season it will be a drivers worst 5 races, meaning you could miss almost 2 whole weekends and still be in with a chance of winning the title. This will be updated as the season goes on, so what you score on a weekend may not end up being the actual score you find added to your championship total. Any race in which a penalty is applied to your final result, will not be included in the dropped round system. This will be implemented after Round 2 takes place
Driving Standards
Here at AX2R we like to encourage racing above all else, but good driving standards do apply to our series. As in the BTCC, we do not tolerate "push to pass" manoeuvres, in which a driver hits the back of the car in front to push him wide under braking and taking the place away. If this happens and an SI is sent in, it will be a 5 second penalty for each incident. If the driver is pushed completely off track this could result in a 10-20 second penalty given the severity of the hit, or if even more serious it could be a race disqualification. A jump start will result in a 10 second penalty so be sure not to go too soon.
Contact is to be expected from time to time, but ensure to give opponents space, if you are on the outside and turning in to the back of a car on the inside line the inevitable Forza physics may take over, whilst not always avoidable, the best thing to do is turn away, release the accelerator and brake. It may not prevent you going in to the barriers, but it could prevent the two of you doing so and prevent an even bigger incident for all others around you. Penalties may be given out if the stewards believe it was an avoidable incident.
Safety Car
We will only utilise a safety car for the first 3 laps of a race and only if 3 or more cars are involved in an incident. If the 3rd lap has been completed by the leader then there will be no safety car calls. If you do find yourself in an incident in which a safety car may be required within those first 3 laps, be sure to raise awareness of this by stating who and where. Only the designated host will call a safety car.
At this point all cars will slow to 50mph and bunch up behind the leader. Damaged cars may overtake the pack to get back to the pits, but must not overtake other damaged cars unless one is badly stricken and unable to go above 70mph. Repaired cars will be allowed to join the back of the pack, once all cars are in place then the leader will take control of the pace at a designated spot on the track, deciding when to go. All cars must travel in single file and cannot overtake before the line. As with the warm up lap, space must be given to the car ahead when under safety car conditions, any damage caused to yourself will not result in any safety car extensions so be warned.
Serious Incidents
Hopefully all replays can be saved and shared should you need to review any incidents. When getting a clip, ensure it's either 15-30 seconds long unless required to be longer, showing Chase Far camera view with Telemetry switched on to show driver inputs (throttle, brake, steering etc) from the point of view of ALL drivers involved. Leave the camera view behind the car at full speed, no need to slow it down or pan around the car unless you feel a supplementary clip is needed showing this. Any clips taken from a replay not following the above format will be ignored as they do not contain the relevant information. Please see example attached HERE as to what is needed in each clip.
Any clips taken during the game will also be looked into whether it be from a stream or a clip taken at the time, but please provide a replay based clip when possible to ensure fairness as lag can often be a factor.
To submit a Serious Incident form please use the following form - HERE
Warnings and Penalties from any submitted SI's will be placed in the relevant topic. All SI's must be submitted by midnight on Tuesday after the race
We always intend to have the whole set of qualifying and races completed by 12:30am and no later than 1am. If you feel you cannot make all the races in the evening or across the season then please inform myself so we can make the space for available for others wanting to join for that particular round
This is a series based around the infamous British Touring Cars Championship using Forza Motorsport 7 on the Xbox One. Whilst not all the cars and tracks are available, we use what we have to emulate it the best we can, using 6 different pre-built Touring Cars balanced to the best standards we can get to, for a multitude of circuits - some cars will suit some tracks and not others but over a season we hope it will bring a good balance of performance.
- Audi RS3
- Audi S3
- BMW 1 Series
- Chevrolet Cruze
- Honda Civic
- Mercedes A45
When possible we use the tracks available, though, we have worked hard to find replacement tracks to offer the same mix provided on the actual BTCC Calendar.
The season starts Friday October 30th and will run for 8 consecutive weeks from this date.
Ending the week before Christmas on December 18th
The series is restricted to 32 drivers and two lobbies, if you don't believe you can make all the races then be sure to make note of this on your sign up sheet. Series registration preference will be given to those who have competed with us previously and completed series, rather than those who fail to show up.
Qualifying
Ensure you have both myself, NothelleN340 and NWR Bradders (formerly SVR Bradders) added to your friends list. We will not send invites, unless there are server issues preventing you from joining, in which case send an Xbox message, it is up to you to get into the lobby as our lobbies will be open to anyone to join (those not registered for the series will be kicked from the lobby. There will be a 15 minute qualifying session starting at 2230 UK (1830 week 1 USA Eastern, 1730 week 2 onwards due to a clock change) this will be determined by laps equating to 15minutes, so this will vary across the season depending which track we are at. Qualifying will be ghosted (ensure your car does not have tinted windows), with simulation damage on, and carry on until the end, no need to stop on track to take results. Traction control is not allowed, friction assist will be off, whilst ABS is allowed. All cars will qualify UNRESTRICTED for each and every round
Qualifying will determine which lobby you start in as both lobbies times will be collated and sorted, the fastest 16 will make Lobby 1 with the remaining spots going into Lobby 2
Racing
There will be 3 races in total, with Race 1 set to start at 2300 (or as close as possible to that time). The grid(s) will be determined by qualifying as above and will last for the equivalent of 20minutes including the warm up lap to ensure all the race is included in the replay when possible.
There will be 1 warm up lap with each driver proceeding round the track at 80mph, leaving a generous space to the car ahead, any damage incurred on the warm up lap is your own responsibility, you may enter the pit lane but must wait for the pack to go past as you wait at the end of the pit lane off the track. Anyone damaged by another driver on the warm up lap may go to the pits to repair damage and retake their spot on the grid - the offending driver will then face a post race penalty so please drive carefully on the warm up lap.
The pack will form on the grid in the correct order. On certain tracks without grid markings (mostly US ones) there will be a 25 foot gap (7.6m) between each car. Once the last driver is in place, inform the party host who will give a time for the race to start (usually 15 seconds after the last car is in place) using the race timer (not the lap timer)
Race 2 will be the finishing order of race 1. The top 3 of Lobby 2 will be promoted to Lobby 1, taking the place of the bottom 3 who will go to Lobby 2 and start at the front of that grid in the order they finished, ie, P14-P1, P15-P2, P16-P3. Any one who missed qualifying will start at the back of Lobby 2 due to not setting a time
Race 3 will be the finishing order of race 2, again with the top/bottom 3 of each lobby trading places, but with a partial random grid reversal for the top 6-12 positions in Lobby 1 only. This will be done by a random number generator (Alexa) so if number 6 is called, then the top 6 on the grid will switch around. If number 12 is called, then the top 12 will switch around and so on.
Restrictions
As in the BTCC, we use a success ballast system, but as we cannot add weights to the cars we do this via a Grip Handicap. There are 3 restriction groups to be used:
Group 1 (RED) - unrestricted. All cars outside the top 6 in the championship will use this group to start the race weekend. Any finishers outside the top 6 will then go into this group
Group 2 (BLUE) - Top Restriction. This will be a 5% grip loss to the driven wheels*. This will apply to positions 1-3 in the championship for Race 1. The finishing positions from Race 1 and Race 2 will then have these restrictions applied to the following races in Lobby 1 only. Lobby 2 will be UNRESTRICTED all evening to allow for fair promotion back to Lobby 1
Group 3 (GREEN) - Middle Restriction. This will be a 5% grip loss to the non-driven wheels*. This will apply to positions 4-6 in the championship for Race 1. The finishing positions from Race 1 and Race 2 will then have these restrictions applied to the following races. Anyone joining from Round 3 onwards will instantly go into the Group 3 restriction (non-driven wheel grip loss) for their first race if they qualify for Lobby 1, this is to ensure they are not joining late on to avoid any early restrictions that others will accrue from the first 2 rounds and to give a sense of fairness due to the following dropped races feature below.
*For any BMW drivers, you will be in the opposite restriction group to the FWD cars even if you are in the same grouping, 1-3 or 4-6. So if you are P1-3 in the standings, you will go into Group 3 which will affect the rear grip of your car as this is a bigger penalty than a front grip loss on that car.
The final Round of the season will run without any restrictions applied to any car, meaning there is no reason to sandbag in the penultimate round to help avoid any restrictions.
Dropped Races
We understand people cannot make it to every race weekend as life can get in the way with work, holidays, social meets and the like, so as a result we use a dropped races feature. For this season it will be a drivers worst 5 races, meaning you could miss almost 2 whole weekends and still be in with a chance of winning the title. This will be updated as the season goes on, so what you score on a weekend may not end up being the actual score you find added to your championship total. Any race in which a penalty is applied to your final result, will not be included in the dropped round system. This will be implemented after Round 2 takes place
Driving Standards
Here at AX2R we like to encourage racing above all else, but good driving standards do apply to our series. As in the BTCC, we do not tolerate "push to pass" manoeuvres, in which a driver hits the back of the car in front to push him wide under braking and taking the place away. If this happens and an SI is sent in, it will be a 5 second penalty for each incident. If the driver is pushed completely off track this could result in a 10-20 second penalty given the severity of the hit, or if even more serious it could be a race disqualification. A jump start will result in a 10 second penalty so be sure not to go too soon.
Contact is to be expected from time to time, but ensure to give opponents space, if you are on the outside and turning in to the back of a car on the inside line the inevitable Forza physics may take over, whilst not always avoidable, the best thing to do is turn away, release the accelerator and brake. It may not prevent you going in to the barriers, but it could prevent the two of you doing so and prevent an even bigger incident for all others around you. Penalties may be given out if the stewards believe it was an avoidable incident.
Safety Car
We will only utilise a safety car for the first 3 laps of a race and only if 3 or more cars are involved in an incident. If the 3rd lap has been completed by the leader then there will be no safety car calls. If you do find yourself in an incident in which a safety car may be required within those first 3 laps, be sure to raise awareness of this by stating who and where. Only the designated host will call a safety car.
At this point all cars will slow to 50mph and bunch up behind the leader. Damaged cars may overtake the pack to get back to the pits, but must not overtake other damaged cars unless one is badly stricken and unable to go above 70mph. Repaired cars will be allowed to join the back of the pack, once all cars are in place then the leader will take control of the pace at a designated spot on the track, deciding when to go. All cars must travel in single file and cannot overtake before the line. As with the warm up lap, space must be given to the car ahead when under safety car conditions, any damage caused to yourself will not result in any safety car extensions so be warned.
Serious Incidents
Hopefully all replays can be saved and shared should you need to review any incidents. When getting a clip, ensure it's either 15-30 seconds long unless required to be longer, showing Chase Far camera view with Telemetry switched on to show driver inputs (throttle, brake, steering etc) from the point of view of ALL drivers involved. Leave the camera view behind the car at full speed, no need to slow it down or pan around the car unless you feel a supplementary clip is needed showing this. Any clips taken from a replay not following the above format will be ignored as they do not contain the relevant information. Please see example attached HERE as to what is needed in each clip.
Any clips taken during the game will also be looked into whether it be from a stream or a clip taken at the time, but please provide a replay based clip when possible to ensure fairness as lag can often be a factor.
To submit a Serious Incident form please use the following form - HERE
Warnings and Penalties from any submitted SI's will be placed in the relevant topic. All SI's must be submitted by midnight on Tuesday after the race
We always intend to have the whole set of qualifying and races completed by 12:30am and no later than 1am. If you feel you cannot make all the races in the evening or across the season then please inform myself so we can make the space for available for others wanting to join for that particular round