League Rules

Race with the spirit of drivers from the 1960s, when an accident would often cost lives.
Leave space for fair and exciting side by side racing.
Aim to overtake your opponent, not to damage them.
Intentional actions are never tolerated and lead to penalties.
Mistakes happen. Learn from them, they become an issue only if repeated.
Protests can be submitted in Discord after a race, but it is much easier to just discuss the incidents with the drivers involved as a learning opportunity for all.

No blocking

Blocking is voluntarily damaging your opponent; it is illegal and harshly penalized.
Race and let race, it is much more exciting.

Blocking is moving in reaction to the car behind, trying to impede its progress.
Even one move can be blocking.
If you move before the car behind, you are defending and it is allowed.
If you move after they do, that is reacting. If it forces the trailing car to take evasive action, such as braking or changing line to avoid you, it counts as blocking and results in harsh penalties.
Think about driving on a motorway. If there is a car slightly behind you in the next lane, you cannot move across and occupy that lane.

No dive bombing, corner rights.

Generally speaking, you must establish significant overlap before turn in to have a right to the corner. Significant overlap at braking point is safer but not always achievable.
Significant overlap, also referred to as being alongside, means being at least at helmet level, so that you are visible. Front wing to rear tyre is not enough.
If you are attacking and are not alongside, any car contact will be your fault.
If you are defending and there is overlap, any car contact is your fault.
Regardless of the above, you must always remain fully in control and allow space for side by side racing. Braking very late, going wide instead of remaining close to the apex, and causing contact is a problem.
Late dives and not leaving space resulting in car contact are protestable and punishable.
Gaining a position with a late dive, for instance forcing the other driver to give up the position or have a crash, is protestable and punishable.

Always leave racing space

Race and let race, it is more fun for drivers and spectators. Always aim to leave enough space for side by side racing, whether you are the attacker or defender.
Do not force your opponents off-track; do not take the track away from them. If two cars are alongside midcorner, they need to exit alongside as well. If you are on the inside, for instance, you cannot just open up to track side on exit and leave the opponent with nowhere to go.

Take it easy at the start

Active overtaking is forbidden for the first few corners of the race. The exact zone is different at each circuit and is shown in magenta on the map in that week's race briefing. You are allowed to pass a car if that is the safest course of action, for instance because it had stalled on the grid. However, active overtakes aimed at gaining a position are not allowed.

Three wide attacks are forbidden for the entire first lap.

Watch for the concertina effect through the opening corners.

The aim of the first few corners is to safely get in line before starting to race hard.
This is unfortunately necessary to avoid crashes that are disastrous in a 40+ car field.
The safest option in the first few corners is to maintain a constant gap to the car ahead of you. Speed differentials are dangerous.

Stay on the racing surface

The track is delimited by the solid paint lines, usually white. Generally speaking, you must keep two wheels on track.
Do not voluntarily drive on the grass, cut the track or similar. Drive realistically; we are here to simulate, not to play an arcade game.
The purpose of this rule is to stop people exploiting track limits to gain an advantage, not to punish honest mistakes. Some circuits have specific exceptions, described in the track briefing.

Incident points

Finishing the race with too many 1x may result in time penalties.
The exact number of 1x that trigger a check is not disclosed to avoid gaming the system. Race normally and everything is fine. Take 1x on purpose to gain an advantage and you will face penalties.

Blue flags and being lapped

Let the leaders through as soon as it is safe to do so.
Always be predictable.
Aim to be lapped in the middle of a straight. Being lapped mid corner wastes time for both leader and lapped car.
Do not lift on corner exit to help the leaders; the car behind is on the limit of adhesion in this phase and won't be able to change line to avoid you.
If you are coming up to lap a slower car in a section with tightly connected corners, just sit back and be patient. If you lose a little time, so be it; it will play to your advantage another time. The lapped car is not required to stop their race in a dangerous part of the track to accommodate you.

Blue flags and Qualifying

In qualifying, if you are not on a fast lap you must give way to faster cars approaching you. Contrary to races, in qualifying you are expected to get out of the way immediately if not on a fast lap.
Conversely, if you are on a fast lap you are entitled to keep driving and not give way even if a faster car approaches you.
Actively organizing tow trains is illegal, e.g. no team games. It is ok to get a tow by chance, for instance by catching up a slower car. It is illegal to actively slow down to give or receive tows, coordinate pit exit with friends or similar.
This behaviour led to aggravation and complaints in the past, so we decided to forbid it. Thank you for your understanding.

Black flags

If you get a slow down, serve it when safe to do so without hindering others; typically on a straight and off the racing line.
You are not meant to keep your position if you get a slow down with a car just behind you.

Spinning and unsafe rejoins

If you spin, lock the brakes and do not move until the track is clear. Avoiding a moving car is much more difficult than avoiding a still car. Let others worry about going safely around you.
If you are off the track you must yield to others before rejoining. Wait for a safe gap and never rejoin perpendicular to the racing line.
Unsafe rejoins can result in harsh penalties. They are one of the main differences between real and simulated races, where there is no fear of damage or injuries.

No team games

No coordinating with another driver against the rest of the field, and no tows in qualifying.

No chat in qualifying or the race

The in race chat is reserved for important and urgent messages. It is not for "thank you", "pass right", "you moron" or "sorry". Say all of that after the race.

Championship points

• 43 points for a win, and one point fewer for each position after that.
• You must complete 90% of the race distance to score.
• Your best 10 results from 12 races count towards the championship.

On top of the overall standings, drivers with iRating below a given threshold (decided each season) compete in a separate standing as well. For example, iGPFun-2000 standings for drivers under 2000 iRating.
This only affects the points calculations; there is no separation on track.

Penalties and stewarding

You can protest an incident in the Discord. Instructions to do so are there.

However, please keep in mind that mistakes happen. Discussing an incident so that everybody can learn from it, or receive coaching, is great. Actual penalties are meant to be rare; nobody likes giving or receiving them.
Please consider reporting only really nasty or repeated things, or drivers that do not acknowledge mistakes and are therefore likely to repeat them.

Incidents are judged by a panel of race stewards.
If a penalty is possible, multiple stewards watch a replay and discuss the incident.
If it is a minor thing with no consequences the process is less detailed. Please do not get mad if you get a 'minor warning' and think you do not deserve it; even if the stewards got it wrong, there are no consequences.

Stewards issue 'incident reports' on a scale from 0 for a netcode or hardware problem, up to 5 for causing a crash deliberately, which is extremely rare. Repeated safety points escalate through a warning, a major warning, and then a penalty such as a disqualification, a post race time penalty, or a race suspension if the drivers do not amend their behaviour. Incident reports are normally posted on Saturday or Sunday, before the following race.