Caution periods on road courses - a subject to debate in sim racing. Some sims include them, though, and even iRacing could feature them in official road events in the future.
Full-course yellows and safety cars are a staple of motorsport, and although they are not necessarily needed in sim racing, players have them anyway for the sake of immersion. Now we have reason to believe they might finally be included in road course iRacing officials.
Anyone who has competed in official iRacing races on ovals will be all too familiar with the caution periods that are always just a few inches away from happening. Since incidents in those races are inevitable due to the comparatively high speeds and close nature of oval racing, it is absolutely necessary to have caution periods.
On the road side of iRacing though, there are no safety cars. Not even in long haul endurance races, it is just flat out the whole way and no chance of a strategic shake-up. But that may or may not be about to change, with something that had completely bypassed us.
Preview of the under development new iRacing user interface. Image: iRacing.com
All the way back in February, iRacing released their quarterly development update blog and showed their first shots of a new User Interface that they have been working on. A variant of the above image was used in a video that had brand marks in the relative, which we deciphered could hint at the new Aston Martin GT3 being added at some point down the line.
The UI may not be entirely accurate as it is still a work in progress, however one detail that we have spotted is the Pace Car. Typically in road course officials, the Pace Car only appears on the relative at the start of races with rolling starts, and then at the end of races. Never in-between.
Keeping in mind all the variables that may have to be factored in to these renderings, could we really read into the presence of the Pace Car in the relative at what could be during a race?
For many of us on the team, this was our first time experiencing the iRacing caution procedures. During the race, the procedures provided included having to let certain cars through or pass others, it was all a bit of a confusing shuffling. Plus with this particular race being an unserious charity event, you could donate money to call for full course cautions and get wave-arounds.
Of course, those would not factor in to iRacing officials.
According to the iRacing Sporting Code, when a full course caution is brought out on a road course, the race order is frozen and the pace car goes out to pick up the overall leader. Drivers will receive instructions in a black box saying such things as 'Let the X car by', 'Pass the X car', 'Stay behind the X car' etc. as well as information pertaining to how long until the pit lane opens and the race resumes.
With all that being said, the fact that cautions are only controlled by session administrators in road course racing means we do not know what conditions have to be met to automatically trigger one should they be enabled in officials. Apparently in oval racing, if a car spins towards the rear with no other car coming towards them at high speed and/or it does not come to rest on the track, the caution will not be triggered.
However if a car towards the front of the field spins or suddenly slows, that is when a caution is likely to happen. This is very much typical of oval racing, but road course racing tends to have cars way more spread out. So how would a caution be prompted in an official road race if they were to be added?
Firstly, if an incident occurs and the parties involved are way off the track in a gravel trap or run-off area, no caution is needed. If the cars can safely re-join the track and get back up to racing speed, again: not needed. The difference should be that if any car has got a black and orange flag and is attempting to return to the pits under their own power not at racing speed, then that would be a reasonable reason to have a full course caution. And multi-car pileups that would warrant a pace car in real life are obviously included in this as well.
The same goes for if the car is stuck on the racing line or precariously close to it. Admittedly, you can just press 'Request Tow' and the car disappears, which does negate the need for a safety car since in real life, it is necessary to have the safety car so the marshalls can get out on track to collect all the debris and remove the car.
Ultimately, if iRacing are truly looking to satisfy the playerbase who are all about immersion, they can make it too easy to cause a full course caution. So if they are going to implement it, expect it to be only for series that are accessible from Licence Class C and above like with oval racing.
What is your view on the implementation of full course cautions in iRacing and in sim racing overall? Let us know in the comments below and join the discussion in our iRacing forum!
Full-course yellows and safety cars are a staple of motorsport, and although they are not necessarily needed in sim racing, players have them anyway for the sake of immersion. Now we have reason to believe they might finally be included in road course iRacing officials.
Anyone who has competed in official iRacing races on ovals will be all too familiar with the caution periods that are always just a few inches away from happening. Since incidents in those races are inevitable due to the comparatively high speeds and close nature of oval racing, it is absolutely necessary to have caution periods.
On the road side of iRacing though, there are no safety cars. Not even in long haul endurance races, it is just flat out the whole way and no chance of a strategic shake-up. But that may or may not be about to change, with something that had completely bypassed us.
Preview of the under development new iRacing user interface. Image: iRacing.com
All the way back in February, iRacing released their quarterly development update blog and showed their first shots of a new User Interface that they have been working on. A variant of the above image was used in a video that had brand marks in the relative, which we deciphered could hint at the new Aston Martin GT3 being added at some point down the line.
The UI may not be entirely accurate as it is still a work in progress, however one detail that we have spotted is the Pace Car. Typically in road course officials, the Pace Car only appears on the relative at the start of races with rolling starts, and then at the end of races. Never in-between.
Keeping in mind all the variables that may have to be factored in to these renderings, could we really read into the presence of the Pace Car in the relative at what could be during a race?
How Road Cautions Work
Of course, as of now in officials with no race director present, safety cars are disabled. But that does not mean caution periods are completely disabled in other types of races like hosted or leagues, in fact we at OverTake experienced road course cautions in Jimmy Broadbent's Race For Mental Health 6 - and plenty of them. They were deployed manually, however.For many of us on the team, this was our first time experiencing the iRacing caution procedures. During the race, the procedures provided included having to let certain cars through or pass others, it was all a bit of a confusing shuffling. Plus with this particular race being an unserious charity event, you could donate money to call for full course cautions and get wave-arounds.
Of course, those would not factor in to iRacing officials.
According to the iRacing Sporting Code, when a full course caution is brought out on a road course, the race order is frozen and the pace car goes out to pick up the overall leader. Drivers will receive instructions in a black box saying such things as 'Let the X car by', 'Pass the X car', 'Stay behind the X car' etc. as well as information pertaining to how long until the pit lane opens and the race resumes.
With all that being said, the fact that cautions are only controlled by session administrators in road course racing means we do not know what conditions have to be met to automatically trigger one should they be enabled in officials. Apparently in oval racing, if a car spins towards the rear with no other car coming towards them at high speed and/or it does not come to rest on the track, the caution will not be triggered.
However if a car towards the front of the field spins or suddenly slows, that is when a caution is likely to happen. This is very much typical of oval racing, but road course racing tends to have cars way more spread out. So how would a caution be prompted in an official road race if they were to be added?
How Road Cautions Can Be Called
Imagine the chaos that would happen if one car spins and lands in a run-off area, causing a caution period - you would never get any racing done. Therefore, the conditions should be strict in order to warrant and justify a caution period in iRacing road officials.Firstly, if an incident occurs and the parties involved are way off the track in a gravel trap or run-off area, no caution is needed. If the cars can safely re-join the track and get back up to racing speed, again: not needed. The difference should be that if any car has got a black and orange flag and is attempting to return to the pits under their own power not at racing speed, then that would be a reasonable reason to have a full course caution. And multi-car pileups that would warrant a pace car in real life are obviously included in this as well.
The same goes for if the car is stuck on the racing line or precariously close to it. Admittedly, you can just press 'Request Tow' and the car disappears, which does negate the need for a safety car since in real life, it is necessary to have the safety car so the marshalls can get out on track to collect all the debris and remove the car.
Ultimately, if iRacing are truly looking to satisfy the playerbase who are all about immersion, they can make it too easy to cause a full course caution. So if they are going to implement it, expect it to be only for series that are accessible from Licence Class C and above like with oval racing.
What is your view on the implementation of full course cautions in iRacing and in sim racing overall? Let us know in the comments below and join the discussion in our iRacing forum!
