Rules of game

Qualifications and races

In the rules section "The Week" is specified by the date of the next qualifications and race. On the races page each team can decide how to assemble their cars and also plan their race strategy. i.e. On which laps to do pitstops, up to a maximum of 4. The text Cars will show as red even if only one component or one driver hasn't been selected on either of the 2 cars. When the cars are correctly assembled the text will show as blue. The text Strategies will show as red if you have not changed the pitstop strategy from the default setting of lap one for both cars. After you have selected the first of your pitstops for both cars the text Strategies will turn blue. The pitstop you choose for qualification will also be the first stop of the race. The text "race strategies" is always blue even if you don't select a second pitstop (not obligatory) for either car.
It's sufficient to have just one of the following reasons to cause a withdrawal at the start (both during qualification and during the race) of your car:
- if one or more components are not assembled
- the driver isn't selected
- if one or more components has reached the minimum (0) of condition
- if one or more components has both the skills at disastrous level without decimals (for engines this is only valid when reaching 100 HP).
A component has both the skills at disastrous level without decimals (thus if it is assembled during the qualification and/or during the race as well as during the tests it causes the withdrawal of the car) if its pvi has reached the following values:
Engine: pvi inferior or equal to 516 with 100 HP
Electronics: pvi 12
Brakes: pvi 41
Suspensions: pvi 42
Transmission: pvi 42
Aerodynamic: pvi 42
Tyres: pvi 40
Drivers who race during the qualification will be the same who will sit in the car during the race. Qualifications consist in a lap a head for each driver and the starting grid for the race will form according to the increasing order of times from the best to the worst. It's obligatory to decide the first pitstop within 1 hour before starting qualification. In this way you will start during qualification with the same quantity of fuel as you will start the race . If you don't select the first pitstop the car starts full of fuel during qualification, and it's obliged to do an obligatory pitstop during the race at the first lap. Therefore it's possible to finish the race even without having selected the first pitstop for qualifications, but this will happen with the penalty just explained and as long as a subsequent pitstop will be set up. In fact, it's possible to select the other 3 possible pitstops you can do during the race (Together with the choice whether to repair the tyres or not) not more than 1 hour before the race start. Selecting estimated pitstops is fundamental for the choice of initial fuel and for the quantity of fuel you have to put in the tank each selected pitstop and thus for the greater or less weight which the car has at the start and during the race. If you don't select pitstops it is supposed that the tank is full with consequent penalization in the car's speed (both during the race and during the qualification) and with sure withdrawal once the car has finished the fuel in the tank. In fact, the tank can last at a maximum of about 57% of the laps of a race. For example, if a race is composed of 87 laps (circuit of about 3.500 m) it's good if the car doesn't race more than about 50 laps without a pitstop, in a race with 64 laps (about 4.750 m) the car can race not more than about 37 laps without a pitstop and finally in a race with 51 laps (about 6.000 m) it cannot last more than about 29 laps without a pitstop before being short of fuel. The time needed by a car for a pitstop depends on the length of pitlane plus a time which is determined by fuel quantity to add (who does the first pitstop during the tenth lap and the second pitstop during the thirtieth lap will add less fuel than those who do the first pitstop during the tenth lap and the second during the fiftieth taking less time) and on the choice to repair tyres or not . In fact, pitstops are very important because for each pit stop it's possible to choose to repair tyres or not (which wear out much more than other components) and if you choose to repair them lead them to the wear and tear situation before the race. If you select during the pitstop the repairing of tyres (possibility set up by default when you choose a pitstop) the needed time for the stop will be longer than the time you need if you decide not to repair them. This is due to mechanical intervention the car needs in case of repairing during the stop. If you select a pitstop in the last 15 % of race the repairing of tyres is forbidden and during the race you can stop to fill up the tank. The taken time at pitstop can be reduced by the number of mechanics and by the teamwork level. In the final part of a race the car could have a drop of performance due to the level of the skills which decide the wear and tear of the car and to the condition of car's components.

Orders to drivers
In the strategies page, besides setting pitstops during the race it's also possible to give orders to your drivers about how they have to behave during the race. It is permitted to assign 3 types of order in 5 different parts of the race. The 5 parts of the race are:
1- from the start to 20% of laps of GP
2- from 20% of laps + 1 to 40 % of laps of GP
3- from 40 % of laps + 1 to 60 % of laps of GP
4- from 60 % of laps + 1 to 80% of laps of GP
5- from 80% + 1 of laps to the end of GP.
By ordering to a driver to Drive normally no particular attitude different from that which is determined by character or driver's skills is given. Ordering a driver to Drive slowly brings the following effects:
- at start, less possibility to overtake but also greater possibility to make mistakes due to overtaking;
- fewer mistakes during the race;
- a speed which is on average inferior than normal;
- fewer overtaking attempts with consequently less possibility to make mistakes.
Ordering a driver to Drive aggressively brings the following effects:
- at start, more possibility to overtake but also greater possibility to make mistakes due to overtaking;
- greater risk of a mistake during the race;
- a speed which is in average higher than normal;
- more overtaking attempts with consequently higher possibilities to make mistakes.

Car adjustments
In adjustment page cars adjustments are to be selected according to bends and height differences of the circuit where you race and according to driver's skills (with a general explanation given for each component in the Storehouse section of rules). The choice of these adjustments (suspensions and brakes excluded) range from a minimum of 0 to a maximum of 3000. An approximation of adjustments can be decided through a linear calculation of mathematic proportion. With regard to the engine torque, for example, you can calculate an adjustment starting from what rules say in the Storehouse section (in the case under consideration more torque with more bends) in this way:
torque adjustment = (number of bends * 3000)/100
By starting from this calculation (which represents an approximation, therefore an imprecise calculation) it's possible to find an optimal adjustment by doing some tests on the interested circuit varying settings and adding or removing torque values. From the times that the drivers do in these tests it's possible to draw a conclusion about the ideal setting for that circuit. During the race it is also given, for each setting, besides the ordinary bonus assigned much more better the adjustment is, an additional bonus to whom insert the exact adjustment in a surrounding of radius 10 and a further bonus to whom sets it precisely at thousandth. These two additional bonuses aren't visible during private tests. Furthermore in case of aerodynamic and tyres adjustment also depends on weather condition of circuit. Therefore during tests the load of stabilizer or the inflation pressure will be changed according to the weather (sun, drizzle, driving rain) of the circuit. With regards to the choice of suspensions and brakes you have to consider the wear and tear/performance ratio. In fact, setting these components next to 0 there will be improvement in times per laps but a greater wear and tear lap by lap and at the end of the race.

Selecting tyres
The choice of a set of tyres depends on weather forecast for a certain circuit. In fact, according to the weather it's important to choose a set of tyres with the right mixture or during the race (and during tests) you have a penalization on the speed. Especially with sunny weather the right choice is slick tyres, with drizzle intermediate tyres and with driving rain wet tyres. The penalization that you have during the race or tests is much greater as the mistake is bigger in the tyres mixture. For example if there is sun on the circuit and you choose wet tyres the penalization will be greater than if you choose the intermediate ones. Obviously the penalization will be null if you choose the slick ones. In the same way if it rains and you choose slick tyres you have a greater penalization than the choice of intermediate tyres and null penalization in case of wet tyres. This said, you can deduce that choosing intermediate tyres is in general the mistake less harmful in case that the foreseen weather forecast is sun or driving rain. At the same time if it drizzles the choice of slick or wet tyres will not give the maximum possible penalization.

Causes for a withdrawal or an unforeseen stop
Causes for a withdrawal, for an unforeseen pitstop or for a mistake during the race are related to different reasons that will be described below. Besides withdrawals, mistakes or stops caused by unforeseen and accidental events there is a parameter defined as overall reliability of the car in the game engine. The overall reliability of a car is determined by a driver's character, by the car's components according to some parameters and by some adjustments applied to the car. The higher the overall reliability of the car is, the less the probability of simple mistake will be, unforeseen pitstops or withdrawal. In car assembling an index which is the car reliability is specified. In this index there are two components of driver character: coolness and judgment. The colder a driver is the more he will risk to rely on his skills during overtaking or during the race and the more the reliability of the car will decrease. On the contrary, the more under pressure/anxious he is, the more he will tend to avoid dangerous situations. Furthermore if a driver is crazy he will wear out the car more, risking damaging some components and thus decreasing its reliability.
With regards to the car the degree of reliability of a car is given by some components' skills of the car. In the reliability index there are: the aerodynamic canalizing, the cooling of brakes, the duration of tyres, the material quality of suspensions and the taken space of transmissions. The higher these skills are, the higher the reliability of the car is. Besides these skills in reliability another parameter related to the engine is included, that is the ratio between horsepower and engine capacity: the higher the horsepower is, with a low engine capacity, the higher the risk of braking rendering the car less reliable.
With regards to adjustments, brake softness and suspensions can cause mistakes, unforeseen pitstop or withdrawal. By setting the softness next to 0 the risk of causing damage to components will be higher, thus reducing the overall reliability. This reliability index has an importance of 40 % in determining the possibility of withdrawal, unforeseen pitstop or mistakes during the race.
Another 30 % is for driver courage: the more reckless/daredevil he is, the more he will tend to perform manoeuvres which risk the car. The last 30 % is for driver's experience: driver's experience will mitigate different situations also correcting some mistakes caused by character. Furthermore on a urban circuit, the possibility of making a mistake, an unforeseen stop or a withdrawal will be higher than in a country circuit. By setting the driver as aggressive in the race strategies, the possibility of making a mistakes, an unforeseen stop and a withdrawal will increase, by setting him slow they will be reduced.

During the race the points are assigned in this way:

1st place 25 points
2nd place 18 points
3rd place 15 points
4th place 12 points
5th place 10 points
6th place 8 points
7th place 6 points
8th place 4 points
9th place 2 points
10th place 1 point

Signals during the commentary
In order to improve the legibility of commentary next to each phrase you will notice some symbols which represent a generalisation of some type of commentary phrases.

- Waste of time during the race

-- Car withdrawal

* Pitstop

** Unforeseen pitstop

+ Successful overtaking

= Failed overtaking

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Rules of game