Performing a Driver Swap
The content of this page if from the official Kunos Driver swap guide,
Joining a Server
The key requirement of team racing is that the car must at all times be “owned” by one driver, i.e. a driver of the team must not disconnect when he/she is currently the active driver of the car. The other drivers of the team may enter and leave the server at any time, without causing problems for the entry or the server.
The car of the entry is defined by either the entry list (when the car model is enforced) or the selection of the first driver of the entry to join the server. Each driver of the entry must select the same car model when joining (livery choice does not matter apart from the first driver to join).
As pointed out in the introduction, in order to make it easier for your team to manage active drivers upon joining, it is recommended that whomever is chosen for qualifying or starting the race join the race server first and is defined as the first driver of an entry.
Make sure you remember who was the first driver of your entry to join the server and thus establish the entry on the server, as in the event of a car loss due to disconnecting, the same driver will need to rejoin the server first regardless of who drove the car when it was lost.
IMPORTANT: All drivers entering the server must do so using the normal server password (if there is one), no matter whether they are driving right away or just waiting in line for the driver swap, or just spectating other cars. It is not recommended to enter the server using a spectator password when you are a driver in the entry list.
The setup, car data and pitstop strategies are transferred as expected between the drivers on swap. The setup of the car must be loaded by the driver who starts the race.
The drivers connected to the server see the connection status of their fellow teammates in the Driver Swap widget. In the example below, PAN is driving and STU and VAS are also connected. The Driver Swap widget is visible both in the garage screen (left) and the driving HUD (right):
Were they not connected to the server, they would show as “OFFLINE” with a black background.
IMPORTANT: if the car is “lost” due to the active driver disconnecting from the server, all other drivers of the entry must also follow suit and disconnect. Depending on server configuration (if rejoin is not locked in the server settings), the drivers might still be able to regain control of the car (being at least a lap down) if they all first leave and the driver who was originally the first driver of the entry to join the server rejoins the server first again (this is not necessarily the same driver who lost the car due to the disconnect). Any other teammate rejoining first will most likely create a duplicate entry that will not have the original car’s progress.
Giving the Car Away
Before performing a driver swap (which may be done so in every type of session, including Free Practice and Qualifying) go to your pitstop page in the MFD and select the next driver to whom you would like to hand the car over and perform a regular pitstop.
Simply cycle to the next driver that you wish to swap the car to. When selected, the connection status of the next driver will change from “CONNECTED” to “REQUESTED” in blue color on top of the screen, as shown below:
Alternatively, in FP and Q sessions, you can manually swap drivers inside the pitlane using a chat command. While stopped, type either the “&swap #” or “§swap #” command (replace # with the number of the driver you wish to swap to, the numbers correspond with the order in which you see the drivers in the Driver Swap widget) in the ingame chat to swap drivers on the fly. A server message will alert you about the success of the swap.
IMPORTANT: make sure you are in Drive mode when handing over the car with the chat command. Handing over the car from the Garage screen will not automatically hide the Setup tab on the upper ribbon, and clicking on it after handing over the car might result in a game crash as you are trying to access a non-existent physical car from your spectator state. If the swap is performed in Drive mode, the Setup tab will automatically be hidden upon returning to the Garage screen.
Receiving the Car
As the next driver in line, upon entering the server the player will spawn in the garage screen as a spectator.
In case the view is focused on another team’s car upon entering the server as a 2nd or 3rd driver, hit “Drive” and use the Shift+Arrow keys to navigate to your team’s car. Once it’s done, pressing “Drive” after that point will correctly move the view to the correct car, regardless of which car the player spectates on the Garage screen in continuation.
If the player is still focused on a different entry after receiving the car during a driver swap, pressing Shift+Up Arrow will focus the view to the player car instantly.
After taking over the car (by VAS in the image below), the Driver Swap widget will show the new driver as “Driving”, and the Stint widget also shows up for the currently active driver.
NOTE: The Stint Timer widget is not visible for spectating players, it is in the active driver’s responsibility to keep track of his/her stint time and enter the pitlane in time. Similarly, total driving times are also only visible to the currently active driver.
During the race, the actual driver swap is performed when the driver currently driving the car enters the pit and performs a regular pit stop.
The controls will be locked, and the driver currently driving the car will see a countdown, e.g. from 30 to 0 seconds (length may vary depending on the type of pitstop service). A driver swap pitstop will take a minimum of 30 seconds, regardless of what else might be selected in the pit strategy MFD.
NOTE: only the active driver (who drove the car into the pits) sees this countdown. The next driver in line (who was selected as the next driver to get the car at the pitstop) does NOT see this countdown.
The driver taking over will see a HUD update (e.g. stint timer appearing, inputs and tyre app showing) when the countdown reaches 0. The second driver now has full control of the car.
NOTE: It is recommended for the team to communicate via a 3rd-party voice app and the driver handing the car over to keep the driver receiving the car updated about the countdown.
Once the driver swap is successfully completed, the next driver needs to start the car and drive just like in a regular session.
The car is now “owned” by the new driver, and must make sure he or she does not disconnect before handing the car over to a teammate.
Mandatory Requirements and Optional Rules
Minimum Driving Requirement
The key minimum requirement of every team race is for each driver specified in the entry list must drive at least a single stint.
IMPORTANT: If this mandatory requirement is not met by the end of the race (before the checkered flag), the entry is disqualified at the moment of crossing the finish line.
If you participate with a team with flexible entries (e.g. varying driver count per event), make sure the entry list only contains the drivers that are expected to participate in any given event (at the organizer’s discretion and within the regulations of the series at hand).
Additionally to this ever-present requirement, In most driver swap races, there is a likelihood of having limited stint times or mandatory pitstop(s) with various requirements.
Maximum Driving Time
As a mandatory requirement when driving time rules are used, there is always a maximum driving time that regulates how much each driver of the car may drive.
Drivers who have completed the minimum driving requirement (i.e. driven at least one stint) are shown bright green in the Maximum Driving Time widget, the active driver is shown darker green and the driver(s) who have not yet driven the car are shown with a red box next to their name.
NOTE: During regular pit stops, the Driving Time counter is frozen, however when performing a penalty the counter continues to click down in the background even while the car is in pitlane.
IMPORTANT: Similarly to not complying with the minimum driving requirement, exceeding the maximum driving time will result in a disqualification at the end of the race.
It is highly recommended to have the Pit Info page of the MFD enabled at all times (via the HUD settings). This shows requirements, driving and stint times and track cut warnings in a compact widget for the active driver, allowing the player to disable all other HUD elements if they wish.
Stint Time
An optional rule is the regulation of the maximum driver stint time. When the stint time is regulated, there is a timer in the top left corner on the driving HUD showing when the car needs to enter the pit once again. The stint timer is also visible in the Pit Info widget inside the MFD.
NOTE: You can only see this stint timer when you are the active driver. Stint and maximum driving time information is also shown by the Racelogic device (where available).
Driver stints do not require a pitstop, nor does it require a driver swap, the timer is reset when a car enters and restarts when the car exits the pitlane, thus driving through the pitlane is already sufficient to reset the timer (except when serving a penalty).
10 minutes before the end of the stint the engineer warns for stint time ending. 5 minutes before the end of the stint the widget turns yellow and the race engineer calls for the driver to enter the pits, while with 2 minutes left the widget turns red as a final warning to the player.
Exceeding the stint time will result in a drive-through penalty. Exceeding the stint-time in the final lap(s) will convert the drive-through penalty into a post-race time penalty (usually 30 seconds or 80 seconds at Spa).
If the active driver’s maximum driving time remaining is less than the current stint time left, the HUD Stint Timer will be overridden to show the maximum driving time instead, making sure the player does not exceed his/her maximum allowed driving time.
For example, a driver with 40 minutes left on his/her maximum driving quota starting a new 65-minute stint will see the Stint Timer starting from 40 minutes on the HUD instead of 65. In such cases the stint timer widget will also turn red.
NOTE: The Racelogic device does not do this override mentioned above, it will always show the raw stint data.
NOTE: The driver Stint Timer is not reset when performing a penalty, the timer will freeze but continue as the car exits pitlane. Serving a penalty can be delayed to follow a regular pitstop by unchecking the “Serve Penalty” checkbox in the pitstop MFD before entering pitlane (it is always pre-selected automatically when a penalty is applied).
NOTE for Organizers: The Stint Time rule must be used in parallel with Maximum Driving time requirement. Beyond that, event rules can be defined for any number of drivers per car. Stint and driving time rules for cars with a different driver count will be automatically calculated by the server. It is generally recommended to include some headroom when it comes to stint and driving times. For more information, please see the Server Handbook document.
Mandatory Pitstop Requirements
Depending on the format, certain events might have optional mandatory requirements, which can be the following:
- A set number of mandatory pit stops to be performed (minimum 1)
- Pit Window requirement, meaning that the single pitstop must be performed in a predefined pit window phase (only works with 1 mandatory pitstop). Additional pit stops may be performed outside of the pit window but they will not count towards the mandatory requirement.
- Mandatory driver swap requirement for each stop
- Mandatory tyre change requirement for each stop
- Mandatory refuelling requirement for each stop
- Prohibition of refuelling in the race
Mandatory requirements may be combined with Driver Stint and Maximum Driving Time rules as well. Mandatory pitstop requirements are shown in the garage screen:
In this example there is 1 mandatory pitstop, to be performed during a designated pit window in the middle of the race, and the car must perform a tyre change and a driver swap, while no refuelling is allowed. Maximum driving times are also shown (there is no stint time at play here in this example).
Pitstop rules are visible on the driving HUD as part of the Pitstop MFD page as part of the driving time information:
When the currently selected pit strategy is sufficient to meet the mandatory requirements, the widget will show a green Valid ribbon.
In this example above Mr. Honzik has 1 mandatory pitstop left to perform (note the orange “1” next to his name), and the only mandatory requirement is to refuel the car during the pitstop (see under Requirements). The green VALID ribbon above the requirement field indicates that the strategy selected complies with the requirement.
FAQ
As a general rule, when something unexpected happens – e.g. the game does not recognize you or your teammates as “Online” – the entire team leaving and re-entering the server helps in most cases.
Disconnecting the server while not driving the car will not result in any issues. Drivers not currently driving may join and leave the server whenever they wish.
In order to reduce server load in long endurance events with high driver counts, it might be recommended for event organizers to regulate the number of drivers active on the server at any given time, e.g. asking inactive drivers to leave the server, leaving one teammate connected at a time to assist the currently driving player.
Workarounds, Troubleshooting and Known Limitations
Below please find the most common questions and workaround that might come up during team events:
Q: What’s the maximum number of drivers an entry may have?
A: In theory it is not limited, but for the sake of authenticity and keeping client numbers in check, it is generally recommended to stick with real-life rules when it comes to the size of individual teams (i.e. 2 to 4 drivers per car depending on the format).
For reference, in real-life, sprint races usually have 2 drivers per car, short endurance races (3H) can have 2 to 3 drivers, while longer endurance (6H+) events can have up to 4 drivers per entry.
Q: What’s the maximum number of cars an event might have?
A: It highly depends on the event format and the server hardware available for the organizer. It is at the discretion of the organizer to decide the grid size.
Generally speaking, running events for 10+ hours and/or having more than 150 clients can be considered as extreme load, and the stability or success of the event may be affected by the quality of the server hardware and server connection at hand.
Nevertheless, 24-hour races with 40+ entries with 3-4 drivers have been successfully held with sufficient hardware without issues with the server.
Q: I joined the server as a spectating driver and I’m focused on another team’s car.
A: This is normal, click “Drive” and find your car using the Shift+L/R arrow key. Once this is done, pressing Drive at any time in continuation will focus your camera on the correct car. Make sure you check that the Drive mode is focusing on the correct car before taking over the car.
If the player is still focused on a different entry after receiving the car during a swap, pressing Shift+Up Arrow will focus the view to the player car instantly. Note that this requires the possession of the car. While spectating, only the Shift+Left/Right Arrows will cycle the focus as described above.
Q: Do our team need to join the server in a specific order?
A: It is recommended that a team’s qualifying or starting driver joins the server first, to be followed by the other drivers in any order they prefer.
Organizers might require a join order to be respected or instruct the first driver of the entry in the entry list to join first. The first-joining driver will define the car and livery and number selection, unless forced by the server. In the event of a disconnection and loss of car, the original join order must be respected to retain the car’s progress (see next question).
Q: The active driver disconnected from the server, what can we do in order to keep racing?
A: Depending on the server configuration and the team’s ability to perform the correct rejoin sequence, disconnecting is likely to result in a DNF.
However, the team might be able to reconnect and regain control over the original car, being at least 1 lap down. When a car is lost, make sure all drivers of the team first leave the server. After that, it must be the driver of the entry who was originally the first one to join the server that reconnects first, followed by the other teammates. The success of the rejoin will be indicated by the fact that the Driver Swap widget is visible on the HUD with the teammates correctly indicated and the timing widget showing the car’s progress from before the disconnection.
If the driver who originally joined the server first from the team is unable to reconnect and regain the car (due to a prolonged technical issue or ISP/power failure), the original entry unfortunately remains lost and the remaining drivers will not be able to continue the race in the same entry. Unfortunately, losing the car this way qualifies as the ultimate technical issue and it results in a DNF.
Q: A teammate couldn’t make it for the race, will our results still count?
A: The key requirement of team racing is that each driver specified in the entry list must drive at least one stint. To avoid disqualification at the end of the race, the absence of a driver must be communicated to the organizer before the race server is started so that the entry list can be updated by the event admin.
The admin of the event can force a conversion of this DSQ to a stop-and-go penalty, in which case failing to start the race may only impose a hefty time penalty on the entry’s end result instead of disqualification.
Q: Can I compete in a team event as a single-driver entry?
A: Yes, nothing prevents entries with a single driver to participate in team events (at the discretion of the organizer). Should an event have mandatory driver swap pit stop requirement, it will be ignored for entries of a single driver, as long as the other requirements are met (if specified).
Single-driver entries may have a slight advantage during pitstops due to the lack of car transfer and faster reaction to restart the car, which organizers and admins might compensate for with a smaller time penalty if the event format features mandatory driver swaps.
Q: Our team joined the server but we don’t see each other online in the Driver Swap widget (usually also manifested in an incremented race number when joining).
A: This is a sign of desynced entry information that occurs due to an error in the event’s entry list or entry list corruption or an issue due to wrong connecting order.
Event admins might be able to amend the entry list if it is caused by an error (i.e. wrong encoding, formatting or SteamID) or try a server restart that eventually should amend the desynchronization (it might require a few attempts, this is up to the admin).
Q: I experienced a game crash or disconnection after giving the car away, is this affecting the team?
A: If the swap is completed successfully, any issue a spectating driver might experience is irrelevant to the connection status of the entry and the player should be able to reconnect to spectate.
Q: After a driver swap I don’t have Virtual Mirror on anymore even though it is enabled in the options, what can I do?
A: Cycling the driving views (with the F1 key) after taking over the car will bring back the correct mirror settings.
Q: Can my teammate(s) adjust my pitstop strategy?
A: This is not possible in the current version of Assetto Corsa Competizione.
Q: Can spectating drivers see the stint and maximum driving times on the spectator HUD?
A: This is not possible in the current version of Assetto Corsa Competizione.
Q: Can the driver taking over the car see the pit stop countdown before the car is handed over?
A: The receiving driver will see the driving HUD update with driver information (such as pitstop MFD, stint timer and inputs and tyre app) upon receiving the car. It is recommended to use a 3rd-party voice and update them about the countdown progress.
Q: The game has crashed after manually handing over the car with the chat command and pressing the Setup button on the garage screen afterwards.
A: Accessing the setup is not possible while spectating and if the manual driver swap is performed from the garage screen, the UI has no time to hide the Setup button.
As explained above, make sure you enter Drive mode before using the chat command to hand the car over. If the game crash already occurred, do not worry, it is not affecting the car’s state, just simply rejoin the server.