Does the system say you were kicked for a specific reason? I know the inactivity kick tells you, but what if a marshal kicks you or you were vote kicked? I ended up getting pit maneuvered last night by somebody after they repeatedly slammed into me trying to get around me. So I let him pass and did the same to him (I know, stupid move), and the next race I was “disconnected” from the lobby. I just feel that the report option and vote kick option don’t do anything.
I don’t race online often, when I do, if someone is clearly faster than me & by that I mean they’ve caught me rapidly over a good portion of the lap - I just let them past.
It may be the onus on the guy behind to be able to pass me cleanly but often I find, that if they’re driving a missile that eats straights but struggles in the corners if I’m actually competitive in the car I’m in - I’ll pass them easily as they shoot off track at the first reasonably difficult corner. No fuss no muss, no door banging. If they’re actually able to drive their car of choice quicker than me, well I won’t see them again and fair play to them.
The problem comes with retaliation, as all it does is perpetuate the problem. They knock you off track, you knock them off track - you’re no longer racing just playing demolition derby which is what they wanted in the first place.
The next time someone makes a mistake and bangs in to you, are you going to wait to see if they pull over in a respectful manner to let you pass - or are you going to assume they did that on purpose and are waiting not to let you past but to have another go.
If I came across someone who was genuinely intent on wrecking everyone and everything - luckily have yet to do so, I would report them and move on with my life.
I can’t answer your question about whether or not you would know if you’d been vote kicked as to my knowledge, I never have been. The lobby disconnects I’ve had, usually have me dropped in to the race and half the field have gone or just don’t move off the start, so don’t think that’s what a kick would look like.
I do the same exact thing as you. If I know i’m the slower car, I will let you pass. The problem is that he didn’t catch me at all. I was in 3rd, respectfully giving the guy in front of me some room and he kept using me as his additional brakes. I actually let him pass me twice. The first time he completely screwed up the next corner after I let him pass. He got mad when I passed him due to his mistake, and tried to spin me out. This is when I had enough and let him pass so I could retaliate. The funny thing is that this all happened on lap 1. By the end of the race his best lap was 3 seconds slower than mine. I just found it ironic that I was disconnected the next race.
When I get DC’d, I assume it’s my crappy rural broadband connection. So I don’t know if there’s any difference between getting booted, and just plain loosing the connection. I’m usually able to reconnect, so if I’d been booted, I don’t think that would be the case. Sometimes I’m not able to rejoin, and it looks like a server side issue, like Multiplayer is unavailable or something.
I’ve never knowingly been booted. I generally try to race clean, even when others don’t. Unfortunately, one of the side-effects of lag is that you might hit someone, even if you didn’t make any contact at all on your own screen.
That’s a fair point as well Peregrine - going back to FM2 - I used to drive with a couple of guys regularly, one of which had occasional lag issues but how they were represented to us was generally hilarious (if sometimes catastrophic to our race).
On his screen he was leading the race, not even close to us, on both me & my other mate’s screen he was in last until he rubber band lagged back to where he should have been (in first). Unfortunately him going from last to first at apparently 100’s of miles an hour launched both me & the other driver well off track. We all recorded the replay and watched each others it was funny at the time but I’m sure it does account even in this day and age for some incidents on track.
@ CJ best to just be the bigger guy, let him past and if that’s the only way he can win, well his loss. By all means report the guy if you’re convinced it’s intentional unsportsmanlike behaviour - you unfortunately lose credibility as soon as you retaliate. They can save replays and report you remember, so if you’re not careful or unlucky you become the bad guy.
Just last night, I was in a League lobby with sim damage on. I saw some cars collide and go off the track up ahead, but was able to steer around them. As far as I recall, I didn’t hit a thing. I even managed to avoid the back end of a car that was reversing onto the track toward me. Then I got a bunch of damage notifications for no apparent reason, my car started handling like a banged up shopping cart, and I was called into the pit. I thought about saving the replay to review, but reflexively clicked through the option.
It will say “You’ve been voted out.” I’ve only seen this once when a club invaded the small lobby I was in.