So I see a lot of discussion on here about “bad” racers; people who crash a lot, people who cause accidents, people who basically ruin the race for everyone else.
As a rookie racer, my question is, what is proper racing? Whether it’s official racing organization rules or just general racing etiquette, what practices are considered good and what are frowned upon (or outright, blatantly wrong)?
Don Ente had a good thread about this back when Forza Motorsport 4 was the most recent title but I can’t find it now so here’s some simple tips I found after a quick Google.
In short, take your time when trying to pass somebody and avoid hitting people if you can. The rest comes with practice.
This may be what you were thinking of (thanks!) - I first posted it January 2010…
Want more FUN racing online? A few tips…
This post is meant for people who want to have more FUN when racing online.
No, it’s not instructions on how to win more, and it’s not a guaranteed way to get rid of the smash-em-up fools.
These tips may not work for everyone. Heck, they may not work for Anyone. I just know they work for me, so they might work for you.
➢ “Coming up on your left”
➢ “I see you, you’ve got the inside”
➢ “Hey, nice pass!”
➢ “D’oh! I almost had you!”
➢ “Good race guys”
And, of course, when you accidentally make contact, you can say “sorry.” It’s amazing how friendly players can get when you’ve acknowledged a bad move that caused a collision. Plus, there’s friendly chatter between races. Might even make some new friends…
Race Clean. You can be competitive - even aggressive - and race cleanly at the same time. Other players will respect you for it. If you’re banging into people, pulling “pit” maneuvers, cutting the track, etc, you’ll likely get treated the same way in return, and often get kicked from the lobby after the race. Doesn’t sound like fun to me.
Be Patient. I know, that doesn’t sound right when we’re talking about racing. However, which gives you a better position? Diving into the first turn, resulting in a pile-up? Or everyone getting through and continuing to race? Perfect example on a replay I watched the other night – player starts in 7th out of 7 at Laguna Seca. 3… 2… 1… Go… and a mad dash to Turn 1. This guy hangs back just a bit, and I watch him go smoothly around the double-apex, cleanly passing 4 other cars that are spinning off into the grass. 7th to 3rd in the blink of an eye.
Be Patient - Part 2. The first opportunity to pass is not always the best opportunity. Watch the guy in front of you. Look for ways to overtake him. Does he tend to early-apex and come out of turns wide and slow? Can you late-apex the next one and get past him on the exit? Try a risky pass, and more often than not you both end up off the track. Wait for a better opportunity, set up the pass correctly, and you move up a position while you both continue the race.
Practice, Practice, Practice. You don’t suddenly get better by jumping into an online race. Grab a couple cars for the class you want to race in, and run some hot-laps. If you can’t run 4+ consecutive good, quick laps when you’re alone on the track, it’s pretty unlikely you’ll be able to in a multiplayer race.
Practice, Practice, Practice - Part 2. OK, you’re turning consistent laps in free-run, time to jump online? Maybe, maybe not. When hot-lapping, you’re trying to hit the same braking points, turn-in points, the perfect apex and then max acceleration as you track-out. Once you’ve got traffic though, and you’re trying to pass (or you’re being passed), that “ideal line” may not be there anymore. Jump into a career race, or go to Multiplayer → Private Race and set up some tough AI opponents. Get alongside an AI as you head into a turn, and see if you can cleanly pass on the outside. Take the inside line, and get used to having to slow down more so you can make the turn without sliding out and hitting the AI. Practice setting up your passes… if the guy (or AI) in front is taking a turn at 80 mph, but you can take the turn at 88 mph, practice dropping back just a tad before the turn. That way, you can carry your 88mph through the turn and pass him on the straight (without slamming into his bumper at the apex).
Realize that you’ll be better than some of the other players. The guy weaving around, sliding through turns and bouncing off other cars, is not necessarily doing it on purpose… he might just not be as good as you. Give him a little breathing room. If you’re better, you’ll get the chance to get by him cleanly.
Realize that other players will be better than you. Be aware of cars that are overtaking you, and don’t make a bad move that causes contact. Sure, everybody likes to win… but when the guy behind you is clearly faster, trying to block him to hold your position won’t win you any goodwill. The vast majority of good players are happy to help out the “noobs” — if the noob is willing to be helped. If you can show - by your racing etiquette - that you’re trying to have FUN racing, the best players will help you have fun, and likely help you improve at the same time.
Try dropping down to the lower classes. Sure, it’s a rush to drive at 200 mph. But if you’re in the dirt every-other turn, or find yourself spinning into the wall on the slightest contact in a tight race, I can’t imagine that winds up being a lot of fun. Try to find a car / class combo where you can spend the entire race on the tarmac. Think it’s not fun to race a car with a top speed of 130? Wait till you get into an 8-player F-Class race, where everyone is separated by less than 2 seconds.
Finally, a tip that’s more about gameplay than racing. If you find yourself with a huge lead, think about maybe slowing down on the final lap, or at least the final section. The Circuit Hoppers have a (far too short) 30-second end-of-race timer, and it can get very frustrating for slower players to continually get DNFs because they can’t quite get to the finish line. Whether you win by 15 seconds or 2 seconds, you still get the win. What that can do, though, is allow more of the trailing players to finish the race.
A couple more after feedback:
There are such things as racing incidents. Racing is not war. But it’s not picking up groceries either. So sometimes there is contact without either party doing it on purpose. - “pyquila”
“Stuff” happens, don’t assume the worst. We are all human, and we make mistakes. Missing a braking point can result in a completely unintentional rear-ender… Getting a little too focused on the upcoming turn can make you forget to check your mirrors… And who hasn’t had a wife / girlfriend / kids walk between you and the TV right in the middle of a race? Give the “offending driver” a chance to say ‘oops’ or to demonstrate that it was accidental.
“Merge” back into traffic. If you run off the track, try to “politely” return. That doesn’t mean you have to wait until every other car has gone past, but we all know how aggravating it is to be taking that perfect line through a turn, only to have a car pull back onto the track right in front of you. Try to ease your way back onto the track surface, doing your best to avoid obstructing the cars that didn’t run off. (thanks “DemonicTsuchiya”)
I couldn’t have said it better myself. Now I will add I personally will pull over or allow room for someone to pass if I feel it will cause an accident if I do not. Also use the mic when passing tell someone inside or outside so they are aware your coming around
Just let the obvious faster racers past you. If someone is at your car door length before turn then give them the better apex lane.
As a general rule, trying to avoid contact and respecting track limits is all that most ask for, although some still show scant regard for that!
There are some websites that also do organised leagues and championships, such as TORA (The Online Racing Association), TURN (The Ultimate Racing Network). My own team, who has a lot of drivers who partake on those respective sites, also host championships which we open to anyone. Some of these sites may have different etiquette. restrictions and procedures, etc. Normally, you’ll find more like minded racers on these sites and it is a generally be a more enjoyable experience, with structure, and stewards if ever needed!
If you aint rubbin’ you aint racin’
Blatantly ramming people off the circuit is moronic however a little love tap end-stage braking to push them slightly wide on the last lap never hurt nobody. 
These two things are exactly the same you cheater.
it hurts “them”.
Depends who you are and who you’re racing. Turn 10 don’t want to police racers anymore and appreciate that some people like to race full-contact and some don’t.
That said, if you want to play things safe, avoiding contact should keep you from irritating other racers 90% of the time in hoppers.
Maybe I’m in the wrong hoppers, but I’ve found that trying to avoid contact is irrelevant. I get smashed all the time for no reason lol.
You might actually be in the wrong hoppers… I find that endurance racing and cycled production hoppers are mostly friendly racers looking for an honest-to-god fair race with little or no contact. By comparison, I found the A-class hopper the other night to be a cesspool of a-holes and hotlappers willing to do anything to win, including obvious corner-cutting and dive-bombing
Proper etiquette to me means ceding the race line to the faster racers, not getting bitter about being passed, but defending your position fairly as much as you can. No matter what the server settings are, treat it like it’s simulation damage and try to preserve your car. If you keep it clean and communicate, I find that most others do as well.
Besides what’s been said the other thing you need is experience. If your new to wheel to wheel racing your going to make mistakes and hit people. Try to remember why that happened and learn from your mistakes. In the heat of the moment it’s very easy to forget braking points and become more careless with your inputs, not to mention that your racing against a person who can make mistakes as well. No matter what just keep racing and learning.
But their car is a much better option than braking in the corners!!!
Wow, I hope the former is sarcasm though. And I hope the latter is too!
Seriously though, this is what’s wrong with the racing community, narcissistic drivers who have scant regard for any form of moral conduct, the ones who think because there’s no actual stipulated rule against it means it’s fair game. It doesn’t make you any less myopic.
If I had my way, deliberate ramming and consistent obscene corner cutting would result in bans because it’s cheating. It’s abusing the game to change the outcome and result. ‘Love taps’ are the same, you saw it in DTM recently, it’s cheating just as much as coming in like a wrecking ball would.
If driving fair and reasonably clean is an alien concept, Forza Motorsport is not ideal for you.
Haha, I used to race professionally, so for me, whatever is acceptable on the track is more than acceptable in Forza. There’s a fine line between deliberately smashing somebody off the track and love-tapping them wide, especially after a few laps of close racing. Ultimately if they’re quick enough they’ll catch me back up and return the favour.
My serious pet hate is American’s who feel the need to say “On your left”
I’ll never forget the guy on Forza 4 who seriously kicked off because I defended my line after his “On your left” Americanism. This is European racing, overtake, don’t dictate.
Wow if only there were a dislike button.
Smashing someone off the track or love tapping them wide is not really a fine line. Its a massive difference as the former can result in damage. But either way it’s improper contact and in my opinion its done in desperation when the car behind just can’t pass cleanly. Neither is okay. …I will agree there is a fine line between accidental contact and a light love-tap that pushes another driver wide. It’s for the race committee to decide if contact was a “racing incident” or “avoidable contact”
This is not new info. It’s pointed out thousands of times on every racing game forum. So you must be aware that video games don’t provide the same situation awareness that you experience in real life. In addition, unlike in some real racing, there are no spotters in Forza games. On your left means YOU left the door open on your left side and the car behind you moved into that space and you can no longer drive your regular line. You can’t “defend your line” because you are no longer ahead. Doing so will cause and accident. You don’t have to let this car pass you but you DO now have to leave room unless you want to wreck. Based on some of our replies I have concluded that you would rather wreck.
This is NOT European racing. Forza 5 sold 1.13mil units in the US and .72 mil in Europe according to vgchartz.com. Clearly there is a bigger US audience. Don’t presume to pass off your narrow view of racing etiquette on a larger global audience.
I’m not going to re-detail your various points as each continent sees sports in different ways (football, soccer — tomato, tomato) however check my post above in regards to spotting, you’re racing on the Circuit format, not oval.
It doesn’t matter where users are playing from, to my knowledge they don’t have spotters in GT Circuit racing in America? We certainly don’t have spotters sat in the trees over here making sure nobody is lining you up into each corner, it’s up to the faster driver to pass and the guy in front to not “wreck” them. Light ‘playful’ contact is part of the sport over here, especially in the touring format.
So if I call out “on your left” and go for the pass you then block/defened it. And this cause us to crash, who fault is it? Now if you get going before I do, what do you think im going to do in the next turn?
Or let’s say you pull your " bump and run" what do you think going to happen the next time I see you? Most times there will be inoccent people involved and big pilel ups.
There too many drivers with this kinda attitude. Its just cause wrecks and bad racing.
Winning means nothing in this game. I want to beat people. Your not beating some by using dirty tactics, crashs, cutting the track or any other cheap trick. You beat somebody by out driving them straight up.
Wait hold on. I’m racing “circuit format” not “European Circuit format”. I DO race on the European Circuits as well as the American Circuits - and the circuits in the rest of the world. I never said anything about ovals but I suppose calling “on your left” would apply here as well.
Forget about spotters. I shouldn’t have even mentioned them. I only did because others have mentioned them but it only confuses the point. My point (which I mentioned first) is that you have better situational awareness in real life. This is partially because of peripheral vision and partly because it’s easier to turn your head without loosing your bearings. …and it’s a good thing because in real life racers don’t benefit from a game chat where they can say “on your left”