The online racing simulator
Sick Of PEOPLE OVER USING *BLUE FLAG*
I've been racing in CONEDOGERS with the FZR international and nothing bothers me more then PEOPLE OVER DOING BLUE FLAG. I'll be infront of someone with a blue flag on my screen and i'm fighting for my position and they say GHOSTRYDER BLUE FLAG....BLUE FLAG.... then as i approach a turn they rear end me and spin me out!!!!! IF they have the faster car they can get me on the straight away, why am i going to slow down and let tem pass when i'm intitled to fight for my position as long as it's clean, right? Well thats not how it goes. I have never intentionally bumped anyone or caused a wreck to keep my position.
id fire u aswell!
u should give up your position man, maybe if the guy infront that u were battling with didnt they would fire him instead! or he would loose an equal amount of time moving over.
#3 - Davo
You're supposed to leave the racing and let them pass when it's an opportune and safe time, usually on a turn or straight. That's my understanding anyway. You're not battling for their position and they are much faster than you so let them pass and don't get in their way.

But yes people overdo blue flag because they thingk you should pull right off the track into the grass for them to pass because they're faster, whe in fact it's at the best opportunity not immediately.
I hate people that don't follow the blue flag rules.
Why does this keep coming up? The blue flag is one of the simplest racing situations to understand

1) if you get a blue flag it's because you're being lapped (because you're slow or because you joined the race after the first lap), therefore you're NOT fighting for position and NOT entitled to battle the car behind you. Look at the trackmap - yellow triangles are cars in front of you, orange are the ones behind. Just because someone is behind you on the track it doesn't mean they're not ahead of you on the board. Don't battle or block a yellow triangle that's following you. You don't have to yield straight away or compromise your race speed too much, just move over and let the faster car through at a safe point on track. It's basic race etiquette.

2) Noone has any right to crash into you, even if you are holding them up and driving irresponsibly, regardless of what our illustrious Mr Senna thinks. However, I can understand peoples' frustration. There's a simple remedy though - obey the blue flag and you won't piss people off Of course you still get idiots who think "BLUE FLAG" means "get out of my way IMMEDIATELY", which simply isn't the case. You'll always encounter fools online but if you race clean you'll always be able to defend you actions.

3) It shits me when people spam "BLUE FLAG" with their binds. The words "BLUE FLAG" appear on your screen when a car is approaching to lap you - I don't need my ****ing screen filled with some hotshot's spam bindage. I'll let you by when it's safe to do so and not before!
Quote from TypeRCivic :I've been racing in CONEDOGERS with the FZR international and nothing bothers me more then PEOPLE OVER DOING BLUE FLAG. I'll be infront of someone with a blue flag on my screen and i'm fighting for my position and they say GHOSTRYDER BLUE FLAG....BLUE FLAG.... then as i approach a turn they rear end me and spin me out!!!!! IF they have the faster car they can get me on the straight away, why am i going to slow down and let tem pass when i'm intitled to fight for my position as long as it's clean, right? Well thats not how it goes. I have never intentionally bumped anyone or caused a wreck to keep my position.

You are not entitled to anything when the words "blue flag" come up to your screen. You ARE entitled to not pull over until you get a safe, straight area, then you are to pull over and slow down, right away. Period!

Honestly, if you are not going to abide by those rules, sooner or later the people who run Cone Dodgers are going to get annoyed with you and ban you for a long, LONG time. You have to respect this rule, as others have to, also. You are not above or better than the servers or games rules. If you get sick of blue flags, practice 50 laps a night offline so that your laps are consistent. On and offline in the past 2 months I have put in nearly 1000 laps on that combo.
FYI, from the wiki.

Pertinent bit from F1 regulations (you'll find similar rules in most other race competitions): "During a race, a light blue flag waved on the track warns the driver that he is about to be lapped by a faster car and must let it pass. A driver may incur penalties if he ignores three successive blue flags."
You should move over racing for position or not the trick is to do it so you lose as little time as possible i just tend to wait for next turn and brake late run wide and let them go
Exactly. Noone (noone who has a clue about RL racing, anyway) should expect you to park on the grass and let you whizz by. Any half-decent racer will do just what you described: let the faster guy pass at a safe point - it can be at a corner, down a straight, wherever. The slower driver has the right to go as fast as he can and go for the best result possible, but not to the disadvantage of a clearly faster driver who's about to lap him. Common sense, really.

edit: I should add that if you are being spammed with "BLUE FLAG" messages and you're not being lapped, you have the right to tell whoever's doing it to shove it where their mama never kissed 'em
Quote from Hankstar :Exactly. Noone (noone who has a clue about RL racing, anyway) should expect you to park on the grass and let you whizz by. Any half-decent racer will do just what you described: let the faster guy pass at a safe point - it can be at a corner, down a straight, wherever. The slower driver has the right to go as fast as he can and go for the best result possible, but not to the disadvantage of a clearly faster driver who's about to lap him. Common sense, really.

edit: I should add that if you are being spammed with "BLUE FLAG" messages and you're not being lapped, you have the right to tell whoever's doing it to shove it where their mama never kissed 'em

When I'm being spammed with blue flag messages I'm not going to move over all the way and give them anywhere near a huge line past me. When I see the LFS BF message and one or two informative Blue Flag messages from the user I'll move over and slow down... If I get the LFS message and 15 "Blue Flag! Move ur az N00B!!!" messages from half a mile out, they just earned the right to attempt to overtake me. I won't fight them, but as long as they don't make a move, I'm not moving an inch. I hate when people go out of their way to annoy you with spam. There's a message in LFS that gives you the Blue Flag when you're supposed to get it. No need to fill my screen with your pathetic attempt at feeling superior.
Like I said, I'll yield when I need to but spammers can bite me

However, I rarely see the "BLUE FLAG M0OV PLZ" bind from others because I block messages as soon as I'm on the track - precisely because I don't want to see spam. If I do end up getting lapped though, LFS will tell me in plenty of time and if I join a race late I always check the trackmap to see if I'm going to be in anyone's way. Sometimes LFS gives me the blue flag message way too early but it's way more preferable to having my screen filled with crap
I'm sick of people overusing capital letters and exclamation marks. Bah.
The biggest problem we have online, which exasperates the blue flag syndrome, is the disparity between the fastest and slowest drivers and the shortness of pickup races.

I.e. yesterday in v8supercars at Philip Island several drivers were shown the bad sportsmanship flag and one received a drive through penalty for not yielding and they were less than a second off pace (and fighting for position) in a 32 lap race. In LFS we have 5 laps and people that are commonly 5 seconds a lap off pace with little track experience compared to the fastest guys, which is always going to cause controversy.

I’m not the fastest, normally about 1 second off WR pace on car track combos I know, but if I get stuck behind a slower bunch of drivers I will endeavour to have a fair battle with them as best as possible making up whatever ground I can then go on from there in the next race. I never see one five lap race as the be all and end of all races, I look at it as a series of races and try to do well overall. And I know others faster than me that think the same, I look out for them and race them whenever I can , but then there is others that I avoid because of there mindset

I think some take pickup races a little too seriously, need to step back and look at themselves and remember that the person they are abusing on the other end of the net IS NOT a pro racing driver but is most likely a race enthusiast, and due to lack of any real life track time is most likely prone to errors of judgement in the heat of a battle, hey even the Pro’s get it wrong on occasion .

We need to respect each other a bit more at times on the track I feel, although I find the vast majority do and that is what makes LFS such a great community .
Hey if you want to race for sheep stations join a league or set up a private server and invite all the WR pace guys there, but don’t whinge every time someone has a lapse of judgement on a public server in a 5 lap pick up race and better yet don't spam blue flag blue flag let me pass!
If you get a blue flag in a 15 minutes race it means that you started the race later or you pitted using the shift+s button. So in a short race like this i think the blue flag should be get out of the way immidiately, leaving the ideal line free and not making the leaders to slow down. Anyway, i have been racing there a lot, and if it weren't the case a race would mean waiting for lapped persons to move aside, since i meet lapped persons quite a lot. And the person who could pass them in a more fortunate way wins... However, most of the people let you pass immidiately on that server.
Another really golden (just golden) thing that happens time from time is someone crashing into the race or joining a server while there's a race on and exiting the pits and entering the track just IN FRONT of the cars racing.

No, the guy can't wait goddamn 5 seconds to let them pass and then join, he has to join RIGHT BEFORE the guys racing pass by and then screw everybody 's Turn 1.

I really, really hate when that happens.
And that happens a lot.
Quote from robgo :If you get a blue flag in a 15 minutes race it means that you started the race later or you pitted using the shift+s button. So in a short race like this i think the blue flag should be get out of the way immidiately, leaving the ideal line free and not making the leaders to slow down.

Exactly but that comes back to respect from both sides, if you are not in the race but just lapping respect means you would get out of the way entirely and immediately.
My take on being lapped varies by what the faster driver does if he just approaches normally I'll let him by at a point that won't compromise my race too greatly and at a point where it is safe to do so, I'll take a wide line and he can make a pass if he wants to. It's still his pass and he is responsible if he takes me out (so long as I hold my line) this is normally what happens in RL racing.

The next situation are drivers miles back who are a spec in your mirror (Alonso/Massa Monza nonsense?) who claim that although you are running at the same speed as them you have to slow down, now I know it can be hard to get close to other cars due to the effects of dirty air but there is a limit to this effect so I will only consider slowing a tiny amount to let single seaters/GTRs by if they are close enough to get past if I feather the throttle slightly, that is the only time I'll ever slow down for a faster car.

If somebody decides to start spamming blue flag messages or uses the horn I will keep driving on the racing line, which FYI is perfectly acceptable IRL (F1 is an exception due difficulty of passing) I won't drive at all defensively and will hold my line until I get to a corner where I decide I will take a wide line and let the other guy through (this is actually very common IRL), if the faster car wants to go round the outside that is totally fine by me, but his risk.

The last kind of people are those who try to pass you in the middle of a chicane I will keep racing on a none defensive racing line and leave it up to them to make a clean pass. Even worse those who try and tap you (Aryton 87 style) I never yield to a driver who has blatantley tried to take me out and will go out of my way to ensure they have a hard time trying to get past me and with any luck I can ruin their race for a change, I never resort to forcing them off the track though (and I only do this to people who I frankly expect to do it to me after they've already tried to take me off, Phlos was by far the worst offender at this).

I really really hate this element of LFS, in fact it's the main reason why I've pretty much given up on racing on public servers. It's not a problem in the organised rFactor Caterham races which I do from either a lapping or being lapped point of view, I have never seen one horn toot or blue flag message just the flashing of headlights which puts the message across in a less agressive more realistic manner.
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(Hankstar) DELETED by Hankstar
I don't slow down and let faster guys catch me artificially - they'll get me eventually - but once they're on me I'll give them enough room to pass at a good spot, usually approaching a corner or just after. I might lift a bit on a straight too to let them draft me, but once they're level I'll floor it again - no point in jeopardising my own result or lap times.

Like ajp, the guys who think a blue flag means "let me pass instantly" not "let me pass safely" get the same treatment as a decent driver: I'll let you go when it's safe. Can't really ask for more than that can you? If you want to get childish and bump a backmarker who's slowing you down or racing you and being an idiot, that really makes you no better than them imho. If you're that much quicker, wait for a safe spot and take them honourably. School them after the race! After all, they might not be an idiot - they might simply be ignorant of the rules or a rookie with little experience. Going around punting people off track will not endear you to anyone, but explaining the rules to them might actually help them to help you next time.

I know that doesn't always work but you encounter people who seem to want to remain stupid all the time, in all areas of life, so try not to let them get to you.
Quote from Meanie :Another really golden (just golden) thing that happens time from time is someone crashing into the race or joining a server while there's a race on and exiting the pits and entering the track just IN FRONT of the cars racing.

1) The first issue is normally caused by lack of common sense, if people firstly did not ignore blue flags and then were prepared to slow when cars start crashing in front of them (rather than hoping they can weave through flat out) a lot of accidents can be avoided, unfortunatley it only takes one pillock to not brake and take out a train of cars and ruin the races of everyone sensible enough to use some caution when trouble emerges ahead.

2) Something we have to live with I don't personally use the map because I hate it cluttering my screen so it can be genuinely difficult to see when the track is clear, other pit exits you can see and be able to stop (like BL), however on the blind ones exiting at speed is a lot safer than creeping out, just keeping well within the white line. At least part of the onus is on racing cars to not put themselves at risk if at all possible, you wouldn't question having to watch the pit exit IRL when the consequences are so much worse would you?
Quote from TypeRCivic :IF they have the faster car they can get me on the straight away, why am i going to slow down and let tem pass when i'm intitled to fight for my position as long as it's clean, right?

The difference between the slower and the faster drivers is often in corner entry and exit. When a fast guy is behind you and you are blocking his line, it's hard for him to get the extra speed through the corner so he can overtake you on the straight.

Then again...

wsinda voted to ban anyone who has "BLUE FLAG" as a keybind (press 1)
95% or racers are excellent when it comes to obeying the blue flags, and 95% of racers know you can't really expect to not be impeded at all every single time. The problem is that 9 out of 10 times a blue flag is shown on a public server it is to someone who has left the pits long after the race has started. That's what annoys people as much as anything else (imo). Because they're not just lapped traffic that for some reason doesn't make it easy for you, they're random cars that have no place on the circuit in the first place.

If you join the race after it has started then you must make 10times the effort to not interrupt the race in progress.
there is a serious misunderstanding of blue flag on the servers. some people even start shouting BLUE FLAG when you didn't get any blue flag by lfs itself. THAT is anoying.

blue flag means, you are going to be lapped, don't block the car upcoming you. and the faster car should be wise enough to choose the safest spot to overtake, not the slower one! bearing in mind that it might have a reason why this car is slower. some of the faster drivers are not the wisest though... and think they can overtake a slow driver (who might not drive the ideal line) the same way they would overtake a driver who is at an equal pace as they are. this results in misunderstanding and crash.

sometimes it is even better for the faster car to back up a little. and wait one more corner...
you will overtake that guy anyway. and the car behind you has to pass that guy as well.

good drivers can time an overtaking of a lapped car to their advantage over the car behind them. you see this in formula 1 a lot of times. when people get stuck behind a blue flaged car right before a corner where the leading car managed to overtake that blue flagger before that corner.

so be patient.

and one more thing: people who think they can claim every inch of the track for themselfs can suck my hairy salty balls... (maybe too much detail...)
Yes, that "BLUE FLAG PULL OVER" spam is one of the more annoying things I can think of.

If (and when) I'm getting the blue flag message I will keep checking my mirrors to see when the car is within passing range. I normally move to only using maybe 75% throttle to let them past ASAP.
However, if we're at a chicane for example, there is nowhere to go that's not going to screw up everyone's lap, so I just try to get through that section as fast as possible.

On the other hand, if someone is spamming a "get out of my way" message to everyone they get close to, I will not do anything to let them pass. I won't block them, but I sure as hell will stick to my line.

Because I hate asshattery
Quote from sinbad :95% or racers are excellent when it comes to obeying the blue flags, and 95% of racers know you can't really expect to not be impeded at all every single time. The problem is that 9 out of 10 times a blue flag is shown on a public server it is to someone who has left the pits long after the race has started. That's what annoys people as much as anything else (imo). Because they're not just lapped traffic that for some reason doesn't make it easy for you, they're random cars that have no place on the circuit in the first place.

If you join the race after it has started then you must make 10times the effort to not interrupt the race in progress.

Yep, that's pretty much what i'm talking about.
When it comes to pub races it is the case 95% of the time, or even more.

The races are pretty short and cause of that even if there's some great disparity in times the slower ones are pretty much never in a position of being lapped by the faster ones.

BUT there's always (as i said) the great guys who either crashes or join the server when a race is underway (nothing "against" it, we all do it) AND then SCREW with peoples' race.

That really makes me deeply angry.

If you crash or didn't start the race with the others you're NO PART OF IT and therefore if you are going to use the track while others are racing (even when the race will be over in just a few minutes) PLEASE DO NOT screw my or others' race. Please.

By getting out of the pit (doesn't using the map is no excuse, if you don't use it then you don't join a race unerway and risk ruining others' race) just in front of the people racing or crashing/spinning outta the track and then returning to the track when there's people coming and so on.

Just don't. Please.
The race will be over in a few minutes and then you can join and race with us. But please don't act like that.

The sad part is that 99% of the people who do this kind of thing either do not read these forums or even if they do they probably won't enter in a thread like this or even, if they do, take it seriously.

It's just a utter lack of respect that makes me very sad/angry.
Well, i'm having kind of a bay day too so excuse me if i were a lil too harsh.

Cheers..
I must say you are very lucky getting onto the ConeDodgers Server as its normally full and even luckier to stay on if you do not obey the blue flag.

Admin will warn you once, kick you once and then ban you for 12 hours, that is if the other drivers have not already banned you by voting.

At ConeDodgers we have the following in our rules which are as clear as we can make them.

Blue Flag
One or more competitors are about to lap you. You must hold your course and allow them to pass UNIMPEDED. You must make sure you change speed and leave room to be passed. DO NOT RACE A CAR THAT IS A LAP AHEAD.

Should you pass a slower car and then find you get a blue flag warning you can carry on but MUST NOT IMPEAD THEM IN ANY WAY.

In both the LFS: GTR League and on the ConeDodgers servers, not obeying the blue flag is considered unsporting and anyone doing so with have points deducted or may be forced to leave the server.

FGED GREDG RDFGDR GSFDG