I am a clean driver. I pride myself on being a mature, clean driver. I may not be the fastest, I havnt hit my 1 year milestone yet. I got a G25 last month and I am still slightly getting used to that.

But after getting bored of being on City Driving servers (lol) I went on to the ConeDrivers GTR server. I am not a big fan on the GTR cars and I very rarly drive them, I was just bored and getting fed up of the LX4.

I got the FZR and slowly left the pits, this was mid-race and like normal, I was watching my arse when I was leaving the pits etc.

I must admit, while I was driving, I wasnt checking my mirrors all the time, but I had no need to. If I had, I would of seen him coming, but I would of been on the grass bank every corner.
When I got the bottom chicane, I got the blue flag, I checked my mirrors and saw there was a faster driver closing down on my tail. I had just turned into the chicane when I got the flag, I remember reading that I dont have to dive onto the grass to let him pass, but to move over when it was safe to do so. I thought to myself, "I will wait till I have exited the chicane and on to the pit striaght before I pull over. The faster driver in question then barged passed, hitting me and putting himself over the kurb. He rolled and I spun. In amazment, I said "Why?" He pitted as did I. He then said, "did you not see blue flag??" I expained on was taking the chicane, and then he vote-banned me. This is the sort of behavior I would expect on Demo servers. What shocked me was how the CD drivers jump on the band wagon and all voted to ban me. This isnt a flame at ConeDodgers, their server nor their drivers. Just a question...

Was I in the wrong? If so, I would like to know what I should do. Like I said I am a clean driver and that is the way I would like it to stay. I have attached the replay so you can amek your own judgments.

Note: I hardly ever driver GTR's and I hardly ever drive on Aston National. This is a question of driving manners, not please flame me because I drive like a noob.

Many Thanks.

Ack! Sorry buddy, but I had to remove the MPR. There's too much potential for a witch-hunt/name&shame with an S2 MPR.

I don't mind us discussing the thing hypothetically but since it's easy to contact the admins for the [CD] servers, that aspect can be easily addressed using the MPR privately with them.

Well, from his point of view it could have looked like you were giving space, he didn't see you were actually going wide so he thought it was the place to overtake. So, your too wide line gave the wrong impression. Takes always two for a silly crash like that though, didn't follow the chatter afterwards but for a 10 lap race, dunno, a bit harsh call to ban maybe. But it's only 24 hours so, you don't lose nothing, it's Aston national after all

No worries mate. While I was making the post, I though about the whole name and shame stuff.

Like I said, It wasnt a hit at CD themselves, just wanted to know if I was in the right, because I dont want to do on another server and get branded a wrecker, or otherwise.

Fair point Blackout. I take it you saw the replay. I was abit surprised by the late-ness of the BLUE FLAG, I was kind of in shock and the was the reason for my wide line. But like you say, it takes 2, its only for 24 hours and its is A-NATIONAL

Pretty much he was running in first with a huge lead and didn't need to barge in on you like that. You also could have seen him coming up really fast in your mirror and just pulled over to the left, especially since you were unfamiliar with the car and track and therefore WAY off the pace.

He was probably just trying to go for a fast lap.

Conedodgers is very strick with enforcing the blue flag. There are a lot of fast drivers mixing it up with slow drivers and unfortunately there have been a lot of clashes in the past which has lead the the blue flag rule being quite severe and usually enforced.

Track position, mirror and map awareness are essential on the server.

I think I was on the server when you were banned, it will only be for 12 hours and the CD guys are a good bunch of people who won't hold a grudge.

Nothing wrong with enforcing blue-flag-rule strictly, but the way General Lee describes it (I didn't see the replay), it sounds like an overly strict (=wrong) enforcement of the rule. It's total bogus to expect someone to move over the instant the blue flag message comes up. And no experienced driver should expect anyone to give room in a chicane. Just my 2c, of course.

Quote from Linsen :

...It's total bogus to expect someone to move over the instant the blue flag message comes up. And no experienced driver should expect anyone to give room in a chicane. Just my 2c, of course.

It is my feeling that it is totally bogus to expect someone to move over at all under the blue flag. The faster driver should make a pass just as he would passing anyone else on the track. All the guy recieving the blue flag is responsible for is allowing the pass to go easily and smoothly, ie, lifting a bit to let him by or staying outside and giving the apex to the lead car.

If I see someone coming blue flagging me with plenty of time, sure, I'll move over because he can easily see my intentions. With someone on your rear coming out of a corner or out of the chicane as in how I read this instance, then if you move over, you could potentially be moving directly into the path of the lead car because he is making a passing maneuver.

Again, blue flag does NOT mean "move the F off of my line!!" It only means to allow the faster/lead car through easily.

From how you describe the incident, General Lee, I vote it is not your fault. Though, with a mid-race join and being unfamiliar with the combo, perhaps you should have watched the map a bit closer. I don't like to get involved anywhere near the other racers on a mid-race join situation. I tend to shift-s off the track if racers are coming when I mid-race join (usually). After all, I'm not racing, but only practicing and getting some laps in at this point.

Thanks Nighthawk.

In my defence, there was only about 5 people on the track at the time.

I always watch my mirrors, the map and I am happy to lose a place or two, to avoid an accident than I am to risk the race to take myself and other drivers out. I'm not silly like that.

I should of been that extra bit defensive considering I was on a fairly new combo.

I pride myself on being clean. I get more of a grin getting acknowledged for my clean driving style and moving over than I do for being a pain in the neck.

I was in utter shock really at how slow the BLUE FLAG was and how he barged passed then went "BLUE FLAG Y0!!" Looking back, I was slow to react because, as soon as the blue flag come up, I always look in mirrors to see what the time scale of him/her overtaking me is, if its a few seconds, I will wait till I'm in a safe place, and visa-virca. But this guy was right behind me and to be totally honest, through lack of experince I paniced.

I would like to say, I do try to be professional when racing at all times. I will always move over when I get the blue flag, I'm willing to lose a place or two to not cause an accident and I am not so quick to blame etc. But I was in real shock to see someone who had been leading the race for 6 laps to make such an amature mistake. I would like to think that any racer would of waited. I can understand if he was trying to beat his pb etc, but it was plain silly from my point of view. He must of known that I or anyone would of waited untill the straight...right?

Quote from The General Lee :

I would like to say, I do try to be professional when racing at all times. I will always move over when I get the blue flag, I'm willing to lose a place or two to not cause an accident and I am not so quick to blame etc. But I was in real shock to see someone who had been leading the race for 6 laps to make such an amature mistake. I would like to think that any racer would of waited. I can understand if he was trying to beat his pb etc, but it was plain silly from my point of view. He must of known that I or anyone would of waited untill the straight...right?

Nope. It seems to me that it is pretty common knowledge around here that people think blue flag means "Get the F out of my way NOOB!", which as I've highlighted, it doesn't.

There has been times myself that I saw the blue flag message just as someone ran up on the back of me. There has been other times that after mid-race joining, I've slowed down on a very long straight after getting blue flag, yet never saw the car coming up until about a half lap later. Blue flags seem quite wierd to me in LFS.

Quote from mrodgers :

It is my feeling that it is totally bogus to expect someone to move over at all under the blue flag. The faster driver should make a pass just as he would passing anyone else on the track. All the guy recieving the blue flag is responsible for is allowing the pass to go easily and smoothly, ie, lifting a bit to let him by or staying outside and giving the apex to the lead car.

Yes, that's the way I see it, too. Worded my first post wrongly. Nobody should be *expected* to move over under blue flag. It can be a nice move under certain circumstances, though (like, when the blue flagged driver is not racing for positions and does it early enough to not cause any misunderstanding).

I have to say that I really hate LFS's Vote ban mechanism. Its so open to abuse of this kind (by the way you describe it, no one else saw the incident)

Without seeing the mpr I won't comment on the crash, except to say that unless its very clear on the track (ie no other cars around and on a straight piece of road or a very wide corner), I try not to move off line. I'll slow down, make myself as narrow as is safe, and if he can't make the pass - tough. I'm sure he'll do well in the next race.

Its pick up racing for christ's sake - crash out of this one and there'll be another one in ten minutes. And its Conedodgers - so the next race is going to be GTRs at Aston National. Its not like he missed out on anything. In fact you probably added a bit of variety to his life...

This is why I dont allow vote ban on STCC servers. Nobody reviews the incident before voting, to do so would involve logging off and back on again to check the replay.

The debate over "Blue flag move over!" spammers/attitude drivers will never be solved until we can get the muppets (at both ends of the field) to read a rule book. This is unlikely to happen.

Sounds like you met one of the quick kids who's ego was better than his racecraft.