About pit lane being closed:

I don't know how this works. I have received this message when trying to join mid-race, and get sent back to spectators. I wanted to ask how long is the pit lane closed (some minutes? some laps?) and if you can make a pit stop during that time (ie. you received heavy damage in the first lap and need to repair).


About the grid ordering:

First I thought it was random, but after some sessions of races now I think it's related CTRA's PBs with the car you're using or something like that. Can anyone tell me what is the actual method?


Suggestion:

When there're a lot of people in some servers and the grid is full it gets crazy to get into the race as everyone is trying to join the race as soon as someone spectates/disconnects. If you are not fast or clever enough you don't ever get to join the race. So, it would be nice to have a queue of people wanting to join the race:

1. First of all, when someone spectates gets a warning and ~10 seconds to rejoin the race to not lose his slot. Maybe he was thrown out of the limits of the track during a post-race "crashing party" or just hit shift+s unintentionally instead fo shift+p. So, this prevents people from losing their slots, or at least they get warned.

2. When you try to join and the race is full you get added to the queue and are informed of how many people are ahead of you. When someone leaves the queue you get updated info (people who now are in the race or disconnected).

3. When it's your turn and there's a free spot you receive a button saying "you can join the race now, click me!" with a 5~10 second timer. If you don't click it the system skips to the next racer in the queue, and so on.


Ok, maybe this is a "time consuming" system considering the situation it would be handling: a queue for left out people that is in no way a priority in the CTRA system. So just consider it, or maybe something simpler would do the trick

Any system that ensures fairness in the way that "the first guy who arrived will be the first one to get a shot at joining the race" would be great.

The pitlane is closed for midrace joiners a certain period of time after the race start. I don't think it's a fixed number, though. Sometimes it's approximately 1 lap on longer tracks, on shorter tracks the pitlane opens when the leader is well into his second lap. During this time drivers can enter pitlane for repairs without problem. It's only closed for midrace joiners. You get a message in the upper left corner of your screen saying "Pitlane Open" when it's open. It's futile trying to join before, and you will get kicked off the server if you keep trying to join. Also, you only get 1 midrace join per race. After that, you have to wait until the race is over to be able to join again.

The starting order is based on your fastest lap. I don't think car type is taken into account. The guy with the fastest lap starts in front. Note that a persons fastest lap is his fastest lap during his session, not the last race or whatever. So if he's been on the server for say 10 races, and he drove an incredibly fast lap in his first race, he'll likely start in one of the top positions for as long as he's on the server in that car, no matter how fast his laps are in any of the following races. It goes without saying that when a new track is selected by the system everyone starts with a clean slate. You can check the starting grid positions by typing $grid.

I'm not going to comment on your other suggestions. That doesn't mean I think they're bad, I just don't care about the subject myself. If the race is full I just join a different server

Quote from obsolum :

Also, you only get 1 midrace join per race. After that, you have to wait until the race is over to be able to join again.

Actually there's a workaround for this. You can leave the server, reconnect and then you can mid-race join again. I think I did this some time lately and it worked.


About the other thing, the car is taken into account for the laptimes. The other day I was starting at the front row with the XFG and when I switched to the XRG to try it and I was sent back to the last position of the grid for the next race.

Obsolum - The Pits open after the leader crosses the first split line on his second lap.

Quote from MaKaKaZo :

Actually there's a workaround for this. You can leave the server, reconnect and then you can mid-race join again. I think I did this some time lately and it worked.

Quote from MaKaKaZo :

About the other thing, the car is taken into account for the laptimes. The other day I was starting at the front row with the XFG and when I switched to the XRG to try it and I was sent back to the last position of the grid for the next race.

Again... that's only obvious. Since you hadn't done any laps in the XRG yet there was no fastest lap recorded for you in that car during that session. I'll quote myself:

Quote :

for as long as he's on the server in that car

What I meant by saying that I don't think car type is taken into account, is that it doesn't matter if you run a 1:36:00 in an XFG, an XRG or an XRT. One might expect a driver in an XRG to be placed before a driver in an XFG with the same fastest lap, because the XRG is supposedly harder to drive. That's not the case. In servers with multiple classes, though, the classes are taken into account.

@dawesust - Thanks, I didn't know that.

Quote from MaKaKaZo :

1. First of all, when someone spectates gets a warning and ~10 seconds to rejoin the race to not lose his slot. Maybe he was thrown out of the limits of the track during a post-race "crashing party" or just hit shift+s unintentionally instead fo shift+p. So, this prevents people from losing their slots, or at least they get warned.

2. When you try to join and the race is full you get added to the queue and are informed of how many people are ahead of you. When someone leaves the queue you get updated info (people who now are in the race or disconnected).

3. When it's your turn and there's a free spot you receive a button saying "you can join the race now, click me!" with a 5~10 second timer. If you don't click it the system skips to the next racer in the queue, and so on.

Folks shouldn't indulge in post-race crashing parties IMO, if they lose a race slot because of doing so then that seems OK. If they spent the period between races practising the circuit there may be fewer crashes in the actual racing. And sometimes you get sent into outer space (took the wrong route) and spectated as a result of an in-race crash, but without a mechanism like that to throw a curved ball now and again, it would slow down the process of bringing in new drivers. Having said that a proper queueing system would be nice, although the option to opt out of the queue (i.e. not even be asked if you wanted to join) should be available. You might be having your tea and just watching a race with a viewer app, or, on some short tracks the circuit might just be too busy - I usually watch the map and look for a sensible gap in the traffic opening up a few laps from the end before trying to join.

Somewhat on the topic of the pitlane being closed:

A few times on CTRA I've gotten the "Pitlane is currently closed" message before the race begins. I'm on the grid waiting for the lights then suddenly realize that either I forgot to apply the correct setup or forgot to add enough fuel. I go to pit, fix the problem, then click join when one set of red lights has come on, yet it gives me that message. Surely it shouldn't say that until the lights have actually turned green, right?

You should only get that message at that time if the X-System software has crashed and restarted. The software is a lot more stable these days than it was, but it is still a little sensitive to MySQL bottlenecks and it definitely doesn't like being examined in taskmgr. After a restart, it takes a few seconds for the X-System to gather the current state of play and get back on the ball. During that time it closes the pitlane, even if it is outside of an ongoing race.

i've gotten "pit lane is closed" before, when i was the only person on the server.

Quote from bunder9999 :

i've gotten "pit lane is closed" before, when i was the only person on the server.

Because no car has reached split 1 of lap 2 to open it, but there is a safety feature where it times out after a certain period of time and opens the pit lane regardless.

Regarding switching car, when you change car class your current qualifying time is wiped.

CTRA run concurrent qualifying, this means your best lap on any race you finish is stored as your qualifying time until you disconnect or switch car. If the grid is mixed class (Race 3) then the faster class is placed infront in its entirety, unless somebody joins after the grid is ordered.