v2.2

General Rules

Simplified

The rules in this section apply to all races. Depending on which style you race, the rules in one of the following sections will apply as well. Make sure you read the corresponding sections. If you are unfamiliar with concepts named here, such as "OWOOT" or "Replay Handling", feel free to ask in the chatroom. We welcome newcomers!

Car and gears

For every track, one or more cars will be assigned and all racers must use only those cars. If more than one car is available, you can post your replays with either one or with more than one of them. You are free to use any colour and to select manual or automatic transmission.

Replay playability

All replays must be playable continuously from start to finish when loaded in Stunts by selecting "Load replay" from the options menu. Playback at either standard or double speed is acceptable provided switching between the two speeds is not required for the replay to play back successfully.

Replay publicity

All replays will remain private during the race and will be published once it ends. Racers can, while logged in, make their own replays public if they so wish (there is an option in the Scoreboard section for this), but once they do, they cannot revert their replays to private.

Scoreboard positions

When posting, your lap will be placed on the scoreboard according to the lap time regardless of the car you used. If several laps are of identical length, older laps will precede newer ones. Upon posting, your replay is pending verification. When a moderator checks your replay, it will be either verified or rejected. If rejected, it will be removed from the main scoreboard and you will receive a message explaining the reason. If you post a replay that supersedes another replay you sent that has not yet been verified, your older replay will automatically be removed from the main scoreboard. If you have several laps verified, one lap with each car and style combination will remain on the main scoreboard.

Season point system

At the end of each race in the season (year), you will receive points depending on your participation and results in that race that will be added to your season score. The best lap for each racer will be considered regardless of car and style. The racer that obtains first place will be given 5 points, the second, 4 points and the third, 3 points. Everybody else who has achieved positive verification of a replay for that race will receive 2 points for having participated. If you don't participate in a race or none of your replays are verified, you don't receive any points.


Strict OWOOT Rules (Default)

Simplified

Race For Kicks is a OWOOT racing event. This means you must remain on or over the asphalt/dirt/ice at all times (one wheel on or over the track) and you must execute all stunts. You may not use shortcuts or skip stunts in any way.

How being OWOOT is defined

Replays are checked by using the F3 view, rotating the viewport upwards to the maximum and then clockwise (to the right) three times. No change is to be made to the zoom level. If at any point, from this view, there is no contact between any of the pixels of the car shape and those of the main material of the track (asphalt, dirt or ice), then the replay is invalid. Even if it is apparent that there would be no pixel overlap, the replay is valid as long as there is contact. The reason is that overlap is an abstract concept (as the background pixel really does not exist) and in curves and chicanes, it may not be clearly defined. Other rotations or zoom levels may give different results, but these are not to be taken into account. Still, it is recommended that you avoid any situation that may produce doubts. The term "OWOOT" is old and the concept has been evolving for two decades. While it may suggest that the wheels have something to do with the rules, actually, any part of the car in visual contact with the road is enough.

Executing all stunts

Each track element usually has an intuitively defined stunt-action. For example, when facing a loop, you're supposed to roll through it, not jump off. When you get to a tunnel, it is understood you must go through it, not over it or on top of it. If you get to a slalom, you're expected to dodge the stones, not go straight through them. This is usually described as "following the yellow/white lines", although this is rather vague (for example, it's clear that there is no violation in rolling inside a pipe). Overflying an obstacle is generally not allowed, however, when verifying a replay, top-down view is selected and the car may appear larger with respect to the track elements. For this reason, despite the fact that the car usually does fit between the stones of the slalom, this looks impossible from that view. To compensate for that fact, it is allowed to overfly a slalom only if, in standard review camera conditions, the car is seen as either not touching any of the two stones or touching both. If the car only makes contact (as seen vertically) with one of them, this is not valid.

Speed-ups

A speed-up is something you do that is clearly going to improve your lap time, but consists of more than just driving, rather exploiting the game's unreal physics. In many tournaments, this is not allowed. In Race For Kicks, speed-ups are allowed as long as you stick to the OWOOT rules. For instance, when driving on a highway, you may use the boulevard division to jump and accelerate, but the bolevard division is not considered part of the track (asphalt), so at least one wheel must remain partially on or over the asphalt for the replay to be valid. Also, at a pipe entrance, you may use the side to jump in, but the replay will be invalid if the car is seen to be fully off the asphalt. Jumping at the start of banked roads is OK, but make sure you don't fly over the grass if there's a banked corner just after the straightway-to-banked-road transition.

Replay handling

You are allowed to use replay handling. If you did not use it, you can specify that when uploading your replay and this will show up on the scoreboard. Currently, there is no efficient way to verify the use of replay handling, so replays labeled "NoRH" will not add any scoreboard advantage.


Free OWOOT Rules

Overview

If you want to post a replay for a track's permanent competition with rules other than strict OWOOT, the next option is free OWOOT. Sometimes a race may have free OWOOT rules too. All replays that are valid for strict OWOOT, are valid as well for free OWOOT. The difference is that the latter is concerned almost exclusively with being on or over the track and not with executing all stunts. As long as you remain on the main track at all times, it's OK to skip some things.

Things that are allowed

You can, for example, jump over a corkscrew up/down. Driving over a tunnel is OK too, as well as going through a wall in slaloms (hard, but possible) or skipping loops and corkscrews through the middle. When you are in the air, like after hitting the start of a banked road, it's OK to overfly the grass and then fall directly on top of the banked road at an angle, as long as you don't fall on the grass itself.

Things that are NOT allowed

Now, if you skip a loop or corkscrew, you have to do it by driving inside them, not around them. You can't drive on grass! While you can partially be on top of a boulevard on highways, you're expected to have at least part of the car over the pavement. If the whole car is entirely on the boulevard, that's too much. On the other hand, flying "over" the boulevard is OK.


GAR (Gentlemen's Agreement Rules)

Overview

This refers to the Gentlemen's Agreement Rules as defined by Marco. The specific and detailed rules should always be based on the information provided by him. In general, this is more strict than normal strict OWOOT. All GAR-valid replays are OWOOT-valid too, but not the other way around.

Replay handling

GAR always requires that you do not use Replay Handling. If you post a replay as GAR/RH, it is understood that you mean it would be GAR except exclusively for the fact that you have used RH. In other words, GAR/RH is not true GAR.

Shortcuts and speed-ups

GAR is strict about shorcuts. There shouldn't be any, ideally. Even things that would be accepted for strict OWOOT, such as speeding up by jumping at the entrance of pipes or boulevards, cannot happen with GAR. Some speed-ups are tolerated when it's very hard to avoid them and they don't affect the results too much, like a slight jump at the beginning of a banked road, but again, this should all be checked with Marco.


Free-style Rules

Overview

This is the most free of all styles, clearly. You are even allowed to go completely off-road, skip anything you want, etc. The important thing is that you start and get to the finish line somehow. In the process, you can get as creative as you want. However, penalty time cannot be ignored. This is the form of driving chosen by ZakStunts.

Penalty time

ZakStunts, the first tournament to use this style, allows for penalty time, but it must be counted, that is, added to your total lap time. In Race For Kicks, your replay must be penalty-time-free. Changing this to the form of ZakStunts could be considered if important replays containing penalty times were to be posted in the general competition, but so far, penalty time is not allowed.