Racing

Any civilian at the wheel of anything can race: there’s no level and no car class. Officers, medics and firefighters can’t, and nobody can while on a job, in a robbery or stick-up, cuffed, being arrested or in jail. A racer counts as being on a job: /mission leave or dying takes you out of the race, and everything else that refuses a driver on a job refuses a racer.

Race distances are always shown in kilometres and metres, whatever your Measurement System setting.

Four ways to race

	Street race	Heads-up	Track race	Time trial
Starts	Set a waypoint and type `/race [stake]`	Stop at a red light beside another driver	Staff host it at a track’s start	Pull up on a track’s start flag, pick Time Trial
Who’s asked	Civilian drivers within 100 m	The two of you	Drivers within 150 m	Nobody
Time to join	30 s	12 s	60 s	none
Stake	$0 to $50,000; $1,000 if you type none	Set for you	Set by staff, up to $50,000	None
Course	One finish 400 m to 9 km away	The next traffic lights	The track’s checkpoints, 1 to 20 laps	One lap

Every race card is answered with the horn. You also have to be near the start to join, and again when the race goes. Too far away and you’re told, or dropped at the start with your stake back.

/race start starts a street race early, but only for whoever opened it (“Nobody else is in yet” if you’re alone). If the host leaves the lobby, the race is called off for everyone and the stakes are refunded. A full grid says the race is full, and a track with a laid grid takes only as many cars as it has starting places (16 at most).

Heads-up: the stake is $1,000 plus $200 a civilian level, up to $6,000, and never more than the poorer driver’s cash. You must be side by side, facing the same way, both stopped. The first horn hosts (the other driver’s card reads “Race” and the name, then “Waiting on” the name once you’ve pressed it), the second matches, and the green light is the start. If either of you lets the card lapse, you’re both asked again after 5 seconds. The finish is the next set of traffic lights ahead down your road, or failing that a point further down it. If the game reports the light, the race starts on the real green; if not, a normal count starts it.

Track races take up to 16 cars. Every race starts with a 5-second count, checkpoints go in order, and rings in the air are driven through, not under. Once the first car finishes, everyone else has 60 seconds; no race runs past 15 minutes. In a race the clock shows tenths of a second, the standings list the leaders, and the hint line reads “Wait for the green” at a signal start and “Lap n of m” on a circuit.

A time trial puts you on the track’s pole slot (or its start point), with the car held for the count; you need to be on the mark when it goes. It’s one lap, with no stake and nobody invited. Leaving the car for 12 seconds or changing car ends it. On a track nobody has lapped, the notice says whatever you do is the record.

You’re out if you’re out of the car for 15 seconds (12 in a trial), you die, disconnect or type /race leave, you swap cars in a trial, you sit stopped for 5 seconds after a heads-up start, or you aren’t at the wheel near the line when it starts.

The money

The stake leaves your cash when you join, and comes back if the race is called off before the start or nobody finishes.

Cars that started	The pot
2	Winner takes all
3	70% / 30%
4 or more	60% / 30% / 10%

A place nobody finished in goes to the winner. The city pays on top, in any race with at least two starters:

	Cash	Civilian XP
Finishing	$150	40
1st / 2nd / 3rd, on top	$800 / $400 / $200	120 / 70 / 40
A personal best on a track (any car)	$250	50
A new track record	$2,500	200

The work board adds daily racing jobs and a weekly one (eight races): see Your first hour.

Daily job	Cash	Civilian XP
Finish two races	$1,200	100
Win one	$2,000	150
Set a lap worth keeping	$1,200	100

“Finish” and “win” only count in a race with at least two starters, so a time trial never counts for them. A lap worth keeping is a personal best or a track record, not just any lap.

After calling a street race you wait 60 seconds before calling another, or 5 if nobody joined.

Tracks and records

Every built track has a chequered flag on its start line with its name, length, laps and lap record; it shows from 70 m, and pulling up on it opens the track’s page. /race tracks lists them all. A race lobby adds its stake, pot, number in and seconds left to the track’s flag, and a street race gets a flag at its start while its lobby lasts (a heads-up gets none, and you see none while you’re racing).

Each track keeps your best lap in every car, and its board shows the ten fastest, one row per driver and car, so one driver can hold several places. A lap in a car you haven’t raced before goes on the board but pays nothing unless it’s your best in any car. See the board on the flag, the track’s page, or F10 > Leaderboards > Street Racing (more on Achievements and leaderboards). Every distance on a track or a board is in kilometres, whatever your unit setting. New records are announced in chat, and when staff move a track’s checkpoints its board is wiped.

The police

Street racing isn’t a crime, and the police aren’t told. Speed cameras still fine you mid-race.

Tips

There’s no racing skill. Time trials are free, so learn tracks there.
On a track with no laps set yet, your first lap is the record.
Time trials don’t count towards “Finish two races”.
Stay at the line while a race fills: anyone too far from it at the start is dropped, stake refunded.