XCL DRIVER SWAP GUIDE
In this guide, the driver swaps in ACC will be explained.
Please navigate and read through this guide carefully before joining a Driver Swap Race.
If you are left with any questions please join our Discord and contact any of our staff members.
Have fun and see you on track!
JOINING THE SERVER
First Driver "owner"
The key requirement of team racing is that the car must at all times be “owned” by one driver, i.e. a driver of the team must not disconnect when he/she is currently the active driver of the car. The other drivers of the team may enter and leave the server at any time, without causing problems for the entry or the server. We advise to not have over 2 drivers per team connected to help with the server stess and prevent red flags (server disconnect).
Joining
Each driver of the entry must select the same car model when joining (livery choice does not matter apart from the first driver to join).
In order to make it easier for your team to manage active drivers upon joining, it is recommended that whomever is chosen for the first stint of the race joins the race server first, followed by the 2nd stint, 3rd stint driver, etc.
Make sure you remember who was the first driver of your entry to join the server and thus establish the entry on the server, as in the event of a car loss due to disconnecting, the same driver will need to rejoin the server first regardless of who drove the car when it was lost.
IMPORTANT: All drivers entering the server must do so using the normal server password (if there is one), no matter whether they are driving right away or just waiting in line for the driver swap, or just spectating other cars. Do NOT enter the server using a spectator password when you are a driver in the entry list.
Setup & Strategies
The setup, car data and pitstop strategies are transferred as expected between the drivers on swap. The setup of the car must be loaded by the driver who starts the race.
Connection Status
The drivers connected to the server see the connection status of their fellow teammates in the Driver Swap widget. In the example below, PAN is driving and STU and VAS are also connected. The Driver Swap widget is visible both in the garage screen (left) and the driving HUD (right):
Were they not connected to the server, they would show as OFFLINE with a black background.
IMPORTANT: if the car is “lost” due to the active driver disconnecting from the server, all other drivers of the entry must also follow suit and disconnect. Depending on server configuration (if rejoin is not locked in the server settings), the drivers might still be able to all leave and rejoin to regain control of the car (being at least a lap down) if the driver who was originally the first driver of the entry to join the server rejoins the server first (this is not necessarily the same driver who lost the car due to the disconnect). Any other teammate rejoining first will most likely create a duplicate entry that will not have the original car’s progress.
SWAPPING DRIVERS
Giving the car away
Before performing a driver swap (which may be done so in every type of session, including Free Practice and Qualifying) go to your pitstop page in the MFD and select the next driver to whom you would like to hand the car over.
Driver swap may be done in every type of session, including Practise, Qualifying and the race.
Simply cycle to the next driver that you wish to swap the car to. When selected, the connection status of the next driver will change from CONNECTED to REQUESTED in blue color on top of the screen, as shown below:
Scroll through driver names, select the driver you want to hand the car over, then pit to swap drivers
Status of drivers
Session
Driver swap may be done in every type of session, including Practise, Qualifying and the race.
NOTE: in the race session, keep in mind that the MFD automatically selects the next driver in line towards the end of the stint if another driver is connected to the car (at approximately 20 minutes remaining of the stint). If the active driver wishes to perform a double stint without swapping drivers, he/she must cycle back to his/her own name in the MFD driver selection.
RECIEVING THE CAR
Next Driver
As the next driver in line, upon entering the server the player will spawn in the garage screen as a spectator.
In case the view is focused on another team’s car upon entering the server as a 2nd or 3rd driver, hit “Return to Garage” and navigate to your team’s car.
Once it’s done, pressing “Drive” after that point will correctly move the view to the correct car, regardless of which car the player spectates on the Garage screen in continuation.
After taking over the car (by VAS in the image below), the Driver Swap widget will show the new driver as “Driving”, and the Stint widget also shows up for the currently active driver.
NOTE: The Stint Timer widget is not visible for spectating players, it is in the active driver’s responsibility to keep track of his/her stint time and enter the pitlane in time. Similarly, total driving times are also only visible to the currently active driver.
The swap
During the race, the actual driver swap is performed when the driver currently driving the car enters the pit and performs a regular pit stop.
The controls will be locked, and the driver currently driving the car will see a countdown, e.g. from 30 to 0 seconds (length may vary depending on the type of pitstop service). A driver swap pitstop will take a minimum of 30 seconds, regardless of what else might be selected in the pit strategy MFD.
NOTE: only the active driver (who drove the car into the pits) sees this countdown. The next driver in line (who was selected as the next driver to get the car at the pitstop) does NOT see this countdown.
The driver taking over will see a HUD update (e.g. stint timer appearing, inputs and tyre app showing) when the countdown reaches 0. The second driver now has full control of the car.
IMPORTANT: It is recommended for the team to communicate via a 3rd-party voice app and the driver handing the car over to keep the driver receiving the car updated about the countdown.
Completed
Once the driver swap is successfully completed, the next driver needs to start the car and drive just like in a regular session.
The car is now “owned” by the new driver, and must make sure he or she does not disconnect before handing the car over to a teammate.
MANDATORY REQUIREMENTS & OPTIONAL RULES
Minimum Driving Requirement
The key minimum requirement of every team race is that each driver specified in the entry list must drive at least a single stint.
IMPORTANT: If this mandatory requirement is not met by the end of the race (before the chequered flag), the entry is disqualified at the moment of crossing the finish line.
Maximum Driving Time
As a mandatory requirement when driving time rules are used, there is always a maximum driving time that regulates how much each driver of the car may drive.
Drivers who have completed the minimum driving requirement (i.e. driven at least one stint) are shown bright green in the Maximum Driving Time widget, the active driver is shown darker green and the driver(s) who have not yet driven the car are shown with a red box next to their name.
NOTE: During regular pit stops, the Driving Time counter is frozen, however when performing a penalty the counter continues to click down in the background even while the car is in pitlane.
IMPORTANT: Similarly to not complying with the minimum driving requirement, exceeding the maximum driving time will result in a disqualification at the end of the race.
It is highly recommended to have the Pit Info page of the MFD enabled at all times (via the HUD settings). This shows requirements, driving and stint times and track cut warnings in a compact widget for the active driver, allowing the player to disable all other HUD elements if they wish.
Stint Time
An optional rule is the regulation of the maximum driver stint time. When the stint time is regulated, there is a timer in the top left corner on the driving HUD showing when the car needs to enter the pit once again. The stint timer is also visible in the Pit Info widget inside the MFD.
NOTE: You can only see this stint timer when you are the active driver. Stint and maximum driving time information is also shown by the Racelogic device (where available).
Driver stints do not require a pitstop, nor does it require a driver swap, the timer is reset when a car enters and restarts when the car exits the pitlane, thus driving through the pitlane is already sufficient to reset the timer (except when serving a penalty).
10 minutes before the end of the stint the engineer warns for stint time ending. 5 minutes before the end of the stint the widget turns yellow and the race engineer calls for the driver to enter the pits, while with 2 minutes left the widget turns red as a final warning to the player.
Exceeding the stint time will result in a drive-through penalty. Exceeding the stint-time in the final lap(s) will convert the drive-through penalty into a post-race time penalty (usually 30 seconds or 80 seconds at Spa).
If the active driver’s maximum driving time remaining is less than the current stint time left, the HUD Stint Timer will be overridden to show the maximum driving time instead, making sure the player does not exceed his/her maximum allowed driving time.
NOTE: The Racelogic device does not do this override mentioned above, it will always show the raw stint data.
NOTE: The driver Stint Timer is not reset when performing a penalty, the timer will freeze but continue as the car exits pitlane.
Serving a penalty can be delayed to follow a regular pitstop by unchecking the “Serve Penalty” checkbox in the pitstop MFD before entering pitlane (it is always pre-selected automatically when a penalty is applied
