Drive Through Penalty question

SaltyDog

SaltyDog

Member
So I have had two different races where I got a drive through penalty at the race start on the Le Mans circuit, but I don't know what they were for. As far as I could tell I was lined up correctly, at the correct distance and without speeding before the green flag. Is there some place the reason for the DT is shown in the race or after the race that I am just not aware of? I would like to find out what the DT's came from so I can avoid them in the future, but for the life of me I can't find where it tells the reason. Any help would be appreciated since I am apparently to blind to see it :cool:.
 
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There can be several reasons for a DT at the start, if you were weaving, if you were erratic in your braking and acceleration. If you were too far to the side of the car in front of you.
You can find a small answer in the trace.txt file. (be warned, it's huge!) there are trace files for every race or practice you have participated in, so you need to match the times and dates it was created with your two races. Then use a text editor and search for penalty. If nothing else you may be able to match the time stamp on the line and compare that to the replay.
trace.txt files are located in the LMU/Userdata/Log folder.
 
davehenrie said:
There can be several reasons for a DT at the start, if you were weaving, if you were erratic in your braking and acceleration. If you were too far to the side of the car in front of you.
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Thanks for the response. I found the trace.txt file and it shows speeding as a penalty. I went back and watched the replay and I don't see the speeding, and oddly the DT indicator doesn't display in the replay. So I don't know if the replay strips out the penalty indicator normally and I was really speeding, or if this is a bug of some kind. But thanks for replying, I at least have some kind of explanation even if I can't see it in the replay.
 
Somebody will chime in with the correct speed limits, but I THINK you need to stay under 90kph, even when catching up. Certainly do not exceed 60kph once that warning is displayed. Most of us use the pit limiter at that point. Just remember to keep you finger on that button for when the race goes green.
(pit limiter caveat: Works best in 1st gear. Any gear above 2nd gear while on the limiter will allow the car to exceed the pit lane speed limit.)
 
Yeah I think the limit is 60kph, but there were no warnings or indicators of any kind that I was driving to fast, out of line or not the correct distance from the car in front, that's the strange part. And like I mentioned, the replay doesn't show the DT indicator at all, so in the replay it doesn't appear that there is a DT called for, but there was. Strange, and I wonder if its a bug or just how the replay shows the details, but thanks again for the assistance.
 
I think I figured out where the speeding was. It happened early in the formation lap when the game couldn't decide if it wanted be to catch up or slow down. I apparently went to fast for to long trying to catch up, but it was a bit confusing because it would tell me to catch up, but I would increase the speed to catch up it would tell me to slow down. Lesson learned the hard way I guess. Thanks to davehenrie for telling me where to find the trace.txt file that pointed me in the right direction.
 
One thing that confused many of us, when they 1st instituted these starting procedures, is the RED WALL. We figured out NOT to drive into it, but we mis-interpreted it's purpose. We thought it meant we were getting too close to the car in front of us if the red wall began to rise up ahead of us. But in truth, it's the car to your side. you do not want to get too far ahead of the car next to you. Have fun!
 
It has always been the way, the LM rolling lap is a joke and always has been, too long.

But the main causes are people speeding up and slowing down too severely which cases the walls to expand and contract far too much, causing lots of incidents.

For me the entire start system in this game should be automatic, it is not done to increase the chances of the ACO and 3987 favouriute realism addition. Penalties.

But, in fairness it is less of an issue at other tracks, so the layout of the last few bends at LM is the main reason, plus it is way too long
 
@davehenrie explained it pretty well. Just to add, keep things smooth and don't make any big changes in speed, direction, braking, or acceleration. I used to get penalties in the past for seemingly unknown reasons, but by keeping things smooth and not making major changes I haven't had penalties in probably over a year. If you need to catch up to a car in front who has suddenly taken off and left you behind, SLOWLY accelerate to catch up. Chances are the car in front will get a penalty and you won't. If you try to stick with him then you will probably get penalised.
 
Well they clearly need to do something about rolling start.
P1 and HY can destroy compétition race with a good erratique start without suffering of any consequence

another DT
Reason of the DT : Too slow

Go over 120 too fast
Break to 20 cause jam : Too slow
Some get DT other don't

I don't understand what i'm supposed to do.
I'm here for guidance ;)
 
yeah, Long Beach & Le Mans need special rules ... due to how the last corner is designed
hopefully they get tweaked in the future
 
Yes, in 99% of the race holding 90-100 you will reconnect with the jam and have a clean start.
Leader should have a way harsher monitoring by the system to avoid those jam link to his erratic behavior
 
The issue is what others do sadly, you get people weaving a lot, which does sod all at that level, I have been hit numerous times by people weaving and basically brake testing you as they think the only way you can heat the brakes is to slam them on, you can left foot brake and ride them, and that actually creates wheel and tyre temp aswell, lost on most people.

But the layouts also dont help, last corners in LM are really only one line but it's LM, the ACO's jewel
 
I find with Le Mans to not bother trying to catch up, What mean is you can poodle along at 80 because it always concertinas a bit before the chicane anyway, I actually give it bit of beans and then just knock it into neutral and have a nice quiet cost round, Always without fail catch them as it's downhill.
 
davehenrie said:
One thing that confused many of us, when they 1st instituted these starting procedures, is the RED WALL. We figured out NOT to drive into it, but we mis-interpreted it's purpose. We thought it meant we were getting too close to the car in front of us if the red wall began to rise up ahead of us. But in truth, it's the car to your side. you do not want to get too far ahead of the car next to you. Have fun!
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Well that's helpful to know, and I have been completely misreading the red wall. So that puts me back to unsure how far behind the driver in front of me I can get away with without a penalty. If the driver in front is pulling away and the driver to the side is lagging back, and the start protocol is complaining to catch up, what is the correct way to manage the competing problems?
 
robevery1971 said:
It has always been the way, the LM rolling lap is a joke and always has been, too long.
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Up till now I have thought that this system is way better than how iRacing does rolling starts, and I still do I guess, but it sounds like there is still some room for improvement from what some of you have said. I have been trying really hard to stay in the optimal zone the colored lines and warnings are indicating, but some of this sounds like there are ways to game the rolling start rules in a way that causes problems further back in the pack. iRacing has a huge problem with allowing the field to spread out to much, and with letting people jump the start which creates huge pileups in turn one frequently from the difference in closing speed. I think LMU's approach is much better, at least as far as I can tell so far, but it also sounds like there is plenty of room for improvement still. Hopefully they will continue to tune it until achieves the optimal start conditions without being confusing.
 
Atomic Andi said:
I do think the "speeding" penalty and log is misnamed and triggers when the car is too far forward beyond the red barrier.
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Still got a DT for speeding when i was following the game instruction....
Simple solution : Shorten + pit limiter form start (not allowing to go above 60)
 
Fitz said:
Still got a DT for speeding when i was following the game instruction....
Simple solution : Shorten + pit limiter form start (not allowing to go above 60)
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Are you saying have the pit limiter auto enabled by the game at the start? If so, are you also saying have the system disable the pit limiter when the race goes green? If the limiter is auto enabled but then requires manually disabling it, I can foresee rear end collisions from people forgetting to disable it, or being slow to disable it compared to the driver behind. Probably less likely to cause problems either way than how it is currently though.
 
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SaltyDog said:
Are you saying have the pit limiter auto enabled by the game at the start? If so, are you also saying have the system disable the pit limiter when the race goes green? If the limiter is auto enabled but then requires manually disabling it, I can foresee rear end collisions from people forgetting to disable it, or being slow to disable it compared to the driver behind. Probably less likely to cause problems either way than how it is currently though.
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No i means during all the rolling start you need to be at 60.
Rules said no erratic input but i have multiple case of leader having erratic behavior and no penalty while other driver get DT.

Real event :
- Formation lap
- Merging
- 60 or 80
- Start

Just start at Merging with speed limit of 60 (For leader) and everything will be fine.
The only time i was in pole i start with Pit limiter (was on le mans) and everything was fine. No possibility of erratic driving when the leader is at 60 and not changing is speed !

How on earth can you merge if your leader is doing something like this :

(made a ticket in june)
1st race : split 6/8 - 13/06/2026 - 11:00 UTC+2 start
GT3 leader :
125 => 65 => 75 => 44 => 60 => 39 => 60 => 23 => 92 => 67 => 17 => 75

2nd race : - split 5/7 - 14/06/2026 - 11:00 UTC+2 start
GT3 leader :
120 => 128 => 52 => 47 => 90 => 60 => 80 => 54 => 65 => 48 => 91 => 50 => 60 => 45 => 70.
Click to expand...

If they don't : Use a DT or DQ for leader with erratic speed !
This is not safe and can lead to abuse !
 
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