Race Room¶

Controls and tools available in the race room — both as a host and as a player.

Host Controls¶

Once a room is created the host sees additional controls:

Button / Option	What it does
Start Race	Begins the countdown and starts the race for all players
Start Qualifying	Starts a hot-lap qualifying session (see Qualifying Session)
End Qualifying	Ends qualifying early and shows the results grid (shown during qualifying only)
Leave the room	Destroys the room and removes all players
Race Settings	Opens the Race Settings for advanced settings
Race Director	Opens Race Director controls — only shown during an active race
Invite (player icon)	Opens the online player list to send race invitations

The host also sees each player's status and an Action column to kick individual players.

AI Drivers — race against the computer¶

Hosts can add up to 7 computer-controlled racers to any race using the AI Drivers +/− stepper in the race room (next to Start Race). Great for solo practice or filling out a small grid on quiet nights.

AI cars spawn on the grid behind the human field and launch at GO
They follow the real checkpoints, slow for corners, recover if they get stuck (auto respawn at their last checkpoint), and gently rubber-band so the pack stays interesting — but they never earn RP, ELO or records
They appear on the live scoreboard with names like AI · Viper
The host's game simulates them — if the host disconnects, the job hands to the next player automatically
Available on the whole Street Race category, plus any individual track marked AI-eligible. AI drivers navigate using the game's road network, so they need a route that actually follows roads. Street Race is built entirely from those, so the whole category is open. Everything else (Stunt, Sumo, F2F, Transform, Playground, Multi Purpose, etc.) is blocked by default — the AI Drivers +/− stepper stays at 0 and greys out. Individual tracks elsewhere can be opened up with the AI-eligible tag (see below)
The AI-eligible tag. Plenty of road-based tracks live outside Street Race — the imported Multi Driven library especially. A track can only hold one category, so before this the only way to give such a track an AI grid was to move it out of the category it belongs in. The tag says "AI are fine here" directly, and the track stays put: same name, same records, same place in the browser, same file. Set it in either place:
- In the track creator — load the track, open Race Detail and tick AI-eligible. It saves immediately and does not rewrite the track file, so imported tracks are safe to tag
- In the Track Manager (dashboard → Tracks → Push to Live) — the AI column has a toggle per track. It writes dev and live together
- Either way, restart raycin_races for the change to reach a running server. Street Race tracks show as always — tagging them changes nothing
- Tagged tracks carry a 🤖 AI badge on the website's track browser, and the 🤖 AI Drivers filter button there shows only tracks you can race AI on
The tag never overrides the mode checks: a drag race or a sumo round stays blocked whether or not the track is tagged
Not available in drag races or sumo modes
Server owners: configured via Config.AIRacers (server) and Config.AIRacersClient (driving behaviour tunables)
Real-data speed tuning: when a vehicle has a recorded run in Speed Test, the AI's target speed is capped to that real number instead of relying purely on the game's own (sometimes generous) estimate

Grid slots and overflow — more players than the track was built for¶

A track file stores a fixed number of starting grid slots, placed by whoever built it. Most were built for a small field: every Street Race track holds exactly 8, because the creator's auto-fill button placed 8. Rooms, meanwhile, admit up to Config.MaxPlayers (48).

Until 2026-08-28 anyone past the last slot was silently put on pole, inside the car already there. They spawn frozen, so nothing looked wrong until GO released everyone and the physics engine resolved the overlap — the cause of "cars just not in uniform grid place" at the start of a busy race.

Now the grid is extended automatically at track load. Extra rows are generated behind the track's own grid, each row a copy of the real formation stepped back past everything already placed, so every driver gets their own square. Nothing is written to the track file and nothing needs re-authoring.

It keeps the track's own layout — spacing, stagger and width all carry over, so an 8-slot 2-column grid becomes a 48-slot 2-column grid, ~168 m deep
AI Drivers already worked this way; humans now share the same code
Arena-style maps (Deadline, Sumo, Hunting Pack) scatter their spawns rather than forming a grid. There the extra rows can end up a long way back — a distant spawn is recoverable, two cars in one square is not
Track authors who want a proper deep grid can still build one: see Auto-fill Starting Grid

Low-bridge warning¶

If a track has been clearance-scanned in Track Lab and the vehicle classes you have allowed include something taller than the tightest point on the route, the race room shows an amber warning under the AI Drivers row — turning red below 3.5 m.

⚠ Lowest bridge on this route is 3.4 m. Roughly sized, Service, Commercial vehicles may not fit.

The track's clearance is measured. The class heights it is compared against are approximate — a specific vehicle in a flagged class may still fit, so treat it as a prompt to check, not a verdict
Nothing is blocked. It is advice; you can still start the race
An unscanned track shows no warning. That means "not measured", never "safe" — Track Lab's clearance scan is what fills this in
Track Lab's Clearance overlay shows exactly where the low spans are

Staging Hold — pre-grid holding area + test-track time¶

When Staging Hold is enabled (Config.StagingHold in config/config_server.lua), clicking Start Race doesn't drop everyone straight onto the grid. Instead the race runs a professional pre-race flow, the way big FiveM race servers do it:

Holding area — every player spawns in their assigned race vehicle at a separate staging location, frozen. A staging panel shows the track info (name, checkpoints, distance) and a live ready count.
Start Countdown (host button) — a visible on-screen countdown runs, then everyone is teleported to their real grid slot.
Test track — players are unfrozen for free practice on the actual track. Checkpoints are drawn exactly like the real race (same visuals), but nothing is timed or scored. Drive it, learn it, warm up.
Begin Race (host button) — everyone is recalled to their exact grid slot, frozen, and the normal start sequence (Lights-Out or 3-2-1) fires as usual.

Both phase changes are manual, host-triggered — there's no timer forcing the race to start before the host is ready.

With Config.StagingHold.enabled = false the flow is exactly the classic one: Start Race → grid → countdown → GO.

Reconnect & Resume — crash recovery¶

Game crashed mid-race? You're not out. When Reconnect & Resume is enabled (Config.ReconnectResume in config/config_server.lua, on by default), the server holds your race slot and progress for a grace window (default 120 seconds) after you disconnect.

What you do: just reconnect. A couple of seconds after you spawn back in, you're placed straight back into the same race — no countdown — sitting at the last checkpoint you passed, with your lap and checkpoint counters restored. Your rivals see a "name reconnected and resumed the race" toast.

If the automatic resume doesn't trigger, type /resume in chat.

Fairness — how the clock works: the race clock never stopped. Your total race time continues from where it was plus the real time you spent reconnecting — so crashing never gains you time, it only costs you exactly the seconds you were gone.

When resume is NOT offered:

You take longer than the grace window to get back
The race ends (or everyone else finishes) before you return
You had already finished or been marked DNF
Drag races (too short to resume) and Sumo modes (no checkpoint progression) are excluded

Host note: the race is never held up for a crashed player — they're removed normally and simply slot back in if they make it back in time.

Admin note: toggle the feature live from F5 → Dev Tools → Reconnect & Resume (Enable/Disable) — the choice persists across server restarts.

Player Controls¶

Button	What it does
Choose Vehicle	Opens the vehicle picker to select your race vehicle
Leave the room	Leaves the race room and returns to freemode

After choosing a vehicle it shows in your player row. Your row shows Ready once a vehicle is selected.

AFK Kick¶

The host can enable AFK Kick in the Race Settings to auto-remove idle players:

Open the Race Settings (Race Settings button).
Toggle AFK Kick on.
Set the Timeout (1–10 minutes).
Click Apply.

Players who stop moving for the configured duration receive a warning. After the warning period they are either DNF'd or kicked from the server depending on server config.

Race Director Tools¶

Available to the host during an active race, via: - The Race Director button in the race room NUI - F10 → Racing Lobby → 🏁 Race Director - F3 → 🏴 Race Director

Flags¶

Control	Effect
🟡 Yellow Flag	Signals caution; all players in the room are notified
🟢 Green Flag	Resumes normal racing; notifies all players
🔴 Red Flag	Stops the race; all players are notified

Player Actions¶

Control	Effect
⏱ Sin Bin	Ghosts a player for 10 / 30 / 60 / 120 seconds. The penalised player is frozen/ghosted for the duration.
🚫 Disqualify	Permanently DQs the selected player from the current race.
👢 Kick from Room	Removes the selected player from the race room entirely.

Extended Tools (4A–4F)¶

These additional tools give the host fine-grained control during a race. All are per-player — select a target from the player list after choosing the action.

Tool	Effect
4A — Drive-Through Penalty	Caps the target's maximum vehicle speed for a configurable duration (5–60 s, default 15 s). Speed is restored automatically when the timer expires.
4B — Reset to Checkpoint	Teleports the target back to their last validated checkpoint. Useful after a shortcut or off-track incident.
4C — Ghost Toggle	Toggles no-collision for the selected player. First press = ghost ON (semi-transparent, others pass through). Second press = ghost OFF. State is tracked per player — pressing again always reverses the current state.
4D — Speed Limiter	Sets a persistent maximum speed (kph) on the target's vehicle. Set to 0 kph to lift the limiter. Unlike 4A this does not expire — the host must lift it manually.
4E — Weather / Time Change	Changes weather type or time of day for all players instantly, without ending the race. Weather changes affect pitstop freeze durations.
4F — Mandatory Pit	Sends a "MANDATORY PIT — Enter pit lane now!" notification to the target player and marks a mandatory pit for them. Useful for penalising a driver without a time penalty or DQ.

Spectator Mode¶

During an active race, players who have not started or who have finished can join spectator mode:

Open the in-race pause menu (pause key or F3).
Click Join Spectator.
Use the spectator player list to select a driver to follow.
The camera tracks the selected driver's vehicle.

Hosts can also switch spectated players from the native menu.

Director Spectator Camera¶

When spectating, click the Director button in the spectator NUI overlay to switch to Director Mode — a smooth scripted camera with orbit and zoom.

Input	Action
← / → Arrow	Previous / next driver
Mouse drag	Orbit around target
Scroll wheel	Zoom in / out
R	Reset to default follow angle
Ctrl+D	Exit Director Mode

Qualifying Session¶

Qualifying is an optional timed hot-lap session run before the main race. The fastest lap time each player sets determines their grid position — fastest qualifier starts P1. Only the host can start or end qualifying.

Step-by-step: how to run qualifying¶

In the lobby (host)¶

Set up the room as normal — track, vehicle mode, laps, weather.
Set the session length in the Qualifying [ 3 ] min box directly above the Start Qualifying button in the right-hand action column (host only). Type any whole number from 1 to 30 minutes — default is 3, and your last value is remembered on this PC.

Minutes	Use case
1	Very short tracks, or just a quick seeding lap
2	Street circuits and shorter layouts
3 (default)	Standard qualifying for most races
5	Long tracks, or when drivers need more practice
10+	Endurance tracks or full practice sessions

Click Start Qualifying (not Start Race).

Track loading and start¶

The track loads exactly like a normal race — all players go through the standard countdown.
At GO the session is live. Ghost is ON for every player — there is no vehicle contact during qualifying.
The standard race HUD stays where it is, and a Qualifying card appears in the top-right corner by default (movable in Settings → HUD layout), styled like the race HUD (dark panel, green header):

Element	What it shows
QUALIFYING	Label confirming you are in a qualifying session
TIME LEFT	Live countdown to the end of the session in M:SS (e.g. `2:47`). Turns red inside the last 30 seconds.
BEST LAP	Your fastest completed lap, updated live (e.g. `1:32.847`). Shows `—` until you finish your first lap.

During the session¶

Drive as many laps as you like. Each time you cross the finish line the server records your lap time. If it is faster than your previous best, BEST LAP updates immediately.
If you reach the last configured lap without the timer ending, the lap counter silently wraps back to lap 1 — you keep hot-lapping without any finish screen appearing.

Session end¶

The session ends in one of two ways:
Timer reaches 0:00 — session ends automatically.
Host ends early — see Ending qualifying early below.
A centred 🏁 Qualifying Results overlay appears showing the final grid order:

P Driver Best Lap

P1 Fastest driver 1:32.847

P2 Second fastest 1:34.120

… … …

Drivers who never completed a full lap show No time and are placed at the back of the grid.
The overlay footer reads "Returning to lobby…" — after 10 seconds all players are automatically returned to the lobby. You do not need to press anything.

Starting the race¶

Back in the lobby the host sees the Start Race button. The grid order is now locked from qualifying — fastest qualifier will spawn at grid position 1.
Click Start Race to launch the main race on the qualifying grid.

Ending qualifying early (host only)¶

Two ways to end the session before the timer runs out:

Option A — from the lobby NUI (if the room panel is still visible): 1. Click the End Qualifying button in the room panel.

Option B — from inside the race (if the lobby NUI has closed): 1. Open the in-race pause menu (default: Escape / your quit key). 2. Click End Qualifying.

Both options immediately broadcast results to all players and start the 10-second return countdown. Non-host players cannot end qualifying — the button is not shown to them.

Results and grid order¶

When qualifying ends the server collects each player's best recorded lap and sorts:

Fastest lap → P1, second fastest → P2, and so on.
Players who completed no timed lap (never crossed the finish line) are placed at the back in join order.
The grid is locked immediately — it cannot be changed before the race.

Notes¶

Ghost is on for the entire qualifying session — no vehicle contact at any point.
Qualifying best laps are not saved as track Personal Bests (PBs).
Race Points are not awarded for qualifying — only the main race awards RP.
If a player disconnects mid-session their best lap up to that point is still counted.
The duration dropdown is only visible to the host. Other players see the chosen duration displayed in the room info panel.

Tips¶

Use Specific vehicle mode so all drivers are in the same car — lap times are only a fair comparison when everyone has identical machinery. Random vehicles make qualifying meaningless.
Set your MOTD before starting — tell players the car, lap count, and that qualifying is happening. Surprises at the start line waste everyone's time.
Ghost means no track-limit enforcement by collision — remind drivers to stay within the track boundaries themselves. There is nothing stopping them cutting corners.
For a new track, use 5 minutes — 3 minutes gives 2 flying laps on most tracks. If nobody has driven it before, 5 minutes allows 3–4 proper attempts and more representative times.
Do not combine qualifying with Random vehicle mode — if everyone ends up in a different car the lap times cannot be compared fairly. Either use Specific mode for qualifying or skip qualifying entirely for random vehicle races.

Press the pause key during a race (or use F3 via native menu) to open:

Race info summary (weather, time, traffic, DNF, game mode)
Join Spectator — enter spectator mode
Race Director — host-only controls
Skip Checkpoint — admin/host only
Quit Race — leave the race and return to freemode

Lobby Room List — Circuit / P2P Badge¶

Each room card in the public lobby browser displays a small coloured badge indicating the track format of that room's selected track:

Badge	Colour	Meaning
Circuit	Gold	Closed-loop track — finish = start
P2P	Blue	Point-to-point — different start and end
(no badge)	—	Track type not yet classified

The badge appears next to the room name and is purely informational — it does not affect joining.

Race Points (RP) & Leaderboard¶

Race Points are awarded at the end of each race based on finishing position. They accumulate across all races on the server.

Checking your RP¶

Click RP BOARD in the Race Menu (right-side tab) to open the top-10 leaderboard.
F10 → Player Hub → My Race Points — fetches your personal total.
F10 → Player Hub → Top 10 Leaderboard — global ranking.

Stats Site¶

A web-based stats site shows all-time best times per track, track details, and the global leaderboard. Ask your server admin for the URL.

The stats site includes: - Track List — browse all published tracks - Track Detail — checkpoint map, best times table (Position / Name / Vehicle / Date / Lap Time), and job URL if set - Best Times Sort — click the Date column header to sort by most recent, oldest, or fastest - RP Leaderboard — global race points ranking

`/myraces` — the races you hosted, including the ones that fell apart¶

The stats site records finishes. A race nobody completed — everyone wrecked, the host cancelled it, the room emptied — leaves no trace there at all, not even the track name. That was the gap: you could host six races in an evening and find two of them on the website.

Type /myraces and press F8. It lists the races you hosted, newest first, whether or not they were completed.

/myraces           the last 10 you hosted
/myraces 25        show more (25 are kept)
/myraces clear     wipe your own log

Each line carries the date and time, the outcome, the track, the lap count and the track's raceid:

Outcome	Means
FINISHED	you completed it
DNF	the race ran; you did not finish
ABANDONED	you left before the race ended
UNFINISHED	never closed out at all — a crash or a disconnect

The outcome is about you, not the race. A race can run to a perfectly good finish and still be DNF on your line.

It is yours, and only yours

The log lives on your own machine, not in the database. Nobody else can see it, it never leaves your PC, and it survives reconnecting, a resource restart and a game restart. Twenty-five races are kept and the oldest falls off.

Only races you hosted are recorded — joining someone else's race is not your race to log, and your finishes are already on the stats site.

One line is also printed to F8 each time a race you hosted closes out, so the last one is there without asking.

Race Settings — Vehicle Panel (VP)¶

Click Race Settings in the room to open the Vehicle Panel. It has four tabs:

Tab	What it controls
🚗 Vehicles	Vehicle Classes, Sync Mode, No Repeats, Ghost on Contact
⚙️ Race	Fair Start, Staggered Start, Reversed Track, Hot Lap, Drag, Drift, Race Plates, and more
🎲 Extras	Ranked ELO, Catch-Up System, Nitro, Forced Pitstop, Elimination, Team Race, etc.
⛽ Systems	Fuel Drain, Tire Wear, Slipstream Boost, Overtake Bonus, Explode on Impact (damage), Mid-Race Weather, Auto Parachute, Scuba Suit, AFK Kick, etc.

Changing the laps without leaving the room¶

The Laps row in the left summary panel has a −/+ stepper for the host on circuit tracks, so the lap count no longer has to be settled back on the track-pick screen. Point-to-point tracks have no lap count and keep showing a dash, and guests see the number without the controls.

Like every other in-room setting it only works while the room is waiting — a lap count can never move once people are driving — and every player in the room sees the new number, not just you.

Knowing what's on, and changing it¶

Race Options runs to 110 settings across 25 sections, so three things keep you oriented. All three were added or repaired on 16 September 2026.

The strip above Start Race. A live line in the Race Room's left column, directly over the button that starts the race:

It says	It means
All defaults — no extras enabled	Nothing is configured
Active: Fair start, Ghost, Nitro…	What is on, right now
3 changes will be applied when you start	You have edits that have not been applied yet — see below

It is mode-aware, so it will not list a Random-only option during a Default-mode race.

The pinned summary. "Current setup for this race" stays fixed at the top of the Race Options panel while the settings scroll beneath it, so it no longer disappears the moment you scroll down to change something. Each entry is clickable — click one and it jumps to that setting, switching tab and flashing the row.

Search. The box above the summary filters all 110 settings by name as you type. Escape clears it.

You no longer have to remember to press Apply¶

Race Options changes used to live only in the panel until you pressed Apply Settings — and if you applied once and then changed five more things, the race started with none of them and nothing said so.

Start Race now applies anything outstanding first. The Apply button turns amber when there is something pending, the strip tells you how many changes are waiting, and the "Before you start" card repeats it. Apply is a convenience now, not a trap.

"Before you start" has a way out¶

The card shown when you press Start Race lists everything the race will run with — the same summary you see in the panel — and has two buttons:

← Back to Race Options returns you to the room with everything still set, so you can fix what you spotted. Press Start again and the card comes back.
Start race goes.

Escape and clicking the dark area do the same as Back. Before this the card had a single button, so noticing a mistake on it meant starting the race anyway.

Reset all¶

The footer's Reset all puts every Race Option back to its default and returns vehicle classes to the track's own allowed list (not to empty). It asks first, and tells you how many settings are currently on.

If you used Reset before 16 September 2026

It only cleared 43 of 109 settings — every dropdown (Weather, Time, Traffic, DNF, Access, Race Plates, Boost mode…), both text fields, the traffic pool and all 48 sliders were left untouched, and anything added after it was written drifted out of it. So a race started after a Reset could still be carrying settings you believed were cleared. It is now driven by the settings list itself, so it cannot fall behind again.

Vehicle Classes¶

Found in the 🚗 Vehicles tab. This is a filter for the random vehicle pool — it restricts which GTA vehicle classes can appear when vehicle mode is set to Random.

When to use it: Only when vehicle mode is Random or a variant. If mode is set to Specific or Personal, Vehicle Classes has no effect — leave all buttons deselected.

How to use it: 1. Open Race Settings → 🚗 Vehicles tab 2. Click one or more class buttons to select them (they highlight when selected) 3. Multiple classes can be active at once — vehicles from all selected classes are pooled together 4. Click ✕ Clear all to deselect everything (no class filter — full pool)

Available classes (GTA's built-in 22 categories):

Class	Class	Class
Compact	Sedan	SUV
Coupe	Muscle	Sport Classic
Sport	Super	Motorcycle
Off-road	Industrial	Utility
Van	Cycle	Boat
Helicopter	Plane	Service
Emergency	Military	Commercial
Open Wheel

These are GTA's native classes, not custom vehicle categories from the vehicle admin. If you want all drivers in a specific car, use Vehicles → Specific instead — that lets you pick one exact model for everyone.

Race Settings — Gear (⛽ Systems tab)¶

Found in Race Settings → ⛽ Systems tab, in the 🪂 Gear section.

🪂 Auto Parachute¶

Every player receives a parachute at race start. When a parachute is used it is automatically re-stocked within half a second — players have an unlimited supply for the whole race.

How to deploy the parachute:

Drive or jump off a ramp, cliff, or any elevated surface.
GTA V automatically arms the parachute while you are in free-fall — you do not need to open the weapon wheel or manually select it.
Press F (PC) to open/deploy the chute.
Steer to your landing point, then land normally.

Control	Action
F	Deploy parachute
W	Pitch down — fall faster, cover less horizontal distance
S	Pitch up — slow descent, glide further
A / D	Turn left / right
Space	Cut the chute (drop into free-fall again)

Note: GTA V only auto-arms the parachute if the fall is tall enough (~10–15 m minimum). Very small jumps will not trigger it — this is native GTA behaviour and cannot be changed.

Tip: Enable Auto Parachute on any track with big jumps, ramps, or routes that pass over water at height. Players can re-use the parachute as many times as they like during the race.

🤿 Scuba Suit¶

Players can breathe underwater indefinitely — health is maintained while submerged so there is no drowning. Useful for tracks that deliberately route through water sections.

No controls are needed — the protection is automatic from race start to finish.

Discord Race-Room Alerts¶

When configured, the server posts Discord embeds when key race events occur.

Event	Embed colour	Content
Race Room Opened	🔵 Blue	Track name, host, mode, laps
Race Started	🟢 Green	Track name, lap count, all driver names
Player Finished	🔵 Blue	Position medal, total time, best lap, vehicle, RP earned
Fastest Lap	🟡 Gold	Player name, lap time, bonus amount
Race Ended	⚪ Silver	Track name, top-3 podium

Setup: Admin configures Config.RaceLog in config/config_server.lua with a Discord webhook URL. Individual event types can be toggled on/off.

P	Driver	Best Lap
P1	Fastest driver	1:32.847
P2	Second fastest	1:34.120
…	…	…