iRacing 101: Accident Locations – iRacing.com

Welcome to iRacing 101, where each week we go through some of the features that make iRacing the world’s leading motorsport simulation – from highlighting our features to some of the top series and racing formats you’ll experience when you get behind the wheel.

Topic this week: What are iRacing Incident Points and how do they work?

Crash points are one of the main factors that determine your safety rating. These points are awarded for events such as contact with other cars, contact with walls, spins, or exceeding track limits. Drivers who do not earn crash points in a given session can continue to improve their safety rating, giving them the opportunity to upgrade their iRacing license and compete in public races in faster and more difficult cars.

Don’t be bothered or frustrated if you get incident points. Even the best and safest drivers in the world will accumulate crash points, but they know that coming into contact from time to time is part of racing and they try to learn from it. Remember, the crash system is designed to keep racing as clean as possible, making it more fun for everyone. Focus on the next corner, drive hard and clean, and most of all, have fun!

How many points are awarded for each type of incident?

Light contact gives riders 0x. This means that while the rider’s score will not increase, the incident will still be noted. Each noted incident can be enough to invalidate laps in certain sessions, such as qualifying or time trials. Going too far off track gives 1x, while contact with objects such as walls and other obstacles and loss of control (e.g. a spin) each give 2x.

Finally, heavy contact is scored 4x in paved forms of racing and 2x in Dirt Oval and Dirt Road. The reason for the lower score in dirt road racing is that contact is often an accepted and legal aspect in these forms of racing, which may not be the case in other forms of racing.

If multiple incidents happen in quick succession, only the incident with the highest score will be counted. For example, if a driver loses control and then has heavy contact, they will only receive 4x the heavy contact score. This will be noted in the game’s UI with the message “2x -> 4x”. In addition, this count can apply to all drivers involved in the first incident in quick succession. For example, if two drivers have light contact and one of them has heavy contact shortly after, the other driver’s total score for the incident will also increase.

Do incident points reflect or determine blame for an incident?

No. These points are simply a record of what happened to you during a race. Receiving an incident point is not a finding of guilt; should an incident be appealed, which driver received which incident points is not an indication of how that appeal would be judged.

Do incident points affect my security score the same for each type of session?

No. The results of single-car sessions, such as time trials, are given less weight than race sessions when determining your safety rating. However, that doesn’t mean you should take every scored session for granted! For example, if you have a perfectly clean race session, but there were numerous incidents in the warm-up immediately before it (or even after the chequered flag, before all the cars had crossed the finish line), your safety rating could still end up being negatively affected.

Are incident points calculated differently for different driving license levels?

While the crash points themselves are calculated on the same scale from race to race in each discipline, you may find that as your driving improves, crashes have a greater impact on your safety rating. This is because your safety rating is based on the number of corners you take per crash (CPI). If your CPI is very high because you are a clean driver, crashes in a more recent session will have a greater impact on your CPI.

As you progress in your iRacing career, incidents from previous sessions will become less serious. As your clean driving skills improve, this will pay off in the long run in the form of a higher Safety Rating and allow you to advance to higher license levels.

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