How to make driver swap
IMPORTANT (Please read even if you know how to swap):
Primary driver must be the first to connect to the server, and only after primary driver gives notice to team - then other team members can join.
This is very important to follow as this will lock out your team from race and we cannot help to recover from this (it is a bug in ACC server). So:
- before the race, note who is 'Primary driver' (Event > Registration page)
- when 'Connect now' button appears, don't rush to connect to server, wait until primary driver confirms that he has connected and only then connect.
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. The drivers might still be able to regain control of the car (being at least a lap down) if they all first leave and the primary driver rejoins the server first again (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.
Make sure you are in Drive mode when handing over the car with the chat command. Handing over the car from the Garage screen will not automatically hide the Setup tab on the upper ribbon, and clicking on it after handing over the car might result in a game crash as you are trying to access a non-existent physical car from your spectator state. If the swap is performed in Drive mode, the Setup tab will automatically be hidden upon returning to the Garage screen.
Joining a Server
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.
The car of the entry is defined by either the entry list (when the car model is enforced) or the selection of the first driver of the entry to join the server. 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).
As pointed out in the introduction, in order to make it easier for your team to manage active drivers upon joining, it is recommended that whomever is chosen for qualifying or starting the race join the race server first and is defined as the first driver of an entry.
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 (that WSS provides), no matter whether they are driving right away or just waiting in line for the driver swap, or just spectating other cars. It is not recommended to enter the server using a spectator password when you are a driver in the entry list.
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.
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 regain control of the car (being at least a lap down) if they all first leave and the driver who was originally the first driver of the entry to join the server rejoins the server first again (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.
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 (usually by clicking INSERT button on keyboard) and select the next driver to whom you would like to hand the car over and perform a regular pitstop.
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:
Alternatively, in FP and Q sessions, you can manually swap drivers inside the pitlane using a chat command. While stopped, type either the “&swap #” or “§swap #” command (replace # with the number of the driver you wish to swap to, the numbers correspond with the order in which you see the drivers in the Driver Swap widget) in the ingame chat to swap drivers on the fly. A server message will alert you about the success of the swap.
IMPORTANT:
make sure you are in Drive mode when handing over the car with the chat command. Handing over the car from the Garage screen will not automatically hide the Setup tab on the upper ribbon, and clicking on it after handing over the car might result in a game crash as you are trying to access a non-existent physical car from your spectator state. If the swap is performed in Drive mode, the Setup tab will automatically be hidden upon returning to the Garage screen.
Receiving the Car
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 “Drive” and use the Shift+Arrow keys to 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.
If the player is still focused on a different entry after receiving the car during a driver swap, pressing Shift+Up Arrow will focus the view to the player car instantly.
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.
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.
NOTE: 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.
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.