This was posted not that long ago on the top of a page. It is painfully obvious that not everybody got a chance to see it. Everyone in the league should read this as it applies to everyone in the league.
Every other document that we use has not, but will be, updated soon to reflect this. If you guys had any idea the number of things that have changed around here in the last three weeks, it would make your head spin and you would wonder how I, and a few others, haven't snapped on someone yet.
All Sunday Night Lobbies Should be Friends Only
With the way the GT6 treats friend requests and the way that drivers accept them at the last minute, here is a schedule that should be followed by the hosts of the division rooms. It will be up to the drivers to handle the business of friend requests BEFORE the room is opened for the night.
What the host should do:
1. All hosts should have JLBowler on their PSN friends list. If you don't already, send a request right now.
2. At 8:50 Eastern time the host should exit the game and check for any outstanding friend requests and accept them. No earlier than 9 pm Eastern time the host should open a friends only room for that nights racing. This room should be set to the first track from the time it is opened. The reason for this is that occasional glitch that doesn't allow drivers to see a friends only room in the room selection screen. Having the track set to the first track will make it possible to search by track and find the room.
3. The host/director should continue to watch the main thread, refreshing often, until they see a message from JLBowler that it is clear to start racing for the night.
4. Before starting qualifying or any race, the host/director should have all drivers gather in turn one and ask if everyone can see the same number of drivers listed in the upper left corner of the screen. Drivers must be on the track for this and not sitting in the pits. If all drivers don't see the same number of drivers the host should ask those drivers to leave and rejoin while the host waits to start the night.
5. The host/director is responsible for handling any lag issues during the night. If a driver is lagging, the host/director should ask them to leave the room, clear their cache, and re-enter the room. The host/director should allow 3 minutes for the driver to take care of this. If the lag is still present, the host/director should ask the driver to leave for the night. If the host/director doesn't make the lagging driver aware of the issue and give them the chance to rectify the issue then the fault lies with the host/director. Most of the time, the driver that is lagging will not know it. Other cars will appear to have slight jittery movements to them. Meanwhile, the driver lagging will be flying all over the track with tires smoking.
6. If the host is disconnected from the friends only room that he created, he will not be able to rejoin. (thanks PD). In the instance of a host disconnecting, the rest of the room should finish that race and record the results as normal. The host should create a new friends only room and every other driver should exit the first room and join the new room. If a host disconnects a second time in a night, no new room should be created.
7. If a driver shows up that is not listed on the drivers list or in the results sheet, they are not allowed to race. As a host, you do not have the authority to add drivers to a division. The only exception to this would be if a driver was moved from one division to another at the last minute. In this instance, the host of the room would have been contacted by JLBowler, Dragonwhisky, or zer05ive and given instructions on how to handle the new driver.
What the driver should do:
1. Make sure you have a friend request in place with the host before 8:45 pm Eastern time. The earlier, the better. If you don't have a friend request in place before 8:45 pm Eastern time, don't expect to be able to race that night. It is the drivers responsibility to send the friend request to the host and any back-up hosts listed for their assigned division. If you are a part time driver, it's a good idea to have a the host and back-up hosts of the division above your assigned division just in case you need to move up due to a full room. Be aware that both parties involved in the friend request will have to exit the game to the XMB before the game will recognize the friend request is in place.
2. If you can't enter your assigned room because it is full, post in the thread before 9:30 Eastern time and I will make sure drivers are moved. Do not take it upon yourself to go to a different division and race. Note: a room is full when you can see the room has 16 of 16 drivers in it. A room is not full because you get a message saying the room is full when you can see that there are less than 16 of 16 drivers in the room. That message means the friend request was not taken care of properly.
3. If you can't enter your assigned room because you didn't get a friend request in place in time, wait until next week to race.
4. If you wait until after JLBowler has given the all clear to start racing to post that a room is full, you're too late. We will not move drivers around to accommodate a late arriving driver.
5. If you are told that you are lagging badly and affecting other drivers, please do the considerate thing and leave in the middle of the race. You will receive last place points but you won't ruin the race for another driver. This will give you extra time to try and get your connection sorted and get back for the next race without holding up the room too much. It's better to get last place points for leaving early to get it sorted than it is to miss the start of the next race and get 0 points if you can't get back to the room in three minutes.
6. If you don't know who the host for your division is, use the
team SNAIL link. If you don't know what division you are assigned to, use this link and be sure to read the top of the list for the last time it was updated:
Driver's List or
text only drivers list (more recently updated)
These are not suggestions or guidelines. These instructions must be followed by all hosts and drivers. If you are a host and can't or won't be willing to follow this policy, please let us know and we will work to find a host who can and will follow this policy.
