◆ SNAIL [Spec] Racing - Join now to win a Digit Racing EDGE Masterclass enrollment!!Open 

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and I don't see this rule changing that, will it?

There was a big separation between the people who had shifters and the ones that didn’t. You could see the gap on track at the end of the race. The group that had them and the group that didn’t. When I started snail only mike src and nic had them. Where mike and src would get a huge advantage at the start. So we had to adapt but only a few adapted. Now that this rule has been implimented look to see closer racing in D1.
 
There was a big separation between the people who had shifters and the ones that didn’t. You could see the gap on track at the end of the race. The group that had them and the group that didn’t. When I started snail only mike src and nic had them. Where mike and src would get a huge advantage at the start. So we had to adapt but only a few adapted. Now that this rule has been implimented look to see closer racing in D1.
Yes I understand, if it separated one division that much, it only makes sense....Sorry for my ignorance in the matter.:cheers:
 
I oppose the rule change over the shifter. I will not be using my shifter this evening. But this may well be my last sunday race in snail. The only way to keep me in this league after this change is to never have a vehicle in snail racing that would use a stick. If the vehicle has paddles in the cockpit view it may be chosen. If not then it should not be chosen for this league. Anyone at all agree? I get that I am newer here but this debate over clutch and shifters is blown out of proportion. I agree that people switching back and forth between paddles and stick for some advantage is wrong. But I am also forced to treat my th88 shifter as a paperweight? I think not.
 
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PRESENTS:

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Check out our very own @vovik05 putting SNAIL in the news!!


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Congrats to @Neovre for making his debut at Le Mans
(where he scored an incredible P5 finish!)





Congrats to all the SNAILs who competed in the
2015 GT Academy USA Finals!!


2015 USA Finalists
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Back Row: @LoCoArMeN*, @vovik05*, @Ryan Lynch*, @Ricky Wilson, @TRL_Importlife, @Tyler Utley*, @gtr3123
Front Row: @ConnorWolf, @Crystalline_T
Not Shown (qualified for, but unable to attend finals):@GTP_Compton3, @Matt Sierras, @msgt-sd
* - advanced to Silverstone finals!!

And good luck to the SNAILs who are competing in the 2016 GT Academy Mexico Finals!!

2016 Mexico Finalists
bbYg5Cy.jpg

@Enzo_Goiko (second from left), @Ness (second from right), and @pakicote (far right)


Welcome to SNAIL
From our humble beginnings, SNAIL (aka Sunday Night American Interactive League) is now the largest console-based sim racing league in the world. Our mission is to provide our members with clean, intense, and competitive racing - regardless of skill level! We believe that providing full grids of evenly-matched competitions is the most realistic way to race, improve skill, and refine racecraft! Our league night is Sunday at 9:30pm Eastern / 6:30pm Pacific, but we also have a a wide variety of other events held on other nights of the week. If this sounds like something you'd like to be a part of, please keep reading to learn more about us and how to join.

What Makes Us Different
SNAIL is the only sim racing league in the world that's able to combine five key features into one consolidated package. First of all, we provide you with evenly-matched competition to drivers of all skill levels. In fact, the intense level of competition that we produce has established SNAIL as the "go to" place to prepare for GT Academy. And if you want to keep track of your improvement along the way, you'll be glad to know that we keep the most comprehensive race data available on GTPlanet. We also feature an interactive process that allows all of our members to have a say in which cars and tracks we race. And last but not least, we're the only league that awards our members with valuable prizes just for racing with us!

Evenly-Matched Competition
Have you ever watched a professional race where drivers with completely different skill levels were competing on the same track? Of course not! That wouldn't be fun to watch, let alone fun to participate in. Unfortunately, that disparity of pace is something you'll often find in organized online racing. When this happens, you'll be lucky to have just a few drivers that you're truly competitive with. Everyone else will usually either be faster or slower than you. We prevent that from happening in SNAIL by dividing our drivers into separate divisions based on speed and skill. This results in full grids of evenly-matched competition and creates the closest and most intense sim racing experience around!

Prepare for GT Academy
If you'd like to compete in GT Academy, there's no better place than SNAIL to hone your skills to the elite levels necessary to make it to the finals. You need to be the best of the best to make it to Silverstone, and that's exactly what the drivers in our top division are. Half of last year's and half of this year's Silverstone Finalists have raced in SNAIL. And since our race format (which features multiple sprint races) is almost identical to the format used at the GT Academy national finals, they were able to use their SNAIL experience to help them advance to Silverstone. Click here if you want to advice from last year's eventual champion and click here if you want advice from last year's runner-up.

Valuable Prizes
Have you ever wished you could win free stuff just for having fun? If so, then you might want to know that our members win valuable real-world prizes just for racing with us! These prize are based on participation and not on race results. Some examples of prizes our members have won include GranStand sim racing products like this, this and this, ButtKicker products like a Gamer2 and a Wireless ButtKicker Kit. You can also join Team SNAIL and earn even more prizes, such as shirts (e.g. S.N.A.I.L. shirt, F1 shirt, GT Academy shirt), video capture devices (e.g. Hauppauge PVR), sim racing equipment (e.g. Playseat Evolution), and even gift cards (e.g. Amazon and PSN).

Spec Racing
SNAIL has always been a one-make series, but when we decided to prohibit tuning in all of our races, we became the first "spec" racing league on GTPlanet. Spec racing ensures that success is determined primarily by driving skill and not by differences in power, gearing, suspension, weight, or aerodynamics. Because variables in the car are eliminated, spec racing is the truest measure of driver skill! It also produces intense battles for position because all of the cars are equally strong or weak in the same areas of the track. Plus, you'll never spend hours tuning cars or wondering if someone is truly faster than you or if they just have a better tune.

Race Format
Our league night lasts for two hours and is split into three rounds. Each round consists of two races that last 10 to 12 minutes on a predetermined car and track combo. At the beginning of each round, a brief qualifying session determines the order of the starting grid. The first race is set to 'Fastest First' to reward the best qualifiers and the second race is set to 'Reverse Grid' in order to promote on-track action. Points are awarded based on our "perfect" points system. After a round is completed, we move on to the next round and repeat the same process with the next car and track combination. Once all three rounds are complete, we tally up the points and then let our interactive format kick in.

Interactive Participation
Our unique format allows everyone to have a say on which cars and tracks we race. It's also used to strike a balance between familiarity and variety of our car and track combos. In other words, the progression of cars and tracks that we race is slow enough for us to learn them well, but fast enough that they don't get "old". At the end of every league night, everyone votes on which car and track combo they enjoyed the least. The combo that receives the most "elimination votes" is dropped from the next week's lineup entirely. The combo that receives the second most votes is also dropped, but only partially. This is where our prizes come into play:

Prizes
A prize is awarded to the divisions winners with the three highest scores*. The division winner with the highest score gets Prize A. The division winner with the second highest score gets Prize B. The division winner with the third highest score gets Prize C: (NOTE: We now have a new process for breaking ties in the elimination vote)
Prize A: The right to select the new car and track combo to replace the combo that was voted off
Prize B: The right to replace either the car or the track of the combo that received the second most votes
Prize C: The right to "freeze" either the car or the track of the combo that received the second most votes

Promotion and Relegation
Although we split our drivers into separate divisions based on performance and skill level, we realize that our drivers are constantly improving and deserve a chance to climb the ladder of success. That's why we promote and relegate drivers before every season based on the results and data compiled during the previous season. This is also done to ensure that our races are as competitive as possible for all of our league members, top to bottom. Regardless of which division you're in, you will almost always be fighting to gain or defend a position on the track. Simply put, no other Gran Turismo league in the world can offer this much competitive racing to so many different skill levels.

Comprehensive Race Data
It's not always accurate to promote and relegate drivers based on championship points alone. That's why the massive amounts of data we track are invaluable to our league. You'd be hard-pressed to find a sim racing league anywhere in the world that tracks driver data and race results more comprehensively than we do. In fact, our SNAIL Data document contains so much information that we have to archive old data to avoid exceeding the GoogleDoc's maximum capacity! You can use this data to track the points championship for each season and compare yourself to other drivers in categories such as fast laps, total race pace, total points, average points per race, and power rankings.

Rules
We expect all drivers to follow our OLR Rules and pursue good racecraft at all times. If you're not sure what good racecraft is, watch this video. It can be summed up in one simple 'Golden Rule' of motorsports: It is the responsibility of the overtaking driver, meaning the car that is attempting to execute the pass, to make sure that the pass is made cleanly and incident free. If you don't agree with this rule or don't think it applies to you, this is not the league for you. If you ever feel like a driver is not following the rules, please wait until league night is over, then file a Racing Incident Report. Our Stewards will review the incident and issue the appropriate penalties.

Settings
Lobby Settings
Course Settings

Tire Settings:
Based on Dealership PP (not the PP after an oil change)
below 349 PP -> Comfort Mediums
350-399 PP ---> Comfort Softs
400-449 PP ---> Sports Hards
450-499 PP ---> Sports Mediums
500-549 PP ---> Sports Softs
550-599 PP ---> Racing Hards
600 PP & up --> Racing Mediums

How To Join Us
Step 1: Post a reply (by click the 'Reply' button at the bottom of this post) stating, "I have read the first post and would like to join," and tell us how you heard about SNAIL. (Do not start a conversation with anyone, just post your request on this thread).
Step 2: Watch the thread for a reply to your post and follow the instructions provided.
Step 3: Purchase the three cars listed in the lineup for our next races.
Step 4: Wait to be assigned to a division and then join that division's lounge on Sunday night.
If you are not sure which division you are assigned to, please check the Offical Driver List

For a list of helpful links and FAQ's, please click here.

I have read the first post and would like to join. Found gtplanet on YouTube.
 
I have read the first post and would like to join. Found gtplanet on YouTube.

@NASCARNATE91

Here's your official SNAIL Welcome Post!
Thanks for your interest!
Here's what you need to know (and do) in order to join SNAIL Racing League:

We run a clean league by enforcing a strict penalty system based on the SNAIL OLR (which is a modified version of the GTP OLR). We also expect all of our drivers to know and follow The Good Racecraft Guide. Please become versed in both if you aren't already. Once that is complete, please follow the steps below to complete your entry into the league:

1. You start a conversation and add @CoachMK21, @JLBowler, @nmcp1,@zer05ive ,@Rednose58,@MajorBlixem & @SAMHAIN85 as participants.

The conversation title should be "Request To Join".

2. SNAIL Administrators will respond with specific instructions on what you need to accomplish to join the SNAIL [Spec] Racing.

3. Place the following links (URLs) in the favorites (or bookmarks) in your web browser for quick reference. Please make every effort to read and understand the following links. Over the years a great deal of time and effort has gone into creating this league and we would like nothing more than to have you but we ask that you take the time and effort to do your homework. 99.9% of any question you may have about SNAIL can be found in the posts below.
4. You drive fast and clean on Sunday 👍

Again, the original post has everything you need to know about what to expect on Sunday night and what you will need to have completed in order to be competitive. If you have any questions, please feel free to post your question on the thread. If you have a preference for car/wheel colour and racing number, please follow the instruction contained here.

During the week we run a number of different events, we encourage all SNAILs to join as many as possible.
Welcome to SNAIL :cheers:
 
I get that I am newer here but this debate over clutch and shifters is blown out of proportion.

I disagree. I'll post an experiment here I did that I shared in the BOD PM:

"Heres some tests I did in the driving school earlier. I made roughly 3 attempts per each method with my fastest time being bolded. I backed out to the menu screen in between each method.

1st method: Strictly paddles 11.283

2nd: Quickshift/exploit launch + H gate shifting 10.893

3rd: No quickshift - H gate shifting legitimately 10.953
*Its worth noting out of 5 attempts I was only able to do one pass successfully as I kept missing 2nd gear.


4th: Shifting with H gate - no clutch. 11.303



Although this was an informal short test, the results are exactly how I thought theyd be. The quickshift is marginally quicker than a legit H gate shift, and shifting with the paddles is in line with using the H gate without the clutch. The quickest paddle shift was +.390 slower than the exploited quickshift, and +.330 slower than a legit H gate shift. People are left in the dust from the line, exploit or not. But launching legitimately is much harder."

With enough practice I'm sure I could shift legitimately off the line and not miss 2nd gear over and over.

The fact is, these changes were made to insure as close to an even playing field as possible. If you own a shifter you have a significant advantage over anyone that doesn't. And that's coming from someone who owns a shifter and does enjoy the shifting experience.

Now if PD ever decides to fix this by allowing paddle drivers to shift at the same speed as an H gate driver, all would be fair. They obviously are aware of the significance of it by banning it in Sport mode. Hopefully they can come to their senses and realize that isn't the answer, the answer would be to negate any advantage the shifter has altogether while still allowing its use.
 
D2 thread created....on another noted apologies to @Rednose58 I was going to do d2 data this afternoon as I have been busy all week is there any way I can enter it in now
Pm me the screen shots of start positions for race 1 of each round, rase results and fast laps of each race and I’ll see if i can get it in before the Invitational is pulling the data tonight.
 
I disagree. I'll post an experiment here I did that I shared in the BOD PM:

"Heres some tests I did in the driving school earlier. I made roughly 3 attempts per each method with my fastest time being bolded. I backed out to the menu screen in between each method.

1st method: Strictly paddles 11.283

2nd: Quickshift/exploit launch + H gate shifting 10.893

3rd: No quickshift - H gate shifting legitimately 10.953
*Its worth noting out of 5 attempts I was only able to do one pass successfully as I kept missing 2nd gear.


4th: Shifting with H gate - no clutch. 11.303



Although this was an informal short test, the results are exactly how I thought theyd be. The quickshift is marginally quicker than a legit H gate shift, and shifting with the paddles is in line with using the H gate without the clutch. The quickest paddle shift was +.390 slower than the exploited quickshift, and +.330 slower than a legit H gate shift. People are left in the dust from the line, exploit or not. But launching legitimately is much harder."

With enough practice I'm sure I could shift legitimately off the line and not miss 2nd gear over and over.

The fact is, these changes were made to insure as close to an even playing field as possible. If you own a shifter you have a significant advantage over anyone that doesn't. And that's coming from someone who owns a shifter and does enjoy the shifting experience.

Now if PD ever decides to fix this by allowing paddle drivers to shift at the same speed as an H gate driver, all would be fair. They obviously are aware of the significance of it by banning it in Sport mode. Hopefully they can come to their senses and realize that isn't the answer, the answer would be to negate any advantage the shifter has altogether while still allowing its use.


I respectfully disagree. I don't even know how to do a shifter exploit and never switch between paddles and shifter. But by all means, run your league as you choose. I bet D1 drivers won't ditch their shifters. Even of they do I am willing to bet that the guys that use shifters for even half an ounce of authenticity will be bothered. And you also failed to address the idea of not using cars that have a stick vs cars that only have paddles. Where did we land on that?
 
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Primary question:
Do I race only to win, or to participate in racing that I would otherwise never experience in real life?

If only to Win - use every trick, glitch, or advantage you can find. Then you will be happy, for a while.

If to participate and experience - then let the “Win Focused” go on by. How many Podiums I obtain does not benefit my Real World.

This is a recreation time for most of us. We prefer to race against like-minded drivers - with a similar interest in friendships and camaraderie.
 
Primary question:
Do I race only to win, or to participate in racing that I would otherwise never experience in real life?

If only to Win - use every trick, glitch, or advantage you can find. Then you will be happy, for a while.

If to participate and experience - then let the “Win Focused” go on by. How many Podiums I obtain does not benefit my Real World.

This is a recreation time for most of us. We prefer to race against like-minded drivers - with a similar interest in friendships and camaraderie.
I like this.
 
No matter where you are in the world or what you do - for every rule or law that someone makes, for every rule or law that you change - there will be people agreeing with it, there will be people disagreeing with it and there will be people that don't care what it is as long as there are rules.

We may play a game, but I am glad SNAIL contains real world people and not a bunch of AI's.
 
I've said it before but anyone who uses "realism" as a reason to want to use the clutch and shifter in Gran Turismo either has no idea what the word realism means or they have never driven a car with a real clutch in it. Gran Turismo does such a poor job of modeling the behavior of a clutch and manual transmission that is just sounds silly for anyone to claim that is resembles "realism". It may be fun to bang through the gears but it, in no way, bears a resemblance to anything real about a clutch.
 
I respectfully disagree.

What exactly do you disagree with? That H gate shifting is significantly faster than paddle shifting? Go back to the last page to see the video I posted, or find other examples members have posted where its quite evident it is much faster. PD has outlawed the use of the clutch and shifter in Sport mode - what does that say?

I don't even know how to do a shifter exploit and never switch between paddles and shifter.

I can appreciate the fact that you enjoy the 'realism' aspect of the game in using the clutch and shifter the way it is meant to be used. Unfortunately (thanks PD) this method of shifting is not equal to its paddle counterpart.

I bet D1 drivers won't ditch their shifters. Even of they do I am willing to bet that the guys that use shifters for even half an ounce of authenticity will be bothered.

D1 drivers may continue to use their shifters. But if they are found to use the clutch while shifting, they'll be met with penalties.

And you also failed to address the idea of not using cars that have a stick vs cars that only have paddles. Where did we land on that?

I dont seem to follow. What you're suggesting is we eliminate X amount of cars (mostly street cars) that use a stick from an already limited car pool - and by doing so no one would be allowed to use the shifter/clutch because the remaining cars available dont offer it? So for the most part all we would be racing are Race cars? I'm just trying to understand.

If thats what you're saying - then how is that any different from outlawing the shifter/clutch all together? Now we can still use any car with no outside advantage.

Primary question:
Do I race only to win, or to participate in racing that I would otherwise never experience in real life?

If only to Win - use every trick, glitch, or advantage you can find. Then you will be happy, for a while.

If to participate and experience - then let the “Win Focused” go on by. How many Podiums I obtain does not benefit my Real World.

This is a recreation time for most of us. We prefer to race against like-minded drivers - with a similar interest in friendships and camaraderie.

And this is what makes us SNAIL. We all have different goals and mindsets when it comes to racing here. We have seasoned vets, weekend warriors, and complete novices competing in their first online race league.

Personally I fall into the category of "I want to win (while having fun)". There are others who will show up week in and week out that dont care about winning - they enjoy the experience. Others may stop showing up all together because they know they cant win. But to come full circle with the shifter/clutch topic - I think everyone should have an equal opportunity to win. Not just because they have a certain piece of hardware that gives them that extra advantage. Some may argue that wheels are faster than DS4's so why not outlaw that - because DS4's have been proven to be just as fast as wheels time and time again.
 
The new rules that were posted earlier today have been added to the appropriate sections of the SNAIL OLR Policies and Guidlines thread.

The qualifying procedure is in the Qualifying rules post.
The adjustment of brake balance is covered in the Definition of Tuning Prohibited post.
The clutch ban in in section 1 N of the SNAIL OLR.

If there are any questions in lobbies tonight about the new rules, please ask them in this thread before moving forward. I will not be racing tonight but I will be at my computer to give the all clear and field any questions that anyone may have.
 
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I've said it before but anyone who uses "realism" as a reason to want to use the clutch and shifter in Gran Turismo either has no idea what the word realism means or they have never driven a car with a real clutch in it. Gran Turismo does such a poor job of modeling the behavior of a clutch and manual transmission that is just sounds silly for anyone to claim that is resembles "realism". It may be fun to bang through the gears but it, in no way, bears a resemblance to anything real about a clutch.
Well there must be a third reason, because I know what the word realism means and I also drive a manual....unfortunately mine has the plain old manual, manual transmission, where you have to use a clutch and a stick that’s usually placed in the centre of the console, so by me wanting realism, my thinking is that even if the clutch/shifting isn’t ideal in the game, it still feels more “real” to me to drive a car with clutch and stick if that’s what it came with as the only manual option, rather than using paddles, on say a 65 GT350, but maybe I’m alone in that thinking. Anyway I’m happy to abide by the rules and only voiced, what I thought were concerns, and I was enlightened since, and do agree with the rule changes now, but not your rationale on realism, Lol. On that we can agree to disagree Sir.
 
Well there must be a third reason, because I know what the word realism means and I also drive a manual....unfortunately mine has the plain old manual, manual transmission, where you have to use a clutch and a stick that’s usually placed in the centre of the console, so by me wanting realism, my thinking is that even if the clutch/shifting isn’t ideal in the game, it still feels more “real” to me to drive a car with clutch and stick if that’s what it came with as the only manual option, rather than using paddles, on say a 65 GT350, but maybe I’m alone in that thinking. Anyway I’m happy to abide by the rules and only voiced, what I thought were concerns, and I was enlightened since, and do agree with the rule changes now, but not your rationale on realism, Lol. On that we can agree to disagree Sir.

I'll give you that the location of the parts in use are pretty realistic. Beyond that we'll have to settle on the last line of your post.
 
I've said it before but anyone who uses "realism" as a reason to want to use the clutch and shifter in Gran Turismo either has no idea what the word realism means or they have never driven a car with a real clutch in it. Gran Turismo does such a poor job of modeling the behavior of a clutch and manual transmission that is just sounds silly for anyone to claim that is resembles "realism". It may be fun to bang through the gears but it, in no way, bears a resemblance to anything real about a clutch.
You are right. PDs version of clutch shifting in no way resembles real world. I hope that if PD ever gets it fixed that we can incorporate it back into our league. SNAIL is restricted based on what we have to work with from GTS.
Thanks to all the BOD for such logical rule changes.
 
F1TQ4NJ.jpg

PRESENTS:

The ButtKicker Challenge VI


Rwr7ENR.png




Check out our very own @vovik05 putting SNAIL in the news!!


Don't miss GTPlanet's feature of our very own @CoachMK21!


Congrats to @Neovre for making his debut at Le Mans
(where he scored an incredible P5 finish!)





Congrats to all the SNAILs who competed in the
2015 GT Academy USA Finals!!


2015 USA Finalists
JwldiQg.jpg

Back Row: @LoCoArMeN*, @vovik05*, @Ryan Lynch*, @Ricky Wilson, @TRL_Importlife, @Tyler Utley*, @gtr3123
Front Row: @ConnorWolf, @Crystalline_T
Not Shown (qualified for, but unable to attend finals):@GTP_Compton3, @Matt Sierras, @msgt-sd
* - advanced to Silverstone finals!!

And good luck to the SNAILs who are competing in the 2016 GT Academy Mexico Finals!!

2016 Mexico Finalists
bbYg5Cy.jpg

@Enzo_Goiko (second from left), @Ness (second from right), and @pakicote (far right)


Welcome to SNAIL
From our humble beginnings, SNAIL (aka Sunday Night American Interactive League) is now the largest console-based sim racing league in the world. Our mission is to provide our members with clean, intense, and competitive racing - regardless of skill level! We believe that providing full grids of evenly-matched competitions is the most realistic way to race, improve skill, and refine racecraft! Our league night is Sunday at 9:30pm Eastern / 6:30pm Pacific, but we also have a a wide variety of other events held on other nights of the week. If this sounds like something you'd like to be a part of, please keep reading to learn more about us and how to join.

What Makes Us Different
SNAIL is the only sim racing league in the world that's able to combine five key features into one consolidated package. First of all, we provide you with evenly-matched competition to drivers of all skill levels. In fact, the intense level of competition that we produce has established SNAIL as the "go to" place to prepare for GT Academy. And if you want to keep track of your improvement along the way, you'll be glad to know that we keep the most comprehensive race data available on GTPlanet. We also feature an interactive process that allows all of our members to have a say in which cars and tracks we race. And last but not least, we're the only league that awards our members with valuable prizes just for racing with us!

Evenly-Matched Competition
Have you ever watched a professional race where drivers with completely different skill levels were competing on the same track? Of course not! That wouldn't be fun to watch, let alone fun to participate in. Unfortunately, that disparity of pace is something you'll often find in organized online racing. When this happens, you'll be lucky to have just a few drivers that you're truly competitive with. Everyone else will usually either be faster or slower than you. We prevent that from happening in SNAIL by dividing our drivers into separate divisions based on speed and skill. This results in full grids of evenly-matched competition and creates the closest and most intense sim racing experience around!

Prepare for GT Academy
If you'd like to compete in GT Academy, there's no better place than SNAIL to hone your skills to the elite levels necessary to make it to the finals. You need to be the best of the best to make it to Silverstone, and that's exactly what the drivers in our top division are. Half of last year's and half of this year's Silverstone Finalists have raced in SNAIL. And since our race format (which features multiple sprint races) is almost identical to the format used at the GT Academy national finals, they were able to use their SNAIL experience to help them advance to Silverstone. Click here if you want to advice from last year's eventual champion and click here if you want advice from last year's runner-up.

Valuable Prizes
Have you ever wished you could win free stuff just for having fun? If so, then you might want to know that our members win valuable real-world prizes just for racing with us! These prize are based on participation and not on race results. Some examples of prizes our members have won include GranStand sim racing products like this, this and this, ButtKicker products like a Gamer2 and a Wireless ButtKicker Kit. You can also join Team SNAIL and earn even more prizes, such as shirts (e.g. S.N.A.I.L. shirt, F1 shirt, GT Academy shirt), video capture devices (e.g. Hauppauge PVR), sim racing equipment (e.g. Playseat Evolution), and even gift cards (e.g. Amazon and PSN).

Spec Racing
SNAIL has always been a one-make series, but when we decided to prohibit tuning in all of our races, we became the first "spec" racing league on GTPlanet. Spec racing ensures that success is determined primarily by driving skill and not by differences in power, gearing, suspension, weight, or aerodynamics. Because variables in the car are eliminated, spec racing is the truest measure of driver skill! It also produces intense battles for position because all of the cars are equally strong or weak in the same areas of the track. Plus, you'll never spend hours tuning cars or wondering if someone is truly faster than you or if they just have a better tune.

Race Format
Our league night lasts for two hours and is split into three rounds. Each round consists of two races that last 10 to 12 minutes on a predetermined car and track combo. At the beginning of each round, a brief qualifying session determines the order of the starting grid. The first race is set to 'Fastest First' to reward the best qualifiers and the second race is set to 'Reverse Grid' in order to promote on-track action. Points are awarded based on our "perfect" points system. After a round is completed, we move on to the next round and repeat the same process with the next car and track combination. Once all three rounds are complete, we tally up the points and then let our interactive format kick in.

Interactive Participation
Our unique format allows everyone to have a say on which cars and tracks we race. It's also used to strike a balance between familiarity and variety of our car and track combos. In other words, the progression of cars and tracks that we race is slow enough for us to learn them well, but fast enough that they don't get "old". At the end of every league night, everyone votes on which car and track combo they enjoyed the least. The combo that receives the most "elimination votes" is dropped from the next week's lineup entirely. The combo that receives the second most votes is also dropped, but only partially. This is where our prizes come into play:

Prizes
A prize is awarded to the divisions winners with the three highest scores*. The division winner with the highest score gets Prize A. The division winner with the second highest score gets Prize B. The division winner with the third highest score gets Prize C: (NOTE: We now have a new process for breaking ties in the elimination vote)
Prize A: The right to select the new car and track combo to replace the combo that was voted off
Prize B: The right to replace either the car or the track of the combo that received the second most votes
Prize C: The right to "freeze" either the car or the track of the combo that received the second most votes

Promotion and Relegation
Although we split our drivers into separate divisions based on performance and skill level, we realize that our drivers are constantly improving and deserve a chance to climb the ladder of success. That's why we promote and relegate drivers before every season based on the results and data compiled during the previous season. This is also done to ensure that our races are as competitive as possible for all of our league members, top to bottom. Regardless of which division you're in, you will almost always be fighting to gain or defend a position on the track. Simply put, no other Gran Turismo league in the world can offer this much competitive racing to so many different skill levels.

Comprehensive Race Data
It's not always accurate to promote and relegate drivers based on championship points alone. That's why the massive amounts of data we track are invaluable to our league. You'd be hard-pressed to find a sim racing league anywhere in the world that tracks driver data and race results more comprehensively than we do. In fact, our SNAIL Data document contains so much information that we have to archive old data to avoid exceeding the GoogleDoc's maximum capacity! You can use this data to track the points championship for each season and compare yourself to other drivers in categories such as fast laps, total race pace, total points, average points per race, and power rankings.

Rules
We expect all drivers to follow our OLR Rules and pursue good racecraft at all times. If you're not sure what good racecraft is, watch this video. It can be summed up in one simple 'Golden Rule' of motorsports: It is the responsibility of the overtaking driver, meaning the car that is attempting to execute the pass, to make sure that the pass is made cleanly and incident free. If you don't agree with this rule or don't think it applies to you, this is not the league for you. If you ever feel like a driver is not following the rules, please wait until league night is over, then file a Racing Incident Report. Our Stewards will review the incident and issue the appropriate penalties.

Settings
Lobby Settings
Course Settings

Tire Settings:
Based on Dealership PP (not the PP after an oil change)
below 349 PP -> Comfort Mediums
350-399 PP ---> Comfort Softs
400-449 PP ---> Sports Hards
450-499 PP ---> Sports Mediums
500-549 PP ---> Sports Softs
550-599 PP ---> Racing Hards
600 PP & up --> Racing Mediums

How To Join Us
Step 1: Post a reply (by click the 'Reply' button at the bottom of this post) stating, "I have read the first post and would like to join," and tell us how you heard about SNAIL. (Do not start a conversation with anyone, just post your request on this thread).
Step 2: Watch the thread for a reply to your post and follow the instructions provided.
Step 3: Purchase the three cars listed in the lineup for our next races.
Step 4: Wait to be assigned to a division and then join that division's lounge on Sunday night.
If you are not sure which division you are assigned to, please check the Offical Driver List

For a list of helpful links and FAQ's, please click here.
 
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