Reverse grid
How to set up and run a two-race round where the second one starts with the grid flipped: whoever won the first race lines up last.
Updated:
1. The idea, and why a Director is needed
Automobilista 2 has no way to inject a starting grid. Without qualifying, the starting order is simply the order in which people join the server. That is the whole trick.
Race 1 · finish
- P1Makuin
- P2Puchi
- P3Balb0a
- P4Miquel REBA
- P5Logans
Race 2 · grid
- P1Logans
- P2Miquel REBA
- P3Balb0a
- P4Puchi
- P5Makuin
- Since the grid is the join order, building it means letting people in one at a time, in the right order.
- That is what the Grid Director does: it works out the order from the race 1 results and calls each driver on Discord, waiting for them to join before calling the next one.
2. Before: set up the round on the site
You only do this once, under Championships → your championship → Add round.
Session preset
The race rules: session lengths, tyres, damage, weather, penalties.
Editing the preset changes every round that uses it.
Track
The one for this round.
The catalogue name and the one the game shows may differ: “Ibarra2” is “Autódromo Yahuarcocha”. Same place.
Class
The car class.
Names differ here too: “TC70S” shows up as “GT Classics”.
Fixed car (optional)
Set it and everyone races the same car.
It has to belong to the class you picked. Otherwise the server cannot enforce anything and every car shows up.
Grid
Reverse grid (race 2 = reverse of race 1)
Adding the race creates both legs automatically, already chained. Race 2 gets no fixed time: you set how many MINUTES it waits after race 1 finishes (20 by default).
Tip: No need to guess how long race 1 takes. Race 2 used to need a fixed time, which meant guessing the first race’s length — with practice and qualifying ahead of it. Now the countdown starts when race 1 actually ends, so it cannot cut it short.
Watch out: The grid must fit the track. Not every circuit takes 32 cars. Ask for more than it holds and the server silently switches track on you.
3. Race night, step by step
With the round set up, here is what happens and what you have to do.
- 1At its time
Practice
The server starts on its own with the round’s track, class and car. Nobody has to touch anything: join and drive as usual.
- 2At its time
Race 1
A normal race, with whatever grid comes out. This is the one that defines the reversed order, so it has to finish and be recorded.
- 3When it ends
The Director takes over
The server restarts on its own and sits empty, waiting. A new channel appears in the Gonky Discord with the full order and the control buttons, and the grid screen on the site lights up at the same time. Nobody joins yet: anyone who sneaks in before being called takes a slot that is not theirs and the grid comes out wrong.
- 45–20 min
Formation
The Director calls one driver, waits to see them in, locks their slot and calls the next. It runs by itself. There is no time limit: if someone does not show up it waits — that is what Skip is for.
Director🟢 Logans — you are up! Join now (P1).
Director✅ Logans is in — P1 locked.
Director🟢 Miquel REBA — you are up! Join now (P2).
Director⏳ Still waiting for Miquel REBA (P2)… admin can Skip.
- 5Once everyone is in
Race 2
The Director posts the final grid and off you go. Ninety seconds later it deletes its channel: it belongs to the race, not forever.
4. Where each driver finds out it is their turn
Every call goes out through three channels at once. Following one is enough: the other two are the safety net.
The grid screen
gonkyracing.com/c/your-slug/parrilla. It shows whose turn it is, who is already in and how many are left. It refreshes itself every few seconds.
No account, no Discord, nothing to install. Works well on a phone or on a second monitor next to the game.
The phone alert
An alert that fires when it is your turn, even with the site closed. Tapping it opens the grid screen.
It only reaches drivers who have signed in with Steam on gonkyracing.com and allowed notifications. Few have today: tell your drivers before race night, not during it.
The Discord channel
Created automatically in the Gonky Discord when the formation starts, it posts every call and deletes itself 90 seconds after the end.
It makes no difference whether you run your own Discord server: the channel is created in ours. That is where the Director’s buttons are.
With the real data of one race, frozen mid-formation. Every community has its own at /c/their-slug/parrilla-ejemplo.
Tip: The web screen is the only one that asks for nothing: no account, no Discord, nothing to install. If a driver is missing every call, that is the link to send them.
5. The four buttons
They live on the Director’s Discord message and on the grid screen. Only the community owner, its admins and its moderators see them — and only they can press them: the server checks on every press, so opening the screen gets a driver nowhere.
| Button | What it does | When |
|---|---|---|
| Skip | Sends the driver whose turn it is to the back of the queue and calls the next one. | They are not showing up and you do not want to stall the formation. |
| Undo | Brings back the last skipped driver and puts them back in place. | You skipped them and they turned up right after. |
| Restart | Empties the server and starts the formation from scratch. | The grid got scrambled: someone joined without being called. |
| Abort | Cancels the formation. The race can still be run, with a free grid. | It is getting late or it is not worth carrying on. |
6. What to tell the drivers
Three rules. Follow them and the grid comes out right first time.
- 1
Do not join the server until the Director names you. Even if you see it empty and open. Joining early gives you a slot that is not yours and scrambles everyone behind you. Keep the grid screen open and watch for your turn there.
- 2
When it is your turn, join right away. The formation is stopped waiting for you: every minute you take, everyone else waits too.
- 3
Once you are in, stay in. Disconnect and you lose your slot, and the grid has to be rebuilt from where you were.
When something goes wrong
The channel appears but nobody gets called
Race 1 left no results, and without them there is no order to reverse. Let us know. If race 1 never finished, there is no grid to compute.
It calls, but does not notice people joining
We cannot reach your server from outside. Make sure the router is still forwarding the server ports. Tell us and we will check it in a minute.
The grid comes out scrambled
Someone joined without being called. Restart: it empties and starts over. It is quick.
A driver says they are getting no alerts
The phone alert only reaches drivers signed in with Steam who allowed notifications — few have today. Send them the grid screen link: it works without an account and without Discord, and the turn shows up all the same.
The server comes up with a different track, or with every car
The grid you asked for does not fit the track, or the fixed car is not in the class. Check those two fields on the round and launch it again.
Loose ends
Who can press the Director’s buttons?
The community owner, its admins and its moderators. Nobody else, on Discord or on the site: the buttons are not merely hidden — the server rejects anyone else’s press. Drivers see the screen, but only to watch.
Do drivers need an account or Discord to race it?
To race, no: you just join the server when called, and the grid screen needs no account. A Gonky account with Steam is only needed to receive the phone alert. Whoever sets the race up does have to be community staff.
What if it all goes sideways?
Hit Abort and run race 2 with a free grid. Better than leaving people waiting: the race still counts for the championship.
Does the race show up in the public race list?
Only if the server has no password. With a password it is still recorded and still scores for the championship, but it does not appear in the public list.
Can we reverse only the top finishers?
The engine supports it, but the site only offers a full reversal today. If you want it, say so and we will ship it.
The Grid Director is a young feature and you are among the first to use it. If anything looks off, tell us the exact time — with that we can go into the server log and see what happened.