In our league, VOR, we began a discussion regarding pit stop strategies. A statement was made that GPL would not let you reset directly in front of another driver. Generally this is held to be true, but I recalled a specific incident (Spa Warp 2003) when this had actually occurred. We are now in search of the rules GPL uses to allow/disallow resets during online play.
My prevailing theory is that the client computer (the one the driver sits in front of) takes care of deciding whether, or not, the track is clear for a reset. However, the client computer normally only downloads information about the five cars immediately ahead on the track, and one car behind. There is a bandwidth patch allowing more than this, but there are issues associated with installing it on the server, and the client computers.
My prevailing theory has been confirmed by Bart Westra, author of the bandwidth patch. Using the bandwidth patch requires that the server be patched, and all clients be patched, and as long as you use six cars in total (the sum of the cars visible behind, and in front) the bandwidth requirement is the same as the default setup. To increase the total number of cars you must have sufficient bandwidth at both the server, and client ends. Keep in mind that the server will require sufficient upload bandwidth, while the clients require sufficient download bandwidth. If the upload/download thing confuses you, remember that it's point of view specific. Remember that, under normal circumstances, the client is your local computer, and the server is a remote computer. Download for a local computer is upload for a remote computer, and vice versa.
Some infromation, and links referring to an incident where GPL allowed a driver - me - to reset, and land directly in front of another driver - my buddy, Bob.
Thumbnails,
and screen captures
Each pair of images are one frame apart.
Download
the raw replay clip (142kb)
There are approximately 23 frames between my reset,
and Bob's appearance in my replay. From Bob's point of
view, approximately 1/3 second elapsed between my
warping in, and his contact.
Download
the raw server replay clip (237kb)
Remember that the server sees all the cars all the time.
Email Me if you have any input on this topic