[TC] Gaming Forums - Gumball 2016

ABOUT GUMBALL

Live for Speed's Single Largest Event

Gumball in real life

The Gumball 3000 rally was founded in 1999 by Maximillion Cooper. It is a 3,000 mile (4,800 kilometre) international road rally which takes place on public roads and every year sees a different route. 120 cars enter each year, mostly exotic cars or sports cars. There are no prizes for being the fastest and there is no timekeeping of any sort. The Gumball 3000 is a "road trip adventure" and not a race.

This year's Gumball was its 18th anniversary. It started in Dublin on May 1st and concluded in Bucharest on May 6th.

Our take on the world's most famous rally

[TC] have been running a Gumball rally since 2009 meaning this year is our 8th rally! You can enter as a team or individually. For information on the price of entering and for the various extra tickets, please see the entry fees, tickets & bundles thread.

The Schedule
This schedule contains fundamental times and does not contain special events or stage challenge milestones.

Friday 1st July
21:00 UTC+1: Team signups open

Wednesday 6th July
21:00 UTC+1: Individual signups open

Friday 5th August
18:00 UTC+1: Server one and two warm up parties begin.
20:30 UTC+1: Parties end, servers close for preparation.
20:45 UTC+1: Drivers join their start server and move immediately to the grid for the start.
21:00 UTC+1: Gumball starts, drivers begin to leave the grid.

Saturday 6th August
12:00 UTC+1: Server one and two open to all Gumballers.

Sunday 7th August
21:00 UTC+1: Opening weekend challenge ends.

Friday 12th August
21:00 UTC+1: 7 day distance challenge ends.

Friday 19th August
21:00 UTC+1: 14 day distance challenge ends. Gumball ends.

The Servers
We will have 4 servers available for the duration of the rally. Please don't solely rely on a space in server one and two, use the other two if there's not room.

[TC] CityDriving One
Server one will be the epicentre of action throughout the Gumball fortnight. It will be accessible by password exclusively to those competing in the Gumball for the duration of the rally with exception of the opening night. Those who have purchased warm up party tickets will have exclusive access between 18:00-20:30 UTC+1 on the opening night*. Those who have purchased opening night tickets will have exclusive access from 20:30 UTC+1 on the opening night for 15 hours until midday, 12:00 UTC+1 on Saturday 6th August*. At this point server one will accessible to everyone competing in Gumball**.

[TC] CityDriving Two
Server two will be as epic as server one on the opening night of Gumball 2016. Those who have purchased warm up party tickets will have exclusive access between 18:00-20:30 UTC+1 on the opening night*. Those who have purchased opening night tickets will have exclusive access from 20:30 UTC+1 on the opening night for 15 hours until midday, 12:00 UTC+1 on Saturday 6th August*. At this point server two will accessible to the public and Gumballers.

[TC] CityDriving Three
Server three will be open to the public and Gumballers for the duration of the rally.

[TC] CityDriving Four
Server four will be opened at any point during the rally if the other 3 servers reach maximum capacity.

* Passwords will be sent to you via Private Message on the forum upon purchasing tickets. Sharing passwords will result in your immediate disqualification and a 31 day ban.
** Passwords will be sent to you via private Message on the forum upon signing up. Sharing passwords will result in your immediate disqualification and a ban for the remainder of the rally.

The Opening Night

Ask anyone who has ever attended the opening night of the CityDriving Gumball and they'll tell you it's the best night of the year to be a part of our community. This year, we just stepped it up a notch as the opening night is now its own set of events.

Warm Up Parties *NEW*
Taking place between 18:00-20:30 UTC+1 on Friday 5th August.

The warm up parties are ticketed events (See the entry fees, tickets & bundles thread). This is your opportunity to get into the mood for Gumball. As well as special 'one-off events', we will be organising car shows in both parties where drivers will get the opportunity to get video and screenshot material before the madness of the rally begins. Both parties will be accompanied by the customary Gumball warm up radio show presented by the [TC] Radio DJs and will feature competitions and great music.

The Grids, The Start & The Opening Night *NEW*
Taking place between 20:45 UTC+1 on Friday 5th August and 12:00 UTC+1 midday on Saturday 6th August.

The grids will take place on server one and server two between 20:30 and 21:00 depending on how quickly we can get the servers ready after the parties. Server one and two access is ticketed (See the entry fees, tickets & bundles thread). If everything goes to plan the cars will roll out of the grid for the start of Gumball 2016 at 21:00 UTC+1 sharp. If you have a ticket for the opening night events you must be on the server as soon as you can and should be on the grid by 20:45 at the very latest so that we can get underway. If you don't have a server one or two opening night ticket, there won't be a grid on server three or four but the rally will start at 21:00 UTC+1 for you too, you'll just need to keep an eye on your watches!

Distance Challenges

From 2009-2015, the focus of our Gumball was on a 14 day distance challenge, something that has become increasingly difficult to do well in due to the huge increase in interest and competition that our rally has had in recent years. After last year's rally and the steep decline in participant activity during the second week we have decided to alter the format of the rally.

Teams
The winning team is calculated by taking an average of the distance driven by each driver. So if a team has 4 drivers and 1 driver doesn't drive, this will seriously impact the team's result. This means that the total number of kilometres driven by a team does not necessarily reflect their actual ranking. It encourages the drivers to drive together (like the sort that actually happens in the real Gumball).

Individuals
The individual winner is the person that drives the furthest over the period of the distance challenge.

Opening Weekend Distance Challenge
21:00 UTC+1 Friday 5th August - 21:00 UTC+1 Sunday 7th August.
All competitors and teams automatically entered.

A simple objective, drive the furthest in first 2 days to win. Prizes are awarded to the top 5 individuals and top 3 teams.

7 Day Distance Challenge *NEW*
21:00 UTC+1 Friday 5th August - 21:00 UTC+1 Friday 12th August.
All competitors and teams automatically entered.

The main event of Gumball 2016 will be a 7 day distance challenge. Drive the furthest in 7 days to win. Prizes are awarded to the top 15 individuals and top 5 teams.

14 Day Distance Challenge
21:00 UTC+1 Friday 5th August - 21:00 UTC+1 Friday 19th August.
All competitors and teams automatically entered.

The challenge for the most hardcore drivers will be a 14 day distance challenge. Drive the furthest in 14 days to win and join the elite club of 6 drivers who have previously won the 14 day distance challenge. Prizes are awarded to the top 10 individuals and top 5 teams.

Stages Challenge

The stages challenge is the gentlemen's Gumball for those of us who don't have 24 hours a day to drive. The ultimate goal is to drive 3000 miles (4828km) in chunks spread over the 2 weeks, weighted towards the weekends and gradually reducing the daily average distance. You will not receive a badge for an individual stage if you do not drive the mandated distance for that stage OR if you drive more than 2% further (100km) than the mandated distance (to avoid 7 or 14 day distance challenge drivers getting all of these badges)

- Stage 1: "The opener" - 1100km (23%) - 2 days/48hrs (2/14) - 550km per day average
- Stage 2: "The long road" - 1500km (31% [54% total]) - 5 days/120hrs (7/14) - 300km per day average
- Stage 3: "Put the roof down" - 900km (19% [73% total]) - 2 days/48hrs (9/14) - 450km per day average
- Stage 4: "Hot coals" - 1200km (25% [98% total]) - 4 days/96hrs (13/14) - 300km per day average
- Stage 5: "Sprint finish" - 128km (2% [100% total]) - 1 day/24hrs (14/14)

Special Events

To Be Confirmed...

Awards

These are awarded to individuals for achieving certain things during the rally.

Pedal to the metal award

The people that maintain the highest average speed over the duration of each of the distance challenges win a pedal to the metal award. During the 7 day distance challenge, you must drive at least 1500km to be in with a chance of winning this award. During the 14 day distance challenge you must drive at least 3000km to be in with a chance of winning this award. There is no minimum for the opening weekend challenge.

Spirit of the Gumball award

This award is given to the person who made the Gumball extra-special. It might be the person who made the best public skin pack, or given to someone who was the best company on TS or the servers. You can nominate someone for this award at the end of the rally. The winner will be voted on by the community.

Best skin award

The skinning competition allows anyone to enter up to 2 skins for the public to vote on. The skin that gets the most votes wins, simple. The winner and runner-up of this competition get prizes. You do not need to be entered into the rally to enter the skin competition. You may submit your skin at any point during the rally but the deadline is August 12th at 21:00 UTC+1. Voting will commence shortly afterwards and will last for one week.

Best team livery award

All teams are invited to submit their liveries for the best team livery award. You may submit as many skins as you like for as many cars as you like but they must all have the same base design. The minimum number of skins you can submit is dependent on the number of members in your team, so if your team has 3 members, you should submit 3 skins per livery. The livery that gets the most votes wins, simple. You may submit your skins at any point during the rally but the deadline is August 12th at 21:00 UTC+1. Voting will commence shortly afterwards and will last for one week.

Emergency Response Award

This prize will be awarded to the driver who proved themselves to be the best or most helpful TOW/MED/RES during the rally. You are not required to be entered into the rally to be eligible for this award. Nominations and voting for this award will open on August 12th at 21:00 UTC+1.

DJ Award

Last year, the CityDriving radio presence was bigger than ever and by giving this award we show our appreciation to our DJs. The best DJ will be voted on after the rally on August 19th. Every DJ who did a show will be automatically entered. You do not need to be signed up to the rally to be eligible for this award.

Badges

CityDriving license badges will be given to people who achieve the following:

Individual 7 Day Distance Challenge 1st-15th Place *NEW* - Claimed!
Team 7 Day Distance Challenge 1st-5th Place *NEW* - Claimed!
Individual Opening Weekend Distance Challenge 1st-5th Place *MODIFIED* - Claimed!
Team Opening Weekend Distance Challenge 1st-3rd Place - Claimed!
Individual 14 Day Distance Challenge 1st-10th Place *MODIFIED* - Claimed!
Team 14 Day Distance Challenge 1st-5th Place *MODIFIED* - Claimed!
Gumballer (3,000 Miles/4,828 Kilometres) - Claimed!
Around The Moon (6,783 Miles/10,917 Kilometres) - Claimed!
Pole To Pole (12,022 Miles/20,038 Kilometres) - Claimed!
Stages Challenge: The Opener - Claimed!
Stages Challenge: The Long Road - Claimed!
Stages Challenge: Put The Roof Down - Claimed!
Stages Challenge: Hot Coals - Claimed!
Stages Challenge: Sprint Finish - Claimed!
Stages Challenge: Completed - Claimed!
Pedal To The Metal Award (Opening Weekend) - Claimed!
Pedal To The Metal Award (7 Days) - Claimed!
Pedal To The Metal Award (14 Days) - Claimed!
Best Skin Award Winner - Claimed!
Best Skin Award Runner Up - Claimed!
Best Team Livery Award - Claimed!
Emergency Response Award
DJ Award
Bronze Donor - Claimed!
Silver Donor - Claimed!
Gold Donor - Claimed!
Platinum Donor - Claimed!
Spirit of the Gumball

Rules

The rules of the Gumball are simple. Follow the usual server rules and do not think you have priority over people who aren't competing. If you share server passwords you will be disqualified from the rally and banned (See 'The Servers' section for regulations).

Prizes & Donations

The prize pool will be funded by entry fees and donations alone (Minimum donation amount: €1,000*). Donors will receive badges in the following bands:

Bronze Donor: €25k+
Silver Donor: €50k+
Gold Donor: €100k+
Platinum Donor: €250k+

Because we have added more challenges and events, we are currently working on the new prize-pool split. We will announce those as soon as possible.

*Minimum amounts enforced to make the donation section of the statistics system cleaner. You can make more than one donation.

Paying ticket fees

All ticket fees should be sent to: MButcher in any CityDriving server. You can send an amount by typing: !send x mbutcher where 'x' is the amount you want to send.

In-Game Naming Convention

So that other players know who's competing in the Gumball, we advise that you add one of two tags to your name whilst you are on the CityDriving servers:

Generic Gumball Tag
eg: [TC]►Pete◄[GB3K]

Driver Number
eg: [TC]►Pete◄ #82

You are free to use whichever tag you prefer, or neither!

Got Questions?
Please ask questions in our questions or discussion thread.

The Gumball is [TC]'s biggest event of the year so don't miss out! Even if you don't think you'll do very well, enter anyway!

All times are in UTC+1