CMS NARS 2025
Virtual Modern Sportscar Championship
2025 is the 5th anniversary of the NARS VMSC at CMS and we could not be happier. Over the last four years, we have seen a steady increase in the interest and participation for our backbone series, meaning bigger grids and better competition each year. It has been a wonderful journey and it has been great to see our driving community grow from almost exclusively a North American event to one that attracts drivers from around the world.
Last year marked the VMSC into the simracing streaming community thanks to the generous contributions of our drivers, CMS and SGS, giving us more opportunity to bring the world to our races. This was at the same time that the VMSC took a major step forward in evolving from a series mirrored with the VWSC on Saturdays to running a parallel but separate race schedule based on IMSA. At the same time the VWSC focused on the WEC calendar, including the Michelin Endurance Championship events so that CMS rF2 drivers could have two opportunities to drive some of the most iconic circuits in North America. It has proven to be a highly successful development and we will follow the same path in 2025.
The VMSC will continue running with the latest of the Storm Gang Simulation modern sports car mods – the WSC 2025 featuring cars representing IMSA GTPs and GTDs plus WEC Hypercars and LMGT3s. SGS‘s “Smart BOP™” ensures competitive racing within the classes while preserving individual car characteristics to afford drivers plenty of options in choosing a car that fits best with their driving style. Developed with broad support from the rF2 modding community, this mod provides an unequalled sim racing opportunity for close, competitive and fun racing.
NEW FOR THIS YEAR, the VMSC will also include the S397 Oreca LMP2s to our multiclass racing à la IMSA as the next step in bringing real life racing experience to our series. Also new will be double file rolling starts by class to add a bit more challenge to our drivers.
THE CARS
Hypercars and GT3 will be the Storm Gang Simulation car mod WSC 2025 (SGS Discord). This pack includes two categories: Hypercar (IMSA GTP and WEC Hypercar classes) and LMGT3 (IMSA GTD and WEC LMGT3). All cars feature unique layouts and characteristics and tire models unique to SGS. The cars available on the CMS discord server. The third class of the series will be populated by the venerable S397 Oreca LMP2, through the Steam Store, expanding the options available for our drivers.
Hypercar (Storm Gang Simulation)
• Acura ARX-06
• Alpine A424
• BMW M Hybrid V8
• Cadillac V-Series.R
• Ferrari 499P LMH
• Isotta Franchini Tipo6
• Lamborghini SC63
• Peugeot 9×8
• Porsche 963
• Toyota GR010
LMP2 (S397)
• Oreca 07 LMP2 https://store.steampowered.com/itemstore/365960/detail/17/
• Ligier JS P217 LMP2 https://store.steampowered.com/itemstore/365960/detail/56/
NOTES:
Drivers MUST be subscribed to the NARS Steam Workshop item https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2978059085 .
LMP2 drivers will be able to use ONLY the Medium and Hard tires for this series. Use of soft tires in qualifying will result in an immediate NQ to be applied that race while use of softs in the race will result in a DQ.
LMGT3 Storm Gang Simulation
• Acura NSX GT3
• Aston Martin Vantage GT3 (new 2025)
• BMW M4 GT3 (new 2025)
• Chevrolet Corvette C06 GT3R (new 2025)
• Ferrari 296 GT3
• Ford Mustang GT3
• Lamborghini Huracan Evo2 GT3
• Lexus RCF GT3
• McLaren 720S GT3 (new 2025)
• Mercedes AMG GT3 (new 2025)
• Porsche 992 GT3
You must also be subscribed to the NARS Safety Car Steam Workshop item https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2965432751 .
Calendar
Note: Daytona, Sebring, Indianapolis and Road Atlanta will be run at 10x time compression for racing in both daylight and darkness.
Event Schedule
7pm/1900 Eastern – Server Reboot / Practice
8:55pm/2055 Eastern – Driver Brief/Announcements
9:00pm/2100 Eastern – Qualification (8 Min LMGT3/8 Min LMP2/8 Min Hypercar)
9:25pm/2125 Eastern – Warm-up
9:30pm/2130 Eastern – Race
All races will be 90 minutes long with additional time added for a manual formation lap.
Start
Rolling start, double file by class. Race starts for each pair of cars as they pass the S/F line at the end of the formation lap
Orange Zone (OZ)
There will be an OZ designated for each race in the driver notes that will be posted to the NARS #nars-race-info channel and noted again in the pre-race brief. There will be an automatic review of the OZ post-race.
Competition Classes
There will be competition classes for this series – PRO and AM in in Hypercar and GT while LMP2 will race in a single, PRO class.
Drivers who have raced in CMS before will have been noted in the CMS rF2 license categories for 2025.
VMSC PRO/AM splits (and driver licenses that will compete) will be:
Hypercar
PRO Platinum/Gold
AM Silver/Bronze
Copper may not compete
LMP2
PRO Platinum-Copper
GT3
PRO Gold/Silver
AM Bronze/Copper
Platinum may not compete
Drivers who have not been assigned a license category in the CMS rF2 stratification must start racing in the PRO championship of their chosen car class (Hypercar, LMP2 or GT3). After 3 races, their performance will be reviewed and this may involve a change in championship.
If during the course of the series, a driver is assigned a new license as part of the stratification update process, they are to contact the race admin immediately as this may, or may not, affect the championship in which they compete.
Admins retain the right to reassign all drivers up or down a car class if they are not correctly placed based, to balance competition or drivers’ performance.
Championships
The rf2la app will record all sessions and standings.
There will be five driver championships, PRO and/or AM in each car class, plus team championships in Hypercar, LMP2 and LMGT3 as well as a driving trophy.
Drivers will automatically be entered in the championship appropriate to them when they pick their car. Voluntary changes of car and/or class may be made once and points recalculated within the first three races of the driver in this series. Beyond this point, voluntary changes will incur a complete forfeiture of points. Series admin-directed changes of car class or driver championship will always have points recalculated.
In Hypercar and GT3, teams will be composed of 2 drivers , one each PRO and AM, driving the same car model. In LMP2, teams will be composed of 2 drivers from 2 different license categories.
The team must be declared to the race admin in order for points to be accumulated from that time forward.
Teams are encouraged to make public posts about entering the championship!
Points will be accumulated by teams as earned by the drivers in their respective car classes from the point of declaration. Only the top 2 finishing drivers will score points for the team.
Points
30-26-23-20-18-16-14-12-10-8-7-6-5-4-3-2 points thereafter, assigned by driver championship.
In the Groove Cup: Points are gained by drivers driving the most consistently in the race compared to their own fastest race lap as follows: 10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1.
Details on how to follow championship results are provided in the NARS Discord channels.
Custom Liveries and Numbers
CMS standard (default) liveries are provided and drivers are encouraged to paint their own custom liveries. Templates are provided in the CMS Discord server and will contain a number of required elements (window banners and numberplates) that must be respected. Liveries not containing required elements or containing inappropriate materials will be rejected and drivers may be subject to penalties and/or disciplinary actions. Contact the series admin with questions or concerns.
Livery submissions for inclusion in the mod will be required no later 21 Jan for the start of the season and then as listed in the VWSC. Submissions for inclusion in the mod will not be accepted at any other times or events.
If you miss the two designated dates and still want to run a livery, “loose” (alternate, alt, custom) skins may be used on existing default cars of the same car and class.
Pick a unique name for your livery files – ensure you do NOT name your loose skin “alt.dds”. If using a ‘loose’ livery, lease log onto the server a couple of days before to mitigate server load from file transfers on race day.
The use of the NARS numbering system is required for custom liveries and drivers not yet holding a NARS racing number may choose from those available, as listed at https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/13wo6t9tP2E1LCAUaJxE0osyKsnnnuyfh3N5T9Iv2WbQ/edit?usp=sharing . Instructions on how to choose either a permanent or series-specific number are provided on the individual pages.
Settings
Build: Latest stable build of rFactor 2
Damage: 75%
Mechanical Failures: Normal
Crash Recovery: OFF
Driving View: Open
Aids: Auto Clutch, Blip, Lift are the only rF2 global aids available (onboard aids/controls available per vehicle, eg TC and ABS in GT3s)
Fuel: 2x
Weather: Live
Race Start: Roll-off from grid into double-file formation lap with a 5s gap between classes. Drivers must maintain safe and reasonable speeds and clearances before crossing the S/F line and beginning their race!
There is no pre-registration for the competition however all drivers are expected to have completed enough practice laps on the server to race competently and safely.
The server name will be “CMS VMSC [track name]”.
The server race password will be provided at server reset on race day.
General
The rf2la app will be used to record the hot laps and instructions for following the series standings will be provided at #links-nars-read-first.
All races will be live-streamed on YouTube at our channel https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC7Kdp07PvIeW47f0_sM0emw
Race Communications
We will use the CMS Discord rFactor 2 voice channel for race communications.
CMS Discord is available at https://discord.com/invite/4ckmjPX
The voice channel is only required to monitor race control during the event. You do not need a microphone if you do not want to speak.
If you have a microphone, please set it to “push to talk”. If that just doesn’t work for you, PLEASE set the voice-activated audio level up considerably so your coughing, wheezing or sim controls grinding isn’t “shared” with everyone else. Don’t be “that guy/girl”.
Chatter during free practice is permitted and encouraged! For qualification and races, please be brief in your communication on Discord and talk only if absolutely necessary. One sentence then quiet is requested. No text chat AT ALL during qualification or race.
Abusive and/or profane in-game chat, Discord, or forum post language may lead to that driver receiving a sanction up to and including a ban from CMS.
Should a driver join the event server without being in the Discord channel, they will be sent 3 text prompts in rFactor 2 text chat to join the CMS Discord server. After the 3rd prompt, they will be removed from the race server by race control until they rejoin with Discord active and monitoring the race channel.
Competition Rules and Stewarding
This series will conform to the CMS General Competition Rules that may be found on the CMS Discord Server. All drivers are expected to know the GCR and shall be required to abide by them. Additional track-specific instructions will be provided via a drivers race brief that will be posted on #nars-race-info and summarized prior to the start of the qualifying session on race night.
Pit Entry/Exit Lines: On circuits that a white line is drawn at the pit road entry or/and exit, crossing this white line to entry or/end exit the pit is prohibited unless specifically permitted in a pre-race brief. Otherwise, it is permissible for tires to step on the white line, but crossing the line with one tire completely will result in a post-race Incident Review Request and penalty.
There are no live stewards. A post-race Incident Review Request may be submitted for adjudication with any resultant penalties to be served in the next race competed by the driver(s) at fault. The IRR form may be found at https://cmsracing.com/incident-report/.
rFactor 2 system assigned penalties during races must be served. The Race Director will only have the capability to clear penalties and driver DQ during practice on the race server and then AFTER qualification but before the race.
Connection Notes
Drivers are strongly advised to reboot their computer just before joining the server on race night.
Don’t use a WiFi connection. Only Ethernet cable connections are permitted for NARS events.