This message can throw off your rhythm, invalidate your lap times, and ruin your chances of climbing the rankings. If you’ve encountered this issue, you’re not alone.
What Is “Abnormal Lap: Discontinuity”?
“Abnormal Lap: Discontinuity” is a notification that appears in iRacing when a lap you’ve completed is flagged as invalid. This usually means that the sim system detected something unusual about your lap, preventing it from being counted toward your official race time. This error can be confusing, especially if you feel like you’ve driven the lap perfectly.
This message usually pops up when there’s a significant deviation from what the sim expects in terms of your car’s path, speed, or timing.
Possible Causes of “Abnormal Lap: Discontinuity”
Course-Cutting or Track Deviations
One of the primary reasons your lap might be flagged as abnormal is due to course-cutting or deviating from the track. iRacing has specific track boundaries, and cutting corners or taking shortcuts outside these boundaries can trigger this error.
Even if you serve the penalty for cutting the course, such as slowing down, the lap can still be flagged as invalid because the sim recognizes that you didn’t follow the intended path.
To avoid this, it’s crucial to stay within the track limits, even when trying to shave off those extra milliseconds. Some tracks might have particularly tricky sections where it’s easy to accidentally cut corners, so being mindful of these areas is essential.
Internet Connection Issues
Another common cause of the “Abnormal Lap: Discontinuity” message is issues with your internet connection. If your connection drops out, even for a fraction of a second, or if you experience “blinking” (temporary loss of connection), the game’s server might not receive all the necessary data to verify your lap. As a result, it flags the lap as abnormal.
This issue is particularly common for players using a WiFi connection, which is more prone to interruptions than a wired Ethernet connection.
If you’re frequently seeing this message, it might be time to check your network setup. Ensuring a stable and consistent connection can help reduce the chances of this error occurring.
Server-Side Problems
Sometimes, the issue isn’t on your end at all. Server-side problems can also lead to laps being flagged as abnormal. When the game’s server experiences issues, such as high traffic or maintenance, it can result in laps being incorrectly flagged. These problems can be especially frustrating because there’s little you can do to resolve them on your own.
Keeping an eye on community forums or official game announcements can help you stay informed about any known issues and when they might be resolved.
iRacing Notes:
To help drivers realize that issues might be impacting laps they’re registering, Race Control will now inform a Driver upon completion of a lap if that lap was flagged as “invalid”. This is mostly intended to help identify when a driver might be having communications issues, causing an “interpolated crossing” or a “discontinuity”. The notification is just like the “Incident” notifications – a text chat message from Race Control.
Happy Racing!
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