Rules of the Road

HOW RACER STAYS ON THE RIGHT SIDE OF THE LAW

Racer is a timing game for the drives you already make. The only way to win is to arrive sooner than a ghost that is driving legally. That sounds like it should reward speed, so the app is built so that it cannot.

The ghost you race is already legal. The Map's estimate assumes the speed limit and live traffic. Beating it means picking a better line and not losing time at the margins, not driving faster than the law allows.

THE THREE GUARDRAILS

1. The hard cap: 85 mph

85 mph is the highest posted speed limit anywhere in the United States. If a run shows sustained speed above it (a few seconds, not a GPS blip), the run is voided the moment you arrive. There is no road where that speed is legal, so there is no argument to be had.

2. The pace floor

If you beat the Map's estimate by more than 30 % on a real drive (over about a mile and three minutes), the run is voided. The estimate already accounts for legal speeds and current traffic; nobody legally arrives thirty percent ahead of it. Short hops are exempt because a single traffic light swings them.

3. Hands off

Once the car is moving faster than a walk, search and settings lock. Pick your destination while stopped, start the race, put the phone down. Racer detects arrival and ends the run by itself; the results card can wait until you are parked.

WHAT “VOIDED” MEANS

The run is kept in your Trips history, marked and struck through.
It is not a personal best and never becomes the ghost you race.
It is never uploaded, so it cannot appear on any leaderboard.
It never counts as an attempt against a rival's challenge.
It never produces a “you won” screen.

We may also void runs after the fact, remove records, and suspend accounts that we believe were not driven lawfully. Server-side, a run averaging over 100 mph is rejected outright.

WHY WE ARE STRICT ABOUT THIS

In many places, racing against a clock on a public road is itself a crime. California Vehicle Code §23109, for example, defines an illegal speed contest to include a race “against a clock or other timing device.” Racer is not a stopwatch you set and chase; it is a comparison against an estimate that already assumes the limit, and it refuses to reward anything faster. The distinction only holds if the guardrails hold, so they are not optional.

Courts have also held app makers responsible for features that reward speed. Design that quietly encourages a dangerous habit is not excused by a warning label. Ours is designed to do the opposite, and this page is the warning label anyway: obey every traffic law, every time. Racer will never ask otherwise.

PASSENGERS AND OTHER VEHICLES

Racer works exactly the same when a passenger holds the phone, which is the best way to use it. It does not work as a way to race the car next to you: rivals are ghosts of drives made at other times. Two cars agreeing to race on a public road is street racing, full stop, and we will terminate accounts we believe are doing it.

REPORTING

Hold any racer on a leaderboard to report or hide them. Reports go to us with both account ids and are reviewed. If you believe someone is using Racer to street race, report them and, where appropriate, the authorities.

These rules are part of the Terms of Service. Questions go through the support page.