Can anybody give me a basic rundown of how the rating system works please?
You want to get out of U as quick as possible and avoid U servers as that is where a lot of crashes happen both intentionally and due to inexperience.
To get out of U avoid contact with others and also avoid going off the track.
It goes up the quickest when you have close racing but with close racing comes the increased risk of contact especially with inexperienced drivers. Also aggressive drivers that do not give way - avoid being aggressive yourself to avoid unnecessary contact. Getting to F is done in a few races. Once your in D or higher ranked races (C, B, A, S) you start to see the significant improvement in racing, spatial awareness and race craft.
You will get negative safety rating progress even by being hit through no fault of your own - hence anticipate where issues might occur and drive accordingly (ie dont go first corner as the last braker and look in mirror for those types as well and avoid if poss).
Numbers = Strength/Performance (ie results compared to your peers). Dont worry about this. You can lose a lot with disconnects (whether its your internet connection or you disconnecting intentionally).
You gain a lot by beating higher ranked guys. If a much lower performance rated guy beats you it will reduce your performance rating more.
Ultimately your rating here will settle in your natural pace. Performance rating is not a championship points system.
Next, continue to stay out of trouble, but get closer to others and run with them... you don't need to beat them... in fact I suggest if your trying to improve your safety rating, don't bother actually trying to beat another racer... just race close to them and stay out of trouble.
If your able to race close to others and not get in trouble, you can start to actually try to gain positions , but again, if your goal is to gain safety rating, you better know when to backoff and let the other guy go ahead... or in some rare cases, try to get out ahead of them so they don't wreck you... You will loose safety rating points if you get in a wreck, regardless of who's fault it is.
Lastly, and this may not be known to anyone who's not achieved S rating... Once you get to S, as near as I can tell, you never drop down from there. I guess once you've managed to race that much without too many incidents, they give you the 'S' ( safe ) standard of approval.
Just had 3 races and tried to stay out of trouble, was doing well in one of them until somebody else hit a tyre stack sending it into my path... "contact" warning flashes up... that's that then! This is going to be a challenge.