Your broadcast graphics are overlays. Each one is a live web page served by PitLane's built-in overlay server, and OBS shows them in your stream. This page covers how to manage overlays and what the built-in set includes.
Three verbs, three places
Overlay management uses three distinct actions. Each lives in one place.
| Action | Where | What it means |
|---|---|---|
| Install / Uninstall | Overlay Library | Adds a whole pack to this machine, or removes it from the Installed packs list in the Library sidebar. Installing does not show anything on stream yet. |
| Add to / Remove from Broadcast | Overlay Library cards | Puts an installed overlay into your active broadcast set. Active overlays get panel space, live data, and a spot in the Broadcast menu. |
| Show / Hide | Overlays panel | Toggles an active overlay on or off air, live. Use this during the show. |
The Overlay Library
The Library is a workspace tab. Open it from View > Workspaces > Overlay Library, from the + button in the Overlays panel, or with Ctrl+K.
- Browse every overlay installed on this machine. Cards show a preview image, the overlay type, and where it came from (a pack name, or Built-in). Overlays that belong to a family wear a chip in that family's own accent color, so a matching set reads as a set at a glance. Click the chip to see the whole family, and clear the filter from the pill next to the search box.
- Search by name or description, and switch between grid and list view.
- Click a card to open the detail panel. It shows the description, id, type, version, author, source, the controls the overlay offers, and a live example rendered at true broadcast scale while the overlay server is running. Pack overlays also show a publish date.
- Add to Broadcast from the card or the detail panel. Remove it the same way.
- Install a pack with the Install Pack... button in the Library header. See Overlay packs.
Overlay packs
Overlays are distributed as .pitlane files. A pack contains one or more overlays, ready to run, sometimes with a shared color palette (a family).
Installing a pack takes one of two paths.
- Double-click the
.pitlanefile in Windows. PitLane opens and asks you to confirm the install. Only install packs from people you trust. - Click Install Pack... in the Library header and pick the file.
Installed packs appear in the Library with their pack name on each card, and in the Installed packs list in the Library sidebar. Uninstall a pack from that list. Uninstalling removes all of its overlays from the machine.
The PitLane Broadcast and Lonestar Cup sets ship with the app as pre-installed packs. They update on their own. At startup, PitLane checks for newer versions and installs them, so overlay fixes reach you without waiting for an app update. Because these ship with the app, uninstalling one only lasts until the next launch.
If a pack refuses to install, the error tells you why. The common cases are a pack built for a newer version of PitLane (update the app) or a pack built against an overlay format the app no longer supports (ask the author for an updated pack).
The Overlays panel
The Overlays panel in the Director workspace is your live control surface. Enable it via View > Overlay Panel if it is hidden.
- Show/Hide switch on each overlay toggles it on or off air. A hidden overlay hides itself and drops out of the single broadcast layer.
- Click an overlay to expand its inline controls.
- Gear icon on a card opens that overlay's settings dialog.
- Gear icon in the panel header opens File > Settings... > Overlays, where overlay colors live.
- + button opens the Overlay Library.
Every active overlay also gets an entry in the Broadcast menu, and each of those can be bound to a hotkey. You can flip a specific overlay on air with a keystroke. See Camera & Hotkeys.
Advanced Broadcast overlays
These are the five production-grade overlays that ship with PitLane. They share a consistent dark visual style.
Timing Tower
Position top-left corner.
The main standings display. Shows all drivers with animated position changes, gap times, and configurable data columns.
Inline controls
- Gap Mode shows the interval to the car ahead, or the gap to the leader
- Data Column picks the flex column contents. Last lap, best lap, sectors, tire compound, tire age, pit count, car name, or none
- Sector Dots shows colored sector indicators per driver
- Tire Compound, Car Badge, Nation Flag, Driver Number toggle those elements
Settings
- Name Format. First and last, full name, or 3-letter code
- Pinned Rows. How many top positions always stay visible (default 3)
- Max Visible Rows. Maximum rows shown before scrolling (default 20)
- Panel Width in pixels (default 310)
- Stripe Colors. Color the left stripe by accent color, manufacturer, or team
- Row Size. Compact, normal, or large
Lower Third
Position bottom-left corner.
Appears automatically when the camera cuts to a new car. Shows the driver's name, position, and contextual stats, then slides away.
Inline controls
- Data Mode. Auto picks stats based on race context. The other modes pin one stat, such as interval, last lap, best lap, or tire info
- Car Badge and Nation Flag toggles
Settings
- Show Duration, 3 to 15 seconds (default 8)
Battle Graphic
Position bottom-center.
A head-to-head panel that appears when two cars are battling. Shows car livery previews, an animated gap counter, and chevrons showing who is gaining.
Two settings decide when it appears, and they do different jobs.
The Battle Gap Threshold in File > Settings... > Detection decides what counts as a battle at all. That is what fills the Battles panel and what the director considers worth cutting to. You set it once and leave it.
Show Under on the overlay decides when the graphic actually goes on screen. It only narrows what Detection already found, so it can be tighter than the panel but never wider. This is the one you reach for mid-race. Keep Detection wide so you can see a three second fight developing, and keep Show Under tight so only the close ones get a graphic.
Inline controls
- Show Under sets the gap the graphic fires at, in seconds
- Car Preview shows or hides the livery images
Settings
- Driver Detail. Show a nation flag, car badge, or last lap time beside each driver
Telemetry HUD
Position top-center.
Live driver inputs for the focused car. Throttle, brake, and clutch bars, a steering indicator, gear, speed, an RPM arc scaled to each car's rev limit, TC and ABS activity, and a G-force crosshair.
Inline controls
- Pedal Inputs, Steering Wheel, G-Force, and TC / ABS toggles
Track Map
Position top-right corner.
A live circuit map built from real track width data. Cars appear as dots, with the focused car highlighted.
Inline controls
- Focus Current Car zooms and pans to follow the focused car
- Zoom level, 1x to 6x
- Position Numbers on the car dots
- Racing Line display
Settings
- Runoff Areas. Show gravel and grass beside the track
- Map Size in pixels, 200 to 400 (default 280)
Template overlays
Five simple overlays ship as templates. Each is one HTML file in its own folder with a small manifest beside it, built to be read, copied, and modified.
| Overlay | What it shows |
|---|---|
| Simple Timing Tower | Basic position list with gaps |
| Simple Lower Third | Driver name and position card |
| Simple Battle Graphic | Gap display between two cars |
| Simple Session Info | Track name, session type, time remaining |
| Simple Event Ticker | Scrolling feed of race events |
They work as-is, and they are the recommended starting point for building your own. See Custom Overlays.
Overlay theming
Every set of overlays that shares a look is a family, and every family gets its own color pickers in File > Settings... > Overlays. The five broadcast overlays are the PitLane Broadcast family, so one accent color there restyles all five at once. The template overlays have no family and use their own color controls on each card.
Changes are live. Edits recolor active overlays and OBS browser sources immediately, with no refresh.
Overlay families
An overlay can declare that it belongs to a family. A family is a set of overlays that share one identity and one named color palette, such as a series package or a team package. Families give you two things.
- Generated color pickers. Each family declares its own palette slots, and Settings > Overlays builds a picker for every slot, labeled in that family's vocabulary. Only your changes are stored. Reset to defaults returns the family to its shipped colors.
- One-click activation. When active overlays belong to a family, a Families row appears at the top of the Overlays panel. Clicking a family shows all of its overlays and hides same-type overlays from other families. You can swap an entire look in one click.
Two families ship with PitLane. The five broadcast overlays are the PitLane Broadcast family, and the seven LSR overlays are the Lonestar Cup family. Click between them in the Families row and your whole broadcast swaps looks in one click. The template overlays have no family. Packs often ship a family, and custom overlays can declare their own.