You can check to see if there is anyone in the lobby by noticing how many bots are in lobby and battle (workshop, paint shop, or buy tab, sell tab, lobby or battle) if there is a bot in the lobby, they could be idling, so if you get no response, that may be why
Don't sell anything, surrender, or end the battle in a tie and go back to lobby after each match - this is to avoid the one moment bug; If you can't enter the lobby or workshop your bot has been bugged, you can exit the game, and then when you get back to garage, scrap the bugged bot, or leave it for scorekeeping, then make a new one (edited)
If your opponent looks still, they may have lost connection; if so, if you ram into them enough your bot will probably spin out of control and then display the message "Walkover", this means connection was lost, you will then soon be redirected to the lobby and you will have each won 1 battle (edited)
Tips: using the left and right arrow keys doesn't drain the battery; you start with 50 credits when making a new bot, which is enough to buy another hydrogen battery for more battery life, or 3 small wheels for better turning; you can use 1,2, and 3 number keys to switch camera default is 1 (edited)
Basic Tips; you can use the arrow keys on the workshop screen to increase your armor; if you want more speed realistically the best way is to buy a small deluxe engine, which is expensive, but you can look at other options under the engine category; You can use the paint shop to give your bot a unique look, the buttons have different actions explained on the help webpage accessed through the help button (edited)
Servers; you can access main or freestyle server, freestyle allows cheats main doesn't; if you are on different servers you won't be able to battle each other, also the account you make is tied to the server you played; you can also port forward using the number explained on the launch page (before the log in page) if you don't port forward you will be using the server unless that fails then it will be P2P (Player to Player)
More Bugs: If it looks like no one is in the server it could be that you, or your opponent, or both of you need to exit the game, re login, re select the bot to use from workshop, and re enter the lobby; If you fail to connect to your opponent you can try clicking on their bot repeatedly, (once after the message is displayed) to refresh connection, then click challenge when the message displays your desired opponents bot; "failed to connect to server" try using the lobby button again this should fix the issue, if it doesn't after several attempts it may be the server is down or rebooting: lastly if you are accepting a challenge you may need to accept it the moment you get the challenge, otherwise you will loose connection before or during the battle (edited)
Don't sell anything, surrender, or end the battle in a tie and go back to lobby after each match - this is to avoid the one moment bug; If you can't enter the lobby or workshop your bot has been bugged, you can exit the game, and then when you get back to garage, scrap the bugged bot, or leave it for scorekeeping, then make a new one (edited)
If your opponent looks still, they may have lost connection; if so, if you ram into them enough your bot will probably spin out of control and then display the message "Walkover", this means connection was lost, you will then soon be redirected to the lobby and you will have each won 1 battle (edited)
Tips: using the left and right arrow keys doesn't drain the battery; you start with 50 credits when making a new bot, which is enough to buy another hydrogen battery for more battery life, or 3 small wheels for better turning; you can use 1,2, and 3 number keys to switch camera default is 1 (edited)
Basic Tips; you can use the arrow keys on the workshop screen to increase your armor; if you want more speed realistically the best way is to buy a small deluxe engine, which is expensive, but you can look at other options under the engine category; You can use the paint shop to give your bot a unique look, the buttons have different actions explained on the help webpage accessed through the help button (edited)
Servers; you can access main or freestyle server, freestyle allows cheats main doesn't; if you are on different servers you won't be able to battle each other, also the account you make is tied to the server you played; you can also port forward using the number explained on the launch page (before the log in page) if you don't port forward you will be using the server unless that fails then it will be P2P (Player to Player)
More Bugs: If it looks like no one is in the server it could be that you, or your opponent, or both of you need to exit the game, re login, re select the bot to use from workshop, and re enter the lobby; If you fail to connect to your opponent you can try clicking on their bot repeatedly, (once after the message is displayed) to refresh connection, then click challenge when the message displays your desired opponents bot; "failed to connect to server" try using the lobby button again this should fix the issue, if it doesn't after several attempts it may be the server is down or rebooting: lastly if you are accepting a challenge you may need to accept it the moment you get the challenge, otherwise you will loose connection before or during the battle (edited)