Since 2021, iRacing has attempted a workaround in order to feature an official race for a major blue ribbon event. However, Luca believes this is doing more harm than good and a better solution exists.
I absolutely love racing my Cadillac V-Series.R on iRacing, any race I can do in that bellowing V8 beast, I will do. Whether you prefer GTP, P2, or GT3 cars, there is something for every type of sportscar long-haul endurance racing fan on iRacing, such as the annual special events like the Sebring 12 hours and Spa 24 hours.
But if you cannot wait that long, you have a selection of enduro events at the end of every week. For example, the GT Endurance Series with races of three hours in length and the IMSA Endurance Series which has races that go on for two hours forty minutes.
Last but not least, there is the Global Endurance Tour which for 75% of the year features races that are six hours long. But during season 3, those races are upped to 24 hours, and one particular track is featured so iRacing players can race in the French countryside for a full day.
There used to be a proper Special Event for the Le Mans 24 hours on iRacing up until 2020 when the ACO entered into a partnership with Motorsport Games for the following year. As a result of this, there have been many misconceptions regarding how this deal impacts how iRacing can run an official event like it.
In their efforts to run a race at Le Mans for 24 hours without it ever being called the '24 hours of Le Mans', iRacing decided to up every race in the Global Endurance Tour to 24 hours. So it is not just Le Mans, but every single one of the six rounds which this year also features Algarve, Interlagos, Road America, Circuit of the Americas, and even Daytona which already has a 24-hour Special Event.
Six races lasting 24 hours in twelve weeks, sounds like a big commitment, does it not? Especially when you factor in that last weekend, the Interlagos round was in direct conflict with the Spa 24-hour Special Event. What is the result? Participation levels dramatically fluctuate.
In Week 2 when Algarve was the host circuit, the signups across the three timeslots were as follows: Saturday 7am UTC had 61 teams and were distributed between two splits. Saturday 6pm UTC, 38 teams and just the one split. Finally, Sunday 2pm UTC, anyone want to guess? Well whatever you said, it was wrong. Four. Not 40, four teams. All of whom disconnected, and who could blame them?
For Week 4 at Daytona, signups were dramatically better which should not be a surprise, considering the Daytona 24-hour Special Event has very high participation levels. The Saturday 7am UTC timeslot was eliminated due to a DDOS attack but even so, the Saturday 6pm UTC timeslot's signups shot up to well above 300 teams which warranted seven splits. But it was back down to Earth for the Sunday 2pm UTC timeslot, which only saw 29 teams sign up.
So perhaps understandably, with the Interlagos round going up against the Spa 24-hour Special Event, signups were down once again.
24 teams across three timeslots signed up to the Interlagos races over the weekend. Image: iRacing.com
Of course, when we reach Week 10 with the all-important Le Mans race, there will undoubtedly be a huge amount of signups for that. But is it really necessary? Having all the other races being 24 hours and within two weeks of each other just to have Le Mans? Surely there has to be a better solution for this issue.
On the iRacing forums, director of operations Greg West when announcing the increase of race length in the GET claims "This popular change of pace gives opportunities for teams that enjoy the super endurance races an opportunity to compete in 24-hour races across a variety of tracks." and I just do not buy this explanation.
I can certainly believe that there are people out there wanting to do a bunch of super endurance races but one every other weekend? These races are only as good as the amount of people you are racing with, and the participation numbers speak for themselves.
So because the Global Endurance Tour is for the most part untouched for five weeks out of the year, I have attempted to come up with a solution. Taking the concept that the series attempts to provide at the end of every other week and instead distributing it across the whole year.
My idea would be to create a new series called the 'Super Endurance Masters' featuring the same selection of cars that can be raced in all of the IMSA series'. Just like the IndyCar iRacing Series and Formula A Grand Prix Tour, it would have its rounds spread across the year rather than contained within an iRacing season whilst following a real-world racing schedule.
The Formula A - Grand Prix Tour runs on the same weekends as Formula One with tracks not on the F1 schedule. Image: iRacing
The Super Endurance Masters can do what the GP Tour and IndyCar iRacing Series do, mirroring the real-life series. In this case, the WEC with six-hour races at Imola, Interlagos, COTA, Fuji and Spa alongside the Le Mans 24-hour-long race. There are a few tracks on the WEC schedule that are not in iRacing. So instead, fill in those vacancies with tracks that already exist within iRacing just like those two aforementioned series do.
The races that are six hours long will coincide with weekends with IMSA Endurance Series races, so if a teammate cannot be available then someone can still drive the track in their preferred car. However, that does bring up one glaring issue, what purpose does that leave for the Global Endurance Tour? Well for a series that has its races at the end of every other week, I firmly believe it should follow the GT Endurance Series and IMSA Endurance Series in one crucial aspect.
Same story with the GT Endurance Series. The unique number of players in 2023 Season 3 was 5,414 whilst in 2023 Season 4 that became 6,387. Okay, that is not as dramatic a jump as the IMSA Endurance Series, but still noteworthy enough considering they did not require at least two drivers to sign up.
It is also enough of an indication that a weekly or bi-weekly series is too much of a hassle to get someone else on board for, whether it is 2 hours 40 minutes, 3 hours, 6 hours or 24 hours. Therefore, I suggest moving the Global Endurance Tour to be capable of running solo. But that does warrant perhaps a changing of the typical race runtime since six hours is way too long for someone to run it on their own.
The Global Endurance Tour races would be capped at four hours in length since the common consensus in endurance racing spaces is that four hours of consecutive driving is the maximum that can be done. Of course, there will always be those mavericks and wildcards who will attempt to solo drive 12 or even 24-hour races, but they have to sign up with another person and will get disqualified for not doing a "fair share" of driving duties.
For the majority of us, when we do a 24-hour race will do it with other drivers. Having to coordinate with other drivers constantly to be able to do a race is why these mandatory team and two-driver-minimum events should be reserved for the occasional annual events.
Having them too enclosed and compacted together like every weekend or every other weekend is asking a lot from so many people. Your participation in these weekly or bi-weekly events can be undone in a second if someone cannot be available or you two do not agree on what car to drive, you are out of options by that point. Annual events however are always an occasion, and people will turn out for those in droves.
By having to play it very safe, the player base loses out on a great series featuring cars that are some of the most popular on the service. Long-haul endurance racing without the need for a teammate can guarantee large player numbers, there is a need to remove the two-driver minimum rule and reserve it for events every now and then.
Ultimately, we cannot say for sure what the agreements and limitations state but as evidenced by the participation in the Global Endurance Tour in Season 3, this cannot be the best workaround.
What do you make of the dilemma iRacing face with these super endurance events? Tell us on Twitter at @OverTake_gg or in the comments down below!
I absolutely love racing my Cadillac V-Series.R on iRacing, any race I can do in that bellowing V8 beast, I will do. Whether you prefer GTP, P2, or GT3 cars, there is something for every type of sportscar long-haul endurance racing fan on iRacing, such as the annual special events like the Sebring 12 hours and Spa 24 hours.
But if you cannot wait that long, you have a selection of enduro events at the end of every week. For example, the GT Endurance Series with races of three hours in length and the IMSA Endurance Series which has races that go on for two hours forty minutes.
Last but not least, there is the Global Endurance Tour which for 75% of the year features races that are six hours long. But during season 3, those races are upped to 24 hours, and one particular track is featured so iRacing players can race in the French countryside for a full day.
There used to be a proper Special Event for the Le Mans 24 hours on iRacing up until 2020 when the ACO entered into a partnership with Motorsport Games for the following year. As a result of this, there have been many misconceptions regarding how this deal impacts how iRacing can run an official event like it.
The Workaround's Ensuing Issue
As was explained to us by Motorsport Games, the licencing deal with ACO only covers running an official one-off sim racing version of the 24 hours of Le Mans with the proper naming and logos. What this means is that as far as running an official race on iRacing or any other platform besides the ones under MSG's umbrella, the event must be part of a series and also cannot feature the official names, it just has to be like any other round.In their efforts to run a race at Le Mans for 24 hours without it ever being called the '24 hours of Le Mans', iRacing decided to up every race in the Global Endurance Tour to 24 hours. So it is not just Le Mans, but every single one of the six rounds which this year also features Algarve, Interlagos, Road America, Circuit of the Americas, and even Daytona which already has a 24-hour Special Event.
Six races lasting 24 hours in twelve weeks, sounds like a big commitment, does it not? Especially when you factor in that last weekend, the Interlagos round was in direct conflict with the Spa 24-hour Special Event. What is the result? Participation levels dramatically fluctuate.
In Week 2 when Algarve was the host circuit, the signups across the three timeslots were as follows: Saturday 7am UTC had 61 teams and were distributed between two splits. Saturday 6pm UTC, 38 teams and just the one split. Finally, Sunday 2pm UTC, anyone want to guess? Well whatever you said, it was wrong. Four. Not 40, four teams. All of whom disconnected, and who could blame them?
For Week 4 at Daytona, signups were dramatically better which should not be a surprise, considering the Daytona 24-hour Special Event has very high participation levels. The Saturday 7am UTC timeslot was eliminated due to a DDOS attack but even so, the Saturday 6pm UTC timeslot's signups shot up to well above 300 teams which warranted seven splits. But it was back down to Earth for the Sunday 2pm UTC timeslot, which only saw 29 teams sign up.
So perhaps understandably, with the Interlagos round going up against the Spa 24-hour Special Event, signups were down once again.
24 teams across three timeslots signed up to the Interlagos races over the weekend. Image: iRacing.com
Of course, when we reach Week 10 with the all-important Le Mans race, there will undoubtedly be a huge amount of signups for that. But is it really necessary? Having all the other races being 24 hours and within two weeks of each other just to have Le Mans? Surely there has to be a better solution for this issue.
On the iRacing forums, director of operations Greg West when announcing the increase of race length in the GET claims "This popular change of pace gives opportunities for teams that enjoy the super endurance races an opportunity to compete in 24-hour races across a variety of tracks." and I just do not buy this explanation.
I can certainly believe that there are people out there wanting to do a bunch of super endurance races but one every other weekend? These races are only as good as the amount of people you are racing with, and the participation numbers speak for themselves.
So because the Global Endurance Tour is for the most part untouched for five weeks out of the year, I have attempted to come up with a solution. Taking the concept that the series attempts to provide at the end of every other week and instead distributing it across the whole year.
Super Endurance Masters
Of course, 24-hour racing is a huge commitment so is it really necessary to make all races 24 hours just so they can have Le Mans? Not according to the deal with the ACO and Motorsport Games. So instead of having it be part of a series that fits into a season, it should be part of an annual series.My idea would be to create a new series called the 'Super Endurance Masters' featuring the same selection of cars that can be raced in all of the IMSA series'. Just like the IndyCar iRacing Series and Formula A Grand Prix Tour, it would have its rounds spread across the year rather than contained within an iRacing season whilst following a real-world racing schedule.
The Formula A - Grand Prix Tour runs on the same weekends as Formula One with tracks not on the F1 schedule. Image: iRacing
The Super Endurance Masters can do what the GP Tour and IndyCar iRacing Series do, mirroring the real-life series. In this case, the WEC with six-hour races at Imola, Interlagos, COTA, Fuji and Spa alongside the Le Mans 24-hour-long race. There are a few tracks on the WEC schedule that are not in iRacing. So instead, fill in those vacancies with tracks that already exist within iRacing just like those two aforementioned series do.
The races that are six hours long will coincide with weekends with IMSA Endurance Series races, so if a teammate cannot be available then someone can still drive the track in their preferred car. However, that does bring up one glaring issue, what purpose does that leave for the Global Endurance Tour? Well for a series that has its races at the end of every other week, I firmly believe it should follow the GT Endurance Series and IMSA Endurance Series in one crucial aspect.
Riding Solo
For 2023 Season 4, both the GT and IMSA Endurance Series became possible to compete solo, which has resulted in quite a profound effect on participation numbers. According to the iRacing Reports website, the number of unique players in the IMSA Endurance Series during 2023 Season 3 was 3,172 but in 2023 Season 4 after allowing drivers to run it solo, that number shot up to 8,379!Same story with the GT Endurance Series. The unique number of players in 2023 Season 3 was 5,414 whilst in 2023 Season 4 that became 6,387. Okay, that is not as dramatic a jump as the IMSA Endurance Series, but still noteworthy enough considering they did not require at least two drivers to sign up.
It is also enough of an indication that a weekly or bi-weekly series is too much of a hassle to get someone else on board for, whether it is 2 hours 40 minutes, 3 hours, 6 hours or 24 hours. Therefore, I suggest moving the Global Endurance Tour to be capable of running solo. But that does warrant perhaps a changing of the typical race runtime since six hours is way too long for someone to run it on their own.
The Global Endurance Tour races would be capped at four hours in length since the common consensus in endurance racing spaces is that four hours of consecutive driving is the maximum that can be done. Of course, there will always be those mavericks and wildcards who will attempt to solo drive 12 or even 24-hour races, but they have to sign up with another person and will get disqualified for not doing a "fair share" of driving duties.
For the majority of us, when we do a 24-hour race will do it with other drivers. Having to coordinate with other drivers constantly to be able to do a race is why these mandatory team and two-driver-minimum events should be reserved for the occasional annual events.
Having them too enclosed and compacted together like every weekend or every other weekend is asking a lot from so many people. Your participation in these weekly or bi-weekly events can be undone in a second if someone cannot be available or you two do not agree on what car to drive, you are out of options by that point. Annual events however are always an occasion, and people will turn out for those in droves.
The Conflict
iRacing has wanted to play it safe in attempting to allow their player base a chance to do a 24-hour-long race around Le Mans through their official competition system. But to essentially sacrifice a series with abysmal participation for three months, is that really the way to go?By having to play it very safe, the player base loses out on a great series featuring cars that are some of the most popular on the service. Long-haul endurance racing without the need for a teammate can guarantee large player numbers, there is a need to remove the two-driver minimum rule and reserve it for events every now and then.
Ultimately, we cannot say for sure what the agreements and limitations state but as evidenced by the participation in the Global Endurance Tour in Season 3, this cannot be the best workaround.
What do you make of the dilemma iRacing face with these super endurance events? Tell us on Twitter at @OverTake_gg or in the comments down below!
