iRacing has had the Tempest update live for a few months now and it is certainly one of the most advanced weather systems in sim racing. But does the community enjoy and use it as much and why is the participation in rain races sometimes so low?
Based on the video script by Markus Søholm
Whether you are an iRacing player or not, it would have been difficult to not know of the hype when rain was finally being added to the sim in early 2024. It had been incredibly hyped up with the iRacing developers dropping teaser videos and some technical details about how accurate it was actually going to be.
By the time the release date came around, the whole community flooded (pun intended) to the platform to try out the new rain weather system. First impressions were mainly really good, with drivers like Daniel Morad calling it the most realistic rain he had driven on a simulator and that the physics were amazing.
But our resident iRacing pro Markus Søholm believes success is defined by the community, by how much they race in the rain and whether they like it and use it. You might be really surprised by the outcome of that but until then, let’s first talk about the implementation of the rain itself in iRacing.
iRacing Rain
The iRacing platform has been up and running since 2008 but it was not until recently that they began to develop rain, with it only arriving in time for 2024 Season 2. After spending some time driving in the wet, it is easy to figure out why it took so long. Wet weather racing lines are very much something you need to think about when racing in the rain as driving on the rubbered line will take away majority of your grip.Alternative lines are not even a factor one must consider on other sims, with iRacing replicating very true to life the typical dry racing line not being optimal in the rain. On top of that, due to iRacing's immensely accurate laser scans, the drains on each track line up with where they are in real life therefore puddles form in the same places they would in reality.
A lot of people however have been finding it difficult to adjust to wet weather driving, with trouble keeping it on track let alone trying to drive at any sort of speed. Wet official races do unsurprisingly have lower participation, due to people not wanting to risk dropping both their iRating and Safety Rating - not to mention that it just is not as enjoyable as driving in the dry.
Markus himself dove right in at the deep end of the puddles when he raced in this year's Sebring 12 hours Special Event in the top split. He experienced first hand how brutal the rain can be, as he could not see ahead of him. Nearly rear-ending his opponent ahead and losing it on multiple occasions, and he has an iRating of - as Vegeta from Dragon Ball would say - over 9,000.
So if it proves tricky for some of the best on iRacing, it will certainly be for us mere mortals. One needs to be very tentative, watch for puddles that can cause aquaplaning and be able to watch out for the warning signs that the car is going to let go. For all of this plus a comparison between a real life wet onboard vs. on iRacing, check out our video at the top of the article.
What do you make of the rain on iRacing? Tell us on Twitter at @OverTake_gg or in the comments down below!
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