Paul Jeffrey
Premium
iRacing has been updated recently, and as part of the new build players finally get their hands on something we've been exceptionally curious to see for quite a while now - offline single player AI!
Before you all jump on to the gaming rigs to try the AI out with your favourite car / track combination, it should be noted that iRacing have taken the wise decision to introduce this new aspect of the sim as a 'soft launch' - meaning that only the Porsche 911 GT3 Cup (991) can be raced, and even then players will be limited to just seven track configurations.
With this being such a considerable change in direction from the American studio, it is a wise move to limit this new functionality to a select number of content pieces while the studio iron out any potential bugs and gather player feedback. Nevertheless, an exciting introduction for the game, and one I'm seriously curious to see how things develop.
Other headlines from the new build include the debut for 2019 specification V8 Supercar machines from Ford and Holden, the new Skip Barber, Lernerville Speedway and a fresh build of Lime Rock Park. You can check out the new build trailer and update notes below:
2020 Season 1 – Release Notes [2019.12.02.01]
iRacing Beta Interface:
Overall
– Some big quality of life updates has been completed on the iRacing BETA Interface!
– – The top menu bar has been adjusted and compressed. Many of the options have been re-organized slightly, and many are now located in a menu that appears when you click on your helmet in the top-right corner.
– – A direct link to the Member Forums as well as to the Classic Member site can be found in this menu.
– – The sidebar menu at the left is now collapsible.
– Light Theme!
– – A brand new Light theme has been added to the iRacing BETA Interface.
– – The Light Theme is now the default for the iRacing BETA Interface.
– – – To switch back to the Dark Theme, click on your helmet in the top-right corner, and select Dark Theme.
– Connectivity throughout the iRacing BETA Interface has been improved.
– – User authentication for logging in and connecting has been made exponentially faster!
– – Data authentication has been simplified and is more stable.
– Improved sizing performance on modal windows.
– Cookies are now properly created and used across the application.
AI Races – Soft Launch
– AI Races are now available through the iRacing BETA Interface!
– – This soft launch of AI Races is designed to give you a taste of what we’ve been working on, and to help us with additional feedback!
– – Click on “Go Racing” and then “AI Races” to start competing against fully customizable racers with artificial intelligence!
– AI Races includes a variety of functionality and customization for you to enjoy.
– – Jump right in, and run a Single AI Race against a Roster of AI Drivers.
– – Craft your very own AI Season of events, earn championship points, and try to claim the top spot of the podium.
– – Create a Roster of up to 60 AI drivers to compete against; including custom paint jobs, adjustable driver personalities, customizable racing skills, and much more.
– – – Please note that using over 40 AI Drivers may have an impact on frame rates as well as cause some quirky AI Driver behavior.
– – Use randomly generated Rosters to get on track against AI Drivers quickly; you might even see some familiar names out on the track.
– – Use iRacing supplied Official AI Seasons, and coming soon: iRacing supplied Official AI Rosters!
– – Share your custom-built AI Seasons and Rosters with other iRacers – see who is the master of the bots!
– – Adjust the challenge and difficulty of the AI Drivers to help you train and improve your racing.
– – – The default Driver Skill range is set to 25% – 50%. This should be a good place to start for an average driver.
– – – We recommend a Driver Skill spread (the difference between maximum and minimum) of about 30% for the best racing experience.
– AI Races are currently available using the Porsche 911 GT3 Cup (991).
– AI Races are currently available on the following Track Configurations:
– – Barber Motorsports Park – Full Course
– – Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya – Grand Prix
– – Donington Park Racing Circuit – Grand Prix
– – Lime Rock Park – Classic
– – Nürburgring Grand-Prix-Strecke – Grand Prix
– – Road America – Full Course
– – Watkins Glen International – Cup
– Please keep in mind, this is a soft launch of this feature. We are very excited to get your feedback and look forward to optimizing, updating, and adding much more to AI Races in the future.
Create a Race
– You can now add Race Admins to user-created races.
– Lap count is now shown on the Create a Race Summary page.
– New Create a Race Options have been added:
– – Consecutive Cautions Restart Single File
– – – When a Caution is triggered immediately following a previous Caution period, the subsequent Caution restart is single file.
– – Wave-Around
– – If enabled, during the Caution period, lap cars that stayed out during pit stops to receive the Wave-Around will be allowed to do so when the “1 to Go” signal is displayed. Lap cars pacing behind the leader will be shuffled to the back.
– – Do Not Count Caution Laps
– – – Laps completed while the Caution flag is displayed will not be counted towards the number of event laps completed. This option cannot be enabled unless Automatic Full Course Yellows is also enabled.
– – – This Race Option has also been added to Heat Racing configurations for any Heat Races in the race weekend.
– When you finish Create a Race, the interface now properly redirects you to the proper view to see your newly created race.
– You can now easily select the content you do not own.
– In “All Steps” view, when returning from Time Limit Details or Heat Session modal windows, you are now returned to the step from which you left.
– Create a Race that has been overhauled for stability and speed.
– Fixed an issue where Hardcore Level was not defaulting to the correct setting.
– Fixed an issue where the Back button was not visible when creating a League Session.
– Fixed an issue where a Session with a Qualifier could have the time be zero minutes.
– Fixed an issue where wind speed would not be converted properly when set as KPH.
– Fixed an issue where sorting compact tables was not functional.
Time Attack
– Fixed an issue where users were unable to race against people who have completed laps.
Results
– When sorting results by date, results are now sorted by both date AND time for optimum ordering.
Friends List
– Friends List has been updated for stability and speed.
– The format for date and time for offline friends has been updated.
– Fixed an issue with the vertical height of the Friends List when searching.
Leagues
– Searching for Leagues has been vastly improved!
– – League Size and Culture settings are now optional search parameters.
– What a user is allowed to see while browsing a League now follows the privacy settings of that League.
– League creation dates are now displayed correctly.
– Accepting a League invitation no longer temporarily creates two Leagues of the same name in your Leagues view.
Maintenance Messaging
– Downtime, maintenance, and important notifications will now appear in a maintenance messaging bar at the top of the interface.
– – When active, clicking on the message will open your web browser to the iRacing.com Membersite Forums – Staff Announcements page where you can learn more about the message.
Protest
– Members may now access the Protest form from within the iRacing BETA Interface.
– – Users can access this new modal window from either the Race Results screen, or from the Help & Support modal window. This form lives directly within the iRacing BETA Interface; no need to head to the Classic Member site.
iRacing Simulation:
Windows 7 SP1
– This is a reminder that Microsoft will be ending support for Windows 7 on January 14th, 2020. At that time, iRacing will no longer support accessing the Membersite or running the Simulation on the Windows 7 operating system.
– – If you have questions or concerns, feel free to contact Customer Support at support@iracing.com.
Rallycross Racing
– The colloidal blue tire bundles have been removed from Rallycross track turn centers and have been replaced with blue “turtle” curbs, like those used at Charlotte – Roval.
Weather
– With Dynamic Weather enabled, cloud cover may now change density over time, which can ultimately change the selected weather cloud status. This may be most noticeable in sessions that span a longer simulated time, where, for example, partly cloudy may become cloudy or clear.
V7 Tires
– V7 Tires have been enabled on the following vehicles:
– – Formula Renault 2.0
– – Formula Renault 3.5
– – Global Mazda MX-5 Cup
– – Kia Optima
– – Legends Ford ’34 Coupe (ALL)
– – NASCAR Gander Outdoors Chevrolet Silverado
– – NASCAR Gander Outdoors Toyota Tundra
– – NASCAR Monster Energy Cup Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 – 2018
– – NASCAR Monster Energy Cup Ford Mustang
– – NASCAR Monster Energy Cup Toyota Camry
– – NASCAR Truck Series Chevrolet Silverado – 2013
– – Porsche 911 GT3 Cup Car (991)
– – Street Stock
– – Supercars Ford Mustang GT
– – Supercars Holden ZB Commodore
– – VW Jetta TDI Cup
– – [Archive] Ford Falcon FG V8
– – [Archive] Holden VF Commodore V8
– – [Archive] Mazda MX-5 Cup – 2015
– – [Archive] Mazda MX-5 Roadster – 2015
– – [Archive] NASCAR Cup Chevrolet SS
– – [Archive] NASCAR Cup Ford Fusion
– – [Archive] NASCAR Nationwide Chevrolet Impala – 2011
– – [Archive] NASCAR Sprint Cup Chevrolet Impala COT – 2013
– – [Archive] V8 Supercar Ford Falcon – 2012
– The off-track grip has been reduced slightly.
New Damage Model
– New Damage Model has been enabled on the Dallara F3!
– With this build, we have concentrated on stability and quality improvements along with an overhaul of how the sound system integrates with the New Damage Model.
– Stability Improvements:
– – Transitions from Session to Session are now stable.
– – Moving to and from the garage is now stable.
– – Wheel-to-wheel contact and damage is now stable.
– Quality Improvements:
– – The appearance of scrapes, scratches, and debris has been improved. Damage should now look more appropriate given the materials of the parts and the damaged areas.
– – The force required to trigger an incident due to track hits has been adjusted.
– – The interaction between driver tires and the driving surfaces has been updated to improve handling of irregular geometry such as aggressive curbs.
– – Suspension damage has been adjusted; suspension will now bend within more reasonable parameters.
– – Objects and opponent cars will now more often run at 60hz for improved performance.
– Sound Improvements:
– – The audio system now supports playing many more scrape sounds, is more efficient, has lower triggering thresholds, and much more!
– – The threshold for triggering “medium” and “hard” impact sounds has been increased to increase sound diversity and realism.
– – Crash sounds have been offset forward by a meter to stop DirectSound from always pushing the sounds to the center-front speaker.
– – Fixed an issue where scrape sounds were not loud enough in Replays.
– – Fixed issues with sounds related to hard curb impacts and medium concrete impacts.
Incidents
– Drivers may now incur a pit road penalty when exceeding a set number of incidents.
– – Penalties for exceeding incident limits can be set to penalize every N incidents, or for the first N incidents then again for each M incidents.
– – If the incident limit for DQ is set, then pit road penalties stop being issued at that point and the driver is disqualified.
– – – Incident limits for pit road penalties must be lower than the incident limit for DQ if the DQ setting is in use.
– – Additional penalty time will be imposed if pit service is taken during a pit road penalty.
– – For the Classic Member site Create a Hosted Session interface, this new setting may be found in the OPTIONAL SETTINGS section.
– Dynamic incident information has been added to the F1 black box.
– Cars that have taken the Checkered Flag should no longer be penalized or disqualified for causing incidents. However, the Simulator will continue to count incidents as usual.
– All penalties are now applied post-race for any event that never allows pit service, such as rallycross and dirt oval racing.
– – This change adds this behavior to dirt oval racing, where getting into the pits can be very difficult to do safely. In other words, if we do not have a proper pit lane and pit crew, in-race penalties will not be used.
– More descriptive text has been added to the Info tab for Incident Limit.
– – The text now reads “Incident Count DQ Limit:”.
Cautions
– Some new features have been added regarding full-course cautions:
– – You can now separately specify whether or not lap(s)-down cars get waved around the pace car to get a lap back when nearing the end of a full-course caution period.
– – You can now separately specify that a single-file restart should be used on the second and subsequent caution periods without an intervening complete green-flag lap, even if a double-file restart would have otherwise been used.
– A new caution mode has been added: Full-Course Cautions where Caution Laps Do Not Count as Race Laps.
– – This caution mode is modeled after short-track oval racing, where laps under caution are not counted, though it is not intended to exactly mirror any particular series’ set of rules.
– – Full-Course Cautions where Caution Laps do not count functions as follows:
– – – At the instant, the caution flag is flown, the field ordering is determined (there is no racing back to the line). One goal is to roll-back scoring to the prior completed lap, thus undoing any passing that might have occurred during the lap that brings out the caution. This is accomplished as follows:
– – – – The lead contender on track and all cars on track behind them to the S/F line are reordered as to their most recent lap crossing. Laps are no longer scored for this set of cars until the green flag following the caution period.
– – – – The cars on track behind the S/F line backwards to the lead contender on track are reordered as to their most recent lap crossing and placed behind the other group. These cars will have their next lap crossing under caution scored, thus preventing them from going a lap-down. A disabled car that does not make it back to the line will not be awarded this lap. These laps will be scored so as to preserve how they are sorted into the pace field. Subsequent laps for these cars while under caution are not scored.
– – – – Any cars not on track when the caution flies will be placed at the back of the field when they exit the pits, and will not have any laps scored during the caution period.
– – – If the selected restart setting (single file, double file, etc.) indicates that lapped cars are to go to the back of the field for the restart, and lapped cars will not get a wave-around to un-lap themselves as the caution is ending, then lapped cars will be placed into the initial pace order behind cars that are on the lead lap. Since laps under caution are not being scored, these cars will be directed to fall-back behind the lead lap cars, as opposed to passing the pace car to catch up to the end of the field. When nearing the end of the caution period, lapped cars that have become co-mingled with lead lap cars due to pitting will again be directed to fall-back and let the lead lap cars by.
– – With this new caution mode enabled, fuel is NOT consumed during these potential extra laps.
– For the Classic Member site Create a Hosted Session interface, the old caution selection drop-down has been removed and replaced with two new checkboxes for Automatic Full-Course cautions, and for enabling Lucky Dog rule.
– – The new setting to enabled Caution Laps Do Not Count may be found in the CAUTIONS section.
– – The new setting to restart single file when one caution is followed immediately by another caution is in the RESTARTS section.
Rendering
– SDR rendering now uses a linear format frame buffer. Previously, unless HDR was enabled in the graphics options, the frame buffer was always gamma encoded. This encoding resulted in mathematically incorrect blends when compositing to the frame buffer. Earlier this year we released improved linear frame buffers, which avoids this issue, but only when HDR was enabled. Now we switched SDR to also be linear! It may be a tiny bit more expensive, but now it blends correctly in both SDR and HDR, and it speeds up our development process going forward.
– – This change may affect the appearance of some things that composite in the frame buffer, like track surface detail decals, or effects. We are still in the process of re-tuning some of them.
– Improved the appearance of the sky where it meets the horizon.
– Reduced the amounts that reflectors sparkle with large blooms in the distance.
– Refined the windshield reflection algorithm.
– Added the support to display extra detail layers to several of our night mode GPU shaders.
– Altered the solar specular color to be whiter at higher solar angles.
– Fixed a crashing issue at night tracks with night shadows maps enabled.
– Fixed an issue where the solar bloom would not appear when the camera was moved far from the track’s center position.
– Fixed an issue with lighting sometimes appearing dark blue (at daytime) in one direction only, when shadow maps were disabled.
Visual Effects
– The depth of field effect has been updated.
– Sparks are now colorized based on the material that is casting them.
Audio
– The sound system now crossfades between microphones whenever the camera changes, to smooth out the sound between the cameras.
– – In-car and on-car mics’ crossfade over 0.1 seconds for a quick but smooth transition, while TV cameras crossfade over 0.35 seconds for a more noticeable blend that is not too dramatic.
– Fixed some issues with opponent car engine sounds not playing correctly from in-cockpit cameras.
– Fixed an issue where collisions with cones were not triggering sounds while using the normal damage model.
Spotter
– The default Aussie spotter package has been improved and updated.
Flagman
– The flagman should now only be visible during Practice, Qualify, and Race session types.
Crowds
– Two-dimensional crowd planes have been replaced with billboarding characters.
– – While still two-dimensional, these people should appear to have a side of themselves always facing your viewing angle, making for more realistic crowds.
– – Billboarding crowd characters should be found at ALL tracks and configurations!
– Race marshal characters have been added around some tracks!
– – The appearance of these characters should be player car-type specific. For example, if the player is using a NASCAR vehicle, these characters should resemble NASCAR officials, or, if the player is using an F1 vehicle, these characters should resemble F1 officials.
– The box ambulance truck, ambulance van, and tow truck have all been updated to new higher detailed versions. You are much safer now.
Paint Shop
– Support has been added for custom specular (spec) maps for all cars.
– – Our rendering engine now supports custom spec maps that can be used with custom paints. A spec map is a .tga image file that tells the iRacing Sim what properties the underlying materials on the custom paint .tga image are made of. By altering individual pixels in a specific way, you can tell the Sim if the pixel is metallic or nonmetallic, if the pixel is smooth or rough, or if it should be lit by our lighting engine or not. This should allow you to create all kinds of materials, from matte to chrome and everything in between!
– – Our Sim uses Physical Based Rendering (PBR). Physical Based Rendering uses shader and lighting models to accurately create materials that reflect their real world counterparts. Instead of using a spec, gloss, and environment map to create the spec maps for a material, you simply decide if the material is metallic, and then decide how smooth the surface of the material is. The shader does the rest. This greatly simplifies the process of creating spec maps.
– For the pair of new Supercars, their car paints support translucency and stamping of text, numbers, sponsors, etc. onto windows or other translucent surfaces.
Replays
– Fixed some visual issues that could appear when stepping through a Replay with Motion Blur enabled.
– Fixed an issue with camera-aim smoothing in Replays while paused or playing.
Screen Capture
– The latest D3DGear SDK has been added.
– – This fixes an issue with a flickering Record icon, and the filepath no longer changes.
Virtual Reality
– Support has been added for screenshot and video capture while in VR, using the built-in iRacing capture tools.
– The D3DGear files have been moved to their own subdirectory, so the iRacing root install folder is not added to the command line.
– – This may help stop Beat Saber from picking up our version of the openvr_api.dll file by accident.
– For openVR, call PostPresentHandoff() to notify the compositor to start its work ASAP, instead of waiting for a later call to WaitGetPoses (but only when the full wait for vsync is disabled). This notifies the SteamVR compositor that we sent it all the info, and it can go, otherwise, it waits until later in the next frame (when we call the routine to wait for sync and get poses) to start. This is a newer API call in SteamVR for this sort of case.
– The “ResolutionScalePct” field has been removed from the [OpenVR] section of the “rendererDX11.ini” file.
– – This option is now obsolete, SteamVR supports it behind our back via SteamVR settings, causing them to multiply together.
– The post-processing motion blur effect is now always reduced slightly while using a VR headset.
Controls
– The latest Logitech wheel prototype API has been integrated.
Telemetry
– A few new telemetry SessionString entries have been added:
– – WeekendInfo:WeekendOptions:GreenWhiteCheckeredLimit: {unlimited, or number with 0 being no gwc laps}
– – WeekendInfo:WeekendOptions:FastRepairsLimit: {unlimited, or number with 0 being no fast repairs}
– A few new telemetry variables have been added:
– – “PitstopActive”, irsdk_bool, “Is the player getting pit stop service”
– – “FastRepairUsed”, irsdk_int, “How many fast repairs used so far”
– – “FastRepairAvailable”, irsdk_int, “How many fast repairs left, 255 is unlimited”
– The telemetry variable, “SessionFlags” is now logged directly to disk as well as live, so you can view the status of flags offline.
– Support has been added for setting/changing variable name after class creation when allocating an irsdkCVar object.
Loading Screens
– New 4K loading screen images have been added for the following tracks and configurations:
– – Autodromo Internazionale Enzo e Dino Ferrari
– – Brands Hatch Circuit
– – Charlotte Motor Speedway – 2016
– – Charlotte Motor Speedway
– – Charlotte Motor Speedway – Roval
– – Charlotte Motor Speedway – Roval Long
– – Concord Speedway
– – Detroit Grand Prix at Belle Isle
– – Dover International Speedway
– – Mount Panorama Circuit
– – Virginia International Raceway
Fixed an issue with the specular reflection color of the sun on dirt tracks.
Before you all jump on to the gaming rigs to try the AI out with your favourite car / track combination, it should be noted that iRacing have taken the wise decision to introduce this new aspect of the sim as a 'soft launch' - meaning that only the Porsche 911 GT3 Cup (991) can be raced, and even then players will be limited to just seven track configurations.
With this being such a considerable change in direction from the American studio, it is a wise move to limit this new functionality to a select number of content pieces while the studio iron out any potential bugs and gather player feedback. Nevertheless, an exciting introduction for the game, and one I'm seriously curious to see how things develop.
Other headlines from the new build include the debut for 2019 specification V8 Supercar machines from Ford and Holden, the new Skip Barber, Lernerville Speedway and a fresh build of Lime Rock Park. You can check out the new build trailer and update notes below:
2020 Season 1 – Release Notes [2019.12.02.01]
iRacing Beta Interface:
Overall
– Some big quality of life updates has been completed on the iRacing BETA Interface!
– – The top menu bar has been adjusted and compressed. Many of the options have been re-organized slightly, and many are now located in a menu that appears when you click on your helmet in the top-right corner.
– – A direct link to the Member Forums as well as to the Classic Member site can be found in this menu.
– – The sidebar menu at the left is now collapsible.
– Light Theme!
– – A brand new Light theme has been added to the iRacing BETA Interface.
– – The Light Theme is now the default for the iRacing BETA Interface.
– – – To switch back to the Dark Theme, click on your helmet in the top-right corner, and select Dark Theme.
– Connectivity throughout the iRacing BETA Interface has been improved.
– – User authentication for logging in and connecting has been made exponentially faster!
– – Data authentication has been simplified and is more stable.
– Improved sizing performance on modal windows.
– Cookies are now properly created and used across the application.
AI Races – Soft Launch
– AI Races are now available through the iRacing BETA Interface!
– – This soft launch of AI Races is designed to give you a taste of what we’ve been working on, and to help us with additional feedback!
– – Click on “Go Racing” and then “AI Races” to start competing against fully customizable racers with artificial intelligence!
– AI Races includes a variety of functionality and customization for you to enjoy.
– – Jump right in, and run a Single AI Race against a Roster of AI Drivers.
– – Craft your very own AI Season of events, earn championship points, and try to claim the top spot of the podium.
– – Create a Roster of up to 60 AI drivers to compete against; including custom paint jobs, adjustable driver personalities, customizable racing skills, and much more.
– – – Please note that using over 40 AI Drivers may have an impact on frame rates as well as cause some quirky AI Driver behavior.
– – Use randomly generated Rosters to get on track against AI Drivers quickly; you might even see some familiar names out on the track.
– – Use iRacing supplied Official AI Seasons, and coming soon: iRacing supplied Official AI Rosters!
– – Share your custom-built AI Seasons and Rosters with other iRacers – see who is the master of the bots!
– – Adjust the challenge and difficulty of the AI Drivers to help you train and improve your racing.
– – – The default Driver Skill range is set to 25% – 50%. This should be a good place to start for an average driver.
– – – We recommend a Driver Skill spread (the difference between maximum and minimum) of about 30% for the best racing experience.
– AI Races are currently available using the Porsche 911 GT3 Cup (991).
– AI Races are currently available on the following Track Configurations:
– – Barber Motorsports Park – Full Course
– – Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya – Grand Prix
– – Donington Park Racing Circuit – Grand Prix
– – Lime Rock Park – Classic
– – Nürburgring Grand-Prix-Strecke – Grand Prix
– – Road America – Full Course
– – Watkins Glen International – Cup
– Please keep in mind, this is a soft launch of this feature. We are very excited to get your feedback and look forward to optimizing, updating, and adding much more to AI Races in the future.
Create a Race
– You can now add Race Admins to user-created races.
– Lap count is now shown on the Create a Race Summary page.
– New Create a Race Options have been added:
– – Consecutive Cautions Restart Single File
– – – When a Caution is triggered immediately following a previous Caution period, the subsequent Caution restart is single file.
– – Wave-Around
– – If enabled, during the Caution period, lap cars that stayed out during pit stops to receive the Wave-Around will be allowed to do so when the “1 to Go” signal is displayed. Lap cars pacing behind the leader will be shuffled to the back.
– – Do Not Count Caution Laps
– – – Laps completed while the Caution flag is displayed will not be counted towards the number of event laps completed. This option cannot be enabled unless Automatic Full Course Yellows is also enabled.
– – – This Race Option has also been added to Heat Racing configurations for any Heat Races in the race weekend.
– When you finish Create a Race, the interface now properly redirects you to the proper view to see your newly created race.
– You can now easily select the content you do not own.
– In “All Steps” view, when returning from Time Limit Details or Heat Session modal windows, you are now returned to the step from which you left.
– Create a Race that has been overhauled for stability and speed.
– Fixed an issue where Hardcore Level was not defaulting to the correct setting.
– Fixed an issue where the Back button was not visible when creating a League Session.
– Fixed an issue where a Session with a Qualifier could have the time be zero minutes.
– Fixed an issue where wind speed would not be converted properly when set as KPH.
– Fixed an issue where sorting compact tables was not functional.
Time Attack
– Fixed an issue where users were unable to race against people who have completed laps.
Results
– When sorting results by date, results are now sorted by both date AND time for optimum ordering.
Friends List
– Friends List has been updated for stability and speed.
– The format for date and time for offline friends has been updated.
– Fixed an issue with the vertical height of the Friends List when searching.
Leagues
– Searching for Leagues has been vastly improved!
– – League Size and Culture settings are now optional search parameters.
– What a user is allowed to see while browsing a League now follows the privacy settings of that League.
– League creation dates are now displayed correctly.
– Accepting a League invitation no longer temporarily creates two Leagues of the same name in your Leagues view.
Maintenance Messaging
– Downtime, maintenance, and important notifications will now appear in a maintenance messaging bar at the top of the interface.
– – When active, clicking on the message will open your web browser to the iRacing.com Membersite Forums – Staff Announcements page where you can learn more about the message.
Protest
– Members may now access the Protest form from within the iRacing BETA Interface.
– – Users can access this new modal window from either the Race Results screen, or from the Help & Support modal window. This form lives directly within the iRacing BETA Interface; no need to head to the Classic Member site.
iRacing Simulation:
Windows 7 SP1
– This is a reminder that Microsoft will be ending support for Windows 7 on January 14th, 2020. At that time, iRacing will no longer support accessing the Membersite or running the Simulation on the Windows 7 operating system.
– – If you have questions or concerns, feel free to contact Customer Support at support@iracing.com.
Rallycross Racing
– The colloidal blue tire bundles have been removed from Rallycross track turn centers and have been replaced with blue “turtle” curbs, like those used at Charlotte – Roval.
Weather
– With Dynamic Weather enabled, cloud cover may now change density over time, which can ultimately change the selected weather cloud status. This may be most noticeable in sessions that span a longer simulated time, where, for example, partly cloudy may become cloudy or clear.
V7 Tires
– V7 Tires have been enabled on the following vehicles:
– – Formula Renault 2.0
– – Formula Renault 3.5
– – Global Mazda MX-5 Cup
– – Kia Optima
– – Legends Ford ’34 Coupe (ALL)
– – NASCAR Gander Outdoors Chevrolet Silverado
– – NASCAR Gander Outdoors Toyota Tundra
– – NASCAR Monster Energy Cup Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 – 2018
– – NASCAR Monster Energy Cup Ford Mustang
– – NASCAR Monster Energy Cup Toyota Camry
– – NASCAR Truck Series Chevrolet Silverado – 2013
– – Porsche 911 GT3 Cup Car (991)
– – Street Stock
– – Supercars Ford Mustang GT
– – Supercars Holden ZB Commodore
– – VW Jetta TDI Cup
– – [Archive] Ford Falcon FG V8
– – [Archive] Holden VF Commodore V8
– – [Archive] Mazda MX-5 Cup – 2015
– – [Archive] Mazda MX-5 Roadster – 2015
– – [Archive] NASCAR Cup Chevrolet SS
– – [Archive] NASCAR Cup Ford Fusion
– – [Archive] NASCAR Nationwide Chevrolet Impala – 2011
– – [Archive] NASCAR Sprint Cup Chevrolet Impala COT – 2013
– – [Archive] V8 Supercar Ford Falcon – 2012
– The off-track grip has been reduced slightly.
New Damage Model
– New Damage Model has been enabled on the Dallara F3!
– With this build, we have concentrated on stability and quality improvements along with an overhaul of how the sound system integrates with the New Damage Model.
– Stability Improvements:
– – Transitions from Session to Session are now stable.
– – Moving to and from the garage is now stable.
– – Wheel-to-wheel contact and damage is now stable.
– Quality Improvements:
– – The appearance of scrapes, scratches, and debris has been improved. Damage should now look more appropriate given the materials of the parts and the damaged areas.
– – The force required to trigger an incident due to track hits has been adjusted.
– – The interaction between driver tires and the driving surfaces has been updated to improve handling of irregular geometry such as aggressive curbs.
– – Suspension damage has been adjusted; suspension will now bend within more reasonable parameters.
– – Objects and opponent cars will now more often run at 60hz for improved performance.
– Sound Improvements:
– – The audio system now supports playing many more scrape sounds, is more efficient, has lower triggering thresholds, and much more!
– – The threshold for triggering “medium” and “hard” impact sounds has been increased to increase sound diversity and realism.
– – Crash sounds have been offset forward by a meter to stop DirectSound from always pushing the sounds to the center-front speaker.
– – Fixed an issue where scrape sounds were not loud enough in Replays.
– – Fixed issues with sounds related to hard curb impacts and medium concrete impacts.
Incidents
– Drivers may now incur a pit road penalty when exceeding a set number of incidents.
– – Penalties for exceeding incident limits can be set to penalize every N incidents, or for the first N incidents then again for each M incidents.
– – If the incident limit for DQ is set, then pit road penalties stop being issued at that point and the driver is disqualified.
– – – Incident limits for pit road penalties must be lower than the incident limit for DQ if the DQ setting is in use.
– – Additional penalty time will be imposed if pit service is taken during a pit road penalty.
– – For the Classic Member site Create a Hosted Session interface, this new setting may be found in the OPTIONAL SETTINGS section.
– Dynamic incident information has been added to the F1 black box.
– Cars that have taken the Checkered Flag should no longer be penalized or disqualified for causing incidents. However, the Simulator will continue to count incidents as usual.
– All penalties are now applied post-race for any event that never allows pit service, such as rallycross and dirt oval racing.
– – This change adds this behavior to dirt oval racing, where getting into the pits can be very difficult to do safely. In other words, if we do not have a proper pit lane and pit crew, in-race penalties will not be used.
– More descriptive text has been added to the Info tab for Incident Limit.
– – The text now reads “Incident Count DQ Limit:”.
Cautions
– Some new features have been added regarding full-course cautions:
– – You can now separately specify whether or not lap(s)-down cars get waved around the pace car to get a lap back when nearing the end of a full-course caution period.
– – You can now separately specify that a single-file restart should be used on the second and subsequent caution periods without an intervening complete green-flag lap, even if a double-file restart would have otherwise been used.
– A new caution mode has been added: Full-Course Cautions where Caution Laps Do Not Count as Race Laps.
– – This caution mode is modeled after short-track oval racing, where laps under caution are not counted, though it is not intended to exactly mirror any particular series’ set of rules.
– – Full-Course Cautions where Caution Laps do not count functions as follows:
– – – At the instant, the caution flag is flown, the field ordering is determined (there is no racing back to the line). One goal is to roll-back scoring to the prior completed lap, thus undoing any passing that might have occurred during the lap that brings out the caution. This is accomplished as follows:
– – – – The lead contender on track and all cars on track behind them to the S/F line are reordered as to their most recent lap crossing. Laps are no longer scored for this set of cars until the green flag following the caution period.
– – – – The cars on track behind the S/F line backwards to the lead contender on track are reordered as to their most recent lap crossing and placed behind the other group. These cars will have their next lap crossing under caution scored, thus preventing them from going a lap-down. A disabled car that does not make it back to the line will not be awarded this lap. These laps will be scored so as to preserve how they are sorted into the pace field. Subsequent laps for these cars while under caution are not scored.
– – – – Any cars not on track when the caution flies will be placed at the back of the field when they exit the pits, and will not have any laps scored during the caution period.
– – – If the selected restart setting (single file, double file, etc.) indicates that lapped cars are to go to the back of the field for the restart, and lapped cars will not get a wave-around to un-lap themselves as the caution is ending, then lapped cars will be placed into the initial pace order behind cars that are on the lead lap. Since laps under caution are not being scored, these cars will be directed to fall-back behind the lead lap cars, as opposed to passing the pace car to catch up to the end of the field. When nearing the end of the caution period, lapped cars that have become co-mingled with lead lap cars due to pitting will again be directed to fall-back and let the lead lap cars by.
– – With this new caution mode enabled, fuel is NOT consumed during these potential extra laps.
– For the Classic Member site Create a Hosted Session interface, the old caution selection drop-down has been removed and replaced with two new checkboxes for Automatic Full-Course cautions, and for enabling Lucky Dog rule.
– – The new setting to enabled Caution Laps Do Not Count may be found in the CAUTIONS section.
– – The new setting to restart single file when one caution is followed immediately by another caution is in the RESTARTS section.
Rendering
– SDR rendering now uses a linear format frame buffer. Previously, unless HDR was enabled in the graphics options, the frame buffer was always gamma encoded. This encoding resulted in mathematically incorrect blends when compositing to the frame buffer. Earlier this year we released improved linear frame buffers, which avoids this issue, but only when HDR was enabled. Now we switched SDR to also be linear! It may be a tiny bit more expensive, but now it blends correctly in both SDR and HDR, and it speeds up our development process going forward.
– – This change may affect the appearance of some things that composite in the frame buffer, like track surface detail decals, or effects. We are still in the process of re-tuning some of them.
– Improved the appearance of the sky where it meets the horizon.
– Reduced the amounts that reflectors sparkle with large blooms in the distance.
– Refined the windshield reflection algorithm.
– Added the support to display extra detail layers to several of our night mode GPU shaders.
– Altered the solar specular color to be whiter at higher solar angles.
– Fixed a crashing issue at night tracks with night shadows maps enabled.
– Fixed an issue where the solar bloom would not appear when the camera was moved far from the track’s center position.
– Fixed an issue with lighting sometimes appearing dark blue (at daytime) in one direction only, when shadow maps were disabled.
Visual Effects
– The depth of field effect has been updated.
– Sparks are now colorized based on the material that is casting them.
Audio
– The sound system now crossfades between microphones whenever the camera changes, to smooth out the sound between the cameras.
– – In-car and on-car mics’ crossfade over 0.1 seconds for a quick but smooth transition, while TV cameras crossfade over 0.35 seconds for a more noticeable blend that is not too dramatic.
– Fixed some issues with opponent car engine sounds not playing correctly from in-cockpit cameras.
– Fixed an issue where collisions with cones were not triggering sounds while using the normal damage model.
Spotter
– The default Aussie spotter package has been improved and updated.
Flagman
– The flagman should now only be visible during Practice, Qualify, and Race session types.
Crowds
– Two-dimensional crowd planes have been replaced with billboarding characters.
– – While still two-dimensional, these people should appear to have a side of themselves always facing your viewing angle, making for more realistic crowds.
– – Billboarding crowd characters should be found at ALL tracks and configurations!
– Race marshal characters have been added around some tracks!
– – The appearance of these characters should be player car-type specific. For example, if the player is using a NASCAR vehicle, these characters should resemble NASCAR officials, or, if the player is using an F1 vehicle, these characters should resemble F1 officials.
– The box ambulance truck, ambulance van, and tow truck have all been updated to new higher detailed versions. You are much safer now.
Paint Shop
– Support has been added for custom specular (spec) maps for all cars.
– – Our rendering engine now supports custom spec maps that can be used with custom paints. A spec map is a .tga image file that tells the iRacing Sim what properties the underlying materials on the custom paint .tga image are made of. By altering individual pixels in a specific way, you can tell the Sim if the pixel is metallic or nonmetallic, if the pixel is smooth or rough, or if it should be lit by our lighting engine or not. This should allow you to create all kinds of materials, from matte to chrome and everything in between!
– – Our Sim uses Physical Based Rendering (PBR). Physical Based Rendering uses shader and lighting models to accurately create materials that reflect their real world counterparts. Instead of using a spec, gloss, and environment map to create the spec maps for a material, you simply decide if the material is metallic, and then decide how smooth the surface of the material is. The shader does the rest. This greatly simplifies the process of creating spec maps.
– For the pair of new Supercars, their car paints support translucency and stamping of text, numbers, sponsors, etc. onto windows or other translucent surfaces.
Replays
– Fixed some visual issues that could appear when stepping through a Replay with Motion Blur enabled.
– Fixed an issue with camera-aim smoothing in Replays while paused or playing.
Screen Capture
– The latest D3DGear SDK has been added.
– – This fixes an issue with a flickering Record icon, and the filepath no longer changes.
Virtual Reality
– Support has been added for screenshot and video capture while in VR, using the built-in iRacing capture tools.
– The D3DGear files have been moved to their own subdirectory, so the iRacing root install folder is not added to the command line.
– – This may help stop Beat Saber from picking up our version of the openvr_api.dll file by accident.
– For openVR, call PostPresentHandoff() to notify the compositor to start its work ASAP, instead of waiting for a later call to WaitGetPoses (but only when the full wait for vsync is disabled). This notifies the SteamVR compositor that we sent it all the info, and it can go, otherwise, it waits until later in the next frame (when we call the routine to wait for sync and get poses) to start. This is a newer API call in SteamVR for this sort of case.
– The “ResolutionScalePct” field has been removed from the [OpenVR] section of the “rendererDX11.ini” file.
– – This option is now obsolete, SteamVR supports it behind our back via SteamVR settings, causing them to multiply together.
– The post-processing motion blur effect is now always reduced slightly while using a VR headset.
Controls
– The latest Logitech wheel prototype API has been integrated.
Telemetry
– A few new telemetry SessionString entries have been added:
– – WeekendInfo:WeekendOptions:GreenWhiteCheckeredLimit: {unlimited, or number with 0 being no gwc laps}
– – WeekendInfo:WeekendOptions:FastRepairsLimit: {unlimited, or number with 0 being no fast repairs}
– A few new telemetry variables have been added:
– – “PitstopActive”, irsdk_bool, “Is the player getting pit stop service”
– – “FastRepairUsed”, irsdk_int, “How many fast repairs used so far”
– – “FastRepairAvailable”, irsdk_int, “How many fast repairs left, 255 is unlimited”
– The telemetry variable, “SessionFlags” is now logged directly to disk as well as live, so you can view the status of flags offline.
– Support has been added for setting/changing variable name after class creation when allocating an irsdkCVar object.
Loading Screens
– New 4K loading screen images have been added for the following tracks and configurations:
– – Autodromo Internazionale Enzo e Dino Ferrari
– – Brands Hatch Circuit
– – Charlotte Motor Speedway – 2016
– – Charlotte Motor Speedway
– – Charlotte Motor Speedway – Roval
– – Charlotte Motor Speedway – Roval Long
– – Concord Speedway
– – Detroit Grand Prix at Belle Isle
– – Dover International Speedway
– – Mount Panorama Circuit
– – Virginia International Raceway
Fixed an issue with the specular reflection color of the sun on dirt tracks.
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