iRacing.com Motorsport Simulations

[Bram Hengeveld]

iRacing.com Motorsport Simulations check it out

 

[Simon Trendell]

New Patch, Car & Track

Big day for iRacing

Release Notes

GARAGE

The garage screens for most cars now include a fuel level setting. You can set the amount to "Fill To:" before you get in the car. This is the only way to remove fuel from the tank.

The <Baseline> tab has been changed to a <Defaults> tab, which brings up a list of built-in setups for the car. There is still a baseline setup in the list, but there are now additional setups for each car.

The Load and Save As tabs operate as before. Load displays a list of only those setups you have saved, not any of the built-in setups.

RACE CONTROL

Green flag should now only stay up for somewhere around half a lap at all tracks.

Number of resets available has been reduced to just 1, and then you get locked out of the race. Use sparingly.

The pace car is now a ghost, it will pass through other cars.

Full-Course Cautions

During Oval races full course cautions are now possible.

On ovals, a Yellow flag will signal a full-course caution. The pacing order will be frozen at the moment the full-course caution begins. Cars involved in causing the caution or otherwise seen as out of control may, however, not be awarded a place in the pacing order until they are detected to be on course and under control. Race Control will instruct the leader to follow the pace car. All other drivers must line up in single file in accordance with instructions from Race Control.

In the pacing instruction display, a green up arrow indicates that you should pass cars until the green arrow goes away. A red down arrow indicates you should slow down and let cars by until the red arrow goes away. An orange bar indicates that you are in the right spot in pacing order. You will also be shown when there are two laps to go until the restart, and one lap to go, and to get ready for the restart.

When there is one lap to go until the restart, Race Control may restructure the pacing line from single file. If there are 10 or less laps to go, the restart will stay single file, but lapped cars will be shuffled behind lead lap cars. If there are more than 10 laps to go, the restart will be double file if there are lapped cars. The lapped cars will be instructed to move to the inside line, while the lead lap cars will be on the outside line.

Most penalties that you get while under a full-course caution will send you to the end of the longest pacing line, and do not show a black flag. These penalties will clear when the race restarts. Penalties you achieved under green flag racing that require you to stop in your pit stall to clear do show a black flag. These types of penalties can not be cleared while the race is under a full-course caution, you must wait for the race to restart before you can try to clear them. The 4 lap limit for serving these penalties is delayed for the duration of a full-course caution.

When a full-course caution begins, Race Control will indicate the closure of all pit lane entrances in the pacing instruction display. Pit lane will open for cars on the lead lap on their first lap after crossing the start/finish line under full-course caution. Pit lane will open for lapped cars on their second lap after crossing the start/finish line under full-course caution. Entering a closed pit lane will result in the driver being sent to the end of the longest pacing line for the restart.

The exit of pit lane may be closed, as indicated by Race Control in the pit lane display. This closure can occur at the beginning of a race and continue until after the race has started, or it can occur when a full-course caution is in progress and the pacing field is passing the pit exit. Leaving pit lane while the exit is closed under green-flag conditions will result in a Stop-and-Go penalty. Leaving pit lane while the exit is closed during a full-course caution will result in the driver being sent to the end of the longest pacing line for the restart.

PITTING

Pitting functionality has been added for most cars (not the Rookie cars, but including the Advanced Rookie cars). For most of the cars, only tire and fuel changes can be made, but for the Late Model and Silverado wedge can be adjusted in the pits. If you prefer to forget about pit strategy, you simply need to stop in your pitstall to receive fresh tires and refill your fuel tank. If you wish to exert more control over your pit crew, keep reading!

The pitting functionality is accessed through some additional pop-up windows using the function keys F4 (fuel), F5 (tires), F6 (tire info), and F7 (wedge, if available). The windows operate the same way as the F1, F2, and F3 displays--pressing the function key displays the window if it is not currently being displayed, and pressing it while it is displayed removes it. These pit request windows are intended to be car-specific, they will not always have the same information or settings available--wedge may become wing angle on a formula car, for example. Fuel and tires are likely to remain the same for all cars that allow pit changes.

Requests to change these items can be made while out on track, or in your pitstall. If made while on track, the changes will not be done until you stop in your pitstall (in front of the lollipop man--he shows you where to stop). If there are changes pending, you will not be able to leave your pitstall until they are completed. The lollipop man will show you a green signal a few seconds before your crew is done, so you can get ready. When he withdraws the signal, you are free to go.

Penalties are served after pit service, if you have any black flag penalties. Your car will continue to be held for the duration of the penalty in that case.

For pit displays that have multiple items (for now, just the tires: LF, RF, LR, RR), the down and up arrow keys move from individual item to item (from tire to tire). These are also called the Select Next (down arrow) and Select Previous (up arrow) controls.

The left and right arrows change the quantity for the highlighted item (tire pressure for selected tire, fuel to add for fuel, RR spring perch o***et for wedge, etc.). These are called the Decrement (left arrow) and Increment (right arrow) controls.

The space bar toggles a checkbox for the highlighted item, if there is one. The checkbox generally means to apply a change to this item while in the pits--e.g. for the tires, the checkbox means change the selected tire, for fuel, the checkbox means add the fuel (unchecking the fuel checkbox is a quick way to ask for no fuel to be added). This is also called the Change/Toggle control.

The down/up, left/right arrow controls and the space bar toggle control can be reassigned to buttons on your steering wheel, as can the function keys themselves. You can do this on the Options->Other page within the simulator. This allows you to view and control your pitting requests without needing to use the keyboard.


Fuel Display (F4)

The fuel display allows you to specify the amount of fuel to add, which differs from the garage fuel setting, which simply sets the amount of fuel in the tank. The garage setting is the amount that will be in the tank when you get in the car. The pit display amount is simply added to the current level in the tank, stopping either when the amount requested has been added, or the tank is full.

The fuel display also shows the fuel remaining and an estimate of the number of laps remaining. The engine will likely start to starve before this reaches zero. The estimate is a running average, so it's best to check it at the same point each lap, as it varies from place to place.

The amount to add will automatically be set to max fuel once you leave pit road, and the checkbox is checked. That way, nothing needs to be done in order to refuel on your next stop. If you don't want to refuel, you will need to either lower the amount to add, or clear the checkbox.


Tires display (F5)

The tire pressure that is adjusted on the pit display is the cold pressure, just as in the garage. It is possible to ask only for a tire pressure change, and not a tire change, by changing the cold pressure requested, but unchecking the checkbox.

The change tire checkbox is automatically checked for all four tires once you leave pit road. That way, nothing needs to be done in order to change tires on your next stop. If you don't want to change tires (or don't want to change a specific tire), you will need to clear the checkbox for each tire you do not want to change.


Tire Info display (F6)

The tire info display shows the Inside, Middle, and Outside temperatures and hot pressures when the car last had this information recorded. It is not a real-time display, but is there to allow you to see the state of the tires at the last pitstop (so if you had them changed, it is the information for the old tires). This display does not have any changes that can be requested, it is informational only.


Wedge display (F7 - Late Model and Silverado only)

The wedge display simply allows you to request a change to the right rear spring perch o***et; it is the same change as in the garage. In order to know how much of a change in % wedge each increment makes, you will need to make a note in the garage as you change the RR spring perch o***et. Note that just as in the garage, a lowering of the spring perch o***et is actually compressing the spring more, so tightening the jack bolt is done using the left arrow (less spring perch o***et).

PHYSICS

A couple small changes have been made to the drafting tables which should give a bit more advantage in speedway racing.

The Radical SR8 now has wing drag and rear downforce closer to what is "correct" based on our limited data from Radical UK. Body downforce is higher and the drag induced by the rear wing is less of an issue at higher speeds. I think it still might need a slight tweak to get the balance better, but it's much improved as it stands now.

The Formula Mazda now has much more appropriate drag and downforce available in both front and rear wings. You shouldn't need to run 13° front and rear wing angle at all tracks, all the time. The total difference in top speed from running minimum wing to maximum wing is now 8 mph, which should give a much better opportunity to have widely varying setups without any one having the absolute upper hand. This change will be released in a separate update at the end of this week.

The car no longer slides slowly across the ground while stopped, and the auto brake when stopped operates better.

The engine can now be damaged by over revving, especially on early downshifts. There also may be very rare engine failures even without significant abuse, so don't feel too bad if your engine gives up (but try not to over rev). Keep an eye on the water and oil temps -- water shouldn't exceed about 220 F, oil shouldn't exceed 240-250 F, or you'll be starting to take chances. Those temps may start to climb if you are spending a lot of time in the draft.

SOUND

Playback of your car’s engine and wind sound has been improved significantly when surround sound is enabled.

The sim runs correctly on systems with more than 10 sound devices. Up to 100 devices may be selected from in-sim.

Updated Radical SR8 in-car engine sounds.

UI

Names are sorted reasonably in-sim. Accented characters are collated adjacent to the equivalent non-accented character.

The fully-depressed mark on pedal meters is easier to see at low screen resolutions.

Driving Screen

When you get in your car, the previously opened black box will be shown by default. This persists across sessions.

Hiding or showing the FPS/Network display or the Speed/Gear/Pedals display persists across sessions.

Voice chat and/or text chat can be disabled while driving.

Replay Screen

Replay playback rates have been simplified to 1x, 2x, 4x, 8x, 12x, and 16x.

You may not enter the garage during a race.

Options Screen

Most keyboard controls can be rebound on the Other tab.

Added next/previous black box control to cycle through black boxes.


TRACKS

Phoenix International Raceway has been added

The Infineon IRL2 configuration has been added

CARS

The Chevrolet Silverado has been added

The Late Model has been re-branded the Monte Carlo SS late model

Next we have the new car addition

Chevrolet Silverado

Shades of the Grateful Dead – iRacing is Truckin’. The Chevrolet Silverado race truck is now available for purchase by iRacing members. The newest addition to our crop of racecars is also the first of three GM stock cars coming your way over the next few months.

It is not your average Silverado. This low-riding monster will be hauling, but it isn’t going to be doing much work around the farm. In fact, with 600 horsepower it’s one of the most powerful cars in iRacing’s fleet.

The truck is available to members now for $15, allowing time to get some practice in before next season, when the Silverado becomes the Class C oval car, as the Silver Crown car gets bumped up to Class B.

The trucks should offer some fast and fun racing. Oval racers enjoy!

Finally, A new oval track

Phoenix Now Available

Phoenix International Raceway is now available for purchase on the “Tracks” page. The price is $20.

Phoenix promises to be a fun challenge even for experienced of drivers. The low-banked, mile-long tri-oval is a great venue for both open-wheel and stock cars. You’ll quickly see why this desert facility has been a favorite among drivers since it opened in 1964.

Also included is the neat 1.5-mile infield/oval road course, which road-racers will enjoy. So give Phoenix a spin for yourself, and see what all the drivers are raving about.

Right now, I'm off to try the Truck at Daytona eace:

 

[Richard Trange]

i WILL try a month but if there is nothing extra-super special i wont continue with it

 

[Chris Standring]

Its been a great patch from what ive experienced so far. Lots of over aggressive drivers that abused engine revs have been blowing out which is funny. The Radical is now bloomin awesome and a must buy id say, its been improved tenfold and is very nice to drive now. I havent gotten round to the new truck yet but im sure its going to be a treat

 

[Heppu]

I have it and like it. Im an occasional gamer and sometimes cant play like 3 weeks so this is what i was looking for. Now i can just jump in and enjoy, at least most of times. Not so funny than other sims though, because of the safety rating and irating. Next week ill get my c license but not going to drive mazda so things should get more fun on my second season with skippy as i don't have to take care safety rating so much.

Only minus in my book is that road races start only every second hour so when i actually got the time to race, i might not be able to race against others and thats sad.

Right now the cars they have, are not in my taste but the physics is so dam good that they are plast to drive and i even started to like ovals too.

Price isnt issue, almost any other hobby is more expensive than iRacing. The thing is that some sees they are playing a game and others see this as hobby. I order hi-end pedals and to me it's of course no longer just playing, it's a hobby. When you go that far, you can prove your self that this isn't so expensive. In fact i think this is cheap hobby.

Only thing what iRacing need now is more drivers and then we might have races more often, maybe every hour as in rookie level.
There is going to be some advertaise on next year so we can get more drivers. If so, iRacing will get my money next year too. If not, maybe ill hang up my stuff and guit sims for good as there is no going back anymore.
Until then, ill just enjoy the good stuff it have.

Thanks:yo:

 

[Simon Trendell]

I will get a video of the truck
I thought it'd be smart and do a Road Course video but that ended badly, so I'll try and get a Daytona one sometime.

 

[Mike Simian]

Interesting Heppu,

keep us posted on how things go. Thinking about it this way I might give it a try. but yuk ovals make me shudder, like nails down a blackboard lol

 

[Chris Standring]

I think Heppu has summed it up really well there.

At first i wasnt to impressed by the look of the vehicles available either, but ive ended up driving all that i have in my garage, and ive also started ovals now to which i never thought id do The whole game engine just makes everything feel so rewarding, it really is a pleasure to drive, as long as you drive well that is

I doubt ill ever drop my sub now, ive barely touched any other sims since i picked this up, they just dont feel anywhere near as good no matter what you do to them.

 

[Mike Simian]

keep it up your selling me on the idea now lol..
.... File - New Window - http://www.iracing.com

 

[Massimo DallaPellegrina]

I have tried iracing and now i prefer another rf, gtr evo or gtr2... the system of races dont like...

The physic so is very good

 

[Chris Standring]

Must add, when i first jumped on, and dived into the rookie solstice, i was all ready to go, slammed it in first, put my foot down, urgh im a snail. After racing touring cars in evo, f1 in rfactor, the rookie cars feel really slow at first, but the driving physics are very accurate, and your actually going the correct speeds, but iracing is a full on sim, not a game in any way, and you have to bear that in mind at all times. Its focus is not going fast, although that does come as you rank up, with the skip and formula mazda etc your flying, but its focus is accuracy and competitive racing. Just a little more food for thought.

 

[Gareth Hickling]

Well afer a couple of months off iR im back in the saddle with a D licence, Im currently getting back to grips with the skippy, Man this car is awesome! Doing a bit of the late model racing and legends, Hopefully by the weekend I will have the Silverado and a few tracks once im over 4.0SR and I can race up

 

[Mike Simian]

Well thanks for the insights into iRacing, I've decided I will give it a try, will sign up over the weekend and see how it goes.

Cheers

 

[Roy Stevens]

Well now I'v got my D license im geting into it again. Signed up for the year, got the Silverado and oval tracks and mazda ..Its good there's now yellow flags on the ovals even tho I do feel they need a spotter ..and the mazda is a dream to drive. So smooth ..awesome sim I think. See u all on track ..eace:

 

[Gareth Hickling]

Well now I'v got my D license im geting into it again. Signed up for the year, got the Silverado and oval tracks and mazda ..Its good there's now yellow flags on the ovals even tho I do feel they need a spotter ..and the mazda is a dream to drive. So smooth ..awesome sim I think. See u all on track ..eace:

Dont forget fuel and pitstops

 

[Gareth Hickling]

Chevrolet Silverado - Milwaukee Mile

A decent stable setup,
It has quite a bit of push on the corner entry and exit but enables you to get the power down.
Pace yourself and easy on entry as you will burn out you front right fast if you abuse this setup.

A good setup for newbies to get to grips with all that power.

 

[Gareth Hickling]

I seem to have lost traction.

LOL, Quality!


And now for some left turning action!

[media]http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=wwkTDWxuwTg&feature=related[/media]

[media]http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=Xx14uq47JeU[/media]

Bump drafting (check out the superb shadows!)
[media]http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=5rJOSK2kW_w&feature=related[/media][media][/media]

 

[Ricky Willox]

Winning Pays

Place in the top 3 in your Division and win Iracing Dollars.

November 14,2008 - Prize Payout Program and First Win Awards
We thought about hiring a cheesy game-show host to help us announce the new iRacing Prize Payout Program, imagining some hair-sprayed, leisure-suit-clad character from 1970s daytime television exclaiming: “It’s a brand new car!” to the applause of the studio audience and everyone playing along at home.

For some reason, that idea didn’t win unanimous approval here at iRacing HQ.
Nevertheless, as of now, iRacers are running for more than just bragging rights, and champions can, in fact, win a brand new car.

Okay, so we’re not actually planning on shipping out several hundred new Pontiac Solstices. But 2008 Season 4 Championship winners, including titlists in every non-Rookie series and every Division, will earn $15 in iRacing Credits – enough to add any one of our racing vehicles to your collection.

The details of the program are as follows: At the conclusion of this season, Overall and Divisional Race Champions from each series – except Rookie and Advanced Rookie series – will receive $15 dollars in iRacing Credits, while second and third place finishers will receive credits worth $10 and $5 each, respectively. Meanwhile, 2008 Season 4 Time Trial Champions (overall and in each division) in each series – except Rookie and Advanced Rookie series – will receive $10 in iRacing Credits.

Rookie license holders with a 4.0 or higher Safety Rating who “race up” in Class D series are eligible for prizes, and all drivers can win multiple awards, both within a single series (such as a driver who takes second overall and wins his or her division in the same series) and across multiple series. Rookie and Advanced Rookie series have been excluded from the program to maintain their educational emphasis.

In total, iRacing will be awarding more than $4,000 in credits as part of the prize payout program this season. While adding some excitement to the competition side of our service, the new awards program is also intended as a test in preparation for an iRacing Pro Series, which has been the subject of much discussion in the forums and is scheduled to launch in 2009.

In addition to winning iRacing Credits, top-finishing iRacers will again receive award certificates commemorating their season-long individual and club performances, as was the case last season. And a new certificate is being added to the iRacing Recognition Program: the First Win Award. We’ll be keeping track of all race results and creating awards for any member who scores his or her first win. All iRacing members – including Rookies – are eligible. Drivers can earn a maximum of two First Win Awards, one for each category, Oval and Road.

 

[Revo27]

Thx..nice Setup

 

[Gareth Hickling]

Stay tuned next week for Phoenix/Silverado setups

 

[Gareth Hickling]

Chevrolet Silverado - Phoenix

A fast Q setup that can be adjusted to run a full race.

Beware this set is fast but very loose, Its possible to run 28's to low 29's consistantly.