Paul Jeffrey
Premium
iRacing.com have released another preview from the upcoming dirt build, this time showing us the new dirt cushion in action at Williams Grove Speedway.
Following the recent preview showing NASCAR Camping World Trucks at Eldora Speedway, iRacing have last night confirmed testing for the new loose surface environments in the simulation have gathered pace of late, with the recent introduction of a dirt cushion now available in beta builds of the software.
For those of you less familiar with the dirt oval style of racing, a dirt cushion is a major part of the racing environment of these short loose surface oval tracks. As mud is lifted from the track surface by the circulating cars it generally forms a banking, or cushion, alongside the standard racing grove. This cushion can then be used to help encourage the rear of the car around a corner, or if misused can cause a significant alteration in the vehicles trajectory and lead to an accident. As the racing surface evolves, the cushion can build in size and be pushed further up the track surface as racers attempt to find the most effective groove to get round the track.
"So what is so exciting about going in circles on dirt? It’s a track that is constantly evolving in big swings from the start of the race to the end of it that adds a new element to racing. It’s watching a driver pound the right rear off a cushion to sling shot past the leader out of a corner. It’s sliding sideways to go as fast as you can through the corners on a tacky track. It’s the throttle control riding the bottom on a dry slick surface. It’s the multiple grooves that form where the drivers are racing. It’s watching the cushion slowly move up next to a wall, to where only the brave drivers dare to put it on the edge. It’s all of these things and more . . . " said a statement from iRacing during the original dirt reveal last year.
"A cushion could or will form if that is what the racing dictates. There will be a soft, loose layer of dirt on top and beneath that, the hard dead-pan layer as I mentioned. Each track could be different in terms of the loose layer’s depth and composition, the hard layer, etc. Graphically or visually we are also are trying to match the physics with the dirt moving and building up" added iRacing President Tony Gardner.
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Looking forward to the dirt racing build coming to iRacing? What class of car in the game do you most anticipate driving on the new surface? Could the inclusion of dirt bring more users to the game? Let us know in the comments section below!
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