Paul Jeffrey
Premium
iRacing new update day brings with it loads of new content and a huge list of changes.
You've already skipped to the change log, so I'll leave you to it....
Update Notes (in memory of the many brave keyboards lost during the typing of these notes).
iRacing UI:
General
– The iRacing BETA UI has been renamed iRacing UI!
– – While we still have some work to do, it is time to shed the “BETA” status moniker – welcome to the iRacing UI!
– The splash screen videos that play when initially loading the iRacing UI are now being streamed to the service.
– New background images have been added.
Dashboard
– A new tab has been added to the Home section, Dashboard!
– – The Dashboard is your new default homepage, with large, exciting links that launch you directly to some of the most popular areas of the iRacing UI!
– – The Dashboard is responsive to different screen sizes and rearranges itself to accommodate.
– – The Dashboard also features some animation for your selection.
Driver Customization
– A brand new system has been added to the Paint Shop, Driver Customization!
– – This system allows you to select from a variety of body and head types for your driver.
– – – Your selections have no impact on racing performance.
– This system is also available for customizing AI Opponents within the AI Rosters section of the iRacing UI.
Paint Shop
– The Paint Shop has received an overhaul!
– – All of the below changes and updates apply to all of the following Paint Shops:
– – – Profile Paint Shop – including driver helmet and suit
– – – My Content Paint Shop – including all cars
– – – Team Paint Shop – including team cars and suits
– – – AI Rosters Paint Shop – including cars, helmets, and suits
– The Swatches palette has been updated and improved, with more functionality.
– – Create up to nine individual swatch sets to make switching between your favorite color combinations a breeze!
– – Each set of swatches now also features the actions: “Apply to All” and “Copy Active Colors”.
– – – These controls are also context-sensitive, so they will work for items such as Cars, Numbers, Team Cars, Team Numbers, Team Suits, etc.
– – – “Apply to All” takes the swatch set and applies those colors to all content of the context-sensitive type, such as cars.
– – – “Copy Active Colors” takes the swatches currently applied the item you are viewing, and overwrites this swatch set with those colors.
– Wheel Materials are now selectable from a dropdown box.
– – When a user has “Stock” wheel material selected, the “I want to edit!” button is hidden, as these are always default.
– – When a user has any other wheel material selected, the customization options are available.
– – When customized wheels are changed back to Stock, the preview image above should also correctly revert to the stock material.
– Two new wheel material types, “Brushed” and “Semigloss” have been added.
– – Brushed material simulates a brushed aluminum look.
– – Semigloss material simulates a dark custom look.
– The “Select Another Car” button is now located in the header on the right.
Tracks
– The Track window that presents information about a selected Track, either from My Content or the Store, has been updated!
– – The information about the track has been formatted for easier reading.
– – Screenshots for many tracks have been updated.
– A new information tab, Track Map, has been added!
– – Track Map shows you an interactive map of the track, including labeled corners, selectable configs, and the ability to filter various layers of the track map, such as buildings, pit road, other configs, etc.
– – These are brand new Track Maps, and we are in the process of recreating all of our track maps across the service. As they are completed, they will become available in upcoming Patches and the Track Map tab will be added for the associated track.
– New track maps have been added for the following tracks:
– – Atlanta Motor Speedway
– – Auto Club Speedway
– – Barber Motorsports Park
– – Brands Hatch Circuit
– – Bristol Motor Speedway
– – The Bullring
– – Charlotte Motor Speedway
– – Chicagoland Speedway
– – Chili Bowl
– – Circuit of the Americas
– – Concord Speedway
– – Crandon International Raceway
– – Darlington Raceway
– – Detroit Grand Prix at Belle Isle
– – The Dirt Track at Charlotte
– – Dover International Speedway
– – Eldora Speedway
– – Fairbury Speedway
– – Five Flags Speedway
– – Homestead Miami Speedway
– – Kansas Speedway
– – Kentucky Speedway
– – Mount Panorama Circuit
– – Nashville Fairgrounds Speedway
– – Weedsport Speedway
– – World Wide Technology Raceway
– – [Legacy] Charlotte Motor Speedway – 2008
– – [Legacy] Kentucky Speedway – 2011
Create a Race
– The Maximum Tire Changes input control has been simplified.
– A new point system has been added to Heat Racing, Rallycross 2020!
– Fixed an issue where Multi-Class Races prevented users from changing tire limits when cars were in separate classes.
Teams
– A new system for Team Registration has been implemented: Declare Team Drivers.
– – This system allows a team member to Register themselves and/or their teammates as drivers or non-drivers for a Team Session. With this system, you must select whom from your team will be Drivers when Registering the Team for the Team Session.
– – Teams are required to Declare Team Drivers upon Registration for any Official Team Session.
– – This system will prevent Strength-of-Field sandbagging, since all Drivers for all Teams will be declared before the Race starts. Each Team’s iRating will be an average of all Declared Drivers’ iRatings for determining Splits. All Declared Drivers must also drive their Fair Share of the Race or the Team will be disqualified.
– All Official Team events will utilize Declare Team Drivers and the Fair Share rule.
– – These rules are both optional choices for Hosted Sessions – you may select to use the original system (no Declare Team Drivers and no Fair Share) in Hosted Sessions.
– For Team Sessions, fixed an issue where “Full” was being displayed as the registration action in the Team Sessions table when the Sim advances to the Race Session. This allows drivers to register for the Session after the Session has started.
– – Remember, this only occurs when the max amount of teams have been registered for the session. This should not allow a new team to register for the session. You can only register if your team has been previously registered before advancing to the Race session.
– Removed the “Register for this Session” toggle from the Team Registration screen.
– – Registering yourself for a team can now be accomplished by clicking the Register buttons via the “Joined Teams” table of the Team Registration Screen.
Leagues
– League Sessions have been added to the Leagues page!
– – This page will display every Session for every League of which you are a member, in both Table or Tile views.
– – In Tile view, the League logo and banner images will be displayed to allow for further customization of the League Sessions view.
– – Additionally, you can Spectate Sessions from Leagues that allow you to watch their races from the League Sessions page.
– – Sorting, filtering, and Tags are all present to provide you with further customization of the League Sessions that you are viewing.
– – You can also quickly create a Hosted Session for your League via the “Create a Race” dropdown menu.
– The Sessions tab of the League window has been improved so you may now view Pending and Running Sessions for each individual League for which you are a member.
– – You can now view these Sessions without being an Admin or Owner of the League.
– The exact date and time is now displayed for all League event start and end times in both the League Sessions page as well as the Sessions tab of a specific League in the Leagues window.
– – The time displayed will use your specific iRacing App Settings to format the date and time to your desired preference, such as GMT time and 24-hour display.
Time Attack
– Resolved an issue where driving against another competitor’s ghost car was not loading properly when driving from the Results window of Time Attack.
Test Drive
– Resolved an issue where the “All Steps” mode setting was not being properly remembered for each user.
AI Racing
– AI Racing now generates post-race news reports!
– – Your AI races and AI seasons can stir up quite a story – a brand new media company is on the scene for reporting on AI Racing!
Results
– An “Export” button has been added to all Results windows that download the event Results as a .json file to your PC.
– License information is now displayed consistently for Team Results.
– – If there are no Safety Rating changes, “0.00” is displayed instead of a blank space.
Help & Support
– A new section, Help & Support, has been added to the Navigation Bar!
– – This section can be found at the bottom of the list, and contains a variety of documents, videos, and links to helpful and useful information.
– – You can get connected to Customer Support, or File a Protest, here, too!
– – Due to this new section, the “Help & Support” option has been removed from the top-right Helmet Menu.
Membersite:
– The Classic Membersite home page has changed!
– – The home page now features some large buttons that launch you directly to your desired location. Some of these will open the iRacing UI for you, while others navigate to the appropriate Classic Membersite page.
– – You can still access other areas and features that are not represented by the buttons on the home page.
– Phase-Out of Classic Membersite – PHASE ONE: 2020 Season 4 Release.
– – Beginning with this Season release, some areas of the Classic Membersite will no longer be accessible, and instead, users will be prompted to redirect to the appropriate location within the iRacing UI. This change will help us focus our development efforts on a single environment, unify and optimize the user experience, and plan for the future.
– – For PHASE ONE, The following functionality will only be available in the Racing UI:
– – – Time Attack
– – – Paint Shop
– – For more information, please see this forum post:
– – – https://members.iracing.com/jforum/posts/list/3766051.page
– Some track maps have been updated!
– – We are in the process of recreating all of our track maps across the service. As they are completed, we will add them in upcoming Patches. For the full list of updated track maps for this release, see the iRacing UI section above!
– The iRacing Store page has been updated with selectable sub-sections including Cars, Tracks, iRacing Dollars, Wheels & Controllers, Tech Tracks, iRacing Merch, and Deals & Promotions.
– The Quick Start Guide for brand new users has been updated!
– – This is a significant overhaul and should help our new users get to know the iRacing UI.
Simulation:
Connectivity
– Fixed an issue that could cause background thread stutters shortly after the Session finished loading, and sometimes shortly after switching Race Servers (as with moving from an Open Practice to a Race).
Race Control
– The Gained-time yield rules are now aware of a driver entering a pit lane. The yield time will now stay consistent as a driver enters the pit lane entrance area, instead of giving up due to comparing current speeds to the racing speeds.
– – Any gained-time yield time a driver is carrying as they enter a pit lane will immediately be converted into a Stop-And-Hold black flag. An additional time penalty equivalent to a Pit Lane Pass will also be added.
– The gained time slow down message has been adjusted to now also display the time remaining to give up the penalty time.
– – Now the penalty message says: “Slow Down! Yield X seconds within Y seconds!”
– Fixed an issue where medium-length Ovals would run one too many Caution laps.
Dirt Racing
– The water content in the dirt track layers below the surface has been adjusted to account for water running downhill along the hardpan.
AI Racing
– AI Racing may now be run at the following additional track configs:
– – Iowa Speedway – Oval
– – North Wilkesboro Speedway
– – Nürburgring Combined – Gesamtstrecke Long
– – Phoenix Raceway – Oval w/open Dogleg
– – USA International Speedway – Asphalt
– AI Drivers have received defensive driving line training at all Road configs!
– – AI Drivers should now better attempt to preserve their lead over cars behind them.
– The ramp-up of difficulty for AI Drivers with lower Relative Skill values on Ovals has been slowed, particularly for Superspeedways. This should allow for more granularity for selecting an appropriate difficulty for your skill level.
– AI Drivers have received training on the following topics:
– – Knowing when to use a lower line when driving a high downforce car at an oval.
– – Collision avoidance techniques at ovals.
– – Cornering on the outside at ovals.
– – Staying to the left on ovals during the final Caution lap.
– – Tracking their tire degradation, tire wear rate, and rubber cure level.
– – General pitting strategy for a long race.
– – Pitting strategy during Cautions.
– – Maintaining optimal pit lane speeds.
– – Being aware of their place in the pacing order during Caution periods.
– AI Drivers have received some additional training with the following cars:
– – BMW M4 GT4
– – NASCAR Cup Series Chevrolet Camaro ZL1
– – NASCAR Cup Series Ford Mustang
– – NASCAR Cup Series Toyota Camry
– – Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 Clubsport MR
– – VW Jetta TDI Cup
– AI Drivers have received some additional training at the following tracks:
– – Martinsville Speedway
New Damage Model
– The duration of time it takes for car-to-car collisions to be re-enabled after a reset has been reduced.
– – Previously, any time a car blinked out, it took two seconds before its car-to-car collision was re-enabled. This has been reduced to one-half second to reduce a ghosting-effect, where cars move through each other during continued crashes.
– – The two-second car-to-car collision delay remains in place for cars leaving a pit stall.
– Collision checking for assigning incidents from track contact has been improved.
– Updated the collision algorithms used when two bodies collide into each other and then begin rotating around different axis. This change helps reduce the tendency in some collisions where one body will snag on the other and hook around it.
– Adjustments have been made to the algorithm for collisions between two bodies that then slide against each other to prevent snagging, particularly when bump drafting.
– Some collision shapes and properties for detached car parts, cones, tire barriers, and other world objects have been improved.
– Adjustments have been made to reduce the likelihood of wheels instantaneously hyperextending when a car is returned to the pits, which could trigger a vehicular space launch.
Graphics
– Cloud rendering has been improved to use re-projection techniques. This allows the clouds to move smoothly across the sky even with “Low” sky detail settings. Also, the sky now renders every pixel, every frame, such that the sky colors no longer strobe or pulse across the screen during sunsets.
– – The sky detail setting now defaults/resets to “Low” in the Advanced Graphics Options after the first run of the Sim. This is because this setting has been much improved with this update, and it uses less resources.
– – The “SkyDetail” setting in the “rendererDX11.ini” file has been renamed “SkyRefreshRate”.
– Triple screen setups now support driving cameras with up to 270 degrees field-of-view. This has been increased from 179 degrees. It works best below 210 degrees for most setups, but has been opened up to 270 degrees for special use-cases.
– – Note that setting up very large FOV’s successfully requires a proper physical setup of both the displays and seat position. Also, the correct display/monitor settings must be specified in the Graphics Options.
– The rendering of foggy conditions at night has been substantially improved.
– Virtual reality headsets now perform visibility culling per eye, when necessary, to support headsets with a combined field-of-view beyond 179 degrees.
– The OpenVR SDK has been updated to version 1.12.5
Audio
– Road debris sounds have been added to iRacing!
– – Now you will hear car parts colliding and scraping on the track, walls, and other cars. You’ll also know when you ran something over on the track!
– A new volume slider, “In-Car Sound Balance,” has been added to the Audio options.
– – This slider lets you tune the volume of your own car’s sounds when you are in a cockpit view relative to all the other sounds in the world, such as your opponents’ engines. The range of allowable adjustment is between -20 and 0 dB. The default value is 0 dB.
– Ignition cut backfire sounds have been updated for a variety of vehicles.
– Engine audio levels for exterior cameras have been improved for all stockcars and trucks.
– When switching cameras, the motion of the previous camera’s microphone will be maintained during the transition to eliminate awkward volume or sound hiccups.
– Some chase and cockpit cameras’ microphone levels have been adjusted.
Environmental Sounds
– The world of iRacing comes to life around you! You will now hear environmental sounds from a variety of sources to enhance realism and immersion.
– – This is a brand new feature, and you will hear a chorus of ambient environmental sounds implemented at all tracks. These sounds include: garage tool sounds, pit chatter, crowds, announcements, birds, insects, wind, cityscapes, water features, and more.
– – This feature is only available when utilizing XAudio2. No environmental sounds will play through DirectSound.
Pit Stop
– Increased the timeout on the fuel-man.
– – This may solve an issue where a car fails to get fuel during a pit stop, even when fuel was requested.
– New hats!
– – The default hat color for pit crew members has been changed.
– Pit box equipment models have been updated for a variety of vehicles, including TCR, GT3, GT4, GTE, LMP, and LMP2 cars.
Track Characters
– Some level-of-detail settings have been adjusted to provide smoother visual transitions as the camera changes distances from track marshals, photographers, race officials, and Barney, the Legendary Flagman.
– Some textures for some trucks and trailers have been updated.
– Track marshals and flagger stations should now only be visible when Object Detail settings are maximized.
Visual Effects
– The visual effects for race debris have been updated.
Interface
– Fixed an issue where some helmet images were shifted to the left several pixels, cutting off the front of the helmet.
Spotter
– A new French spotter pack has been added!
– – Recorded by Jonathan Butel, this pack replaces our older French-Tomedes pack and is of a much better quality.
– – – Many thanks to Jonathan for his hard work translating and recording this pack for us!
– Italian spotter pack samples from Renzo Olivieri and Marco Arcidiacono have been updated.
Replay
– For the Laps table, all of the different Sessions (Practice, Qualify, Heat, Race, Etc.) have been unlocked when viewing a loaded replay. A user must no longer manually advance to the desired Session to unlock its Lap table. The “Prior” and “Next” Session buttons are now always available for use.
Spectators
– Some additional Race Control information is now available for event Spectators that were not being sent before, including course flags and session timers.
Admin Commands
– Event Admins may now revoke chat privileges and boot members connected as Spectators.
– The response to the “!showDQs” Admin command has been improved by displaying a full driver name. A leading message has also been added to the response to make it more readable.
Telemetry
– The code for writing disk telemetry has been moved to a separate thread from the physics to avoid any potential cause for stuttering.
Controllers
– Support has been added for the latest Logitech G923 TrueForce wheel.
– – The option to enable the vibration of TrueForce wheels has been added to the Options menu. When enabled, this sends either your car engine audio or a physics-based signal to the wheel in addition to the force feedback signal we currently provide.
– – A new parameter, “[Force Feedback] trueForceVibePhysics=0” has been added in the “app.ini” file, which lets you choose between the game engine audio (0) or a physics-based vibration effect (1) similar to the LFE effect.
– Support for Razer Chroma backlighting effects has been restored.
– – However, the Logitech backlit effects remain disabled due to the bug with G-HUB that causes iRacing to lock-up at shutdown.
– The option to completely disable TrueForce support, [Force Feedback] trueForceEnabled=1, has been added to the “app.ini” file.
– – For now, TrueForce and LFE will be forced to use physics-based audio when the Sim is using XAudio2, as a temporary workaround.
Cars:
ARCA Menards Chevrolet Impala
– Tire damping has been increased by 70% to reduce the rolling and bouncing that sometimes occur with a stiff front suspension.
– Tire rubber properties have been adjusted slightly.
– The aerodynamic profile has been adjusted slightly.
– Gear limits have been adjusted.
– The iRacing setups have been updated.
Aston Martin DBR9 GT1
– Tire rubber properties have been adjusted slightly.
Audi R18
– An updated tire model has been applied to this vehicle!
– For the hybrid system, when automatic deployment is selected, the system will try to maintain an average battery state of charge of 50%.
Audi R8 LMS
– 2020 Season 4 Balance Adjustments: Minimum weight has been increased by 2.5 kg.
– The iRacing setups have been updated.
Audi RS 3 LMS
– Fixed an audio artifact with the turbo sound loop.
– The iRacing setups have been updated.
BMW M4 GT4
– Backfires have been updated.
– The iRacing setups have been updated.
BMW M8 GTE
– An updated tire model has been applied to this vehicle!
– Tire damping has been increased by 70% to reduce the rolling and bouncing that sometimes occur with a stiff front suspension.
– Aerodynamics have been completely re-worked, and an aerodynamic balance calculator is now included in the Garage.
– Adjustable brake master cylinder sizes have been added.
– The iRacing setups have been updated.
BMW Z4 GT3
– The iRacing setups have been updated.
Chevrolet Corvette C6.R GT1
– For the New Damage Model, a variety of updates have been made, including:
– – The strength of hinges connecting some car parts to the body has been reduced.
– – Reduced the severity of various car parts snagging on each other including the engine cover, bumpers, and wheels.
– – The durability of various detachable car parts have been adjusted for more realistic lighter collisions.
– – Chassis properties have been adjusted to reduce “sticking” behavior.
– Tire rubber properties have been adjusted slightly.
Chevrolet Corvette C7 Daytona Prototype
– The purchase price for this vehicle has been reduced to $2.95.
Chevrolet Corvette C8.R GTE
– NEW CAR!
– – A new GTE car, the Chevrolet Corvette C8.R GTE, has been added to iRacing!
– – With Chevrolet’s move to a mid-engine layout for the eighth-generation Corvette, the brand’s IMSA program made the same shift for the 2020 WeatherTech SportsCar Championship. The Corvette C8.R builds upon six successful years of racing for its predecessor C7.R and debuted at the 2020 24 Hours of Daytona. Six months later, it returned to Daytona and won in just its second race out with drivers Antonio Garcia and Jordan Taylor, and the week after that, it scored its first 1-2 finish at Sebring International Raceway. The latest entry in Chevrolet’s lengthy sports car racing history features a 5.5-liter powerplant that produces 500 horsepower at 7400 rpm. It’s the fourth Corvette built by Pratt & Miller since partnering with General Motors in 1999, a relationship that has brought eight victories at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, three at the 24 Hours of Daytona, and 11 in the 12 Hours of Sebring.
– – Purchase the Chevrolet Corvette C8.R GTE from the iRacing Store here: LINK
Chevrolet Monte Carlo SS
– An updated tire model has been applied to this vehicle!
– A thermal braking system has been applied to this vehicle.
– The nose weight range has been shifted forward.
– The iRacing setups have been updated.
- Chevy Corvette C8.R released.
- Dallara LMP2 released.
- Significant UI Upgrade.
You've already skipped to the change log, so I'll leave you to it....
Update Notes (in memory of the many brave keyboards lost during the typing of these notes).
iRacing UI:
General
– The iRacing BETA UI has been renamed iRacing UI!
– – While we still have some work to do, it is time to shed the “BETA” status moniker – welcome to the iRacing UI!
– The splash screen videos that play when initially loading the iRacing UI are now being streamed to the service.
– New background images have been added.
Dashboard
– A new tab has been added to the Home section, Dashboard!
– – The Dashboard is your new default homepage, with large, exciting links that launch you directly to some of the most popular areas of the iRacing UI!
– – The Dashboard is responsive to different screen sizes and rearranges itself to accommodate.
– – The Dashboard also features some animation for your selection.
Driver Customization
– A brand new system has been added to the Paint Shop, Driver Customization!
– – This system allows you to select from a variety of body and head types for your driver.
– – – Your selections have no impact on racing performance.
– This system is also available for customizing AI Opponents within the AI Rosters section of the iRacing UI.
Paint Shop
– The Paint Shop has received an overhaul!
– – All of the below changes and updates apply to all of the following Paint Shops:
– – – Profile Paint Shop – including driver helmet and suit
– – – My Content Paint Shop – including all cars
– – – Team Paint Shop – including team cars and suits
– – – AI Rosters Paint Shop – including cars, helmets, and suits
– The Swatches palette has been updated and improved, with more functionality.
– – Create up to nine individual swatch sets to make switching between your favorite color combinations a breeze!
– – Each set of swatches now also features the actions: “Apply to All” and “Copy Active Colors”.
– – – These controls are also context-sensitive, so they will work for items such as Cars, Numbers, Team Cars, Team Numbers, Team Suits, etc.
– – – “Apply to All” takes the swatch set and applies those colors to all content of the context-sensitive type, such as cars.
– – – “Copy Active Colors” takes the swatches currently applied the item you are viewing, and overwrites this swatch set with those colors.
– Wheel Materials are now selectable from a dropdown box.
– – When a user has “Stock” wheel material selected, the “I want to edit!” button is hidden, as these are always default.
– – When a user has any other wheel material selected, the customization options are available.
– – When customized wheels are changed back to Stock, the preview image above should also correctly revert to the stock material.
– Two new wheel material types, “Brushed” and “Semigloss” have been added.
– – Brushed material simulates a brushed aluminum look.
– – Semigloss material simulates a dark custom look.
– The “Select Another Car” button is now located in the header on the right.
Tracks
– The Track window that presents information about a selected Track, either from My Content or the Store, has been updated!
– – The information about the track has been formatted for easier reading.
– – Screenshots for many tracks have been updated.
– A new information tab, Track Map, has been added!
– – Track Map shows you an interactive map of the track, including labeled corners, selectable configs, and the ability to filter various layers of the track map, such as buildings, pit road, other configs, etc.
– – These are brand new Track Maps, and we are in the process of recreating all of our track maps across the service. As they are completed, they will become available in upcoming Patches and the Track Map tab will be added for the associated track.
– New track maps have been added for the following tracks:
– – Atlanta Motor Speedway
– – Auto Club Speedway
– – Barber Motorsports Park
– – Brands Hatch Circuit
– – Bristol Motor Speedway
– – The Bullring
– – Charlotte Motor Speedway
– – Chicagoland Speedway
– – Chili Bowl
– – Circuit of the Americas
– – Concord Speedway
– – Crandon International Raceway
– – Darlington Raceway
– – Detroit Grand Prix at Belle Isle
– – The Dirt Track at Charlotte
– – Dover International Speedway
– – Eldora Speedway
– – Fairbury Speedway
– – Five Flags Speedway
– – Homestead Miami Speedway
– – Kansas Speedway
– – Kentucky Speedway
– – Mount Panorama Circuit
– – Nashville Fairgrounds Speedway
– – Weedsport Speedway
– – World Wide Technology Raceway
– – [Legacy] Charlotte Motor Speedway – 2008
– – [Legacy] Kentucky Speedway – 2011
Create a Race
– The Maximum Tire Changes input control has been simplified.
– A new point system has been added to Heat Racing, Rallycross 2020!
– Fixed an issue where Multi-Class Races prevented users from changing tire limits when cars were in separate classes.
Teams
– A new system for Team Registration has been implemented: Declare Team Drivers.
– – This system allows a team member to Register themselves and/or their teammates as drivers or non-drivers for a Team Session. With this system, you must select whom from your team will be Drivers when Registering the Team for the Team Session.
– – Teams are required to Declare Team Drivers upon Registration for any Official Team Session.
– – This system will prevent Strength-of-Field sandbagging, since all Drivers for all Teams will be declared before the Race starts. Each Team’s iRating will be an average of all Declared Drivers’ iRatings for determining Splits. All Declared Drivers must also drive their Fair Share of the Race or the Team will be disqualified.
– All Official Team events will utilize Declare Team Drivers and the Fair Share rule.
– – These rules are both optional choices for Hosted Sessions – you may select to use the original system (no Declare Team Drivers and no Fair Share) in Hosted Sessions.
– For Team Sessions, fixed an issue where “Full” was being displayed as the registration action in the Team Sessions table when the Sim advances to the Race Session. This allows drivers to register for the Session after the Session has started.
– – Remember, this only occurs when the max amount of teams have been registered for the session. This should not allow a new team to register for the session. You can only register if your team has been previously registered before advancing to the Race session.
– Removed the “Register for this Session” toggle from the Team Registration screen.
– – Registering yourself for a team can now be accomplished by clicking the Register buttons via the “Joined Teams” table of the Team Registration Screen.
Leagues
– League Sessions have been added to the Leagues page!
– – This page will display every Session for every League of which you are a member, in both Table or Tile views.
– – In Tile view, the League logo and banner images will be displayed to allow for further customization of the League Sessions view.
– – Additionally, you can Spectate Sessions from Leagues that allow you to watch their races from the League Sessions page.
– – Sorting, filtering, and Tags are all present to provide you with further customization of the League Sessions that you are viewing.
– – You can also quickly create a Hosted Session for your League via the “Create a Race” dropdown menu.
– The Sessions tab of the League window has been improved so you may now view Pending and Running Sessions for each individual League for which you are a member.
– – You can now view these Sessions without being an Admin or Owner of the League.
– The exact date and time is now displayed for all League event start and end times in both the League Sessions page as well as the Sessions tab of a specific League in the Leagues window.
– – The time displayed will use your specific iRacing App Settings to format the date and time to your desired preference, such as GMT time and 24-hour display.
Time Attack
– Resolved an issue where driving against another competitor’s ghost car was not loading properly when driving from the Results window of Time Attack.
Test Drive
– Resolved an issue where the “All Steps” mode setting was not being properly remembered for each user.
AI Racing
– AI Racing now generates post-race news reports!
– – Your AI races and AI seasons can stir up quite a story – a brand new media company is on the scene for reporting on AI Racing!
Results
– An “Export” button has been added to all Results windows that download the event Results as a .json file to your PC.
– License information is now displayed consistently for Team Results.
– – If there are no Safety Rating changes, “0.00” is displayed instead of a blank space.
Help & Support
– A new section, Help & Support, has been added to the Navigation Bar!
– – This section can be found at the bottom of the list, and contains a variety of documents, videos, and links to helpful and useful information.
– – You can get connected to Customer Support, or File a Protest, here, too!
– – Due to this new section, the “Help & Support” option has been removed from the top-right Helmet Menu.
Membersite:
– The Classic Membersite home page has changed!
– – The home page now features some large buttons that launch you directly to your desired location. Some of these will open the iRacing UI for you, while others navigate to the appropriate Classic Membersite page.
– – You can still access other areas and features that are not represented by the buttons on the home page.
– Phase-Out of Classic Membersite – PHASE ONE: 2020 Season 4 Release.
– – Beginning with this Season release, some areas of the Classic Membersite will no longer be accessible, and instead, users will be prompted to redirect to the appropriate location within the iRacing UI. This change will help us focus our development efforts on a single environment, unify and optimize the user experience, and plan for the future.
– – For PHASE ONE, The following functionality will only be available in the Racing UI:
– – – Time Attack
– – – Paint Shop
– – For more information, please see this forum post:
– – – https://members.iracing.com/jforum/posts/list/3766051.page
– Some track maps have been updated!
– – We are in the process of recreating all of our track maps across the service. As they are completed, we will add them in upcoming Patches. For the full list of updated track maps for this release, see the iRacing UI section above!
– The iRacing Store page has been updated with selectable sub-sections including Cars, Tracks, iRacing Dollars, Wheels & Controllers, Tech Tracks, iRacing Merch, and Deals & Promotions.
– The Quick Start Guide for brand new users has been updated!
– – This is a significant overhaul and should help our new users get to know the iRacing UI.
Simulation:
Connectivity
– Fixed an issue that could cause background thread stutters shortly after the Session finished loading, and sometimes shortly after switching Race Servers (as with moving from an Open Practice to a Race).
Race Control
– The Gained-time yield rules are now aware of a driver entering a pit lane. The yield time will now stay consistent as a driver enters the pit lane entrance area, instead of giving up due to comparing current speeds to the racing speeds.
– – Any gained-time yield time a driver is carrying as they enter a pit lane will immediately be converted into a Stop-And-Hold black flag. An additional time penalty equivalent to a Pit Lane Pass will also be added.
– The gained time slow down message has been adjusted to now also display the time remaining to give up the penalty time.
– – Now the penalty message says: “Slow Down! Yield X seconds within Y seconds!”
– Fixed an issue where medium-length Ovals would run one too many Caution laps.
Dirt Racing
– The water content in the dirt track layers below the surface has been adjusted to account for water running downhill along the hardpan.
AI Racing
– AI Racing may now be run at the following additional track configs:
– – Iowa Speedway – Oval
– – North Wilkesboro Speedway
– – Nürburgring Combined – Gesamtstrecke Long
– – Phoenix Raceway – Oval w/open Dogleg
– – USA International Speedway – Asphalt
– AI Drivers have received defensive driving line training at all Road configs!
– – AI Drivers should now better attempt to preserve their lead over cars behind them.
– The ramp-up of difficulty for AI Drivers with lower Relative Skill values on Ovals has been slowed, particularly for Superspeedways. This should allow for more granularity for selecting an appropriate difficulty for your skill level.
– AI Drivers have received training on the following topics:
– – Knowing when to use a lower line when driving a high downforce car at an oval.
– – Collision avoidance techniques at ovals.
– – Cornering on the outside at ovals.
– – Staying to the left on ovals during the final Caution lap.
– – Tracking their tire degradation, tire wear rate, and rubber cure level.
– – General pitting strategy for a long race.
– – Pitting strategy during Cautions.
– – Maintaining optimal pit lane speeds.
– – Being aware of their place in the pacing order during Caution periods.
– AI Drivers have received some additional training with the following cars:
– – BMW M4 GT4
– – NASCAR Cup Series Chevrolet Camaro ZL1
– – NASCAR Cup Series Ford Mustang
– – NASCAR Cup Series Toyota Camry
– – Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 Clubsport MR
– – VW Jetta TDI Cup
– AI Drivers have received some additional training at the following tracks:
– – Martinsville Speedway
New Damage Model
– The duration of time it takes for car-to-car collisions to be re-enabled after a reset has been reduced.
– – Previously, any time a car blinked out, it took two seconds before its car-to-car collision was re-enabled. This has been reduced to one-half second to reduce a ghosting-effect, where cars move through each other during continued crashes.
– – The two-second car-to-car collision delay remains in place for cars leaving a pit stall.
– Collision checking for assigning incidents from track contact has been improved.
– Updated the collision algorithms used when two bodies collide into each other and then begin rotating around different axis. This change helps reduce the tendency in some collisions where one body will snag on the other and hook around it.
– Adjustments have been made to the algorithm for collisions between two bodies that then slide against each other to prevent snagging, particularly when bump drafting.
– Some collision shapes and properties for detached car parts, cones, tire barriers, and other world objects have been improved.
– Adjustments have been made to reduce the likelihood of wheels instantaneously hyperextending when a car is returned to the pits, which could trigger a vehicular space launch.
Graphics
– Cloud rendering has been improved to use re-projection techniques. This allows the clouds to move smoothly across the sky even with “Low” sky detail settings. Also, the sky now renders every pixel, every frame, such that the sky colors no longer strobe or pulse across the screen during sunsets.
– – The sky detail setting now defaults/resets to “Low” in the Advanced Graphics Options after the first run of the Sim. This is because this setting has been much improved with this update, and it uses less resources.
– – The “SkyDetail” setting in the “rendererDX11.ini” file has been renamed “SkyRefreshRate”.
– Triple screen setups now support driving cameras with up to 270 degrees field-of-view. This has been increased from 179 degrees. It works best below 210 degrees for most setups, but has been opened up to 270 degrees for special use-cases.
– – Note that setting up very large FOV’s successfully requires a proper physical setup of both the displays and seat position. Also, the correct display/monitor settings must be specified in the Graphics Options.
– The rendering of foggy conditions at night has been substantially improved.
– Virtual reality headsets now perform visibility culling per eye, when necessary, to support headsets with a combined field-of-view beyond 179 degrees.
– The OpenVR SDK has been updated to version 1.12.5
Audio
– Road debris sounds have been added to iRacing!
– – Now you will hear car parts colliding and scraping on the track, walls, and other cars. You’ll also know when you ran something over on the track!
– A new volume slider, “In-Car Sound Balance,” has been added to the Audio options.
– – This slider lets you tune the volume of your own car’s sounds when you are in a cockpit view relative to all the other sounds in the world, such as your opponents’ engines. The range of allowable adjustment is between -20 and 0 dB. The default value is 0 dB.
– Ignition cut backfire sounds have been updated for a variety of vehicles.
– Engine audio levels for exterior cameras have been improved for all stockcars and trucks.
– When switching cameras, the motion of the previous camera’s microphone will be maintained during the transition to eliminate awkward volume or sound hiccups.
– Some chase and cockpit cameras’ microphone levels have been adjusted.
Environmental Sounds
– The world of iRacing comes to life around you! You will now hear environmental sounds from a variety of sources to enhance realism and immersion.
– – This is a brand new feature, and you will hear a chorus of ambient environmental sounds implemented at all tracks. These sounds include: garage tool sounds, pit chatter, crowds, announcements, birds, insects, wind, cityscapes, water features, and more.
– – This feature is only available when utilizing XAudio2. No environmental sounds will play through DirectSound.
Pit Stop
– Increased the timeout on the fuel-man.
– – This may solve an issue where a car fails to get fuel during a pit stop, even when fuel was requested.
– New hats!
– – The default hat color for pit crew members has been changed.
– Pit box equipment models have been updated for a variety of vehicles, including TCR, GT3, GT4, GTE, LMP, and LMP2 cars.
Track Characters
– Some level-of-detail settings have been adjusted to provide smoother visual transitions as the camera changes distances from track marshals, photographers, race officials, and Barney, the Legendary Flagman.
– Some textures for some trucks and trailers have been updated.
– Track marshals and flagger stations should now only be visible when Object Detail settings are maximized.
Visual Effects
– The visual effects for race debris have been updated.
Interface
– Fixed an issue where some helmet images were shifted to the left several pixels, cutting off the front of the helmet.
Spotter
– A new French spotter pack has been added!
– – Recorded by Jonathan Butel, this pack replaces our older French-Tomedes pack and is of a much better quality.
– – – Many thanks to Jonathan for his hard work translating and recording this pack for us!
– Italian spotter pack samples from Renzo Olivieri and Marco Arcidiacono have been updated.
Replay
– For the Laps table, all of the different Sessions (Practice, Qualify, Heat, Race, Etc.) have been unlocked when viewing a loaded replay. A user must no longer manually advance to the desired Session to unlock its Lap table. The “Prior” and “Next” Session buttons are now always available for use.
Spectators
– Some additional Race Control information is now available for event Spectators that were not being sent before, including course flags and session timers.
Admin Commands
– Event Admins may now revoke chat privileges and boot members connected as Spectators.
– The response to the “!showDQs” Admin command has been improved by displaying a full driver name. A leading message has also been added to the response to make it more readable.
Telemetry
– The code for writing disk telemetry has been moved to a separate thread from the physics to avoid any potential cause for stuttering.
Controllers
– Support has been added for the latest Logitech G923 TrueForce wheel.
– – The option to enable the vibration of TrueForce wheels has been added to the Options menu. When enabled, this sends either your car engine audio or a physics-based signal to the wheel in addition to the force feedback signal we currently provide.
– – A new parameter, “[Force Feedback] trueForceVibePhysics=0” has been added in the “app.ini” file, which lets you choose between the game engine audio (0) or a physics-based vibration effect (1) similar to the LFE effect.
– Support for Razer Chroma backlighting effects has been restored.
– – However, the Logitech backlit effects remain disabled due to the bug with G-HUB that causes iRacing to lock-up at shutdown.
– The option to completely disable TrueForce support, [Force Feedback] trueForceEnabled=1, has been added to the “app.ini” file.
– – For now, TrueForce and LFE will be forced to use physics-based audio when the Sim is using XAudio2, as a temporary workaround.
Cars:
ARCA Menards Chevrolet Impala
– Tire damping has been increased by 70% to reduce the rolling and bouncing that sometimes occur with a stiff front suspension.
– Tire rubber properties have been adjusted slightly.
– The aerodynamic profile has been adjusted slightly.
– Gear limits have been adjusted.
– The iRacing setups have been updated.
Aston Martin DBR9 GT1
– Tire rubber properties have been adjusted slightly.
Audi R18
– An updated tire model has been applied to this vehicle!
– For the hybrid system, when automatic deployment is selected, the system will try to maintain an average battery state of charge of 50%.
Audi R8 LMS
– 2020 Season 4 Balance Adjustments: Minimum weight has been increased by 2.5 kg.
– The iRacing setups have been updated.
Audi RS 3 LMS
– Fixed an audio artifact with the turbo sound loop.
– The iRacing setups have been updated.
BMW M4 GT4
– Backfires have been updated.
– The iRacing setups have been updated.
BMW M8 GTE
– An updated tire model has been applied to this vehicle!
– Tire damping has been increased by 70% to reduce the rolling and bouncing that sometimes occur with a stiff front suspension.
– Aerodynamics have been completely re-worked, and an aerodynamic balance calculator is now included in the Garage.
– Adjustable brake master cylinder sizes have been added.
– The iRacing setups have been updated.
BMW Z4 GT3
– The iRacing setups have been updated.
Chevrolet Corvette C6.R GT1
– For the New Damage Model, a variety of updates have been made, including:
– – The strength of hinges connecting some car parts to the body has been reduced.
– – Reduced the severity of various car parts snagging on each other including the engine cover, bumpers, and wheels.
– – The durability of various detachable car parts have been adjusted for more realistic lighter collisions.
– – Chassis properties have been adjusted to reduce “sticking” behavior.
– Tire rubber properties have been adjusted slightly.
Chevrolet Corvette C7 Daytona Prototype
– The purchase price for this vehicle has been reduced to $2.95.
Chevrolet Corvette C8.R GTE
– NEW CAR!
– – A new GTE car, the Chevrolet Corvette C8.R GTE, has been added to iRacing!
– – With Chevrolet’s move to a mid-engine layout for the eighth-generation Corvette, the brand’s IMSA program made the same shift for the 2020 WeatherTech SportsCar Championship. The Corvette C8.R builds upon six successful years of racing for its predecessor C7.R and debuted at the 2020 24 Hours of Daytona. Six months later, it returned to Daytona and won in just its second race out with drivers Antonio Garcia and Jordan Taylor, and the week after that, it scored its first 1-2 finish at Sebring International Raceway. The latest entry in Chevrolet’s lengthy sports car racing history features a 5.5-liter powerplant that produces 500 horsepower at 7400 rpm. It’s the fourth Corvette built by Pratt & Miller since partnering with General Motors in 1999, a relationship that has brought eight victories at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, three at the 24 Hours of Daytona, and 11 in the 12 Hours of Sebring.
– – Purchase the Chevrolet Corvette C8.R GTE from the iRacing Store here: LINK
Chevrolet Monte Carlo SS
– An updated tire model has been applied to this vehicle!
– A thermal braking system has been applied to this vehicle.
– The nose weight range has been shifted forward.
– The iRacing setups have been updated.
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