iRacing | New Patch Released

[Paul Jeffrey]

American development studio iRacing have released a new build update for their predominantly online focussed racing simulation, deploying Patch 4 of the 2021 Season 1 build of the title.

• Hotfix patch 4 available.
• Various car specific fixes and tweaks.
• Mount Panorama (Bathurst) driving line improvements.

Another somewhat sizeable iRacing update release has been deployed to the wider world of the internet today, adding the usual blend of tweaks and improvements to both the core simulation and the content contained within.

Nothing significant of note has been brought to the title as part of this build update, released yesterday, but it does once again show the continued efforts by the US based team to further expand and improve upon what has proven to be a very popular racing simulation down the years.

Coming in off the back of the large Season 1 2021 update of earlier this month, the new release is the fourth patch brought to the title during January.

Update Notes

3D Model Viewer

• Fixed an issue with the NASCAR Gander Outdoors Chevrolet Silverado not showing a custom spec map correctly.

SIMULATION:

Replay

• The Replay playback state will now be left alone when a user remains connected to the race server until the session finishes, and the server disconnects from the user.
• – – A new variable, “leavePlaybackAloneAtSessionEnd” has been added to the [Replay] section of the “app.ini” file. Changing this value to 1 from the default (0) will cause the playback state to also be left alone between Session transitions (like going from Qualify to Race).

CARS:

Audi 90 GTO

• Fixed an issue where backfires from this vehicle were not appearing at the appropriate location, and were looking distorted.

Dallara P217

• Aerodynamic coefficients have been removed from the garage.
• Power steering assist, steering ratio, and the display page have been added back to the garage after they had been inadvertently removed.

Dallara IR18

• The iRacing setups for World Wide Technology Raceway – Oval and Pocono Raceway have been updated.

Ferrari 488 GTE

• 2021 Season 1 GTE BoP Adjustment: Aerodynamic downforce has been increased slightly.

Mercedes-AMG GT3

• 2021 Season 1 GT3 BoP Adjustment: Engine power over entire rev range has been increased slightly.

NASCAR Cup Series Chevrolet Camaro ZL1

• Vehicle parameters have been adjusted for using the low downforce package while running at Daytona International Speedway – Road Course and NASCAR Road Course.
• Downforce has been reduced, and engine cooling has been increased.

NASCAR Cup Series Ford Mustang

• ehicle parameters have been adjusted for using the low downforce package while running at Daytona International Speedway – Road Course and NASCAR Road Course.
• Downforce has been reduced, and engine cooling has been increased.

NASCAR Cup Series Toyota Camry

• Vehicle parameters have been adjusted for using the low downforce package while running at Daytona International Speedway – Road Course and NASCAR Road Course.
• Downforce has been reduced, and engine cooling has been increased.

NASCAR Gander Outdoors Chevrolet Silverado

• Drafting strength has been reduced.

NASCAR Gander Outdoors Ford F150

• Drafting strength has been reduced.

NASCAR Gander Outdoors Toyota Tundra

• Drafting strength has been reduced.

Porsche 919

• Rollbar camera view has been adjusted slightly.

Silver Crown

• Rear ride heights for opponent cars have been adjusted to improve their look and handling at high banked ovals.

TRACKS:

Mount Panorama Circuit

• Driving line guide has been updated.

iRacing is available now, exclusive to PC.

Check the iRacing sub forum here at RaceDepartment for news, chat and tips about this popular online racing simulation.

 

[Paul_V]

never tried iRacing,

But wanted to get quick dig in about the possible dodgy rfactor 2 UI. LOL.

 

[Noctam]

never tried iRacing,

But wanted to get quick dig in about the possible dodgy rfactor 2 UI. LOL.

Dodgy UI vs dodgy pricing, pick your poison!

 

[Ruy Horta]

Dodgy UI vs dodgy pricing, pick your poison!

It isn’t really the pricing that’s dodgy, it is the license.
I have all the tracks and about half of the cars, but right now I can’t use any of it because iRacing changed payment systems and decided to cancel my monthly payment. They explained the situation and how I could renew and continue playing.

Still this was a good demonstration to show me that I own nothing.

I knew that, but sometimes you need a simple demonstration to confront you with reality.

Now there is some irony (apart from the fact that I should be more critical of my hobby spending), in that I don’t really miss iRacing at the moment and am just as happy playing with Assetto Corsa mods, Automobilista 2 (and 1) and even Raceroom. So for the time being I am not renewing my iRacing fee.

Of course I am missing out on all that licensed content that I (don’t) own, but it makes me feel a bit better not paying my fee to thank iRacing for cancelling my previous arrangement - call it a little F U 2.

 

[Noctam]

Yes my phrasing was wrong, the licencing is definitely the problem here. I spent a huge chunk (for my budget) of money on AC paid mods or rF2/R3E content and I really don't mind paying for individual high quality content.
But individual purchases + a mandatory subscription makes for a shady system.

 

[Jason Mullin]

Renewed the subscription last week for one month as I haven’t played it in awhile.
Did a skippy race, then GT3. Both were stale and honestly I’m having more fun with my $4.99 original Project Cars.

Striking, I know.

 

[Deleted member 526227]

I also renewed my sub these days. Had a break of at least 6 months.
Long Beach, Lambo GT3 Evo, M4 GT3, CR.8 GTE, Dallara LMP2....all bought and it's amazing stuff. Tire model finally significantly improved, at least what I feel and notice. I like the Corvette more than I do in rF2. I really hope iR jumps on the future IMSA-LMHd train.

 

[Wayne Hutchison]

Net $3 per month for a subscription sounds like a great deal to me

 

[Peter Kerényi]

I resubbed after 3 years a couple of days ago. iRacing has it's own little charm, I would like to race the LMP2 so bad. However, I find the racing aggressive so I find myself conceding a lot just to gain safety rating. This is not a healthy mindset, I care more about numbers than the racing. I don't think I will continue. Also the graphics are good and bad at the same time, even some of the paid tracks are outdated and look their age, on the other hand even the objectively lower quality assets fit in to the overall picture... it looks clean. I don't know, if it was only buying content or only subscription, I would probably lean to staying. I have a lot to play on my PC anyway, with other sims I do not feel bad if I skip a week to play other genres of video games, however with iRacing I would feel that not racing is literally wasting money. Ugh...

 

[Rosecity]

I also play online MMORPG's. A subscription fee is not uncommon and I am use to it.

 

[HoiHman]

I resubbed for a month 14 days ago. My main problem with Iracing is that somehow i never own the track or car i want to race on, even though i have already spend hundreds of dollars purchasing content.

I like racing against AI the most and a lot of the content i bought is still not available for AI racing.
So 14 days ago i bought the Dalara F3.

2 days later i pulled a muscle and i will not be able to race for at least another 2 weeks.

So another 30 bucks down the Iracing drain.

The licencing system sucks, they should at least make all the cars and tracks you have bought available for off-line racing and let people pay for the online stuff

 

[Deleted member 526227]

I resubbed after 3 years a couple of days ago. iRacing has it's own little charm, I would like to race the LMP2 so bad. However, I find the racing aggressive so I find myself conceding a lot just to gain safety rating. This is not a healthy mindset, I care more about numbers than the racing. I don't think I will continue. Also the graphics are good and bad at the same time, even some of the paid tracks are outdated and look their age, on the other hand even the objectively lower quality assets fit in to the overall picture... it looks clean. I don't know, if it was only buying content or only subscription, I would probably lean to staying. I have a lot to play on my PC anyway, with other sims I do not feel bad if I skip a week to play other genres of video games, however with iRacing I would feel that not racing is literally wasting money. Ugh...

Bit of a key to enjoy racing more is to try not to be too focused on the ratings itself. I know from myself how hard this is cos it's a lot of motivation if you gather more and more points and enter the faster splits or simply climb up.

Took me a while to understand and accept. But helps a lot to enjoy racing.

 

[Peter Kerényi]

Bit of a key to enjoy racing more is to try not to be too focused on the ratings itself. I know from myself how hard this is cos it's a lot of motivation if you gather more and more points and enter the faster splits or simply climb up.

Took me a while to understand and accept. But helps a lot to enjoy racing.

I know. But it's damn frustrating when you do nothing wrong, get into incidents because of the clumsyness of others and lose SR. If it happens in e.g. a SimGrid race, one moves on. In iRacing it has consequences. I find that I cannot trust to go side by side with others because whenever it happened they had no respect or understeered into me because they overshot it. But I get the same 4x. And these people were A or B! (on a D series race)

 

[bsmooth]

I used it for about 3 years, and finally stopped because of family and scheduling. The racing was good, but its sort of like having the modern equivalent of Photoshop subscriptions, once you stop paying its gone. I stopped Photoshop at CS6 and happily use it everyday, even If it is outdated..
Then again the Skippy races were some of the best I've ever had online, so it has its good and bad points.
Think I'll just stick with Assetto Corsa, Automobilista, and my alltime favorite Grand Prix Legends.

 

[EchoWhiskeySix]

I feel the opposite of many comments about money spent so far - my money spent on primarily single player games for content I still "own" was not so well spent as I do not use it due to preferring not to race AI. However I have spent maybe 5-6 full price game title's worth of money on iRacing content and have used it consistently.

Sure I would not argue against folks being able to access their licensed content offline without an active sub though. Maybe someday.

 

[Demichkd]

I hesitated for years to enter iRacing but an interesting motivation has made it great for me. First, I do 90% AI racing as I’ve had enough of managing SR, this goes for ACC too.

But with the lack of even a decent NASCAR sim(the heat series is not for me) and spending $50 every year on those games it was just as expensive as iRacing membership.

So I only buy Cup, Xfinity, and Trucks and buy only tracks iRacing as AI available. Buy in bulk and usually a car or track is free. It’s awesome, lots of tracks, and let’s face it every sim out there provides other forms of good AI and some good multiplayer racing.

This is an area of iRacing to explore since every season now they release a track or two with AI. Good oval and road courses.

And if get the itch to multiplayer use the free content MX5 and buy a skippy and you’re good to go.

I view it as buying a service not content.

 

[Lurkusmaximus]

Renewed the subscription last week for one month as I haven’t played it in awhile.
Did a skippy race, then GT3. Both were stale and honestly I’m having more fun with my $4.99 original Project Cars.

Striking, I know.

I got on for the first time since Thanksgiving due to some personal issues getting in the way. Use it or lose it. Man was I horrible. Felt like I performed worse than a total rookie. How depressing is that?!

 

[Deleted member 526227]

Do all the cars have the latest tire model?
Just cruisn around for many hours at Long Beach to check the cars and enjoy driving. I really like it. McLaren 4-30 and Dallara-iR 0.1 (purchased both yesterday )...great stuff. The McLaren so stable as I heard a couple of times by real F1 drivers how easy handling is compared to e.g. a LMP2 car. On the other hand this beast of an open wheeler from Dallara, pure driving. Absolutely believable.
I tried the Porsche 919, 911 Cup, Holden Commodore, Dallara LMP2, HPT, Audi RS3, M4 GT4, Skip Barber, PM-18, Huracan Evo, 911 RSR and a few more.
It gives me such a rewarding feeling when I push the car and come out of the corner close to the wall that only a few cm prevents me to mess it totally up.

Btw. Long Beach is another example of how fantastic tracks in iR are engineered. This passion for details and proper modelling is outstanding.

My plan for today is doing some races in IMSA-series especially.

 

[Wayne Hutchison]

Do all the cars have the latest tire model?

Almost everything on pavement is now on what used to be known as NTMv7 (things like Silver Crown and Sprint Car are exceptions as they are still on v6). However, each series of cars uses different parameters in the v7 tire model, so the NASCAR Cup tires isn't the same as the GT3 tire.

 

[Deleted member 526227]

Really hope iRacing will see DPi and the future LMH/LMDh soon. Would be a pleasure to have these options.