iRacing | Update Time And New Track Preview

[Paul Jeffrey]

iRacing have recently deployed a new update to the racing service, and rather curiously teased a potential return to an old favourite track from the NASCAR 2003 days...

• New build adds various fixes and tweaks.
• Coca-Cola Raceway fantasy track tease.

iRacing improvements continue at a pace this month, with yet another new build of the simulation having been deployed by the American developers ahead of another season of racing within the online simulation. As usual, the new build comes with a wide variety of different changes to the core software as well as vehicle and track specific changes, all of which can be seen in the update notes at the bottom of this article.

At around the same time as the new build release, iRacing's Steve Myers took to his social media accounts to bring about some interesting news…,

https://twitter.com/x/status/1225075812841545728

Those with a long memory will recall the fictional Coca-Cola Raceway from the original NASCAR 2003 game, developed by the same team responsible for iRacing, and it looks like the developers are interested in bringing this circuit back to life within iRacing, making a surprising move to add a fictional venue to a simulation that prides itself on laserscanned accuracy.

Should this track make it to the sim, it will be very interesting to see how it is received by the legion of loyal iRacing fans and oval racers.

Update Notes:

• Fixed an issue where the “Ranked” and “Unranked” filter names were incorrect in the Filter Summary Bar.
• Fixed an issue where the Registration Bar was appearing incorrectly.

Current Series

• Fixed an issue where the “Heats” filter Tag was not collecting any results.

Heat Racing

• Fixed an error that occurred when users attempted to create or edit events using any Heat Racing format.

Payments

• Fixed an issue where users were unable to create a League if the Account option, “Use iRacing Credits and Dollars towards my subscription & car/track purchases” was disabled.

Simulation
Race Servers

• Two new Race Server farms for hosting user-created Hosted Sessions have been brought online.
• – – These new Race Server farms are JP-Tok in Tokyo, Japan, and BR-Sao in São Paulo, Brazil.
• – – – When creating a Hosted Session, select the Race Server farm geographically closest to you in order to ensure ideal connectivity and racing for your session.
• – – No Official Races are planned to be run on these Race Server farms at this time.

Race Control

• When a Race finishes under Caution, you should now receive the same pace order messages as you would under any other Caution. This may help to prevent unexpected penalties due to passing under a Yellow Flag after a Race has finished.
• Fixed an issue with the new pit exit delay Race Control system where if the first and last cars on grid are on either side of the Start/Finish line, the grid traversal time would compute out to be negative instead of wrapping positive, resulting in a 2.0 second Pit Exit Hold Penalty for some racers.

Old Damage Model

• Collision incident reporting has been updated for the Old Damage Model so that world impacts check to ensure the material is a non-racing surface before reporting an incident.

Cars
McLaren MP4-30

• Fixed a wrist twist animation issue for some drivers when steering counter-clockwise.

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.

 

[ChaosZeroJK]

I always like to check out these threads to remind myself how badly iRacing sucks, because the 100s-1000s of people I see racing on the platform at any given time of day makes me wonder sometimes if iRacing isn't doing a lot of things really well.

People always tend to gather around the fireplace that warms the most. iRacing having more people joining for organized/"professional" racing doesn't necessarily mean it's the best.

Whether it's good or bad as a simulator, it's relative, in a sense. If you want to play online with other people, you look at charts and go to whatever service has the most players connected, but that isn't necessarily an index of quality. It just means it's more popular.

It's like the thousands of people playing GT Sport or Forza on console. Do they do it because they're best games? Not necessarily, they do it because they're more popular and more populated than the rest, otherwise they would go to the alternatives, like some other so-called simulators available on console.

 

[Postipate92]

People always tend to gather around the fireplace that warms the most. iRacing having more people joining for organized/"professional" racing doesn't necessarily mean it's the best.

Whether it's good or bad as a simulator, it's relative, in a sense. If you want to play online with other people, you look at charts and go to whatever service has the most players connected, but that isn't necessarily an index of quality. It just means it's more popular.

It's like the thousands of people playing GT Sport or Forza on console. Do they do it because they're best games? Not necessarily, they do it because they're more popular and more populated than the rest, otherwise they would go to the alternatives, like some other so-called simulators available on console.

Well as racing game nothing is even close to the GT sport on ps console so they have earned their spot. I still get your point and agree

Only reason I play iRacing is the fact that I can get very competitive racing with full grid every 15 minutes and any day of the week. That's the quality I'm looking for and happy to pay for it. If others are able to make something like it im happy to switch. Now iRacing is the only choice

got to hate all the toxic people here on racedepartment. We have so tiny community here with only few small companies making games for us and most of the time you can only make useless rants about things. Having good feedback with negatives is always good thing, but it's different from what many times I read.

 

[guidofoc]

Pulse 120 | iRacing Stats
Are these numbers correct? iRacing has more average players than AC? Good for them.

 

[Wayne Hutchison]

Pulse 120 | iRacing Stats
Are these numbers correct? iRacing has more average players than AC? Good for them.

Yes, iRacing has the highest participation of all the sims. The key to reading that graph, however, is to realize that it's the area under each line (participants x hours) that is key. When you look at the daily graph you'll see that some sims are very "peaky" in that they get good participation for a few hours per day while others have flatter curves showing that their participation is spread out around the clock. iRacing and AC can have similar peaks some days but iRacing's curve is broader and has higher lows - showing that it's the most likely place to find the race you're looking for on any given day.

 

[guidofoc]

Yes, iRacing has the highest participation of all the sims. The key to reading that graph, however, is to realize that it's the area under each line (participants x hours) that is key. When you look at the daily graph you'll see that some sims are very "peaky" in that they get good participation for a few hours per day while others have flatter curves showing that their participation is spread out around the clock. iRacing and AC can have similar peaks some days but iRacing's curve is broader and has higher lows - showing that it's the most likely place to find the race you're looking for on any given day.

Ok. One thing though is that the numbers for AC , ACC etc. on that website are way lower than what i see on websites like this one:
Comparing 4 apps · SteamDB

 

[Wayne Hutchison]

Ok. One thing though is that the numbers for AC , ACC etc. on that website are way lower than what i see on websites like this one:
Comparing 4 apps · SteamDB

The fellow who runs the website pulls the numbers from Steam Charts for everything except iRacing - he pulls those numbers from the iRacing site itself. If you look at any particular day on that Steam chart you linked and compare it to the same day on iRacingstats I think you'll see that they are very close - there is some error due to iRacingstats only sampling every 4 hours. I think the "high-resolution" steam charts that show 1 week at a time for one sim show the detail really well.

 

[Wayne Hutchison]

May as well re name iracing....inascar. Starting to be a bit much.

There are 78 official racing series running in iRacing right now - and 10 are NASCAR. I think it's a long way from being iNASCAR

 

[jacobc62]

As well as the car they previewed in that tweet.

I'm not sure i get the reason for the Coca Cola Speedway. I never played iRacing back in 2003 so I don't have any fond memories of it. I guess it will be a free part of base content since it's a fictional track. Kind of surprised they are doing a fictional track though...that's very un-iRacing.

TBF, technically no one played iRacing back in 2003 as it didn't exist until 2004

It's predecessor, NASCAR Racing 2003 Season, had a DLC pack of fictional tracks. This pack included Papyrus Motorsports Park (Road Course), Eight Bowl (figure 8 with a crossover bridge), Hillside Speedway (a shortish intermediate oval), and Coca-Cola Superspeedway (3-mile megaspeedway oval). iRacing stated previously that they would recreate CCSS should Coke sponsor NASCAR's iRacing series, and that happened this year, hence the hype behind it from those who are part of the iRacing/NR2003 community. From the looks of it, they're going to modernize it (the 2003 release didn't have SAFER barriers while the iRacing version appears to have them) and keep it in the realm of realism despite the track itself never having existed in real life.

 

[Seculi]

Pulse 120 | iRacing Stats
Are these numbers correct? iRacing has more average players than AC? Good for them.

If you take out basecontent though the numbers go down pretty much.

If everyone who joins immediately gets extremely addicted you would expect the numbers to be very much more spread over the series.

With the Specracer Ford series when they have a paidtrackweek the participation is a measily 10-20 cars meaning just 1 split.
This is the same as about 6-8 years ago.

This suggests their userbase increase is of the shortterm kind, people who just do 3 months because it was on discount.

iRacing is fine as a way to spend your time but their coststructure is hurting their own business, and participation in other series.

 

[Wayne Hutchison]

The "green" graph attached shows the monthly new subscriptions since 2008 - steady increase that's accelerated over the last 2+ years. The "blue" graph shows that even post "COVID bump" there are about 2000 new members signing up every week. Not sure that the cost structure is really hurting business. Remember that the $100 per year is really only $35 after Black Friday discounts and participation credits. Where else are you going to get unlimited racing where you don't have to own a server for $35 per year?

 

[Kurupt CDN]

Would I like to see cheaper pricing? Absolutely!
And not just in iracing but in many simracing products as prices have skyrocketed in the past few yrs.

If there pricing was truly hurting them, there player base wouldn't be growing and they would have probably adjusted them by now.

Also using a non popular series like the spec ford racer is a pour example as there are many paid content series outside of D class that have hundreds signed up every race.
Like every sim out there with alot of content, some will be popular and some won't.

I personally don't think iracing is the greatest sim out there, but I feel they do many things very well and have continued to add new features and expand on the engine the past few yrs which allows me to justify renewing on black friday.

$85ish a yr for subscription = less than $8 a month for what I feels offers the best online and populated servers of any sim atm.

My monthly Netflix account cost me $15 for hd on 2 devices and my internet only cost a month is $100

I understand not everyone can afford those prices, but luckily there are many other cheaper options on the market to get your racing fix

 

[F_B]

Internet 100 bucks a month?! Where do you live? EDIT : Canada, found it. Those prices are insane! I pay 40€ for 100mbit.

 

[Nick Hill]

Internet 100 bucks a month?! Where do you live? EDIT : Canada, found it. Those prices are insane! I pay 40€ for 100mbit.

I pay $100 USD/mo for internet.

 

[Postipate92]

10mbit free / 5€ for 50mbit and 10€ 100mbit here in finland

 

[Seculi]

Would I like to see cheaper pricing? Absolutely!
And not just in iracing but in many simracing products as prices have skyrocketed in the past few yrs.

Also using a non popular series like the spec ford racer is a pour example as there are many paid content series outside of D class that have hundreds signed up every race.
Like every sim out there with alot of content, some will be popular and some won't.

My monthly Netflix account cost me $15 for hd on 2 devices and my internet only cost a month is $100

In the Specracerford series you see a 4-5 times higher participation when its a free track in comparison to when its a paid track, which means paidtrackparticipation is 4-5 times lower than when everyone would have been easily eager to buy the extra tracks. Showing people are not eager, mostly logically because of cost structure.

I use the Specracerford series because i know its participation from about 6-10 years ago, since then it hasnt gone up at all. which is nearly perfectly illogical since it is a crossover series between free and paid. Therefore a signifier to how god iRacing is harvesting new members into long term members.

And btw please stop comparing iRacing to things that are not related to it, its a game so compare it to other games please.

 

[EchoWhiskeySix]

RD, I am glad you consistently cover iRacing on the site despite getting a high number of negative comments on most articles. Thanks!

The game is great and for running organized multiplayer, especially in the US. I would love to participate in the RD leagues more but due to most being EU based the times do not work out well.

 

[Nick Hill]

RD, I am glad you consistently cover iRacing on the site despite getting a high number of negative comments on most articles. Thanks!

The game is great and for running organized multiplayer, especially in the US. I would love to participate in the RD leagues more but due to most being EU based the times do not work out well.

I have thought this many times, agreed! iRacing is a very insular community - much more so than other sims, in my observation. As such, I think RD could easily get away with not covering iRacing news yet they still do it. And they do it well - thoroughly and fairly. Very impressive and I for one appreciate it!

 

[Kurupt CDN]

[

I have thought this many times, agreed! iRacing is a very insular community - much more so than other sims, in my observation.

I can't say I ve experienced that in my 9 yrs there, I found the community here much worst towards this title in the majority of the threads RD post.

If you look in the other games thread on the iracing forms you'll see many talking positively about other racing titles.....minus Project cars it's the same as it is here lol

 

[Nick Hill]

[

I can't say I ve experienced that in my 9 yrs there, I found the community here much worst towards this title in the majority of the threads RD post.

If you look in the other games thread on the iracing forms you'll see many talking positively about other racing titles.....minus Project cars it's the same as it is here lol

Sorry, I think I was being a little unclear. I was trying to say that, in my observation, a large percentage of the iRacing user base identifies as "iRacers" more than "sim racers". The iRacing service is really very deliberately setup that way in the sense that the sim/community experience is really very blended right down to how the UI is structured. Heck, even the fact that I, like many, describe iRacing as a "service" rather than a "sim" or a "game" speaks to how different it is than other sims.

For people outside of the iRacing bubble, I think it's far more likely to find those people following/playing multiple sims and seeking out sources - RD being rightfully very high on that list - of information and community in support of that.

Put another way, I think there is a significant percentage of the iRacing base that, in terms of the wider sim racing world, "don't get out much". They are primarily getting their community/news fix from iRacing official channels. If they are venturing "off ranch", it's likely to be in the form of iRacing Reddit and the occasional iRacing YouTuber. I think this is far from being exclusively the case, I am just saying in my experience and observation, there is a very sizeable percentage of the iRacing player base who is this way.

In practical terms as it relates to RD, I think iRacing tends to be somewhat weakly supported or perhaps even "defended" here, as many of the would-be iRacing supporters/defenders are just simply not here. If all you knew about iRacing came from commenters RD forums, you would guess it to be a complete disaster, hanging on to life by a thread when, in reality, it's actually the largest, most popular sim on the market.

Just my 2 cents. It is what it is. Again, I think the RD staff/admins are well aware of this dynamic and, yet, choose to cover iRacing thoroughly and fairly. That says a lot about RD. This place didn't get so popular by accident.

 

[Wayne Hutchison]

In the Specracerford series you see a 4-5 times higher participation when its a free track in comparison to when its a paid track, which means paidtrackparticipation is 4-5 times lower than when everyone would have been easily eager to buy the extra tracks. Showing people are not eager, mostly logically because of cost structure.

I use the Specracerford series because i know its participation from about 6-10 years ago, since then it hasnt gone up at all. which is nearly perfectly illogical since it is a crossover series between free and paid. Therefore a signifier to how god iRacing is harvesting new members into long term members.

And btw please stop comparing iRacing to things that are not related to it, its a game so compare it to other games please.

Meanwhile, for NASCAR series, almost all of the tracks are paid tracks - and the participation is extremely high for every race. It might be that the demographic is different between NASCAR drivers and Spec Racer Ford drivers though - the former heavily US oriented and willing to pay to play the only game in town vs the latter being more Euro oriented and willing to play other sims on those "paid" weeks.