iRacing Time of Day Progression and Tsukuba Preview Videos

[Paul Jeffrey]

New iRacing preview videos showcase Tsukuba and dynamic clouds and day/night transitions.

iRacing will be getting quite a bit of new content in the upcoming December 4th build release, with the simulation having already confirmed the Dallara Formula Three and Formula Renault 3.5 cars will be added, alongside the Charlotte Roval circuit. In recent days the US based team have also confirmed the addition of the Japanese Tsukuba Circuit, another well regarded and quite technical race track that will be familiar to sim racers from games such as Gran Turismo. The preview video for the track can be seen below:

With the release of the new build coming this December 4th, iRacing have also confirmed the long awaited dynamic sky and night/day transition feature is set to be added in a much requested and rather exciting first pass at the new feature.

Adding dynamic skies that change with elapsed time, the new feature will finally allow players the opportunity to race under different lighting conditions in a dynamic way, rather than the current preset day or night conditions.

According to iRacing, the suns motion in the sky will be realistic to the time, date and location of the race event - with circuit temperatures set to match the weather conditions and impact the on track racing. All sounds very impressive doesn't it? Well with just a couple of days until release, we'll soon be able to find out all about it ourselves!​

iRacing.com is a PC exclusive online only subscription racing simulation available through the Steam network.​

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[Eckhart von Glan]

If I buy content on iRacing but I don't renew the subscription, I can't access my content even if I just want to hotlap, is that correct?
If it's so, I really can't understand why I can't at least use the cars/tracks I bought, to drive solo.

well, technically you never buy stuff but only lend it for the duration of your subscription. says so in the fine print of every single iRacing "transaction" you gave your consent to. i agree that this is unusual in the world of racing games, if you consider iracing to be the guys who own the tennis courts and you the guy who wants to play on their courts, well, where do you borrow the shoes and racket and balls? This is their business model, quite unlike any of their competitors. The real development in iRacing is not the stuff we see here but the move to better more stable servers they did some weeks back, i think.

 

[Eckhart von Glan]

Will, what do you mean by "the 5 or 6 car limit"?

i can still remember the time when it was 4. they raised it to 6 some years back and people on forums have talked about raising it further, but it does not seem to be a priority.

 

[Eckhart von Glan]

wake up iracing staff, thousands of passionate are waiting for it to get into the competition (or go back to iracing) and i'm really sure that you can win more money with new price system

they've done this for 10 years now and show no sign of weakness. where are their competitors from ten years ago? none of them is still around in their original form if i am not mistaken. seems like their model is working, others not as well.
let's not forget the sim-racing market is a niche within a niche, not much money to be made there. the first project cars sold more than a million in a year, iRacing has about 70,000 active users a year if i am not mistaken, figure where the money goes.

 

[M D Gourley]

I wonder what must have triggered the development of this feature now. Is iRacing feeling the competizione of other sims?

Man, and it looks damn good! Loved the cloud tech.

...yes, I would agree...and to Future proof themselves, more mainstream and possible extra customers....only my opinion....regardless I am happy that they are including all this anyway.

 

[protonv5]

Now if they add rain and the new tire model is not crap as current one I'm in even if I disagree with their pricing model. Hopefully it happens in 2019. If they could remove the 5 or 6 car limit would be great too.

You have no idea what you're talking about.

 

[whip]

im more interested in the new tyre model personally as the current one isn't good

 

[FeltHat]

im more interested in that new damage model and i dont even play the game

 

[Deleted member 113561]

I have yet to see true night time ...
P.s. Here we go

Looks good - now we need rain and a much much better tire model, as it is still the least realistic out of the top sims ...
(if you disagree, change my mind, but I can already tell you, Nicki Thiim WEC GTE Champion and Porsche Cup driver compared that and is that opinion, he must know it)

 

[billymitchell]

well, technically you never buy stuff but only lend it for the duration of your subscription...The real development in iRacing is not the stuff we see here...

I agree with you, but I think this IS the result of sustained active subscriptions.

There are now, what, 90 tracks in iRacing?? Adding dynamic shadows and color changes to EVERY texture is a massive undertaking. I can't believe their going to roll out support for all of them at once.

As for those that can't afford the subscription+content... that's fine with me! It keeps the user base leaner but more active.

 

[Ls tech]

Horrible graphics, look like playstation 2, only the cars are nicely crafted visually in textures

 

[Patrik Marek]

step in right direction ! for people like me the only thing that's needed it's offline access to the content, so that if I don't want to race MP, I could still use it for practice / time trials etc.

 

[tlsmikey]

They have so much depth in this sim now there really ain’t anything like it. Really looking forward to this and the upcoming HDR lighting.

 

[Yeschristopher]

Nice because Iracing currently has sky boxes out of halflife 1 apparently.

 

[Thomas Gunderson]

Just signed up for den 2 year deal a couple of days ago, been racing AC and rF2, but with 3 kids it is hard to find the time to join a proper league, and the quick races on AC is turn 1 disaster for sure (almost) so far I'm very happy with "quick" races on iRacing and it is still 50% off https://www.iracing.com/membership/

 

[Sharpy Bonfire]

and the quick races on AC is turn 1 disaster for sure (almost) so far I'm very happy with "quick" races on iRacing

Do not expect much more from rookie-class races in iRacing either...

Protip: it is easy to level up your licence level with time trials...

 

[Thomas Gunderson]

Edit: sorry dont know how to delete this it is was a reply

Thanks for the info havn't tried that yet. found a promo code for the 3 months for 5$ and got up to D lvl, I didn't do any qual in the races, started in the back and drove by 1/3 of the field in turn one

Was so happy with it i bought the 2 year deal yesterday, but now i have to get my license up again, I'll try the time trials this time

 

[Thomas Gunderson]

Do not expect much more from rookie-class races in iRacing either...

Protip: it is easy to level up your licence level with time trials...

Thanks for the info havn't tried that yet. found a promo code for the 3 months for 5$ and got up to D lvl, I didn't do any qual in the races, started in the back and drove by 1/3 of the field in turn one

Was so happy with it i bought the 2 year deal yesterday, but now i have to get my license up again, I'll try the time trials this time

 

[whip]

Not impressed so far, visuals look dated!!

Now back to AMS...

 

[GTAce]

The cloud-tech is really impressive. It's a shame that the lighting is so flat. It could look really amazing with better reflections on surfaces and some PBR.

 

[Theodore 2019]

Better later than never. You don't need to be a professional race driver to know how a race track is highly sensible to tarmac temperature. From a minute all drivers lap times float up and down according to the grip, track usage, time of the day... Racing can be everything except static both visuals and dynamics and if you want to simulate this a static environment as Race Room or Asseto Corsa is the worst option.

One of more interesting things I experienced is how my hometown kart circuit can be faster or slower when some clouds cover the sun and get the tarmac temperature down for 2 or 3 degrees C. Or a how a light rain mess all the grid upside down due the drivers luck or lack of confidence on semi wet surface. All of this make the motorsports alive.

They need to implement weather.