Its a day late but its here and its a large update. The download is available as usual through the iRacing members site and weighs in at 713mb. Highlights include the release of Suzuka Circuit with five different layouts - the Grand Prix course, Moto, East, West and West with chicane and Iowa Speedway also with five different layouts - Oval, Road, Legends, Infield Legends and Infield Road. Endurance fans fans will be pleased to see the release of the Ford GT and the Honda HPD ARX-01c both sporting the new tyre model which has been in development for over a year now and promises to set the bar high for sim racing tyre modelling just as iRacing did with their laser scanning track technology upon its release in 2008. Other cars to benefit from the new tyre model are the Chevrolet Impala and Chevrolet Impala B cars and also the Chevrolet Silverado and Formula Skip Barber 2000. There are updates to three other cars but those updates do not include the new tyre model, the cars updated are the Dallara Indycar, the Riley Daytona Prototype and the Williams-Toyota FW31 which has new mappable controls to adjust fuel mixture.
The graphics engine has received an update in this release too with a small shadow bug being fixed and triple monitor support improved so that it distorts less when a small FOV is used, iRacing's triple monitor support is regarded by many to be one of the best available before this update. A depth of field effect can now be enabled in replays, this effect gives a much more natural look to replays but does use up a lot of video memory. Settings such as the camera aperture for each camera can be set using the normal camera controls in replay mode.
Some of the big changes that were promised for hosted racing have been rolled out with this release. One of the most noticeable changes to the hosted menu for anyone who is familiar with hosting events at iRacing is the ability to now run tournaments. Its basic function allows members to link hosted sessions together so that results from one session can be used to determine subsequent rounds. This for example would allow for separate hosted sessions to be run to determine qualification for a later hosted event. The host can use a 'grid builder' function to pull drivers from a previous session so F1 style qualification sessions could be set up. The host also has the option to disable driver aids and opt for a 'hardcore mode'. This is just a small summary of what's been included for hosted racing, for more detail take a look at the release notes here.
The members web site has also been improved. A new browser integrated text chat function has been released as a beta and a new icon for league racing has been added at the bottom of the page next to the icons for iRacing TV etc.. New awards have also been added for those who like to set themselves challenges as seen on systems like the XBOX and Playstation.This update is another huge step forward, the full list of changes can be found on the members site here as the list is just too big to fit in a post here.
The focus will of course be on the new tyre model and the two new cars and two tracks in this release. Charlotte Motor Speedway has also received a visual update which along with the new tyre model for the Chevrolet Silverado is great news for our members who have signed up for this Sundays RDiR NASCAR event at Charlotte Motor Speedway in the Chevrolet Silverado. A practice server will be on-line later this evening for members to get used to the new tyre model around Charlotte, details will be posted as usual in our iRacing forum. RaceDepartment runs regular events in iRacing and will soon announce two brand new series that will run during the autumn and winter months so why not come and join us!
