iRacing's Upcoming Releases

Yoeri Gijsen · Feb 27, 2012

Let's keep a little thread going about what iRacing has in store for us in the (near) future. Some things have been announced, some targets have been rumoured and who knows what you have picked up in the darkest recesses of the net...

Below I will put up some things I find or found. Please post any news, rumours or hints below so one of the moderators can update this thread.

Cars

McLaren MP4-12C GT3 - Next up, but time unspecified
Lotus 49 - Next up, but time unspecified
RUF Rt12R - October 2012
Honda Civic BTCC - May/July 2013
Honda HSV-010 - May/July 2013
NASCAR Sprint Cup 2013 models - TBA

Tracks

Auto Club Speedway - To be scanned (confirmed!)
Circuit de Gilles Villeneuve - To be scanned (confirmed!)
Hongaroring - Plans
Kansas Speedway - To be scanned (confirmed!)
Lukas Oil Raceway - In production
Rockingham Speedway - October 2012
Interlagos - To be scanned (confirmed!)
Miller Motorsports Park - To be scanned
New Jersey Motorsports Park - To be scanned
Long Beach - 2013
Oran Park Raceway - October 2012
Tsukuba Circuit - In production
Willow Springs - Scanned but on hold

Features

Crew chief & spotter functionality - February 2013 at the earliest, but probably later
Driver swaps - February 2013 at the earliest, but probably later
DirectX 11 and x64 support - Long term project
Dirt and oil build up on windscreen - Side project
Enhanced sounds (DirectSound > XAudio2) - Groundwork in next build; the rest later
Exhaust fire - Side project
Teams - February 2013 at the earliest, but probably later
Time transition - Long term and after DirectX 11

Your turn!

yusupov · Apr 26, 2014

yeah, i dont care for the ovals either, nor do i wanna just be stupid w/ money. i certainly wouldnt mind a different GP car & as he said at least one of the season tracks, just saying im not on a fast track to get anywhere or anything.

Bakkster · Apr 26, 2014

If you're looking for fun in testing and a few races when you can get them, by all means grab your dream tracks and multiple GT3s. I will say that racing is still the best part of iRacing (natch), but if you want to enjoy your favorite tracks and have something fun to drive them on you could do a lot worse than your plans.

If you're trying to pick between the Radical and Lotus, I would recommend the Radical. It doesn't get a lot of race participation, but many consider it a fantastic car to drive, and easier than the Lotus which often feels it needs to be tiptoed.

Blkout · Apr 26, 2014

The Lotus 49 is one of the most challenging cars to drive in iRacing, bar none, almost to the point of not being enjoyable. It takes a LOT of practice to even get it around the track at 75% of its potential, much less 100%. I would easily go with the Radical over the Lotus 49 because its much easier to drive, gives fantastic FFB, and there's slightly more race support. THe Lotus 49 is one of those cars you pick up for the challenge and to get a glimpse of what it must have been like to drive that car back in the day. I do prefer the Asssetto Corsa version of the Lotus 49 much more though, its also tough to drive but I feel like you can still correct slight mistakes before you end up in the wall, the iRacing version is brutally unforgiving.

yusupov · Apr 26, 2014

yeah i thought twice & then thought, ill do the 79 since i have the 49 in AC..but then i read it didnt get NTMV5 support & saw empty box's latest vid about the star mazda being great now, so i think im gonna try that. seems like a good entry open-wheel car as well.

muscimol · Apr 26, 2014

yusupov said:
saw empty box's latest vid about the star mazda being great now, so i think im gonna try that. seems like a good entry open-wheel car as well.

Go for it. I've been long time fan of the Radical and never liked the SM, but right now the SM is simply awesome to drive and it will have for sure bigger community which means more races available during the week.

yusupov · Apr 26, 2014

yeah, just got it a bit ago w/ the ruf & z4. havent tried it yet but looking forward to it.

Blkout · Apr 26, 2014

muscimol said:
Go for it. I've been long time fan of the Radical and never liked the SM, but right now the SM is simply awesome to drive and it will have for sure bigger community which means more races available during the week.

I agree, the Star Mazda is MUCH improved compared to last week.

Bekim.D · May 11, 2014

I just wish the star Mazda would get some audio treatment like the other cars. It just sounds so...unrealistic that it ruins the experience for me and always find myself in a Ruf.

Bakkster · May 11, 2014

Bekim Dine said:
I just wish the star Mazda would get some audio treatment like the other cars. It just sounds so...unrealistic that it ruins the experience for me and always find myself in a Ruf.

One trick, now that you can tweak the driving camera. Go into the driving camera (shift+f12 I think), view the driving camera, and crank the mic gain. That'll make it sound a bit more like an onboard, meaning more distortion for an aggressive sound. Not perfect, but might help.

Blkout · May 12, 2014

I don't know what the Star Mazda sounds like in real life but in iRacing it sounds like a high pitched Miata, and I find the sound very annoying to my ears.

Bakkster · May 12, 2014

Blkout said:
I don't know what the Star Mazda sounds like in real life but in iRacing it sounds like a high pitched Miata, and I find the sound very annoying to my ears.

They sounded pretty annoying in reality as well. What else do you expect from a little rotary without any muffling?

As always, onboards get that aggressive clipping, but they sound more or less like the game (just VERY loud, crank your speakers).

Blkout · May 12, 2014

Didn't realize it was a rotary, that explains a lot. Rotary's always sound like **** unless the exhaust is tuned to give them a bit more low end growl. I do love the design of the rotary engine even if it never gained as much recognition as a piston engine.

Niel Hekkens · May 20, 2014

Release notes of yesterdays update

Dallara DW12
- The Dallara DW12 IndyCar is now available for purchase. This as an Indianapolis Motor Speedway preview. The only configuration of the car included is the speedway version. You can load the car at other ovals or even road courses, but it does not yet have the higher downforce and grippier tires that it would normally have at those tracks. The fully finished version of the car will be updated with the 2014 Season 3 update.

User Interface
- Fixed a bug that preventing the small voice chat indicator from being movable.
- Fixed a bug that was preventing the mouse-over help from working over certain UI elements.

Okayama International Circuit
- Fixed a bug where driving over the track in the fork area could sometimes cause a 0x collision.

Michigan International Speedway
- Fixed a bug where a portion of wall was not collidable.

Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps
- Added some missing brake markers.
- Removed crowd from inside a bridge.

Mount Panorama Circuit
- Added some missing brake markers.
- Added a missing gravel trap.

They finally added brake markers at La Source!

Eckhart von Glan · May 20, 2014

dunno if it was the rush on the dallara but i had to forfeit to oval events in the truck yesterday because i couldnt join the american servers, about 200 iR down the drain

Bakkster · May 20, 2014

Now that the build is over in which we released 4 pieces of new content plus the DW-12 yesterday, I already see some asking what is coming next.

On the road side, the next track will be Donington Park in the U.K. That in all probability will be in coming build. Some may ask why that track instead of Monza or IMOLA for example. It is because we were well over half-done Donington by the time we signed /scanned them/did our production trips to the tracks. Although good news is Monza is in production as well and will follow Donington.

On the oval side, we rescanned and are working on a redo of Phoenix. That also has a solid chance of being in build. By popular member request we will likely keep the old track and add the new track, like we basically did for Daytona. Following Phoenix it will be Gateway Motorsports Park, located just outside of St Louis. A very fun track that the NASCAR trucks go I believe.

As for new cars, plenty in the works but also plenty of balls in the air as we try and nail down several things needed from our partners to finish or even work on a number of cars. Right now the closest is probably the V-8 Super Cars, both the Ford (updated) and Holden (New). However I think they will miss coming build.

As far as new features and updates to existing functionality or content, as always plenty in the works as well but too early to say what might be coming in the near future.

Thanks for all the support and good racing!

Tony

Eckhart von Glan · May 21, 2014

haven't heard about driver swap for a long long long time. but with the last builds all having been great, i won't moan too loudly.

Bakkster · May 21, 2014

Eckhart von Glan said:
haven't heard about driver swap for a long long long time. but with the last builds all having been great, i won't moan too loudly.

From Tony just this morning

Answering some other Questions:

On V8 Super cars yes doing the latest versions (new cars) with the new names. Brand new cars. The Commodore and Falcon COTF. I guess that is sort of the car of tomorrow sort of thing. Both cars Ford and Holden would run in same class like we do for NASCAR A level with the same physics etc.

We did scan the infield road course for Gateway and the go kart track.

Don't read into that though. At this point I think we will build it as well, the road track but not 100% sure at this point.

We have signed other short tracks that have not announced.

Again we are working on DX11 upgrade and adding Open GL while we are at it. Full time engineers on it but don't expect upgrade for a while.

Just put new tire falloff in testing but too early to have any feedback.

Team and Driver swaps in full testing but still some web and database work to do and many little details to still finish plus will inevitably be bugs to fix. Too early to say if will be in build or not. Good news getting closer and closer.

Niel Hekkens · Jun 19, 2014

Some updates:

On a different note we did roll out some very good code changes recently to members which in simple terms allows us to minimize the web page contention issues and bottle necks that caused the crash for the Indy 500. It is working well for us. Would like to run another Indy 500 soon if nothing else as a test.

http://members.iracing.com/jforum/posts/list/3259288.page

A very good chance going to do the Corvette Stand-alone in season 3. Try it out. Would like to do short races as I think that will help participation, like 25 or 30 minutes tops. Open setup.

http://members.iracing.com/jforum/posts/list/3259300.page#8147626

As far as car update, making very good progress on both Holden and New Ford. Neither will be ready for season 3 build but should be ready way in advance of season 4 build. Not sure if will release them before that build or not. Have to wait until little closer to being done before have that type of conversation internally.

http://members.iracing.com/jforum/posts/list/3259302.page#8147657

As many have suggested, I think we are going to try combining the World Sports Car Series and the Prototype and GT Challenge Series. It is sort of step to longer term plan honestly. .

Going to try and break out the Corvette Stand-alone in its own series with short races. I posted that in the Corvette forum.

Then thinking will have the Ford GT, HPD and Riley DP in this series and grid cars by class. We also could add a fourth car like the Ruf C spec but go back and forth on that. Probably big grids like 40 cars so see less splits even during peak hours. In the real world in the Tudor Series the DP car and HPD run in same class but until we update the DP car and balance them, will have to be separate classes and then could also do something with the Ford GT. Multiple options there.

http://members.iracing.com/jforum/posts/list/3259316.page#8147819