iRacing announces iRacing 2.0

[Kevin Watts]

2011 looks to be a great year for iRacing fans with the company announcing iRacing 2.0 which will be released this summer. Starting in May and then rolling on to August iRacing will be updated to include a preview of the high anticipated new tyre model, this tyre model will appear on the NASCAR Nationwide car first but rolled out for every car in August. New graphic and shader updates will improve the already great looking visuals even further which will also encompass a complete graphical overhaul of the Skip Barber FSB2000 car which was one of the first cars the iRacing team created. Night racing on road courses will be introduced for the V8 Supercar, Mazda MX5 Cup & Roadster, Corvette C6.R, Riley Daytona Prototype, Pontiac Solstice, VW Jetta TDI Cup and Mustang Challenge race cars with working headlights on these cars.

New content is always welcome and iRacing will deliver with free and paid content. Okayama International Circuit will be added to the base package for all users in May with Suzuka and Iowa Speedway being available for purchase in August. New cars will also be added to iRacing starting with the new NASCAR Nationwide car in May along with the graphical update to the Skip Barber FSB2000 and in August iRacing introduces the Ford GT and Honda LMP ARX-01C race car to the service. The LMP car will surely benefit from a driver swap feature also being added in August for endurance events along with a new aero model.

Hosted racing has become cheaper with an hour slot now costing just $0.50 so the previous 3 hour session drops from $3 to $2. Hosted sessions will have the choice of 2,4 and 6 hour slots and if you book 4 or more sessions in a month you will be entitled to a 25% discount as part of the new price plan. Achievements have proven to be popular to a lot of gamers on the XBOX, Playstation and Steam platforms and iRacing will be rolling out its own rewards system in May with awards ranging from painting your car or helmet to completing 100,000 laps or racing consecutive clean races with no incident points.

This summer will see the biggest update to the service since it launched. New telemetry output, revamped sound system, enhanced pitting and damage repair and many other features will be rolled out and RaceDepartment as always will be covering this news and using these new features for our on-going club events and leagues. For more information on our iRacing club please visit our iRacing forum here.

You can read the full announcement for this new release at the inRacing News site here.

BEDFORD, MA (April 20, 2011) – iRacing.com today formally announced its most dramatic software release to date – Version 2.0. Coming in the summer of 2011, iRacing 2.0 will feature enhancements across the board for the popular online, multi-player racing title.

In contrast to gaming software brands that typically release a new title once every few years, the online racing game takes advantage of digital distribution to provide regular updates of its service to the more than 25,000 iRacing members four times per year.​

“iRacing is now to sim racing what NASCAR is to stock car racing.” - John Henry​

“By summer’s end, we will have clearly ‘launched’ a truly amazing step forward in sim racing. It is incredible how far we have come in just three years. I am thrilled to see our vision come to fruition with thousands of people racing online everyday in our service. iRacing is now to sim racing what NASCAR is to stock car racing,” said iRacing co-founder John Henry.

New Tire Model is the Core of iRacing 2.0

At the core of the 2.0 release is the highly anticipated new tire model, which will revolutionize the way iRacing members race online, providing unparalleled realism and the most accurate racing experience ever produced for a PC. The introduction of the new tire model will be rolled-out over the course of the summer, along with many of the additional enhancements, beginning in May.

iRacing’s CEO and legendary sim racing developer, Dave Kaemmer and his team have been researching tire properties and working on his newest tire model for over three years. “I have dedicated my professional life, over 20 years, to working on racing simulations and physics models,” said Kaemmer. “This new tire model is our best work ever. It was incredibly challenging and time consuming to develop an understanding, mathematically speaking, of a racing tire at the limit and under all sorts of conditions – and that was just phase one. To then translate that into a working model within the simulation was incredibly taxing – but it was truly a labor of love. The tires are clearly the hardest thing to simulate for any racing title, but I think we’ve nailed it! I believe it is going to bring simulated racing to a whole new level of enjoyment and realism.”​

“The tires are clearly the hardest thing to simulate for any racing title, but I think we’ve nailed it!” – Dave Kaemmer​

“iRacing 2.0 isn’t a new disc that needs to be purchased. Members will download the updates from our easy to use website, all for free”, said iRacing.com president Tony Gardner. “We have improved our product so much in the last three years that, along with adding such an incredible list of new features this summer, we feel it’s fitting to celebrate the next generation of iRacing. We will be releasing some of these features in early May and some in August, but frankly we will continue improving the product long after that.”

The company initially launched its service in the summer of 2008 and 400 people joined that first month. Now three years and over 25,000 customers later, the company still provides updates and improvements to the service like clockwork every three months.

“Although we have moved well beyond our initial vision, we are working harder than ever and the features coming out this summer prove it”, added Gardner. “When we first launched we had only a few cars running on about a dozen U.S.-based tracks. Now we have over 30 official series running on over 60 laser scanned tracks from around the world – over 1,500 official races going-off each week, 24 hours per day, not to mention the hundreds of member-run leagues that take advantage of our hosted racing features each week.”

“I want to thank our tremendous real-world partners involved in this including: NASCAR, INDYCAR and GRAND-AM, who officially sanction series on iRacing.com. I also want to thank all of the tracks, car manufactures and racing teams who have worked so hard with us to get everything simulated as realistically as possible. It sure does make it more fun for our members, ” Kaemmer added. “Lastly, and most importantly, I want to thank our members for their continued support and passion for race gaming and sim racing. Without them we could never have gotten to iRacing 2.0. It is incredible to think how far technology has come, especially in the last few years, and what could be in the future. We look forward to that journey with our members and many more great years of sim racing.”​

Highlights of iRacing 2.0​

May 2011

​

• Early preview of Dave Kaemmer’s new tire model available on the new NASCAR Nationwide car.
• Launch of in-game awards program – over 50 different participation awards members can earn.
• Night racing on road courses using headlights beginning with Sebring International Raceway and the V8 Supercar, Mazda MX5 Cup & Roadster, Corvette C6.R, Riley Daytona Prototype, Pontiac Solstice, VW Jetta TDI Cup and Mustang Challenge race cars.
• New NASCAR “Nationwide” stock car – race the car you watch on Saturdays.
• Okayama International Circuit (Japan) – the first of several tracks from the island nation.
• New telemetry output for the data hungry racers.
• Private league racing enhancements including: reduced pricing, advanced scheduling, new race session options and additional grid spots to virtually every track.
• Graphic and shader upgrades in-game for more lifelike visuals.
• Complete graphical overhaul of the Skip Barber FSB2000 race car – updating our first car to current standards.
• Opening practice sessions to all license levels (excluding Pro Series).
• Enhanced pitting and damage repair for all cars.
• Preferred/custom car numbers.
• Improved accuracy of the modeled physical track surface to match the laser scanned data better than ever before.

August 2011

​

• New Tire Model for all cars.
• Enhanced aero model for improved drafting and more realistic downforce characteristics.
• Heat/Tournament racing for private leagues/sessions.
• Driver aids available for private leagues and Rookie series (ABS brakes, traction control, driving line, steering aids, etc.).
• Enhancements of new sound system.
• Endurance racing and driver swaps.
• Suzuka Circuit (Japan).
• Iowa Speedway (USA).
• Ford GT race car
• Honda LMP ARX-01C race car
• Live pop-up chat on member site.

​

Current highlights of iRacing.com​

​

• Inexpensive – Standard one-year membership is less than $9 per month. Try it for one month for $5 to learn more first hand. Use Promo code PR-FIVEDOLLAR when joining.
• The most accurate, realistic and feature rich simulation in the world.
• Centralized member website with ease of use being the cornerstone; Regular automatic updates free with membership.
• Live stats, tracking and scoring for every race.
• Robust and passionate community including forums and live chat.
• State-of-the-art graphics.
• Head-to-head racing with same field size as real world racing – some tracks capable of racing up to 60 cars.
• Fully integrated and professionally developed iRacing driving school.
• Over 60 officially licensed and laser scanned tracks.
• Over 25 officially licensed and authentically reproduced cars.
• Over 100 private leagues using iRacing.
• Unlimited racing 24/7: over 1,500 official race each week, unlimited open practice, unlimited time trialing, unlimited testing on track.
• Ability to race any car at any track, anytime you want, utilizing the hosted racing feature.
• Dozens of special events each year: iRacing Indy 500, iRacing Daytona 500, Club style competition, World Cup of iRacing.
• Most prestigious Pro Series in sim racing sanctioned by NASCAR, INDY CAR and GRAND-AM, with thousands of dollars in cash prizes, full press coverage and live broadcasts.
• Fully integrated real-world and sim racing news site (inRacingnews.com) and webcast show (iRacingTV) covering the racing action.
• Mixed class racing, open setup racing, fixed setup racing, night racing on ovals.
• License and division system automatically categorizes each member into the level that they are interested in: from casual race gamer looking to just have some fun to serious competitors looking for the best competition sim racing has to offer.
• World class, live customer service and support.

 

[Eric Estes]

Night Racing! The new private racing features should be a help to us ...

 

[Will Marquez]

Very exciting stuff!!

 

[Kevin Watts]

The new tyre model has been highly anticipated for some time now so I can't wait to try it, driver swaps will be good for an endurance event and of course new tracks and toys to drive aroudn them is always nice I think an MX-5 event at Okayama is on the cards

 

[Joe Hubbard]

I think an MX-5 event at Okayama is on the cards

Don't forget F1 now, they did race there a couple of years... hehehe...

 

[isamu]

I was very VERY excited until I read this.....

.....Driver aids available for private leagues and Rookie series (ABS brakes, traction control, driving line, steering aids, etc.)..

wait wait wait.....WHAT????? Driving assists in iRacing??? Wow that is a TERRIBLE idea! I seriously hope they reconsider this decision. Even if it's restricted to the rookie series, it's going to encourage new players to rely on driving aids and pick up bad habits. This is just....bad bad bad :no:

 

[George Pilkington]

+1 Isamu!
No driver aids...
Still the rest of the up date sounds fantastic. Night racing... Oh WOW! Yahoo.
Spa 6 hours.... here we come.
Do you think that they will up the session time to 24 hours in the future then?
Thanks Iracing, YOU ROCK!
George

 

[Kevin Watts]

Most of the currently available racing games have driver aids and the sky hasn't fallen in yet. iRacing will still cater for those racers who wish to race unassisted as these aids will only be available for hosted racing and rookie series. We are in a niche genre and iRacing see's this so I berlieve they are looking at making the learning curve just a little less steep for racers coming from perhaps less realisitc racing games.

 

[George Pilkington]

ok Kevin, thats not so bad then is it rearly. Cool.
IRACING!
The Dogs!
George

 

[Dario Jagar]

prety sure you will be slower with aids, similar to shifting now (faster without autoclutch), if this helps iR numbers I am all for it, of course where it is realistic to be aplied, rookie series for example

 

[Kevin Watts]

I saw a quote in one of the numerous "ZOMG! THE WORLD IS GOING TO END BECAUSE THEY ADDED DRIVING AIDS" threads on the official iRacing web site from Tony Gardner and iRacing staff member who said:

Driver Aids:
Worry not, the world is not coming to an end. We are not turning into a "game". It is not going to impact the competition at all. We just need some tools to help ease new people into the service so they can learn how to drive. They are simply aids/tools to help people when first starting out. The driver aids will be in the rookie series and maybe a couple new desiginated series at the D level. Also will be an option for the admin running hosted/private sessions. Each driver can also shut them off in the very limited amount of series that will have them available.

I bet when many of you started out in sim racing you started with products that had driver aids and you used them. Well we are bringing many new people into this and it is very frustarting when you first start if you have never done it before. It will help make the rookie series much cleaner and will be a much better introduction when first starting.

Lastly as noted, the driver aids in the limited series (rookie) that will have them will give you absolutely no advantage, in fact will be a slight disadvantage.

Take a deep breath

 

[Lars Strijdonck]

Yup your probally beeing penalized for using them, and secondly you dont have to use them but might bring new players to iRacing.
Ive started out using assist in my race games back in the day, and would prolly never ever tried them if they where not there.

You could argue that there are enough race games out there with assists but those games are not iRacing, getting a feel of lazer scanned tracks the forcefeedback etc etc might just get some motivated enough to start disabling them after a while.
I dont see the big no no

 

[Dazmaniac]

Why do people instantly freak out when they see that a racing title is offering driving assists? Would you not buy an IRL road car because the manufacturer was offering a car with with ABS and TCS? Urrgh, a road car with driving assists.... I'm not buying that.

So what, I'm sure RD will continue to run series with all the available assists disabled, so we are no different than what we are now. So, where is the problem? I'm sure many folks have played rFactor, GTR2 and others, and made us of ABS and TCS.

Over time, I find that things like TCS limit what you can achieve lap time wise, but it is a great help to learn a new car. As you get more comfortable with it, you gradually remove the driving assists until you are driving totally unassisted.

If it opens the iRacing service to a new audience because certain driving aids are available then its got to be a good thing IMO. It appears they are limiting it to Rookie license and maybe the odd D license races. If it irks you so much, just make sure you don't enter races where driving assists are allowed. End of.

 

[Onno Naber]

Really looking forward to this new build,I think I am going to make it a clean new install,making some backups before the release and than just bring it on iracing,:woot:

 

[Richard Sobolewski]

I wonder if the adding of traction control to the sim will result in the integration of TC into the existing cars which run it in reality (the Vette) and the Ford GT and Acura in the future?

 

[Kevin Ascher]

Why do people instantly freak out when they see that a racing title is offering driving assists? Would you not buy an IRL road car because the manufacturer was offering a car with with ABS and TCS? Urrgh, a road car with driving assists.... I'm not buying that.

So what, I'm sure RD will continue to run series with all the available assists disabled, so we are no different than what we are now. So, where is the problem? I'm sure many folks have played rFactor, GTR2 and others, and made us of ABS and TCS.

Over time, I find that things like TCS limit what you can achieve lap time wise, but it is a great help to learn a new car. As you get more comfortable with it, you gradually remove the driving assists until you are driving totally unassisted.

If it opens the iRacing service to a new audience because certain driving aids are available then its got to be a good thing IMO. It appears they are limiting it to Rookie license and maybe the odd D license races. If it irks you so much, just make sure you don't enter races where driving assists are allowed. End of.

Yep, as long as they are limited to rookie or D class races, I am completely fine with them and think they are a reasonable addition to the service.

 

[Dazmaniac]

I wonder if the adding of traction control to the sim will result in the integration of TC into the existing cars which run it in reality (the Vette) and the Ford GT and Acura in the future?

Rich,

You would think that if the car has it available IRL, then the iRacing version should have it (and allow car setup to set it to required level, or off if needs be). I believe the Solstice has ABS in the sim, so its not as if its something iRacing don't consider.