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.

​

 

[Esteban Maurel]

... but i-racing continues beeing expensive and i would hate to pay each month, or year... i think they should make the typical pay once, play forever.

 

[Viktor Andersson]

yep, pay month/year stops me from buying it, pay once and I had bought it I think.

 

[Derek Speare]

It's worth every penny and then some - every other racing sim isn't even close to iracing.

 

[Reuben Clemons]

... but i-racing continues beeing expensive and i would hate to pay each month, or year... i think they should make the typical pay once, play forever.

Why? There are loads of online gaming services out there that charge monthly fees. What they are doing is nothing new. Besides, how many of the "pay once, play forever games" are constantly be developed, refined, added to, and improved over the past 3 years? (Modding doesn't count)



FWIW, I play almost all the popular sims.

 

[Ben Buitendijk]

Sounds great, but like esteban I also still find it too expansive. I dont mind to pay a fee monthly, but I dont like that you have to buy every car and track, especially not for those prices... and essentially you dont even own them

 

[Samuli Leinonen]

iripoff strikes back

Spent bit over 200$ to the game already, moar plz?

 

[Kangal]

It's worth every penny and then some - every other racing sim isn't even close to iracing.

+1

 

[RaceNut]

I think iRacing is the best sim ever but, while I enjoy the sim immensly, it is quite expensive - especially if you are more casual in terms of play-time. There just is no way for me to get my moneys worth with a limited play schedule. If they could offer a limited package for less money, I might renew some day.

 

[Dazmaniac]

yep, pay month/year stops me from buying it, pay once and I had bought it I think.

Do you have a mobile phone and monthly contract?

Do you pay a monthly fee for your broadband?

Do you use an XBOX for online gameplay? I guess if you do you pay to use XBOX LIVE?

Anyone would think iRacing are doing something never done before.

 

[Bob Luneski]

Until recently I was an iRacing skeptic. Seemed expensive and I had difficulty envisioning the value associated with the content cost and the monthly fees. However when RD sponsored an open-wheel league (Star Mazda) on iRacing, I decided to give it a shot. I couldn't be happier with the decision.

I'm totally impressed with the quality of the sim and the service in general. Cars and tracks are as good as simracing gets, regular new content, a rigidly enforced safety rating system, wide variety of racing seasons available, real races available 24 hours a day 7 days a week, sim engine constantly updated. Yes, it's more expensive than buying a static game, but for me anyway, the value delivered more than justifies the cost.

Your milage mary vary......

 

[Kevin Watts]

With RD and iRacing together we make the best better, glad we could put together an entertaining series for you to join along with our other iRacing fans here at RD.

 

[Esteban Maurel]

no way to compare it with bills: 1. i dont have xbox and if i had it i would not pay for internet 2. my mobile phone has pre-chargue of money 3. paying and paying forever sucks. and yes, they do many updates, but gran turismo 5 is doing updates too and you dont have to pay 100 euros for year, just 60 to play it forever.