iRacing: Audi RS3 LMS TCR Preview

[Paul Jeffrey]

iRacing have revealed a new preview trailer of the upcoming Audi RS3 LMS TCR car set to join the simulation this September.

Having been in the works for a little while, including the odd teaser mention in recent videos and news snippets from the studio, we now finally have some official details about the upcoming RS3 LMS TCR... it's coming to iRacing this September.

Yes, touring car racing is set to take centre stage in iRacing once again next month. The highly competitive TCR specification RS3 LMS is set to be made available to players as part of the 2019 Season 4 update, expected to be deployed to the simulation in the next few weeks.

Touring car racing has taken something of a back seat in iRacing these past few years, so the arrival of a modern TCR specification car is a nice move from the American developers, and is something I'm highly interested to try out for myself when it becomes available in the near future.

Stay up to date with the latest news, check out the iRacing sub forum here at RaceDepartment!

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[Mr.Mints_Taboo]

The poll is flawed - what about an option for "I love touring cars but would rather iRacing wouldn't keep diluting the user base with more and more series."
The matchmaking system (iRating) is totally ineffective unless a race splits, and improves with more entries. This may not be an issue for drivers at the sharp end with lap time differences that are barely measurable, but for myself, in anything other than the Skip Barber, I often find myself in a no man's land of "hot" lapping by myself.
AI might mitigate the issue for me.

Cupra-abf said "I personally like it [FFB], a lot, but it feels very different from quite a lot of sims. The easiest to jump back and forth in between are rF2 and iR if you drive a lot of iR IMO."
I would love to believe that is true, as rFactor is currently at the top of my play list. Jumping from sim to sim can't be doing my "skills" any favours. Unfortunately, apart from the Skippy on the NTM7, the cars just don't behave like I have come to expect from other sims.

I'm taking a break until NTM7 is more universal and AI is released.
A shiny new car is not going to entice me back.
Even if it is a touring car.

 

[Mr.Mints_Taboo]

It's nice, actually, to see them do something new on the road side, most of the development the last year was on dirt or even more so dirt oval. Seems to be quite a hit in the US, but for most Europeans it remains - quaint.

I hear you (and mostly agree) but......

I wouldn't swap the "new" skippy for a dozen new tracks - even if they were free!
Sometimes I want quality over quantity. (Except when it comes to opponents! )
I pay for iRacing* because it seems to offer the best online racing experience.

*OK, not at the moment, but sometimes you need to step back to gain perspective.

 

[BrunoBæ]

I'm taking a break until NTM7 is more universal and AI is released.
A shiny new car is not going to entice me back.
Even if it is a touring car.

iRacing Update #3 ► Skippy Reifen V7.1? ► S3 2019 ► iRacing Gameplay german
1:37: After trying this V7 tire model out Im absolutely not sure if the direction of this (TM) journey is the right one.

 

[Mr.Mints_Taboo]

[German chap said:]
1:37: After trying this V7 tire model out Im absolutely not sure if the direction of this (TM) journey is the right one.

He may be right. A lot of the old guard skippy racers are not happy (although they were a lot less happy with the initial V7), but I haven't raced/driven a skippy IRL. But I have played racing games, and the new tyre on the skippy allows me to push harder while keeping my confidence that I can catch minor slides. The new model is less about separating the men from the boys, less about memorising the correct speed to enter a turn, and much more about pushing it to the edge.
It might be more 'arcadey' but I like it.

You might be able to convince me that the model is bad or wrong, but you won't stop me loving it!

Disclaimer: I also love Marmite.

 

[BrunoBæ]

@Mr.Mint
The only thing I want to add to your comment is that in the 5+ years I was a member it allways frustrated me that the best you could earn/gain with a lot of practice was to learn exactly where the car began sliding on a certain tracks corners.
Because allway keeping under this (rather "binary") sliding point was the optimal way of driving any of iRacings cars.
But this is completely the contrary of RL (asphalt track) racing where the optimal point is where you does slightly cross over a racing cars sliding point.

CatsAreTheWorstDogs: A lot of times some of iRacings pro drivers admitted that keeping the car UNDER this sliding point was allways their main goal of practicing on a track.

 

[M D Gourley]

Disclaimer: I also love Marmite.

...I'm a 'Vegemite' person myself

 

[TR_S]

The poll is flawed...

How about just a Yes or No? It's not that someone may not like TCR, it just may not matter to them.

 

[Mr.Mints_Taboo]

...I'm a 'Vegemite' person myself

Yeah, it is just as good, but I prefer Marmite. Strangely I feel no compunction to start an internet war over it. Against all logic, we can remain friends.

@Mr.Mint
The only thing I want to add to your comment is that in the 5+ years I was a member it allways frustrated me that the best you could earn/gain with a lot of practice was to learn exactly where the car began sliding on a certain tracks corners.
Because allway keeping under this (rather "binary") sliding point was the optimal way of driving any of iRacings cars.
But this is completely the contrary of RL (asphalt track) racing where the optimal point is where you does slightly cross over a racing cars sliding point.

CatsAreTheWorstDogs: A lot of times some of iRacings pro drivers admitted that keeping the car UNDER this sliding point was allways their main goal of practicing on a track.

NO! WAY!
If this was the case then their much marketed "dynamic track state" would just be marketing hyperbole, designed to pull the sheep by product over consumers' eyes!
Disclaimer: Bruno and I may be discussing the road side of iRacing - it may be a completely different story with regards to the ovals.

Wizard's First Rule : People believe what they want to be true* and what they fear to be true.

*I believe that the NTM 7 on the Skippy is a giant step forward (and away from IceRacing and memorIseRacing)

 

[BrunoBæ]

@Mr.Mint

 

[Eckhart von Glan]

the new schedule is out and the TCR Audi will race in a grid with the Ruf RT 12R Track in a series called "IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge" on the following tracks:

Week 1 (2019-09-10) WeatherTech Raceway at Laguna Seca
Week 2 (2019-09-17) Oulton Park Circuit - Island
Week 3 (2019-09-24) Road America - Full Course
Week 4 (2019-10-01) Donington Park Racing Circuit - National
Week 5 (2019-10-08) Road Atlanta - Full Course
Week 6 (2019-10-15) Barcelona Grand Prix
Week 7 (2019-10-22) Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course - Full Course
Week 8 (2019-10-29) Autodromo Nazionale Monza - Grand Prix
Week 9 (2019-11-05) Lime Rock Park - Full Course
Week 10 (2019-11-12) Circuit Park Zandvoort - Grand Prix
Week 11 (2019-11-19) Canadian Tire Motorsports Park
Week 12 (2019-11-26) Phillip Island Circuit

Great schedule, I might run both cars each week, depending on how many RUF Players will show up. Mine has been sitting idle for over two years, I guess.

 

[Sharpy Bonfire]

the new schedule is out and the TCR Audi will race in a grid with the Ruf RT 12R Track in a series called "IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge" on the following tracks

Did they really say somewhere it would be multi class with Ruf?
How I understood it, Ruf was just set as place holder in season 4 schedule that was published... Make note that Ruf GT3 Challenge is still on schedule too as its own serie.

 

[Eckhart von Glan]

well, this is what it says: "The new series IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge will feature the new TCR " and the RUF is listed on the schedule, so I guess both readings are valid, since it says neither that it is a multiclass series, nor that the RUF is a placeholder, while in the lines above they talk about: "Centripetal is a placeholder for Barcelona and Fairbury. " I would hope for it to be individual not multi-class, so fingers crossed.

 

[Mr.Mints_Taboo]

I would hope for it to be individual not multi-class, so fingers crossed.

Typical iRacing inability to communicate clearly!

I bought the RUF (The season before they took it out of GT3. If that happened, I might be confused. ) and never really drove it after that, so I'd rather it was a multi-class series, so I could dust it off and get some value out of it.

I'm also a bit surprised that Nordschliefe is not on the first season schedule - maybe it's a ploy to keep the car relevant for a second season.

But if the series is well populated (multiple multi-splits every day) for just one season then I would consider the purchase price of the car worth it to me. Anything after that is just a bonus.

 

[farjam]

well, this is what it says: "The new series IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge will feature the new TCR " and the RUF is listed on the schedule, so I guess both readings are valid, since it says neither that it is a multiclass series, nor that the RUF is a placeholder, while in the lines above they talk about: "Centripetal is a placeholder for Barcelona and Fairbury. " I would hope for it to be individual not multi-class, so fingers crossed.

Multiclass? that's RUF!
Is it confirmed after the update?
still not sure to whether get the silverstone(with my older silverstone purchase payback) or this car for this season
___________
also i'm not trying to be ignorant, but the new tyre model advantage over the old one is just about heating the tyres more gradual at the start of a stint(+better feedback from tyre pressure changes and ambient temp)? because i the things i could find about it was "yeah, it takes more time/lap to warm the tyres" nothing more

 

[Eckhart von Glan]

Multiclass? that's RUF!
Is it confirmed after the update?

it will be confirmed either way once the schedule has been finalized and published, give it another day or two, personally I now tend to think more it will be single make, i.e. tcr Audi only.

 

[Eckhart von Glan]

also i'm not trying to be ignorant, but the new tyre model advantage over the old one is just about heating the tyres more gradual at the start of a stint(+better feedback from tyre pressure changes and ambient temp)?

it's also about getting more feedback fromthe area where the tire hits the road, works very well for me (t500 user).

 

[Sharpy Bonfire]

it will be confirmed either way once the schedule has been finalized and published, give it another day or two, personally I now tend to think more it will be single make, i.e. tcr Audi only.

There is no Ruf in week13 series, it will be single make series on real season too and it is a good thing.

Ruf is rookie (4.0) serie and IMSA Micheling Pilot for TCR will be class D (4.0)

 

[farjam]

Ok, i have bought the damn TCR, it's like learning something different than driving other cars (and i wasn't master of the previous ones lol) maybe i can learn this better lol
Practice at Brands hatch with this Audi was a wild run

 

[Eckhart von Glan]

ok, schedule is go and it's an Audi-only series. As I am writing (Tuesday 22.00 CEST) there are 210 players on TCR Audi pracci servers, folks seem to like it!

 

[davoroni]

Wow! Sliding cars in iRacing. Looks like a lot of fun. Given they are not trying to simulate WTCR or another real TCR series and given the TCR cars are all FWD turbo 4 cylinders weighing pretty much the same, I think I can forgive that there is only one available. Saves all that BOPing nonsense. Not sure how popular the previous touring car was but this seems like a good move to me. Only thing I'm not keen on is the sound. Probably realistic but would give me a headache.

you don't notice it in race much, it is wild, and they can bump and bang with less penalty than other series. its fun, very tough to master, the TCR
and it is modeled after a real series the IMSA Michelin Pilot Cup or something