iRacing | BMW M4, Rallycross & IndyCar Headline Massive News Reveal

[Paul Jeffrey]

iRacing have been exceptionally busy these last few days, with several exciting news releases about the sim...

• Fantasy Dallara iR-01 preview.
• New BMW M4 GT3 coming soon (in early access).
• New rallycross venues and more!

Well, well, well... haven't iRacing been rather busy lately? The American development studio have been hard at work with quite a few new announcements on the run up to their next build release, so we've taken the opportunity to summarize some of the biggies from the last few days...

iRacing Dallara iR-01 Trailer:

“Our partnership with Dallara to bring the Dallara iR-01 to iRacing has been unlike any other project we’ve ever undertaken,” said iRacing executive producer Steve Myers. “With a clean sheet in front of us, we challenged ourselves to build the ultimate open-wheel racecar to bring to our users. The result is an exciting blend of the past, present, and future of grand prix racing that is thrilling to drive and produces incredible on-track battles.”​

​

“The collaboration with iRacing is long-standing, we got to know iRacing people more than 10 years ago when we were conceiving our driving simulator and looking for nice graphics while iRacing was looking for experts in the real life of motorsport,” said Andrea Pontremoli, Dallara Group CEO & General Manager. “That’s why we have enthusiastically welcomed the possibility of collaborating with them on this new project. Motorsport has been in Dallara’s DNA since its inception, along with the continuous search for new challenges. It is a way for Dallara to bring our knowledge and skills to the world of professional video games, with particular attention focused on the new generation of gamers and their interests. We gladly ventured into the design of a totally new and innovative car dedicated exclusively to the world of sim racers.”​

iRacing BMW M4 GT3 Early Access

The latest in a long line of BMW GT machines, iRacing have confirmed the yet to be raced new M4 GT3 will be joining the service as part of the December build, however the car will be considered an Early Access release initial as the studio look to gather further data from the real machine and release updates during the weeks and months ahead.

iRacing Rallycross:

Charlotte Motor Speedway layout will be available free to all users, while a new configuration at Brands Hatch Circuit will be available as an update to all users who already own the track, as well as any users who purchase it after the fact.

iRacing Cedar Lake Raceway Preview Video

Cedar Lake is a track we've already spoken about here at RaceDepartment, and it with release anticipated later this month the developers have dropped a nice preview video of the track, no doubt whetting the appetites of players keen to get their hands on the new venue in the very near future.

iRacing is available now, exclusively to PC.

Got questions? We got answers! Start a new thread in the iRacing sub forum here at RaceDepartment today.

 

[F_B]

I don't want to sound like the big guy with big balls but...

I raced from 2011 to 2014 in the iRacing World Championship Series (Matthias Egger) that was raced with the old Williams FW31. Video or non video...that Dallara is an extreme race car that in no way will be simple to drive and to build a good setup. Believe me, that car will be abandoned very fast by the average drivers on the service

Driving and preparing an F1 car took me at least 3 hours per day before a race in the World Championship compared to 4 hours in total for a race in the World Endurance Championship with a GT3/GTE car.

This Dallara will not be easy

Well, let's see how it behaves tomorrow.
I’ll pretty sure buy it and looking forward to a mixture of oldschool CART with a screaming V10.

 

[krzysiek_aleks]

Where's that "nothing new for road racers" guy from last article? :v

New build will be massive. Yesterday they posted short video of Dallara IR-18 crashing at Long Beach and it seems like it'll get not onlynew tyre and damage model, but also different tyre compuonds. iRacing is going in the right direction.
I hope, that this time they will be able to rescan Indianapolis before 500.

 

[VirtuaIceMan]

It's weird they've invented a Brands Hatch rallycross variant which doesn't (and I don't think ever has) existed, when there used to be one years ago (as playable in the ToCA Race Driver series).

 

[RichardHessels]

At least nobody can complain that the laptimes are not close to the real car.
Don't really get it why they would not use a real current formula car.
This Dalara has got the name fantasy car written all over it.

 

[Pay_Driver]

Can't wait to get that M4 GT3 in ACC

yep but not before 2022 when the car is replacing the M6 GT3. ACC is not going to introduce it if it is not actually racing in real life

 

[krzysiek_aleks]

Depends on what BMW will want. They'll start M4 GT4 cup on ACC and previously we had 720s GT3 despite not having one on the real grid thanks to McLaren Shadow, so it's possible.

 

[F_B]

At least nobody can complain that the laptimes are not close to the real car.
Don't really get it why they would not use a real current formula car.
This Dalara has got the name fantasy car written all over it.

No team will give them their data that's why we don't get a modern f1 car. Add to that current restrictions because of Covid19.

 

[Eckhart von Glan]

It's weird they've invented a Brands Hatch rallycross variant which doesn't (and I don't think ever has) existed, when there used to be one years ago (as playable in the ToCA Race Driver series).

I had the same feeling but am too lazy to do the research to bear the two of us out. Back in TOCA the layout wasn't exactly great if I remember correctly.

 

[Caleb Lee]

I don't want to sound like the big guy with big balls but...

I raced from 2011 to 2014 in the iRacing World Championship Series (Matthias Egger) that was raced with the old Williams FW31. Video or non video...that Dallara is an extreme race car that in no way will be simple to drive and to build a good setup. Believe me, that car will be abandoned very fast by the average drivers on the service

Driving and preparing an F1 car took me at least 3 hours per day before a race in the World Championship compared to 4 hours in total for a race in the World Endurance Championship with a GT3/GTE car.

This Dallara will not be easy

If they give it good baseline setups like they've done this season for the McLaren, I can assure you it will stick around. There has been a major resurgence in the GP Series this season because of that change. This car is also not the FW21, it has much simpler aero and no KERS if I am not mistaken (but dumbed down at least). It will take commitment by the World Championship drivers absolutely, but if iRacing can make true on what they've said, as well as provide semi-decent setups to begin with, it will be a used car.

 

[2112]

I don't want to sound like the big guy with big balls but...

I raced from 2011 to 2014 in the iRacing World Championship Series (Matthias Egger) that was raced with the old Williams FW31. Video or non video...that Dallara is an extreme race car that in no way will be simple to drive and to build a good setup. Believe me, that car will be abandoned very fast by the average drivers on the service

Driving and preparing an F1 car took me at least 3 hours per day before a race in the World Championship compared to 4 hours in total for a race in the World Endurance Championship with a GT3/GTE car.

This Dallara will not be easy

For the average iRacer why would one wish to spend that amount of time doing set-up? I race most of my races with just the default set-up, except for some small aero or sway-bar tweaks, and do just fine. Most of us do not have three hours out of a day to do set-up, more like a few hours a week, thus if the default is as good as the default on the rest of the cars there should be no problems for us.

Even for my league races I do not spend that much time doing set-up ( I use the same set ups I mentioned above).

 

[F_B]

Here's a statement from a dev regarding fixed or open setup of the IR01 (because one user asked)

This series will be open. I can tell you that the concept of the car was to keep the options quite simple allowing for it to be a pure drivers car rather than an exercise in engineering. We will have additional details out soon.

 

[Sigmar Bomar]

Although not the biggest fan of fantasy cars I find the Dallara IR01 very interesting (those V10 sounds, this pure and aggressive look). Also a brave decision considering how harsh their community can be.

I'd think it depends how you look at it. One simple take on this - there are soooo many real cars that are not on iRacing, why make a fantasy one? Unless all the other car projects are on hold (e.g. because on covid) then it just takes dev time away from working on real cars.
Other important aspect - F1 series got alive again last season. What will happen when this new car comes out? More than half of F1 series drivers will probably jump to that one and Macca will suffer. Obviously, having the worst F1 car doesn't help either but that is another topic.

 

[Kurupt CDN]

It's weird they've invented a Brands Hatch rallycross variant which doesn't (and I don't think ever has) existed, when there used to be one years ago (as playable in the ToCA Race Driver series).

Rallycross at Brands Hatch in pics and video. RallycrossWorld.com

A lockdown look back at rallycross at Brands Hatch, 36 pics plus video links including a Schanche rant, Welch onboard commentatry and 1994's GP fireball.

rallycrossworld.com

Pc2 has the original layout as well not sure iracing layout is the same tho

 

[mozzie]

I'd think it depends how you look at it. One simple take on this - there are soooo many real cars that are not on iRacing, why make a fantasy one? Unless all the other car projects are on hold (e.g. because on covid) then it just takes dev time away from working on real cars.
Other important aspect - F1 series got alive again last season. What will happen when this new car comes out? More than half of F1 series drivers will probably jump to that one and Macca will suffer. Obviously, having the worst F1 car doesn't help either but that is another topic.

If you watched the release video for this new IR-01, Steve Meyers states that they had to think out of the box in regards to creating content this year because of COVID-19... obviously they were not able to travel and record data as they usually could before.

I don’t think I will buy the car but looking at it objectively it’s quite interesting what they are doing. This car is more or less the direction F1 will be taking with the 2022 rules with ground effect and less aero on the upper surface of the car and more mechanical grip. The only thing that is not in keeping with the spirit of the F1 2022 rules is the powertrain, which I don’t think many people will argue against having a V10 instead of the turbo/ERS systems in F1 today.

We will have to wait until tomorrow and the coming weeks/months to see what the reception will be to this new car.

 

[RichardHessels]

No team will give them their data that's why we don't get a modern f1 car. Add to that current restrictions because of Covid19.

Well the F1 series got all the latest cars modelled. As if iRacing phycis have such high degree we would notice the difference if some numbers are fudged on good assumptions. We don't need to know where tha last 35HP came from in engine development. Or why the Mercedes has better managed downforce than the Williams.
Their funky tire models or those of Pirelli's compound choices are not the same anyway.

 

[F_B]

Well the F1 series got all the latest cars modelled. As if iRacing phycis have such high degree we would notice the difference if some numbers are fudged on good assumptions. We don't need to know where tha last 35HP came from in engine development. Or why the Mercedes has better managed downforce than the Williams.
Their funky tire models or those of Pirelli's compound choices are not the same anyway.

Well, don't tell me, it's their way of working or has been until now. Either get all the data or leave it. Considering that I find this new approach quite interesting.

 

[Ole Marius Myrvold]

What is the new configuration at Brands Hatch?

It's yet another fantasy-thing added to iRacing...

I had the same feeling but am too lazy to do the research to bear the two of us out. Back in TOCA the layout wasn't exactly great if I remember correctly.

The TOCA-Layout was at least a bit more based on reality than the iRacing-layout. I still don't quite get how it's OK to pay the premium price on iRacing-stuff when it's not based on reality, but that's just me.

The only thing on the iRacing RX-track that's the same as the actual Brands Hatch RX is the first three corners, the gravel section that cut's in before T1, and heads down in to a left-right.
Druids in the iRacing-version is gravel. That has never been gravel IRL. On the exit of Druids you have a fake jump - never a thing IRL.
The real life layout then cut left 1/4 the way down to Graham Hill bend, and had a gravel section that seems to be used for parking today. The iRacing version goes down to Graham Hill bend, and straight on to a "hairpin" gravel corner, then back to the track around Graham Hill bend.
The real life track, after driving on the inside of the track, then have a crest, where they do an 120 degree right hander right on/after a crest, over to tarmac, and goes back on the circuit after Surtees. (the last left-hand corner on the Brands Hatch Indy) However, the RX track then heads back towards Graham Hill Bend, cut's to the left halfway, and heads in to a really narrow, tight left-right section and the exit of the right-hander is basically pit-exit. (The tarmac road on the runoff after Graham Hill bend, is where the RX-track headed back up).
The iRacing version however, keeps driving the Brands Hatch Indy Track, and the last corner (the looong right hander), seems to be gravel on the inside, and tarmac on the outside, one of them being the normal lap, the other one the joker.

I am extremely disappointed that iRacing adds a fantasy layout on a classic RX-track. That's like making a track called Estering, Lyngås, Valkenswaards, Duivelsberg or Höljes, and then have 2 corners being from the actual track, the rest being fantasy.

 

[Kurupt CDN]

TOCA-Layout was at least a bit more based on reality than the iRacing-layout. I still don't quite get how it's OK to pay the premium price on iRacing-stuff when it's not based on reality, but that's just me.

Brands hatch and Charlotte are part of the base content so the RX tracks I am sure will be free to all subscribers.

 

[Ole Marius Myrvold]

Brands hatch and Charlotte are part of the base content so the RX tracks I am sure will be free to all subscribers.

Ah, that's at least one redeeming factor.
I've done a few RX races at Phoenix and Daytona, as they are free as well. It's fun

 

[Kurupt CDN]

Ah, that's at least one redeeming factor.
I've done a few RX races at Phoenix and Daytona, as they are free as well. It's fun

Agree the RX is fun....only reason I play iracing is for the dirt content.

So it's good to see more RX tracks added