iRacing | New Update, New Content Including Hockenheim

Paul Jeffrey

Premium
iRacing has been updated and as part of the new build the American studio have added the former German Grand Prix venue of Hockenheim to the simulation - adding another FIA Grade 1 listed circuit to the sim.


Yup, huge update change log notes incoming - it's time for another new iRacing build update! Content wise, this latest build is certainly rich in new things for players to try out. From the addition of the German Hockenheim track, to a brand new Super Late Model update and a whole host of new track configurations and AI additions - plenty of excitement ahead!

Hockenheim


Bark River International Raceway

Super Late Model Updates

Update Notes:

Season highlights include:

• Super Late Model (upgraded for 2021)
• Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya - Rallycross
• Bark River International Raceway
• Bristol Motor Speedway - Dirt
• Hockenheimring Baden-Württemberg
• Sonoma Raceway - IndyCar 2012-2018
• Paint Shop Overhaul
• Stockcar Dirt Tires
• Smoke and Dust Volumetric and Lighting Updates
• Replay Audio Processing - Compression and Distortion DSP Effects
• A new Pace Car
• New Damage Model (Dallara iR-01, Formula Renault 2.0, NASCAR Chevrolet Monte Carlo - 1987, NASCAR Ford Thunderbird - 1987, and Street Stock)
• New Tires (Aston Martin DBR9 GT1, Audi 90 GTO, BMW M4 GT4, Chevrolet Corvette C6.R GT1, Ford GT GT2, Indy Pro 2000 PM-18, Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 Clubsport MR, Supercars Ford Mustang GT, Supercars Holden ZB Commodore, USF 2000, [Legacy] Riley MkXX Daytona Prototype - 2008, [Legacy] V8 Supercar Ford Falcon - 2009, [Legacy] V8 Supercar Ford FG Falcon - 2014, and [Legacy] V8 Supercar Holden VF Commodore - 2014)
• AI Racing Content (Audi R8 LMS, BMW M4 GT3, Ferrari 488 GT3, Ford GT GT2/GT3 - Ford GT GT3, Lamborghini Huracán GT3 EVO, McLaren MP4-12C GT3, Mercedes-AMG GT3, Auto Club Speedway - Oval, Hockenheimring Baden-Württemberg (ALL), Las Vegas Motor Speedway - Oval, New Hampshire Motor Speedway - Road Course with South Oval, and New Hampshire Motor Speedway - Oval)





Full 2021 Season 2 Release details are below.

iRACING UI:

General
- Fixed an issue where opening a second instance of the iRacing UI from the Membersite causes the first instance to visually lock-up.
- Fixed the behavior where the "X" button would not close the UI while the Simulator was up.

Paint Shop
- The Paint Shop has received an overhaul in both form and function!
- - The new design maximizes the available screen space, using the full width of the iRacing UI.
- - The 3D Model Viewer has been fully integrated into the Paint Shop, allowing you to directly manipulate your view of the model as you work.
- - Full helmet, suit, and driver customization is also available in the Paint Shop, and is fully integrated with the 3D Model Viewer.
- - Car model options have been organized for ease of use, especially for custom paints.
- - Paint Swatches and the color picker have been improved, for easy copying, pasting, and organizing your color schemes.
- - Driver characters are now fully animated in the 3D Model Viewer.
- Some new sponsors have been added to the Paint Shop including:
- - ButtKicker
- - Engine Ice
- - RYCO Motorsports
- Turn Racing's logos have been updated.


3D Model Viewer
- Fixed an issue with the display of slanted numbers.
- Fixed an issue with the incorrect character encoding of driver names being painted on cars.


MEMBERSITE:

iRacers Online
- The count of iRacers Online has been made more accurate.
- - It now includes Members whom are connected to iRacing via the iRacing UI, and all Members in Sessions.

Declare Drivers
- A new data endpoint has been added for Broadcasters to get the list of Teams and their declared drivers.
- - This data endpoint is accessed through the URL: https://members.iracing.com/membersite/GetSubsessi...ms?subsessionid=<subsessionID>
- - The intended use for this data is so Broadcasters can know from the start of a Session who will be driving for each Team over the course of the Session.
- - - This data will not provide data for single driver sessions.
- - - The data for Team Sessions without Declared Drivers is no different than what can be obtained by tracking the in-Sim telemetry.


SIMULATION:

Race Servers
- Fixed an issue that would sometimes cause no Open Practice sessions to be available on race servers for popular series.
- Fixed an issue that could cause some teams in driver-swap series to not be assigned into an Open Practice before the Race was launched.

Race Control
- The method for calculating the race start pit exit delay and the missed start tow delay have been updated to account for situations in which the slower class may hang back to give themselves additional space at the start of a multi-class race.

Pace Car
- A new pace car, Sedan, has been added to iRacing!
- - This pace car is a sedan-style vehicle, not manufactured by any of the known names in cars. Our secretly created sedan provides no brand favoritism while maintaining a stylish and professional look on the track!
- - The Sedan is now the default pace car for asphalt oval events.
- - The Sedan may be selected for use, like our existing pace cars, while creating Hosted Sessions at asphalt ovals.


Opponent Cars
- Fixed some issue with a small variety of opponent cars including:
- - Opponent cars were heavily striking curbs at Long Beach Street Circuit.
- - Some stockcars appeared to be floating slightly at oval tracks.

Dynamic Track
- Track surface dynamics have been updated to react more realistically with tires of different compounds, such that softer tires will tend to produce a thicker layer of rubber than harder tires.
- Added the ability for the server to begin transmitting dynamic track data for the next session to clients, which is designed to make session transitions more accurate, and avoid large visual changes in the first few moments of a new session.

Team Racing
- Fixed a bug that prevented Race Control from properly enforcing the driver-swap rule where all declared drivers must drive a fair share if the same member was declared as a driver for multiple teams.

Dirt Racing
- Specialized dirt racing tires are now enabled on many NASCAR stockcar-type vehicles.
- - These tires load automatically when an appropriate vehicle is loaded onto a track with a dirt surface.
- - This change includes the following vehicles:
- - - ARCA Menards Chevrolet Impala
- - - NASCAR Chevrolet Monte Carlo - 1987
- - - NASCAR Cup Series Chevrolet Camaro ZL1
- - - NASCAR Cup Series Ford Mustang
- - - NASCAR Cup Series Toyota Camry
- - - NASCAR Ford Thunderbird - 1987
- - - NASCAR Gander Outdoors Chevrolet Silverado
- - - NASCAR Gander Outdoors Ford F150
- - - NASCAR Gander Outdoors Toyota Tundra
- - - NASCAR Xfinity Chevrolet Camaro
- - - NASCAR Xfinity Ford Mustang
- - - NASCAR Xfinity Toyota Supra
- - - [Legacy] NASCAR Cup Chevrolet Impala COT - 2009
- - - [Legacy] NASCAR Cup Chevrolet SS - 2013
- - - [Legacy] NASCAR Cup Ford Fusion - 2016
- - - [Legacy] NASCAR Nationwide Chevrolet Impala - 2012
- - - [Legacy] NASCAR Truck Chevrolet Silverado - 2008
- - - [Legacy] NASCAR Xfinity Chevrolet Camaro - 2014
- - - [Legacy] NASCAR Xfinity Ford Mustang - 2016
- - - [Legacy] NASCAR Xfinity Toyota Camry - 2015

AI Racing
- AI Racing is now available for the following additional vehicles:
- - Audi R8 LMS
- - BMW M4 GT3
- - Ferrari 488 GT3
- - Ford GT GT2/GT3 - Ford GT GT3
- - Lamborghini Huracán GT3 EVO
- - McLaren MP4-12C GT3
- - Mercedes-AMG GT3
- AI Racing is now available at the following additional tracks:
- - Auto Club Speedway - Oval
- - Hockenheimring Baden-Württemberg (ALL)
- - Las Vegas Motor Speedway - Oval
- - New Hampshire Motor Speedway - Oval
- - New Hampshire Motor Speedway - Road Course with South Oval
- AI Drivers have completed the following specialized training courses:
- - Maximum Handling at Maximum Speed
- - RACE-422 Avoidance Tactics during Deceleration
- - Nerves of Steel: Lessons on Pit Stall Deceleration from a Lollipop Veteran
- - Monitoring your Tire Traction (Level II)
- - What's the Deal with Double-Row Restarts?
- - Eyes & Brain - Looking & Planning
- - The Ancient Art of Fly-Catching to Improve Your Reaction Time
- - Chicanes - A Thesis by Nigel Saunders
- - 360 degrees to Steering Recovery

- AI Drivers have improved their skills with the following cars:
- - BMW M4 GT4
- - Indy Pro 2000 PM-18
- - Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 Clubsport MR
- - USF 2000

- AI Drivers have received additional training at the following tracks:
- - Homestead Miami Speedway - Oval
- - Nürburgring Grand-Prix-Strecke - Grand Prix.

Race Series
- For the IMSA Racing Series, all included cars now load into the event with some IMSA-specific modifications.
- - The following vehicles are effected, and ONLY effected during IMSA Racing Series events:
- - - BMW M4 GT3
- - - BMW M8 GTE
- - - Chevrolet Corvette C8.R GTE
- - - Dallara P217
- - - Ferrari 488 GTE
- - - Lamborghini Huracán GT3 EVO
- - - Porsche 911 RSR

- - These cars have IMSA branding and number positions. This includes the windshield banner, number boards, etc.
- - These cars have white numbers in the number boards, and a rear number that can be color-changed in the paint shop.
- - Each car has Michelin tires except for the Lamborghini and the Ferrari, which have no tire branding.
- - Each car has IMSA leaderboards. These digital displays show the car’s position in its class. The digits on each display are the same color as it’s car class (red for GTLM, etc.).
- - For cars that have round position lights on the sides, they remain, but will not function by design.


New Damage Model

- The New Damage Model has been enabled on the following vehicles:
- - Dallara iR-01
- - Formula Renault 2.0
- - NASCAR Chevrolet Monte Carlo - 1987
- - NASCAR Ford Thunderbird - 1987
- - Street Stock

- The manner in which tires react to forces have been adjusted so they handle object impacts more consistently.
- - Tires handle forces from contact with anything other than the ground with a more simple algorithm that favors consistency. Forces acting on tires from objects will now match those seen by opponents for all drivers. This makes wheel damage consistent between player and opponent cars.
- - Tire impacts with a surface, such as the track, curbs, and off-road areas, will continue to use the original high-complexity tire force algorithm.
- - Wheel-on-wheel impacts should now damage both wheels appropriately, rather than one car seeming to always come out of the incident with more damage. In addition, these changes make future development easier as the forces involved are now much more consistent in repeat situations.

- The following parameters have been adjusted to improve the look and feel of crashes:
- - Reduced the torsion bar torque applied when either wheel has been removed.
- - Tire and rim colliders are now separate objects.
- - Wheel hyper-extensions have been further reduced with more accurate correction forces.
- A variety of properties were adjusted to improve the appearance of crashing opponent vehicles, including:
- - Smoothed the forces applied when a wheel reattaches to reduce jitteriness or spikes.
- - Reduced the likelihood of force application spikes from wall collisions.
- - Optimized visual averaging of wheel stability to reduce visual hopping.
- - Wheel tethers have been tightened slightly and force damping has been increased.

- Fixed the following incorrect behaviors and potential crash issues:
- - Fixed an issue where opponent car wheels would partially break but remain attached in the wrong position.
- - Fixed a Simulator crash issue that could occur when an opponent car with a detached wheel was reset to the pits.
- - Fixed a Simulator crash issue that could occur when a player car with lightly damaged wheels was reset to the pits.

Qualification Conduct Scrutiny System
- Some additional adjustments have been made for the Qualification Conduct Scrutiny System particularly concerning braking, pit speeds, and optimal race line speeds. These adjustments will be more noticeable at higher levels of scrutiny.

Gridding
- Fixed an issue where custom grids for Hosted Team Sessions were sometimes ignored.

Hybrid Deployment System
- The automated hybrid deployment system has been re-written with some slight improvements on deployment strategy.
- - The following vehicles are affected:
- - - Audi R18
- - - McLaren MP4-30
- - - Porsche 919
Fixed an issue with the manual deployment option for hybrid deployment systems where the offset was acting in the opposite direction.

Rendering
- The majority of the tiny pin-holes in the middle of the paved racing surfaces, where sky could show through from behind as bright speckles, has been fixed.
- Altered the non-VR driving camera's near clip from 10cm to 2cm, to reduce the amount of clipping away of objects very near the camera. This now matches the settings that are used in VR.

Visual Effects
- Tire smoke and dust cloud effects have been substantially upgraded!
- - Smoke and dust now provide a greater sense of volume and density.
- - Lighting and shading of smoke and dust clouds has been improved.
- - The sizes and behaviors of dust and smoke clouds have been updated.
- - Dust puffs kicked-up by spinning tires have been updated.
- Spark effects have been updated.
- The particle system's memory management has been optimized for improved performance.

Audio
- Audio levels for scrape sounds for all material types have been improved.
- Mild impact sounds for all material types have been improved.

XAudio2
- Replay Master Compressor, a new XAudio 2 option has been added to the XAudio2 sound options.
- - This is a multi-channel compressor/limiter that will work in surround, stereo and headsets.
- - - The effect can ONLY be used in replays to increase the volume of quieter sounds and mimics the dynamics used in TV Broadcasts.
- - - The compressor effect will give a perceived increase in overall volume but we have been careful not to allow the peak volume to exceed the levels obtained with the effect turned off.
- - The three options available for the Replay Master Compressor option are:
- - - None: Normal replay dynamics with zero effect.
- - - Mild: A noticeable compression of the dynamic range. The effect will boost the quieter sounds for a more consistent amplitude.
- - - Heavy: Simulates a higher level of audio compression similar to TV and radio broadcasts. The quieter sounds will be a lot louder.
- Replay Distortion: The replay cameras now have a microphone distortion setting for XAudio2 in the replay camera tool (CTRL+ F12). This digital sound processing was inspired by real-life TV broadcasts where track-side cameras exceed their sound pressure levels and start to distort.
- - This effect mimics a track-side microphone, usually with a lower SPL rating of around 100dB, picking up a loud car, such as a NASCAR at 140+SPL, whooshing past as though it were a mic mounted on the wall.
- - This setting allows you to configure a camera's microphone to sound less clean and more crunchy. The setting choices are: None, Light or Heavy.
- - - The sounds need to be pretty loud to start getting into the distortion. For instance - very close to a track-side camera!
- - - Additionally, you can use the camera's mic gain setting to push the sounds up into even more distortion.
- - - - A Word of Caution: Pushing a camera's mic gain setting too far may distort the softer sounds and possibly drive your audio device too hard.
- - We have carefully made the distortion effect dynamic, and this will allow relatively clean audio until a vehicle reaches a threshold where it starts to saturate into a crunchy yet smooth distortion. It sounds most realistic when a loud car passes a camera very closely.

Controls
- Logic has been added to only trigger a toggle variable if the underlying value was changed.
- - This stops toggle variables from triggering if a user selects the same value from a dropdown or spin control without making an actual change.
- The virtual mirror can now be resized with a new variable, "VirtualMirrorSize", in the [Drive Screen] section of the "app.ini" file.
- - You can set this variable to the following values:

- - - 0 = large

- - - 1 = medium (default)

- - - 2 = small

- - - 3 = extra small

- Support has been added for mapping a second throttle and brake input to match the second clutch input. This can be useful when using hand controls to gang two paddles together so both operate the brake or throttle. Or to combine a hand brake with an analog paddle on the wheel rim.
- - The hand brake, throttle2, brake2, and clutch2 control setup has been moved from the driving options tab to the control options tab.
- Fixed an issue where the "toggle selected control" hotkey was not working in black boxes.


Force Feedback
- A new force limiter has been implemented that reduces force feedback (FFB) generated when a strong vehicle crash or other extreme force event occurs. This system is designed to protect you from your wheel when it generates potentially dangerous levels of force.
- - A new limiter indicator on the 'F' meter illuminates when the limiter is engaged.
- - By default, this system is enabled. It may be disabled by setting the new "FFBUseForceLimiter=0" within the [Force Feedback] section of the "app.ini" file.
- - A new telemetry output, "SteeringWheelLimiter" has been added that indicates the force limit percentage being applied.

Cameras
- Live camera edits should no longer cause camera shake.
- Unused controls are now hidden during the camera joystick calibration.
- Scroll bars have been added to the camera tool config tab so dialog options fit better on the screen.
- Viewing distance is now prevented from going negative when setting up rendering.
- Fixed a bug that caused camera tool joystick calibration to fail in a Replay.
- Fixed several issues with blimp cameras.

Spectators
- An option for Spectators to be able to access the in-Sim "Start/Stop Spotting" user interface has been added.
- - This allows Spectators to view the live/extrapolated car positions in case they are spotting for a team that does not make them a team member. This might happen if the team does not want the potential spotter to see their car setup.
- - Spectator access to this interface is disabled by default, but can be enabled by hand-editing the "app.ini" file, and changing the newly-added "ShowSpotterUIForSpectators" setting in the "[spectator]" section from 0 to 1.

Telemetry
- A new flag, "irsdk_oilTempWarning", has been added to the "EngineWarnings" variable that is set to 1 when the oil temperatures get above 125 C. Just like the "irsdk_waterTempWarning" flag, this is an approximate value; some cars can handle higher oil temperatures.
- A new switch, "irsdkLimitFileSize=0", has been added to the "[Misc]" section of the "app.ini" file.
- - Setting this value to 1 automatically splits the .ibt telemetry files into 90 megabyte chunks that McLaren ATLAS can load.
- If live telemetry fails to load, disk telemetry will not be blocked from running.
- Fixed an error in telemetry logging of "CarIdxEstTime" that could cause the value to jump or report from a different car type.

CARS:
ARCA Menards Chevrolet Impala
- For the New Damage Model, the following adjustments have been made:
- - Adjusted the suspension system to prevent excessive hyper-extensions.
- - Wheel strengths have been upgraded; rear wheels should be tougher than front wheels to dissuade rear-endings.
- - Wheel tethers have been improved.
- iRacing setups have been updated.

Aston Martin DBR9 GT1
- Tire spec has been updated.
- Some vehicle parameters have been updated, including:
- - The range of possible front and rear suspension springs has been reduced.
- - Minimum front ride height has been increased.
- - Maximum possible negative camber settings have been reduced.
- iRacing setups have been updated.

Audi 90 GTO
- Tire spec has been updated.
- Fixed an issue with some backfire effects.
- iRacing setups have been updated.

Audi R18
- iRacing setups have been updated.

Audi R8 LMS
- Some vehicle parameters have been updated, including:
- - Aerodynamic downforce has been reduced slightly.
- - Toe adjustment increments and limits have been updated.
- iRacing setups have been updated.

Audi RS 3 LMS
- For the New Damage Model, nose strength has been improved.
- Fixed an issue with swaybar arm lengths.

BMW M4 GT3
- Toe adjustment increments and limits have been updated.
- iRacing setups have been updated.

BMW M4 GT4
- Tire spec has been updated.
- Some vehicle parameters have been updated, including:
- - Tire compound and construction has been adjusted.
- - Various changes to better align with real-world IMSA PC specification. Ride height rules, camber limits, fuel burn rate, fuel tank size and fill rate, minimum tire pressures and pitstop procedures have all been adjusted.
- - Various suspension parameters have been adjusted.
- - Rear toe adjustment range has been reduced to positive values only with finer adjustment increments (0.1 mm).
- - Rear wing range has been adjusted.
- For the New Damage Model, the nose and rear are now more resistant to visual scrape effects.
- iRacing setups have been updated.
 
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The good Hockenheim or the new Hockenheim?
GP and all these variants:
ir_hochenheim.png


Historic? Propably never.
 
Although I have to say, some cars in AMS2 feel a bit too wobbly for me. Especially the V8 Supercar feels undrivable. I mean, I get that it has a LOT of power but the AI is stable whereas I am constantly fighting with the rear. Maybe I am doing something wrong but it suprises me that the V8 Supercar mod from rFactor 2 is very drivable

Super V8 tyres are wobbly...

Even Ken Block couldn't control the rear...

These cars have a spool like a kart, but with lots of bodyroll transferring more weight to the outside tyre, producing more grip and more torque on the throttle. When those cars lift over inner curbs, 100% torque goes to the outside wheel only and in tight corners it's probably often >90%, so lots of oversteer on the throttle. Open diff-cars are the opposite and always distributing a 50/50 torque-split like the SCCA or Skip Barber in iRacing or the F Trainer and Vee in AMS2. They stabilize on the throttle and (lift-off)-oversteer off throttle. If you drive karts like that, you will be awful slow and the trick is the same with the Super V8: straight-line braking, early entry to get the weight to the outside and rotate the car on the throttle through the corner.

LImited slip diffs like in GT-racing are in between and iRacing is often very open-diff like, while AMS2 has more locking (Radical SR8 vs P3 Roco for example). I thing the perfect spot would be often in between, but more locking diffs are performing better than open diffs since the diff can be still loose off throttle from the coast-diff. All the weight pushing on the squeezed outside-tyres while the inside has basically the contact patch of bicycle wheels from the camber and less distance to travel needs a more uneven torque split for the optimal rotation.
 
I'm new to iracing and have been playing it for a sew weeks now. I have a license D and a safety rating of 3.3, iracing says it's enough for am upgrade to license C. When does this normally get updated? I tought it was at the beginning of the new season with started yesterday right?
 
They still will not physically model the kerbs! Absolutely no point in the expensive laser scans if they don't bother using them! And they aren't faking it right either, all the data out of the sim shows they aren't using any correct physical modeling.
 
On what day? It’s differ from day to day almost. Also, it has no lift off oversteer, so hopefully IRacing won’t go that way. (Love AMS2, but it isn’t there yet.)

But I do agree, the tier model could be better in IRacing. Physics are good.
I've been putting in serious time lately on Nords in rF2 and AMS2 just zen lapping and I'm using lift-off oversteer all the time?

I've been driving the prototype category, formula, usually other high grip cars, maybe that's it. I notice other cars like the GT3s and Caterhams have subpar grip information so they're not as enjoyable to drive.
 
Although I have to say, some cars in AMS2 feel a bit too wobbly for me. Especially the V8 Supercar feels undrivable. I mean, I get that it has a LOT of power but the AI is stable whereas I am constantly fighting with the rear. Maybe I am doing something wrong but it suprises me that the V8 Supercar mod from rFactor 2 is very drivable

Yeah, this is a real thing. What surprised me recently was after putting in a lot of rF2 Nords laps I decided to try AMS2 on Nords and was surprised that I acclimitized to the tire model really quickly, like it's maybe 90% of the quality of the rF2 tire model.

I think the more popular cars in AMS2 (GT3s, Caterhams, etc.) have less grip and downforce so the other quirks seem exagerrated on those cars. I still don't like those cars in AMS2, yet. They're doable but not as enjoyable as something like the prototype cars.
 
It is known as irenting for a reason. It may work but if you let those monthly subscriptions slip you can't even hotlap your lovely DLC.
Another way to ease your mind about it is to think of DLC payments as separate from the monthly payments. Everybody charges for DLC now but nobody except iRacing has their level of multiplayer infrastructure. So, I think of it as paying the ongoing costs of the multiplayer infrastructure.

You do lose if you stop paying for that but it feels better to think of it as paying for multiplayer infrastructure and any-time racing than as renting :)

iRacing's killer feature is its multiplayer, drop-in racing. Until other sims make this a priority, iRacing doesn't even have to be great, it just has to be good enough.
 
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Another way to ease your mind about it is to think of DLC payments as separate from the monthly payments. Everybody charges for DLC now but nobody except iRacing has their level of multiplayer infrastructure. So, I think of it as paying the ongoing costs of the multiplayer infrastructure.

You do lose if you stop paying for that but it feels better to think of it as paying for multiplayer infrastructure and any-time racing than as renting :)

iRacing's killer feature is its multiplayer, drop-in racing. Until other sims make this a priority, iRacing doesn't even have to be great.
Keeping their online service at this level and updating all the content constantly is worth some money.
If you race enough you can get up to 40 dollars discount per year.
So combine that with their black friday price-cuts, brings down the price quite drastically.
 

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