This highly anticipated update has now been released on the iRacing members site. The update includes numerous fixes and updates but the one most iRacing fans have been waiting for is the new tyre model preview that is being rolled out with the new NASCAR Nationwide model.
The new tyre model has been worked on by David Kaemmer and his team for over a year and they believe that this new model is extremely authentic and will improve the feeling of being connected with the road surface and consider it may well be the most significant development in the iRacing service since it started in 2008.
This new tyre model will eventually be included on all cars in the iRacing v2.0 update touted for release in August 2011 but for now iRacing fans will be able to put the new tyre and the new Nationwide car through its paces.
David Kaemmer had this to say about the new tyre model:
“Previous tire models for race simulations have been based on measuring real tiresand fitting performance curves to data generated on test machines,” says Kaemmer. “But without understanding why tires generate the forces they do, it’s hard to predictwhat’s going to happen outside of the performance envelope where tires are tested. It also is very time consuming to determine the many numbers needed to describe a tire using a fitted model like that.
“So we went back to first principles to figure out how to model a tire from basic measurements we can do without putting them on a tire test machine. How does the patch of rubber in contact with the road generate grip? How does that patch of rubber move across the road? How does it distortwhen you climb a curb or when the tire starts to slide?
“The theoretical model we’ve come up with does the right things. When a car slides to a stop it takes the right amount of time; burn-outs look and feel right . . . all kinds of behaviors we used to struggle to reproduce by fitting numbers now happen almost automatically. There are comparatively few numbers involved in describing a tire now, all of which are much more easily measured. That means we’re more accurately reproducing the ways in which tires behave, which, in turn, enables us to make a car’s performance extremely authentic.”
The new tyre model has been worked on by David Kaemmer and his team for over a year and they believe that this new model is extremely authentic and will improve the feeling of being connected with the road surface and consider it may well be the most significant development in the iRacing service since it started in 2008.
This new tyre model will eventually be included on all cars in the iRacing v2.0 update touted for release in August 2011 but for now iRacing fans will be able to put the new tyre and the new Nationwide car through its paces.
David Kaemmer had this to say about the new tyre model:
“Previous tire models for race simulations have been based on measuring real tiresand fitting performance curves to data generated on test machines,” says Kaemmer. “But without understanding why tires generate the forces they do, it’s hard to predictwhat’s going to happen outside of the performance envelope where tires are tested. It also is very time consuming to determine the many numbers needed to describe a tire using a fitted model like that.
“So we went back to first principles to figure out how to model a tire from basic measurements we can do without putting them on a tire test machine. How does the patch of rubber in contact with the road generate grip? How does that patch of rubber move across the road? How does it distortwhen you climb a curb or when the tire starts to slide?
“The theoretical model we’ve come up with does the right things. When a car slides to a stop it takes the right amount of time; burn-outs look and feel right . . . all kinds of behaviors we used to struggle to reproduce by fitting numbers now happen almost automatically. There are comparatively few numbers involved in describing a tire now, all of which are much more easily measured. That means we’re more accurately reproducing the ways in which tires behave, which, in turn, enables us to make a car’s performance extremely authentic.”
