Greg Hill, Senior VP and Government Producer at iRacing posted the February 2025 growth replace.
With the Season 2, 2025 construct getting nearer we get get a glimpse of all the brand new content material and options which can be within the works for the net racing service.
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Hiya iRacers,
It’s been a busy begin to the yr at iRacing – our growth staff has been working arduous to organize for the Season 2, 2025 construct whereas our operations groups have been hustling to help the particular occasion trifecta that begins every year, with the iRacing Roar, Daytona 24, and Daytona 500 working again to again. We’re additionally balancing many longer-term tasks, made potential by vital funding and development in our growth groups. The outcome – we’ve by no means had wherever near this variety of vital tasks and tech initiatives within the works on the identical time. On this replace, I’ll contact on a few of these initiatives and set expectations for the upcoming S2 construct.
Earlier than we preview growth, I wish to thank all iRacers who participated in our particular occasions up to now this yr. These occasions take an amazing quantity of effort and time to plan and function, to not point out the years of growth and infrastructure work that energy them. It brings these groups nice satisfaction to see the excessive turnout from sim racers all over the world, and this yr, we set participation information but once more with the Daytona 24 drawing a powerful 24k entries, making it the most important and most vital single occasion in sim racing historical past. Thanks once more to your ardour, your time, and your participation.
Season 2 is across the nook, and we now have a fantastic set of automobiles, tracks, enhancements, and new options in retailer. Let’s begin with a fast evaluate of the upcoming content material…
It was method again in 2009 that we launched the automotive that’s utilized in our ARCA Menards Sequence in the present day. This automotive and collection have grow to be one in all our hottest Oval racing choices and attracts near 100,000 whole drivers every week. Nevertheless, given the age of the artwork and driving mannequin, in addition to developments in the true world, we’re effectively overdue for a refreshed ARCA launch. With the S2 construct, we will likely be releasing a number of totally licensed ARCA automobiles. Proper now, we’re going by means of the approval course of with the producers, so particulars will likely be shared quickly. Every automotive has been constructed from the bottom up with new art work and physics that incorporate developments we’ve made in how we create artwork and our physics modeling.
Many iRacers have beforehand bought the about-to-be-outdated ARCA automotive, and we’re positive there are questions on how we’ll deal with the location of the brand new automobiles in our collection. The brand new physics mannequin relies on the modern-day automobiles, and won’t BOP with the outdated mannequin. As such, we now have determined to take away the outdated automotive from the ARCA Menards official collection. This substitute will likely be accompanied by credit issued to iRacers who bought the outdated ARCA automotive inside one yr of the discharge of the brand new automobiles. Credit score quantities will likely be primarily based on the period of possession. As many have noticed from different latest packages like this, this does supply alternatives for grabbing the outdated automotive in anticipation of the brand new launch…
Along with the ARCA launch, we will even replace one other common automotive—the Legends Ford 34c. The Legends Ford 34c is a part of our base content material package deal, and this replace will likely be utilized to the prevailing automotive package deal. The rebuild incorporates our newest physics and artwork developments, and the automotive appears nice and drives even higher.
Final season, we up to date our GTP and LMP2 automobiles with our newest (pre-V10) release-ready tire model. This model improved dynamic response and driving really feel and resulted in a mannequin that was rather more in sync with inputs. The brand new tire additionally integrated extra correct degradation and up to date compound and building modeling. Nevertheless, with the discharge, it shortly turned clear to us that we missed the mark in an essential method – cornering efficiency was off, and iRacers have been justifiably let down by this lapse. Along with a much-needed however yet-to-be-delivered replace to our hybrid system modeling, the discharge didn’t measure up.
It’s and has at all times been our mission at iRacing to supply probably the most life like simulation racing expertise potential, bar none. When it turned clear that we didn’t hit the mark with the discharge and with the deservedly excessive expectations of iRacers and sim racers, our staff rallied and got here up with a plan to assault the problems with urgency and to make issues proper.
This plan had two phases:
Section 1 – A complete reconstruction of the bodily tires and compositions, using new real-world information and adjusted and expanded testing practices. This contains all GTP automobiles and LMP2. We’ve got spent the final three months on this replace and have collaborated with a number of racing drivers, together with professionals racing on the pinnacle of motorsport on this planet’s high racing collection.
Section 2 – An entire overhaul of the hybrid system to carry it updated with the design of the present real-world automobiles and acceptable rulesets.
Section 1 is able to go and can ship with S2. We’re thrilled with the hassle our staff put into this and the standard of the outcome. We do, nonetheless, must set expectations. The previous launch missed the mark primarily in high-speed cornering efficiency, which resulted from an excessive amount of grip. The adjusted mannequin is true to life and could be a handful at occasions, particularly when the tires are chilly. iRacers ought to reacquaint themselves with their favourite GTP or the LMP2 in take a look at classes earlier than leaping right into a race with their iRacing friends. Observe leaving the pits safely and establishing heat within the tires. What you expertise will provide you with a better appreciation for the ability concerned in piloting these technologically cutting-edge and high-performance racecars in the true world.
The Section 2 hybrid system updates stay on monitor for S3.
Season 2 will see the debut of a fantastic monitor we’ve needed so as to add for a while however haven’t had a possibility to scan till just lately: Portland Worldwide Raceway. Owned by the town of Portland, Oregon, PIR is a virtually two-mile highway course and can characteristic a number of configs. In actual life, the monitor is raced by NASCAR, IndyCar, Trans-Am, and ARCA, and it has fielded races in Components E, Pirelli World Problem, and AMA Superbikes. Initially often called “West Delta Park,” PIR has a substantial amount of historical past, spanning again to the early Nineteen Sixties. Count on to see PIR raced throughout a various set of racing collection in iRacing.
Beforehand, we shared that we’re working to enhance the artwork high quality and modern-day accuracy of most of the tracks on iRacing which have grow to be outdated. These previous couple of years, we’ve seen such updates utilized to Okayama, Street Atlanta, Watkins Glen, and extra. Beginning round a yr in the past, we started to emphasise accelerating the tempo of those updates and have been build up groups and processes to carry out the work at scale. As we speak, we now have upwards of fifty artists dedicated to this initiative, and their work will debut in sizable batches over the subsequent few seasons, beginning with many NASCAR tracks. We’re almost performed with Bristol, Darlington, Dover, Homestead, Kansas, Vegas, and Iowa (repave), and can ship many as free updates in Season 2 (to house owners of those tracks). Season 3 will see many extra updates, and from there we’ll widen our focus to different classes of racetracks on the service. We’re actually excited to get these older tracks updated and able to take full benefit of our future new graphics engine.
One other track-related replace with the season 2 construct will likely be a tremendously expanded listing of tracks that help 3D curbing. This method requires per-track customization to make sure accuracy and ends in a extra dynamic racing expertise. We stay up for the discharge of 3D curbs at Jerez, Aragon, Sandown, VIR, Winton, Rudskogen, and Hockenheim. Barcelona and Street America are on the bubble as as to if they are going to be in S2 or obtainable later.
Season 2 will even see the debut of latest sim options and performance.
Particles Refresh Section 2 improves this method with vital tweaks to rendering and dynamic modeling and the all-new inclusion of native particles cautions. Native particles cautions are informative solely, and the work has begun to train our minds relating to future expanded highway course warning help…
There are few sim racing experiences extra irritating than being out on the monitor with racers who’re coping with networking issues. Community issues can manifest in varied methods, reminiscent of automobiles blinking out and in of existence as connections enhance and worsen. Whereas our netcode is powerful and powered by a long time of expertise and refinement, there’s a restrict to what might be performed when connections are severely compromised. To enhance the expertise for all, we now have carried out a brand new Connection Flag system. This method will flag racers whose connections are inadequate and mechanically pull them again into the pits till their connection improves. If they need, they’ll disconnect and attempt to enhance the issue, they’ll wait, or they’ll ghost drive. As soon as the connection does enhance, they are going to be allowed to renew their race from the pits.
I’ll listing our subsequent characteristic below Season 2, however word there’s an opportunity we maintain it again – it actually will depend on how testing and iteration go these previous few weeks. This method is focused to enhance the approachability and problem of AI races and is known as Adaptive AI. Adaptive AI is an non-compulsory characteristic designed to supply races with a dynamic and responsive degree of problem throughout all automobiles and tracks. With Adaptive AI, customers are in a position to customise the extent of problem they want when it comes to phrases (straightforward, medium, arduous, excessive) moderately than percentages, and one particular person’s Arduous could be one other particular person’s Medium. The system will adapt to you and supply the expertise that’s requested. This characteristic is impressed by NASCAR Racing 2003 Sequence, which lots of our builders labored on a few years in the past. The system stands the take a look at of time and would be the first of many enhancements on the way in which for AI racing in iRacing.
An all-new and vastly improved Lighting Mannequin will debut with Season 2. This lighting mannequin is being developed in parallel with the brand new renderer and a brand new sky mannequin, and we’re completely satisfied that we have been in a position to port over features of our new programs to the present renderer moderately than have to attend to take pleasure in it. The brand new lighting mannequin transforms the rendered world and the sunshine that’s imparted onto the surroundings and the racecars. This work is gorgeous to have a look at and will get us so enthusiastic about all the extra initiatives within the works. It should look even higher sooner or later when paired with the brand new graphics engine and the brand new sky mannequin. To help the brand new lighting mannequin, our artwork and content material groups are tweaking and rebalancing hundreds of textures and supplies throughout all the sim – it has been an enormous raise and a full staff effort!
iRacing is a worldwide platform with sim racers from everywhere in the world. How unimaginable is it that know-how can carry us collectively on the digital racetrack, sharing experiences collectively at 200+ mph? We’re excited to develop our efforts to succeed in and help sim racers who communicate languages apart from English in coming builds, and can roll out expanded language help within the launcher UI. We’ll start this enlargement slowly by means of the addition of Spanish and steadily add extra languages and help. Help within the sim UI will observe sooner or later as effectively, however that’s one other mission with totally different foundational tech.
One other replace value mentioning is extra of a usability/quality-of-life enhancement. Cost and account administration have been refactored to a devoted utility, which is able to function a basis for improved account creation and circulation.
Season 2 will even characteristic lots of of extra fixes and enhancements, that are too quite a few to say right here, however they are going to actually be lined extensively within the upcoming launch notes.
The ultimate word on Season 2, earlier than we transfer on to future growth, pertains to the New Sim UI. It had been our hope and tentative plan to debut the New Sim UI with this launch. That stated, we’re and at all times have been dedicated to delivering iRacers the most effective expertise potential, and we want a bit extra time to hit the required high quality normal. As many people who’re devs know, the final 10% of a mission could be a actual bear and requires in depth effort, detailed work, testing iteration, and match and end. We’re actually happy with what we’re constructing and the long run that the brand new UI framework will present for the enlargement of performance and new options.
Now, let’s evaluate a few of our future tasks and initiatives earlier than we wrap issues up and put together for Season 2.
I’ll begin with the New Graphics Engine, which is supported by a full staff of the most effective graphics engineers within the enterprise. Making a customized graphics engine is just not the commonest path sport builders take today, however it’s important to us at iRacing that we develop an engine that’s tailor-made to exactly meet the wants of simulation racing. The tip outcome will look wonderful and life like, however most critically, it is going to benefit from fashionable graphics strategies and {hardware} and be constructed round a performance-first mindset that encompasses full help of the various varied methods sim racers expertise sim racing (VR, multi-display, curved show, and so forth).
Current developments within the mission embody help passes outlined by shaders, improved culling, and help for array, dice, and 3D textures. The improved culling is designed to raised help objects with a lot of primitives. Final week, our Principal Graphics Engineer additionally shared a brand new shadow system prototype that may dramatically enhance the shadow look and efficiency seen within the present render. Additionally, as talked about earlier, we’re engaged on a brand new sky mannequin and have made vital progress.
As we now have shared in earlier Dev Updates, this mission would require endurance. We’re doing the arduous work that may create a powerful basis for the sim for years to come back. When potential, we’re strategically discovering methods to enhance the present renderer with work that’s adjoining to our efforts on the brand new renderer. For instance, lighting enhancements will debut in S2.
The graphics engineering staff surprises and impresses us almost day-after-day with their innovation, ingenuity, and expertise. We couldn’t be happier with the mission’s progress. This replace features a few preview screenshots that present the prototype new sky and an early model of the brand new shadow know-how.
Final quarterly replace, I touched pretty extensively on physics growth and priorities, so I received’t elaborate too extensively right here, however it’s value a fast recap of initiatives and priorities which can be underway. V10 tires high the listing, and we now have already invested years in R&D and constructed instruments to speed up the mission. Extra enhancements embody (this can be a fast recap from November’s replace)
- Double-precision physics calculations
- Higher FFB
- Higher contact patch modeling
- Higher tire form
- Higher tire compound modeling
- A greater grip mannequin
- Higher modeled warmth buildup and tire reminiscence
- Higher “moments”
Single Participant Profession Mode is shifting alongside effectively, and our focus stays on delivering what we’re calling “AI Championships” first as we construct in direction of a full profession mode. AI Championships will present an all-new mode of racing with AI in iRacing, the place you may simulate the profession path that many racers take from grassroots racing all the way in which to the head of the game in NASCAR, Prototype racing, Grand Prix Racing, and extra. The racing ladders in AI Championships may have flexibility obtainable and varied paths one can take and can help programs that consider efficiency in methods totally different from the standard iRacing metrics. Growth on AI Championship mode and Profession Mode can be fueling enhancements to the product as a complete, reminiscent of Adaptive AI, and future programs reminiscent of Auto AI and Save Race.
The Audio staff is dialed in on finishing architectural enhancements that may set the muse for a tremendously expanded and extra fashionable characteristic set. First up on the precedence listing are reflections, which is able to present a much more immersive expertise and a transformatively enhanced auditory presence as sound displays off of surfaces throughout the automotive and across the racetrack surroundings.
Honest competitors and the safety of our information are central to our sport. We’ve got staffed a full anti-cheat and anti-tamper staff comprised of trade leaders.
We proceed to take a position R&D vitality and precedence into the exploration and growth of latest options and performance powered by AI know-how. As we shared publicly late final yr, we now have partnered with the world-leading AI know-how consultants at Microsoft Analysis to co-innovate collectively and additional the science of AI analysis whereas additionally constructing new programs and experiences for iRacers. Our collaboration will advance our objectives of creating AI-powered driving teaching/crew programs, amongst many different alternatives. We’ve got targeted our efforts on a system designed to help racers in piloting their automobiles across the monitor with higher steering and help. This could dramatically improve the educational trajectory of latest iRacers, in addition to help veterans with extra precision.
I might proceed with many different growth initiatives, however as at all times, there will likely be future alternatives to share extra about these tasks and the various extra within the works that you simply’ll study quickly. Nevertheless, earlier than we conclude, let me run by means of some updates on future automobiles and tracks within the works.
A pair of Gen 4 automobiles are nearing completion. These 2003-era automobiles embody speedway/superspeedway variants, each when it comes to physics and when it comes to the precise automotive mannequin. We have been near delivery these with Season 2, however finally want a bit extra time to get the mission to the end line.
Important tasks are underway with our IndyCar and NASCAR Cup automobiles. Every will obtain the most recent pre-v10 tire mannequin, aero modeling updates, and related developments.
We’ve got one other Ferrari within the works, and our staff has been difficult themselves to ship the most effective physics, graphics, and audio fashions potential, using all of our newest growth tooling enhancements and high quality requirements.
Our scan of Adelaide went effectively, and our sizable scan and pictures staff efficiently navigated the dynamic public roads race monitor. They got here dwelling with tens of hundreds of pictures and lots of of tens of millions of laser scan factors. As a consequence of its location, this monitor received’t be a breeze for our staff to finish, however our expertise creating Lengthy Seaside and Chicago Road Course has ready us effectively for avenue circuits all over the world.
Miami Worldwide Autodrome is progressing properly. Prototype variations of the monitor are drivable and utilized by the monitor for its personal growth functions.
We signed Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez! We’re so excited to develop our providing of real-world NASCAR and F1 tracks, in addition to enter areas of North America which can be new to iRacing. Mexico Metropolis is a superb monitor with many distinctive traits, starting from its excessive elevation to the winding Foro Sol part, the place the monitor runs between two massive grandstands that beforehand have been a part of a baseball stadium.
We’ve got a lot extra within the works, however that should do for now. Once more, I simply need to shortly reemphasize how excited our staff is about the way forward for our nice racing sim and platform. In my function as Government Producer, I’m lucky to interface with our groups throughout all growth disciplines – artwork, manufacturing, rendering, audio, physics, design, AI, {hardware} help, and extra. With this visibility, day-after-day affords glimpses into thrilling progress throughout our complete product, and I’ve to let you know, what we now have in retailer for the subsequent few years goes to take iRacing and sim racing to a degree by no means seen earlier than. This can be a new period of risk, and we’re all going to share these developments and enhancements collectively the place they matter most – on the (simulated) monitor.
Earlier than we conclude, there are a few particular occasions arising value mentioning: the Bathurst 12, which is able to run from February twenty first to twenty third, and the Sebring 12hr, which is able to run from March twenty first to twenty third. Verify them out right here: hyperlink. Will probably be unbelievable to race Bathurst with the GT3s, and the Sebring occasion will characteristic our rearchitected and extra life like GTP/LMP2 tire mannequin—it needs to be nice.
Thanks to your continued help. I stay up for seeing you out on the monitor. As at all times, benefit from the assortment of screenshots and different media.
Greg Hill
Government Producer
iRacing
Official Webpage – www.iRacing.com
