iRacing: Development Update August 2024

iRacing is rolling out its new Development Update for August 2024. With the Season 4 build just around the corner, it’s the perfect time to share the latest progress in our simulation development.

Without further ado, here are the official notes for this update.

• Remember, you can join iRacing clicking here.

Hello iRacers,

It’s been a few months since the last update, and with our Season 4 build rapidly approaching, it’s time to share how development has been progressing. As of this post, we’ve been sharing these quarterly updates for the last year and a half, and we hope that the added transparency has been both insightful and helpful. The sustainable and always-improving model we’ve built with the iRacing simulation keeps our team busy and continuously engaged as we balance projects both near and far, and it’s always enjoyable to put together these dev updates and reflect on all the exciting initiatives that are in the works.

Before we dive into sim development, I would first like to answer a question we’ve seen crop up in the forums and on social media: How does iRacing balance development between the sim,  NASCAR 25, World of Outlaws, and ExoCross? I can provide some brief insight into how we balance it all without sacrificing quality on any of the projects.

By and large, the teams do not overlap between our various game and sim projects, but when there are strategic opportunities to share code, art, audio, technology, experience, and processes, we are able to capitalize on that opportunity. The sim team has shared content, code, and entire systems with our other project teams.  Similarly, the sim has benefited from similar exchanges of tech, audio, graphics shaders, and art. This is a huge boon to all project teams; we can do more together, and in many ways, we supercharge each other.  Everybody wins with this arrangement.

At iRacing, we’ve always been careful to expand our team responsibly and in a way that will ensure an appropriate balance between stability and growth. The business is strong, and this success is continuously reinvested right back into the sim, where we’ve more than quadrupled the development team over the past several years.  Our mission is to ensure that iRacing will always be the world-leading racing simulation and racing platform, and we continue to welcome phenomenal developers with expertise ranging across all systems and groups, such as art, physics, graphics, tooling, multiplayer/netcode, design, web technology, frontend, backend developers, and development managers.  While I can’t touch on everyone who has joined the sim team year-to-date, a few of our most recent additions this Summer include…

• Multiplayer/Networking: Earlier this summer, we were joined by a veteran and highly capable developer who was a Principal-level multiplayer/netcode engineer at one of our competitors. He joins and reinforces our great team. Expect an accelerated pace for improvements to these systems, as well as new features and capabilities.
• AI: While we’re proud of the iRacing AI, there’s always room for improvement, and many features we’d like to add. This week a Principal-level games industry AI veteran has joined our team, where he will reinforce our efforts and bring new ideas and experiences to the table. There’s a significant opportunity here, ranging from improved tooling to enable our AI production team to enhance their development, creating new features and AI behaviors/capabilities, as well as exploring emerging technology to revolutionize AI in sim racing.
• Software Engineering: While this is a broad category, we’re fortunate to be joined next month by a multi-decade sim racing peer, who will join us next month. This engineer can do it all and has the experience and racing know-how to contribute in many areas. Strategically, we have him slated to begin his contributions on projects related to the system we call Race Control, which controls how races are controlled and rules are enforced. We are excited to expand on these core systems and improve and expand things like cautions, race starts, etc.
• Graphics: I’ve shared a couple of times previously how our core graphics team has been reinforced by the addition of two of the industry’s leading graphics engineers. They have taken the proverbial bull by the horns and are leading our next-generation graphics engine development. Next month this team will be reinforced further, and we are very excited to welcome him to iRacing – now, I won’t name-drop, but I can say that he’s Director of Graphics at one of the two big game industry graphics engine companies, and his research in graphics has become industry-standard in all of gaming the past decade.

And now for Season 4 🙂 We’re just four weeks out, which is always reinforced by the fact that we create our Branch at this time. Now, what is a Branch? Essentially, it’s a copy of the codebase and sim that we intend to ship independently of other ongoing projects, which continue to be developed in the Trunk. The month leading up to release, our QA teams will be exhaustively testing this branch to ensure that what we ship with the Season build will meet our requirements for quality and stability. This is also the time we unlock all of the car and track content we plan to ship to our Alpha testing team and begin race testing. On that note, let’s start with our Season 4 content.

Tracks:  We’re really excited about the tracks in Season 4!

• Cadwell Park: Cadwell is a great racing circuit that’s close to home for many of our iRacing devs and iRacers, nestled in the woods of Lincolnshire, England. All four real-world configs will be included, and the team has had a blast driving it.In the real world and in the sim, Cadwell will provide great lapping and racing with some of our lower-powered open-wheel and sports/touring cars. Seeing Legends cars turn laps here in the real world is also common. Between Cadwell, the #soon-to-be-released Thruxton and Croft, and our six other UK-based road racing circuits, we have assembled an awesome regional group of track content for race fans.Cadwell will also see the debut of a new art feature that we are calling “broad maps.” Our broad maps are generated from data we capture from drones, and let us apply true-to-life detail from the real tracks into their digital counterparts.  The crisp up-close detail you are used to seeing will be maintained, and it will be blended with a nice organic visual as you cast your eyes across the scene. We dabbled with this previously at Slinger, and Cadwell will be the most expansive application of the technique yet.  To sum up the benefit of this broad mapping technique: it looks much more real.
• Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps: This project has been a long time coming, and we’ve certainly been aware of the significant demand; we’re so excited to finally deliver! We have rebuilt Spa from the ground up, using a fresh scan that includes all of the new improvements to the facility, resurfaced roads, and the significant changes made from La Source through Eau Rouge and Raidillon and elsewhere. All drivable surfaces have been re-modeled and art has been rebuilt from scratch, as well as any new structures or buildings. Where appropriate, existing objects from the original have been rebuilt or upgraded with to PBR.Spa plans to continue improving the facility and track over the coming years. We are in close communication with them to ensure we receive updated data along the way.As exciting as this is, I do need to appropriately set expectations  – this project is coming in hot. We’d been holding back a bit to learn about the most recent resurfacing and how we’ll handle the situation. I’d put the odds for Season 4 at 50/50.  Our team is working with the urgency needed to meet this goal, but ultimately we’ll see where we are in a few weeks.

  Now for the question many might have on their minds: How will iRacing handle the release, and will it require a purchase? The answer is easy—if you already own Spa, the new modern version of the track will be added to the existing package, and you will receive the track for free. Customers who don’t yet own Spa will only have to purchase Spa once, and they will receive both the historic version and the new version. In short, there will only be one Spa package, and it will include the old and the new.

Cars:  S4 cars include a great balance for both Oval and Road racing fans, and three new cars will debut. We were so very close to completing a fourth and fifth car (more on that in a moment), but are holding them back to ensure they are great.  Now for the three cars:

• BMW M4 GT4 Evo: We (and our partners at BMW) are very excited by this addition. Our current BMW M4 GT4 is based on the 2018 F82 variant of the car, and a newer G82 version has since been released that is physically and visually different and drives quite differently as well. This new car is built from a new and improved aero map which makes the car less pitch-sensitive. BMW also homologated alternate master cylinders and a pedal ratio which made the car handle better in the sim. This new car is all new in every way and great to drive. One area where I do want to properly set expectations: we were a bit late to receive the Evo headlights, so what we ship with S4 won’t be 1:1 visually with the Evo in the real world.  However, we will get those headlights updated ASAP in a future update.Since this is a new version of a car that is already on iRacing, here is how we will handle its release: iRacers who own the former BMW M4 GT4 will receive credits if they purchased it within the last year. The extent of the credits will be determined by the recency of the purchase.As for placement, the BMW M4 GT4 Evo will replace the F82 variant in our main GT4 series. We are also reformatting the BMW M Power Tour to run as a single make series using the new GT4 Evo at the D Level. The former BMW M4 GT4 (the F82) is a great vehicle and we’ll be adding it to some existing series, continuing its official support.
• McLaren 720S GT3 Evo: By now, many of you know about this, as our friends at Pfaff Motorsport have dropped the news and a cool render:

We can think of 720 reasons why you should check out @iRacing September…👀 pic.twitter.com/t9ndTTsAQq

— pfaffmotorsports (@pfaffmotorsport) August 5, 2024

In collaboration with our partners at McLaren, and the helpful team at Pfaff Motorsports, who have been supporting our development project, the McLaren 720S GT3 EVO is here. The car was homologated for the 2023 racing season and will remain in real-world competition for many years to come.

The addition of the 720S GT3 EVO to iRacing is made possible thanks to the significant efforts our engineering team has made to improve and optimize our loading and rendering systems. Whereas just a few years ago, seven unique cars was the limit, we’re now 2x that number

• Mini Stock: We’re really excited about this car. The Mini Stock is just a blast to drive and a perfect way for iRacers (and real-world racers) to step into oval racing. We also expect to see competition across a wide group, including iRacing veterans.The Mini Stock features a 2.3L inline 4-cylinder +200HP engine that propels the fairly light ~2,350lb car (with driver). For an oval car, it’s fairly nimble and also approachable to step in and drive. The Mini Stock’s debut on iRacing will include both pavement and dirt variants.I marvel at the phenomenal job the art team did on this vehicle, which has a very tactile and worn-in appearance. Their material and modeling work has raised the bar.The Mini Stock will be positioned at the Rookie level. Both the pavement and dirt versions will be free for all iRacers, and we encourage everyone to give them a try.

In addition to the great content, the Season 4 release will include a plethora of improvements and bug fixes, which are too numerous to review here.  That said, a few notable items include:

• Spotty rain: Our iRacing Weather System will see the addition of a new type of weather condition for Timeline mode—spotty. Currently, rain starts and stops on a specific schedule in timeline mode. This addition allows the user to schedule “spotty” rainfall, which is unpredictable and more dynamic than the current rain types. For example, instead of setting exactly when the rain will start, the user sets when the rain might start.  In real life, these sorts of conditions are referred to as spotty, and that’s what we’re going with for the sim as well: Spotty rain.
• Qualifying visibility: In real life, we can all see racers turn their qualifying laps; it’s happening right in front of our eyes, after all. However, in the sim, to optimize the amount of time qualifying takes, qualifying is run concurrently with every competitor on the track at the same time and invisible to one another. We will be making a change here – when you are actively qualifying, things will remain as they are now, and you won’t see other competitors. However, from the replay screen you and all competitors will be able to see everyone. Not only will this make qualifying more interesting, as you can see how others are doing, but it also will help create better accountability, and if anyone is up to qualifying hijinks, it will be immediately apparent to all…
• Dirt enhancement: We’ve been hearing helpful feedback from the community regarding some issues that are being experienced in dirt series, particularly with light, high-powered cars. This results in a harsh transition between a good track and a slicker track. The team has been working on a solution and is excited about their progress. It’s TBD whether this will be in S4, but our fingers are crossed.
• Enhanced multi-manufacturer and multi-class splitting algorithm: While we have never explicitly shared the secret sauce in how we do race splits, one can reasonably ascertain that iRating has a lot to do with it. This has served us well over the years and created some great racing. However, we have seen some cases, especially in special events, where a narrative takes hold that one manufacturer has an advantage over another (they don’t, and they are all BoP’d with great care), and we see an abundance of one car or another as a result. This results in the top splits having a field that is not as varied as one would see in the real world. The same applies to multi-class races, where we may see LMP2’s overrepresented in a field made up of GT3 and LMDh.We approached this problem carefully, considering the many nuances involved in creating a great racing field across the splits. Yes, we want more diverse racing fields that better represent the real world, but we also need to ensure that the racers are split in a way that does not put racers up against a field that they outclass or are outclassed by.This is a big change to make, and we won’t be diving right in.  Rather, we will be testing this new system out during Week 13 in a Test Series. For the test, the more participants, the better, so we would really appreciate that as many folks partake as possible. In fact, we will be awarding the seldomly-available iTested award to all who join. We’ll then have a great deal of data and information to work with and, if needed, refine the algorithm further.

  Note that this will only be used for multicar series where vehicles are not physics-identical, and therefore will not be used in series such as NASCAR.

• Instant AI: The web/UI team cooked this feature up, and it’s really cool. Have you ever been browsing our series and thought it would be great if you could easily test the weekly car/track combo with AI? Well, now you can. With the click of a button from within any series that has content with AI support, you can load an AI session that’s preconfigured with the appropriate car, track, and settings for that series.
• Account Management enhancements: Account Management will be fully deployed to the UI and will now include two-factor authentication (2FA). It’s always nice to have a bit more security.

That concludes our preview of Season 4, so let’s take a moment and review some of our future-focused initiatives and projects.

Tires and physics. Since shipping rain, our physics engineering team has transitioned to focusing on several projects that surround our core physics engine, our tire model, and our force feedback systems. Dave K. has a prototype up and running for a force feedback calibration process that will allow iRacers to get their various hardware set up in an optimal way for the sim. We are working on the future tire contact patch model, which will create a foundation for significant improvements to the ways that our car interfaces with the track through its tires and is focused on addressing some of the common complaints we’ve heard with our model.

Graphics engine update: Significant development continues on the creation of a new iRacing graphics/rendering engine. The DX12 prototype I mentioned last time is now loading tracks, cars, and textures. A .gif is included that shows this progress. It looks simple visually, and there’s not yet any lighting or shading, but looks can be deceiving and it’s a significant step forward for the new engine.  We are thrilled with the progress the team has made.

New Sim UI: This project is going really well and will transform the look of the iRacing sim to one that is more modern but also familiar and won’t require re-learning how to use the product. The UI platform creates a foundation to expand functionality in the future and reduce the dependence on third-party apps for functionality that iRacing should have by default. The project team was joined by a contract group of developers who have built several games with this UI language, and this has greatly accelerated the project.  We will be releasing the new UI when it meets the quality standards you all expect.

Track upgrades: We are working on several upgrades of old content.  For example, Circuit Zolder is an awesome track that has been part of the iRacing experience since 2010. We have been doing our best to revisit circuits such as Zolder and bring their artwork up to current standards (a few recent examples being Okayama and Sebring). A team is also working on New Hampshire Motor Speedway with similar goals, and we will be revisiting the entire NASCAR library as well.

Future Content: Our content teams have certainly been busy, and the iRacing laser scan team has been racking up frequent flyer miles.  In fact, they just returned from a month on the road to the western half of the US, where they captured a great deal of data for the future.

I’ll review some of the content. Please understand that we’re not ready to set expectations regarding release dates on any of this.

Tracks:

• Croft and Thruxton have been scanned, with Thruxton next on the dev schedule.
• We’re scanning The Bend this week and plan to visit Adelaide in November.
• Valencia is under contract.
• We are deep in discussions with a US-based venue that is raced in F1.
• We have been trying to get traction with Circuit Assen but are having trouble getting a response. Does anybody know the folks who run the track? Let them know you’d love to see Assen in iRacing.
• Our scan team has made stops at several NASCAR tracks to get us the most up-to-date data for our NASCAR refresh.
• Huset’s Speedway is underway and will debut both in iRacing and in World of Outlaws: Dirt Racing 24.
• Dirt road content is being actively developed.

Cars:

• Multiple new GT3 cars are in planning and development.
• New Supercars just barely missed the S4 build. We just need a bit more time to implement the data we’ve received from our partners in Australia.
• We plan a total overhaul of the Legends car physics model to take advantage of updated data, a new engine specification, and a new tire. We’ll use this opportunity to re-dev the car utilizing our latest techniques and standards. In iRacing, our Legends cars are raced most frequently on ovals. However, in real life you will frequently see Legends cars at road tracks, and we intend to provide additional opportunities for road racing with these cars. We hope folks will give it a chance – they are amazing cars on both ovals and road circuits.
• Oval racing will see many great additions in 2025, beginning with a proper Gen 4 car release, and at long last, we are revisiting ARCA.
• We are lining up the scan for new dirt road cars.
• It’s still too early to discuss some of the vehicles hinted at in previous updates, but know that there are some really cool projects in the works for the future.  No puns or hints this time.

A few more quick tidbits to finish this update off.

• We have been working with Generative AI and machine learning technologies to explore and build new functionality for the sim. Such tech will benefit many common-sense evolutions of existing game systems, both when creating the sim through tooling, and when experiencing it through systems. We have multiple irons in the fire.
• It’s been a while since Oval Refresh Phase 2 has been mentioned. The project is still in the works, but we won’t release it until we are confident it meaningfully improves oval racing.  We’ll get back to you when we’re ready to share more.
• I know we’ve put out messaging surrounding the DDoS attacks we experienced several weeks back, but I do want to touch on this briefly.  We’re really sorry that this impacted you all, and it’s a shame that some are willing to let their individual gripes affect the ability of thousands of strangers to enjoy their well-deserved free time. While it’s hard to find a silver lining in circumstances such as these, I can say that it will ultimately result in efforts to improve and increase the resilience of our product and infrastructure. I can’t thank our Operations and Support teams enough, who experienced the brunt of these attacks most directly and spent what should have been their well-deserved summer holidays pulling all-nighters instead of spending quality time with their families, one of whom worked from his laptop on the floor of a hotel bathroom to avoid waking his family. Operations are often an invisible group, and folks don’t realize the sheer importance of what they do until stuff hits the fan. We are fortunate to have such an outstanding, experienced, and dedicated group.  Thank you.

Enough with that buzzkill; let’s end this on a high note! In the big picture, our teams are really killing it these days. We’ve grown substantially, but on the day-to-day, it’s all been surprisingly seamless, and our new colleagues have found a new home. Due to this evolution, improvements to iRacing that we couldn’t have imagined a few short years ago are unlocked, and we’re so excited for what the next few years will bring.

For now, enjoy a handful of screenshots of some of the projects and content in development, and stay tuned over the next month as our Marketing department releases more media leading up to S4.

See you all out on the track.

-Greg