More races, more opportunities to jump in, and more variety in cars. Sounds great, right?
Well, not so fast.
First, let’s take a look at the official notes.
Rookie Series – Now Every 15 Minutes
We’ve seen amazing participation numbers, so Oval, Sportscar, and Formula Rookie Series will now start a race every 15 minutes instead of alternating times. That means more action and less time sitting in the lobby!
Series Moving from Hourly to Every 30 Minutes
- Draft Master – Shortened by 2 laps for quicker turnarounds
- Ferrari GT3 Challenge
- Toyota GR Cup
- FIA F4 Series – (except the discontinued “Open Series,” and now with 15-minute races)
Series Moving from Every 2 Hours to Every Hour
- NASCAR Gen 4 Cup Series
- INDYCAR Series – Oval – Fixed
- RingMeister
- NASCAR 1987 Legends Cup
On paper, this looks fantastic—more chances to race, no more long waits. But as someone who’s spent years fine-tuning my iRacing skills, I can already see the cracks forming.
There was a time when scheduling for iRacing felt like planning for an event. You knew the race times, you prepared, and when the grid loaded, it felt like a real competition. But now, with races happening so frequently, the sense of anticipation is gone. More frequent races mean smaller grids, weaker competition, and ultimately, less rewarding battles.
Now, with races every 30 minutes, the fields are diluted. Instead of battling in a well-matched, intense split, you might find yourself in an underwhelming race filled with casuals drivers. What’s the fun in that?
The Business Side – More Races, More Engagement?
It’s no secret that iRacing is trying to maximize participation. More frequent races mean more people logging in, which means better engagement metrics for their platform. But at what cost? If serious racers start leaving because the quality of racing diminishes, then what’s the point of all these extra races?
While the accessibility of iRacing has improved with these changes, the competitive nature of the game is taking a hit. There needs to be a balance—more races for casual players, sure, but a structured schedule for those of us who crave real competition.
What’s your take? Will have these changes made iRacing better or worse for you?
Let’s get the conversation going!
- Remember, you can join iRacing clicking here.
See you on the track!
This website uses affiliate links which may earn a commission at no additional cost to you.
I think there’s plenty of options for everyone.
Also, that’s just an assumption that races will be less exciting just because they happen more often. There’s plenty of great drivers who have life distractions that cause then to miss more races, despite putting in the time and have the experience of the cars and tracks.
It might see more good races. Only time will tell.
I don’t see this being an issue, it’s only happening for Rookies, and 2 less popular C Class series on the oval side. That’s basically nothing.
Now if they do this for Cup it would be an issue.
Yeah Regarding that I guess we are lucky there is some really good league races, payouts races, or even Big eSports Leagues.
It’s basically what I am doing now since the racing quality has been kinda crazy last weeks.
I think it was pretty diluted already in GR cup especially if that week is a paid track you mostly get 1 or 2 splits on the paid track weeks and now that will probably be even weaker.
It may be less about being able to run every 30 minutes so much as it is to have a race available when you log in. If you log in and miss your race, waiting 1-2 hrs for the next one to come around, sucks. It may actually take away from practice time instead, as an unintended side effect. That will be something to watch.
I wouldn’t mind having less competition in the lower classes, would make the SR grind a lot easier
As a 4k driver I am happy to dominate 1.5k sofs