Shedding weight

Sometimes is necessary to leave some things behind to make an step forward. Usually, best intentions give birth ideas which don’t consolidate nor help for the project and slow you down from achieve your real targets. That had to be the final thought when iRacing staff has decided to end multi platform support for a few users using mac and Linux builds. Finally DirectX9 support is coming to an end and that means no Windows machines should be left behind and eventually remove from the system.

As far as I know, not a significant number of simracers has been using these builds, so the impact should be small and people will have some weeks to find an alternative yet if it is the case. From March onwards only DirectX11 will be available and should be a clear starting line to improve and revamp some graphical matters which are keeping simulation back from the current and needed standards.

Here was the announcement:

Computers with 32 Bit Windows Operating Systems:

We upgraded iRacing from 32 bit to 64 bit several years ago which was a very positive advancement for iRacing. We published about two years ago that the support for 32 bit will end on March 14, 2016 and have been consistently communicating that message. However, to allow people time to upgrade their computers, we have continued to distribute partially supported versions of the simulation. That partial support will finally end March 2017 when we do our quarterly software update. If you are using a computer with a 32 bit windows operating system, iRacing will no longer work as of our March 2017 software update. You can also do a simple search on the Internet for instructions on how to check if your computer operating system is 32 bit or 64 bit.

Microsoft Direct X9 (DX9):

We additionally upgraded iRacing from DX9 to DX11 about a year ago which was another significant project and advancement but continued to support DX9. However, we also will be ending our support for DX9 in the March 2017 Software Update. You will need to have DX11 or above for iRacing to run. Again, we have been communicating this message and defaulting iRacing to DX11 for the last several software updates. We know from the data that almost all of our members are using DX11 or above. You can do a simple search on the Internet for instructions on how to check what DX version your operating system is using. The reason we are ending DX9 support is having both DX9 and DX11 forces us to develop for both and probably more importantly DX9 holds back the graphical advancements for iRacing. It is simply time to move on.

Mac/Linux Operating Systems:

Unfortunately with the support ending for DX9, we also will lose the MAC and Linux OS emulation we have provided for iRacing. To this point, emulation for DX11 has not been supported. Therefore, as of the March 2017 software update we no longer will be supporting Mac and Linux operating systems for iRacing. There is still the Boot Camp option for Mac users. Learn more here: https://support.apple.com/boot-camp There is a possibility down the road that our emulation partners provide DX11 support and we revisit that integration option.

I am an enthusiast Linux user for office/business environments. I’d love to see something as SteamOS or other make a significant difference in the gaming market, but I must admit Microsoft has done a wonderful job with the last Windows 10 release and nobody should many complaints about its performance.