Greg Hill, Senior VP and Government Producer at iRacing, posted the August 2025 growth replace.
Let’s take a look at a few of the new content material and options which can be within the works for the web racing service.
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Hi there iRacers,
It has been a busy summer season at iRacing, with quite a few milestones achieved throughout our numerous groups. The NASCAR 25 staff is well-positioned for the October 14th launch of N25, having simply handed console certification on the primary try. The Orontes/ExoCross staff now has a sturdy racing recreation engine basis, and are nicely underway on their subsequent racing title – extra to come back on that within the coming days! iRacing Arcade is rounding into kind, providing a enjoyable and refreshing mix of arcade racing and customization, with real-world racing properties and licenses (take a look at the brand new teaser trailer). In the meantime, the sim staff is about to launch our most substantial function launch since rain: the New Sim UI. What an thrilling time at iRacing! Over the next months, we’ll reveal far more about these tasks, sims, and video games.
Returning to a sim focus, there may be one factor I can share an incredible deal about as we speak – the iRacing Developer Replace! Let’s go over the Season 4 construct, evaluation our new content material, enhancements, and options, and contact on future growth tasks as nicely.
Season 4 is full of quite a few new options and enhancements. Highlights embrace:
- A number of compelling new automobiles
- A world-renowned new monitor and a number of other monitor rescans and refreshes
- The ultimate third of the “NASCAR Refresh” challenge
- A major automobile class physics overhaul
- A strong new function for VR customers
- Expanded and improved AI options
- A major step ahead in bettering iRacing’s world attain and worldwide help
- And, in fact, the brand new UI!
We’ll start with content material…
Automobile Growth
iRacing is the place to be for GT3 sim racing, and with Season 4, we’re thrilled to announce the addition of the Aston Martin Vantage EVO GT3. Along with Aston Martin, the Vantage EVO was developed by means of shut collaboration and help from Aston Martin {and professional} racers who pilot this automobile in actual life and now have vital expertise in sim racing. The automobile appears to be like beautiful, is a thrill to drive, and is a part of a wider collaboration with Aston Martin that can yield extra new automobiles sooner or later.
Together with the addition of the Vantage EVO GT3, the bigger GT3 class has undergone tweaks to gear-ratio choices on 6 of the ten automobiles. This was a part of the BoP course of, bringing us one step nearer to present real-world apply.
Final season, I teased a brand new entry in our open-wheel providing, which I’m happy to announce is the Dallara IL-15, featured within the INDY NXT collection. This 2.0-liter turbocharged 450hp-powered racecar is a rocket, providing a superb choice for racers searching for a high-performance but approachable open-wheel collection. The IL-15 will likely be positioned as Class C and obtainable in Highway and Oval Mounted collection.
The IL-15 chassis is a full carbon-fiber monocoque with an built-in Halo system, and its suspension delivers exact management and responsiveness. Aerodynamically, the automobile supplies a steadiness of downforce and drag, guaranteeing stability on ovals and agility by means of technical street programs.
Energy is transferred by means of a six-speed sequential gearbox, operated by way of paddle shifters on the steering wheel, which replicates the shift dynamics of higher-tier autos.
A push-to-pass system, mirroring intently the INDYCAR implementation, delivers an additional 50 hp on the driver’s request. Activation is dealt with by way of a steering wheel button, and an on-screen gauge tracks the remaining increase time. This acquainted boost-management interface ensures a seamless transition for drivers advancing from INDY NXT to the top-level INDYCAR collection.
GT4 racing has been a key focus for us over the previous couple of years, and now we have been working behind the scenes to increase the collection with a number of new automobiles and licenses. This renewed effort begins with the introduction of the Ford Mustang GT4. The Mustang is an thrilling new entry to the category, and the primary North American model in our GT4 collection. This addition will likely be accompanied by a complete overhaul of the GT4 class, with a launch prepared pending associate approval.
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GT4 Replace: This replace brings our newest physics modeling enhancements to the complete GT4 class. Together with these enhancements, now we have centered on bettering the correlation of the sim relative to the present IMSA Michelin Pilot Problem Sequence ruleset. Baseline weight and engine energy have been elevated, whereas each dry and moist tires have been redeveloped utilizing our newest tire mannequin.
High speeds will likely be larger and minimal nook speeds decrease; this does imply the general grip stage has decreased, and iRacers ought to maintain this in thoughts. It is a worthwhile trade-off for improved real-world correlation, and regardless of the decreased grip stage, lap instances are anticipated to enhance by someplace between 0.5 and 1.0 seconds per lap, relying on the monitor kind and circumstances. Notice that the tire hotter temperature has been decreased. As with different automobiles that function our newest tire mannequin, a warm-up interval is required; nevertheless, it’s shorter than that of the GTP or GT3.
All automobiles within the class have obtained a chassis repass and enhancements/updates that embrace:
- TC, ABS, and ESC programs (the place applicable)
- Dampers for improved physique management, significantly for curb strikes and tough tracks
- Engine torque curves
- Brake programs (significantly brake pads)
- Mass, inertia, and distribution properties
- Aerodynamic elements, significantly dynamic facet pressure, wing trim ranges, and journey top ranges
- Gas tank dimension, fill instances, and gasoline burn charges (standardised to smaller IMSA Michelin Pilot Problem Sequence ruleset)
- BoP to enhance relative competitiveness throughout monitor varieties for all automobiles
- Different QoL gadgets embrace low gasoline warning clear buttons, finer adjustment of spring perch offset, improved storage tech suggestions, and layouts.
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BMW M4 EVO GT3: We’ve got added the Evo improve to the BMW M4 GT3. This required substantial graphics and physics work, and the replace will likely be utilized on prime of the prevailing BMW M4 GT3. Due to this fact, the replace will likely be free for all iRacers who personal the BMW M4 GT3.
Hybrid Replace: We’ve got accomplished a elementary overhaul, integrating the hybrid system into our newest energy unit code construction. This has been finished with flexibility in thoughts to accommodate the big number of racing hybrid programs now we have within the service. The GTP and hypercar class will seamlessly mix ICE and electrical drive to match the utmost allowable energy output always. As well as, the Ferrari 499P hypercar can have electrical drive solely when touring at a pace larger than a specified minimal, and it will likely be in a position to drive electrically at a number of output ranges. The Mercedes W12 and W13 automobiles will see a modest refresh, with the addition of a quick regen mode. We’re planning for the LMP1 automobiles to have a bigger refresh aimed toward bettering drivability. The INDYCAR hybrid system will likely be guide deploy solely, and received’t be prepared for September.
Observe Growth
Our Observe artwork and manufacturing groups have been extremely busy this summer season, with a give attention to balancing our quite a few refresh and rescan tasks with a renewed emphasis on delivering all-new, world-class racing services.
Oulton Park is likely one of the most raced tracks on the iRacing service, and a key a part of many iRacing Rookie collection schedules. We’ve got been lucky to have been racing at Oulton Park in iRacing for a few years, and thousands and thousands of laps have been accomplished. Our staff has rebuilt Oulton Park’s art work from the bottom up, reworking and retexturing all objects and surroundings, retexturing the monitor surfaces, and updating the timber and foliage. Please notice that that is an artwork refresh, not a rescan. This replace is offered freed from cost to all iRacers.
In every of the previous two builds, now we have shipped artwork refreshes and monitor rescans for roughly 2/3 of the tracks which can be a part of the NASCAR schedule. With Season 4, we’re thrilled to launch the ultimate third and mark the completion of “NASCAR Refresh”.
This last part consists of…
- Refreshes
- Daytona Worldwide Speedway
- Circuit of the Americas (now that includes the 2025 NASCAR config)
- Watkins Glen Worldwide (now that includes 2025 bus cease curbing)
- Chicago Avenue Course
- Texas Motor Speedway
- Rescans
- World Large Expertise Raceway
- Charlotte Motor Speedway (partial Roval rescan)
- North Wilkesboro Speedway
- Sonoma Raceway
- Rockingham Speedway (we might maintain this again till a patch)
It’s value noting that these ~30 monitor refreshes and rescans have all been made obtainable for FREE to iRacers who already personal these tracks.
That covers content material, so let’s proceed proper alongside and contact on a few of the nice new options and enhancements coming in Season 4!
Options and Enhancements
I’ll begin issues off with what’s genuinely the headliner of this season 4 construct and an addition which has been years within the making and pays dividends for iRacers for years to come back – the New Sim UI!
New SIM UI
The iRacing Sim UI (let’s name it the legacy UI for readability going ahead) has served us nicely for a few years, offering a reliable technique to work together with the sim that we’re all very accustomed to. Nevertheless, as a result of a dated and rigid structure, the legacy UI has restricted our capability to increase the in-sim expertise and has been overdue for an entire rearchitecture and modernization.
Roughly two years in the past, we launched into a journey to rebuild our sim UI, assembling a staff of engineers, designers, and UX professionals to sort out this problem. They evaluated a number of technical choices earlier than selecting integrating a contemporary and highly effective XAML-based framework and UI platform. By our evaluations, we have been assured that the know-how would meet our strict necessities for efficiency and a number of show varieties.
All through the challenge, the staff has been centered on a significant issue: each crucial function obtainable within the legacy UI needed to perform appropriately within the new UI. iRacing is a deep and sophisticated simulation that encompasses numerous genres of motorsport, every with distinctive necessities for the way the UI presents data. Once we open up and look inside the 2 main simulation screens (which we discuss with because the Session display and the Drive display), there are lots of of toggles, sliders, dropdown packing containers, management bindings, black field parts, textual content shows, and different interactive controls. It’s way more advanced than it initially seems.
In the end, the preliminary model of the UI is full, and we’re thrilled to be sharing it with you all. Now for what to anticipate on day one…
Our focus for the discharge has been on delivering all the prevailing options represented by the legacy UI, with prime quality and a well-known kind, together with choose expanded performance, tweaks, and new options. Primarily, we wished you to have the ability to begin iRacing and proceed with as little fuss as potential. That being mentioned, we extremely advocate taking a while throughout week 13 to familiarize your self with the refreshed options (described under) and take a second to customise your format by way of Alt-Ok.
Of the refreshed options, listed here are the important thing highlights you need to know:
- Tooltips: The overwhelming majority of controls now show tooltips once you mouse over them.
- Sim Choices redesign: Choices have had a big reorganization, together with the merging of the Replay and Driving graphics choices. We’ve additionally added a clickable desk of contents down the left-hand facet, and to the correct, we’ve added extra data to clarify the setting.
- Alt-Ok to maneuver UI: When urgent Alt-Ok to maneuver parts round, you’ll discover an extra toggle management to allow/disable all moveable parts, so now it’s simpler to visualise these parts which usually solely show when activated (akin to flags and penalty notices).
- Digital Mirror dimension management: By way of Alt-Ok, now you can additionally choose the dimensions of your digital mirror from a drop-down menu.
- Black Bins: These now have minimized and expanded states. The expanded state shows extra columns.
- Actual-world clock: You now have entry to your native wall-clock time by way of the F1 menu and in addition by way of an elective devoted widget.
- Digicam Instrument redesign: The Digicam Instrument is now accessible by way of a devoted button discovered on the Session display, and the device itself is now extra logically offered following a design replace. The Ctrl-F12 binding remains to be obtainable to toggle the Digicam Instrument.
It’s value briefly concerning the brand new Choices design. The brand new UI untangles and reorganizes our choices right into a extra structured format. The brand new presentation might require extra scrolling and can necessitate relearning the place choices are situated. To help with this, our prime precedence function post-release is a dynamic Search functionality. The search function will allow customers to shortly discover the setting and work with it instantly. Please bear with us for these first few months as we work on this wanted enchancment.
Transferring ahead:
Upon launch, we anticipate to spend time addressing newly found bugs, gathering suggestions from iRacers, and making use of mandatory tweaks. We’re already engaged on options and additions which can be a part of our UI development roadmap, and these efforts will speed up. What’s on our roadmap, you would possibly ask? We’re not prepared to debate these options intimately simply but, however a few of the preliminary options we’re exploring (and creating) embrace including the aforementioned textual content Search function, coloration themes and accessibility views, customization of the driving display, expanded data, gentle telemetry capabilities, new post-race performance, VR-specific options, minimalist concerns, and localization.
Oh, and one thing to do with Black Bins……
We’re extremely pleased with the brand new UI and excited to share it with you all. This marks a brand new period of alternative at iRacing, with a brand new technological basis that can energy experiences and options in methods by no means earlier than potential.
VR
VR is a core technique to expertise iRacing and has been a spotlight of ours for the reason that know-how’s infancy. With Season 4, we proceed our push to remain on the forefront of VR know-how with the addition of eye-tracking foveated rendering. This know-how is an evolution of mounted foveated, and shares a few of the similar core advantages – processing energy is prioritized in essentially the most crucial areas to maximise efficiency and framerate.
For headsets that help this function, constancy is prioritized precisely the place your eyes are wanting, whatever the path your head is pointed. This permits racers to maneuver their eyes wherever throughout their visual view and expertise a crisp, clear picture always, with excessive body charges and quick refresh charges.
Notice there’s a slight likelihood we’ll maintain this for a later replace, because it nonetheless must cross by means of QA.
Rendering
As a part of our longer-term initiative to rebuild the iRacing rendering engine, now we have discovered alternatives alongside the way in which to deliver extra quick advantages to the present iRacing expertise. With Season 4, we proceed this development by introducing new know-how that units the muse for vital enhancements down the street: fashionable texture compression. This tech replaces our former texture compression and is considerably extra environment friendly and performant.
Usually, this modification ought to be clear to iRacers (except for some preliminary downloads), with advantages occurring behind the scenes in the course of the rendering course of. I hesitate to present an excessive amount of away, however I’ll say that the financial savings in texture footprint have our automobile painters salivating for future e x p a n s i o n of paint capabilities…
Localization
We’re excited to share that iRacing is now a much more globally accessible product – with Season 4, we’ll help language localization in iRacing & iRacing Internet (the sim and companion app should not fairly but supported). This challenge concerned substantial technical structure adjustments, in addition to the institution of processes and workflows to translate huge quantities of textual content that’s usually contextual and nuanced, requiring subject-matter experience. There are some options that will likely be rolling out throughout Season 4 to translate issues like automobile & monitor descriptions, achievements, and different dynamic textual content. Keep tuned for information on these options!
To start, we’ll launch with European Spanish.
Latin Spanish, German, French, Italian, Portuguese, Brazilian Portuguese, and extra will comply with within the December and March builds.
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That covers the majority of the Season 4 construct. We’re pleased with all our builds and releases, every of which requires substantial effort and dedication from our staff. Season 4 is a particular launch that was years within the making, and we’re thrilled to share it with you all.
Ongoing Growth
Let’s contact on some future initiatives, content material, and plans earlier than we shut out this replace.
Graphics
The brand new rendering engine is making super progress daily. One of many extra visible enhancements that the staff has made not too long ago can have a considerable impression on the general scene. It’s possible you’ll or might not have observed it, however the timber in iRacing don’t obtain shadows. It is because the technical system powering the tree rendering will not be built-in into the core rendering. The brand new rendering engine has solved this, and timber obtain shadow. The visible enchancment is substantial, remodeling the looks of the world.
A number of extra areas of progress since our final replace:
- Shadow rendering has superior considerably and can rework the look of the sim
- Headlights at the moment are in, as is the power to do separate gentle rigs. Evening lighting within the new renderer will likely be transformatively higher.
- Decals and our Dynamic monitor system at the moment are built-in
- We’ve got a DLSS prototype working and performing very nicely
General, the challenge is shifting alongside on schedule, and we’ll share extra insights over the approaching months.
Tires and Physics
We’ve got a number of vital physics tasks underway, together with foundational tire modeling, pressure suggestions, physics price, and peripheral system developments and rearchitectures.
With tires, now we have transitioned to a brand new modular structure designed for the longer term, that includes clearly outlined interfaces between elements. We’re implementing adjustments to unfold the work of physics/sounds/AI/and so forth.to a number of cores. It will allow us to function at the next sampling price, thereby bettering accuracy and lowering latency in response time.
Summing all this up, we anticipate to have very correct tire forces transmitted by means of the steering wheel to your arms when and as they need to be felt. The automobile will behave extra realistically, and the connection between you and the street will really feel pure.
Profession Mode
Work is nicely underway on Profession Mode, which leverages our AI driver capabilities to supply structured racing exterior of our official racing collection. On this mode, iRacers will advance their racing careers by means of numerous racing ladders and carve their path by way of success on the monitor. This mode leverages our AI drivers to their fullest potential, and the challenge has pushed enhancements throughout the complete simulation, together with the addition of a Save Recreation function. Profession Mode in iRacing will likely be obtainable to iRacers in new and thrilling methods, providing super worth.
Past the chance for enjoyable and competitors that Profession Mode presents, it additionally serves as a invaluable platform to apply driving abilities, refine racecraft, expertise totally different automobiles and tracks, and extra. For a lot of, this can be an incredible lower-pressure on-ramp to arrange for direct on-line competitors.
We aren’t prepared to supply a launch window for Profession Mode, however notice that a number of growth groups are engaged on it as their prime precedence.
Miscellaneous
A number of gadgets of curiosity in no specific order that absolutely will likely be of curiosity:
- Gen 4 drafting has been reworked and improved. It will ship with S4.
- Oval Refresh “Section 2” didn’t advance with the immediacy we initially meant, and we needed to take a step again and assess broader implications. The staff is re-engaged and keen to enhance oval racing in iRacing.
- We’re exploring alternatives to enhance filth oval racing throughout many programs, together with the tires, monitor dynamics modeling, and rulesets.
- Our machine-learning AI challenge with Microsoft goes tremendously nicely, and now we have AI drivers performing with top-tier human-like capabilities.
- We plan for brand new Audio options to debut throughout the subsequent a number of months that will likely be a step in direction of remodeling the auditory expertise of racing automobiles in iRacing.
- Race Management programs are advancing, together with work on multi-class race begins and the select rule.
- Filth Oval AI has made vital progress, and growth has superior to include our manufacturing groups.
- Adaptive AI continues to be tuned and improved, and we’re engaged on an extra system that might offer you an excellent higher baseline to start out every race.
- Our animation staff has been chipping away at including animated pit stops to one in every of our main automobile courses.
- Our animation staff is collaborating with the physics staff to determine a extra seamless connection between the physics engine and the automobile and driver. This enhanced connection will energy new options.
- Miami Worldwide Autodrome will likely be included with the Season 1 launch.
- We’ve got a handful of monitor refreshes underway for Season 1, 2, and past.
- We’re pleased to announce the addition of the FIA Cross Automobile to iRacing. The FIA first revealed this relationship in June, and the Cross Automobile will debut in iRacing with the December Season 1 construct. The Cross Automobile supplies an approachable and enjoyable entry level to our filth street racing collection. The discharge will likely be additional supported by the completion of the Off-Highway monitor at Lucas Oil Speedway (Wheatland).
- Adelaide Avenue Circuit is nicely underway and is a considerable challenge.
- We’ve got licensed the St. Petersburg road circuit, and work is nicely underway. It’s good timing to allow you to all find out about this, provided that NASCAR simply introduced that Vans will race there subsequent yr. St. Petersburg has hosted racing occasions throughout INDYCAR, INDY NXT, USF, MX-5 Cup, and GT collection. St. Pete will see heavy use throughout our iRacing collection.
- Our manufacturing groups are gearing up for a handful of recent monitor scans. Tasks embrace scans and rescans of many distinguished North American street circuits, in addition to new areas within the EU and the Center East.
- The automobile groups are busy engaged on future releases, in addition to persevering with the category updates we’ve now carried out throughout GTP, GT3, IndyCar, NASCAR, and GT4. We’ve got plans to overtake one other key class of racing for S1.
We’ll share extra data on these tasks #quickly, amongst many others within the works.
As at all times, we’re centered on supporting and increasing our various vary of racing classes, constantly bettering the sim, and advancing our applied sciences to supply essentially the most reasonable simulated racing expertise potential. With quite a few foundational tasks within the works, the iRacing sim is positioned for an incredible subsequent few years filled with development with highly effective new options. We’re thrilled to ship one of many core constructing blocks for future enchancment with Season 4 – the New SIM UI. The New SIM UI unlocks our builders, offering them with a robust canvas for creating new programs and experiences within the SIM, and can take iRacing to the following stage.
Thanks a lot to your continued help and for selecting to do your sim racing with us right here at iRacing.
See you on the end line
-Greg
Official Webpage – www.iRacing.com
