iRacing.com

iRacing
Developer(s) iRacing.com Motorsport Simulations
Initial release August 26, 2008
Stable release
2.21.3.19 / September 13, 2016 (2016-09-13)
Operating system Microsoft Windows, OS X, Linux
Platform PC
Type Racing simulation
Website iracing.com

iRacing is a subscription based racing simulation released by iRacing.com Motorsport Simulations in 2008. Official races, special events, league races, and practice sessions are all hosted on the service's servers. The service simulates realistic cars, tracks, and racing events, and enforcing rules of conduct modeled on real auto racing events.[1][2][3][4]

Gameplay

iRacing only allows the use of a realistic cockpit view. As with real auto racing, the driver only has a view from behind the steering wheel. Most user use a force feedback steering wheel with gas, brake, and clutch pedals, as well as H-Patter shifters and/or sequential shifters. A gamepad can be used, though it is discouraged and puts the user at a competitive disadvantage. The gameplay is developed to mimic auto racing in as much detail as possible.

Competition

When a user begins their iRacing "Career", they start with a Rookie level license in both Oval and Road categories. In order to advance onto the "D" level license and beyond, the user must complete a number of races with little to no accidents, off track incidents, or losses of control. As the user achieves the higher level licenses, they qualify to compete in different official series.

For the standard official series managed by iRacing, each calendar year is normally divided into four 12-week seasons, with all driving sessions in a series taking place on one track for each week during the 12 week seasons.[5] Drivers can participate in practice, qualifying, license time trials, and race sessions. The week between each season is referred to as "week thirteen", and has its own set of series which change track each day. During Week 13 drivers cannot complete time-trials, and so cannot add to their licence level.[6] There are also non-standard series, examples of which are the four-week Rookie series, IndyCar, Skip Barber and Grand-Am Premier series, and Pro series.[7] Races that are organized by members do not have to follow any official schedule. The series are divided into two main categories, oval and road, which are further divided into several license level series from Rookie to Pro, and a driver must earn each license to be eligible to participate in official race week sessions at their license level. If not qualified for the correct license for a series, drivers can still participate in practice sessions.[8] Earning a higher license involves both participation in competitions on a driver's current highest license level and achievement of a minimum safety record. The requirements for advancing and the licenses themselves are category-specific — in other words, a driver has a separate license for road and oval categories.[9]

Racing within the service is managed by a sanctioning body called FIRST. The detailed rules for official competition are published in the FIRST Sporting Code, which registered members of the service are expected to read.[10] iRacing run several different official series, but members are also free to organize their own online sessions that are hosted on servers run by iRacing. In 2012, iRacing increased the ability for users to run their own seasons through "Leagues" where, for a fee, users manage their own league, recruit/accept drivers, and have automated scoring. Any member-organized sessions are free from the license level restrictions. In addition to taking part in the different public sessions, a member can use a test mode to drive alone on any track with any car, assuming he has purchased the license to use the content.[11]

Development

The company behind iRacing.com was established in Bedford, Massachusetts in September 2004 by David Kaemmer and John W. Henry after the demise of Papyrus Design Group, which Kaemmer had also co-founded.[12] The iRacing service has been in development since then, using code from Papyrus' NASCAR Racing 2003 Season as a starting point. According to Kaemmer, iRacing retains the multi-body physics system of NASCAR Racing 2003 Season, as well as some of the track presentation and multi-user packet code, but everything else has been changed, or is completely new like the tire model and graphics engine.[13] The service receives regular updates between 12-week competition seasons.[14]

In May 2009 NASCAR and iRacing.com announced a five-year deal of an online NASCAR-sanctioned racing series and on February 13, 2015 iRacing.com announce a six-year extension to their agreement.[15] iRacing.com also provides the software used in the NASCAR Hall of Fame simulators.[16]

Laser scanning

iRacing copies real-world tracks using Exactrac LIDAR laser scanning technology, which scans the tracks with millimeter precision into the in-game 3D mapping environment.[17] This technology has made the tracks and cars in iRacing very accurate, which increases the level of simulation done.[18][19]

One benefit of the technology has been the scanning of tracks which were no longer in use, such as historic track layouts, or tracks which were about to be abandoned or destroyed.[20]

Dynamic tracks

iRacing.com's September 8, 2015 update brought about its first implementation of dynamic surface modeling. This allows for constantly changing track surface conditions throughout the course of a session which are calculated via server-side algorithms that aggregate the data provided by each user's interaction with track surface as well as current the weather and lighting conditions. The track's calculated surface conditions are then broadcast to each user as they change throughout a race session. Modeled variables include rubber build up, track temperatures, and marbles off of the racing line.[21]

Future Development

On April 1, 2016, the developers announced with the hashtag #DIRTCONFIRMED a big new update for the simulator. It will bring dirt track racing and rally racing for the first time on iRacing. The patch will include two new cars: the Dirt Super Late Model racing car and the Ford Fiesta GRC rallycross car. Moreover, the developers acquired license of Eldora Speedway and Williams Grove Speedway.[22][23][24]

On October 18, 2016, a partnership with Ferrari was announced. The first car to be released will be the 2016 Ferrari 488 GTE.[25]

Virtual reality

On February 6, 2013, Steve Myers of iRacing announced that the developers of iRacing had two Oculus Rift headset development kits either in hand or pre-ordered.[26]

Content

While the licenses to 15 cars and 14 tracks offering a total of 23 track configurations are provided in the subscription's base content, users must purchase individual licenses for each additional vehicle and track that they wish to drive. The game offers a vast selection of tracks. This total includes two of the tracks on the service that have been rescanned and reproduced (Daytona and Phoenix) because of modifications made to the track since they had originally been produced for iRacing, two Tech Tracks (New Jersey Motorsports Park and Long Beach Street Circuit) which are available for test driving and hosted sessions while they are in an incomplete state, as well as iRacing's one fictional track which is a skid pad called "Centripetal Circuit", which is meant for use in acquiring data about your vehicle's dynamics.

Staying true to their focus on remaining a motorsports simulation, the vehicles on iRacing.com are almost exclusively digital models of purpose built race cars as opposed to street legal sports cars or supercars and all of the content is produced using a combination of laser scan data, CAD data, live audio samples, and thousands of photographs to be as faithful a digital reproduction as possible within their means.

The service pursues providing a balanced variety of simulated racing disciplines in order to reach a broad audience of race fans. Categories of vehicles available include open wheel cars such as Formula 1 cars like the McLaren-Honda MP4-30, many American stock cars such as those used in NASCAR series, Australian V8 Supercars, several GT3 cars used in the Blancpain series such as the Audi R8 LMS GT3, trainers such as the Skip Barber or Legends Ford, sports cars such as FR500S Ford Mustang and prototypes such as the Corvette Daytona Prototype.[27]

A variety of tracks of are available in the service to support competitions for the diverse selection of cars such as classic grand prix tracks like the Autódromo José Carlos Pace and Autodromo Nazionale di Monza, the whole compliment of major NASCAR ovals such as Daytona International Speedway and a variety of short-track ovals such as Lanier and Indianapolis Raceway Park.[28]

Subscription and operation

iRacing can only be played online on servers run by iRacing.com, and participation requires a subscription to the service. Additional cars and tracks are subject to additional one-time charges. As of March 6, 2016, the subscription package includes a set of twelve race courses with twenty-seven available configurations, a fictional skid pad (named Centripetal Circuit in the sim), and fourteen cars with which to practice and race.[29]

Marketing

The iRacing company aims to cater both to real-world racers and racing simulation enthusiasts[30] by offering a realistic simulation of motorsport with accurate track, vehicle and physics modeling,[17][31] and with all of the cars and tracks officially licensed.[14]

From the start, iRacing has been marketed as both an entertainment service and a training tool for real life racers. The main rival of iRacing is Simraceway, another online sim.[32] They have established numerous partnerships with real-world racing organizations and series, including NASCAR, IndyCar, V8 Supercars, the SCCA, the Skip Barber Racing School, the Volkswagen Jetta TDI Cup, the new Formula Renault 2.0, the Star Mazda Championship, the Blancpain Endurance Series and McLaren F1 among others such as IMSA.[33][34]

Reception

Reception
Aggregate score
AggregatorScore
Metacritic79/100[35]
Review scores
PublicationScore
PC Gamer (UK)80%[36]
GameStar68%[37]

iRacing.com was launched to the public on August 26, 2008.[38] By July 2009 more than 16,000 individuals had subscribed to the service.[39] The company said there were 50,000 members as of December 2013.[40]

iRacing.com has received favorable reviews from automobile, racing and gaming magazines as well as websites dedicated to racing simulators.[41][42][43][44] The service has also been criticized for not yet including features often found on other racing simulators, such as dynamic environments and more advanced visual damage modeling.[45] PC Gamer stated that the game was "not one that will be to everyone's taste", while GameStar back in 2009 concluded "The graphics give the impression of an unfinished beta, but at least the atmosphere between the players is always friendly."[36][37]

Many real life racers, including the late IndyCar driver Justin Wilson, Alex Gurney, Dale Earnhardt, Jr., Marcos Ambrose, Martin Truex, Jr., A. J. Allmendinger, Scott Speed, Shane Van Gisbergen, Divina Galica and F1 and Indy 500 Champ Jacques Villeneuve have subscribed to the service and given positive comments especially about the accuracy of the track modeling which makes the simulator useful as a tool for learning tracks.[46][47]

References

  1. ↑ Brown, Jordan (December 2008), "iRacing.com Racing Simulator", Car and Driver, retrieved October 2, 2016
  2. ↑ "Pretend Race Cars". pretendracecars.net. Retrieved 23 September 2016.
  3. ↑ Passingham, Michael. "Best PC sim racing games 2015 - Project CARS and more". www.expertreviews.co.uk. Retrieved 23 September 2016.
  4. ↑ BROWN, JORDAN (December 2008). "iRacing.com Racing Simulator". www.caranddriver.com. Hearst men's group. Retrieved 23 September 2016.
  5. ↑ "4.2. Sanctioning". FIRST Official Sporting Code (PDF). iRacing.com. August 7, 2009. Retrieved 2009-08-14.
  6. ↑ "4.5. Sessions". FIRST Official Sporting Code.
  7. ↑ "4.2.5. Rookie Series". FIRST Official Sporting Code.
  8. ↑ "2.9. Series Eligibility". FIRST Official Sporting Code.
  9. ↑ "2.2. Earning a FIRST License". FIRST Official Sporting Code.
  10. ↑ FIRST Official Sporting Code.
  11. ↑ Cole, Shaun (Director) (June 5, 2008). Preview - iRacing (Flash video). SRT Media Productions. Retrieved 2009-04-09.
  12. ↑ "History". iRacing.com. Retrieved 2009-10-15.
  13. ↑ Denton, Jon (August 2008). "The Masters of Mass." (PDF). AutoSimSport. 4 (4): 21–34. Retrieved 2009-04-12.
  14. 1 2 Denton, Jon (February 15, 2008). "iRacing.com Announce: Revolution" (Flash). AutoSimSport. 4 (1): 19–30. Retrieved 2009-04-12.
  15. ↑ "NASCAR, iRacing.com Announce Six Year Licensing Extension". iRacing.com. February 13, 2015. Retrieved October 25, 2016.
  16. ↑ Bob Pockrass (May 19, 2009). "NASCAR inks deal with iRacing.com to develop online racing series". SceneDaily.com. Retrieved 2010-04-13.
  17. 1 2 "Track Technology". iRacing.com. Retrieved 2009-10-15.
  18. ↑ BROWN, JORDAN (December 2008). "iRacing.com Racing Simulator". www.caranddriver.com. Hearst men's group. Retrieved 23 September 2016. ...Racing designers scan, weigh, and measure each part of the actual race cars and assemble them digitally...
  19. ↑ Swinbanks, James. "iRacing - not just for sim-racing junkies". www.pcauthority.com.au. Retrieved 7 October 2016.
  20. ↑ "Oran Park". iracing.com. iRacing.com M.S. LLC. Retrieved 24 July 2015. Oran Park lives forever on iRacing.com even though it fell to the wreckers’ ball and bulldozers in 2010 to make way for a housing development.
  21. ↑ "In Development // Dynamic Tracks". youtube.com. iRacing.com. Retrieved 25 October 2016.
  22. ↑ "(Almost) Everything You Wanted to Know About iRacing's Dirt Sim Racing Plans". iracing.com. Retrieved 29 October 2016.
  23. ↑ "iRacing Development Update – Dirt, Le Mans, VR and more". iracing.com. Retrieved 29 October 2016.
  24. ↑ "Dirt coming to iRacing – Not a joke Afterall (Rallycross Teaser)". bsimracing.com. Retrieved 29 October 2016.
  25. ↑ "iRacing Partners with Ferrari – 488 GTE coming". bsimracing.com. Retrieved 29 October 2016.
  26. ↑ "Oculus Rift VR Headset Announcement".
  27. ↑ "Cars". iRacing.com. Retrieved December 1, 2016.
  28. ↑ "Tracks". iRacing.com. Retrieved December 1, 2016.
  29. ↑ "Membership". iRacing.com. Retrieved 2009-10-15.
  30. ↑ "iRacing.com FAQ". iRacing.com. Retrieved 2011-02-17.
  31. ↑ "Car Technology". iRacing.com. Retrieved 2009-10-15.
  32. ↑ "iRacing.com Introduces Next-Generation Training Tool for Racers". truckseries.com. July 25, 2006. Retrieved 2011-05-17.
  33. ↑ "Volkswagen announces partnership with iRacing.com to aid in Jetta TDI Cup driver training and candidate identification". iRacing.com. April 25, 2009. Retrieved 2010-10-14.
  34. ↑ "Partners". iRacing.com. Retrieved 2009-10-15.
  35. ↑ "iRacing for PC Reviews - Metacritic:". Metacritic. Retrieved 25 October 2016.
  36. 1 2 Channell, Mike (3 August 2010). "IRACING REVIEW". PC Gamer. PC Gamer. Retrieved 17 November 2016.
  37. 1 2 Plass-Fleßenkämper, Benedikt (29 April 2009). "IRACING TEST (PC) - MIT ULTRA-REALISMUS AUF DEN THRON?" [IRACING TEST (PC) - ON THE THRONE THANKS TO ULTRA-REALISM?]. GameStar (in German). GameStar. Retrieved 17 November 2016.
  38. ↑ "iRacing Launches Advanced Motorsport Simulation and Internet Racing Service: Driver Development Tool Now Available to Auto Racing Community and General Public". iRacing.com. August 26, 2008. Archived from the original on September 9, 2008. Retrieved 2009-04-09.
  39. ↑ Eric Fisher (July 27, 2009). "Taking aim online". SportsBusiness Journal. Retrieved 2009-07-28.
  40. ↑ "iRacing.com adds Monza". iRacing.com. December 19, 2013. Archived from the original on March 11, 2015. Retrieved December 23, 2013.
  41. ↑ Lerner, Preston (December 23, 2008). "Virtual Car Racing - iRacing". Automobile Magazine. Retrieved 2009-01-09.
  42. ↑ Lear, Scott R. (November 2008). iRacing Demo (Flash video). Grassroots Motorsports Magazine. Retrieved 2009-01-09.
  43. ↑ Toivonen, Ismo (February 2009). "iRacing.com: Kumartakaa uutta mestaria". Pelit (in Finnish). 2009 (2): 36–39. Retrieved 2009-04-13.
  44. ↑ Lindblad, Jens (June 9, 2008). "iRacing". SimHQ.com. Retrieved 2009-01-09.
  45. ↑ Vasilakos, Aristotelis (June 2008). "iRacing: The Physics" (PDF). AutoSimSport. 4 (3): 33–38. Retrieved 2009-04-12.
  46. ↑ Kirby, Gordon (December 22, 2008). "The Way It Is/ Exploring iRacing with Gurney, Wilson and Villeneuve". Retrieved 2009-01-09.
  47. ↑ "The Fountain of Youth | inRacingNews.com". Iracing.com. 2010-12-11. Retrieved 2012-12-04.

Further reading

External links

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