iRacing News

This Hotfix contains some fixes and updates for the 2021 Season 4 Patch 2 Release.
You can find the Release Notes for this Hotfix below, or on the iRacing Forums here: https://forums.iracing.com/discussion/10007/2021-season-4-patch-2-hotfix-1-release-notes-2021-10-08-01


2021 Season 4 Patch 2 Hotfix 1 Release Notes [2021.10.08.01]

iRACING UI:
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Results
After completing a Race, if your Safety Rating did not change, a “± 0” will be displayed on the Results screen.


AI Opponent Rosters
Fixed a bug where custom specular maps could not be deleted from AI Opponents.


SIMULATION:
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Dirt Oval Racing
All Dirt Oval Racing vehicles will now never be served meatballs.
- - These vehicles will never receive a meatball flag for sustaining excessive damage while at any track. This change does not make these vehicles immune to damage - they all will still sustain damage as usual. However, a driver can now decide if and when to end their race due to damage.
- - This change affects the following vehicles:
- - - - Dirt Late Model (ALL)
- - - - Dirt Legends Ford '34 Coupe
- - - - Dirt Midget
- - - - Dirt Modified (ALL)
- - - - Dirt Sprint Car (ALL)
- - - - Dirt Sprint Car Non-Winged (ALL)
- - - - Dirt Street Stock
- - - - Dirt UMP Modified


Rendering
The Track Surface Decal (TSD) rendering system has been optimized to greatly reduce the number of DX11 drawPrim() calls required to render scenes. This optimization reduces DX11 CPU-side bottlenecks at every track, some more than others. Depending on the PC hardware and rendering options, it may improve frame rate by as much as 25%. It helps most at road courses, such as Hungaroring Circuit, Circuit de Barcelona Catalunya, and many others.
Fixed an issue where rubber could appear to be laid down heavily on grass.


CARS:
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Lotus 79
iRacing setups have been updated.


NASCAR Next Gen Class Cars
iRacing setups have been updated.


Street Stock
Ended an experiment where steering wheels for opponent cars were temporarily relocated to the exterior roof of their cars. This experiment did not pan out; driving with the wheel in this new location proved problematic.


TRACKS:
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Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps
Righted a janky yellow cone.

This Patch contains some updates and fixes for the 2021 Season 4 Release.

You can find the Release Notes for this Patch below, or on the iRacing Forums here: https://forums.iracing.com/discussion/9541/2021-season-4-patch-2-release-notes-2021-10-04-02#latest




2021 Season 4 Patch 2 Release Notes [2021.10.04.02]

iRACING UI:
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General
The current iRacing Season and Race Week number are now displayed in the iRacing UI.


Side Bar
As a user navigates the app’s sidebar, the app will remember and auto-navigate the user to the sections that were previously visited.


Store
A new page with items from the Official iRacing Shop is now available in the Store section of the iRacing UI.


Hosted Racing
A new option has been added to the Create a Race interface: “Start race with qualifying tire choice”. This forces all participants to begin the Race Session with the same tire type with which they performed their Qualifying with. If the participant did not complete Qualifying, they may select any available tire type to begin the Race.
Resolved an issue where deleting a Heat Race configuration for a future scheduled Hosted Session was causing an error when attempting to edit the future Hosted Session.


Hosted AI Racing
Fixed an issue where registering then withdrawing from your own Hosted AI Racing Session would carry-over the AI Opponent amount slider from the session to subsequently Registered sessions.


AI Opponent Rosters
Fixed an issue where adjustments to AI Car Sponsors were not being saved.


Time Attack
A button has been added to the results section to download the Time Attack Results as a .csv file.


Paint Shop
A new sponsor, Force Dynamics, has been added to the Paint Shop.


Weather
Fixed an issue where the Temperature and Humidity icons were swapped.


SIMULATION:
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Race Servers
The iRacing race server farm name is now displayed on the Info page on the Session screen, and is also included in the message shown when the "show latency" control is used.


Team Racing
Fixed a rare issue that could occur when the current driver and a team member both tried to pull the current driver from the car at the same time. The two requests could interfere with each other, leading to a stuck vehicle or other unpredictable results.


AI Racing
AI Drivers have improved their skills with the Porsche 911 GT3 Cup (992).
AI Drivers have received additional training entering the pits at Bristol.
AI Drivers have received additional training entering the final pit stall at the Sebring Club layout.


Graphics
The video memory usage slider should now better account for the use of SpeedTree.


Rendering
Sunset specular map lighting on tracks and cars has been adjusted to remove a strange greenish tint that could appear.
Environment specular mapping at very low sun angles has been adjusted slightly.


Lighting
Fixed an issue with a lighting pop at sunrise and sunset at several older tracks, such as Laguna Seca, which haven't yet been upgraded with the newest shaders.


Driver Animations
Pedal animations should now use the raw throttle position from the user instead of the processed signal. This should prevent things like ECU engine cuts and traction control from producing impossible movements from the pedals.
Fixed an issue with excessive foot movements during auto-blips for GT3 cars that have driver gas and brake animations.


Spotter
Fixed a grammar issue in a spotter message.


CARS:
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ARCA Menards Chevrolet Impala
Fixed an issue where the inside windshield frame was showing exterior reflections.
iRacing setups have been updated.


Audi RS 3 LMS
The unused license plate has been removed from the interface model.


BMW M4 GT3
Fixed a texture issue with a screw on the front fender grill.


BMW M4 GT4
For the New Damage Model, wheel damage properties have been updated.


BMW M8 GTE
iRacing setups have been updated.


Chevrolet Monte Carlo SS
iRacing setups have been updated.


Dallara IR18
The driver view has been shifted up slightly.
iRacing setups have been updated.


Ferrari 488 GT3 Evo 2020
The rear splitter has been updated with the latest design.
Ferrari logo has been updated for certain camera distances.


Ford Mustang FR500S
iRacing setups have been updated.


Formula Vee
The level-of-detail (LOD) settings for the driver have been updated to prevent the driver’s head from disappearing at long camera distance.


Lotus 49
The level-of-detail (LOD) settings for the driver have been updated to prevent the driver from disappearing at long camera distance.


McLaren 570s GT4
For the New Damage Model, wheel damage properties have been updated.


NASCAR 1987 Class Cars
Fixed an issue where these cars were not loading with Road tires at the Mount Washington Auto Road.


NASCAR Gander Outdoors Class Trucks
iRacing setups have been updated.


NASCAR Next Gen Class Cars
iRacing setups have been updated.


Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 Clubsport MR
For the New Damage Model, wheel damage properties have been updated.
Fixed an issue with the display glass.


Porsche 911 GT3 Cup (992)
Adjusted the gridding order of this vehicle for multi-class sessions.
Fixed an issue with a flipped pit sign.
The texture mapping of the B pillars have been updated and may now be painted.
The interface model for this car has been updated.


Porsche 911 R GT3
The reflectivity of the windshield has been adjusted.


SCCA Spec Racer Ford
When the Auto Blip driving aid is enabled, downshift blips have been dramatically improved.


Street Stock
Steering wheels should now rotate properly when viewed from external cameras.


Supercars Holden ZB Commodore
The texture map of the B pillars and nose vents have been updated and may now be painted. Custom paint schemes will need to have their textures adjusted using the new template for this car.


TRACKS:
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Barber Motorsports Park
The seam filler plane has been adjusted to unblock the Turn 14 tunnel.


Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps
Some crowd members have had their attention redirected towards the track.


Hickory Motor Speedway
Environment cubemap location has been updated.


Hungaroring Circuit
Brake markers have been updated.
Bumps have been smoothed out at the blue merge line and before the inner curbing at Turn 6.
The Track Rules tab has been updated with images.
The track camera set has been updated.
A variety of environment artwork has been updated.


Kansas Speedway
Smoothed a bump on the apron between Turn 1 and Turn 2.


Lime Rock Park
Patched some seams.


Mount Washington Auto Road
Fixed an issue where a sinister shadowy beam could be seen emitting from the peak of Mount Washington on certain graphics settings.


Okayama International Circuit

The gapfiller texture has been lowered to prevent overlapping the pond.
Dirt staining intensity on the track surface has been reduced.


Oulton Park Circuit
Fixed an issue where the Intl w/out Brittens and the Intl w/out Hislop config names were swapped.


Road Atlanta

Detail settings on a variety of objects have been updated so they render correctly based on graphics settings.
A gap filler model has been added to help hide seams in the world.
Lightmaps for some environmental objects have been updated.
Some event vehicles have been updated.
Michelin Tower has been updated with new level-of-detail models and textures, and the crowd visibility settings have been updated.


Weathertech Raceway at Laguna Seca
Fixed a piece of curbing that could cause snagging on the outside of Turn 10.

2021 Season 4 Patch 1 Release [2021.09.14.02]

This Patch contains some updates and fixes for the 2021 Season 4 Release.

See the full release notes below, or on the iRacing Forums here:
https://forums.iracing.com/discussion/8253/2021-season-4-patch-1-release-notes-2021-09-14-02



2021 Season 4 Patch 1 Release Notes [2021.09.14.02]

This Patch contains some updates and fixes for the 2021 Season 4 Release.


iRACING UI:
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Paint Shop
A new sponsor has been added - Next Level Racing.
A new sponsor has been added - Ricmotech.


SIMULATION:
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AI Racing
AI Drivers have received additional training entering the pits at the Sebring Club layout.

Graphics
Fixed an issue with SMP/SPS and animated characters at tracks where SpeedTree is utilized.
Fixed an issue where the environment map for cars (and some other objects) would stop updating, and therefore not update for any sky\lighting changes, when using a camera outside of the car cockpit with num Dynamic Cubemaps set to 0.

Hosted AI Racing
An icon has been added to the in-sim helmets to indicate which drivers are AI.

Lighting
Some lighting settings have been adjusted to subtly reduce the warm hues seen in daytime lighting.

Race Servers
Fixed an issue that could cause race servers to crash.
Fixed an issue that could cause human players to be assigned to an AI team, causing the AI host to crash to desktop.

Rallycross Racing
Reduced the grip level of rallycross dirt slightly.

Spotter
Radio audio filter has been applied to the new Italian spotter package samples.


CARS:
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BMW M4 GT3
Material assignment has been updated for a screw on the front fender grill.

Chevrolet Monte Carlo SS
More appropriate tires should now load at road and dirt road courses.
iRacing setups have been updated.

Dallara F3
The UI model should now have a steering column again.

Dallara IR18
Adjusted parameters for tires used at Motegi and Darlington.
iRacing setups have been updated.

Ferrari 488 GT3 Evo 2020
Fixed an issue where tires would become translucent in smoke.
For custom paints, some decal UVs have been adjusted to prevent them from bleeding onto the rear wing.
Fixed the look of some mirror mount screws.
Fixed a pitboard and spec error in some textures.

Formula Renault 3.5
iRacing setups have been updated.

Global Mazda MX-5 Cup
Cockpit textures have been updated.

Modified - SK
(ALL) - More appropriate tires should now load at road and dirt road courses.

NASCAR 1987 Class Cars
iRacing setups have been updated.

NASCAR Cup Chevrolet Camaro ZL1
Audio has been updated to be less muffled when above 6500 RPM.

NASCAR Next Gen Class Cars
The rub block collision system has been adjusted to improve interaction with ground contact.
iRacing setups have been updated.

Porsche 911 GT3 Cup (992)
Fixed an issue where the in-SIM display name for this vehicle was incorrect.
Pedal animations should no longer jump to no travel when the pedal is pressed to full travel.
The side windows have been remapped to allow flag graphics to be placed in the B pillar per Supercup rules.
iRacing setups have been updated with track specific setups.
The vertical size of the stamped name has been reduced so some letters aren’t cut off.
External shift lights should now better match the in-car shift lights.
Steering wheel buttons are now textured properly when using the Static Steering Wheel option.

Porsche 919
The digital dash should now exist again when using the Static Steering Wheel setting.

Skip Barber Formula 2000
Driver shake animations have been tuned to be less shaky.

SCCA Spec Racer Ford
The F8 black box has been updated to ensure all text is visible.

Super Late Model
More appropriate tires should now load at road and dirt road courses.

Street Stock
(ALL) - More appropriate tires should now load at road and dirt road courses.
Pedal animations should no longer jump to no travel when the pedal is pressed to full travel.
Drivers should once again use the proper helmets in this car.

[Legacy] Dallara IndyCar
The steering shaft should now only exist in the proper location.

[Legacy] NASCAR Cup Chevrolet Impala COT - 2009
A control statement has been stabilized.


TRACKS:
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Barber Motorsports Park
A gap filler model has been added to help hide seams in the world.

Five Flags Speedway
The main grandstand should now continue to exist at Low settings.

Hungaroring Circuit
Paddock and garage areas have been updated.
Main entrance area has been updated.
Flags have been added around the track.
Some sunken elements have been raised to the terrain level, and some floating elements have been lowered to the terrain level.
Start lights have been added.
Objects that fill holes in the terrain mesh, such as tunnels, curbs, and walls, should now never disappear - even with low rendering settings.
Race marshal huts have been deployed.
Flaggers have been added.
A pair of bumps on the front-stretch have been smoothed.
Adjusted some track surface bumps
Banner flags have been added.
Flag booths have been updated.
A pillow curb was added to the chicane.
Numbers on marshal posts should have less z-fighting.
Bumps in turn 2 and 11 have been smoothed out.
Added a pyramid curb between the pillows at turn 6.
Additional brake markers have been added.
The pitwall has been adjusted to properly meet the asphalt.
Tree textures and models have been updated.
Weather information has been updated to bring wind speeds into a reasonable range.
Some terrain edges have been smoothed out.
Some tents and trucks in the go kart track have been moved.

Lime Rock Park
A gap filler model has been added to help hide seams in the world.

Mount Panorama Circuit
Some signs have been updated.

Okayama Raceway
A gap filler model has been added to help hide seams in the world.

Oran Park
A gap filler model has been added to help hide seams in the world.

Oulton Park
A gap filler model has been added to help hide seams in the world.

Road Atlanta
New buildings have been added around the track.
Various wall end caps have been added.

Summit Park Raceway
A gap filler model has been added to help hide seams in the world.

Tsukuba Raceway
A gap filler model has been added to help hide seams in the world.

WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca
A gap filler model has been added to help hide seams in the world.

2021 Season 4 Release [2021.09.07.02]

iRacing 2021 Season 4 is here! This release adds the Ferrari 488 GT3 Evo 2020, Porsche 911 GT3 Cup (992), Hickory Motor Speedway, and Hungaroring Circuit to iRacing! We have added the ability to add AI Opponent Rosters to Hosted Racing, enabling you to fill-out the event with AI Drivers to ensure a full grid and increase the competition. The “No Damage” Mode has been updated to a new “healing” damage mode which allows for more realistic physics and collisions without any of the race-ruining permanent damage. The SCCA Spec Racer Ford and Street Stock have both received an artwork overhaul and have had the New Damage Model enabled. Road tires have also been added to ALL cars in the service - you may now run ANY car at ANY track! And finally, 16 new pieces of content are AI-ready, including five new vehicles and eleven new track configurations. Welcome to iRacing 2021 Season 4!


Season highlights include:

• Ferrari 488 GT3 Evo 2020
  
• Porsche 911 GT3 Cup (992)
  
• Hickory Motor Speedway
  
• Hungaroring Circuit
  
• Hosted AI Racing
  
• New “Healing” No Damage Mode
  
• Art Overhaul for SCCA Spec Racer Ford and Street Stock
  
• New Damage Model for SCCA Spec Racer Ford and Street Stock
  
• Road Tires for ALL Vehicles
  
• AI Racing for Five New Cars (Ferrari 488 GT3 Evo 2020, Porsche 911 GT3 Cup (992), Super Late Model, Supercars Ford Mustang GT, Supercars Holden ZB Commodore)
  
• AI Racing at Eleven New Track Configurations (Bristol - Dual Pit Roads, Bristol - Single Pit Roads, Concord Speedway, Five Flags Speedway, Hickory Motor Speedway, Hungaroring Circuit, Mount Panorama Circuit, Myrtle Beach Speedway, Phillip Island Circuit, Red Bull Ring - North, The Bullring)
  

Visit our 2021 Season 4 features page here: https://www.iracing.com/2021-season-4/

Full 2021 Season 4 Release details can be found on the iRacing Forums here:
https://forums.iracing.com/discussion/7355/2021-season-4-release-notes-2021-09-07-02

This Patch includes fixes and updates for the 2021 Season 3 Release, and includes the pre-release of the Mount Washington Auto Road!
Check out the Release Notes for this update below, or on our Members Forums here:
https://forums.iracing.com/discussion/5799/2021-season-3-patch-5-release-notes-2021-08-10-03



2021 Season 3 Patch 5 Release Notes [2021.08.10.03]

The 2021 Season 3 Patch 5 Release contains some fixes and updates for the 2021 Season 3 Release. This patch also includes the pre-release for the brand new Mount Washington Auto Road!


SIMULATION:
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Rendering
We have integrated SpeedTree into our simulation/game engine. SpeedTree is a 3D vegetation modeling and rendering system designed for films and real-time games. It provides our artists with tools to build location-specific trees and then quickly place them at our racetracks. The system is engineered to render these trees efficiently and with built-in level-of-detail (LOD) management, and has received specific customization to make it work optimally for iRacing's requirements. This feature is making its debut at Mount Washington and will be used more extensively in the future.


CARS:
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Indy Pro 2000 PM-18
iRacing setups have been updated.

Subaru WRX STI
On-board engine and rev limiter sounds have been improved.
Windshield reflections have been updated.


TRACKS:
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Mount Washington Auto Road
NEW TRACK!
- - Mount Washington Auto Road is now available as a pre-release track!
- - This Rallycross track includes two configurations, Hillclimb, and Descent.
- - Towering at 6,288 feet, Mount Washington is the highest peak in the northeastern United States and the sixth-highest mountain in all of North America. The Mount Washington Auto Road was completed in 1861, stretching 7.6 miles and climbing 4,618 feet from base to summit at an average gradient of 11.6%. The road is both open to private vehicles and guided tours, and "THIS CAR CLIMBED MOUNT WASHINGTON" bumper stickers are prevalent throughout New England. In 1904, the inaugural Mount Washington Hillclimb Auto Race was hosted. Held sporadically over the past century, the "Climb to the Clouds" is nonetheless the oldest auto race in the country. Its latest revival as a full-blown race came in 2011 as a tri-annual event, and each edition of the race since 1956 has seen a new record time set by the winner. The most recent record was set by Travis Pastrana in 2017. Mount Washington serves as iRacing's first-ever point-to-point hillclimb race - do you have what it takes to make it to the top?
- - Add the Mount Washington Auto Road to your digital landscape by purchasing it from the iRacing store today! https://members.iracing.com/membersite/member/TrackDetail.do?trkid=398
Oulton Park Circuit
The prevalence for dirt to stain the track surface has been reduced.

Red Bull Ring
Collision parameters for pit wall sections have been updated.
The floating cones at the pit exit have been grounded.

Rockingham Speedway
(Oval) - Track grip parameters have been adjusted slightly.

Texas Motor Speedway
(Oval) - Track grip parameters have been adjusted slightly.

WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca
The prevalence for dirt to stain the track surface has been reduced.