Dead Men Walking

Hello

There will be an updata to iRacing today. Expect it around 7 pm GMT.
Here is a list of updates.
http://forum.racesimcentral.com/showpost.php?p=3848636&postcount=7

Thanks for that. I gave it another go tonight. Not as bad as last time. Who knows, might be ok at some point.

OMG! What have I done? I've just paid for a year, bought the Skip Barber(good) AND the Radical(superb!) along with Silverstone,(good) Infineon (brilliant!) and one other that my mind won't admit to! That's what I've done! :blink: I have to admit, that as a sim it's extremely good. Whether it will convince me that racing on it is as good still remains to be seen.

Quote from: Doorman;238834OMG! What have I done? I've just paid for a year, bought the Skip Barber(good) AND the Radical(superb!) along with Silverstone,(good) Infineon (brilliant!) and one other that my mind won't admit to! That's what I've done! :blink: I have to admit, that as a sim it's extremely good. Whether it will convince me that racing on it is as good still remains to be seen.

Good to see that your judgement still is working well. I agree that we need to be able to race with our friends, and that there is much that is not up to LFS standards as Oldie and You have pointed out before, but the sim is superb.

Iam sure it will be a great year both for me and you and sim racing in general.

Quote from: Doorman;238834OMG! What have I done? I've just paid for a year, bought the Skip Barber(good) AND the Radical(superb!) along with Silverstone,(good) Infineon (brilliant!) and one other that my mind won't admit to! That's what I've done! :blink: I have to admit, that as a sim it's extremely good. Whether it will convince me that racing on it is as good still remains to be seen.

I can't wait for the summer to be over! I'll try iRacing as soon as I'll have enough time for it. :beer:

New Season
With awards for the Summer 2008 iRacing Season being distributed as you read this, the third iRacing competition season of 2008 is upon us. Starting Saturday, Aug. 2, at 8 p.m. EDT (Midnight GMT), the new season brings with it several significant changes to the iRacing service. Most immediately obvious is the season name.

Out of respect for our members in the southern hemisphere, we're adopting a numeric naming convention. Rather than "Fall 2008," this season will be known as "2008-Season 3" - a bit dry, we know, but we felt it was necessary for our growing global community. Season 3 will run through the end of October and be followed, predictably enough, by 2008-Season 4, starting in early November.

New Series
As previously announced, Season 3 will feature more frequent rookie races and more convenient scheduling of qualifying sessions and races for the higher-level series. The schedule will also include new Class C series, adding the Formula Mazda, Road America and Silverstone to FIRST-sanctioned road racing, and the USAC Silver Crown car, Atlanta, Homestead and Richmond to FIRST-sanctioned oval competition.

We're also pleased to announce a new series based on the success of our 13th Week Fun Races. The SK Modified Weekly Series will feature the same schedule of tracks as the Late Model series, with Practice and Time Trial sessions running every day. But in an effort to maintain full fields, Qualifying and Race sessions will be limited to the period between
8 p.m. EDT, Wednesday and 7:59 p.m. EDT, Thursday. Like the Late Model series, the SK Weekly Series will be open to drivers with Class D or higher oval licenses (or rookies with a Safety Rating of 4.0 or higher).

New members
The next wave of invitations to join iRacing.com will go out on Wednesday, Aug. 6. With several thousand invitations being distributed and a large influx of new members expected, we'd like to remind everyone of our Code of Conduct (section 1.4 of the FIRST Sporting Code).

New members, please remember that your primary focus should be on getting acclimated to the iRacing community and driving cleanly. Above all, always be respectful to your fellow members.

Experienced iRacers, remember to be patient with those new to our community and help them find their bearings. You know how important sportsmanship and courtesy are to all of us. Please lead by example.

Reminder! Please remember the August 29th Annual Subscription Bonus Program. All members with one-year subscriptions in place as of midnight GMT on that date will receive an additional $15 iRacing credit (on top of the $60 iRacing credit that you normally receive with the purchase of an annual subscription). For full information on this Bonus Program, please see the related post in the iRacing.com Announcements section of the member forums.

Sim

The sim will properly recognise 4GB or more of system RAM.

The replayMemoryOverride setting in core.ini will no longer cause sim to fail to load if size is set too large.

Fix buffer overflow bug in garage when using long filenames for setups for most cars that could sometimes cause setups to not load or the sim to crash.


Web

The functionality of the Club Stats page has been expanded. You can now view data on a per-season level.

A driver stats listing has been added to the STATS > Drivers section. On this page you can view a listing of all members who have participated in at least one race session. This list can be filtered in a variety of ways.

A new page has been added to the SERIES section: Past Seasons. This page can be used to navigate to the miscellaneous past seasons and lists all past season champions.


Tracks

Fixed a black flag bug at VIR South.

The Infineon grandstand is now visible again.

A graphical bump coming out of Irwindale’s turn 2 has been fixed.


Cars

Updated the 3rd gear ratio in the Solstice from the 2006 model's 1.37 to the 2007-present model's 1.51.

Updated full throttle engine sounds for Formula Mazda.

Got that lot and everything else they got! :D

And for those of you that does not have iRacing. In just 10 days we have had 3 updates to the software and one superb multi config track. (http://www.barbermotorsports.com/)
Next track is Sebring.

And yes, they are inviting thousands new racers August 6.th.
Be sure to be on their mailing list if you want in.

Quote from: vobler;239683And yes, they are inviting thousands new racers August 6.th.
Be sure to be on their mailing list if you want in.

Did anyone here get invited?

I got one. Still testing it out, but from what I can see so far its very good and everything I've tried has given clean racing (in general).

Will give it a couple more weeks to see if I want a full subscription though.

Top man! :D You'll find, at least I did, that the more you get into it the better it becomes.

got my invitation tonight :D
will hopfelly get chance to give it a try this wkend :)

Quote from: delankster;240376got my invitation tonight :D
will hopfelly get chance to give it a try this wkend :)

Oh no. I knew I could not resist, so I went and subscribed their newsletter. Is that the way to possibly get the invitation? Hrrr... :)

August 14, 2008 - General Launch Date Announced!
After pledging to launch the iRacing.com service to the general public before the end of the summer, we're pleased to be able to add a specific date and time to our promise. As of 12:00 pm EST (18:00 GMT) August 26, 2008, iRacing.com will be available to racers everywhere who want to take advantage of simulation technology for training purposes, compete in the newest branch of motorsport - internet racing - and join our growing global community.

Because our public Web site (//www.iRacing.com) is the only way to subscribe to our service, we've added a countdown clock to the home page to highlight the moment when our storefront will open its doors.

In addition to the countdown timer, we've added a Testimonial page to the public site, on which you'll find comments about iRacing from a variety of professional racers and other prominent figures in motorsport. We'll be adding to this collection of quotes frequently. And there are some other improvements to the members' and public sites that will follow along shortly.

This is an exciting time for all of us at iRacing.com. While development will, of course, continue unabated, August 26 will mark the culmination of years of hard work and the realization of our collective vision for this sport. We're thrilled to share this moment with all of you, our former alpha and beta testers and our pre-launch members, who have helped us reach this momentous occasion. This is only the beginning ...

Reminder! Please remember the August 29th Annual Subscription Bonus Program. All members with one-year subscriptions in place as of midnight GMT on that date will receive an additional $15 iRacing credit (on top of the $60 iRacing credit that you normally receive with the purchase of an annual subscription). For full information on this Bonus Program, please see the related post in the iRacing.com Announcements section of the member forums.

iRacing are now officially open. Go get it... :D

Official statement:

August 26, 2008 - iRacing.com Open to the Public!
The next generation of racing is here! iRacing.com is now open to the general public. Pro or amateur, expert or novice, simulation veteran or not - anyone with a serious interest in the sport is welcome.

On this momentous occasion, we offer our sincere thanks to the hundreds of volunteer testers who, along with thousands of pre-launch invitees, have helped make sure that our service has been put through its paces and that our membership is already a thriving global community. And it's only going to get better.

Development continues. New tracks, new cars, new web functionality and new simulation features are all in the works and will be rolling out soon. In the meantime, check out our newest laser-scanned masterpiece, Bristol Motor Speedway, and our newest addition to the Members' Site, the iRacing Gear Store, the link for which can be found in the "Store" section on the main nav bar above.

Another new element of the service we think you'll like is the iRacing Referral Reward Program (see story below), which enables you to take an active role in the healthy growth of the iRacing community - and earn iRacing credits as you do it.

Whether through the referral program, special partner programs or just "walk-ins," our general launch is expected to bring several thousand new members into the service in a short span of time. Experience has taught us that this period of transition requires patience and consideration from everyone, regardless of how recently you joined. Please, do your part: read the FIRST Sporting Code and adhere to these rules at all times. New members, take your time getting acclimated, and veterans, help where you can. We're building this community - and the sport of internet racing - together.

Yes and PM me for my Email if you want to "sponsor me"... :D

August 26, 2008 - Invite Your Friends, Pick Up Some (iRacing) Cash!
Have some friends who'd like to try iRacing? Invite them to join, and you could earn $10 iRacing credit to use for cars, tracks or the extension of your membership. Simply tell your friends to input your email address (the one you used to register your own iRacing account) in the "Referring Member Email" field when they purchase their three, six or 12 month subscription. We'll send you a promotional code worth $10 for each confirmed new member referral.

Quote from: vobler;242255Yes and PM me for my Email if you want to "sponsor me"... :D

August 26, 2008 - Invite Your Friends, Pick Up Some (iRacing) Cash!
Have some friends who'd like to try iRacing? Invite them to join, and you could earn $10 iRacing credit to use for cars, tracks or the extension of your membership. Simply tell your friends to input your email address (the one you used to register your own iRacing account) in the "Referring Member Email" field when they purchase their three, six or 12 month subscription. We'll send you a promotional code worth $10 for each confirmed new member referral.

You'll be rich soon =)

Quote from: vobler;242255Yes and PM me for my Email if you want to "sponsor me"... :D

Why didn't I think of that first?! :sideways:

Quote from: vobler;242255Yes and PM me for my Email if you want to "sponsor me"... :D

Shameless pimp. :flirty:

Here is what Dave Kaemmer (the Scawen of iRacing) posted on the iRacing forum

Hello fellow iRacing Members:

As much as I enjoy working on the iRacing code, physics, tire modeling, the competition structure and new models and features, I also enjoy reading the forum posts as often as I get a chance. I often read the posts debating what should be next or to be blunt what is going on inside the walls of iRacing. After all these years, I guess I should not be surprised that my passion for sim racing is shared by so many people. That is a good thing! It certainly gives me the chance to do what I love.

I really do appreciate the passion for what is coming next at iRacing. We really don’t have any big secrets (although we are working on some pretty cool surprises for next year). We are simply hard at work on the things that both you and we want for the service. Some of the bigger feature-related items that we are currently working on were included in one of the questions in our recent survey. Those items include pitting, flags, race control, replays and open practice. Some of these items should be out soon. I hope they ALL will be out soon, but in this business things never go as planned. It is a very complicated and technically challenging endeavor. I have learned not to make promises if I’m not 100% certain we’ll be able to deliver.

Anyway, we will post the results of that survey once we wrap it up – in case you’re curious. Thanks for taking the time to do it; the results are very helpful to us. We also have some very exciting new cars and tracks that we will be announcing shortly and bringing into the sim. I hope you saw the Lotus 79 announcement this week.

I was going to wait until we added blogging and social-network functionality to iRacing and then start a weekly developer’s blog and let the technical, production and design teams here rotate and tell you the nitty gritty as to what they are working on and discuss some of the more technical aspects of iRacing, since there seems to be a portion of the membership interested in that detail. We should have the blogging capability done and up live on the site in a few weeks or so, but in the meantime, I figured I would send out at least a few quick development thoughts each week. Again, some people do seem interested in the details, so I asked Kevin Combs our 3D Art Manager and a terrific technical artist to talk about our collision system (below), one of the many models within iRacing. Hope you enjoy. Talk to you next week and good racing!

Dave


Our collision system is unique compared to systems used in the past. Rather than using a static collision volume to represent the driver’s car, each car has a collection of spheres created by the artists, which represent the car’s solid surface. Each sphere is animated to match the deformation of the visual model, so if you crunch the nose of your race car out of its normal position, the collision will be moved back to match its new position the next time you hit something. The graphical animation of the sphere also controls the damage assigned to the visual model, which in turn controls the damage texture drawn on the model.

Each sphere is imported from the graphical model into the physics definition for each car where physical characteristics such as the material type (plastic, steel, aluminum, carbon fiber, fiberglass, rubber, etc.), material strength, and its breaking point are defined. When a sphere exceeds its breaking point it is removed from the collision detection and any visual model associated with the sphere is detached from the car. In the future, visual models that are detached will remain in the world with their own collision spheres and mass; creating debris that is hittable and can cause damage to other cars.

Although the spheres themselves determine collisions between the driver and the world, as well as the driver’s collisions with other drivers, the remote cars use a convex hull defined by the spheres for performance reasons; in a full field of cars, if all cars used the collision spheres, there would be thousands of sphere collision calculations. Spheres that surround your wheels and tires are treated specially, since the tire forces use a much more sophisticated force model.

iRacing Goes Vintage With Lotus 79 F1 Car Announcement Comes on 30th Anniversary of F1 Title

BEDFORD, MA (September 10, 2008) - The Formula One championship-winning Lotus 79, one of the significant race cars of the past century, will be the first vintage race car available to members of the iRacing.com motorsport simulation and internet racing service. The announcement was made jointly today, the 30th anniversary of Mario Andretti's Formula One World Championship, by Dave Kaemmer, chief executive officer of iRacing and Clive Chapman, managing director of Classic Team Lotus.

"Many of our members are very interested in historic race cars and a fair number of them compete in vintage racing in the physical world," said Kaemmer, who is well known for an earlier simulation, Grand Prix Legends, which was based on the 1967 Formula One season. "To have the Lotus 79, a technically ground-breaking Formula One car and a World Championship winner, as our first historic car is a great place to start, and to be able to announce it on the anniversary of Mario securing the title is perfect."

"Of all of the racing cars in Lotus's long history, including others that have won world championships, few have had such an impact on the sport," said Chapman, who is the son of Lotus founder Colin Chapman. "The Lotus 78 was designed around the notion of underbody aerodynamics, but the 79 was the first car that fully exploited ground effect principles. And that changed the face of racing. It was an amazing car for its time, and it remains an amazing car today. I'm pleased that iRacing will be making it possible for people today to experience what it is like to drive the 79."

One person who knows the Lotus 79 first-hand is Mario Andretti, who drove it under the checkered flag at Monza to clinch his World Driving Championship and last month was reunited with the car at the Rolex Monterey Historic Automobile Races.

"Driving the Lotus 79 was one of the most satisfying experiences in my career as a race driver," Andretti recalled. "The car was exceptionally responsive to different setups that we used to adapt to different circuits. Because I understood the dynamics of the car so well, I was able to achieve perfect balance with that car most of the time, which was very rare. I always looked forward to crawling into that cockpit. Of course that car also is significant in my life because I won the World Championship driving it."

Andretti won five races in the ground-effect Lotus 79 (and the season-opener in the Type 78) on his way to the 1978 title, but Chapman had been thinking for some time about using the airstream to produce traction-enhancing downforce. His designs evolved for over ten years, including a wedge-shaped body for his Indy turbine cars to kill lift, then to generate downforce. By 1976 Chapman had tacked on side skirts to the "development" Type 77 F1 car in an attempt to produce a low-pressure area under the car and pull the car down harder on its tires.

The Lotus 78 design, with which Andretti won four races during the 1977 season, incorporated sidepods with curved undersides and sliding skirts acting as seals to protect the low pressure created beneath the pod. The advantage over body-mounted front and rear wings was more downforce and less speed-robbing aerodynamic drag.

It was with the Lotus 79 that Chapman realized the full potential of ground effect. With redesigned sidepods and front and rear suspension components repositioned so as not to impede the airstream's entry or exit, the 79 generated 30% more downforce than the 78. The 79, which wasn't introduced until the 6th race of the 1978 season, was miles ahead of the competition and with it Andretti dominated the rest of the season, winning the Drivers Championship and helping Lotus secure the Constructors Championship.

Divina Galica, iRacing's director of partner relations and a Formula One racer in the 1970s, is another driver with relatively recent experience driving the 79. She drove Joel Finn's fine example at Watkins Glen in 2006. "It is a fabulous car," she said, emphatically. "And as Mario noted, it has wonderful balance. But you know, I waited 28 years to drive it."

Galica went on to describe a phone call she'd made to Team Lotus head Colin Chapman shortly after the 1978 Italian Grand Prix at Monza, where Andretti's teammate, Ronnie Petersen, had died from complications following surgery to repair legs broken in a crash at the start of the race. "In those days, that's what you did," she recalled. "Someone was going to be driving the car at Watkins Glen, and I thought it might as well be me. Colin was very polite, but he'd already hired (Jean-Pierre) Jarier, who set fastest lap at Watkins Glen, but ran out of fuel near the end of the race, and then led the Canadian Grand Prix at Montreal until the car broke.

"I was always a bit disappointed that I hadn't gotten to drive the 79 then, so I was extremely grateful when Joel generously invited me to drive his car at a vintage race at Watkins Glen," Galica said. "And I'm even more grateful now to Joel for kindly providing us access to his 79 to scan and gather data."

About iRacing.com
iRacing.com was founded in September of 2004 by Dave Kaemmer and John Henry. Kaemmer was co-founder of Papyrus Design Group, developers of award-winning racing simulations including NASCAR Racing: 2003 Season and Grand Prix Legends. Henry is principal owner of the Boston Red Sox and Fenway Sports Group - the co-owner of Roush Fenway Racing - as well as an avid simracer. The iRacing.com team combines more than 100 years of real-world racing experience with more than 50 years of successful racing simulation development.

Left me cold I'm afraid. :sideways:

Quote from: Doorman;244505Left me cold I'm afraid. :sideways:

The car? Yes me too.
But the other post is full of good things. Read it again!

Quote from: vobler;244507The car? Yes me too.
But the other post is full of good things. Read it again!

"In the future, visual models that are detached will remain in the world with their own collision spheres and mass; creating debris that is hittable and can cause damage to other cars."

Yeah I read that on the forum. I must be conditioned by nKP, I'll be pleased if/when it comes into being. :rolleyes: Having said that, I'm more inclined to believe D.K. than Kunos :flirty:

BEDFORD, MA (September 17, 2008) - Three of North America's classic road-racing circuits will be represented in the iRacing.com motorsport simulation and internet racing service. Sebring International Raceway, home of the famed annual 12-hour sportscar endurance race, will be made available to iRacing subscribers beginning today, while the other two Panoz Motor Sports Group tracks, Road Atlanta and Mosport International Raceway, will enter the production process soon in preparation for release in 2009.

The announcement was made today by iRacing president Tony Gardner and Panoz Motor Sports Group president and CEO Scott Atherton.

"Our members will be very pleased with the addition of these three circuits to our inventory," Gardner said. "Sebring is not only the oldest permanent road-racing facility in North America, but it is one of the busiest test circuits. Our members who race in the physical world will be able to better prepare for tests and races there on any of the track configurations, while members who drive in our internet race series will have the pleasure of being able to compete on this legendary track. Road Atlanta and Mosport are known worldwide as tests of driving ability. We're thrilled to welcome all three Panoz tracks to the world of iRacing."

Atherton noted the remarkable accuracy of the tracks that are already in the iRacing inventory. "We have a simulator in our offices, running the iRacing simulation," he said. "It's incredible how exact everything is. All of us here at Panoz Motor Sports Group are eager to take some laps around Sebring."

Gardner and Atherton agreed on the strategic significance of the relationship between the two companies.

"This partnership will give teams that compete in the American Le Mans Series and other racing events scheduled at Sebring, Road Atlanta and Mosport the ability to better utilize their on-track time," Atherton said. "That ability to make efficient use of track time supports the American Le Mans Series "green racing" initiative. And for our fans, iRacing offers an opportunity to get behind the wheel and actually experience the same tracks as our world-class drivers."

About Sebring International Raceway

Laid out on the runways of a World War II air base and the adjacent roadways, Sebring International Raceway is the oldest permanent road-racing circuit in the United States. The track is best known as the venue for the annual Mobil 1® Twelve Hours of Sebring endurance race, opening round of the American Le Mans Series. For nearly 60 years the world's top racers have competed at this storied track nestled in central Florida's orange groves. The original racecourse was the longest in North America, at more than five miles around. In 1959 Sebring was the site of the first United States Grand Prix before the event found a permanent home at Watkins Glen. After a period of decline in the 1990s, Dr. Don Panoz, founder of the Panoz Motor Sport Group, rescued the facility in 1999, initiating a multi-million dollar enhancement program.

Today Sebring International Raceway has three configurations, the longest of which is the 3.7-mile circuit used for the 12-hour race. Like the original layout, the current one is a mix of smooth asphalt-paved roadway and car-pounding concrete-slab runways. Some experts claim that 12 hours racing at Sebring is twice as hard on a car - and its drivers - as 24 hours at some other tracks. Sebring's shorter configuration is a popular year-round test facility for major racing teams, and a venue for SCCA club races. The full circuit is also host to major vintage race meets.

About Road Atlanta

Opened in 1970 with the running of a Can-Am Challenge race, Road Atlanta has been host to virtually every significant North American amateur and professional road-racing series. For many years Road Atlanta was home to SCCA's club-racing national championship Runoffs. Fans have flocked to see pro racing ranging from SCCA Formula 5000 and Trans-Am to NASCAR Grand National to IMSA's Camel GT, predecessor to the current American Le Mans Series. Since assuming ownership of the track in 1996 and hosting the inaugural Petit Le Mans round of the American Le Mans Series two years later, the Panoz Group has substantially upgraded the facility, with a twin focus on participant safety and spectator amenity. Today, in addition to Petit Le Mans, Road Atlanta is home to SCCA and NASA club racing, a variety of historic and vintage racing organizations, Ferrari Challenge and professional and amateur motorcycle racing.

About Mosport International Raceway

Opened in 1961 as Mosport Park (a contraction of "Motorsport Park"), this Toronto-area 2.459-mile roller-coaster of a race track was host to the Canadian Grand Prix until the event moved to Montreal in 1978. Featuring very fast sweeping corners over hill and dale, Mosport is a real driver's circuit, albeit an unforgiving one. Since assuming control of the track in 1998, the Panoz Motor Sports Group has made a number of changes that have preserved the original configuration of the racing surface while making it safer for drivers and spectators. In addition to Canadian club racing, Grand-Am sedans, Formula Mazda, the NASCAR Canadian Tire Series, the Parts Canada Superbike Championship, and historic and vintage events, the track is host to the only Canadian round of the American Le Mans Series, the Mobil 1 presents the Grand Prix of Mosport.

A lap in a Radical (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=07Gft5UVlUk) My own view is that I won't buy it. I made trhe mistake of buying everything they had in the belief that at some point we would race on them (tracks) or in them (cars). So far only 4 tracks have been used! Summit, Virginia, Laguna Seca and Infineon and two cars! :sideways: (I'm not counting ovals because the could have done with just one. The small ovals all look the same.
A bit peeved actually.

Quote from: Doorman;245069So far only 4 tracks have been used! Summit, Virginia, Laguna Seca and Infineon and two cars!

I think you forget the Mazda and Silverstone and Road America and the road Legend series and Lime Rock and....

Quote from: vobler;245073I think you forget the Mazda and Silverstone and Road America and the road Legend series and Lime Rock and....

For you maybe. :flirty:

BEDFORD, MA (September 25, 2008) â€" iRacing.com has licensed and is in the process of building three of Chevrolet’s primary stock car racing vehicles, the Silverado truck, Monte Carlo SS and Impala SS. The Silverado will be available to iRacing members beginning October 15. The racing versions of the Monte Carlo SS and Impala SS will follow in 2009.

“Our relationship with GM Racing is exciting for us, and it’s great news for many of our members, including those who are also stock car racing stars in the physical world,” said Scott McKee, iRacing’s vice president of marketing. “They’ve known that most of the tracks where these vehicles race are either already in our inventory or in the process of being built. So, it was only a matter of time before we added the headliner vehicles that have made these tracks famous.”

In addition to its training benefits to the active real-world racers among the iRacing membership, the Silverado will play a major role in the competition side of iRacing’s online service, the structure of which calls for members to begin their internet racing career with slower, entry-level racecars and progress to faster ones as they demonstrate their ability to race safely through the course of successive 12-week seasons.

“Our members can test with any of the vehicles in our inventory,” said McKee. “But for our members who use the service for more than just training, the Silverado will be the basis for an advanced level of oval track competition â€" and the Impala SS will slot in above that when it’s released early next year.”

Ian Berwick, iRacing’s vehicle dynamics engineer, thanked the Chevrolet teams and drivers whose input has helped the virtual Silverado’s performance accurately match that of its physical counterpart. “Having access to the race truck itself, as well as the performance data, has been critical to producing a virtual-world duplicate,” he said. “Our testers, who are drawn both from the simracing and real-world racing communities, are pleased with the developmental version we’re running now internally. Our members can be confident that the Silverado they’ll be driving in the simulation will be just like the real-world one.”

Oo good! More redneck racing. :angry:

Quote from: Doorman;245824Oo good! More redneck racing. :angry:

Several people has said basicly the same thing today.

John Henry has responded a few times with this:

Dave and I are road racers. We won't let you down!

Two new news items on the member site.

Its about the upcoming week 13 and the new software version.

Three new announcements on the member site.

Its about

World Cup
New track
Iracing World

updates to the stats pages too.

Oo good, another oval. :doh:

Quote from: Doorman;246849Oo good, another oval. :doh:

Why did I read that as "Oh God" another oval?

But not quite, it has a road infield like much like Kyoto.
Several of the big ovals is like that.

But then again, I'll let you have that one....:D

Quote from: vobler;246879Why did I read that as "Oh God" another oval?

But not quite, it has a road infield like much like Kyoto.
Several of the big ovals is like that.

But then again, I'll let you have that one....:D

Also like a lot of 'Raceways', trouble is you never get to race them. :rolleyes: Maybe I'm just getting stale of racing. I'm beginning to feel a break coming on.

Quote from: Doorman;246888Maybe I'm just getting stale of racing. I'm beginning to feel a break coming on.

Hang in there a few more weeks. Maybe Netkar can turn you around? If not, take the break, you have earned it. :)

For people that is not iRacing members I think it is possible to join
http://www.iracingworld.com
and keep an eye on the blogs and videos just to stay in touch with the development and the community.

Not actually news but a blog entry from the Executive Vice President and Executive Producer at iRacing.com.

http://www.iracingworld.com/kickapps/_A-day-in-the-life-of-a-cat-herder2/blog/120881/57752.html

It's a hard life but someone's got to do it! :)

Quote from: Doorman;247634It's a hard life but someone's got to do it! :)

I'm not sure what you mean by that. But here is another one.
(I also highlighted a sentence below....)

STAR MAZDA CHAMPIONSHIP PRESENTED BY GOODYEAR AND iRACING.COM ANNOUNCE PARTNERSHIP FOR 2009 RACING SEASON
Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca/Oct. 18 – The Star Mazda Championship presented by Goodyear today announced a technical and promotional partnership with iRacing.com Motorsports Simulations, LLC that will begin immediately in preparation for the 2009 racing season. iRacing.com is now the "Official Simulation Service" of the Star Mazda Championship and will provide resources that allow prospective new drivers to test drive and existing drivers to train with a virtual Star Mazda race car on digital duplicates of most of the tracks that will be used by the series during the 2009 season.

iRacing.com will also provide contingency awards to top-performing Star Mazda Championship drivers and teams during the season, as well as a year-end award of a custom-built, professional-grade racing simulator. The Star Mazda Championship and iRacing.com will also cooperate on advertising programs in major motorsports publications and web sites, joint appearances at motorsports trade shows and other public relations, promotional and marketing opportunities. Additional initiatives are under discussion and will be announced as they develop.

"This new relationship with iRacing.com provides the Star Mazda Championship and our teams with innovative new ways to help current drivers prepare for upcoming races and to reach out to potential drivers, sponsors and fans," says series President Gary Rodrigues. "iRacing.com has created a unique, incredibly accurate motorsports experience that is the next best thing to being behind the wheel of the real Star Mazda race car… and you can do it from the comfort of your living room. Race drivers tell us the experience is very useful in learning a new track or getting ready to re-visit one you’re already familiar with. We're delighted with the immediate benefits of our association with iRacing.com, and excited about the possibilities. It is now possible for a race driver on the other side of the world to take a test drive in a Star Mazda pro car."

The Star Mazda Championship presented by Goodyear is entering its 19th year as the most successful open-wheel driver development series in North America. It is the college basketball, the triple-A baseball, the Junior A hockey of auto racing, a high-speed training ground for future stars of the sport and a major step on the MAZDASPEED Motorsports Driver Development Ladder that reaches all the way from karting to the Atlantic Championship Powered by Mazda. The hottest young drivers from around the world compete on international television for a prize fund of $1.5 million in Mazda-powered, high-tech, open-wheel cars. Mazda and the Star Mazda Championship have recently announced a five-year extension of their sponsorship agreement, taking Mazda's title sponsorship of the series through the 2013 season. The Star Mazda Championship has also announced the series' 2009 schedule, 13 races on 11 weekends including road courses, street circuits and ovals.

“iRacing.com and the Star Mazda Championship share a common purpose of helping race drivers build their skills and advance in this sport,” says Scott McKee, vice president of marketing for iRacing.com. “With our missions so closely aligned, working together makes perfect sense. Our simulation service will enable drivers considering the Star Mazda Championship to truly experience the cars and tracks before committing resources to arrange a test with a team, and when they do test, they’ll be prepared to make the most out of the opportunity. Meanwhile, existing drivers will be able to practice and prepare for their races using technology that was previously beyond the reach of all but the top Formula One teams.”

iRacing.com is an online, subscription-based racing simulation service that allows drivers from all over the world to build their skills, accumulating valuable seat-time at a tiny fraction of the cost of real-world testing. The unique feature of iRacing.com is the hyper-detailed, ultra-realistic simulation with accurate track, vehicle and physics modeling that accurately duplicates the handling of the car, the feel of the track and even what the driver sees from the cockpit. In addition, the iRacing service offers members the chance to develop their racecraft in professionally sanctioned online competition, including a virtual version of the Star Mazda Championship. With a schedule of four 12-week seasons each year, proprietary software automatically groups racers of similar skill levels together, giving everyone a chance to compete for race wins and season championships. One-month ($20), three-month ($50), six-month ($90) and yearly ($156) subscriptions are available, as are a wide variety of tracks, including such 2009 Star Mazda Championship venues as Sebring, Virginia International Raceway, the Milwaukee Mile and Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca. Other Star Mazda host venues, such as Road Atlanta and Mosport Park, will be added soon.

"For real drivers, iRacing.com is a tool, not a toy," says Alex Ardoin, winner of the 2007 Star Mazda Championship season finale at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca and driver of the #51 Mundill Racing / Oral & Facial Surgery Center / Twister Trailer / Johnstone Supply Mazda. "They've done such an amazing job of digitally re-creating the Star Mazda race car and the tracks we race on that you can save several laps of expensive track time by re-familiarizing yourself through the iRacing service; you can pick up right where you left off last time you actually raced on that track. This new partnership between Star Mazda and iRacing.com will be a great way for young drivers trying to decide what series to race in to get a real feel for what the real car is like. And for fans who love the competition but would never otherwise get the chance to actually race a Star Mazda car… the only thing missing is the sweat and smell of tire smoke."

Message was edited by:
Scott A. McKee

Here is another interesting blog from  "the cat herder"

He starts his blog this week like this

"As I alluded to in my last blog post I will touch on the content creation process in this week’s blog."


http://www.iracingworld.com/kickapps/_A-day-in-the-life-of-a-cat-herder3/blog/125752/57752.html

Interesting read!

It strikes me how an incredibly ambitious and expensive project iRacing really is. It's quite unique in the sim-racing setting. I read somewhere that they'd spent $18 million on development so far..? Plus, judging by this article, they have at least 15-20 people working for them. So, just by running some quick estimates, that means they'd need at least 5000 subscribers just to cover the wages. That figure would probably double once you take into account fees for licencing cars + tracks, plus all the other expenses connected with running a company. Not to mention if they're hoping to get their initial investment back and actually making some money..

I think it's commendable that they've tried, and I hope it works out well for them. And I hope to one day be able to join the circus! :)

Quote from: Gnomie;248648So, just by running some quick estimates, that means they'd need at least 5000 subscribers just to cover the wages. That figure would probably double once you take into account fees for licencing cars + tracks, plus all the other expenses connected with running a company. Not to mention if they're hoping to get their initial investment back and actually making some money..

The thing that is truly unique is that the team is founded by someone like John Henry ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_W._Henry ). He is filthy rich and loves racing. Also he is regulary, almost everyday contributing on the forums. I think he is a bit like Stefano Casillo in Netkar in the way he thinks. Its just that he don't do the coding and he don't have to earn money now, like Stefano has to do. They both share the same visions for simracing. But John Henry also has communicative skills. All that is why I see iRacing as the primary sim for years to come. I think they will deliver. Period.

And then every serious simracer will be in the service.

GARAGE

The garage screens for most cars now include a fuel level setting. You can set the amount to "Fill To:" before you get in the car. This is the only way to remove fuel from the tank.

The tab has been changed to a tab, which brings up a list of built-in setups for the car. There is still a baseline setup in the list, but there are now additional setups for each car.

The Load and Save As tabs operate as before. Load displays a list of only those setups you have saved, not any of the built-in setups.

RACE CONTROL

Green flag should now only stay up for somewhere around half a lap at all tracks.

Number of resets available has been reduced to just 1, and then you get locked out of the race. Use sparingly.

The pace car is now a ghost, it will pass through other cars.

Full-Course Cautions

During Oval races full course cautions are now possible.

On ovals, a Yellow flag will signal a full-course caution. The pacing order will be frozen at the moment the full-course caution begins. Cars involved in causing the caution or otherwise seen as out of control may, however, not be awarded a place in the pacing order until they are detected to be on course and under control. Race Control will instruct the leader to follow the pace car. All other drivers must line up in single file in accordance with instructions from Race Control.

In the pacing instruction display, a green up arrow indicates that you should pass cars until the green arrow goes away. A red down arrow indicates you should slow down and let cars by until the red arrow goes away. An orange bar indicates that you are in the right spot in pacing order. You will also be shown when there are two laps to go until the restart, and one lap to go, and to get ready for the restart.

When there is one lap to go until the restart, Race Control may restructure the pacing line from single file. If there are 10 or less laps to go, the restart will stay single file, but lapped cars will be shuffled behind lead lap cars. If there are more than 10 laps to go, the restart will be double file if there are lapped cars. The lapped cars will be instructed to move to the inside line, while the lead lap cars will be on the outside line.

Most penalties that you get while under a full-course caution will send you to the end of the longest pacing line, and do not show a black flag. These penalties will clear when the race restarts. Penalties you achieved under green flag racing that require you to stop in your pit stall to clear do show a black flag. These types of penalties can not be cleared while the race is under a full-course caution, you must wait for the race to restart before you can try to clear them. The 4 lap limit for serving these penalties is delayed for the duration of a full-course caution.

When a full-course caution begins, Race Control will indicate the closure of all pit lane entrances in the pacing instruction display. Pit lane will open for cars on the lead lap on their first lap after crossing the start/finish line under full-course caution. Pit lane will open for lapped cars on their second lap after crossing the start/finish line under full-course caution. Entering a closed pit lane will result in the driver being sent to the end of the longest pacing line for the restart.

The exit of pit lane may be closed, as indicated by Race Control in the pit lane display. This closure can occur at the beginning of a race and continue until after the race has started, or it can occur when a full-course caution is in progress and the pacing field is passing the pit exit. Leaving pit lane while the exit is closed under green-flag conditions will result in a Stop-and-Go penalty. Leaving pit lane while the exit is closed during a full-course caution will result in the driver being sent to the end of the longest pacing line for the restart.

PITTING

Pitting functionality has been added for most cars (not the Rookie cars, but including the Advanced Rookie cars). For most of the cars, only tire and fuel changes can be made, but for the Late Model and Silverado wedge can be adjusted in the pits. If you prefer to forget about pit strategy, you simply need to stop in your pitstall to receive fresh tires and refill your fuel tank. If you wish to exert more control over your pit crew, keep reading!

The pitting functionality is accessed through some additional pop-up windows using the function keys F4 (fuel), F5 (tires), F6 (tire info), and F7 (wedge, if available). The windows operate the same way as the F1, F2, and F3 displays--pressing the function key displays the window if it is not currently being displayed, and pressing it while it is displayed removes it. These pit request windows are intended to be car-specific, they will not always have the same information or settings available--wedge may become wing angle on a formula car, for example. Fuel and tires are likely to remain the same for all cars that allow pit changes.

Requests to change these items can be made while out on track, or in your pitstall. If made while on track, the changes will not be done until you stop in your pitstall (in front of the lollipop man--he shows you where to stop). If there are changes pending, you will not be able to leave your pitstall until they are completed. The lollipop man will show you a green signal a few seconds before your crew is done, so you can get ready. When he withdraws the signal, you are free to go.

Penalties are served after pit service, if you have any black flag penalties. Your car will continue to be held for the duration of the penalty in that case.

For pit displays that have multiple items (for now, just the tires: LF, RF, LR, RR), the down and up arrow keys move from individual item to item (from tire to tire). These are also called the Select Next (down arrow) and Select Previous (up arrow) controls.

The left and right arrows change the quantity for the highlighted item (tire pressure for selected tire, fuel to add for fuel, RR spring perch offset for wedge, etc.). These are called the Decrement (left arrow) and Increment (right arrow) controls.

The space bar toggles a checkbox for the highlighted item, if there is one. The checkbox generally means to apply a change to this item while in the pits--e.g. for the tires, the checkbox means change the selected tire, for fuel, the checkbox means add the fuel (unchecking the fuel checkbox is a quick way to ask for no fuel to be added). This is also called the Change/Toggle control.

The down/up, left/right arrow controls and the space bar toggle control can be reassigned to buttons on your steering wheel, as can the function keys themselves. You can do this on the Options->Other page within the simulator. This allows you to view and control your pitting requests without needing to use the keyboard.


Fuel Display (F4)

The fuel display allows you to specify the amount of fuel to add, which differs from the garage fuel setting, which simply sets the amount of fuel in the tank. The garage setting is the amount that will be in the tank when you get in the car. The pit display amount is simply added to the current level in the tank, stopping either when the amount requested has been added, or the tank is full.

The fuel display also shows the fuel remaining and an estimate of the number of laps remaining. The engine will likely start to starve before this reaches zero. The estimate is a running average, so it's best to check it at the same point each lap, as it varies from place to place.

The amount to add will automatically be set to max fuel once you leave pit road, and the checkbox is checked. That way, nothing needs to be done in order to refuel on your next stop. If you don't want to refuel, you will need to either lower the amount to add, or clear the checkbox.


Tires display (F5)

The tire pressure that is adjusted on the pit display is the cold pressure, just as in the garage. It is possible to ask only for a tire pressure change, and not a tire change, by changing the cold pressure requested, but unchecking the checkbox.

The change tire checkbox is automatically checked for all four tires once you leave pit road. That way, nothing needs to be done in order to change tires on your next stop. If you don't want to change tires (or don't want to change a specific tire), you will need to clear the checkbox for each tire you do not want to change.


Tire Info display (F6)

The tire info display shows the Inside, Middle, and Outside temperatures and hot pressures when the car last had this information recorded. It is not a real-time display, but is there to allow you to see the state of the tires at the last pitstop (so if you had them changed, it is the information for the old tires). This display does not have any changes that can be requested, it is informational only.


Wedge display (F7 - Late Model and Silverado only)

The wedge display simply allows you to request a change to the right rear spring perch offset; it is the same change as in the garage. In order to know how much of a change in % wedge each increment makes, you will need to make a note in the garage as you change the RR spring perch offset. Note that just as in the garage, a lowering of the spring perch offset is actually compressing the spring more, so tightening the jack bolt is done using the left arrow (less spring perch offset).

PHYSICS

A couple small changes have been made to the drafting tables which should give a bit more advantage in speedway racing.

The Radical SR8 now has wing drag and rear downforce closer to what is "correct" based on our limited data from Radical UK. Body downforce is higher and the drag induced by the rear wing is less of an issue at higher speeds. I think it still might need a slight tweak to get the balance better, but it's much improved as it stands now.

The Formula Mazda now has much more appropriate drag and downforce available in both front and rear wings. You shouldn't need to run 13° front and rear wing angle at all tracks, all the time. The total difference in top speed from running minimum wing to maximum wing is now 8 mph, which should give a much better opportunity to have widely varying setups without any one having the absolute upper hand. This change will be released in a separate update at the end of this week.

The car no longer slides slowly across the ground while stopped, and the auto brake when stopped operates better.

The engine can now be damaged by over revving, especially on early downshifts. There also may be very rare engine failures even without significant abuse, so don't feel too bad if your engine gives up (but try not to over rev). Keep an eye on the water and oil temps -- water shouldn't exceed about 220 F, oil shouldn't exceed 240-250 F, or you'll be starting to take chances. Those temps may start to climb if you are spending a lot of time in the draft.

SOUND

Playback of your car’s engine and wind sound has been improved significantly when surround sound is enabled.

The sim runs correctly on systems with more than 10 sound devices. Up to 100 devices may be selected from in-sim.

Updated Radical SR8 in-car engine sounds.

UI

Names are sorted reasonably in-sim. Accented characters are collated adjacent to the equivalent non-accented character.

The fully-depressed mark on pedal meters is easier to see at low screen resolutions.

Driving Screen

When you get in your car, the previously opened black box will be shown by default. This persists across sessions.

Hiding or showing the FPS/Network display or the Speed/Gear/Pedals display persists across sessions.

Voice chat and/or text chat can be disabled while driving.

Replay Screen

Replay playback rates have been simplified to 1x, 2x, 4x, 8x, 12x, and 16x.

You may not enter the garage during a race.

Options Screen

Most keyboard controls can be rebound on the Other tab.

Added next/previous black box control to cycle through black boxes.


TRACKS

Phoenix International Raceway has been added

The Infineon IRL2 configuration has been added

CARS

The Chevrolet Silverado has been added

The Late Model has been re-branded the Monte Carlo SS late model

I manage to get all the updates bar one. Had a drive in the Solstice/Laguna. Went to try the Skippy but the site is down for maintenence again. :sad:
 
EDIT: Back up again.

Wow, that's a lot of updates! :) Is there anything they've left out which you'd expected to see in this patch?

Clutch. But then it wasn't expected.

- A new promotions page has been added. This page can be accessed by clicking on "Promotions" at the top of the page or by clicking on the promotional area of the HOME page.

- A Reigning Champions widget has been added. This widget lists the champions for the 2008 Season 3 series and allows division filtering.

- Friends and Studied tabs have been added to the STATS > Drivers page. These tabs filter the driver list to those on your Friends and Studied lists.

- The Stats page navigation was updated to fix the < > arrows which would get stuck after five clicks.

- Update Manager now includes a block of required packages called "Additional". The update process should work as normal.

- Changes were made to the following pages to accommodate the case when divisions have not yet been set. This largely affects behavior of My Division and Division dropdowns.

Home page
STATS > Series
STATS > Clubs & Divisions
Any Series Home page

Quote from: Doorman;249078I manage to get all the updates bar one.

Yeah. I think they had a severe overload problem when they went live with it. I'm currently downloading the ones I missed earlier.

I'm not sure if the Mazda update is in this patch or there will be another one this weekend? Did you find out anything about that?

Quote from: Doorman;249084Clutch. But then it wasn't expected.

Well they seem to be moving in the right direction. Engine damage is a step in the right direction. :) But yeah, I agree that a realistic clutch should be added ASAP!

Wasn't the aero whatsit 'almost' sorted on the Mazda. I confess to not reading it that closely because I'm not likely to be ever allowed to drive the Mazda. :)

Quote from: Doorman;249105Wasn't the aero whatsit 'almost' sorted on the Mazda. I confess to not reading it that closely because I'm not likely to be ever allowed to drive the Mazda. :)

The Mazda feels different. There is at least more drag on it. But maybe its not finished. There is no fuel, and there is no default setups like on the others.

I think you can drive the Mazda if you are D class and have a SR above 4.0. Thats withing your reach next week if you set your mind to it. I'm sure you get promoted saturday. Then you need half a SR to get above 4.

I also tried the Trucks yesterday, just a few laps around Daytona. (remember to use one of the new Default setups). It does 295k without drafting and feels very dangerous. :) But got to be very fun on the big ovals.

Quote from: Gnomie;249099...But yeah, I agree that a realistic clutch should be added ASAP!

Don't forget the primary target for this sim is the US...
If you keep that in mind clutch loses a lot of importance;)

Good point. :( But I still think it's an essential element to road racing!

According to this:
http://www.iracingworld.com/kickapps/_A-day-in-the-life-of-a-cat-herder5/blog/138141/57752.html

iRacing will release a bugfix this week.
we also found the following list of things that will be fixed in a build we roll out this week.

- A series banner now loads in-sim.

- Fixed a bug where the exit car message would show while pitting.

- Fixed a bug where a replay TV camera could move strangely when the replay buffer is full.

- Fixed a phantom collision bug at Lowes.

- Fixed a bug where the available reset could be used without resetting.

- Fixed a bug where passing during a caution was not properly penalized if the race finished under caution.

- Fixed the auto-brake so the car won't roll on the starting grid.

- Fixed a bug where if you missed the race start you could be a lap down.

Also we got this teaser;

"I will leave you with one little tease, we got the Riley Daytona Prototype running with proper physics for the first time the other day.  This incredibly incomplete version is already a blast to drive…. "

Quote from: vobler;250843"I will leave you with one little tease, we got the Riley Daytona Prototype running with proper physics for the first time the other day.  This incredibly incomplete version is already a blast to drive…. "

Is that yet another oval buggy?

Quote from: Doorman;250864Is that yet another oval buggy?

I think you can use it on an Oval, but it turns both ways.
http://www.rileytech.com/

Quote from: vobler;250872I think you can use it on an Oval, but it turns both ways.
http://www.rileytech.com/

Ahah! Looks good, but will I ever get to use it? I doubt it. :sad: Hotshots only I reckon, like the Radical.

We have completed development on a preliminary version of the telemetry API that is appropriate for use in controlling a motion platform. If you manufacturer a motion simulator and would like the API please private message me and I will send it along.

If you know of a company that is looking to support our product please pass that information along as well.

Steve

Watkins Glen International Joins iRacing:
Legendary Road-Racing Circuit to be Added to
Motorsport Simulation and Internet Racing Service
 
Bedford, MA. (November 20, 2008) – Located in the rolling hills overlooking Seneca Lake, Watkins Glen International is more than just one of two road-courses for NASCAR’s Sprint Cup Series, a favorite circuit for the Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series and a stop on the IndyCar® Series schedule; it’s also the ancestral home to American road-racing.  On November 26th, a little more than 60 years after sports cars first raced through the streets of this Upstate New York hamlet, the modern-day version of this venue will become available to members of iRacing.com.
 

Using cutting-edge laser-scanning techniques, iRacing.com has captured every dip and bump of the famed circuit, meaning professionals will be able to log unlimited testing miles and amateurs and fans will have a chance to experience the challenges and nuances of The Glen from behind the wheel, in the most realistic setting possible, short of climbing into a real racecar. iRacing, the world’s leader in motorsport simulations, has licensed more than 40 racing facilities for its membership-based online service, yet vice president of marketing Scott McKee said there was something extra special about adding The Glen.
 
“More motorsport history has been written at The Glen than most of us can remember,” McKee said.  “For almost 20 years it was the home to the United States Grand Prix.  Every road-racing car in the current iRacing inventory competes there regularly, as do many of the cars we have coming in the near future, so this is an addition to our list of tracks that will be of great interest to all our members, pros, amateurs and fans.”
 
“In this modern era, it is great to have a partner that can expose our track to new fans using this compelling simulation technology,” said Craig Rust, president of Watkins Glen International.  “We’ve hosted virtually every form of racing at The Glen during our history, and while our fans love being at the track, very few of them have ever had the chance to actually drive it.  This is very different from watching in-car footage; now our fans can experience the twist-and-turns of our storied road course first-hand in a virtual world.”

Available November 26th

Still reminiscing about the good times we shared during last season’s 13th Week unofficial racing series? Desperate to run wheel-to-wheel in a car above your license level or on a track that hasn’t hosted an official series yet? The answer is here â€" 24 Heures du Fun.

No, it’s not a whimsical version of the grueling French endurance race. It’s an unofficial racing series, featuring new content and a low-pressure atmosphere. Every weekend, beginning this Saturday at 12:00 GMT (Friday, 7:00 pm ET), iRacing will host 24 hours of unofficial, non-sanctioned races open to iRacers of all levels. With Races starting every 30 minutes and Practice and Qualifying sessions starting every five minutes, the 24 Heures du Fun will feature a different car-and-track pairing each week, alternating between ovals and road courses.

24 Heures du Fun sessions will not impact Safety Ratings or iRatings â€" but the FIRST Sporting Code is still in effect, meaning the Code of Conduct still applies and Protests may be filed for bad behavior. But the only thing on the line is bragging rights. Points will not count towards any championship or the iRacing Prize Payout program. (Please note that as an unofficial series, 24 Heures du Fun sessions will also not count towards minimum participation requirements for license promotion.)

This week’s 24 Heures du Fun series features the Chevy Silverado at Atlanta Motor Speedway. Vive le Fun!

Hey, that Saturday thing sounds pretty cool! :) But I guess many people won't have the necessary cars/tracks to participate..?

By the way I had a chance to try iRacing at a friend's place recently, and it totally blew me away. :woot2: I've decided to try a one-month subscription after Christmas. This coming month is going to be very busy with final exams, so I don't have time to try it just yet.

I've spent my last on iRacing. How about some fun on tracks and cars we already have! :sideways: Sorry, can't get enthusiastic.

Oh goody! Yet another oval. Las Vegas, a name synonimous with car racing. :rolleyes: Yeah, there's a Mickey mouse infield too.

Quote from: Doorman;253340Yeah, there's a Mickey mouse infield too.

Yes its very much like Kyoto national. :narnar:

Have you tried Watkins Glen yet vobler? It looks good from the videos. :)

Quote from: Gnomie;253358Have you tried Watkins Glen yet vobler?

Yes, It was used this weekend in the Fun Cup with the Radical. Its a very nice high speed track. I like it a lot. Its nothing like the rFactor or GPL variety. The videos don't do it justice.  :thumbsup:

Effective immediately, Rookie license holders will have the opportunity to graduate to Class D every four weeks. This is a significant change to the FIRST Competition License Program, which currently calls for license promotions only at the end of every 12-week competition season.

Promotions to Class D continue to be contingent upon the Minimum Safety Requirements (3.00 or higher) and Minimum Participation Requirements (at least four Time Trial sessions or two Race sessions) in each Category (Oval and Road). This change only affects the Rookie level. All aspects of the FIRST Competition License Program pertaining to non-Rookies remain the same.

Eligible Rookie license holders will graduate to Class D at the end of each Non-Standard (four-week) Rookie season, with promotions taking effect no later than 00:00 GMT on the Tuesday following the conclusion of the Rookie season.

A revised version of the FIRST Official Sporting Code, reflecting these and other changes, will be published in the next week.

Martine Wedlake just made this announcement in th iRacing forums.

The program consists of one program that runs beside iRacing that makes the telemetry files and the Racelogic tools to view the files afterwards.

On a side note, the same iRacing API that is useed here can also now be used to drive motionsims and seats.

Edit: Oh, and Ron! They are making a G15 plugin too!

-----

Hello everyone. I'd like to announce the release of a telemetry data logger and converter programme that allows you to view your laps using the RaceLogic DriftBox Tools.

Quote from: Gnomie;253358Have you tried Watkins Glen yet vobler? It looks good from the videos. :)

Did you see this one?

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=H33RUflkvVU&fmt=22

Quote from: vobler;253452Did you see this one?

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=H33RUflkvVU&fmt=22

That guy on the right is very smooth, not even moving his hands! Gnomie are you already driving iRacing? It would be fun to have a team practice session.

Quote from: vobler;253452Did you see this one?

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=H33RUflkvVU&fmt=22

Holy crapcake! :blink: That looks absolutely terrific. Every last detail is correct. Trees, signs, asphalt patches, you name it. Amazing!

No, I haven't got iRacing yet. I'm waiting till after Christmas. Too much real life stuff going on at the moment to devote more time to sim racing.

Here is a link to whats coming in the next iRacing release in the beginning of February.

http://www.iracingworld.com/_A-day-in-the-life-of-a-cat-herder6/BLOG/146773/57752.html

Ultimate Corvette Racer Coming to iRacing
Virtual Version of Le Mans & ALMS-Winning C6.R Available in New Year


BEDFORD, MA (December 5, 2008) â€" The Chevrolet Corvette is the definitive American sports car, and the C6.R is the ultimate production-based racing version of this iconic automobile. Winner of the GT1 class at the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 2006 (the most recent of Corvette’s four Le Mans triumphs), and the American Le Mans Series GT1 champion in each of the four years it has competed (running Corvette’s ALMS championship total to eight), the current version of the C6.R is scheduled to retire from the race track following a final shot at Le Mans in June, 2009. The Pratt & Miller team â€" with GM Racing the co-developer of the C6.R â€" will then field a new version C6.R in the GT2 class, where rules require use of more of the production car’s architecture and Corvette will take on Porsche and Ferrari.

“As the current C6.R prepares to leave the field of battle in the physical world, we’re very pleased to make a home for it in the virtual one at iRacing.com,” said Scott McKee, the company’s vice president of marketing. “Pratt & Miller will be taking on new challenges in the more restricted GT2 class, so the current C6.R will stand as a performance high-water mark. Our current members, and the many Corvette enthusiasts who have followed the C6.R’s competition history, will be able to experience this car’s remarkable capabilities long after the flag falls at Le Mans next summer.”

Acknowledging that the C6.R’s addition to the iRacing fleet wasn’t exactly a well-kept secret â€" Dale Earnhardt, Jr. dropped a hint during an interview on SPEEDtv’s Wind Tunnel with Dave Despain in early November, and Corvette Quarterly broke the full story a week later â€" McKee pointed out that eight of the 11 tracks on the current American Le Mans Series schedule are either already in the iRacing track inventory or in development, so iRacers will be able to experience the car’s performance on most of the tracks where it competed in the physical world.

“All of us on the team and at General Motors are proud of the success that the GT1-class C6.R has achieved during its racing career,” said Doug Fehan, Corvette Racing Program Manager. “Every good thing must come to an end, and so it will be this June at the 24 Hours of Le Mans with the GT1 car’s real-world racing career; we’re on to a new C6.R project now. But, it’s good to know that in the virtual world this car will continue to compete, and that the fans who have supported us over the years will have the opportunity to experience the C6.R for themselves through the creativity and innovations at iRacing.”

McKee hailed the Corvette as a particularly important addition to the iRacing inventory of cars, and stressed that the techniques iRacing uses in the development of all of its vehicles will ensure the performance fidelity of the virtual duplicate of the C6.R.

“Our friends at Pratt & Miller are sharing with us the necessary CAD files and other data,” McKee said. “When we’re finished the only element of the actual race car we won’t have is the air conditioning system.”

The iRacing Corvette C6.R is expected to be available to iRacing members before its real-world counterpart makes its final start at the 24 Hours of Le mans, June 13, 2009.

...and only available to A and B class drivers I'll be bound! I really don't mean to be a damp squib but it's all very well bringing this new stuff if you can't race, and I use the term loosely, with your mates. :sad:

Quote from: Doorman;253757...and only available to A and B class drivers I'll be bound! I really don't mean to be a damp squib but it's all very well bringing this new stuff if you can't race, and I use the term loosely, with your mates. :sad:

No sim developers has the momentum in the sim world as iRacing has. If you choose to ignore that and don't want to know about it, I'll be more than happy to stop posting.

There usually is long threads in both LFS and NKP camps about lack of development and progress. Here I show people news about a sim with constant new content and functionality added.

And yes, you can race with your fiends. If you stay in there long enough the people you race become your friends. Thats the way it works.
But in two months time, iRacing will most likely, at least, have open practice servers.

Quote from: vobler;253810No sim developers has the momentum in the sim world as iRacing has. If you choose to ignore that and don't want to know about it, I'll be more than happy to stop posting.

There usually is long threads in both LFS and NKP camps about lack of development and progress. Here I show people news about a sim with constant new content and functionality added.

And yes, you can race with your fiends. If you stay in there long enough the people you race become your friends. Thats the way it works.
But in two months time, iRacing will most likely, at least, have open practice servers.

You post what you want to post mate. It's for me not to post negatively. believe it or not I watch the development almost as closely as you do and when (and if) iRacing suits me I'll be in it again. For the time being though it doesn't suit my...temperament. :) I won't make any more grouchy posts. :)

Vobler, it's nice that you post these updates! :) Makes it easy to keep updated on what's going on in the iRacing world. And that seems to be a lot these days.

Here is a little post made by Tony Gardner at iRacing;

Good afternoon:

Fresh out of a development meeting and here are some of the items that are currently in QA and look real good to be in the development build at the end of this month (roughly) and ready for start of next season. Further detail will be available in release notes or other informational releases but just thought I would provide a high level briefing.

Open Practice Server Sessions! Will be able to see who is in practice sessions and jump in out of sessions. More detail to follow.

Replays! All races will be recorded and available to save. We have also optimized the memory usage.

Informational local yellows and informational blue flags for road courses!

Spotter!
Chevy Impala!

DP car not quite in QA yet but working on it.

Suspension improvements for Truck. Will require redo of spring perch on setups. We will provide some new baseline setups.

We have changed license progression math. Moving up license class will be easier.

New rollout of club structure - 36 clubs rolling into 7 regions. More exciting news on that next week!

Host of other Web and reporting enhancements

I'm guessing there could be a new track or two as well!


Good racing!


Tony

Here is John Henrys response/explanation to the Easier progression topic.
-----------
OK here's the lowdown!

License progression doesn't change at the Rookie and D levels.

There is a slight change at the C level (trying to earn a B license).

And there is a more moderate change at the B level (trying to earn an A license) and A level (trying to earn a Pro license).

OK so what changes? A slight change in C will make quite a difference for some but not for others. The only thing changing is the number of corners per incident. It's being lowered 10%. That 10% makes a difference and this will increase every C license SR. But it's not much of a change.

At the B level (trying to acquire an A), it's a 30% reduction. That's a big change. A little less of a change than that in trying to acquire a Pro license from an A license.

So the major changes are at the B and A levels. And why? Because in looking at our C and B licensed drivers there are currently only about 15% of oval drivers and 7% of 950 road course drivers in the service able to meet the requirements of obtaining a pro license. That's one reason.

Only about 28% of road drivers 40% of oval drivers have CPI's high enough to get an A license. And we know our current B and C licensed drivers are pretty damned good drivers.

It also appears we need to have different SR requirements for road and for oval because it's just easier to get oval licenses than road. We'll have to balance those out.

I believe you may already be seeing the changes (except for balancing road with oval). Your SRs should be higher if you have a C or B license right now.

The biggest reason for the change is this: You have to be a pretty damned safe driver to get a B license. That isn't changing much. The way we had it, it was incredibly tough to an A license. We think once you've reached B, we don't need to see log changes to or big changes to get to A. Pro is still difficult, but attainable.

If you have or get a B license, you are a safe driver in our book. I know this won't satisfy some of the really vocal people here, but a lot of thought and research has gone into this change. Let's see how it plays out.

I know many of you won't like this. But 're good enough to get a C license - have enough car control, you should be
There are only
--------

The last uncomplete sentences is also in the original.... vobz

Steve Myers has posted the 7th installment of "A day in the life of a cat herder" on iRacingWorld.com.

http://www.iracingworld.com/_A-day-in-the-life-of-a-cat-herder7/blog/163903/57752.html

Steve's blog is always a popular read as it gives a lot of development news, discusses specific features, and talks of new releases that are on the horizon.

Remember that you can share this link with those who may not be members of the service. iRacingWorld.com may be read by anyone. You may have some friends that have left the service or are waiting to join the service because of certain features that they may be waiting for.

Enjoy the read and enjoy your racing,
Nim

News on iRacing

http://www.iracing.com/newsEvents/article.php?id=91

Website

Replays page

Saved replays are stored on your local hard drive. The web interface to your saved replays allows you to filter which ones you'd like to look for and easily launch the simulator to view them.

STATS > Clubs & Divisions has been removed and replaced by STATS > Regional
Here, you can look up Overall Standings and Standings by Series for current and past seasons. Several new data columns have been added. Top 10 and Top 25 Drivers may be looked up by Region, Club, and Division under Standings by Series.

Home Page Region Standings

These standings have been enhanced to provide Top 5 drivers per Race Type, Division, Region, and Club.

Home Page Reigning Champs

This has been enhanced to provide champions lookup for all past seasons.

Race, Qualify & Time Trial What’s Hot Widget

The columns ‘time’, ‘track’, and ‘session type’ have been added to the widget. This will make it possible to know the type of session (race, qualify or time trial) and track before going the sessions page.

Open Practice What’s Hot Widget

This widget has been added to the home page to support open practice sessions and displays the ‘sessionid’, ‘series’, ‘track’, ‘no. of registered drivers’, ‘time left in the session’ and ‘drivers list of registered users’. This widget updates approx. every 30 secs. Mousing over the helmet will provide the list of currently registered/participating members.

Session Page - Open Practice

Open Practice sessions have replaced ‘Practice’ sessions. Each open practice session will display how much time is left in the session, and mousing over the grey helmet next to the session will provide a list of currently registered/participating members for that session.

Series Page

A Minimum Participation Requirement (MPR) indicator has been added to the Series page. A green arrow or yellow equal sign indicates that participating in this series will count toward the MPR for license advancement (you will be “racing up” or in your license class). A red arrow indicates that participating in this series will not count toward the MPR, since you would be “racing down”.

Browser Support

As WebKit-based browsers gain popularity for their faster, leaner browser experience, we are adding support for these browsers, including Safari and Chrome.

http://www.apple.com/safari/
http://www.google.com/chrome

Race Control

Local yellow flags are available in road course practice, qualifying, and race sessions to warn you of possible trouble ahead. These are currently informational only, there is no penalty for passing while under a local yellow. A local yellow will appear as a blinking yellow flag in the top left corner of the screen

Blue flags are available in road course qualifying and race sessions. Blue flags are informational only, advising you that you may be impeding someone. In a road course qualifying session, if you are on your out lap and someone who has finished their out lap (and is therefore likely to be on a hot lap) is close behind you, a blue flag will appear in the top left corner of the screen. In a road course race session, if anyone about to lap you or multiple laps up on you is close behind you you will see the blue flag.

Trackside caution lights and the pace car's lights now work.

Spotter

The spotter is disabled by default, and can be enabled in-sim under Options / Sound.

Volume can be adjusted by setting volume up/down controls in Options / Controls and use those controls while in-car.

Currently, the spotter only warns you of nearby cars. Much more is planned for the future.

Replays

Replays can be edited & saved in-sim.

To save part of a replay:

On the Replay screen, click on the tools (‘wrench and hammer’) button in the replay controls to show the edit controls.
Move the current view to the start or end of the portion you want to save and press the ‘scissors’ button to mark where you want to cut from.
Move the current view to the other end of the portion you want to save and press the ‘disk’ button.
Name your replay and save.

To save the entire replay:

Show the edit controls as explained above.
Don’t set any cut points. You can clear an existing cut point by clicking on the ‘undo’ button.
Press the ‘disk’ button to save.
Name your replay and save.

You can view replays on computers that don’t have pedals. The ‘drive’ button will be replaced with ‘Configure Controls’.

Controls
The sim can be launched without needing to configure controls; you still need to configure your controls to enter your car. If you have unconfigured controls, the ‘Drive’ button will be labeled, ‘Configure Controls’ and will bring up the options screen.

Open Practice Sessions

Support for open practice sessions has been added. On the sessions page, each running open session displays a session number, the remaining time, the number of drivers currently on track versus the number of drivers allowed on track at once, and your ping to the server. A list of the drivers in the session is available by mousing over the helmet next to the session info.

To join a session, click the red session link, and the race panel will briefly display “staging,” followed by a “join” button. If the session fills up before you are able to register you will instead receive a message that the session has become full.

Each open practice session has a limit of how many drivers can be on track at the same time. When the track is full, no other drivers may join the session until someone else withdraws. Also, each open practice session’s entry list is currently limited to a total of 64 unique drivers. Once the entry list has become full, only drivers who were previously in the session, and therefore already in the entry list, can re-join it.

If you get disconnected from an open practice session you can simply click the join button again to get back on track. But, if you wait too long (about 4 minutes), you will be automatically withdrawn. If this happens, you need to go to the “select session” web page and re-register for the session. Once you re-join you will get your old car back.

Finally, when a new driver first comes out on track you might see them for several seconds in a white car, and with gray helmet images in the user interface - this is working as designed. After your system finishes creating their textures and helmet images, their proper paint schemes should appear.

Cars

The Chevy Impala SS has been added.

Physics
The suspension on the truck has been improvedâ€"better and more realistic available travel, the perch adjustability should allow enough range of ride height, spring rate, cross weight, etc. The aero numbers for the truck are improved.

The “backwards aero” issue has been fixed.

There is now a minimum tire pressure required at each track for the Truck (and Impala) which follows what is required in the real world.

There is now a maximum right height for the Truck (and Impala).

The tires on the Truck and Impala have more of a fall off in grip as the tires wear.

They also released info on how to make or use 3'rd party spotter packs

The also informed us that the DP Riley will be delayed.


-----
Regrettably, I have to tell you that the DP car will not be rolled out on Friday when we deploy the new build. As I mentioned in my post yesterday, things have not unfolded like we would have hoped this week on preparing a build for release. It is our intention to deliver this car next week unless we have any unexpected issues pop up when the new build comes out.

As for an explanation, we made some changes to the replay system last week to shrink the size of the replays so you could capture longer sessions and this introduced a problem that we have only fixed as of a few minutes ago. We felt that fixing this problem was of a higher importance than rushing out the DP car in a state that none of us would have been proud of.

I know that the question will come up that how does the development work on the replay system impact the DP car? The answer to that question is that the same resources that have been working to shrink the size of the replays are also involved in the development of the DP car.

I have adjusted the schedule for the Class A road series to start next Saturday night with the hope that the car will be ready by then. That season will now feature an 11 week schedule and will make divisions in week 2. I have also trimmed one drop week off of this schedule so it will only have 3.

We hope you can understand that we take great pride in meeting our deadlines but not at the expense of quality. We know that this car is a highly anticipated addition to our lineup and we apologize for its delay. I will make sure to update you on its progress next week when I have new information.

Steve

----

When does all this take effect? Fancy a practice session some day? :)

EDIT: Doh, should have read your second post.. :doh:

Pat Iannucci: First Car Race, First Win

BEDFORD, MA (January 29, 2009) â€" You’re a kart-racing star who’s never raced a car before and suddenly you’ve got a chance to drive in Grand-Am’s Koni Sports Car Challenge in a top car in the season-opener at Daytona International Speedway. What do you do? Well, if you’re Pat Iannucci, 22-year-old karting star and auto racing novice, you join iRacing.com’s motorsport simulation service and spend two weeks in the virtual world, learning every inch of the track and how to drive it. The result? Iannucci and his co-driver, Lawson Aschenbach, swept to the ST-class victory in their Georgian Bay Motorsports Chevrolet Cobalt.

“I became a member of iRacing a couple weeks before the Daytona race so I was able to put in a lot of laps there,” Iannucci said following the race. “It definitely helped me learn the track.”

Iannucci’s not a stranger to racing or to succeeding behind the wheel. In 2005, his first year racing karts at a national level, he was selected one of the Skip Barber Racing School’s “Sweet 16” kart racers, and had the opportunity to do some laps in a Skip Barber Formula 2000 open-wheel car. But Daytona marked Iannucci’s first experience with wheel-to-wheel competition in the automotive arena.

The word’s out, particularly among young drivers on their way up, that time spent with the iRacing service helps make the most of precious real-world track time, and in that way can accelerate a career. Finishing sixth in the ST class at Daytona was 2008 Volkswagen Jetta TDI champion Josh Hurley, an iRacing member who made regular use of the service in preparing for races during his championship-winning campaign.

Second-place in the Grand Sport class at Daytona’s Koni race was Ford Mustang driver Jack Roush Jr., a regular front-runner in the series and an iRacing member who served as a volunteer alpha and beta tester during development of the simulation. Altogether, between the Rolex Sports Car Series and the Koni Sports Car Challenge, 30 drivers who competed in the Rolex 24 weekend are iRacing veterans.

“It’s a pleasure to see so many iRacing members competing successfully in the real world,” said Scott McKee, iRacing’s vice president of marketing. “And it’s just as gratifying to see how much our members enjoy all of the race series we organize in the virtual world. It’s all about the thrill and fun of competition.”

McKee also noted that two other iRacing members have recently made news with their on-track success. Court Vernon, 16, and Sage Karam, 13, took top honors at the 12th annual Skip Barber Karting Scholarship Shoot-out at Sebring International Raceway.

“We congratulate Court and Sage on having won entries in the 2009 BFGoodrich/Skip Barber National Presented by Mazda series,” McKee said. “The further good news is that the Skip Barber Formula 2000 they’ll be racing this year is part of the iRacing inventory, as are most of the tracks where they’ll be competing.”

What’s next for Daytona winner Iannucci? He plans to continue racing karts for the time being, and he’ll race the Cobalt again with teammate Aschenbach in the Koni Sports Car Challenge race at the Homestead Miami Speedway, March 12-15, where the ST class has its own separate race.

“I’m new to the car scene and have not been to many tracks yet,” Iannucci said. “iRacing is going help me out a great deal this year learning tracks so I don’t have to waste the limited practice time on race weekends trying to find my way.”

With nearly two months to practice in the simulator, Iannucci should know Homestead Miami Speedway like the back of his hand before he drives through the tunnel on March 12.

It looks like the open practice sessions are a hit. (see attachment)

There are many people in the sessions at any time and people are having a great time practicing in a populated session without pressure.
On the list you just hover over the grey helmet icon and you get a list of people in the session. People on your friends list is easy to spot because they are marked in green colour.

Edit: look at the COT dash!

2009 Season 1 license promotions

We encountered a small error during the promotion process in today's maintenance period which promoted some customers license levels when they had not met the minimum participation criteria. We put the site in maintenance mode again to try and correct this error and it became obvious that the database restoration was going to take much longer than we would have liked. We decided that since this really did not negatively impact anyone that we would not restore the data and move forward with the season.

We apologize for the extended maintenance period and will have this issue corrected for the next license promotion window.

Steve


--------------------
Good news
This means that anyone that has had some races and had enough SR have been promoted. Doorman, EarlHaz, Romus, Spudgun are all promoted. (I checked)
Sadly, Shauny and OldBloke are not. Gnomie of cause went to D with SR to race the Mazda. (he has only been in there a week or so)

Well done dMr (iracing branch)

Also, the new clubs are set up now. Looks very good for the future.

Yay, I'm D! :) How come promotions "cost" SR, by the way? I noticed mine drop a little.

I think I'll do the Advanced Solstice this season. Gotta try that. What about you Verner?

Quote from: Gnomie;261295Yay, I'm D! :) How come promotions "cost" SR, by the way? I noticed mine drop a little.

I think I'll do the Advanced Solstice this season. Gotta try that. What about you Verner?

Every class is more difficult SR wise than the other. So when you get promoted your SR is recalculated to the standards of the new class. That means you "loose" up to a whole point per level. Class D 4.x is about the same as Class C 3.x or class B 2.x

I will drive the Radical, maybe also the Mazda. I will also drive the DP quite a bit, but probably not the whole season. (I am B SR.4.x so I can run class A cars) I will also join you and anyone else in the Advanced Solstice practice sessions.

btw; Congrats on your iRating. You are going to be one of the top racers in Team Scandinavia! And I almost forgot, with the win! You have had quite a few podiums, so I bet the win felt good.

Quote from: vobler;261299Every class is more difficult SR wise than the other. So when you get promoted your SR is recalculated to the standards of the new class. That means you "loose" up to a whole point per level. Class D 4.x is about the same as Class C 3.x or class B 2.x

Ah, I see. That makes sense I guess. :)

QuoteI will drive the Radical, maybe also the 4Mazda. I will also drive the DP quite a bit, but probably not the whole season. (I am B SR.4.x so I can run class A cars) I will also join you and anyone else in the Advanced Solstice practice sessions.

I've watched some videos on Youtube of the Radical. Mostly hotlaps though. Seems like a wicked car!

Quotebtw; Congrats on your iRating. You are going to be one of the top racers in Team Scandinavia! And I almost forgot, with the win! You have had quite a few podiums, so I bet the win felt good.

Thanks! :) I was quite surprised to see my iRating for the first time. I guess I'll have to work harder for both SR and iRating now that I'm D licenced.

I have thought about getting the Skippy too.. but it's going to be expensive if I'm going to get all the tracks needed. (infineon, VIR and Sebring). I might just buy a 3 month subscription and the car only. Gotta think about this..

EDIT: I ran some numbers. I'll be home during summer, and after Christmas next year I'm most likely moving abroad. So I'll only be able to race for 7 more months in addition to the month I already have. This is what it will cost to get the Skippy and all the tracks:

One year subscription: $156 + $85 - $60 = $181
Three month + six month: $140 + $85 - $35 = $185
Three month + three month + 1 month = $120 + $85 - $22,5 = $182,5

So there's virtually no difference! Therefore I reckon it's most sensible to go with the latter option, with the currency fluctuations and that. I reckon the dollar is going to get cheaper soon.

Now I just have to decide on whether I'll run only the Solstice this season or if I want to get the Skippy too. Decisions, decisions..

Quote from: vobler;261293
Good news
This means that anyone that has had some races and had enough SR have been promoted. Doorman, EarlHaz, Romus, Spudgun are all promoted. (I checked)
Sadly, Shauny and OldBloke are not. Gnomie of cause went to D with SR to race the Mazda. (he has only been in there a week or so)

I'm sorry guys. They demoted you again. They said that they wasn't going to do that, but they changed their mind..

Sorry! :crying:

Official Announcement

-------------------

I reported late last night that the erroneous license promotions, due to an error in calculating the minimum participation levels, would not be fixed. As it turns out, the fix could be done without taking the site down again so we decided to make corrections to the licenses for the customers this affected.

It is possible that your SR will jump when you next run a session. The number from which the SR is derived(CPI) was not impacted during the correction to the promotions, so the SR after the session will be correct with respect to all sessions that you have run. Also, you may notice that one of your results will have an abnormal SR change indication because of the update.

We realize that some of you have purchased content based on having an incorrect license. We are looking at the situation and will come up with a solution that we hope is satisfactory and fair to everyone.

I apologize for the confusion on this matter.

Steve

Quote from: vobler;261356Official Announcement

-------------------

I reported late last night that the erroneous license promotions, due to an error in calculating the minimum participation levels, would not be fixed. As it turns out, the fix could be done without taking the site down again so we decided to make corrections to the licenses for the customers this affected.

It is possible that your SR will jump when you next run a session. The number from which the SR is derived(CPI) was not impacted during the correction to the promotions, so the SR after the session will be correct with respect to all sessions that you have run. Also, you may notice that one of your results will have an abnormal SR change indication because of the update.

We realize that some of you have purchased content based on having an incorrect license. We are looking at the situation and will come up with a solution that we hope is satisfactory and fair to everyone.

I apologize for the confusion on this matter.

Steve

:blink:

Quote from: Gnomie;261324So there's virtually no difference! Therefore I reckon it's most sensible to go with the latter option, with the currency fluctuations and that. I reckon the dollar is going to get cheaper soon.

Decisions, decisions..

Don't forget that with the full year you can use the forums to stay in touch with the sim when you are not racing.

This build will be going up tomorrow 2/13/09.

Cars

Adjusted Silverado side mirror so that it shows a view similar to the Impala

The Riley Daytona Prototype is available. It has a wealth of aerodynamic adjustability, plus adjustable bump stop gaps with 1mm shims! The total aerodynamic downforce and front/rear downforce balance is adjustable by altering ride height and rake, as well as through a number of aero options such as front dive planes (winglets that attach to the front fenders), multiple rear spoiler configurations and rear wing angle and wicker adjustments. Generally more rake (higher rear ride height wrt front) and less front ride height will move the downforce more to the front, and increase overall downforce. If the car is trimmed out for top speed, you may want to raise the front or reduce rake to keep the car balanced.

The Impala and Silverado now have adjustable steering ratiosâ€"8:1, 10:1, 12:1, 14:1, and 16:1 are available.

Open Practice

Added “LoadTexturesWhenDriving” option to renderer.ini. Set to 0 to disable opponent car texture loading while on track during open practice sessions, then the textures for new drivers will load only while you are out of car, and will appear white until loaded.

Race Control

Improvements and bugfixes to the pace car when it picks up the leader at the beginning of a caution.

Bug Fixes

All club names display correctly in-sim. No more club ‘â€"none-’.

Sound

Some sound cards are having troubles with Voice Chat and the Spotter in the recent release, which now play back at their native sample rates rather than being resampled to match other sim sounds. For compatibility with these sound cards, and for anyone who prefers how Voice Chat sounded prior to this release, we have added app.ini options to force resampling. The two options are overrideSpccRate and overrideVoiceChatRate. The default setting of 0 means ‘use the native sample rate’, while setting them to 1 means ‘resample to match other simulation sounds’.

Updates to car versus scenery scraping sounds.

Updates to Silverado engine sounds.

Updates to Impala engine sounds.

Region Standings Widget

A modified Region standings widget has been implemented on the home page. After divisions have been created for the season, the default view of this widget shows overall club standings for the member's region. Data includes Club Pts as well as points delta from 1st and points needed to move up in rank. 1/2/3 Wk Totals columns will be integrated in the future. Links to each club’s overall standings and standings by series are also provided based upon drop-down selection.

The Regional Stats page RESET button functionality has been updated to reflect the parameters defining the page load. If Regional Stats is accessed from the Region Standings widget, then a RESET will reflect the parameters sent to the page from the Region Standings widget. If Regional Stats is accessed from the site nav, then RESET will reflect the parameters described by the series selected to the Race panel.

The Riley is out.

Tropic Thunder is on. Even Rookies can try it here.

I have tried it. :woot2:

It's great.  This is more my kind of car :)   Been racing it all night, had some good results including 1 win.  Only managing 1.42's at the moment, but haven't played with the setup much at all yet.

 It's almost enough to persuade my to get an account of my own, but it'll be ages before i can actually race the thing so im not sure i can be bothered.
 Great car though.  Definitely the best fun to drive imo.

So.. what licence do you need to race this? Can you race up from B, Verner? People say it's a lot more fun and more stable than the Radical.

Quote from: Gnomie;263780So.. what licence do you need to race this? Can you race up from B, Verner? People say it's a lot more fun and more stable than the Radical.

Normally Class B  SR4+, but this weekend they are running Tropic Thunder, open for everybody. Maybe it shuts down tonight when the official series starts, I'm not sure.

But yes, Moose is right it is a great car. It is heavy and kind of soft to drive, easy to control but it can spin out pretty quick if you floor it in a tight turn. As you say nice and stable over most curbing too. It tops out at about 300kmh at Daytona RC. The sound is good, a grunty V8 and at high speed the wind almost drowns the engine out. Great!

I have been looking for a decent prototype car for years, I ran Fabcar a lot in rFactor, but this seem to be much better. So yes I'm thrilled. If I coud do a 1.42 I would be in heaven.... :-)

New track coming:

QuoteTexas Motor Speedway Coming Soon!
Everything is bigger in Texas – and that includes race tracks. Texas Motor Speedway, the 1.5-mile quad-oval home to everything from NASCAR’s top three classes to the open-wheelers of the IndyCar Series to Legends Cars, is in the final stages of modeling and will be available to iRacing members in early March.
 
A total of six configurations will be included, from the big 24-degree-banked quad oval to the pit-lane-and-front stretch short oval that plays host to Legends Car races. For road racers, iRacing’s TMS will include a total of four road-course layouts: the 2.324-mile primary circuit that includes most of the big oval and three smaller infield-only courses of 1.07, .7 and .5 miles.

Another oval.. well, at least it's got road configs too.

Quote from: Gnomie;264743New track coming:

Another oval.. well, at least it's got road configs too.

I've had many good races on the infields of Daytona and Lowes. No worries. Anything is better than nothing ... :)

Quote from: vobler;264748.... Anything is better than nothing ... :)

That's not a dig is it? :g:

Quote from: Doorman;264750That's not a dig is it? :g:

Of course not. :lmfao:

iRacing got a new build today. New track too. And info on the new pro series. Top prices equals $10000.

Steve Meyers at iRacing has posted a new blog entry about what they are doing these days.

http://www.iracingworld.com/_A-day-in-the-life-of-a-cat-herder8/blog/213715/57752.html

Summary (from iRacing forum not mine)

Private leagues!
No Resets for C and above
Spec Racer Ford
Road Atlanta
Mosport
Euro Tracks
5 New Oval Tracks
3 new Tin Tops signed!
MAJOR Track Signed - Announcement in May...
Club Logos
New Engineer
New Replay Camera stuff
Netcode improvements
Akamai
Nationwide Impala

Wow!! :) Lots of good news here.. besides the league stuff, I particularly like this bit:

QuoteI am also so very close to signing a very unique agreement that will involve a popular entry level tin top series with a significan​t marketing campaign.

That could be exactly what iRacing needs.. a more popular entry level car with for example a free 1 month subscription to bring in new members!

Now, if only they can find a (better) solution to the way championship points are counted, to prevent all those people from racing only once to maximize their score, things start to look pretty good!

Noting concrete yet but this was posted on the announcement forum.
Maybe iRacing is getting a VW before LFS do??
--------------

In the next days and weeks you may notice references to a VW Jetta TDI Cup series in various places on our Web site. Under an agreement with Volkswagen of America, we’ve created this as a training tool for the drivers who are registered for the 2009 edition of this entry-level real-world professional green racing series. Eligibility for this series is limited to these individuals, but in the next few weeks we’ll be making a related announcement with Volkswagen that will be of interest to all iRacers. (Many of you know Josh Hurley, a successful iRacer who was also the 2008 Jetta TDI Cup champion, and has been a big iRacing booster.)

Steve

QuoteMustang FR500S and Ford GT First to be Added

BEDFORD, MA (April 14, 2009) –iRacing.com Motorsport Simulations, LLC announced today that it is developing digital versions of a series of Ford competition cars for use in the iRacing simulation service.

The first two vehicles announced as part of this new digital line-up of Ford race cars are emblematic of Ford’s storied racing history, the Mustang and the Ford GT. iRacing engineers have begun the process of gathering the data necessary to produce digital duplicates of the Mustang FR500S and the Doran Ford GT-R.

“It seems fitting that among the first Fords we’ll produce are the current racing versions of a pair of 21st century production cars that trace their lineage back to the 1960s,” said Scott McKee, iRacing’s vice president of marketing. “The private Ford teams that campaign these cars in the American Le Mans Series GT2 class and Grand-Am’s Ford Racing Mustang Challenge will find the simulation a useful tool as they prepare for races, and all iRacing members will enjoy having these cars available for our own internet racing series, and the thousands of enthusiasts who are already iRacing members – including pros, amateurs and fans – will have a lot of fun competing in these cars when they are added into our sanctioned racing series.”

The Mustang FR500S is an assembly-line produced high-performance version of the legendary Ford model that is literally race-ready when it is delivered to a customer by any Ford dealer. With the exception of a roll cage and other safety equipment – added at a nearby facility – every FR500S rolled off the line at Ford’s AutoAlliance International assembly plant in Flat Rock, MI ready to race. Ford Racing Mustang Challenge competitors will find that six of the eight tracks on the 2009 schedule are already in the iRacing circuit inventory or currently under construction, including Homestead-Miami Speedway, Barber Motorsports Park, Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca, Mosport International Raceway and Miller Motorsports Park.

"We at Ford Racing are proud that iRacing selected the FR500S as one of the first two Ford race cars to be available to its subscribers, said Jamie Allison, Manager, Ford Racing Performance Group. “Our guys here are determined to help iRacing make sure the car is as realistic as it can be. We're also excited to have the opportunity to hone our own FR500S driving skills online against the pros already racing the real thing. It should be fun,"

The Ford GT is an ultra-high performance road car inspired by Ford’s legendary four-time Le Mans-winning prototype sports-racing car from the 1960s. So it’s not surprising, and it’s totally appropriate, that someone would take this street car and prepare it for the race track. That’s exactly what veteran race car builder and team owner Kevin Doran has done. The Doran Ford GT-R is eligible for the Le Mans GT-2 class, and is currently doing battle with entries from Porsche, Ferrari and Aston Martin in the American Le Mans Series.

While I don't think that more cars is what iRacing really needs right now, I'm very excited about the Mustang (in particular). Powerful RWD = awesomeness. :woot2:

EDIT: a picture of the upcoming Spec Racer Ford was released today. Luvely!

(http://img14.imageshack.us/img14/5108/specracervegas64658676.jpg)

Please find below the official chat transcript of the questions dealt with by Dave Kaemmer in the iRacing Insider event:

“Q: So first question: V8 Supercars

A: I'm afraid I can't comment on upcoming/unannounced/unknown content, but I can say that our friends down under should be happy about some new developments coming soon. And I have to leave it at that...

Q: Next question I see: what will be the league structure and how will it affect the service?

A: The idea is currently that anyone will be able to administer a league, and the admin will be charged a nominal fee, to keep the numbers reasonable.

The membership will be limited to 30 or so drivers, so sessions can run for the most part without splits. Also, the track schedule will have to follow one of the Official Series schedules, but any car can be chosen by the admin.

And one more thing, no iRating, or SR effects during league races.

Drivers will only be able to participate in one league race a week, although in any league that they have been invited to.

Q: I'll give an answer on the netcode issues...

A: For the next season, we've improved the prediction code, and made some changes to the information transmitted that I think significantly improves the remote cars' behavior. (more)

We looked at Akamai's IP acceleration capability, and spent some time and effort getting it to work, but we were disappointed with the results, I'm afraid. But we continue to look at other ways to reduce latency for everyone, and improve the netcode...

It's a very complex thing to deal with.

Q: I'll talk about the tire model, brakes, damage, etc. -- physics upgrades.

A: My next big project is to improve the tire model. We have so many different vehicles on so many different tires, that we need a model that is more physically based, and less empirical.

The big unknown with tires is really how they behave on the scary side of the slip curve--the "it's got me" part. It is very temperature and speed dependant, and that behavior is modeled pretty well now, but it could be better.

The brakes also need upgrading--we plan at some point to model the heat buildup, so the braking has some more real-life transient behavior, as well as potentially fade.

For damage modeling, we'll focus first on the physical effects, and there are several areas here that need work. Obviously we need more aero effect from damage, but we've also got ideas about how to better model drivetrain damage.

On the tire data question--we have a lot of great data for several of the cars, but most of what is measured in the real world is the front half of the slip curve (the "I've got it" part), and there isn't much empirical data for the region of sliding.

That affects the transient handling a lot.

Q: What's going on with the throttle/braking is that it allows you to control the brake bias on the fly.

A: I think it's probably a legitimate technique, although in the real world, drivers wouldn't probably want to run enough rearward brake bias in case they got in trouble.
Shane, the burning brakes issue with throttle/braking is not necessarily relevant. The energy from the slowing car would be a lot more than the energy put in from the engine. It'd be interesting to see if this worked in RL.

Q: Telemetry...

A: We've got a system in place to export telemetry, but it's lacking data from several of the components that make up the cars at the moment. We do want to enable that at some point; it will probably dump a .csv file at first. Then pretty interfaces later.

Q: Andre asked about simracers being given opportunities in real cars...

A: We have some programs we're thinking of that will do just that. Unfortunately, can't say a lot about them, lol.

Q: Multi-groove?

A: Alright... Currently we don't have the ability to map different grip levels at a very high resolution, although we can and do do it for several different surface types.

I have been thinking about a way to store a map of additional information at a higher resolution on track, and would like to do this at some point. As the tire model gets better, the roads will need to get better.

Q/A: Short COT no yellows not happening soon, but maybe for fun races. The COT races will be a bit shorter next season, however. I think about 10% or so.

Q: Did iRacing open too soon?

A: I think definitely not. If we waited until everything were perfect, you guys wouldn't be racing yet. And we might never finish.

We've learned a lot from having the service live, and we continue to learn.

- -

I'm sorry I can't answer all the questions; I do see them in the forums and believe me, we are working on a lot of the things you guys are asking about--or at least it's on our list to do.

Now we've gotta run for the Skippy race--if my SR is high enough...

Thanks to all for coming--I'll have to do this again.”

- -

Meanwhile, while Dave was busy answering questions, co-founder John Henry was in an overflow chat room, answering some of his own. Among the gems of information given were:

“Australian Server Coming Next Month” â€" What could John be talking about? Well, we’ll leave you to debate that one for a little while…

“There will be an oval series.” â€" No, John is not referring to the Star Mazda series…

“COT will be A; Nationwide B” The plan is for the existing Chevy Impala SS “COT” will become a Class B 4.0+ car, and the Chevy Impala SS “Nationwide” car will be slotted in as the Class C 4.0+ car.

“Paypal very soon.” â€" John confirmed what had already been mentioned in the forum. Paypal will be available from May 1st.

“Nationwide and Spec Racer next season.” â€" the SCCA Spec Racer is planned to join the Chevy Impala SS “Nationwide” car for 2009 Season 2.

“Needs to be more than monthly.” â€" Yes, that’s right. We are planning to hold special events and feature specific series where staff â€" or celebrity race-drivers â€" will be joining you on-track and maybe taking questions prior to that.

The new schedule is out with a big surprise

Quote:

Some additions this season include the Spec Racer Ford, which becomes our advanced rookie road car â€" and is FREE to all members. Enjoy!!

That should hopefully get a few of you in again???

Yay, SRF for free!!! :D I'd been quietly preparing to open my purse and pay the $15, but now I don't have to! The downside is that they're removing the Advanced Solstice, which is my favourite so far. I'm going to do a race tonight to try and grab back 1st place in my division, and if I succeed that might just be my last ever Solstice race..! That's a weird feeling.

Quote from: Gnomie;273776I'm going to do a race tonight to try and grab back 1st place in my division, and if I succeed that might just be my last ever Solstice race..! That's a weird feeling.

Its not gone forever, its just not in this season.

We are tentatively planning on deploying the new build on Tuesday 4/28/09.


Race Control:

Crashes on the final lap of a race no longer cause a full course caution.

Cars:

The Class B Chevy Impala has been added

The SCCA Enterprises Spec Racer Ford has been added

Physics:

Wheels now have a more correct friction against walls.

The tires have been adjusted for the Impala, Class B Impala, and Silverado.

The transmission ratios are changed depending on track type for Impala, Class B Impala, and Silverado. There is a road course, short track, and speedway gearing, which is selected for youâ€"you can’t change those. The diff ratio is still adjustable in the garage, although several of the ratios have changed. Third gear is a bit shorter than it was (it was a 1.23 gear, is now a 1.33, except at the road courses where it is a 1.17). That should make shifting less of an advantage at most ovals.

The Silverado has more horsepower now from new data we have received.

The Silverado aero model has been substantially improved.

Race Week Scoring:

We have changed the way your race week points are scored. We now only average the top 50% of your races run in a given week in a series instead of all of your races run.


Spotter:

The spotter warns you when you are running low on fuel.

The spotter provides pace order instructions similar to the on-screen display.

Tech Inspection:

The Tech Inspection now allows the car to settle a moment longer and is more tolerant of borderline values. This should allow any setup that passes when loaded in the garage to pass tech.

Hardware compatibility:

If you are suffering from stuttering graphics in the sim, try the following: In the sim’s sound options, set your microphone to ‘None’. If that solves your graphical problems, set your mic back to what it was and open the file My Documents\iRacing\app.ini. In app.ini, change micAlwaysActive=1 to micAlwaysActive=0 and save the file. This may limit the graphical stutters to only occur when speaking over voice chat, however it may make the problems worse when speaking. If you are not experiencing graphical stutters, or setting your mic to ‘None’ does not affect the stutters, then you should not change this setting from its default value.


Server:

The code that breaks race sessions up into multiple run-groups when there are too many drivers for a single group has been tweaked. It is now more likely that drivers will be placed into a run-group with a Strength Of Field appropriate for their iRating.

Web:

Paypal has been added as a payment option.

The Results page has been greatly enhanced and also moved. It now resides in a new primary nav section called “Events”. This is the first of many pages to come to the new Events section of the site. The Results page is now filterable and sortable in a variety of ways. It is also a one-stop location for you to look up the results of all of all other iRacing drivers… no more page jumping.

New feature-loaded Customize Car page introduced. Car paint may be applied to one or more cars at a time. Color and font choice for car number is now offered as well as choice of 2 sponsorship logos.

Bug fix on replays page to properly display stats according to the Author of the replay when more than one replay may exist from the same subsession with different Authors

A new World Records page is available under STATS

Registered user count re-implemented on Series page.


Net Code

Improvements have been made to the Net Code and in particular the prediction of remote cars location with lost packets.


Graphics

Video memory is now managed vastly differently. Lookout for “loading failed” type errors or any new graphical problems. You mignt try alt-tabbing in full screen mode to see if it works better/worse/same than before.

The available texture memory slider can now be set up to a max of 768MB. The auto-detect will still max out at 512MB though, for safety reasons. If you have 1 GB video card (this does not include 2 cards each with 512 MB) you might try setting it to the max and checking if any loading or performance problems result.

A new graphics option, “High Resolution Car Textures” has been added. This option raises the priority of the car paint jobs textures causing them to keep more detail when very large on screen. Every few frames, the 3 cars closest to the camera (and visible on screen) will have their high-detail textures swapped into video memory if necessary. The downside of this option is that the simulation may consume more system RAM, but video RAM usage will remain about the same as before.


Tracks

Road Atlanta has been added


Garage

Cars are run through Tech Inspection at the beginning of each Qualifying, Time Trial, Race (warmup and the race). If your car fails tech, you willl need to go to the Garage to fix your setup before you are allowed on to the track.

When trying to load a new setup the sim will not save your current setup if it is not legal.

The Garage screen no longer responds to your steering wheel angle.

During Qualifying and Time Trial sessions, your pit crew will no longer service your car. Use the Garage to make changes to your setup.


Resets

Exiting your car now counts towards the reset limit.

Class C, B and A now have no resets allowed. Unofficial seasons always allow a reset for now.

This morning, in a joint press conference at Virginia International Raceway, iRacing and Volkswagen of America are announcing a truly exciting and novel partnership that will formally establish iRacing as a launching pad for aspiring professional racers.

Below is the news release that will be published.

VOLKSWAGEN ANNOUNCES PARTNERSHIP WITH IRACING.COM FOR JETTA TDI CUP DRIVER TRAINING AND CANDIDATE IDENTIFICATION--
Online competition winners to receive opportunities to compete in the on-track series in 2010

ALTON, Va. (April 25, 2009) â€" Volkswagen of America, Inc. and its SCCA Pro Racing Jetta TDI Cup series have announced a partnership with iRacing.com Motorsport Simulations, LLC, that will allow the racing series to utilize iRacing’s online racing simulations to further enhance training and recruiting capabilities. The partnership will aid in current Jetta TDI Cup driver training and identify driver candidates for future seasons.

iRacing.com’s internet racing service includes the most accurate racing simulator available, and its usefulness transcends entertainment, providing a tool for the development of real-world racing skills. The software allows racers to compete against each other online in real time, driving high-fidelity digital versions of real-world racecars on millimeter-accurate virtual versions of real-world race tracks.

In September, the Jetta TDI Cup series car will join the list of racecars offered on iRacing.com, and iRacing will launch an online version of the series, which will be the primary gateway for eligible young drivers to earn their way into future seasons of the on-track series and start their careers as professional drivers. Further information regarding the online series schedule will be released in the coming months.

Competition in the online series is expected to be as fierce and exciting as the on-track Jetta TDI Cup race action. iRacing.com Jetta TDI Cup series participants will be battling to earn their way into the 2010 driver selection event and compete for the chance to receive a fully funded ride in the 2010 SCCA Pro Racing Jetta TDI Cup series driving the iRacing.com car.

“This series has always prided itself in being ahead of the curve, and we’re constantly looking for areas where we can enhance what’s already one of the most unique racing entities in the U.S. with our clean diesel platform,” said Clark Campbell, motorsports manager, Volkswagen of America, Inc. “When iRacing approached us, we thought this was an excellent way to further our goal of developing the skills of our current drivers. Plus, it provides us with a relevant recruiting mechanism where we can select potential future series participants.”

Proprietary technology assures that the iRacing simulations deliver unprecedented accuracy of track replication and vehicle-handling dynamics. With curbing, cracks, patches and other trackside features recreated with precision measured in millimeters, and a physics engine and tire model that reproduce the feel of each particular car with absolute fidelity, the result is an experience so authentic that professional racers and experienced amateurs can hone their skills prior to on-track competition or testing. The 2009 Jetta TDI Cup drivers are currently using iRacing.com as a way to familiarize themselves with tracks on the series schedule.

“Our original goal in creating iRacing.com was to produce an online racing simulation that was so accurate that in addition to the thousands of fans who race in the service for fun, top professional drivers would want to use it as a training tool,” said Steve Myers, executive producer, iRacing.com. “With the testing restrictions that many series have imposed, many current professional drivers such as Dale Earnhardt Jr., Justin Wilson, Alex Gurney and A.J. Allmendinger are regularly competing at iRacing.com as a form of training as well as for its entertainment value. We’re really excited about this partnership, as it’s the first time that any racing simulation has been able to offer an online competitor an on-track ride in a professional racing series. Through this relationship, we’ll further demonstrate the link between racing simulation and on-track racing.”

The 2009 season marks the second year of competition for the Volkswagen Jetta TDI Cup, which is sanctioned by SCCA Pro Racing. During the season, young, up-and-coming drivers (ages 16-26) will compete in 10 events on eight road courses around North America in identical factory-prepared and maintained clean diesel Jetta TDI’s powered by Syndiesel® B5 blended biodiesel. Each driver competing in the series will earn a Pro Racing license from SCCA at the conclusion of the season. In addition, the series champion will win $100,000.

The Jetta TDI Cup car is powered by a 2.0-liter, 170 hp, four-cylinder TDI clean diesel engine mated to a six-speed, double-clutch, automatic DSG transmission. The car is only slightly modified from stock with Pirelli racing tires, race suspension and brake components, drivers racing safety seat, FIA roll cage and an on-board fire extinguisher system. Series sponsors include: Pirelli, Bosch, ViON, Castrol, Oakley, Red Bull, HYPERFUELS, Aggreko, defNder, Lamin-X, Meguiar’s, Safety-Kleen, Ringer Gloves, Jim Russell Racing School and Trellis Earth.

Follow the Volkswagen Jetta TDI Cup series action on:
//www.vwmotorsportusa.com
Volkswagen Online Newsroom: media.vw.com
Facebook: http://tinyurl.com/JettaTDICup
Twitter: http://twitter.com/VWJettaTDICup

Volkswagen of America, Inc.
Founded in 1955, Volkswagen of America, Inc. is headquartered in Herndon, Virginia. It is a subsidiary of Volkswagen AG, headquartered in Wolfsburg, Germany. Volkswagen is one of the world’s largest producers of passenger cars and Europe’s largest automaker. Volkswagen sells the Rabbit, New Beetle, New Beetle convertible, GTI, Jetta, Jetta SportWagen, Eos, GLI, Passat, Passat wagon, CC, Tiguan, Touareg 2 and Routan through approximately 600 independent U.S. dealers. All 2009 Volkswagens come standard-equipped with Electronic Stabilization Program. This is important because the National Highway and Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has called ESC the most effective new vehicle safety technology since the safety belt. Visit Volkswagen of America online at vw.com or //www.media.vw.com to learn more.

About iRacing.com
iRacing.com was founded in September of 2004 by Dave Kaemmer and John Henry. Kaemmer was co-founder of Papyrus Design Group, developers of award-winning racing simulations including NASCAR Racing: 2003 Season and Grand Prix Legends. Henry is principal owner of the Boston Red Sox and Fenway Sports Group â€" the co-owner of Roush Fenway Racing â€" as well as an avid simracer. The iRacing team combines more than 100 years of real-world racing experience with more than 50 years of successful racing simulation development. The company has developed numerous corporate relationships in the motorsport industry, including agreements to develop track simulations with International Speedway Corporation, Speedway Motorsports, and Panoz Motor Sports Group and vehicles with Volkswagen, General Motors, Riley Technologies, Radical Sportscars, and 600 Racing. iRacing is the official simulation partner of the Star Mazda Championship and the Skip Barber Racing School. The service is open to racers and fans of all skill levels from top-level pros to complete beginners. To join in the fun, go to //www.iRacing.com.

SCCA Pro Racing
A wholly owned subsidiary of Sports Car Club of America, Inc., SCCA Pro Racing Ltd. is a leading sanctioning body for motorsports events in the United States. A member of the Automobile Competition Committee of the United States (ACCUS), SCCA Pro Racing operates and sanctions the Volkswagen Jetta TDI Cup, as well as provides sanctioning and various operational services for other racing series. For more information, please visit //www.sccapro.com.


# # #

Quote from: AnnouncementThe online series will be open to all members with a Rookie 4.0 or higher competition license and will feature the Jetta TDI Cup car (which is currently under development) as well as several of the tracks from the real-world TDI Cup schedule.

Awesome!! :D

Quote from: Gnomie;273835Awesome!! :D

Info video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O95fmo88EXI

Every three months (if not more often), we release a new, improved version of our simulation software, usually accompanied by significant upgrades to our members’ Web site. It’s no coincidence that we roll out these updates just ahead of the start of each new season, when changes won’t disrupt official competition. This week, we continue that tradition, with changes that touch most, if not all aspects of the service â€" many in response to long-standing requests from you, our members, and some in a carefully deliberated attempt to improve the quality of competition.
 
Improvements to the physics modeling and Net Code headline changes within the simulation. Meanwhile, the addition of Paypal as a payment option â€" one of our most consistent requests from the community â€" and a new “Events” section on the main nav of the members’ site are tops among the Web changes. Also sure to be popular are substantial updates to the “Customize Car” section of the site. You can now add sponsor decals to your car â€" including new member-created club logos â€" as well as select the color and font for your car number. For a full rundown of all the changes, make sure to read the latest Release Notes, posted in the forum last week by Steve Myers.
 
On the sporting side of the service, we’ve spent a lot of time analyzing data and formulating plans to help facilitate official races and improve competition. First among these changes is a modification of our point-scoring system. Instead of averaging a driver’s points scored throughout a Race Week, we’ll now average only the better half of each driver’s performances during the week, meaning drivers can run as many races as they would like with less concern about a bad finish damaging their Race Week total. After a member poll on the matter, we’ve also changed the FIRST Competition Calendar. Race Weeks will now start at 00:00 GMT Tuesday (8 p.m. Monday evening Eastern US time), instead of changing over during the weekend. (Please note that this means 2009 Season 1 13th Week will be two days longer than normal.)
 
In addition to these changes, we’ve spent a lot of time studying and attempting to tweak the racing schedule to improve competition. Our system works best when large groups of people register for the same session. In addition to guaranteeing full fields, these numbers allow us to improve the quality of racing by parsing the registrants into multiple iterations of the same race, each populated by racers of similar skill level, as measured by iRating. To achieve this focus of activity, we have decreased the number of official races, particularly for Class A and B, searching for the right balance between concentration and convenience. Steve Myers posted a preliminary schedule in the forums last week, but we've heard your responses loud and clear and have made some revisions. The latest version of the 2009 Season 2 schedule is now available.
 
Lastly, we’re adding value to every membership, both in terms of content and price. Although we typically announce the release of new cars and tracks in conjunction with a new build, this time, we’re offering up a popular new road racing car, the SCCA Enterprises Spec Racer Ford, for FREE. The SRF will replace the Pontiac Solstice as the Advanced Rookie road racing car and is accompanied by the Chevrolet Impala SS, as raced in the NASCAR Nationwide Series, as well as Road Atlanta. On the pricing side, we’ve noticed that, while more than half of our members are full-year subscribers, a significant number have opted for a month-to-month arrangement. Consequently, we’re lowering the one-month membership fee to $19, a small change we know, but if it helps even a small number of members to be able to continue racing, it’ll be worth it.
 
We hope you are as excited for the coming season as we are. See you on track!

The Spec Racer Ford is ----





---- brilliant!! :yahoo:

I think I'm in love. :dribble:

Quote from: Gnomie;274210The Spec Racer Ford is ----

---- brilliant!! :yahoo:

I think I'm in love. :dribble:

There is a 24Hrs of fun series on Watkins Glen now. Lots of people in. Great racing!

But I don't have Watkins. :crying:

iRacing marketing.. gives with one hand and takes with the other! :lmfao:

Quote from: Gnomie;274221But I don't have Watkins. :crying:

iRacing marketing.. gives with one hand and takes with the other! :lmfao:

No, it takes with one hand and takes with the other. :lmfao:

Quote from: Gnomie;274210I think I'm in love. :dribble:

I was very stoked about this car. And jumped in it right away.

After two laps I was screaming. Not because it was good, but because it was bad. I took a break, starting to fire up rFactor, ready to never start iRacing again. In rFactor Historics I got the same &%¤# feeling. IT didn't feel right at all.

Then I got it. I had just been in SilentWings (Soaring sim) and my wheel was not calibrated correctly afterwards.

After a quick recalibration, both the Historix and iRacing felt good again.

And the Spec Racer Ford? I tweaked the Advanced Laguna set and with that it is the car I was hoping for. I leave it to Gnomie to describe how the car drives as he is better at formulating stuff like that.

But the racing yesterday soon turned out to be a wreck fest. Hopefully people will take it easy when the standard series begins. I never finished a race. And I ran a qualification. Almost nobody else did, so I was put second on the grid in a new car with 25 people behind me. Not good. But very interesting... :lmfao:

Here is a nice Video btw
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ejc0YnylE4E&fmt=22

Road Atlanta is one of North America’s most challenging and exhilarating road-racing circuits and it is now available to iRacing members. The price is $20.00.
 
Home for 23 years to the Sports Car Club of America’s national club-racing Runoffs, Road Atlanta is today home to the American Le Mans Series premier event, the 1000-mile Petit Le Mans. This 12-turn, 2.54-mile ribbon of asphalt has it all â€" fast, banked sweepers, an acute first-gear corner, blind apexes, long straightaways and lots of elevation changes. Anyone who gets bored racing at Road Atlanta just isn’t paying attention

Quote from: vobler;274253And the Spec Racer Ford? I tweaked the Advanced Laguna set and with that it is the car I was hoping for. I leave it to Gnomie to describe how the car drives as he is better at formulating stuff like that.

Well I don't know about that, but I guess I can try. :D

This car fits my driving style like a glove. It's just the kind of car I've always been dreaming of in a sim. Pure awesomeness. Where to start??

In iRacing I only own two other cars (Solstice and Skip Barber) and I've had my gripes with both.

The Solstice is all right, but since it has power steering it doesn't do justice to the beautifully modelled track surfaces. Also it's very forgiving and not all that exciting to drive once you get used to it. The Skippy, on the other hand, just got too loose for my liking. In slow corners you can slide the back end around (in a controlled fashion) in a way that I just haven't been able to get accustomed to. I know its real counterpart also is very "slidey" (optimal slip angle ~ 9 degrees I think), but for my tastes it's a little weird.

And, voilà, along comes the Spec Racer Ford! And what have we here?? The PERFECT compromise! :yahoo: It doesn't have power steering, so you can feel every bump. But unlike the Skippy, it doesn't slide around as much. Sure, the back end comes loose easily enough, but it's no longer a big advantage to do it on purpose.

One of the best things is how you control it through corners. Since the car isn't very powerful you want to carry as much momentum through the corner as you can. Trail braking can be an advantage, but you definitely have to do most of your braking in a straight line. Through the corner you want to be on the throttle. If you find yourself understeering, just ease on the throttle a little, since it oversteers quite a lot if you're off the gas. So you really need good pedal control with this car! But it feels incredibly gratifying when you get it right.

The sound is just brilliant, which helps a great deal on the immersion factor. When heel&toe-ing you can use the beatiful engine roar to tell when you've revved it high enough. Exhaust sputtering and other "gritty" noises also make it feel very real.

All in all, I couldn't be happier with this one. It's been very well received in the community, so I think there's going to be lots of people signing up for the Season 2 championship. That means lots of split grids, which again means close racing! It's a pity that my final exams are just around the corner.. I feel a conflict of interests coming up..! :D

Quote from: Gnomie;274800This car fits my driving style like a glove. It's just the kind of car I've always been dreaming of in a sim. Pure awesomeness. Where to start??

Start? No need to continue, its pure slow awesomeness. Thats what it is.

I sure hope we get to use this car on "non rookie" tracks soon.

Little news lately so here you go:

 iRacing Named Official Motorsport Simulation of SCCA

iRacing.com is now the “Official Motorsport Simulation” of the Sports Car Club of America (SCCA). The multi-year partnership between iRacing.com and the 50,000+ member strong SCCA features a contingency program for SCCA amateur, solo and pro solo competitors carrying iRacing.com decals on their cars.  Earlier this year, iRacing.com introduced the SCCA Spec Racer Ford as part of its basic subscription package, insuring iRacing.com novices and experts alike have a Spec Racer Ford in their virtual garage.
 
Road America is sure to be among the most popular iRacing.com circuits for SCCA members as the classic 4 mile road course is slated to host the renowned SCCA National Championship Runoff for the first time this year, September 24-27.

Darlington Now Available!

Perhaps NASCAR’s most storied race track, Darlington Raceway, is now available to iRacing.com members. The price is $20.00, and it comes complete with 60 years worth of racing heritage. Dale Earnhardt, Sr., who won nine Cup races at Darlington, noted that “if you happen to be a race car driver there's no victory so sweet, so memorable, as whipping Darlington Raceway."
 
But if you plan to whip Darlington you’d better pack your lunch, ‘cuz it’s gonna take all day. The other drivers are the easy part; it’s the unique egg-like shape of this 1.366-mile speedway, with wide-open turns at one end and tight ones â€" legacy of a minnow pond whose owner wouldn’t budge â€" at the other, that makes 170+ mph laps at Darlington such a supreme challenge. It takes everything a driver’s got to do a fast lap at NASCAR’s very first speedway-type track, plus a balanced chassis setup with just enough compromise to insure the car is still driveable at both ends of the track. The list of winners at this historic rural South Carolina track reads like a roll-call of NASCAR’s legendary wheelmen. Put in sufficient practice, race hard enough, and you can be a winner at Darlington, too.


Road Atlanta Available Now

And it is superb! :D :yahoo:
 
Updated Sporting Code Available

The new FIRST Sporting Code, version 20090130.01, is now available as a downloadable pdf in the Reference section of the iRacing Members’ Site. The latest edition of our rule book includes an opening memorandum that outlines the edits made to the previous version of the document (version 20081208.1), with all of those changes highlighted in red. Also included as an Appendix to the Sporting Code is the recently published World Cup of iRacing Official Guidelines document.

Release notes for 2009.05.04.02 build
Posted: May 4, 2009 8:05 PM  

New advanced setups for Lowes and Atlanta for the Impala Class B car.

Fuel mileage adjusted on Impala, Impala Class B and Silverado cars.

Fuel filling bugs fixed on Silverado, DP and Impala Class B cars.

Increased range of adjustment of spring perch, camber and caster, and adjusted tire wear for the Spec Racer.



Release notes for 2009.05.07.02
Posted: May 8, 2009 4:12 PM  
 

Graphics

Added an option to renderer.ini to override the recent cockpit mirror optimization. The optimization still defaults to enabled. Set CockpitMirrorOptimization=0 to disable the optimization and render every mirror every frame.

Spotter

Spotter volume control works again.

Web

Best laps for certain types of event are filtered very "strictly" to facilitate more reliable world record tracking. Qualifying, Time Trial, and Race events will not consider any laps where any type of event that may possibly compromise the lap time (invalid, pitted, contact, internet connectivity problems, etc) as valid for a best lap.

A new service calendar has been added. This calendar is accessible by clicking on the calendar icon in the upper right identity section or by going to the Events section. This calendar lists several major iRacing events for the upcoming year as well as many real world racing series schedules.

Resets

When you run out of resets and try to reset again you will no longer get pulled out of the car ending your race.

Exiting the car is considered a reset, when your limit is reached you will not be able to re-enter the world.

You can exit your car and re-enter the world without limit while people are getting onto the grid at the start of the race, but the instant everyone is on the grid exits are no longer free, so only do this with caution (wrong setup, fix calibration, etc) or you may get locked out of the race.

QuoteExiting the car is considered a reset, when your limit is reached you will not be able to re-enter the world.

Blimey! I thought the punishment for going on the grass was hard enough! :blink:

Quote from: Doorman;275462Blimey! I thought the punishment for going on the grass was hard enough! :blink:

Nice to see you took the time to read it Ron, and don't worry, I'm not going to ask you to race it anymore. :g:

btw. I just resubscribed for one year a little bit early. To get the $60 so I could get Road Atlanta and Talladega and the new class B Oval car for "free" :). Besides the SRF, I'm doing a full season in the Late Model Oval car. I'm really slow but I love it.

You've absolutely no idea how many times I've fired up iRacing, the last time was straight after seeing Einar's screenies. I think 'maybe I'm wrong about it' maybe I should learn to ignore nags' 'maybe this and maybe that' I can only liken it to being seperated from a beautiful wife. You've been away for a while and you remember her cracking good looks, so you go back to her. Then you recall why you left...she's a nag and she doesn't let you do the things you like to do. She also has this propensity for running round in circles. I understand you love her but maybe you're partialy deaf and don't hear the yadda yadda. :lmfao: Anyway, I won't make any more jokes about her. You just keep buying her new dresses. :D



She's a real good looker though and that is her saving grace.

:roflmao: Excellent analogy, Ron. I laughed! :D

Seems like the only thing which could "save" iRacing for you would be leagues. They are coming, but not many details are known at the moment. It's not known if we can run any car at any track or if track selection will be limited. Also I'm not sure if iRating and SR will be in effect in leagues, and how the practice servers will work. We'll keep you informed as more info gets revealed. :)

Aww, I really fancy this, but I think I need to spend another year in LFS learning racecraft first.  The Spec Racer thingy looks excellent, I'm put off by the ovals, but the presence of Laguna Seca and a few other tracks with lefts *and* rights makes me interested... but a tenner a month, I dunno...

Confused of Hadfield

Quote from: spoong;275743The Spec Racer thingy looks excellent, I'm put off by the ovals,

I'm not going to ague about the money. We have discussed that too much.

But, unless you have tried ovals of iRacings quality do NOT under estimate it. It IS fun, even for a die hard road racer. Not so much the Legends, but the Late models is very good and the Trucks superb.

I'm not sure who said it here on dMr but somebody said something like that in road racing traffic is a pain, but in oval racing traffic is the fun part. Riding in packs is some of the most intense racing you can do.

Well, when I can consistently finish in a non-last position, I'll give it a try, I think. :)

This was posted by Steve Meyers from iRacing today:


Re: when the lotus f1 will be ready?
Posted: May 14, 2009 4:42 PM    in response to: Stephen Pender  
 
I drove the Lotus 79 yesterday and it's a blast. I expect it will be released in the next major build at the end of this season.

Steve

I'll be keeping my wallet closed (it's empty anyway :lmfao:)  I wont be eligible to drive that puppy for quite a while :sad:

I'm afraid this kind of car doesn't really fit in iRacing at the moment. Here's why:

This car had manual H-gate transmission in real life. You had to lift on upshifts and I think it needed revmatching on downshifts. As long as iRacing's transmission model is totally flawed people will of course neglect this, using flatshifting, paddle shifters and auto blip. There's going to be a huge gap between those who take advantage of all the exploits and those who don't.

Of course this is partly true for all the cars, but it's going to be more of an issue with this car than any other because it's so fast. (lifting on upshifts is going to cost too much time)

Bah, why am I ranting anyway.. I'm not much of a formula fan anyway, so I'm sticing with the Corvette + Mustang + GT when they are released. That should be enough to keep me satisfied! :)

Official NASCAR series next year.

http://www.iracing.com/newsEvents/index.php

This is a huge deal for iRacing and it will secure a lot of people in the service.

iRacing *IS* on a roll gentlemen, what in the world is holding you up?

Quote from: vobler;276334what in the world is holding you up?

 The thought of a massive influx of redneck oval racers perhaps? :lmfao:

Quote from: The Moose;276337The thought of a massive influx of redneck oval racers perhaps? :lmfao:

Hopefully this and the SCCA deal will give a few more roadracers too.

Quote from: vobler;276340Hopefully this and the SCCA deal will give a few more roadracers too.

 Yup, we can but hope.  It certainly needs more drivers.

 Let's hope they can strike this sort of deal with a top European road racing series.  I think the European market needs far more attention.  It's huge!  

 Get a load of European tracks and the WTCC cars for  example and watch the numbers shoot through the roof.

 As things stand now i cant see myself resubscribing after these three months are up, simply because there is not enough action in the top license categories.

For me personally this deal won't change anything. But if it brings in more racers, that means more $$ for iRacing. Which will allow them to keep going! How about sending laser scanner teams to Europe and Australia? :)

Quote from: Gnomie;276342Europe and Australia? :)

Is that near London, England? :g:

I take it back...the system is obviously great... I'm top of the Rookie Spec Racer division  :D

Here is a video from the
NASCAR/iRacing press conference:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kGX8BfycNiY

June 02,2009 - iRacing Pro Series Qualifying Snapshot - Who will make the cut?

Professional-level road and oval competition comes to the world of iRacing beginning on August 4, with the kick-off of the 25-week 2009 iRacing Pro Series (iPS). And iRacers with aspirations to be part of the 2010 iRacing Drivers World Championship (iDWC) for Road Racing and Ovals â€" which promise to be the top virtual racing series in the world, complete with broadcast coverage, cash and prizes â€" know that the only way to qualify is to be in the top 50 in the respective 2009 iPS, which serve as the steppingstones to the iDWC.
 
But first you’ve got to get your Pro License. That’s the ticket to the pros, and they’ll only be issued to the top 250 iRacers (Class C and above for this inaugural iPS season) in each category at the end of 2009 Season 2. With Pro License eligibility rating based on a 70/30 weighted average of iRating and Safety Rating, to qualify a driver will need to be both safe and fast â€" very fast.
 
Competition to earn a Pro License promises to be intense, so every two weeks between now and the beginning of the 2009 iPS, a rank-ordered, searchable current standing for road racing and oval racing will be posted along with an update story, letting you know who’s in, who’s out and who’s on the bubble as of that date. Final standings will be posted following the conclusion of this season.
 
Top qualifiers get bragging rights of course â€" right now, NASCAR star Dale Earnhardt, Jr. and virtual racing legend Greger Huttu lead the oval and road categories respectively â€" but the real action and interest will be further down the rankings as drivers tussle for the last few spots on the eligibility list. Bill Malicoat, Tyler Price, Wes Propst, Milos Miljkovic and Brett Stephens hold down the final five spots in the oval rankings. With less than nine points separating 246th and 255th, how hard do you think the next five in line, Bryan Marchant, Michael Watson, David Holzwarth, Dave Long and Aaron Markham, will be trying to up their rankings and be among the select Pro License holders? Even the 300th-rated racer, currently, Otis Aldridge, is just 52 points from making the cut â€" not out of it by a long shot.
 
In road-racing the ten bubble racers (those currently rated between 246 and 255) â€" Roberto Betori, Ryan Hieronymus, Duane Burns, Barry Blocker, Sandeep Banerjee (#250), Kari Nyman, Russell Daly, Istvan Pasztor, Wolfgang Koch and Kurt Krumm â€" are covered by an eight-point blanket. Just qualifying for a Pro License will be a significant accomplishment.
 
Complete details of the iPS and iDWC are available in the Reference section.

June 04,2009 - Volume Discount Program Enhancement

Our members have spoken. And iRacing has listened. As a result, some of our most enthusiastic members now have more reason than ever to take advantage of iRacing’s volume discount program. Effective immediately, any transaction that will result in the licensing of all currently available cars and tracks will automatically receive a 25% discount on included cars and tracks. So if you're only missing one piece of content for a complete set, there's no reason to wait for a bundle of three or six new cars and tracks to score a discount. And even if you only have the basic package of three cars and seven tracks, the Volume Discount program is sweeter than ever. Meanwhile, If the contents in your cart will NOT make you a 100% content owner, the multi-item discounts of 10% (for any three cars and/or tracks) and 20% (for six or more items) will still apply.
 
Volume discounts may not be combined with any other discounts or promotions. For more details, please click on Promotions at the top of this page.

I was hoping you UK based iRacing fans would post this, but here you go;


UK’s Brands Hatch & Oulton Park Set For iRacing

Brands Hatch, home for many years to the British Grand Prix, and Oulton Park, named by drivers as one of the world’s most challenging circuits, will join Silverstone as the second and third British motorsport facilities in the iRacing inventory.  
 
Data collection at the two tracks will begin in July; the finished versions are expected to be available on the service early next year.
 
While North American tracks will continue to be added to the service, the addition of Brands and Oulton is the leading edge of an initiative to broaden the roster with circuits from Europe, Australia and Asia. More news to follow . . .


Australian Server Farm Enhances iRacing’s World-Class Infrastructure

With this week’s introduction of a Sydney-based server farm to our delivery system, iRacing.com can now, literally, boast a world-class hosted infrastructure. Like our existing facility near Boston, the Australian facility consists of a collection of servers and sophisticated networking equipment in a Tier 1 data center with 24/7 monitoring and multiple Internet links. Together, the server farms insure that iRacing will continue providing state-of-the-art service to its members around the world.


“One of our main objectives as a company is to provide the best possible delivery of our service,” says Tony Gardner, president of iRacing.com. “We are constantly evaluating ways to do this. After all, it makes no sense for us to invest $20 million or more into products and services, then not utilize the best possible hosting and back-end solutions to deliver those products and services.


“Although it may not always be immediately apparent, it’s only through significant and regular infrastructure investment that an MMO like iRacing can continue providing the ease of use to which our members have become accustomed. The Australian server farm is the latest example of our commitment to that philosophy.”

Quote from: vobler;278975I was hoping you UK based iRacing fans would post this

Too busy driving :rolleyes:

Fantstic choice for the first two new British tracks.  And the good news is the same people that own these tracks also own..... Cadwell Park!   I'd put money on seeing that in iRacing at some point now.

Great news! :D I bet the iRacing boards are pretty lively right now, with speculations about what's to come later on..! The Australia bit tickles my interest a great deal too!

Two more months till I'm can get racing again.. :flirty: A lot of good things seem to happen while I'm away!

A little more than a year ago iRacing.com began the rollout of the worldââ,¬â,,¢s leading internet racing service. In the twelve months since then, more than 14,000 people from all around the world have joined the ranks of iRacing members.
 
As a token of our appreciation ââ,¬â€œ and in celebration of our first anniversary ââ,¬â€œ iRacing is pleased to offer renewing members the car or of their choice. FREE! Members who renew their membership for twelve months before July 31, 2009 will receive a bonus of $25 in iRacing credits . . . enough to buy any iRacing car or race track. Those bonus credits are in addition to the $60 in credits members normally receive with an annual renewal, making $85 of iRacing credits in total.
 
In our first year, we introduced a variety of exciting new cars including the Sprint Cup and Nationwide Series Impala SS, the Riley Prototype and the SpecRacer Ford, along with tracks like Talladega and Road Atlanta. Thereââ,¬â,,¢s lots more planned for the next twelve as well, including the introduction of two of historyââ,¬â,,¢s most successful race cars ââ,¬â€œ the Lotus 79 and Corvette C6.R ââ,¬â€œ and a number of ovals and road courses from around the world including Chicagoland and New Hampshire Motor Speedways, Mosport, Brands Hatch and Oulton Park.
 
To take advantage of this limited time offer just visit the My Account section of the member site and select ââ,¬Å"Change subscription,ââ,¬Â choose ââ,¬Å"Yearlyââ,¬Â and then click ââ,¬Å"Renew Now.ââ,¬Â Youââ,¬â,,¢ll receive your special promotion code with your bonus credits at the end of the promotional period (on 8/7/09).
 
This offer is only good through July 31, 2009 so act now.
 
Offer valid only for current or past accounts. Offer not valid for new accounts.

Now where have I seen that before? :g:

I know, everywhere! :lmfao:

Circuit Park Zandvoort to Be First European Track in iRacing: Joins UKââ,¬â,,¢s Silverstone, Brands Hatch & Oulton Park as Initial Additions Outside North America


BEDFORD, MA (July 6, 2009) ââ,¬â€œ Most visitors to seaside sand dunes are there to swim and lounge on the beach; in the Netherlands, hard on the North Sea, they come to Circuit Park Zandvoort to race cars. Under the terms of an agreement jointly announced today by Exploitatie Circuit Park Zandvoort B.V. and iRacing.com Motorsport Simulations, LLC, drivers from all over the world will be able to experience the challenge of this classic European road-racing facility and compete with each other in organized races there just by logging onto the iRacing motorsport simulation service over the internet.

ââ,¬Å"The last Dutch Grand Prix was held in 1985, but as the host to 30 editions of the race, Zandvoort has more than its share of history,ââ,¬Â said Divina Galica, iRacingââ,¬â,,¢s director of partner relations. ââ,¬Å"Weââ,¬â,,¢re very pleased to be able to make the latest version of this great racing facility ââ,¬â€œ now home to DTM, Formula 3 and many club events ââ,¬â€œ available to iRacingââ,¬â,,¢s membership. Last month we initiated the expansion of our track offerings beyond our base in North America with the addition in the UK of Brands Hatch and Oulton Park to Silverstone, which is already available to iRacing members. Circuit Park Zandvoort, the site of so much motorsport history, is a particularly appropriate first European track. Our members from all over the world will enjoy racing there.ââ,¬Â

The list of winners of the Dutch Grand Prix at Zandvoort reads like a Whoââ,¬â,,¢s Who of the first four decades of Formula One, beginning with Alberto Ascari in the first World Championship event in 1952, and including Juan Manuel Fangio, Stirling Moss, Jackie Stewart, Jochen Rindt, Graham Hill, Jack Brabham, Jacky Ickx, Niki Lauda, James Hunt, Mario Andretti, Alan Jones and Nelson Piquet. But Zandvoortââ,¬â,,¢s greatest master was Jim Clark, winner four times in the five races held from 1963 through 1967.

ââ,¬Å"In addition to our many fans, who will now be able through iRacing to have the fun of racing on the circuit themselves in the virtual world, we have real-world racers come from all over Europe and the UK to compete at Circuit Park Zandvoortââ,¬Â said Bart de Snaijer, Circuit Park Zandvoortââ,¬â,,¢s marketing manager. ââ,¬Å"With our partnership with iRacing and their creation of a millimeter-accurate virtual version of the facility, now drivers who are making their first visit will be able to learn our very challenging track before they arrive for the race meet. And everyone will have the chance to get up to speed before the weekend begins.ââ,¬Â

de Snaijer noted that while Tarzan, the 180-degree hairpin at the end of the start/finish straight, is the best-known of the dozen named corners on the 2.672-mile track, Scheivlak is the most challenging, and the turn that newcomers will profit most from by pre-race practice in the iRacing service.

ââ,¬Å"Scheivlak ââ,¬â€œ there is no English word for it ââ,¬â€œ is famous for its high speeds, changes in elevation and the fact that itââ,¬â,,¢s a blind cornerââ,¬Â, de Snaijer said. ââ,¬Å"Drivers either fear or love it. In a fast car a driver approaches the turn at a speed of 260 km/h (160 mph) and canââ,¬â,,¢t even see the start of the turn until they are right on top of it because the track elevation changes. They enter the turn with a speed of 220 km/h (135 mph). The track drops about 10 meters (33 feet) in height and for three quarters of the way through the corner, they canââ,¬â,,¢t see the exit. A driver can only understand the true rush of this turn when he or she has experienced it, whether in the physical world or in the virtual one.ââ,¬Â

Circuit Park Zandvoort is the fifth major configuration of the track since it opened in 1948. While no more than a quarter of the original layout is part of todayââ,¬â,,¢s modern track, what all iterations have had in common is a combination of dauntingly fast sweeping corners and tight slow corners that demand technical perfection. Circuit Park Zandvoort is expected to join the iRacing track inventory early next year.

A day in the life of a cat herder....#10

http://www.iracingworld.com/_A-day-in-the-life-of-a-cat-herder10/blog/452132/57752.html

Ace in the Virtual Space Faces First-Ever Green Light at Road America Round of Volkswagenââ,¬â,,¢s Professional Green Racing Series

BEDFORD, MA (August 11, 2009) ââ,¬â€œ Is it possible that just by running enough laps in a racing simulator, a person could develop a sufficient level of skill to hold his own in a field of young professional drivers, all hungry to climb the motorsport career ladder? When the green flag drops for the Volkswagen Jetta TDI Cup this Saturday at the historic Road America race track in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin, series guest driver John Prather, a top-rated competitor in iRacing.comââ,¬â,,¢s online racing service who less than a month ago took his first laps in a racing car in the physical world, will look to answer exactly that question.

ââ,¬Å"This is a moment Iââ,¬â,,¢ve worked for and dreamed about for the last ten years,ââ,¬Â said Steve Myers, iRacingââ,¬â,,¢s executive producer. ââ,¬Å"Iââ,¬â,,¢ve long believed that a motorsport simulation that had cars and tracks that were as accurate as what weââ,¬â,,¢ve developed for the iRacing online service would not only make the driving more fun for all of our members, but it would also enable a person to learn in the virtual world the actual skills necessary to successfully race in the physical world.ââ,¬Â

Prather, a 30-year-old IT professional who grew up around motorsport ââ,¬â€œ his father was an amateur sports car racer and his earliest childhood memories are of attending races at Road America ââ,¬â€œ is the ideal candidate to test Myersââ,¬â,,¢ theory. Heââ,¬â,,¢s the highest ranked North American road-racer among the more than 16,000 members across the globe whoââ,¬â,,¢ve joined iRacing in the 12 months since the service opened to the general public.

One person who believes Prather can succeed is the 2008 Jetta TDI champion, Josh Hurley, also an iRacer, who last year made no secret of the fact that the virtual laps he did in the simulator prior to real-world races gave him an advantage over his competitors.

ââ,¬Å"I expect that John will turn some heads this weekend,ââ,¬Â said Hurley, who leveraged his 2008 championship to a full-time ride in this yearââ,¬â,,¢s Grand-Am Koni Challenge, where heââ,¬â,,¢s already won four poles and one race. ââ,¬Å"A lot of people are starting to understand that high-quality simulation can help an experienced driver make better use of on-track time in the real world and get better results. But I donââ,¬â,,¢t think they grasp how much a person can learn just in the simulator before they ever get into a car. John has done hundreds of races in the iRacing service and run thousands of laps.ââ,¬Â

Pressed for a prediction on Pratherââ,¬â,,¢s performance at Elkhart Lake, Hurley said ââ,¬Å"I think John will run quite well, probably mid-pack, which is pretty remarkable given the quality and experience of the drivers heââ,¬â,,¢s going to be competing against. And I think Johnââ,¬â,,¢s racecraft will be surprisingly good.ââ,¬Â

For his part, Prather professes not to be surprised that a driver from the virtual world would get a shot at racing in the physical one, only that heââ,¬â,,¢s the one whoââ,¬â,,¢s getting that chance.

ââ,¬Å"Iââ,¬â,,¢ve known for years that this would happen ââ,¬â€œ just not to me,ââ,¬Â Prather said following a three-day introduction to racing in the physical world at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca, courtesy of the Skip Barber Racing School. His instructors marveled at the intimate knowledge of that tricky trackââ,¬â,,¢s racing surface he displayed from his first laps in the car. ââ,¬Å"They said theyââ,¬â,,¢d never had a student whose line was so correct. They just couldnââ,¬â,,¢t grasp that I really ââ,¬Ëœknewââ,¬â,,¢ the track; not just which way the turns went, but all the nuances that determine how you actually drive it, like small changes in the camber and small bumps in the paving.ââ,¬Â

Prather said his first experience driving in the natural world was less different than heââ,¬â,,¢d expected. ââ,¬Å"Wearing a firesuit and helmet, being strapped into the car, feeling the g-forces ââ,¬â€œ yeah, that was different, but not as much as I thought it would be. In fact, in some ways itââ,¬â,,¢s easier. You can ââ,¬Ëœfeelââ,¬â,,¢ the car a little better and see the apexes (of the corners) a bit more easily.ââ,¬Â

Not that Pratherââ,¬â,,¢s three days were totally incident-free. He ran into a gravel trap on what was supposed to be a cool-down lap. ââ,¬Å"I made about six mistakes in a row,ââ,¬Â he said, sheepishly. ââ,¬Å"I guess we all learn from our mistakes.ââ,¬Â

The experiment that sees a virtual racer matching his skills against those of experienced real-world drivers in the worldââ,¬â,,¢s most environmentally friendly race series is one result of the partnership between Volkswagen of America, Inc. and iRacing.com Motorsport Simulation, LLC that will see participation in an iRacing-organized online version of the Jetta TDI Cup series as a major portal to participation in the 2010 edition of the real-world Jetta TDI Cup.

ââ,¬Å"We expect as many as 2,000 people to apply and we only have 50 slots open in the program,ââ,¬Â said Clark Campbell, Volkswagenââ,¬â,,¢s U.S. motorsports manager. ââ,¬Å"Prospective drivers for our 2010 series who join iRacing and excel in the virtual Jetta TDI Cup will be invited to participate in the final round of 200 from which weââ,¬â,,¢ll select the field for next yearââ,¬â,,¢s series.ââ,¬Â

The Jetta TDI Cup car is powered by a 2.0-liter, 170 hp, four-cylinder TDI clean diesel engine mated to a six-speed, double-clutch, automatic DSG transmission. The car is only slightly modified from stock with Pirelli racing tires, race suspension and brake components, drivers racing safety seat, FIA roll cage and an on-board fire extinguisher system.

The iRacing VW Jetta TDI Cup starts 8:00 p.m. ET Tuesday, August 18, and features an exact digital duplicate of the actual race car ââ,¬â€œ less the safety equipment of course. Reigning series champion Hurley has helped with development of the virtual car, and Prather has been practicing with a pre-release version of the Jetta race car on iRacingââ,¬â,,¢s virtual version of Road America. Itââ,¬â,,¢s so accurate that the only thing missing is the smell of Elkhart Lakeââ,¬â,,¢s renowned bratwurst sausages.

Whether you dream of racing in the SCCA Pro Series Volkswagen Jetta TDI Cup series or you want to compete in the iRacing Volkswagen Jetta TDI Cup series and enjoy the fun of driving the first front-wheel-drive car to join iRacingââ,¬â,,¢s inventory, the VW Jetta TDI is the machine for you.
 
With a turbocharged, intercooled two liter engine that puts out 168 bhp and 280 ft/lb of torque, the Jetta TDI has all the performance you could ask from a small sedan.  Itââ,¬â,,¢s all available now, for $15.00, at iRacing.com.

Looks good.. but a tad stiff..! Check this out (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eo6o2SgZDLE) for a good example.

Does it have fixed setups? What's the verdict so far?

Quote from: Gnomie;286015Does it have fixed setups? What's the verdict so far?

Setups are fixed as in real life. Feels good to me.

Like everything iRacing, very well done. Took me a lap or two to understand that the car's idea of when to change down didn't correspond to mine. It didn't get me whooping with joy like some but it's...very well done. :) Tell me, if you had to race a car with big black curtains in the window, would you ask for a finer mesh? :g:

Quote from: Doorman;286017Like everything iRacing, very well done. Took me a lap or two to understand that the car's idea of when to change down didn't correspond to mine. It didn't get me whooping with joy like some but it's...very well done. :)

What this means is that this is a great car with little to complain about. No setups to discuss or fiddle with, it runs on some of iRacings finest tracks. It is available for everybody with a license. There is not much to say really. All you need to do is drive. :yahoo:

Quote from: Doorman;286017Took me a lap or two to understand that the car's idea of when to change down didn't correspond to mine.

As far as I can tell from postings in the iRacing forum this is what it is supposed to do. It does not shift down if it will over rev the engine.

Quote from: vobler;286072As far as I can tell from postings in the iRacing forum this is what it is supposed to do. It does not shift down if it will over rev the engine.

Yeah I know. Like I said, it took a while for me to realise it. :)

iRacers: Start Your Engines

Americaââ,¬â,,¢s fastest open wheelers, Americaââ,¬â,,¢s most versatile open wheel series . . . and the worldââ,¬â,,¢s most famous race track are all coming to iRacing.com. This fall, iRacing will debut its Dallara in the iRacing IndyCar Series along with the famed Indianapolis Motor Speedway, home to the Indianapolis 500 and the Brickyard 400.

While you wonââ,¬â,,¢t be able to drive an Indy car or race at the virtual Brickyard until later this year, you can get a jump on your iRacing Indy car career by joining iRacing.com today. Take advantage of our special offer of a three month membership for $25.00, a 50% savings on the regular price.

*Limited time offer. Valid for new accounts only.

http://www.iracing.com/indy_promotion.html

Edit: Indy intro ... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=es1tGHY7R00

I know a lot of people speculated that this would happen! Not bad, it could attract a lot of new people potentially. :)

What's the status on the NASCAR deal by the way? Are they going to run separate NASCAR sanctioned championship inside the iRacing service, or are they only borrowing the name?

Great song, with lyrics NASCAR fans can remember! :norty:

Quote from: Doorman;287119Great song, with lyrics NASCAR fans can remember! :norty:

Yes, :) it kind of reminded me of that "turn left " video.

Gnomie: I think they will do the series thing.

Talking about Oval racing; I just did 100 laps at Michigan in the Impala Class B. No cautions, just great racing. Oval really is superb if your "ticker" can take it. ( I fueled up on betablockers before start...:doh:)
Great race!:D

iRacing.com to Put IndyCar Series Fans in the Driverââ,¬â,,¢s Seat: Virtual Indy 500 Next May Highlights Partnership with Indy Racing League, Indianapolis Motor Speedway and Dallara

Sonoma, CA (August 22, 2009) ââ,¬â€œ IndyCar Series racing fans wonââ,¬â,,¢t just be able to attend the Indianapolis 500 in person next year, or watch the broadcast at home ââ,¬â€œ on the 2010 Memorial Day weekend anyone in the world who has a PC and a broadband internet connection will be able to drive in a stunningly realistic virtual version of the race.

Under the terms of a multi-year agreement with the Indy Racing League, iRacing.comââ,¬â,,¢s motorsport simulation service will offer fans the opportunity to compete in virtual versions of IndyCar Series and Firestone Indy Lights races on a variety of tracks, including Indianapolis Motor Speedway, beginning this fall. Additionally, iRacing will feature faithful digital reproductions of both seriesââ,¬â,,¢ Dallara chassis.

ââ,¬Å"This November, before the end of the first year of the Speedwayââ,¬â,,¢s 100th anniversary celebration, hundreds of thousands of fans who have attended the Indy 500 in person and millions more around the world who have watched this classic American sporting event on television will have the opportunity to sample for themselves the challenge of driving a Dallara IndyCar Series car at Indianapolis Motor Speedway,ââ,¬Â said Dave Kaemmer, CEO & CTO of iRacing.com Motorsport Simulations. ââ,¬Å"When our virtual version of Indianapolis Motor Speedway is completed next month, we will have in inventory or under construction 12 of the 17 venues on which the IndyCar Series will compete in 2009.ââ,¬Â

Additionally, iRacing.com sponsors IndyCar Race Control, the section of //www.indycar.com that displays a real-time leaderboard and brings fans multiple live in-car video feeds during IndyCar Series competition.

ââ,¬Å"Our fans are tech-savvy and enjoy being actively involved in our races,ââ,¬Â said Terry Angstadt, president of the commercial division for the Indy Racing League, the sanctioning body of the IndyCar Series and Firestone Indy Lights. ââ,¬Å"One of the things that makes IndyCar Series racing unique is the diversity of venues in the series. iRacing puts drivers, team members and fans into their own virtual driverââ,¬â,,¢s seat of an IndyCar Series or Firestone Indy Lights car to enjoy racing one another on demanding short ovals, scenic road courses, high-banked superspeedways, and of course, Indy.ââ,¬Â

Italyââ,¬â,,¢s Dallara Automobili, the company that designs, manufactures and supports both the IndyCar Series and Firestone Indy Lights cars, is collaborating with the iRacing tech team in developing the two vehicles.

ââ,¬Å"It was iRacingââ,¬â,,¢s demonstrated ability to work closely with the manufacturers of the cars already in its inventory that persuaded us to grant them permission to build virtual versions of the Dallara I 09 and IP 09,ââ,¬Â said Andrea Toso, Dallara Automobiliââ,¬â,,¢s head of research and development and US racing projects leader. ââ,¬Å"It has been an interesting project, and we continue to enjoy working closely with Dave Kaemmer and his engineers.ââ,¬Â

In April a crew of iRacing laser-scanning technicians captured the dimensional data and graphic information used over the last several months to build a millimeter-accurate version of the historic Indianapolis Motor Speedway track that will be correct right down to the detail in the famous Yard of Bricks at the Start/Finish line.

The iRacing version of Indianapolis Motor Speedway will include both the 2.5-mile oval used for the Indy 500 and Brickyard 400 NASCAR race and the 2.621-mile road circuit that is home to the Red Bull Indianapolis GP world championship motorcycle event.

ââ,¬Å"Hundreds of thousands of patrons visit Indianapolis Motor Speedway each year,ââ,¬Â said Chris Schwartz, Indianapolis Motor Speedway vice president, marketing. ââ,¬Å"Now they will have an opportunity to experience the Brickyard at speed from the seat of a simulated race car. Competitors will tell you how dramatic Turn 1 can be in an IndyCar, NASCAR or on a MotoGP bike at speed ââ,¬â€œ for the first time fans will be able to share that experience.ââ,¬Â

For Kaemmer, who is widely acknowledged as a pioneer of realistic racing simulations, Indianapolis represents a return to his roots. It was 20 years almost to the month that Kaemmerââ,¬â,,¢s first motorsport title, ââ,¬Å"Indy 500ââ,¬Â, was published.

ââ,¬Å"Looking back, I guess that ââ,¬ËœIndy 500ââ,¬â,,¢ was groundbreaking, at least given the technology of the time,ââ,¬Â Kaemmer said. ââ,¬Å"What is exciting for all of us on the technical team at iRacing is that we can now build virtual cars that perform in exactly the way as their real-world counterparts. Everything that is adjustable on the physical car is adjustable on its virtual counterpart and the digital car responds to those adjustments just as the carbon fiber and metal car does. Thatââ,¬â,,¢s why Justin Wilson and Dale Earnhardt Jr., as well as many other professional racing drivers, use our service not only for fun, but also to prepare for real-world test sessions and races. And because our motorsport simulation service is internet-based, enthusiasts from all over the world can drive and take part in races. All it requires is a reasonably up-to-date computer, a broadband internet connection and an inexpensive steering-wheel and pedal set.ââ,¬Â

inRacingNews.com, iRacing.comââ,¬â,,¢s Motorsport News Site Now Open

News From the World of Racing Available Free to Fans and Others in the Motorsport Community

BEDFORD, MA (September 2, 2009) ââ,¬â€œ iRacing.com Motorsport Simulation, LLC, today unveiled the latest component of its online virtual racing service, a comprehensive, free online motorsports news Web site that is now available to members of the iRacing community and other members of the larger motorsports community, including racing fans. inRacingNews.com (http://www.inracingnews.com) presents a digest of race results and motorsport news from around the world as well as the latest in competition and other developments from iRacingââ,¬â,,¢s online racing series.

ââ,¬Å"The site is up and running now and we already are experiencing a good deal of traffic,ââ,¬Â said John Henry, co-owner of iRacing.com. ââ,¬Å"This is a very exciting development. Everyone is welcome to use inRacingNews.com; thereââ,¬â,,¢s no registration or anything ââ,¬â€œ just visit the site.ââ,¬Â

Henry noted that iRacingââ,¬â,,¢s membership is both geographically diverse and possessed of a wide range of motorsport interests. ââ,¬Å"More than 40% of our members live outside North America. Most of them are focused on the pure fun of racing online, though a good number of our members also use the service to prepare for real-world races. But one thing they all have in common is a wide-ranging passion for motorsport. And because our members, like everyone else these days, find that timeââ,¬â,,¢s at a premium, the site is designed so they can get a quick overview of everything thatââ,¬â,,¢s happening in the world of motorsport and then get more information on those items that are of greatest interest.ââ,¬Â

Tony Gardner, president of iRacing, noted that with the companyââ,¬â,,¢s growing list of partnerships with sanctioning bodies such as NASCAR, IndyCar and SCCA, plus relationships with manufacturers such as Volkswagen, Mazda, Chevrolet, and Ford, in addition to racecar manufacturers including Dallara, Pratt & Miller, Riley, 600 Racing and Radical, iRacing was becoming more integrated into the fabric of motorsport world-wide.

ââ,¬Å"Thereââ,¬â,,¢s no longer a sharp line between the virtual and physical worlds of racing,ââ,¬Â Gardner said. ââ,¬Å"So it makes sense for us to have a news site that covers it all.ââ,¬Â

Veteran motorsports journalist David Phillips, who joined the iRacing.com staff earlier this year, has been named editor of inRacingNews.com. Phillips, a long-time contributor to print and electronic publications in the U.S. and abroad, including Racer, Autosport, AutoWeek, Motor Sport and SPEEDtv.com, will oversee the daily updating of news and feature material in inRacingNews.com.

ââ,¬Å"inRacingNews is designed to provide race fans with the important news from both real world racing and sim-racing in an easy-to-navigate, easy-to-read format,ââ,¬Â Phillips said. ââ,¬Å"Weââ,¬â,,¢ll be getting most of our real-world racing news and commentary from some of the worldââ,¬â,,¢s leading motorsports news-gathering organizations. At the same time, weââ,¬â,,¢re fortunate that a number of the most knowledgeable members of the iRacing community have agreed to contribute our simracing content. I think readers will find inRacingNews as enjoyable as it is informative. Of course, theyââ,¬â,,¢ll be able to focus on their favorite facets of the sport, but the siteââ,¬â,,¢s format will provide them with quick and easy access to all aspects of 21st-century motorsports including, we think, some new favorites.ââ,¬Â


About iRacing.com
The company was founded in September of 2004 by Dave Kaemmer and John Henry. Kaemmer was co-founder of Papyrus Design Group, developers of award-winning racing simulations including NASCAR Racing: 2003 Season and Grand Prix Legends. Henry is principal owner of the Boston Red Sox and Fenway Sports Group ââ,¬â€œ the co-owner of Roush Fenway Racing ââ,¬â€œ as well as an avid simracer. The iRacing team combines more than 100 years of real-world racing experience with more than 50 years of successful racing simulation development. The company has developed numerous corporate relationships in the motorsport industry, including agreements to develop track simulations with International Speedway Corporation, Speedway Motorsports, and Panoz Motor Sports Group and vehicles with General Motors, Riley Technologies, Radical Sportscars, and 600 Racing. iRacing is the official simulation partner of the Sports Car Club of America, Volkswagen Jetta TDI Cup, Star Mazda Championship, Skip Barber Racing School and Australiaââ,¬â,,¢s V8 Super School. In April, 2009 iRacing and NASCAR announced a partnership to develop NASCAR-sanctioned online racing series. A similar program with the Indy Racing League, Indianapolis Motor Speedway and Dallara Automobili was announced in August, 2009. The iRacing service is open to racers and fans of all skill levels from top-level pros to complete beginners. To join in the fun, go to //www.iRacing.com.

New subscribers only!

Check it out here:
http://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=128241125479&ref=mf

Basics:
1 month free + SB2000 + VIR + basic content

OR

1 month free + Late Model + Martinsville + basic content

Now, why not head out to those GPL and N2003 forums and let people know about it, hm? :)

Ford V8 Supercar and Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit to Join iRacing.com Service
Australian Car and Track to Be Available to iRacing Members Around the World

BEDFORD, MA (September 10, 2009) ââ,¬â€œ The L & H 500 at Phillip Island, ninth round of the V8 Supercar Championship Series ââ,¬â€œ top auto-racing attraction in motorsport-mad Australia ââ,¬â€œ kicks off this Friday at the eponymous race track on the popular Australian island tourist destination. In celebration of the event, iRacing.com has announced agreements to include both the historic Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit and the 2009 Ford Falcon ââ,¬Å"FG01ââ,¬Â V8 Supercar in iRacingââ,¬â,,¢s internet-based motorsport simulation service.

ââ,¬Å"One of our initiatives this year has been to expand our list of tracks and cars to reflect the international nature of our membership,ââ,¬Â said Steve Myers, iRacingââ,¬â,,¢s executive producer, noting that earlier this year the company had begun work on Englandââ,¬â,,¢s Brands Hatch and Oulton Park and Circuit Club Zandvoort in the Netherlands. ââ,¬Å"Approximately 40% of our membership lives outside North America, and a significant portion of those members are in Australia and New Zealand. Weââ,¬â,,¢re pleased to be adding Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit and the Ford V8 Supercar to our growing list of international tracks and cars.ââ,¬Â

Myers thanked Ford Performance Racingââ,¬â,,¢s Mark Roworth for assistance with the Ford V8 Supercar and Australiaââ,¬â,,¢s former V8 Supercar champion and budding NASCAR star, Marcos Ambrose, for his help in expanding iRacingââ,¬â,,¢s membership in Australia and New Zealand. Myers also noted that while the addition of these two items of Australian content ââ,¬â€œ which are expected to become available to iRacing members in 2010 ââ,¬â€œ might generate a degree of home-town pride for Kiwis and Aussies, the appeal of the Ford Falcon V8 Supercar and Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit would not be limited to iRacers in those two countries.

ââ,¬Å"The Aussie V8 Supercar races have been broadcast internationally, and fans across the globe have recognized the appeal of the tight competition the series offers,ââ,¬Â Myers said. ââ,¬Å"And one of the great things about our internet-based service is that it permits motorsport fans from all over the world to enjoy the fun of competing in online races at venues across the globe.ââ,¬Â

Ford Falcon V8 Supercar

The Falcon FG01 was developed to comply with a strict set of technical regulations developed by V8 Supercars Australia (the body that markets, manages and promotes the series) to ensure close competition between Ford and the other seriesââ,¬â,,¢ other major manufacturer, GMââ,¬â,,¢s Australian arm, Holden.

Based on the Falcon XR8 road car, the 2009 Ford V8 Supercar is the result of collaboration among leading Ford teams Ford Performance Racing, Triple 8 and Stone Brothers Racing, according to Ford Australia motorsport manager Ray Price.

"Aside from the obvious lines and aesthetics that we've inherited from the FG Falcon XR8 road car, the adjustments to create a unique and functional V8 Supercar have come together into one extremely well-rounded vehicle, Price said at the race carââ,¬â,,¢s public introduction last year. "We're absolutely ecstatic with our new FG01 ââ,¬â€œ overall the car just looks a tougher package."

The rulebook controls virtually all vehicle specifications, including those of body dimensions, wheelbase, track, suspension configuration and pick-up points, as well as front and rear aero devices.

ââ,¬Å"The rules even specify the maximum amount of downforce the car can generate,ââ,¬Â Price said, ââ,¬Å"so we have concentrated instead on things like safety, damageability and repairability.ââ,¬Â

Those are three factors that iRacingââ,¬â,,¢s members donââ,¬â,,¢t have to concern themselves with; they can just focus on enjoying the close competition for which the V8 Supercar Series is famous.

Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit

Tracing its roots back to a very dusty 10.6-kilometer course made up of dirt roads on an island 90 miles from Melbourne in the state of Victoria, the facility struggled financially and twice closed before finding sporting and economic stability in the 1980s. Todayââ,¬â,,¢s modern 4.5-kilometer (2.8-mile) 12-turn, asphalt-paved Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit is one of Australiaââ,¬â,,¢s premier motorsport facilities and a favorite of Australian motorcycle and car racing fans.

In addition to the 500-kilometer L & H 500 endurance round of the V8 Supercar Championship Series, the track hosts the Australian Motorcycle Grand Prix, the Phillip Island Round of the Superbike World Championship, and numerous motorcycle and auto club events.

Forgot:

Indianapolis track released

Yay, V8 supercars!! :yahoo: Fantastic stuff.

Next autumn is gonna get expensive..!

Steve Meyers of iRacing has posted a new blog:

http://www.iracingworld.com/_A-day-in-the-life-of-a-cat-herder11/blog/795586/57752.html

What they are working on in short:
(It is not sure that everything gets in the next build)

Indycar
Ability to adjust brake bias, weight jacker and sway bars from in cockpit
Corvette C6.R, they have got the data they needed.
The next new car in the development pipeline will be the Ford Falcon
Opponent tire smoke and skids will be in.
Testing new tire model on Star Mazda
Star Mazda updated model to match current car
Private racing
iRacing show/sim at NASCAR Hall of fame
Share setups online
Next tracks to be completed are Mosport, Brands Hatch and Zandvoort
Night racing, but not in the next build

Nice list. :)

But there's something strange with how iRacing is built up. For instance,

• Tracks apparently have to be "converted" somehow to support night racing. Can't they just introduce dynamic lighting?
• Aero models are independent of the physical body of the cars. Remember the issue where the aero model of the truck was pointing the wrong way??
• Tire models for each car appear to be quite different. There's no universal tire model for all cars.

On the opposite extreme you have LFS, where "everything affects everything else". To me this appears to be a much more logical and intuitive way of doing things, and probably less time consuming as well. With iRacing's approach there seems to be a lot of tweaking and adjustments of each car/track etc to get things "right".

Not saying it's wrong, but it just strikes me as being horribly inefficient and leave a lot of room for error. :g:

Quote from: Gnomie;290620Not saying it's wrong, but it just strikes me as being horribly inefficient and leave a lot of room for error. :g:

I'm not sure I agree on that conclusion. Why don't you look at NKP where everything is also connected. It seems impossible to change/fix anything without destroying something else. Now that seems inefficient to me!

That said, I for one is not qualified to judge how a sim is or should be constructed.

True, that.. I guess it can work both ways. Besides the approach chosen by LFS/nKP probably works best for small development teams. iRacing has a lot more programmers, so it makes sense to make stuff modular.

Bah, I don't know what I'm getting at with this.. just an observation. :)

I made the same observation and think that the base concept for these sims is different:
LFS seems to be about simulating a car behaviour using your computer (what leads me to think this is the tyre model, fiction cars, infinite setup options...)

Iracing seems to be about simulating how driving the same car feels using your computer (what leads me to think this is the implication of RL racers, modifications annouced that change the behaviour of 1 single car in the game, strong research of actual data...)

When both are closer to being done I think the LFS approach will pay back. I may be proven wrong :)

New pricing structure and lower prices on content.

To read about that and more news check out:

http://www.inracingnews.com/iracing-news/iracing-announces-added-features-lower-prices/

Somebody posted the following question in the iRacing forums;

"Will iracing ever have modern F1?"


I think it came as a surprise when Tony Gardner from iRacing posted this answer;

We will have a modern F1 car at some point. Multiple discussions in the works.

Tony

Build 2009.10.26.01 Release Notes
--------------------------

Website updates

Series, Car, and Track pages

-Re-organized to make it easier to find the series, car, or track you are looking for. Series are grouped based on license; content is grouped based on status.

Stats

- Club scoring summary added to race results

-Driver stats have been expanded to include the driver's club and the driver's total Gross Club Points.

- In several areas of the site where club points are displayed, the information has been expanded to include Club Points, Club Points Multiplier, and Net club Points

-Results for sub-sessions are now easily viewable. If a session has been split, mousing over the result icon for that session will cause a pop-up to appear. The subsessions may each be selected within this pop-up.

Race Planner (to be released in the near future)

- A Dashboard gadget. Allows users to show their intent to participate in races for an entire season worth of racing. Races will become joinable 30 minutes prior to their scheduled start. This gadget will not auto-register drivers -- registration must be done manually.

Fast Track Licensing

- If your license is in the range Class C ... Pro, and at the end of a session your Safety Rating is less than 1.00, you will be immediately demoted as many license levels as are required to bring your SR back to or above 1.00, but in no case will you be demoted below Class D if you currently hold that license or higher.

- If your license is in the range Rookie ... Class B, at the end of a session you will be immediately promoted to the next higher license if (a) your Safety Rating is 4.00 or higher, and (b) you have met the Minimum Participation Requirements for your current license level.

- If you have a Class A license and you are a member of the current Pro class, at the end of a session you will be immediately promoted back into Pro if your Safety Rating is 4.00 or higher.

- The Rookie (thrice per Season) license promotions, and Standard (once per Season) license promotions/demotions will continue unchanged.

Hosted iRacing

- Hosted sessions enable you to create personalized race events at any time for a cost of $3.00.

- Hosted sessions can only be purchased with iRacing Dollars and/or iRacing Credits at this time.

- It is possible to load iRacing Dollars into your account by purchasing a gift certificate and redeeming it yourself. You can redeem a gift certificate without purchasing anything as follows:
***Click on the ââ,¬Å"View Cartââ,¬Â link at the top of the page
***Enter your gift certificate code into the box and click the ââ,¬Å"Applyââ,¬Â button
***Follow the instructions on the screen to complete your gift card redemption order

- All hosted sessions features are accessible from a new ââ,¬Å"HOSTEDââ,¬Â top level navigation menu selection.

- Hosted sessions cannot be scheduled for the future. They are launched at the time of purchase and are typically ready to join within 60 seconds of purchase.

- There is no charge to join a race and you can register to join a hosted session from the ââ,¬Å"join a raceââ,¬Â page. This page refreshes automatically.

- You can select the car and track, practice, qual and race length/duration as well as several other options such as number of racers, starting type (rolling vs. standing), number of fast tows allowed and full course cautions (on or off).

- The list of available tracks is a function of which tracks are loaded onto the selected server farm.

- It is not possible to configure hosted sessions with multiple car classes at this time.

- You can make your hosted sessions private by providing a session password and giving the password to your friends.

- Hosted sessions are not official races and do not impact your Safety Rating or iRating.

- The total duration of a hosted session should not exceed 4 hours. Race servers will enforce this limit by shortening a hosted session if it lasts too long.
- You can output hosted session race results to CSV. A button will appear on the hosted sessions event results page when appropriate. The button will not appear if the session didnââ,¬â,,¢t include a race component.

Cameras

- New group dialog tab gives the following functionality:
***double click on a camera to set it active
***add/remove cameras from group
***delete camera if not in any group
***view active camera and shot quality in real time
***sort by name or shot quality
***Camera groups can be added/deleted at will now (tv1 etc). You can remove all but the on car groups, and add up to 32 groups.
***New groups insert after the current one.
***Enable/disable automatic shot selection (ctrl-t is hot key). This effectively locks the current camera active until you manually switch to another shot using the group dialog or the 'b' and 'shift-b' buttons.

- Mouse aiming mode
***activated with ctrl-z.
***hit ctrl-z again to save new camera position (only for fixed cameras)
***hit esc to cancel edit.
***left mouse button flies forward, right flies backwards.
***moving the mouse modifies yaw and pitch.

- Cameras can be renamed

- static no longer shown when transitioning from practice to race

- Added overlap to start/end, should reduce 'flashing' in tv cameras

- key binding cancels when switching away from edit dialog

- Improved behavior of chopper when it can not keep up and improved reset of chopper position

- Blimp/chopper shots only last 10 seconds now

- fixed camtool ui so slider/text controls grey out when disabled

- Stop cameras from flashing at transitions

- Fixed pan to next focus car

- Separated driving FOV adjustment from camtool fov adjustment

- Added support for analog control of fov

- Increased dead zone to better support xbox 360 controller

- Cameras no longer flash when adjusting tape head in replay.

- Ctrl-F12 toggles cam_tool ui instead of only setting it active.

- Joystick does not interfere with key acceleration when using the keyboard and joystick at same time

- Added reset button on settings tab to reset key mappings in camtool to defaults

- New Joystick calibration dialog in the cam_tool setup tab

- Camera yaw/pitch movement is now proportional to FOV

- New file format supports any number of groups/cameras in groups

- removed "All TV" it is redundant when you can make your own

- push to talk works when camtool is up

- Key repeat works on frame step when using a mouse to click on the button
- you can see a visible camera when viewing the camera itself (alt-Q) in the camera tool. Makes it easy to place cameras exactly where you want them.

- can load/save car/track cameras at any time to any filename you want, so it's easier to have multiple sets of camera files available. (But does not yet remember which sets of cameras were selected.)

- Camera field of view gets wider on very wide aspect ratio displays (triple head) so TV cams don't zoom in too much and cut off detail. But by getting so much wider there may be artifacting from very close objects getting cut off in the wider views.

- Added scenic group that gets the shot when the focus car is lost. Useful for putting some cameras in that show the track itself.

- Oncar cameras go to static for 3 seconds when focus car is lost.

- Store last select camera group and cam file in cameras.ini and load at startup.

- Able to toggle view mode and use shot q when driving camera selected.

Setup Sharing

- In the Garage you can share your current setup with other people in the session by pressing the "Share" button. You can make a setup available to everyone, to members of your club, or to a specific person. Setups shared with everyone or with teammates are stored on the server and will be available for the entire session, even if you disconnect. Setups shared with an individual are available until they exit the sim and can only be shared while they are connected.

- You can load any setup that has been shared with you by clicking on the "Shared" button in the garage. Setups shared directly with you (eg, not to everyone or to clubmates) are available until you exit the sim.

- Shared setups can be loaded and then saved to disk for later use.

Garage

- All changes require the Apply button to be pressed before the garage can be exited. Some adjustments are still shown live, but must be applied to exit.

- The garage can be viewed during a race, but no changes to the setup are allowed.

Spotter

- Voice Packs can be selected from within the sim in Options / Sound. You'll need to restart the sim for a newly selected voice pack to take effect. For information on using and making spotter packs, see: http://members.iracing.com/iforum/thread.jspa?messageID=430723

- Added a "TJ Majors and Lance McGrew" spotter package. (to be released in the near future)

Graphics options

- A new graphics option "reduce Z-fighting" has been added, mainly to help reduce shadow flickering from the cockpit view. This option also helps prevent ground from drawing through the cockpit floor.

- removed triple buffering from options screen, it still exists in the render.ini file, but called "TwoBackBuffers". D3D does not support true triple buffering, the option was a hold over from OpenGL support.

- new option added, "Cap frame queue", which tells the sim not to queue up more than 1 frame at a time for rendering to reduce latency. Defaults to on (which is our usual behavior). Turning this option off may increase controller lag.

- The limit frame rate limit option was modified to improve its accuracy.

Replays

Replays have been changed so that they record the actually transmitted car positions for all the cars, instead of the locally extrapolated positions, which have errors due to latency. This means you are seeing what actually happened on each client computer, not what was "guessed" at on your computer in the few tenths of a second of transmission latency. This should make it more useful when examining another driver's line and braking points.

There are still some issues to be aware of when interpreting what you see in a replay. It is now possible that two cars can merge slightly without a collision occurring. This would happen if neither car "guessed" that a collision occurred during the latency period, but in fact one did, if it had been possible to know that. Count that as a lucky day, if that happens to you. It is also possible that it appears that two cars do not touch, and yet collision forces are applied to one car or the other, or both. That's the same issue in reverse, an unlucky day. There is no difference in lucky vs. unlucky days from what happens with the old code, but now it looks different in the replay (although not while you are driving in real-time; then you are still seeing the extrapolated "guesses", obviously).

For now, opponent smoke and skid marks appear at the extrapolated positions, so it may appear that skid marks are appearing a couple feet away from where the spinning car actually is. We are going to work on that. Also, the altitude of the cars will sometimes appear to jump up or down a little bit, as the altitude is not always transmitted, so it comes from the extrapolated guess at times. We are going to work on that, as well.

If you, like Grant Reeve, have your sensibilities offended by the fact that the replay no longer matches what you saw while driving, then you can change an entry in your "My Documents\iRacing\app.ini" file--

Under the [Replay] line change the line

replayPatchRemoteCars=1

to

replayPatchRemoteCars=0

and then your replays will be the same as before. Don't get unduly upset with other drivers for swerving, if you do that, though--they are probably just latency-induced swerves.

Remote cars

- Remote cars now generate skids, smoke, and dust.

- Remote cars should flash less

Race Control

- Gained-time warnings ("Slow Down") can now be carried across the start/finish line. Doing so will cause both laptimes to be invalid (---). But trying to carry it over the start/finish to finish your race will result in an instant black flag and post race penalty.

- Bumped the time allowed to obey a Slow Down warning to 40 seconds from 20.

- Bumped the base time for Fast Tows from 15 seconds to 30 seconds.

- Made improvements to how long a person who has missed the start waits before being allowed into their pit stall.

- When joining an in-progress server (eg: open practice) you should now see lap times for cars who were once connected but are not now.

- Blue flags will no longer be waved if you are still finishing your race and the leaders who have finished already are behind you.

- Green flags should fly a couple of secondââ,¬â,,¢s earlier on longer tracks.

- The delay for showing the pit entry pop-up is reduced.

Black Boxes

- F1 black box shows car ahead/behind during races.

- F2, F3 black boxes show your best lap time, laps remaining, and total laps during races.

- Any cars that have cockpit adjustable brake bias allowed now have it on F8 in the blackboxes.

Cars

- Wind noise has been reduced.

- Engine braking has been reduced by quite a lot on the Impala B non-plate motor, the Silverado Non-plate motor, the Spec racer and Jetta. Engine braking has been increased marginally on all three plate motors (Silverado, Impala and Impala B).

- Automatic throttle cut on upshift has been activated for the C6R, Dallara, Formula Mazda, Radical, and Riley DP.

- Silverado, Impala and Impala B diff ratios are restricted at certain tracks. The ratios are fixed at Loudon, Phoenix, and Milwaukee for all three vehicles and at Martinsville for the Impala.

- Star Mazda tire sizes and physics have been altered in physics to match this year's specs and front and rear wings are remodeled.

- Dallara IndyCar ( to be released in the near future)

- Corvette C6.R GT1 ( to be released in the near future)

Tracks

- Talladega has an update to fix a "slippery" seam in the tri-oval part of the track.

- At Road Atlanta a few curbs have been corrected, they were flat instead of having the correct profile to them.

- At Texas Oval the pit speed pop-up should now come out earlier.

- At Infineon some bumps and curbs have been fixed.

- Mosport (to be released in the near future)

Security

Unverifiable third party replacements of system DLLs (including D3D9.DLL and DINPUT8.DLL) utilized by the simulator will now result in loading errors. If you encounter a Loading Error #66, please remove any third party replacements of D3D9.DLL, DINPUT8.DLL or other imposter system DLLs from your iRacing installation.

Mosport International Raceway (aka Mosport Park) is one of the world's classic road racing circuits. Designed and built in the late 1950s on the rolling, wooded sandhill country about 50 miles east of Toronto, Mosport's ten-turn, 2.459 mile track is widely-regarded as one of the most daunting road courses on the planet owing to an abundance of ultra-fast, blind corners, many of which feature dramatic elevation changes. However, the track's signature turn is Moss Corner, a double apex hairpin named in honor of Stirling Moss, who re-designed the corner after seeing its originally-planned configuration.

Fittingly, Moss won the first major race held at Mosport (pronounced Moe-Sport as a contraction of the words "motor" and "sport") in a Lotus 19 in 1961. Mosport subsequently enjoyed tremendous popularity throughout the 1960s and became the traditional first round of the Can-Am Challenge Series. In 1967 Mosport staged the first true World Championship Canadian Grand Prix Formula One event, won by Jack Brabham. Together with Quebec's Circuit Mont Tremblant, Mosport hosted the Canadian Grand Prix on alternate years and, later, served as the event's permanent home from 1972 until the race moved to Montreal's Circuit Gilles Villeneuve in 1978

In addition to Formula One, Mosport also staged a couple of USAC Indy car races in the late '60s and, after losing the Canadian Grand Prix to Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, continued to host major motorcycle and sports car races including the IMSA Camel GT and, more recently, American Le Mans Series.

Originally a publically-owned venture, Mosport saw a succession of owners including Norm Namerow and Harvey Huddes before the Panoz Motor Sports Group acquired the facility in 1998. The PMSG widened and repaved the track in 2001 in order to meet FIA specifications although, in contrast to the vast majority of road courses built in the 1950s and '60s still being utilized, Mosport's basic layout (and character) remains intact.

In 1967, Jimmy Clark in his Lotus 49 Ford/Cosworth won the pole for the inaugural Canadian Grand Prix with a lap of 1:22.4. The current track record of 1:04.094 (138.116 mph) was established by Dindo Capello in an Audi R10 TDI in 2008.

Two exciting new cars -- the Dallara IndyCar and the Corvette C6.R GT1 -- join the iRacing service today.

Long the pinnacle of American motorsports and racing technology, the Indy car is synonymous with American racing.  And, for the past decade, Dallara has been the car to beat in Indy car racing as drivers like Dario Franchitti, Scott Dixon, Helio Castroneves, Ryan Briscoe, Danica Patrick, Marco Andretti and Sam Hornish, Jr. have driven Dallaras to fame and fortune from the Indianapolis Motor Speedway to Infineon Raceway. At long last, you too can experience the challenge of mastering a 230 mph open wheel car in the Dallara IndyCar, now available for $11.95.

Five straight American Le Mans Series GT1 titles and eight class wins at Sebring and Le Mans? Thatââ,¬â,,¢s the stuff of legends; the stuff of the Corvette C6.R, one of the most successful sports cars in racing history. Itââ,¬â,,¢s the stuff that helped Johnny Oââ,¬â,,¢Connell overtake no less than Phil Hill as Sebringââ,¬â,,¢s winningest driver and enabled Olivier Beretta to become the winningest driver in ALMS history. Itââ,¬â,,¢s the right stuff and itââ,¬â,,¢s now available in the Corvette C6.R for $11.95.

Nice iRacing coverage here.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jMn5FScd66k&feature=sub

Doorz!  iRacing gets skins!

Jessica is a rotten presenter but she sure is stacked! :dribble:

Quote from: Doorman;297826Jessica is a rotten presenter but she sure is stacked! :dribble:

She is indeed! :D

Quote from: obsolum;297866She is indeed! :D

Thats nothing new.... :)

Skins are. Oh well. I guess Doors is fed up with both skins and iRacing anyway.
Thats nothing new either. :D

Quote from: vobler;297876Thats nothing new.... :)

Skins are. Oh well. I guess Doors is fed up with both skins and iRacing anyway.
Thats nothing new either. :D

Wrong on first count, I still love skinning. Wrong on second count, at the moment I'm indifferent to iRacing.  :)

Two celebrated race tracks half a world apart are set to become a part of iRacing.com. Circuit Zolder, a home of the Belgian Grand Prix during the 1970s and ââ,¬â,,¢80s, will join Silverstone, Brands Hatch, Oulton Park, and Zandvoort among iRacingââ,¬â,,¢s first European circuits, while Oran Park Raceway will pair with Phillip Island as the first two Australian facilities on the service.
 
The addition of Oran Parkââ,¬â,,¢s distinctive figure-eight layout to the iRacing service is especially noteworthy given that the suburban Sydney facility is slated for demolition in early 2010 to make way for a housing development.
 
ââ,¬Å"Oran Park Raceway has played an important role in the history of Australian motorsport,ââ,¬Â noted Divina Galica, director of partner relations for iRacing.com. ââ,¬Å"Too many great race tracks have been lost forever; Iââ,¬â,,¢m pleased that weââ,¬â,,¢re able to preserve this digital version of Oran Park and make it available to racers all over the world.ââ,¬Â
 
Zolder is an integral part of iRacingââ,¬â,,¢s plans to incorporate the top European circuits into the service in the coming years. But for now, the combination of Zolder and Zandvoort at least gives iRacing.com a monopoly on major European circuits beginning with letter Z.
 
ââ,¬Å"Zolder is our second track on the continent of Europe, after Zandvoort,ââ,¬Â Galica continued. ââ,¬Å"In the fullness of time weââ,¬â,,¢ll have quite a few more, but itââ,¬â,,¢s exciting to have two such challenging driverââ,¬â,,¢s circuits to begin with.ââ,¬Â

ORAN PARK IS COMING!! :dribble::dribble::dribble:

Oran Park is probably one of my top 5 race tracks. Great to have it preserved in iRacing!

Fingers crossed that they get the V8 Supercars out by the end of next summer! :flirty:

EDIT: beaten by 1 minute! :doh:

The official name says it all: Mid-Ohio Sport Car Course. One of Americaââ,¬â,,¢s favorite race tracks snakes, twists and turns up hill and down dale through the lush countryside of central Ohio. Itââ,¬â,,¢s not part of a glitzy multi-purpose motorsports complex; thereââ,¬â,,¢s never been an oval or a drag strip here . . . and never will be. Mid-Ohio is 2.25 miles of pure, unadulterated sports car heaven (2.4 miles with the Keyhole chicane). No wonder the SCCA made it home to the National Runoffs from 1994 to 2005. And no wonder Mid-Ohio has been a fixture on every major American road racing series calendar for nearly forty years. Beginning in the summer of 2010, it can be a part of your iRacing calendar as well.

He talks purdier than a twenny dollar whore. :lmfao:

Quote from: Doorman;298795He talks purdier than a twenny dollar whore. :lmfao:

So lets see;

Confirmed upcoming road tracks:
Brands Hatch
Oulton Park
Zandvoort
Phillip Island
Oran Park
Zolder
Mid-Ohio

Add that to these existing road tracks:
Silverstone
Watkins Glen
Mosport
Sebring
Road Atlanta
Road America
Laguna Seca
Infineon
VIR
Lime Rock
Barber
Summit Point

And Road on Ovals at (atleast):
Daytona
Indianapolis
Lowes
New Hampshire

Quite a collection of licensed and scanned tracks.
Don't you think?

But how often would you get to race on them? :g:

Quote from: Doorman;298852But how often would you get to race on them? :g:

Well as you know they are on different schedules for different series but I understand your point. But isn't that the nature of any sim? Not all tracks is used in all series. But if you look in all series not many tracks are left unused.
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/790534/TrackChart%202009S4.pdf
I would certanly not prefere to have less tracks just to be able to use them more often.

But for you my friend they have Hosted racing now, so you can pick almost any car and track at anytime. (currently some restrictions exist due to server capacity)
Create a practice or race session and invite your friends. Set up the rules, use passwords etc. It's like running a server. Sadly it costs $3 per 4 hour session. But 15 people chipping in could have us running Hosted sessions 5 nights a week for 50 weeks for $50 per racer.

Not cheap I know but renting a server like a LFS server will cost some money too. I would think about $10 per racer a year. Chat servers are additional here but included in iRacing.

I would love to pay for a small test league in iRacing over a few weeks using some of the slowest cars and most used tracks, just to get a feel for how it would work. We would need a few guys to do it though.

Possibly something like
Solstice
SRF
Skippy
Jetta

at
Lime Rock
Summit
Vir
Infineon

That would let most people in without having to invest much in cars and tracks.
One 4 hour practice one night and one race night a week. 4 weeks.

That would cost me $24 for that month. I can live with that. All driving is of course free. (You just need an iRacing subscription.)

Anyone interested?

Quote from: vobler;298861Well as you know they are on different schedules for different series but I understand your point. But isn't that the nature of any sim? Not all tracks is used in all series. But if you look in all series not many tracks are left unused.
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/790534/TrackChart%202009S4.pdf
I would certanly not prefere to have less tracks just to be able to use them more often.

That's a nice chart, thanks. Looks like us roadies don't have much to complain about compared to the oval guys!

When all the announced road courses are released there will be 16 of them (not counting the ones included in the basic subscription). That's a pretty decent number actually, and the quality is (as we all know) way ahead of anything else out there.

About the iRacing hosted league idea Verner, I won't be up for that yet since I'll be moving soon.. but next summer I intend to rejoin iRacing! Then we'll see what happens. :)

Quote from: vobler;298861Anyone interested?

 Sorry.  I may be re subbing soon, but the cars/tracks you've chosen are of no interest to me.  (Well, i love the Skippy but have no interest in the others)

 If i never drove Lime Rock or Summit point again it would be too soon :narnar:

That was one of the reasons i got bored of iRacing so soon....  same old tracks over and over, no imagination in the schedules at all from season to season.

 Has that changed?  Do they mix the tracks up a bit from season to season now?

Stu, the biggest change seems to be that the Skippy now uses seven tracks which are not included in the basic package. All the other road racing series use nearly all the nine tracks. Before, the Skippy series was a sort of gentle introduction, where you'd only have to buy a couple of tracks. Now, for new members who want to participate in all twelve weeks of a season it would make sense to get all the tracks at once. I can see why some would find that a bit daunting, even with the new reduced prices and stuff. :g:

[off topic]
That's why I think iRacing would benefit from handing out the discounts at the end of the year.. so you'd pay the full price for all the content as you go, knowing that you'd get a 20% payback at the end of the year if you buy more than 6 items during the year)
[/off topic]

Quote from: Gnomie;298870Stu, the biggest change seems to be that the Skippy now uses seven tracks which are not included in the basic package.

 Great, that's more like it!

Yeah I think it's great news. That car definitely deserves to be run at the best tracks!! :)

Quote from: vobler;298861I would love to pay for a small test league in iRacing over a few weeks using some of the slowest cars and most used tracks, just to get a feel for how it would work. We would need a few guys to do it though.

Possibly something like
Solstice
SRF
Skippy
Jetta

at
Lime Rock
Summit
Vir
Infineon

That would let most people in without having to invest much in cars and tracks.
One 4 hour practice one night and one race night a week. 4 weeks.

That would cost me $24 for that month. I can live with that. All driving is of course free. (You just need an iRacing subscription.)

Anyone interested?

I'm interested. Let me know if you make that happen.

Quote from: The Moose;298867Sorry.  I may be re subbing soon, but the cars/tracks you've chosen are of no interest to me.  (Well, i love the Skippy but have no interest in the others)

The tracks and cars was suggested  to attract those that does not have much content yet. I assumed that only Doors/Gnomie had much content beyond the basic package, I didn't know you had bought everything.

Anyway I think the Dallara, DP and C6R is too much to handle for new people even with some sim experience. But I agree, those tracks are a bit boring.

Quote from: vobler;298874The tracks and cars was suggested  to attract those that does not have much content yet.

 Yeah, i understand what were doing there.

Quote from: vobler;298874I assumed that only Doors/Gnomie had much content beyond the basic package, I didn't know you had bought everything.

 I have a nice little track collection.    I kept buying tracks for the 24hours of fun races, just so i could get away from the basic content. :)  Crazy really as all i ever got out of them was...well, 24 hours of fun...never to be raced again.

Quote from: vobler;298874Anyway I think the Dallara, DP and C6R is too much to handle for new people even with some sim experience.

 The C6R is definitely a bit tricky for everyone, but i personally think it's because the tyre physics are flawed, though it could just be because the FFB is horrible with that car, power steering in iRacing feels awful..it gives you very little..err, feedback.  I cant feel what the tyres are doing at all, no matter what FFB strength i use.  I find driving on the limit with that car is pure guesswork.

 I really don't think the Dallara is hard to drive at all.  Tricky to drive it right on the limit for sure, but it's easy to get around the track without throwing it off.  Far easier than the Skippy or the SRF for instance.
 I cant think of one thing about the Dallara that i don't like. It's the best single seater in sim racing!

Stuart, it would be pretty awesome to see how you'd fare against the "top guns" in iRacing. I know a lot of them run the Dallara too! You pretty much dominate everything in nKP, but maybe you'd find more competition in in iRacing..? :)

I love to get in on some iracing action again, unfortunately I only have the basic content atm and I would need to resub first (which I can't do right now due to the credit crunch :crying:).

Quote from: Gnomie;298881Stuart, it would be pretty awesome to see how you'd fare against the "top guns" in iRacing. I know a lot of them run the Dallara too! You pretty much dominate everything in nKP, but maybe you'd find more competition in in iRacing..? :)

From my last experience in iRacing i can safely say I'm a top 5%er.   I'll never beat the Towlers/Volker's/Huttu's of this world but i held my own against what i call the semi-aliens, Andre Gomes, Florien Goddard (sp?) etc.

 I could always get myself on the first page of the top times,and as long as i could avoid getting taken out i usually finished on the podium in races.  That's good enough for me :)

 If they change the car used in the pro series next time to a single seater then i really would be more motivated to give iRacing another go, as i have no doubt i can qualify for it and do fairly well.  

 Having said that i found the whole iRacing experience rather tedious last time.  Even though i was doing well at it there's something about it (that i just cant put my finger on) that didn't excite me in the slightest.  Never have i got so bored of a good sim so quickly.

Well with the fast track system in place you'd be Pro within no time at all, so that shouldn't be a problem any more. But yeah, it seems nobody really likes to drive the DP! Volker, for instance, stays away from the pro series just because he can't stand the car!

BTW I took a look at the laptimes for the Star Mazda around Silverstone, and it seems to perform very similar to the F2000. Have you tried the Star Mazda in iRacing? How does it compare in terms of feel? :g:

I think it's probably more likely that they'll use the Dallara in the Pro series than the Star Mazda, though. But I don't see them moving away from the DP any time soon!

Looks like Brands Hatch is coming this weekend!

http://www.virtualr.net/iracing-com-brands-hatch-reality-check-video/

There is a great iRacing article in the latest AutoSimsport issue.

http://www.autosimsport.net/

New build out now.
Not very interesting. Mostly graphics bugs fixing.


MISC

- Club Florida's logo is updated.

- Shared setups to club members are now visible only to club members, not everyone.

- Allow someone their spot back in a hosted race even when all pits are in use, as long as one of the pits is theirs.

- Fixed several helmet and suit patterns that were displaying incorrectly.

- The iRacingService downloader writes to disk less often.

- Changing UI size while driving (with ctrl-pgup, ctrl-pgdn) no longer causes the sim to fall into replay graphics settings, which typically then lowers driving fps.


SPOTTER

- Added the optional TJ Majors and Lance McGrew spotter pack.

- Fixed spotter crackle.

- Reduce spotter volume fade-in at beginning of each sample.

- The sim better deals with loading a spotter pack with bad files instead of failing.


RACE CONTROL

- Tows prior to race starts will now hold you in your pit stall until the lane opens after race goes green.

- Missing a race start is improved. Now you can enter your pit stall immediately if you click on the green button, and you will be held in your pit stall until the lane opens after race goes green.

- The Grid button now shows a countdown timer so you know how long you have until you miss the start. But don't forget that once everyone gets on grid then it shortcuts to the race start procedure.

- A very unlikely chance of issuing a reset instead of a tow during race sessions has been eliminated.

- Improve number of caution pacing laps: very long tracks can shorten pacing considerably now.

- Drivers entering the pits as a pacing field comes up to take the checkered flag will now properly be removed from the pacing order, so people still on track don't get black flagged.

- It should no longer be possible to sneakily pass someone within 1 second of taking the checkered flag while pacing.


CARS

- C6R - The front fenders should display in the cockpit when the car is damaged.

- Riley DP - fixed a pattern that was displaying incorrectly.

- Star Mazda - The rear wing of the Formula Mazda should show damage properly.

- Impala - Now has a limited pit crew wedge adjustment of +/- 5/8" from the right rear spring perch offset in your setup.

- Impala - Added the Chevrolet logo's to patterns that didn't have them.

- Impala B - Added the Chevrolet logo's to patterns that didn't have them.

- Dallara - Logos on the Dallara's side pods were being scaled incorrectly.


TRACKS

- Mosport - Billboard artwork revisions.

- Lakeland - Fixed pitwall segment that was displaying texture corruption.

- Indianapolis - Rotated and rescaled the speedway water tower so it matches reference.

Will be more like 72 hours of fun with the Dallara at Brands GP.

Why the Dallara some one said?

Steve Meyers responded:

Because the IndyCar is so damn fun here! :) I have this going live tomorrow night and running through Sunday.

Steve

Challenging, historic, spectator-friendly Brands Hatch is one of Englandââ,¬â,,¢s most beloved race tracks. With dramatic, not to say terrifying, elevation changes, a dynamic mixture of fast, slow and medium speed corners on both its Grand Prix and Indy circuits, a Whoââ,¬â,,¢s Who of former winners and one of motorsportsââ,¬â,,¢ greatest natural amphitheaters, ââ,¬Å"Brandsââ,¬Â has it all.
Now you can have all Brands Hatch has to offer for just $14.95.

Here is a closer look at Brands Hatch.

http://www.samiad.co.uk/brands/brands.html

Other comparisons in the series:

http://www.samiad.co.uk/mosport.html
http://www.samiad.co.uk/sonoma/infineon.html
http://www.samiad.co.uk/barber/barber.html
http://www.samiad.co.uk/ra/ra.html

Quote from: vobler;299521Here is a closer look at Brands Hatch.

http://www.samiad.co.uk/brands/brands.html

Other comparisons in the series:

http://www.samiad.co.uk/mosport.html
http://www.samiad.co.uk/sonoma/infineon.html
http://www.samiad.co.uk/barber/barber.html
http://www.samiad.co.uk/ra/ra.html

Looks superb. :)

iRacing made a new forum section regarding painting cars and uploaded a set of templates if anyone want to have a go during the holidays.

http://members.iracing.com/iforum/thread.jspa?threadID=62530&tstart=0

Edit: But there doesn't seem to be a way to see the painted cars yet. Oh well. Next season then....

Here is a link to a story at inRacingNews.com about the iRacing Wourld Tour.

http://www.inracingnews.com/iracing-news/iracingcom-announces-2010-world-tour/

Quote from: vobler;299817iRacing made a new forum section regarding painting cars and uploaded a set of templates if anyone want to have a go during the holidays.

http://members.iracing.com/iforum/thread.jspa?threadID=62530&tstart=0

Edit: But there doesn't seem to be a way to see the painted cars yet. Oh well. Next season then....

I got all excited there for a nanosecond. :D

Quote from: Doorman;299840I got all excited there for a nanosecond. :D

The latest news from Steve Meyers at iRacing is this
-------
Forgot to also mention that because of the work we need to do for the World Cup of iRacing that will run during the 13th week that we plan on rolling out the new build next week sometime.

I am sure we will have to do an additional roll out as usual after the initial deployment but maybe we will get lucky this time... :)

Steve
------------

The build will most likely contain new transmission model and the above mentioned skin system. Smaller fixes to most cars. Changes to oval starting systems. Ability to host on any track.  etc. etc.

[/B]

Not comfirmed by iRacing yet, but here is link to press release at
http://www.attwilliams.com/downloads/pdf/14_01_10_iracing_final.pdf

More rumors
http://www.autosport.com/news/grapevine.php/id/80860

Confirmed:
http://www.inracingnews.com/formula-one-news/williams-f1-and-iracing-announce-virtual-version-of-att-williams-fw31/

Also at member site.
http://members.iracing.com/membersite/member/Home.do?page=press

Not news anymore, but I wanted to post it here in case anyone is interested.

The first iRacing.com World Tour event will be the Rolex 2.4 hour at Daytona. This one-time event is to take place during the actual Rolex 24 Hours at Daytona going on the same day. For this one event, we had to significantly shorten the race compared to the real-world counterpart.

ââ,¬Â¢ Title: iRacing.com Rolex 2.4 hours at Daytona

ââ,¬Â¢ Event Date: January 30th, 2010, 12 noon (17:00 GMT)

ââ,¬Â¢ Qualifying: Qualifying will begin at 11:30am EST (16:30 GMT), Jan. 30th. There will be a 20 minute open group qualifying session before the race.

ââ,¬Â¢ Race Start: The race will begin at 12 noon EST (17:00 GMT), Jan. 30th.

ââ,¬Â¢ Series: iRacing World Tour/Special Events. Members will use the Series tab and select iRacing World Tour/Special Events.

ââ,¬Â¢ Car: Daytona Prototype

ââ,¬Â¢ Track: Daytona, using the road course configuration. The road course will also be available for use for practice sessions and hosted sessions through the month of January.

ââ,¬Â¢ Eligibility: Open to all iRacing members, regardless of license level. Drivers will qualify and be gridded into race sessions based on qualifying time and iRating.

ââ,¬Â¢ Safety Rating: S.R. will be in effect to discourage car to car contact.

ââ,¬Â¢ Tows, Resets, Pitstops, Yellow Flags: Each driver will be allowed one reset (a tow back to pit lane). Typical pit stop rules will be in effect. Local yellow flags will be used.

ââ,¬Â¢ Race Start & Car Count: Rolling start will be used. Car count will be 40 cars per split.

ââ,¬Â¢ Race Length: Approximately 2.4 Hours (144 minutes). The race will be set to 90 laps. 90 laps is the closest approximation to a 2.4 hour (or 144 min.) race.

ââ,¬Â¢ Cost: Free, no entry fee to all iRacing members.

ââ,¬Â¢ Content Required: Daytona racetrack and the Riley MKXX Daytona Prototype

ââ,¬Â¢ Prizes: 24 drivers will win $24 in the form of iRacing credits. Participating drivers will be chosen randomly by iRacing.com. To be eligible to win the prize, a driver must take the green flag or start the race. They do not have to finish the race to be eligible.

ââ,¬Â¢ Race Reporting: The top 3 drivers in each split (race group) will be announced by iRacing after the completion of the event.

Some items that are not on this list that I had discussed in the forums are aero and tire changes for the three premier oval cars and a better transmission model.

We were not happy with how testing has gone with both of these updates and have decided to hold them off from this deployment. The truck, nationwide and COT aero and tire changes should hopefully be rolled out next week. The transmission model may take longer than that to be in a state we feel is ready for public use.

Release Notes for 2010.01.18.01 - 2010 Season 1

Web Site

- Added World Cup statistics pages for the RACC Runoffs, RACC Finals and World Cup Finals. These are all accessible from the ââ,¬Å"Statsââ,¬Â top level navigation bar item.

- Added restart configuration option to hosted sessions so you can select single file, double file with lapped cars on the inside or double file with lapped cars at the back.

- The Update Manager now shows file size in units (k, M, G) appropriate to the size.

- The Download/Installation progress indicator in the upper left corner of the site should now carry through to completion, barring any error condition or user abort.

General

- All tracks and configurations are now always available in hosted sessions.

- The Strength of Field (SOF) calculation has changed, which will slightly alter championship points paid out in races. The new calculation more correctly weights the various iRatings in the field.

- The prefix "INCIDENT:" is removed from incident report messages in-sim.

- Drivers reconnecting to a server will now see previously shared group setups.

- remindbf.wav is added to TJ&L spotter pack.

- The sim can now recognize windows accelerator keys (volume up/down etc) as inputs in the sim. All keys are supported except Cut/Copy/Paste. This should stop the bug where volume keys would cycle the cameras.

- The right shift key is now recognized by the sim.

- Pressing a shift key now works in conjunction with keys on the num pad when num lock turned on without having to turn off num lock.

Custom Paint Jobs

- Custom car/helmet/suit paint jobs are now supported.

The filename for a paintjob is just the customer ID with a .tga extension. The sim will also accept it with leading 0ââ,¬â,,¢s to form a 6 digits number (which sorts better alphabetically). You can find your customer ID by going to the My Account section of the iRacing website.

For instance, for a driver who has a customer ID of 12345, their custom texture in any of the below directories would be

ââ,¬Å"12345.tgaââ,¬Â or ââ,¬Å"012345.tgaââ,¬Â

The custom texture files need to be placed into the documents\iRacing folder, like this:

Helmets: docs\iRacing\paint\helmets\
Suits: docs\iRacing\paint\suits\

Cars (using the same structure as car setups):
RT2000: docs\iRacing\paint\cars\rt2000\
Rookie Legends: docs\iRacing\paint\cars\legends ford34c rookie\

The cars have to be 1024x1024 pixels in size. The suits and helmets must be 512x512. If they are the wrong size they are ignored.

If the sim can't find a custom texture, it will use the driver's defined colors and pattern from the website as usual.

A custom texture will be loaded and used even when loading older replays that were made before the custom texture was added or changed.

Custom textures are not automatically uploaded, downloaded, transferred, mailed, delivered, etc, in any way. Customers will have to put them up somewhere themselves, and others will have to download them themselves.

Cameras

- Added support for copy/paste of groups of cameras even across files. Pasting a group makes a new copy of all cameras in the group.

- All camera tool sliders now have edit boxes.

- Added a quick set button to adjust camera microphone gain based on current car position. Just click and hold while watching a replay and it will set all cameras you view to the same relative volume.

- Camera groups can now be reordered.

- The scenic camera no longer interferes with the default cameras when the focus car disappears from the view.

- Fixed mouse aim mode when in scenic mode.

- Does not save active camera group transitions to ini file when in scenic mode.

- Fixed bug that could reset active group if exiting sim while driving.

- Fixed chase views when focusing on pace car so that the camera no longer wiggles.

- No longer defaults to invalid camera group at load time.

- Group copy/paste properly grayed out when selecting a static group (on car cameras).

- Camtool only resets camera state when needed, volume etc should not cause camera to flash.

- Camtool updates more frequently when in slow motion.

- Statically aimed cameras as blimp, chopper, or chase cameras will now follow the motion of the camera and not just point north.

Replay

- The replay now back patches skid marks and smoke and dust to move them under the wheels.

Race Control

- Added a new type of double file restart where the lap down cars get pushed to the back of the field. Double file restarts will now be possible on road courses if set.

- Restart type is now selectable for Hosted races.

- During cautions the transition to double file should now occur at 2-to-go, except for road courses and ovals of 2 miles or longer which continue to transition at 1-to-go.
- For the new double file starting mode, lapped cars get sent to the back at 2 To Go while staying single file, then at 1 To Go the pace field will switch to double file. Unless the track is an oval over 2 miles long or a road course, where the lapped cars will get sent to the back at the same time as the field switches to double file at 1 To Go.

- Don't apply jump start rule if a driver entered then exited the grid and then missed the start and is put into their pit stall.

- Cars that end a tow while a caution is in progress are now properly added to the pace field when leaving pit lane.

Controls

- You can now unassign non-driving controls by pressing Enter when the control assignment pop-up window says "unassigned" while waiting for you to give it a control. The 'Esc' key is still good for exiting the control assignment pop-up window without changing the current assignment.

- Each car can now have it's own set of controls assigned. There is a checkbox in the bottom left of the "Controls and Other Options" windows to tell the sim to use a custom controls.cfg for the car (the file is stored in the car setup dir), or to use the default global controls.cfg.

Cars / Physics

- Some improvements and fixes have been made to the collision system. In particular, the player car's chassis should interact far more correctly with the ground surface. Also of note is that curbs seem to be more drivable.

- The anti-stall automatic clutch aid has been improved. (Although all our motors still can't actually stall)

- Drafting now actually reduces your car's downforce, not just drag.

- Atmospheric conditions used by the physics are now responsive to altitude, instead of being sea level all the time. At higher altitude tracks there will be properly reduced engine power and aerodynamics effects.

- Engine power has been recalibrated to match dyno reference conditions, which results in a couple of percent more power when near sea level.

- Engine throttle response is reworked to more correctly match how real motors respond. There is now much more response at initial throttle and less response at full throttle, varying with engine RPM, versus the old mapping which had very little initial throttle response and a lot of response near full throttle and did not change with RPM.

- Engines will now create smoke when damaged.

Dallara

- A default Indianapolis setup is supplied.

- The issue where legitimate setups would fail tech inspection at sim load time is fixed.

- Off-throttle engine braking reduced (per feedback from Real-World drivers of the Dallara).

- Downforce and drag has been tweaked.

- Tire grip levels tweaked to alter car balance (less understeery).

- Bump stop adjustments have been removed. Bump stops are now fixed in place at the end of full travel.

- The aero calculator ride heights updated.

- A small tweak to the updated tire model on this car has been made that gives more grip loss when sliding at high speed.

Riley DP

- Chassis inertia in all 3 axes (roll, pitch, yaw) has been adjusted to match the numbers supplied by the Manufacturer. Very small changes were made to the wheel inertias, again due to additional data from the manufacturer. Engine inertia and the driveline inertias have been modified to more closely match real world behavior.

Corvette C6R

- Chassis inertia in all 3 axes (roll, pitch, yaw) has been adjusted slightly. Rear wheel inertia and engine, clutch and driveline inertias are subtly massaged based on new data.

- Aero forces from body roll are improved.

- Brake bias in car adjustment is now limited to +/- 3%

- A small tweak to the updated tire model on this car has been made that gives more grip loss when sliding at high speed.

Lotus 79

- Bump stop adjustments have been removed. Bump stops are now fixed in place at the end of full travel.

Latemodel

- There is now more grip falloff with wear, and increased fuel use.

Star Mazda

- Chassis inertia in all 3 axes (roll, pitch, yaw) has been adjusted. Engine inertia adjusted to reflect new driveline engineering data.

- A small tweak to the updated tire model on this car has been made that gives more grip loss when sliding at high speed.

Radical SR8

- Chassis inertia in all 3 axes (roll, pitch, yaw) has been adjusted per real-world driver feedback.

Pontiac Solstice

- Clutch engagement travel changed to make clutch response correlate better with real world behavior.

Quote from: Doorman;299840I got all excited there for a nanosecond. :D

Well, it is released now. :yahoo: The skin system works like in NKP you need to share. Only usable in leagues I think.

All cars have changed physics too. Old setups need tweaking. Cars that used "unreal" setups to feel normal need to be adjusted more natural. The slow cars like the SRF, Skippy and Advanced Solstice just a tad, but other cars like the Radical might need more tweaking. The cars that changed the most I feel was the Radical and the Daytona Prototype. Both much better now. I can't get a good feel out of the Vette anymore though.

The throttle curves of all cars are changed, and all engines are recalibrated. (most have more power), a bad thing is that the aero is not yet adjusted to compensate so most cars are faster now. Drafting now also reduces down force on the following car.

Separate controls for each car was great.

The big oval cars get their update next week, and the transmission modeling comes after that.

( Second half of this seasons build. Sadly no transmission model yet.)

General
- Adjusting the UI scale via the ctrl-pgup and ctrl-pgdn hotkeys now changes the scale in 1% increments, and the minimum allowable scaling is now 25%
- Added an app.ini setting to optionally allow the sim to keep playing sound when the sim loses window focus.
- Added an app.ini setting to optionally allow the sim not to reduce the frame rate when the sim window loses focus.

Race Control
- Race control will now wave lapped cars by the pace car the first time a caution reaches the one lap to go point if they are ahead of the leader in the pace field, for single file and double file lappers-at-the-back restart types.
- Fix bug where a rolling start could be delayed a lap if cars are slow pulling away from the starting grid.
- Fix bug where a car exiting the track could be left in the pace field, causing pace order problems.

Cameras
- Refresh display when editing VanishX/Y and Near Plane while sim is paused.
- Changed key step inc from one shot to repeat.
- Scenic camera no longer moves while paused and editing camera settings.

Tracks
- At Road America, fix bumps in turn 5.
- At Laguna Seca, updated bridge signage.

Cars
- Fix bug where loading old Dallara or Lotus 79 setups would use the old bump stop values instead of the new restricted values. This also fixes a newly introduced cause of incorrect tech inspection failure.
- Fix bug where sim could crash when exporting Dallara setups.
- Fix bug where sim could crash when applying a setup while watching a replay.
- Fix bug where very rarely some users wouldn't be able to shift gears.
- Reduce the amount of downforce lost due to being in another car's draft.
- Tire interaction with certain road surface seams has been improved.

Corvette C6R
- Fix for speedometer not rolling over from 2 to 3 when speed hits the 300 kph mark.

Lotus 79
- Front and rear wing angles are now adjustable by half degree increments.

Star Mazda
- Engine inertia is slightly reduced, the motor revs more realistically now.
- Corrected fuel level values so fuel limit is correct at 19 gallons, and cannot fill beyond this point.

Dallara
- updated the indy_oval and long_oval iRacing setups.

Silvercrown
- updated the stafford_advanced iRacing setup.

Latemodel
- Added NASCAR iRacing Series decal.
- updated the phoenix_basic, phoenix_advanced, and added nhms_basic and nhms_advanced iRacing setups.

SK Modified
- Added NASCAR iRacing Series decal.

Impala A
- Brake bias in car adjustment is now limited to +/- 3%
- Aero has been updated.
- Grille tape is now adjustable to race or qualifying configurations.
- Diff ratios are clamped for each track.
- Full fuel and race tape configuration is enforced for race sessions, and full fuel is enforced for qualifying sessions.
- Tire grip and handling has been updated.
- Adjusted tire wear.
- Adjusted left/right side minimum tire pressures.
- Improved cold and hot temperature grip effects for less grip fall off with increasing temp.
- Adjusted tire pressure range to 1/2 psi increments.
- Impala A has 50 lbs added (it was underweight).
- Added nose weight adjustment.
- Increase caster range.
- Added NASCAR iRacing Series decal.

Impala B
- Wedge adjustment is limited during pit stops.
- Brake bias in car adjustment is now limited to +/- 3%
- Aero has been updated.
- Grille tape is now adjustable to race or qualifying configurations.
- Full fuel and race tape configuration is enforced for race sessions, and full fuel is enforced for qualifying sessions.
- Tire grip and handling has been updated.
- Adjusted tire wear.
- Adjusted left/right side minimum tire pressures.
- Improved cold and hot temperature grip effects for less grip fall off with increasing temp.
- Adjusted tire pressure range to 1/2 psi increments.
- Added nose weight adjustment.
- Increase caster range.
- Added NASCAR iRacing Series decal.

Silverado
- Wedge adjustment is limited during pit stops.
- Brake bias in car adjustment is now limited to +/- 3%
- Aero yaw stability is improved.
- Full fuel is enforced for race and qualifying sessions.
- Added nose weight adjustment.
- Increase caster range.
- Added NASCAR iRacing Series decal.

The World Cup of iRacing Finals will be broadcast on the Internet this Saturday, February 6. Here is all you need to know in order to view these historic events:
 
Technical Details:

Ã,·        The broadcast streams will be directly viewable at //www.psrtv.com.
 
Ã,·        Both Silverlight player and an external Windows Media Player stream will be offered.  
 
Ã,·        Viewers must have Silverlight 2 or above or Windows Media Player 11 or above (10 with codec) installed, and have javascript enabled (there are automatic prompts where necessary).  Silverlight can be downloaded here.  WMP can be downloaded here.
 
Ã,·        A troubleshooting guide will be available.

Event Details:
 
Ã,·        A moderated chat session begins at 2:30 p.m. EST (19:30 GMT) and runs until the completion of the road race (in other words, for the duration of both the oval and road races).
 
Ã,·        The oval race broadcast begins at 2:45 p.m. (19:45 GMT) and runs through the completion of the race and the post-race driver interviews.  The race itself begins at 3:00 p.m. (20:00 GMT).
 
Ã,·        The road race broadcast begins at 5:45 p.m. EST (22:45 GMT) and runs through the completion of the race, the post-race driver interviews and final tallying of the World Cup standings.  The race itself begins at 6:00 p.m. (23:00 GMT).

Note: The official event results for the World Cup will be reflected on the World Cup page itself -- NOT the event result which is regularly accessed via Results Archive and after the race.  A change was made on the World Cup page to account for the spectator slots.