10+ new tracks, dynamic rain, license changes, 3D curbs, a new tire model, an oval refresh, new UI, engine updates… and a Career Mode?!

WATCH: DEEP DIVE: iRacing July 2023 Development Update

iRacing’s Executive Producer Greg Hill made a rare appearance on the forums this week to reveal all in their latest Development Update – and boy do we have some huge features on the way!

From new tracks and license changes to an update on rain, core engine updates – and yes, a Career Mode – there’s plenty to get excited about for Season 4 and beyond.

Here’s our rundown on everything you need to know – plus my theories on what might be coming next.

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1. Tracks

In total, 11 brand-new tracks have been confirmed to be in production:

• Road: Portimão, Misano, Mugello, Pukekohe, Lédenon, Navarra, and an updated Zandvoort, arriving with Season 4 in September (free for existing owners)
• Oval: Slinger Speedway, Winchester Speedway, Kern County (both pavement and dirt $11.95 in September; planning for additional short oval cars underway)
• Dirt: Lucas Oil Speedway

Greg also confirmed upcoming scans for unnamed UK and Asian circuits, plus multiple dirt oval tracks, a brand-new dirt car, and additional short oval cars are in the works.

John’s Theory: Circuito de Navarra was purchased by Jonathan Palmer’s MotorSport Vision in September 2022, who have since resurfaced the track. MSV also owns a lot of British circuits; Brands Hatch, Oulton Park, Snetterton and Donington Park are already in iRacing, but Cadwell Park, Bedford Autodrome, and MSV’s upcoming circuit at Laon-Couvron Air Base in France are not. Could we see them come to iRacing too?

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2. Rain

Significant progresson has been made on rain in the last few weeks.

Greg confirmed that rain is just one part of a new, physics-based weather system – with the ability for parts of a circuit to see wildly different conditions, as on a real circuit – which players will have full control of in single-player and hosted sessions.

With rain comes rain tires, which will provide “impressive grip” up to a limit, but will hydroplane beyond that.

Wet-to-dry races will see a natural dry line develop, as tire friction burns water off the track surface.

A deep dive will come closer to release. Though a launch window wasn’t mentioned, we’re expecting to see rain before the end of 2023.

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3. License Changes

With the sheer variety of road racing on iRacing, it seems odd that MX-5s and GTPs are under the same license. That looks like it’s about to change.

Greg confirmed a change to road racing licenses that will “improve the experience of racing in cars with dramatically different characteristics and the pitfalls that can be experienced when trying something less familiar”, with more significant core changes to how licenses work being explored for the future.

John’s Theory: When iRacing partnered with the FIA at the start of Season 3, iRacing President Tony Gardner said; “In addition to iRacing’s new FIA F4 Challenge, iRacing and the FIA are discussing additional eSport plans for the future.”

With it widely believed that Mercedes pushed for tighter track limits at various circuits as a condition of licensing their F1 cars to iRacing, could the FIA be pushing to split the road license into open-wheel and closed-wheel licenses as a condition of licensing F3 and F2 machinery?

Looking back at MSV, their GB3 and GB4 championships run chassis from Tatuus, as an alternative to Dallara. Could those make their debut?

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4. 3D Curbs

Rejoice sim racers – 3D curbs are back on the table.

Greg confirmed that the 3D curb project is back online and progressing well, alongside tire modeling and physics engine changes to accurately replicate the experience of driving over them.

They’re set to significantly affect your racing line at some circuits, resulting in a noticeable impact on laptime.

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5. New Tire Model?

iRacing’s V7 tire model is now over 4 years old – and it seems V8 may be in the works.

Greg noted that the tire/engine team has triple in size in recent months, and is actively exploring areas such as tire deformation, torsional deflection, heat buildup and more to provide the most authentic experience possible.

Tread profiles are also being explored, likely in conjunction with how rain tyres will operate across all conditions.

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6. Oval Refresh

Now the Dirt Refresh is live, it’s time for Oval to be overhauled.

iRacing has a full team of testers, engineers and developers working towards improving the oval racing experience, both in its realism, and in its enjoyment.

No timeline given on this one, but as the Dirt Refresh took less than 6 months from first mention to release, we’re hoping to see the Oval Refresh before the end of the year.

John’s Theory: There’s been a clamouring for open-wheel oval racing content on the forums as of late. With mentions of Indycar in profiles and on the forums seemingly relaxed, could we see a renewed push of open-wheel oval competition?

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7. New UI

iRacing’s in-game UI has remained virtually unchanged since its 2008 release – but that’s about to change.

Greg confirmed that a modern, flexible UI is in production, including an overhaul of the Options and Garage pages. The new UI will also be vector-based, meaning it’ll scale well at all resolutions and monitor setups.

On top of that, the web UI will see the addition of purchases and transactions, plus an updated Results page with full history, and a Search function.

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8. Core Engine Updates

At long last, the original spaghetti code engine is being brought up to date.

Greg mentions that a team at iRacing has been working on the core codebase for the last 12 months, and will continue through 2024, modernizing the code to better interact with today’s systems.

The unique car count per instance is set to increase in Season 4, with an Audio Rework next on the list.

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9. Career Mode

AI races have proven to be a hit, and the single-player experience is getting more love with the introduction of a Career Mode.

Part of iRacing’s drive to develop “deep new sim systems and ways to engage with the product”, the single-player Career Mode is designed to provide a realistic, authentic and engaging experience for all.

Whilst a time window wasn’t given, as this is the first mention of the upcoming Career Mode, we anticipate it’ll release sometime in 2024.

John’s Theory: Greg took care to label this Career Mode as the team’s “initial focus” when it comes to expanding iRacing. If the focus is on developing engaging features that deepen the immersion, could we see an overhaul of the current Divisions and Leagues to provide more authentic and engaging structured competition?

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10. Team Expansion

This has largely flown under the radar, but is perhaps the most significant news in the update.

iRacing’s team has dramatically increased in size. The car/track development team has doubled, the animation team has doubled, and the tire/engine team has tripled, alongside the additional of numerous industry veterans.

Sim racing is bigger today than ever before, and with the iRacing team growing in kind, we can expect more updates, fixes and features faster than ever more.

Greg gives special mention to updated “shifting and emotive systems”, and “support for more pitstops”, particularly for GT3.

Conclusion

iRacing is approaching its 15th anniversary next month (more on that soon!), and this is perhaps the single biggest development update we’ve seen to date.

The community is bigger, the team is bigger, and we’re entering a golden age for sim racing.

In Greg’s words, there’s never been a more exciting time for iRacing. Let’s hope Season 4 lives up to the hype!