iRacing’s Biggest EVER Update?! 2023 Season 4 Deep Dive

New cars, new tracks, and what may just be the most ground-breaking under-the-hood change we’ve seen in years; 2023 Season 4 is here!

WATCH: iRacing’s Biggest EVER Update?! 2023 Season 4 Deep Dive

Is this iRacing’s biggest EVER update?

With brand-new cars and tracks galore, there’s exciting, fresh experiences for everyone – BUT, scratch below the surface and you’ll find some of the most ground-breaking under-the-hood changes we’ve seen in YEARS!

Here’s our rundown on all that’s new for Season 4, the changes that caught our eye, and what all of this means for you!

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New Cars

In total, 5 new cars have been added to iRacing.

On the road-side, we complete the 2023 IMSA field with the Porsche 963 and the Acura ARX-06 GTP machines, plus the all-new Ferrari 296 GT3 – and we’re expanding the open-wheel roster with the introduction of the Super Formula SF23.

Over on the ovals, the NASCAR Classic Pontiac Grand Prix 1987 joins the Chevrolet Monte Carlo, the Ford Thunderbird and the Buick LeSabre to round out the renamed NASCAR Legends Series.

With two more popular series now having full fields – and back-end systems that can handle all those different cars, more on that later – iRacers have more choice in what series they race than ever before!

It’s early days, but each of the new machines – all AI-racing compatible and on the new damage model as standard – have been well-received, with the Super Formula SF23 in particular gathering rave reviews – high on downforce but far more drivable than the Mercedes W13, it’s sure to be a highlight of Season 4 and beyond.

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New Tracks

Two brand-new circuits and one track refresh make their debut in Season 4.

France’s Circuit de Lédenon and both the asphalt and dirt ovals at Kern County are new to iRacing, and the home of the Dutch Grand Prix, the Circuit Zandvoort, has received a long-awaited refresh.

New tracks for road, oval and dirt means there’s something for everyone, and with the changes to off-track surfaces which we’ll get onto later, you’ll be relearning your favourites and pushing the boundaries at the tracks you already know and love all throughout Season 4 too.

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AI Racing

Alongside all of the new cars and the majority of new track configurations, iRacing’s AI racing has expanded even further.

The addition of the ARCA Menards Chevy and Gen 4 Cup Car means ARCA farmers can now get their groove on offline, and with the Audi 90 GTO and Nissan GTP ZX-T now AI-capable, fans of the Kamel GT series can get their nostalgic multiclass racing fix any time, and on a whole range of circuits.

Speaking of circuits, the Milwaukee Mile, three configurations of the Nurburgring GP circuit, two configs of Road America, and all five configs of legacy Silverstone have been added to the mix – meaning we’re getting ever closer to all cars and tracks on the iRacing service being AI-compatible.

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Damage, Setups & Optimisations

Now we get into the juicy stuff!

On the damage front, several changes have been made to multiple cars to make damage more realistic and less frustrating. Meatball flags will now no longer be thrown purely for aerodynamic damage, repair times have been adjusted, and repairs to wheel damage are now always prioritized over aero damage, making calculated repairs less of a risk. All bendable or breakable car elements can now either be fully repaired or replaced, meaning no more endurance races ruined by “full repairs” that don’t fully fix your car!

Always been nervous to enter open-setup series? The iRacing team have come to the rescue, with hundreds of professionally-crafted setups for virtually every car in the service. They won’t have you beating the aliens, but they will make you much more competitive than the baseline setups, and with a variety of options for different track types, there will always be a go-to option you can reach for to close the gap.

The core code rewrite and engine optimization continues to reap rewards, as up to twelve different car models can be used in a single session – more than enough for a full GTP, LMP2, LMP3 and GT3 field for that true-to-life IMSA experience. There’s also further improvements to loading times and memory usage, making iRacing run smoother and more efficiently than ever before. We’ll surely need all the performance we can get for the rain coming later this year!

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New Grass!

Saving the best ‘til last – this single line in the Release Notes is providing the most significant change to the iRacing experience in years;

“Rolling drag has been rebalanced for off-track surfaces. This change should provide a much more realistic experience for grip and momentum when driving on grass, sand, gravel, grass-crete, and other off-track surfaces.”

Now, we weren’t expecting super-realistic grass physics, but we were pleasantly surprised to find that dipping a wheel on the grass is now much more forgiving. You’ll still unbalance the car and lose time, but you won’t immediately lose all rear grip and spin off into the tyre barriers.

Yes, that’s right – grass is no longer glass in iRacing!

Sand and gravel also behave much more realistically now, meaning there’s sizable differences between asphalt, grass and gravel run-offs, and real changes you’ll need to make to your lines at particular circuits. This does mean that some iRacing staples are no longer possible – for example jumping the wall at Bathurst – but there’s no doubt that these huge improvements were well worth those changes.

This off-track rework was likely a must-do ahead of the introduction of rain and other weather systems that have been in the works for most of this year. If they’re pursuing truly realistic rain & weather systems, can we expect further improvements to create truly realistic grass & off-track surfaces to follow? Who knows, but for now, these changes for Season 4 will no doubt have a huge impact on the racing across a whole range of iRacing’s most popular series – and we can’t wait to see how this changes the status quo!

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iRacing has been on a real hot-streak in 2023, and with sim racing growing faster than ever, it’s a beautiful time to be a sim racing fan. From open-wheelers to prototypes, dirt devils to oval legends, iRacing is truly becoming THE top-tier sim racing service – and with a bigger team than ever before, we can expect more of the same moving forwards.

Rain might not be upon us just yet, but it appears to be just over the horizon. If we get it before the end of 2023, that would put the proverbial cherry on top of the best year for the world’s leading sim racing service to date.

What do you think? What are you most excited for in Season 4? Do you have a favourite new car or track – and crucially, what do you think about the new grass? Let us know in the comments below.