iRacing is by far, one of most in-depth PC Sim Racing titles, to the point where it is marketed as “The World’s PREMIER Racing Simulation”. However, talk is cheap, and iRacing was initially released almost a DECADE ago. Does iRacing still hold up as one of the top racing simulations available?
For those of you newer to Sim Racing, you may not understand the legacy behind iRacing, and the events that helped shape the sim into what it is today. iRacing was formed in late 2004, out of the ashes of Papyrus Design Group, one of the most prolific Sim Racing developers of the 1990s and early 2000’s. Papyrus was behind some of the most well-regarded Sim Racing titles, such as IndyCar Racing, NASCAR Racing, and Grand Prix Legends.
Grand Prix Legends by Papyrus is regarded to as one of the top racing sims of all time
After Vivendi Universal shut down Papyrus, members of the development team teamed up with members of Project Wildfire, one of the modding groups behind some of the top third party content for NASCAR Racing 2003 Season, to form FIRST LLC. The newly formed company teamed together with a guy named John Henry. That name may not seem familiar at first glance, but it’s a rather significant name in the sporting and racing world. John Henry is owner of the Boston Red Sox Major League Baseball team, and also part-owner of Roush Fenway Racing.
Together, the group acquired resources and code from Papyrus and Vivendi, and started development on a new racing title in 2004. 4 years later, iRacing was first released to the public in August of 2008. The initial release of iRacing featured only 8 cars and 21 tracks, with an interesting spread. There were no NASCAR stock cars, no IndyCar, and they didn’t even have the Mazda MX-5, which is the current beginner road car in iRacing and staple of the service.
Over the years, the car and track count has blossomed, and as of May 2018, there are over 75 cars and over 80 tracks available on for the simulation. One of the most impressive feats is that each track is laser-scanned, providing for a high degree of realism. Notably, some of the biggest name tracks are in iRacing, such as Le Mans, Suzuka, Nurburgring, and Sebring. They are all well made, generally some of the best versions in all of Sim Racing, but some of them are admittedly built based off of older configurations (such as Silverstone).
Cars are also built to a similar level of fidelity, either using 3D CAD data or by laser scanning as well. There is an incredible spread of variety of cars spanning different disciplines. There are stock cars, open wheel, road GT cars, Prototypes, and even classic race cars! That’s also not including the new Dirt cars recently added.
All of this content does come at a cost though. Currently, iRacing is the most expensive consumer-level Racing Simulation on the market. iRacing is the only Sim Racing title that relies on a Subscription model, with the monthly fee starting at $13. You can also buy the subscription in 3-month, yearly, and in two-year increments, and the subscriptions are occasionally on sale as well. Another element that does need to be taken into consideration is that out of the 75+ Cars and 80+ tracks, you only start off with 17 cars and 17 tracks. The rest of the content has to be purchased a la carte, with Cars being generally around $12, and tracks usually hovering around the $15 dollar mark. There are discounts for buying in bulk as well. Theoretically, if you wanted to “purchase” all of the content, you would be looking at over $1,000!! Also add in the factor that you never truly “OWN” the content, and if you cancel your iRacing subscription, you lose the ability to use all the cars and tracks you purchased. If you decide to renew your subscription, you do gain access to your purchased content again.
But the thing is, iRacing is a strange breed of racing title. It takes a very unconventional approach to the Sim Racing Genre compared to its competitors. Whether you choose to embrace this convention will determine if the cost of iRacing is worth it to you.
One of the things that needs to be established off the bat is that part of iRacing’s main premise is that it’s attempting to “Simulate a virtual racing career”. The goal is for you to move up the racing ladder, by progressing through ranks, and working your way up to the premier racing series. You start off in a Rookie class, prove yourself, then move up to the D, then C, then B, then A class! Do well in the A class, and you could be granted the “Pro” license. Prove yourself there, and you could compete in the prestigious Pro World Championship, where the top iRacers in the world compete for prizes. Or, you could find a series you like, and stick around in that. The choice is yours!
However, you HAVE to start from the bottom to climb up the ranks, and that's one of the best and worst things about iRacing, depending on what kind of Sim Racer you are. You can't sign up for iRacing, buy the McLaren F1 car, and immediately race in iRacing's Official A Class series. You HAVE to start from the bottom, which would be the Mazda MX-5 Cup. Then you fulfill the minimum performance requirement, and prove you can actually keep a car on the track, and then you move your way up to the next license level, and so on.
iRacing determines your “Skill Level” with two ratings:
Your “Safety Rating” determines how safe of a driver you are. If you prove yourself to be a safe driver by staying on the track and off of the walls and other drivers, then your safety rating will increase.
Your iRating measures your skill as a racer. It goes up and down in accordance with your race results. The better you finish, the higher your rating gets.
Note that ONLY your Safety rating plays a factor in iRacing License Promotions. Your iRating will primarily factor into iRacing’s matchmaking system, to try to put you into races with similarly skilled drivers. I wish there was something in the way of a “Minimum iRating” requirement for promotion, like “Maintain an iRating above 1,200 for promotion”, but that’s being a bit nitpicky on my end.
In the early days of iRacing, it took a LONG time to move up the license classes. You would need to fulfill your minimum race requirement, then get your safety rating above a 3.0 level. Then, you would need to WAIT until the end of the season, maintaining your 3.0 Safety Rating, for your license to be promoted. The main reason behind that was to try to get you to participate in the series, but it was rather frustrating. In theory, if you wanted to race in the A Class NASCAR series, you would need to spend up to a YEAR progressing up the racing ladder.
Nowadays, it is far easier, and potentially less expensive to progress to the license you desire! iRacing added in a “Fast Track” condition, where it you fulfill the minimum performance requirement, and get your Safety Rating above the 4.0 level, you are IMMEDIATELY promoted to the next license class.
It can be a topic for debate for whether the fast track system is good or bad for iRacing, but in my opinion, I think it is a smart move. It at least allows Sim Racers an easier way to get to the series they want to race in, but it still requires effort and skill from them.
Similar to iRacing’s structure for the license system, there is a similar mentality to the racing series structure. One of the nice things is that iRacing features a nice compromise between the “League Structure” and a “Pick Up and Play” design. Each series runs in a 12 week format, but it allows for multiple attempts throughout the week. Get taken out in a race? You can try it again a couple hours later, for a better result! Want to race a NASCAR truck race 20 times in a week? You can do that, and then your results will be averaged together for your championship standing.
Note that participation in different series DOES play a factor in what to race, and should be taken into consideration. For a race to be deemed “Official” by iRacing, you need to have a minimum of 6 participants for Rookie events, and 8 drivers for class D and up. If the race fails to meet those numbers, the race becomes “Unofficial”, meaning it still goes on, but it will not affect your iRating. Some series, such as the NASCAR oval racing series, or rookie racing classes, or GT3 series, are generally well populated, and can provide a MOSTLY decent racing experience. On the flip side, some of the other series, such as their classic racing series, are practically ghost towns, with only a small handful of “Official Races” to take part in per week.
What is nice is that also if you’re looking for either a more organized or less organized option for racing, those are available too. If you want a more organized championship you can tailor to your liking, you can start a league to create your own series. Want to host a one-off event? Start a hosted session! Note that both of these options DO cost money, so take that into consideration as well.
Now, let’s talk about what a lot of you guys would be curious about, and that’s the experience of racing in the simulation. If you were to ask me this question 4 years ago, I would have been a little more wary. iRacing, in the past, had developed a reputation for being “like driving on ice”, due to the struggles of being able to feel grip through the tires, and a lot of experiences where spins would come almost out of nowhere.
However, in the past couple years, the handling model of iRacing has seen significant improvements, to greatly improve the driving feel and experience of the title. The iRacing of 2018 is a drastic improvement over the iRacing of 2011, back when I first started on the sim.
In my personal opinion, the feeling of cars in iRacing is some of the best it has ever been, giving me a sense of communication that I hadn’t felt before. One of the issues I had with iRacing in the past is that the tires felt “Off”, they didn’t feel like they had any flex, and it felt like you were driving on “overinflated tires” with not much grip. Now, the tires feel miles better, and are able to communicate the feeling properly through the force feedback.
One other thing I want to mention is that iRacing is the best current oval racing title out there, PERIOD. The current iteration of oval racing for iRacing may be one of the best yet. At the beginning of a run, you will be filled with a lot of confidence with the fresh tires, and you may almost find it “Easy”. Then, as the run progresses, and the tires start to drop off, the racing will come down to who has conserved their tires better over the course of a run. You really need to keep from abusing your car, which is an element required in real racing as well.
Dirt Racing is also a recent addition to the sim, and iRacing has done that quite well too. The cars behave as you would expect on dirt, and it makes for a fun challenge. The cars feel like they have weight sliding through the track, and importantly for Rallycross, they have weight through the air. One thing I find difficult at times is the simulation of cars over jumps. It feels like iRacing has nailed that element, and it makes for exciting moments in Rallycross events.
One of the major improvements to the iRacing experience is that it is becoming more “Dynamic”. One of the major issues from iRacing was that the experience felt rather “Static” and “Sterile”. This was in part due to the fact that iRacing was built off of the code behind NASCAR Racing 2003 Season. While NASCAR Racing 2003 Season was, and still is, one of the greatest NASCAR racing titles of all time, it is still a dated title. In the earlier days of iRacing, those elements did hold iRacing back, such as being limited to DirectX 9, limited weather options, and even the way the cars interact with the track.
Now, iRacing is becoming even more dynamic and it sounds like there are exciting things in the pipeline as well. One of the largest improvements to iRacing in the past couple years is the addition of a dynamic racing surface. Dubbed the “New Surface Model”, it redefines the way that a race car interacts with the track in the sim. Rubber gets laid down on the track, a dirt track’s line moves around as dirt is moved around, and so on. This may be one of my favorite recent improvements to the iRacing physics engine.
More improvements to the engine are planned, including the inclusion of a day-to-night cycle and also weather. These are two additions that have been asked for by the community for a long time, and it should provide another factor of immersion for the sim. For endurance races in particular, this will be a VERY welcome addition! It is quite jarring to run 24 Hour endurance races and have the weather and time of day NEVER change, so I’m quite happy to hear that this is coming. If only we knew WHEN it was coming…
In terms of Graphics and Sounds, the best way I’d put it is that they are “Good Enough”. The graphics are solid and believable, but you can definitely tell the sim is based off of an older engine. However, it’s the little things that help increase the immersion factor. For example, the crowds increase over the course of a race weekend, dirt builds up on the car as a race progresses, and also can get kicked up onto the track.
Sounds in my opinion maybe a solid third place compared to other sims. While it isn’t at the level of RaceRoom Racing Experience or Automobilista, iRacing has a high quality sound experience. It’s not just the engine sounds, but it’s also the dirt getting kicked up into the undercarriage, the pitch increasing as you go faster over rumble strips, the sounds of the tires squealing as you approach the limit of grip, it all is solidly done.
These two elements are definitely not best in class, but they are definitely up there.
One of the more controversial things with iRacing though, is the way that iRacing handles incidents. As mentioned, iRacing utilizes a “Safety Rating” system to judge when you are ready to move up to a higher license. How does the safety rating work? It analyzes how long you can go during a race without gaining an “Incident Point”. Incident Points, in concept, are almost like a “Currency”, that gets taken away from you each time you commit an infraction.
You are penalized with one Incident point if more than 50% of the car leaves the racing surface
-You gain two incident points if you either spin out, or hit the wall in a single car incident
-You earn four incident points if you hit another car with enough force to “Cause significant damage”
-If you rack up more than the maximum number of incident points over the course of a race (usually 17), you will be disqualified from the event.
This appears to be a decent system IN THEORY, but I feel this may be one of the flawed systems in iRacing (IN MY OPINION). In practice, some of the cracks start to show in the system. One of the main issues is that the incident point system has no way of dealing out fault. You could be taken out by another driver in a race, where it is clearly the other driver’s fault, and you will be penalized just as much as that driver is penalized. Also, according to iRacing’s system, going wide on a track 4 times is seen as the same as causing a 20-car pileup.
I’d hope that someday iRacing may be able to create a better system to replace the incident point system. Personally, it’s not the END of the world as it is right now, but I’ve felt that sometimes the incident point system discourages hard racing, because people are scared of encountering a 4X from beating and banging.
Speaking of Beating and Banging, let’s talk about the damage engine in iRacing. In some ways, iRacing has some of the best Damage in sim racing, but also there are parts that really hold it back. One of the things iRacing does great is the simulation of body damage and how it affects aerodynamics. Quite a few titles, such as rFactor 2 and Assetto Corsa, struggle when simulating body deformation and aero damage. iRacing doesn’t have that struggle. Brush the wall, and you’ll suffer aero damage which can cause issues, depending on what you’re driving. iRacing also has some great mechanical damage, and that can lead to satisfying experiences. Damage the suspension in a stock car, and it can affect the way the tires wear, leading it to blow, putting you in the wall!
iRacing’s damage isn’t perfect though. One of the biggest issues with iRacing’s damage model is that it can have weird issues simulating energy dissipation. That can lead to erratic wrecks, or what we like to sometimes call the “Breakdance wrecks”. In addition, since the wheels don’t break off, it can cause weird instances where the wheels can deform in very weird ways. All in all though, iRacing’s Damage model is one of the better damage models in Sim Racing.
Before we get to my Pros and Cons, let’s touch on some points that are worth mentioning:
Virtual Reality support is implemented well in iRacing. iRacing features native support for the Oculus Rift, the HTC Vive, and ALSO Windows Mixed Reality. Since iRacing isn’t too graphically intensive, it can achieve a solid 90 Frames per Second in racing conditions.
iRacing features a fairly comprehensive livery editor built into the interface. You can pick from different paint scheme presets, and add colors in. If you want to build a more elaborate scheme, you can download templates and build a scheme in Photoshop or a similar program.
iRacing features the most streamlined “Driver Swap” functionality in all of Sim Racing. It is built into the teams functionality, which also features support having a human serve as either a spotter or a crew chief.
Last, but not least, an iRacing membership includes access to their member forums. These are honestly some of the best forums in all of Sim Racing, with a lot of different activity. It’s also a great place to get good baseline setups for different cars ahead of a race.
In the coming months, AI will be implemented into iRacing to some extent. This could be a great option for people with slower internet connections that still want to race in iRacing. Historically speaking, Papyrus games had some of the best AI in Sim Racing, so I’m excited to see what iRacing brings to the table.
iRacing requires an internet connection to work. Even when running a single car test session, or in the future a race with AI, you will still need to be online to get it working.
Now that we’ve covered a lot of what iRacing has to offer, let’s get to the pros and cons.
Pros
Great compromise between league structure and pick-up-and-play
Competition structure gives solid feeling of progression up the ranks
Ability to host and manage leagues via the service
Every track is laser-scanned and accurate
Cars are modelled to high quality as well
Good sounds
Best Oval Sim Racing title on the market (both asphalt and dirt)
Great physics model
One of the better damage models in Sim Racing
Supports most Virtual Reality headsets
Team functionality allows for more than just drivers to be involved in a race
Dynamic track works very well
More improvements coming, such as weather, day-night cycle, and AI
Cons
Expensive
You never truly “OWN” the content you buy
Requires an Internet Connection to work
Safety Rating can feel downright Draconian at times
Wish iRating played more of a factor in the progression system
So the question is, “Do I recommend iRacing?” To answer that, I have to ask another question: “What are you looking to get out of your Sim Racing Experience?” iRacing is an investment, both in money, and in your time and effort. iRacing isn’t meant to be a conventional “Pick a Car, Pick a Track, and Race” Sim. If you try to treat iRacing like that, you’ll come away disappointed.
iRacing is a sim that thrives on STRUCTURE, both for better and for worse. You need to abide by their system to climb the ranks, and compete in racing series. If you’re willing to make that investment in iRacing, and compete in iRacing the way it’s intended to be used, it’s one of the most rewarding titles out there.
As of right now, for online competition, iRacing is second to none. They have the cars, the tracks, and importantly, the framework to handle many different racing series concurrently. Project CARS 2 and Sim Racing System come close in regards to competition and progression, but iRacing strikes that balance that just feels RIGHT.
iRacing is very expensive, and it may even be overpriced in some ways. However, what you get for your investment is one of the best Sim Racing experiences out there.
This August, iRacing will be ten years old. In those ten years, it has really become one of the top-tier racing sims on the market. The scary part? They just look to be getting started. With some of the planned updates, like Day-to-Night transition, Weather, and AI, that will solve some of the gripes I have with the sim.
Again, iRacing isn’t for everyone. It requires a lot of investment into it. If you choose to make that investment into it, you’ll get quite a lot of enjoyment out of it!
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