iRacing – 2018 Season 2 Release Notes

07/03/2018 iRacing Leave a comment

iRacing – 2018 Season 2 Release Notes

iRacing deployed a brand new build of their online racing service featuring some impressive new content.

Besides a host of updates, features, and fixes, this update brings us two state of the art modern endurance Le Mans Prototypes in the form of the Porsche 919 Hybrid and the Audi R18 e-tron Quatrro.

Both cars will be deployed in an iRacing LeMans Series, which will run 60-90 minute races every two hours with a 12-week schedule. Then there is also the new team-based iRacing Lemans Endurance Series which features an LMP2 and GTE Class. This series will run 6-hour endurance sessions every other week with 2-time slots. Saturday at 7:00GMT and Saturday at 19:00GMT.

In time for this years iRacing Indy 500, the new build deploys the 2018 spec Dallara IR18. iRacing members who have already purchased the existing DW12 Indy car in the last six months will receive a full credit of $11.95 and that all iRacing members will receive the existing DW12 Indycar as free content.

The 2018 season 2 build also features some new tracks. The Dirt Track at Charlotte, the Sonoma Raceway Rallycross layout, theLimaland Motorsports Park dirt oval and an upgraded version of Pocono Raceway are now available.

Some highlights include:

Additional functionality and performance enhancements for the iRacing BETA Interface
Custom Car Classes
Extensive Rallycross Race Control updates
Complete hand-over-hand animations for all vehicles
Brand new crowd system
Audi R18
Dallara IR18
Porsche 919 Hybrid
The Dirt Track at Charlotte
Limaland Motorsports Park
Pocono Raceway track upgrade
Sonoma Raceway (Rallycross)

Full 2018 Season 2 Changelog:

Racing BETA Interface

– Some extensive background system updates have been completed for the iRacing BETA Interface to greatly enhance the speed, responsiveness, and stability of the application.

– Fixed Setups are now available when creating Hosted Sessions!
– – When making the vehicle selection, you can activate the “Fixed Setup” switch near the top-right corner of the vehicle.
– – – This allows you to select or upload the Setups to be used for the Hosted Session.

– Spectator Sessions are now available for Official Races!
– – Activate the “Show Running Sessions” switch near the top-right in the “Official Races” section of the interface. Then, click on one of the running races, and click the “Watch”, “Spot”, or “Crew”, buttons to start that activity for that session.
– – Individual spotter settings and spotter passwords remain in development, and will be coming soon.

– An additional “Download” button has been added at the top of the Updater menu screen, so you can start downloads even faster!

– Additional indicators for when the iRacing BETA Interface is loading and/or processing information have been added.

– The Time Attack Launch screen now features an “Overall” view.

– The Time Attack Results screen now always shows your current position at the top, if you have one.
– – Click directly on it to jump to your row in the Results table!

– The Time Attack Results screen now features “Go to Beginning” and “Go to End” paging buttons.

– Improved support for scaling the iRacing BETA Interface.

– Improved support for the use of 4K (UHD) monitors.
– – If we detect you are using a 4K (UHD) display, you will get a prompt asking if you want to enable 4K Mode.
– – – If you ignore the prompt, or if you click “Don’t show me this again,” you can enable 4K Mode by opening the Settings Menu and clicking “Enable 4K Mode.”

– The system for painting the Primary Sponsor has been improved.

– Fixed an issue where using the Test Drive function for a Race Series during Week 1 would not work correctly.

– Fixed the usage of plurals (-s, or -es).

– Fixed some text bugs.

Hosted Sessions

– Car Classes can now be selected when creating a hosted race.
– – Sessions are still limited to a total of 6 unique cars per session, and car classes can contain from 1 to 6 cars. The car class selections are grouped by the number of cars in the class.
– – – Car classes are represented as tabs in the interface, so only the cars for the selected car class are displayed.
– – This feature is currently only available on the Classic Membersite, not on the iRacing BETA Interface yet.

Custom Car Classes

– You are now able to create and edit your own Custom Car Classes for Hosted Sessions!
– – When selecting the “Use Car Classes” Option when creating a Hosted Session, a new link called “Create New Car Class…” is now displayed above the Car Class tabs. This link brings up a dialog where you can enter a name for the Custom Car Class and select a group of cars for that Custom Car Class. For “Rel. Speed” (Relative Speed), there is a suggested value displayed, which is the average of all the selected cars, but any number between 0 and 200 can be used.
– – – Rel. Speed values for Car Classes are hidden unless the “Grid Together” option is selected.
– – The Car Class dropdowns will now display iRacing’s Car Classes as well as any Custom Car Classes you have created. Custom Car Classes will include an asterisk (*) in the name. You can edit your Custom Car Classes by using the “Edit…” link, which is displayed when one of your Custom Car Classes is selected. This will bring up the same dialog used when creating a Custom Car Class.
– – By using Custom Car Classes, anything about a Car Class can be changed, although it is not recommended to stray too far from the original purpose of the Car Class.
– – Race Results from past races using a Custom Car Class will use the current name of the Custom Car Class that was used, not the name at the time of the event.
– – This feature is currently only available on the Classic Membersite, not on the iRacing BETA Interface yet.

Race Sessions

– An indicator denoting that a final Race event is Official (Ranked) or Unofficial (Unranked) has been restored to the Session screen and its Info page.
– The Popular Races list will now properly filter by Dirt Oval and Dirt Road.

Hosted Results

– The Date Range filter is now a primary filter, and it may not be deselected. This is to allow the most often viewed results to load faster.
– – The “From” date defaults to 30 days in the past.
– – The “To” date defaults to today.
– – This filter allows a maximum span of 90 days.

Dynamic Track

– Some updates have been made to the debris throwing system.
– – The physics for debris now utilize a new collision system. This should eliminate the ability for thrown particles to slip through walls, making their build-up more accurate.

Dirt

– Dirt heights across all areas of the track now allow for a greater possible range of dirt amounts.
– – This will allow for both a greater build-up of dirt on the track, and allow for deeper digging-down of the dirt surface.

– Dirt cushion modeling has been greatly improved.
– – This is a pretty big change to how dirt ovals behave as the tracks are worn in. With this update, the cornering force from the cushion and increased banking that naturally develops should be noticeably greater, and the outside should be faster as a result.

– The mean starting usage state for Dirt Oval Heat Races has been increased, and the variance of this value has also been increased slightly.

Rallycross

– The starting area for Rallycross tracks is now well defined for Race Control.
– – The F3 Black Box now correctly sorts the cars on the starting grid.
– The F3 Black Box is now aware of the starting area and the Joker Lap area when computing the time delta, and displaying information.
– – Cars on the race path are always displayed as normal.
– – Cars on the starting area are always dimmed, like cars in pit lane.
– – Cars on the optional path(s) always have a cyan background color across their row.
– The gained time rule can now deal with the Joker Lap, and should correctly maintain and track your yield status regardless of what path combination you take.
– Race Lines have been adjusted on some Rallycross configurations to improve accuracy.
– Excessive post-race penalty time is now converted to post-race lap penalties.

Lone Qualifying

– Fixed an issue where ghost effects and skids were showing up from other cars during these sessions.

Driver Swap

– iRating exchanges are now possible in scheduled driver-swap races. The Info tab on the Session screen will indicate whether or not iRating will be impacted by this particular team racing event. iRating exchanges in driver swap races are being enabled as of the deployment of 2018 Season 2 during the 13th week.

Hybrid Engines

– Hybrid system can no longer be deployed while pit speed limiter is active.
– Hybrid system can no longer continue to deploy after the battery state-of-charge has been drawn down to zero.

Controls

– The Sim should now make better estimates for controller calibration when initially starting up the Simulation.
– Joystick calibration routine has been adjusted to reduce the likelihood of a noisy joystick axis getting detected.
– Improved the ability to map a multiple button press trigger to a single control response.
– – For Example: Button A = Action 1 -and- Button A + Button B = Action 2
– Support for mapping actions to buttons that are permanently held down (for example a position switch that simulates pressing and holding a button), has been added.
– – When mapping button controls, iRacing would normally watch for the “button release” event before mapping that input to the action. But in this case a user can hit “Enter” when mapping the control to accept the held-button (or switch position) in its current location.

Feedback

– Markers have been added to the driving control interface elements to indicate if you are dragging your brake or clutch. Markers will light up if there is any input at all on a control.

Spotter

– A new switch has been added to the [SPCC] section of the “app.ini” file, called “carLowHiAtStart”
– – carLowHiAtStart=0 = Spotter “Car Low / High” calls are disabled for a short duration after the green. (Default functionality)
– – carLowHiAtStart=1 = Spotter “Car Low / High” calls are enabled as soon as you get the green.

Driver Animation

– Hand-over-hand steering animations have now been completed for all cars!
– – We have fully implemented driver hand animations for all iRacing vehicles.

Animated Pit Crew

– The pit crew members’ running routes have been adjusted slightly to minimize clipping through larger vehicles.
– The pit crew members with a war wagon should now appear correctly on loaded replays.
– Fixed an issue where the animated pit stop was not appearing correctly with team swaps.
– Fixed an issue where the level-of-detail distances for some pit crew members was causing them to lose their heads.
– Fixed an issue where the pit stop could break when driving in backwards.

Opponent Cars

– All opponent-controlled vehicles will now have their actual gear and RPMs displayed in their cockpits.

Crowds

– A new system has been created and implemented for crowds at all tracks!
– – The folks in the stands should now appear more realistic than before.
– – This system will function as follows depending on your Crowd Detail setting:
– – – OFF = No crowds
– – – LOW = The crowds display with front-faces only
– – – MEDIUM = The crowds are in full attendance
– – – HIGH = Additional 3D characters are added around the track

Rendering

– Fixed an issue where some tires were showing up as white-wall or chrome-wall.
– Fixed an issue where grass track edges on dirt tracks could look too dark at night.

Paint Shop

– Fixed an issue that could cause unpainted cars to corrupt the texture cache.

Replay

– Performance improvements have been made to the mechanism used to prepare the replay world for playback.
– – This change will be most noticeable when skipping around in a replay, getting out of the car in the Sim, and playing through a session change within a replay. The effect on the Skew (S) bar during these operations should now be greatly diminished.

Video Capture

– The video capture API has been updated.
– The file format, “.MP4” is now the default file format for the video capture system.

Telemetry

– The old telemetry session string will now clear when launching a new session via the iRacing Beta Interface.

Peripherals

– Support has been added for LED rev lights on the new Thrustmaster TS-PC RACER Ferrari Challenge wheel.
– The Fanatec Light API version has been updated to 3.2.

iRacing Support

– We have upgraded our FAQs and Support Forms.
– – Check them out here: https://iracing.freshdesk.com/support/home

CARS:

Audi R18

– NEW CAR!
– – The Audi R18 has been added to the iRacing virtual garage!
– – This is a Le Mans Prototype (LMP1-H) race car, and is now available for purchase in the iRacing Store.
– – -The R18 etron quattro is a diesel Hybrid LMP1 prototype racecar that competed at the Le Mans 24 hour race and in the World Endurance Championship. It began its life as simple the R18 TDI – a diesel powered prototype racer, in 2011. As the rules of the series changed so to did the R18. The car evolved over time to incorporate hybrid technology in the form of KERS (Kinetic Energy Recovery System). The R18, in its varied forms, won the Le Mans 24 Hour four times and the WEC title twice (2012 & 2013).
– – – http://members.iracing.com/membersite/member/CarDetail.do?carid=98

Audi R8 LMS GT3

– The range of toe settings has been expanded so target toe values may be achieved over a larger range of camber settings.
– Driver seating position has been moved further back in the car.
– – This change also alters the driver viewpoint.

BMW Z4 GT3

– Baseline setup has been adjusted so it can pass Tech with any fuel level.

Chevrolet Monte Carlo SS

– Season setups have been updated.

Dallara DW12

– All users who had purchased this vehicle within the past seven months will receive $11.95 in iRacing credits. This is to compensate for the release of the Dallara IR18 so soon after their investment. Thank you for your purchase!

– This vehicle has been added to the garage of all users!
– – The Dallara DW12 is now considered part of the iRacing default content.
– Max Travel of dampers will now always remain positive.
– Honda logos have been removed from this vehicle.
– Fixed an issue where the damaged version of the aero map could add downforce to either end of the vehicle instead of subtracting downforce.

Dallara IR18

– NEW CAR!
– – The Dallara IR18 has been added to the iRacing virtual garage!
– – This is the new IndyCar, and is now available for purchase in the iRacing Store.
– – – Indycar’s latest generation car, the Dallara IR18, was designed to not only look better on track, but also improve the racing. All cars in the Verizon Indycar series will race with the same aero kit, designed and built by Dallara, regardless of the engine manufacturer they choose. This will make for closer racing, more opportunities for on-track passes and more exciting races overall. Featuring two distinctly different aero packages – one low downforce package for super speedways like Indianapolis and another high down force package for street and road courses. Under the hood the power plant remains at 2.2 liter turbocharged V6 that produces upwards of 700 bhp.
– – – http://members.iracing.com/membersite/member/CarDetail.do?carid=99

Dirt Late Model

– (ALL) – Updated front bumpstop rate curves with more accurate data.
– (ALL) – Updated shock lengths and positions using more accurate data.
– (ALL) – Adjusted weight and inertia properties. Setups can now be more easily shared across all versions of the dirt late model.
– (ALL) – Trimmed nose valence and door skirts in the solid model to more typical lengths and adjusted collision elements accordingly.
– (ALL) – Adjusted collision elements in the nose and tail to allow closer racing per member suggestions and feedback.
– (ALL) – The driver’s view position has been adjusted slightly.
– (Limited) – Improved cockpit engine sounds.
– (ALL) – Season setups have been updated.

Dirt Midget

– Two new iRacing paint schemes have been added to this vehicle.
– Garage fuel ranges have been updated to include three settings.
– – Lowest setting is for Qualification
– – Middle setting is for Heats and Consolation races
– – Highest setting is for Feature races.
– The center of gravity location for this vehicle has been adjusted slightly. This change should make the car less prone to wheel stands and more stable down long straights and on corner entry.
– Season setups have been updated.

Dirt Sprint Car

– (ALL) – Last season’s suspension update has been reverted.
– (ALL) – Nose wing angle is now adjustable in the garage.
– (ALL) – Garage fuel ranges have been updated to include three settings.
– – Lowest setting is for Qualification
– – Middle setting is for Heats and Consolation races
– – Highest setting is for Feature races.
– (ALL) – Rear collision elements have been adjusted to result in improved rear frame rail / ride height marker bottoming behavior upon contact with the track surface.
– (ALL) – Adjusted the collision model of opponent cars.
– (ALL) – Season setups have been updated.

Dirt Sprint Car Non-Winged

– (ALL) – Removed the ability to make in-car cockpit adjustments to shocks.
– – 2018 USAC Rule Book 307-I: “Suspension adjustments by the driver from the cockpit will not be permitted.”
– (ALL) – Garage fuel ranges have been updated to include three settings.
– – Lowest setting is for Qualification
– – Middle setting is for Heats and Consolation races
– – Highest setting is for Feature races.
– (410) – Mass and inertia properties have been adjusted.
– (ALL) – Fixed a texture issue with the rollbars when the rock cage is removed.
– (ALL) – Season setups have been updated.

Dirt Street Stock

– Rev limit has been increased from 6200 RPM to 6800 RPM.
– – Season setups have been updated accordingly.

Dirt U.M.P. Modified

– Season setups have been updated.

Ford GT – 2017

– Fixed an issue where duplicate hub models were appearing when viewing from inside the cockpit.

Ford Mustang FR500S

– This car has been converted to now use PBR shaders.

– Fixed an issue where the mirrors were not using the correct aspect ratio.

Indycar Dallara circa 2011

– Honda logos have been removed from this vehicle.

McLaren MP4-30

– Hybrid control and deployment have been re-tooled. The existing deployment strategies have been replaced by a single strategy that is track-position aware. Deployment is completely cut when the car speed exceeds a fixed percent of the expected maximum speed on the current straightaway (end-of-straight or EOS speeds).
– – There are two user modes: Automatic and Manual Trim.
– – – In Automatic mode, the system calculates and applies an offset to the % EOS speed cut parameter that attempts to balance harvested and deployed electrical energy. Per the description, this mode requires no intervention from the driver – you simply get in and drive.
– – – In Manual mode, the user specifies a Trim via the MFH knob (1 to 14), in 2% increments from -12% to +14%. Setting 7 applies a 0% trim. -ve offsets cut deployment at lower speeds, resulting in net energy savings while +ve offsets result in deployment cuts at higher speeds, draining the battery. Note that the base %EOS speed cut parameter and expected EOS speeds are generated using ref-line calculations that have been modified to handle hybrid power units (ref-line calcs are used for the driving line display and race control functions like applying track-cutting time penalties in real-time).
– MGU-K power is now shown on the digital display.
– A Qualifying mode has been added for MGU-K deployment.
– Dynamic brake biasing and handling of MGU-K harvesting has been updated.
– – The car is now much more stable at brake release, even with very aggressive re-gen setting.
– The cure-based degradation and wear-based degradation of the tires has been increased.
– – Please evaluate this change over the 7-10 days after release, and please provide us with feedback. If necessary, we will adjust this again before the start of the F1 WCS.

Mercedes-AMG GT3

– 2018 Season 2 BoP adjustments: -15 kg minimum weight, reduced drag sensitivity for rear wing adjustments at greater than 4 degrees (so higher angles generate less drag), slightly reduced overall aero drag.

Modified – SK

– Season setups have been updated.

NASCAR Camping World Chevrolet Silverado