Quote from anttt69 :

Does anyone else think Jefferson is a bit mickey mouse?

Almost everyone. In real life they only run track days there apparently. Silly little track.

Quote from Doorman :

Almost everyone. In real life they only run track days there apparently. Silly little track.

good fun in the skippy though and in the legend advanced

I heard they scanned Summit Point Shenandoah early on but the layout changed slightly after they scanned it, so they binned it. Much better track than Jefferson. Also happens to be the first one I was ever on.

I like Jefferson, but if your starting from 5th on back, beware.

yeah, havent been on it for about 9 months but i've got fond memories of it, a track that rewards you getting into the flow through the bends, just be carefull near other cars who may be flowing down a different path

I haven't even read it yet..brand new post wooo

Quote from cat herder 11 :

Having had a few minutes to sit down and reflect on the last few months I have to say it’s been a really exciting summer for me personally and professionally. On the personal side of things I thought I had the best job in the world all these years. I now have to say that that being a dad is the best job in the world and I absolutely love spending as much time as possible with my daughter. On the professional side of things I have also had the chance to see some major projects that I worked on for many months finally happen or get announced which was very gratifying. There was so much exciting news this summer but I think my highlights had to be seeing John Prather get a chance to be a professional race car driver for a weekend in the VW TDI Cup Series, announcing our NASCAR and IndyCar partnerships and seeing Marcos Ambrose take our colors to the track at Pocono.

So as the summer has pretty rapidly come to a close a new build is creeping up on the horizon. I really don’t have too much I can absolutely confirm will be in the next build at this time but I will give you a run down on what we are working on, some of which will be pretty obvious.

It’s not going to be a surprise that we plan on having the IndyCar ready for the next major build and it’s going to be an absolute blast. We will have different cars for different track types and the models all look terrific. We will also have the ability to adjust brake bias, weight jacker and sway bars from in cockpit. We should also have the in car brake bias and sway bar adjustments available in all cars that have this feature. We may not be able to get all of these adjustments done and for all of the cars by the next build but if we don’t they should not be far behind.

The Corvette C6.R did look like it was going to slip past this next build but we have actually just received a batch of data from Pratt and Miller that we had been waiting for so there is a chance this will be done. We still are waiting for some data but we have been promised its arrival in the next week or so.

The next new car in the development pipeline will be the Ford Falcon. Because we actually secured this license with the Ford contract we signed early this year we actually have a significant amount of work already completed on this car.

One feature that will definitely make the build is opponent tire smoke and skids. You will now be able to relive your own Cole Trickle moments on the high banks of Daytona.

There is a very small chance that we may have some tire improvements in this next build but we are probably going to make a change to a single car to start with. We are contemplating doing this on the Star Mazda to start with to get some feedback. We may also be able to sneak in the graphics model changes to this car to bring it up to spec with the current car.

One major project we are targeting for the next release that is not going to be a surprise is private racing. I don’t think I need to go into all the details on what we have envisioned here as it has been discussed at length in the forums. I will say that it is entirely likely that we will have a basic set of functionality with this available when it launches which will grow to be more robust over time.

A major project that is loosely tied into the private racing that has been partially leaked is our inclusion in the NASCAR Hall of Fame. Some of you may have seen items pop up in public records regarding this but we have finally executed that contract. This is pretty exciting for all of us because the Hall will have a terrific exhibit setup with show cars running our software and everyone that goes through the experience will leave with a print out of their lap times on a “sales slick” for iRacing. I actually flew down last week to supervise the “training video” shoot for the exhibit that will feature Dale Jr and Terry Labonte and I think that will come out terrific as well. It’s going to be pretty exciting to see how demonstrating our software in the Hall helps us build out customer base over the next few years as they expect at least 700,000 people to go through it in a given year.

One feature that Dale Jr put on our development schedule was the ability to transfer setups to each other. The general concept of what we are building is that you will be able to send and receive setups from other drivers who are connected to the same session you are. I am just going to put it out there now that whoever has the fastest lap in a practice session I join is going to get hassled to send me their setup!

Our friends to the north will be happy to know that the next track to be released will be Mosport and I am fairly certain it will be done in time for next season. The track that is next in line to be completed will be Brands Hatch and we actually already have a track spline done. The Kiwi turned a 1:17 in the Dallara the other day on the track and it’s going to be a fantastic track for the service, although possibly a safety rating killer! We have penciled in at the moment that Zandvoort will be the next track completed after Brands Hatch.

Night racing is coming along with a significant amount of engineering complete on it already. Unfortunately I don’t see this being rolled out with the next build as there is still quite a bit of work left to be completed. We have actually started the process of converting Richmond to a night track and we will send out some screenshots as it progresses.

We have seen quite a bit of discussion in our forums about mixed class and fixed setup racing and we have started the process of figuring out how properly implement this into the service. Quite a bit of the work that we are doing for transferring setups will help move the ball down the field on fixed setup racing actually.

For a media tease, I expect that you will see some iRacing segments on two TV shows this fall. When I have an actual confirmation on if we have made the cut and when they will air I will be sure to pass it along.

I hope I have given you enough of a taste of what we are working on to tide you over to my next blog which I plan to try and do before the next release. I anticipate this will go into more detail on some of these projects I have vaguely described. Until then I wish those of you in contention for a series championship the best of luck. I will be changing diapers….

Steve

Man reading that I really feel like iRacing is hitting its stride.

It sounds like a lot of long term projects might finally be starting to come together.

t
hat's quite a lot.... I have to say after driving a night race on rFactor, it can be good fun. I think South City though, would look fantastic at night, especially if shop lights could be on and bright

Bring on Mosport in the Star Mazda!

Looks like we will be getting Brands & Zandvort before Christmas . A physics update for the mazda would be nice, i have heard a few stories about funny handling mazdas.

Mosport is the track I'm waiting for

I don't really get the part about testing the new tire physics out on the Mazda first. Either its right or it wrong, they're going to wait for the community to say whether they like it or not and that's going to decide which physics are better? That just doesn't make sense to me.

I am excited about tire smoke and skids marks though, will definitely make things that much more immersive, especially during wrecks. Trying to get through a wreck on the restrictor plate tracks is going to be a wild ride. Also hoping they can get the C6R done sooner rather than later, I'm really looking forward to that car.

I wish they'd fix the draft on the trucks/impala's, it's ridiculous how hard it is to get away from someone because they get such a big draft off of you on the 1.5 milers. It seems very broken to me.

Two laps inside a Star Mazda!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2KR8InsjvpM

THIS IS MOSPORT, BABY!

Quote from UncleBenny :

I don't really get the part about testing the new tire physics out on the Mazda first. Either its right or it wrong, they're going to wait for the community to say whether they like it or not and that's going to decide which physics are better? That just doesn't make sense to me.

It's not simple as "right or wrong". They don't have tire-o-meter that feeds out the data that your coders can copy&paste and add into game. Sounds like they've learned something new and are looking to implement it, but by adjusting just one car at first they want to be absolutely sure it doesn't just fix one problem and create two new ones. Their internal test team is probably pretty good, but they can't really anticipate what happens when cars are driven to their absolute limit by some of those aliens.

I really want to try that Corvette!

After sorting out PayPal finally I was able to sign up to iRacing with a promotional code thats given me the basic pack for 3 months at $25 which I thought was a bargain to test the game and $10 credit.

So far I've not had much time really to get into it, being pre-occupied with other things at the moment but from what I can tell its going to be an amazingly rewarding game! It felt really good through my G25, so far only tested it and done 2 time trials, all Legends rookie around the small oval track.

Some good things about it so far:
I love the way its layed out and how you get into races
The ranking system too looks to be challenging and fair
Obviously physics and graphics are tasty

Still though it can the best damn simulation in the world, but its still far too expensive for me to consider it seriously. I guess once you've splashed out on a few tracks and things it won't be too bad, but when your on basic and seeing all the tracks and cars available to buy its quite daunting

To be honest I can see the subscription based simulation being more competitive for the reason you want to make use of the money you invested in it.

So far enjoying it, will probably keep it going if I can afford it easily, if it slows me down too much in earning a car I will have to stall it till then, but at the moment will try and get into it to at least give some driver a good race!

did anyone else see the epic thread on the general forum.. how the hell does a pro licence holder get 190 incident points in 6 laps practicing in rookie legends with only 3 other cars in the session?

Quote from tinvek :

did anyone else see the epic thread on the general forum.. How the hell does a pro licence holder get 190 incident points in 6 laps practicing in rookie legends with only 3 other cars in the session?

rofl

Quote from tinvek :

did anyone else see the epic thread on the general forum.. how the hell does a pro licence holder get 190 incident points in 6 laps practicing in rookie legends with only 3 other cars in the session?

He's pro.

Quote from tinvek :

did anyone else see the epic thread on the general forum.. how the hell does a pro licence holder get 190 incident points in 6 laps practicing in rookie legends with only 3 other cars in the session?

That's entirely possible, I hopped on Skippy practise session today and couldn't even stay on track for a whole lap to post even a single laptime.
Next one went better though, claimed the fastest lap for that session.

Quote from tinvek :

did anyone else see the epic thread on the general forum.. how the hell does a pro licence holder get 190 incident points in 6 laps practicing in rookie legends with only 3 other cars in the session?

I did not, and I just looked and still don't see it haha.

Quote from UncleBenny :

I did not, and I just looked and still don't see it haha.

Must've been deleted I didn't see it either lol

Max D, just put up an epic Jetta battle on the tube. (im the green car)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RF9qY6EErcI

Good show but not as clean as I expected seing the whatever you call it rating.

It probably means the netcode is excellent to allow some brushing and tapping to the extent displayed here

Red car (Courtenay Smith apparently) was defending with an incredible rage and good success, you must have had a hard (and enjoyable) time!

Ant...we also had a great Skip Barber race on monday evening..thx for that, even you were faster than me...

Was looking forward to a battle with you, dihosdl and Franke...but someone spun in front of me on lap 2 or 3 and I couldn`t avoid hitting him and after that my steering was bad..really bad.....but I managed to keep it clean but a little bit slow..