On Wednesday March 11th iRacing will deploy their new build. The update of 12 weeks ago was a fairly small one, because season 4 of 2014 was only six weeks long. This time there is a “proper” build update and the release notes are pretty long.

iRacing has fixed a lot of bugs, changed some things to the website and almost every car has an update.
Every car now has replaceable parts, like the GT3 and World Sports Car Series cars already have. Also the suspension modeling will get an update, which might force drivers to update their ride heights and/or spring settings. Drivers now can select if they want to use the fast repair or not. This is something a lot of iRacers wanted for a long time and this also will avoid a lot of frustration in (hosted) races.

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There are also some new things in this build. The long awaited Autodromo Nazionale di Monza is finally here. This classic track has 9(!) different configurations: three variations of the GP circuit, the junior circuit, the historic oval left and right turning, and three variations which combine the high banked oval with the modern GP circuit.

Also two new cars, or trucks, are in this build. The Chevrolet Silverado and the Toyota Tundra are now available. These two trucks will replace the old Chevrolet Silverado.

A month ago iRacing announced they have extended their NASCAR license for another six years. This now shows in the names of the cars, and maybe the series too. Previously the top tier stock cars were called eg. Ford Fusion-Gen6. Now this will be NASCAR Sprint Cup Ford Fusion. As you can see, iRacing now can use the official and full name of the series. This also goes for some other NASCAR Series.

Below are the full release notes for this build. Enjoy.

WEBSITE:

Navigation and Site Organization
– Member Site global wrapper has been cleaned up, navigation has been reorganized to help new and old users find things more intuitively.
– The News Room, Race Guide, and Hosted Races pages now contain friendly buttons to help you jump to most main activities (Practice, Popular Races & Practices, Official Races, and Hosted Races).
– Many redundant dashboard widgets have been removed due to redundancy. The only ones that are being left in are the Race Planner and the Service Status widgets, which can be reordered, but not removed.
– The What’s Hot widget has been removed and replaced with a full-page Popular Races guide – same data, more useful.
– The Settings panel has only one pane of settings, because there are no widgets to configure, and no tickers.
– There’s an Store Overview page now, that lets you see all that iRacing has for sale at-a-glance.

Documentation
– The Quick Start guide has been revamped, and is actually quick now.
– Paint Policy and Unofficial policies have been updated (new pdfs).

Leagues
– On the page for Ignored League Applications, clicking the red X will now delete the correct entry.
– Leagues now can track & edit Team Standings for individual League Seasons.
– League Session tooltips are now consolidated, and grow to the left to stay within the global wrapper.
– League Seasons are now sorted by the most recent races that have occurred.
– League Members may now opt out of receiving league mail.
– Fixed an issue where parsing fixed setups for league races would sometimes lead to a page not loading fully.
– Added an error state for max-lengths of League Member nicknames.

Teams
– Added a button within My Teams to allow people to willingly leave a team.
– Transfer of Team Ownership now works as intended.
– Fixed a bug in the Team Registration dialogue where selecting a car in a multiclass session would sometimes load the car image either in a huge form, or would never let the loading indicator go away.
– Fixed Team Session Details rollover tooltips to properly show GMT dates/times & local times.
– On “My Profile”, a link in “my last 10 races” will now link to a team’s page, where applicable.

General
– Racepanel tooltips now expand upwards to keep them within the global wrapper.
– Repaired the spotters page so that it loads in all situations correctly, and will display errors that were being lost in some operations.
– Earned Credits and MPR statistics have been moved to the “My Profile” page.
– 11 sets of Series assets have been updated to prevent the issue where the fixed, teams, and multiclass banners won’t overlap.
– We fixed an issue where sometimes on results, you wouldn’t be able to see your fastest lap.
– The log in page now has a different internal structure, so that certain password keepers won’t incorrectly send users to the wrong place.
– Some results show relevant data where “- – -” was displaying.
– Fixed an issue where track configs sometimes would disappear from the testing panel.
– If a series is active, but doesn’t have any scheduled sessions, it now reports that there aren’t any, instead of showing “purchase required.”
– Fixed an issue with joining a friend’s race from the fixed footer where members could potentially get misregistered.
– Racepanel & Testpanel car forum links are removed.
– When editing “My Profile”, a cancel button now shows if you want to cancel. Error messages are more robust if something goes wrong while editing.

Steam
– Existing iRacing users who didn’t sign up using Steam may now generate a steam key to link their iRacing & Steam accounts. Here’s how:

1) Go to “My Account”, and at the bottom of the page there’s a button to generate a Steam Key – click it.
2) Open Steam, and in the top-level menu, click Games, and then click Activate a Product on Steam…
3) Follow the steps on-screen until you’re asked for a Steam Key. Type in your Steam Key, then submit it. If you already have iRacing installed on your system, you don’t need to install it again via Steam in the steps following activation.
4) Finally, enable the Steam Overlay in iRacing by doing any one of these:

· Click the “Click here to enable it” button on account home once you’ve generated your key. This will automatically enable the Steam Overlay.
· Opening your settings dashboard on any page within the main membersite and turn Steam Overlay on under the section marked “Use Steam Overlay.”
· Open or create “_use64bit.txt” in the iRacing installation directory, type the number 1 into it, and save it.

Simulation:

UI
– Add max percent fuel fill and weight penalty to the Info tab on the session screen.
– We now display the total number of available fast repairs that are available for a race on the Session screen’s Info tab.
– Fix a bug where you could potentially get the Options screen to open up while you also entered the car at the same time.

Physics
– Improved the suspension modeling to account for flexibility of the suspension mounting points. This softens the resulting wheel rate of every car by 2-20% depending on the car. Car setups are likely to fail tech inspection and will need to have their ride heights adjusted to restore their previous levels, and also may need to have slightly stiffer springs selected to offset the extra flex and to regain desired handling characteristics. Most cars have had some degree of tuning to make sure there are no problems with suspension travel and to make sure enough range of adjustment is available.
– All of our cars have updated iRacing setups adjusted for these suspension changes.
– All cars now drop into the world with a warmed up motor, they start at about 170F / 77C now instead of ambient air temp.
– Official sessions can now have a per-car weight penalty and a per-car fuel-fill limit, similar to what is available when Hosted sessions are created. These settings are displayed on the Info tab on the Session screen inside the simulation. We will work on getting the values displayed in appropriate places on the web site. For the moment these values are not used in any series. But they are available to help tune the balance of performance in multi-car series as the season progresses.

Updating
– Made some changes to help repair the iRacing installation when a “Failed to verify signature on program executable” error occurs while trying to launch the simulator. This can happen when Windows is “restored” from a restore point, which unfortunately only restores some of our files and causes our installation to become corrupt.

Replay
– Add in a “video timer”, for the broadcasters, that indicates on the display exactly where in the tape you are so you can easily synchronize videos between live driving and a replay tape.
– Added a keyboard macro to fast forward the replay based on session number and session time. Using the number pad, type +num+time, following the format of the new video timer display.

Telemetry
– Add in new iRSDK remote message to fast forward replay based on a session number and session time.
– Output shock velocity to telemetry.

Fast Repairs
– All cars now have a checkbox in the F4 Fuel black box to allow the driver to choose whether or not they want to use a fast repair in the upcoming pitstop. Also shown beside the checkbox is the number of remaining fast repairs. If a race is configured for unlimited fast repairs, that will show as 255 remaining. The checkbox will not check when no fast repairs are remaining (0 shown). Fast repairs are only available for use during races, so during testing or practice or qualifying you will see 0 fast repairs remaining.

Driver Swap
– Fixed a problem with the way the client notifies the server that pit service is complete. If that notification was generated very frequently (due to a bug), it would prevent other notifications from being sent to the server, such as requests to get out of the car.
– Fix a bug where getting out of your car while in your pit stall when the pit exit is closed during a caution period could cause an exit closed pits black flag.

Drafting
– Updated general drafting behavior a little to improve racing.

Clubs
– NE and Texas Club logos updated.

Cars:

All cars except Dallara DW12, Star Mazda and Williams F1
– The pitcrew can now replace parts that are damaged beyond repair, instead of simply ending your race with a disqualification for being too damaged.
This piece of text has been removed from a lot of cars, because it becomes very repetitive and it save a lot of space. We believe now all cars, except the cars mentioned above, have the new repair model.

Cadillac CTS-V Racecar
– Wheels are now color changeable.

Chevrolet Corvette C6.R GT1
– Updated to 4-way dampers.
– Fix bad chassis ballast metric/english conversion.

Chevrolet Impala Old Class B
– Remove wedge adjustment cap as it can cause problems building a setup.
– Allow 10″ of perch adjustment at each corner.
– Drafting adjustments.
– Plate engine updates.
– Set correct gear, and superspeedway drafting for Monza.

Chevrolet Impala-COT
– Remove wedge adjustment cap as it can cause problems building a setup.
– Allow 10″ of perch adjustment at each corner.
– Removed right rear perch limit that can cause problems.
– Drafting updates.
– New power curves and rev limits.
– Diff adjustments.
– Plate engine updates.
– Fixed the bug where if you tried to set more than 80% tape during a race pitstop the pitstop would never end. The problem was that the car was being limited to 80% tape for the race, but the pitcrew did not know about that limit. Now they do.

Chevrolet Monte Carlo SS
– Fixed a unit precision error and typo with how the metric value for ballast weight position is displayed.

Chevrolet Silverado – circa 2013
– The Chevrolet Silverado has been renamed to Chevrolet Silverado – circa 2013.
– The pitcrew can now replace parts that are damaged beyond repair, instead of simply ending your race with a disqualification for being too damaged.
– Allow 10″ of perch adjustment at each corner.
– Updates to drafting.
– Updates to gear selections.
– Plate engine updates.
– Weight brought to NASCAR legal limit.
– Increase downforce at superspeedway tracks.
– Add splitter to ground proximity efficiency.

Dallara DW12
– Eliminated the “soft” 3rd bump rubber option.
– Increase maximum spring rates at ovals.
– Add provisions to get a draggy Speedway setup at Monza by increasing IndySWY aero to allow +10 rear wing angle. This will have the side effect allowing that same setting at Indianapolis also.

All V8 Supercars (Holden, Ford and the old Ford)
– The pitcrew can now replace parts that are damaged beyond repair, instead of simply ending your race with a disqualification for being too damaged.

Ford GT
– Rear video camera redone to reduce distortion.

Ford GT GT3
– Updates using the latest FIA Homologation Papers: engine parameters including torque curve and maximum RPM, gearbox and differential, brakes, suspension geometry, suspension spring rate ranges, and ride height ranges.
– Shift lights adjusted.

Ford Mustang FR500S
– The pitcrew can now replace parts that are damaged beyond repair, instead of simply ending your race with a disqualification for being too damaged.

HPD ARX-01c
– The nose is now fully repairable.

Lotus 49
– Allow the car more suspension droop travel and open up the ride height limits in the rear.

NASCAR Camping World Chevrolet Silverado
– The NASCAR Camping World Chevrolet Silverado Truck is now available. These trucks each weigh 3400lbs with 625 horsepower. They will debut in the NASCAR iRacing Class C Series and NASCAR iRacing Class Series Fixed.
– The Existing or “Old” Chevy Silverado will no longer be used in the normal official Series. It will be renamed: Chevy Silverado – circa 2013.
– Physics is identical to the new NASCAR Camping World Toyota Tundra, the two trucks can share setups.

NASCAR Camping World Toyota Tundra
– The NASCAR Camping World Toyota Tundra Truck is now available. These trucks each weigh 3400lbs with 625 horsepower. They will debut in the NASCAR iRacing Class C Series and NASCAR iRacing Class Series Fixed.
– Physics is identical to the new NASCAR Camping World Chevrolet Silverado, the two trucks can share setups.

NASCAR K&N Pro Chevrolet Impala
– The Chevrolet National Impala has been renamed to NASCAR K&N Pro Chevrolet Impala.
– Allow 10″ of perch adjustment at each corner.
– Drafting adjustments.
– Plate engine updates.
– Control drag and downforce with splitter height.
– Set correct gear, and superspeedway drafting for Monza.
– Fixed the bug where if you tried to set more than 80% tape during a race pitstop the pitstop would never end. The problem was that the car was being limited to 80% tape for the race, but the pitcrew did not know about that limit. Now they do.

NASCAR Sprint Cup Chevrolet SS, NASCAR Sprint Cup Ford Fusion, NASCAR Sprint Cup Toyota Camry
– The Chevrolet SS-Gen6 has been renamed to NASCAR Sprint Cup Chevrolet SS.
– The Ford Fusion-Gen6 has been renamed to NASCAR Sprint Cup Ford Fusion.
– The Toyota Camry-Gen6 has been renamed to NASCAR Sprint Cup Toyota Camry.

– Make fuel adjustable in qualifying sessions.
– Now uses ‘shock springs’ which replace bumpstops.
– Suspension geometry is adjusted.
– Rear bar is usable at road courses only.
– Reduce ballast weight by 50 lb to match new 3250 lb car weight rule.
– Rear shock damping increased 1.5x on the high side.
– Downforce and drag scaled to 2015 specifications, which is less than 2014.
– Drafting updates.
– New power curves and rev limits.
– Plate engine updates.
– Diff adjustments.
– Rear non Super Speedway spoilers and contingency decals updated to 2015 season rules.
– New shift light RPM at 9000 due to new rev limit and power curve.
– Fixed the bug where if you tried to set more than 80% tape during a race pitstop the pitstop would never end. The problem was that the car was being limited to 80% tape for the race, but the pitcrew did not know about that limit. Now they do.
– New pit road war wagons.
– FORD FUSION ONLY: Fix for nose and rear disappearing at extreme distances.

NASCAR Whelen Tour Modified
– The Modified – Tour has been renamed to NASCAR Whelen Tour Modified.

NASCAR XFINITY Chevrolet Camaro, NASCAR XFINITY Ford Mustang
– The Chevrolet Camaro Class B has been renamed to NASCAR XFINITY Chevrolet Camaro.
– The Ford Mustang Class B has been renamed to NASCAR XFINITY Ford Mustang.
– Allow 10″ of perch adjustment at each corner.
– Drafting adjustments.
– Plate engine updates.
– Control drag and downforce with splitter height.
– Set correct gear, and superspeedway drafting for Monza.
– Fixed the bug where if you tried to set more than 80% tape during a race pitstop the pitstop would never end. The problem was that the car was being limited to 80% tape for the race, but the pitcrew did not know about that limit. Now they do.
– New pit road war wagons.

Pontiac Solstice
– Fixed the Rookie’s tire black box to show the actual cold pressure of 32 psi instead of an incorrect 3.2 psi.

Radical SR8
– Fixed problems with bumpstop engagement, coil binding springs, hyper-extending shocks and damping, allow more spring and shock travel. The shocks have been rebuilt as linear, instead of digressive, with more high speed damping than before.

Riley MkXX Daytona Prototype
– Added an aero calculator to the garage.
– Now has a replaceable nose and wing.

SCCA Spec Racer Ford
– Wheels are now color changeable.
– Brake rotor glow enabled.

Super Late Model
– Fixed a unit precision error and typo with how the metric value for ballast weight position is displayed.
– Changed from adjustable packer and bumpstop stiffness to only adjustable packer.

Williams-Toyota FW31
– Reduce rear downforce loss with rear car damage – testers noting it’s fairly sensitive.
– Reduce downforce loss with aerodynamic stall. This will gain some downforce above 260kph but not a whole hell of a lot.
– Give low downforce trim a bit more advantage.
– Updates to the shock and spring ranges.

TRACKS:

– Improved traffic cone 3D models and textures.

Autodromo Nazionale Monza
– Autodromo Nazionale Monza is now available. Monza has three very different tracks: the 3.6 mile Grand Prix circuit which hosts the Italian Grand Prix, a 1.49 mile Junior circuit, and the 2.64 mile Pista di Alta Velocita (the high banked oval).
– iRacing’s Monza features nine configurations: three variations of the GP circuit, the junior circuit, the historic oval left and right turning, and three variations which combine the high banked oval with the modern GP circuit.

Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps
– Make sure brake markers are visible even with minimal graphic settings.

Gateway Motorsports Park
– Make sure the crowd in the Main and Turn 12 stands disappears if the graphic detail settings are low enough to turn off the grandstand.

Michigan International Speedway
– Turn 4 grandstand crowds no longer disappear at long distances.