Friday, April 30, 2010

Test Drive Unlimited 2 - First Look Interview

Eden Games Senior Producer Nour Polloni details the open world of Test Drive Unlimited 2 where you can meet and challenge other racers in exotic locations.

Test Drive Unlimited 2 for Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and Windows PC. Developed by Eden Games and published by Atari.

Split/Second - Survival Mode Featurette

Disney Interactive Studios have released a new trailer. Game Director Nick Baynes hits the finer points of Split/Second's survival mode in this featurette.

Split/Second is an intense arcade action racing game set within the world of a hyper-competitive reality TV show. Competitors vie to be the first across the finish line in a made-for-TV city built for destruction, with the ultimate goal of being the season champion.

Codemasters Racing Pack 75% Off On Steam


DiRT, DiRT 2, FUEL, GRID and ToCA Race Driver 3 are bundled together on Steam as the Codemasters Racing Pack. Collectively, the pack costs $17.50/€16.00/£12.50, down from $69.99/€63.99/£49.99, or, if you prefer, you can purchase the titles individually.

DiRT for €2.25 (€8.99)
DiRT 2 for €12.49 (€49.99)
FUEL for €3.49 (€13.99)
GRID for €6.24 (€24.99)
TOCA Race Driver 3 for €2.24 (€8.99)

More info at Steam Store.

Thursday, April 29, 2010

iRacing.com - Ford V8 Supercar & Phillip Island available now

Two of the most highly anticipated additions to the iRacing catalogue are now available - the Ford Falcon FG01 and Phillip Island. A mainstay of the hugely popular Australian V8 Supercar Championship, the Falcon packs 635 horsepower into its sleek but muscular package, while Phillip Island packs a lifetime of challenges into its 12-turn, 2.7-mile seaside layout.

Phillip Island is steeped in the history of Australian motor racing. A circuit composed of the island's interior roads was used for the original Australian Grand Prix in 1928 and continued to be used for the race up until 1935.

The circuit closed in the late 1970s, but was redeveloped and re-opened in 1989 to host the first international version of the Australian motorcycle Grand Prix. It continues to host the race today and is also a venue for the Superbike World Championship, V8 Supercars and the Australian Drivers' Championship.

 

F1 2010 – Extended Second Developer Diary

Codemasters have released an extended version of their second developer diary video that was released few days ago.

Test Drive Unlimited 2 - Trailer

Atari has released first trailer from their upcoming racing video game Test Drive Unlimited 2.

Test Drive Unlimited 2 is set on the island of Ibiza. The developers at Eden Studios used actual topographic information to design the environment and recreated a number of the island's towns in detail. All the road networks are designed to be as true to life as possible, so players will feel like they're really racing on Ibiza itself. The island has a full day/night cycle (and weather effects!) which spans approximately two hours, so players will be driving their cars of choice through rainy nights and brilliant sunsets.

Test Drive Unlimited 2 is scheduled for release this fall for the PC, Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3.

Wednesday, April 28, 2010

Split/Second - Power Plant Trailer

Disney Interactive Studios have released a new power plant trailer from Split/Second. It shows off some action from Black Rock Studio's racing game as competitors make their way through the destruction of a power plant. You might want to hit the fallout shelters, as the plant appears to be a nuclear plant, and the final scene shows one of the cooling towers exploding.

Things are getting explosive, and it will only take a split/second to go nuclear.

Split/Second is scheduled for release on May 18th 2010 for the PC, Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3.

Tuesday, April 27, 2010

NASCAR iRacing Drivers World Championship - Talladega

iRacing.com has released a video recap of the 6th round 2010 NASCAR iRacing Drivers World Championship at Talladega Super Speedway.

iRacing.com - Release Notes for 2010 Season 2

Grant Reeve has posted release notes for new 2010 Season 2.

Multi-Class
We have added support for multi-car / multi-class official series and hosted racing.

When you join a multi-car / multi-class session you will see a new modal car selection popup that prompts you to choose what car you will drive in the session. If you always run the same car in a given series and you don’t want to be prompted to select a car every time you register for a session you can click on a link in this dialog to hide the dialog in the future. If you choose to disable the dialog in this way you can still change your car by clicking the “Change” link on the race panel or by going to the “Car Selection” page under “Series” in the navigation bar. You can also re-enable the modal popup by clicking the “ENABLE MULTICLASS POPUP” button on the new “General” tab on the settings panel. You can access the settings panel by clicking on the icon on the right edge of the navigation bar.

Please note that for hosted sessions and open practices you cannot change cars after you have registered for a session so be careful to get it right the first time.

When you create a hosted session you can now configure up to 3 different car types for inclusion in the session. You’ll notice new + / - buttons to the right of the car pulldown for this purpose. There is also a new radio that determines how we group your cars into classes. The default is to put all of the cars into the same class. The result is a single-class session with multiple car types all competing against each other. If you select the “One class per car” option the session will be treated as a multi-class session where there we use a distinct class for each car type.

Each additional car type added to an event increases load times for each participant and also consumes substantial amounts of memory. Note that some lower end computers may not be able to successfully fit all of the graphical resources required for multiple cars into video memory and may encounter loading errors at startup.

You must own all the cars included in a multi-class event in order to participate.

If a session has multiple classes you will see a new button bar at the top of the event results that allows you to view class-specific results or view the overall results.

The “Join a Race” page should show you what cars are configured for the session.

Any mouseover popups that display the number of registered drivers will now display the number of registered drivers by class. These fields will also overlay a multi-class icon if the session is configured for multiple classes / multiple cars.

Any mouseover popups that display the drivers in a session will display the car that each driver selected.

Any mouseover popups that display a dynamic list of drivers in a session (hosted sessions, open practice) will provide a class dropdown to filter the list of drivers.

The series page has a new multi-class filter that you can use to display only multi-class series.

It is important to note that with multi-class series there are multiple simultaneous competitions taking place. As a result when you view series stats on either the series home page or series stats page you will need to select a car class to view.

The results archive has been extended to include a car class filter and display the car class.

The replays page has been extended to include a car class filter.

The last 10 races section of the personal / driver stats page has been modified to display the series and car. We also added the winner’s helmet and the race splits popups.

The last 3 series section of the personal / driver stats page has been modified to include the car class.

The reigning champions gadget has been extended to display the champion of each class in a series.

Within the sim, multiple classes are shown as having a different background color per class behind a car's car number in the various entries and results pages, and in the black boxes. The F2 and F3 black boxes can cycle classes shown using the left and right arrow keys, and re-center on you with the space bar. The F1 black box’s car ahead and behind entries display cars in your class when available. If you are the last or first car in your class, then the first or last car out of your class will be displayed instead.

Service Status Gadget
- This has been extended to display the most recent postings in the iRacing.com Staff Announcements forum.

Race Panel Series Selection
- The race panel has been extended to include a series pulldown that allows you to easily change series without going to the series page.

Splits / Deltas
Sector split times and deltas are available for use as a driving training and improvement tool. In the driving screen, use the Tab key to cycle comparison modes.

The intent of this mechanism is as a driver learning aid to help you figure out how to drive more consistently and faster. As such, it's purely client side and has no communication of any kind with anyone else. It has nothing to do with race control or scoring. You won't be able to see anyone elses splits or deltas. Think of it as running a timing box on the dash of your car while you're out on track.

A track is divided into multiple sectors. The Split/Delta system keeps track of your best efforts through each sector. If you do anything in a sector that is "bad", such as gathering any kind of incident point, triggering a gained time, or spinning, or driving backwards, or whatever, then that sector is marked as not being valid (or might even be completely thrown out!). When a sector or lap is considered invalid it will show a * in front of the sector or lap time. This is actually a more strict check than how race control keeps track of best laps of a session, so you may sometimes see your event results reporting a faster fast lap than the Split/Delta tool recorded.

All ovals have a single split at the half way point, giving two sectors. Road courses have split points defined in places where it makes sense - a few corners followed by a straight - so that each independant element off the track can be seperated for analysis.

The Split/Delta system keeps track of your best lap of the session, as well as each individual best sector of the session. The sequence of these best sectors combined together make up your Optimal Lap. This is an indication of how fast you could be if you hit all your sectors as good as you have driven them. Each sector and lap you complete is also compared against your best overall sectors and laps you have ever done for this car and track combination. These overall best and optimal laps are saved to disk at the end of your event so that the lap information is still there for the next time you visit the track.

Currently the system has 7 display modes that you can cycle through with the Tab key:

1- No display. But it is still quietly storing all your information in the background anyway.

2- versus your Overall Best Lap. The Delta compares against your best ever lap you have driven. If you have not yet completed a best lap, it will compare against the optimal sectors that you have registered so far.

3- versus your Overall Optimal Lap. The Delta compares against your best ever sectors you have driven combined together, representing your current "perfect" lap.

4- versus your Overall Optimal Sectors. The Delta compares against your best ever sectors you have driven, but the Delta resets to zero at the beginning of every sector.

5- versus your Session Best Lap. The Delta compares against your best ever lap you have driven. If you have not yet completed a best lap, it will compare against the optimal sectors that you have registered so far.

6- versus your Session Optimal Lap. The Delta compares against your best sectors you have driven in this session combined together, representing your current "perfect" lap of this session.

7- versus your Session Optimal Sectors. The Delta compares against your best sectors you have driven in this session, but the Delta resets to zero at the beginning of every sector.

This display is always off when you first join an event. When transitioning to gridding for a race, the display will turn off if you had it visible, but you may still turn the display back on for the race. During a race the available comparisons will only be against your driving within the race, not against your prior overall bests, and will not save to disk.

The primary components of this system are the Delta Bar and Delta Time elements (Delta is a term for difference). This bar and time display just below where the virtual mirror shows, just above your eyeline when you are looking down the track. When you're busy staring at the track while driving, the intent is that you can still easily identify whether you're ahead or behind, and gaining or losing time, relative to some previous best sector, out of the corner of your eye, without losing focus on your driving of the track.

The Delta Bar fills in from the center to either the left or the right. Left means you're behind the lap that is being compared against, right means you're ahead. The current range of the Delta Bar is +/- 2 seconds for road courses, and +/- 0.5 seconds for ovals. This range can be adjusted in your app.ini. The Delta Time shows the exact amount you are ahead or behind. This number is + for being behind, - for being ahead, and red for behind, green for ahead, and white for about equal. The Delta Time is placed directly below the bar, it moves left and right as the end of the Delta Bar moves.

The Delta Bar's color changes with whether you are gaining or losing time. If you are going faster at this particular spot on the track than the lap being compared against, the Delta Bar will be moving to the right, the Delta Time number will be moving to the right too (and it's number will be moving in the negative direction), then we color the Delta Bar with green. If you're losing time, it colors red.

As an example, imagine trying out braking deeper into a turn: as you brake later, you're travelling faster in the braking zone, so you gain time. The Delta bar and Delta Text will move rightwards, the Delta Bar will color green. Oh no, you've gone too deep in the corner! Your corner exit is ruined, so now the Delta Bar and Delta Text move leftwards, and the Delta Bar colors red. You can see all of this out of the corner of your eye, so you can get a quick feeling of what is better or worse while not having to take your eyes of the track while lapping.

Another component is the information panel in the lower left. The upper portion is showing recent sectors. The sector you are currently in is always at the top, with a golden colored time that increments as the sector is in progress. The next line down is the previous sector that you just completed. Then up to 3 prior sectors are shown, but dimmed out. Then there is the Split/Delta's notion of what it thinks your last laptime was, your best laptime, and your optimal laptime. The Split/Delta system keeps track of your laps independantly of Race Control's timing and scoring efforts.

The sector information shows your time for each sector, and a delta against either your best lap's sector, or your optimal lap's sector, depending on the display mode you are using. If a sector is a new personal best for this session, it's time is shown in purple instead of white.

On the Replay screen there is a small "Splits" tab in the lower right. Opening this tab will give an overview of your current splits for this car and track combination. You can view either your overall or session optimal and best split and lap times. You can click on an optimal sector or the optimal lap or best lap to select that item, then use the Clear or Replace buttons to clear the selected item, or replace the selected item with sectors or laps. Eg: you can clear your overall optimal lap, or replace your overall optimal lap with your session optimal lap or overall best lap.

Networking
- Voice chat now sent on top of bandwidth cap so cars will not blink in and out when people are chatting.
- New option in app.ini [graphics] serverTransmitMaxCars to limit how many cars the server transmits to you without needing to use the dialup setting to limit your bandwidth. The intent of this setting is only intended to help out people with slower computers. Setting the value higher does not cause the server to transmit any more cars than it could fit into your bandwidth already. The range is from 10 to 64. This is adjustable in graphics settings tab as 'Max Cars:'

Race Control
- Added a rule to penalize people who stay within another car while in a non-collidable state to get artificially improved drafting. After 5 seconds of being within another car when outside of the pitlane and over 10 mph a warning to cease overlapping will appear with a furled black flag. After 10 seconds a stop and go black flag will be issued.
- The reckless driving black flag for driving backwards now becomes less strict the further from the defined racing lines a car is. This helps to minimize accidental reckless driving black flags when a driver is lost out in the weeds at wide open tracks like Phillip Island, or if people drive off down access roads to park at the end of a race.

Cameras
- Initial pass at 'director mode' that aims the camera at the most exiting thing. It support's three modes:
* Focus on Leader - Always shows the lead car, pacing is only updated once per lap so this can be off for a while.
* Focus on Crashes - If there is a wreck, we aim at it, otherwise we aim at the most exciting shot.
* Most Exciting - This tries to focus on the closest races.
- Effects of cars briefly disappearing on the camera aiming code should be reduced.
- Added a new hotkey to let you key in camera/driver transitions: '*' on the number pad.
**
examples:
*12 - focus on car #12 but keep current camera
*12*3 - focus on car #12 and camera group 3
**3 - keep current focus car but switch to camera group 3

- Analog mapping of driver look left/right was backwards, fixed now.
- Pasting a group of cameras followed by deleting the group should now set the active camera to be the original starting group, instead of the group below it.
- Added new mode that makes all camera edits temporary, so the changes made are lost when the camera changes.
- Add a 10x multiplier to key acceleration for fast edits without removing fine grain control.
- The display now refreshes when editing VanishX/Y and Near Plane while sim is paused.
- Look left/right controls and steering wheel controls are separated from the camtool so they can be mapped to the same axis while driving and editing.
- New Split Screen mode that separates the user interface form the rendered track, so that you can control the cameras in real time while capturing video. Use ctrl-alt-shift-home to cycle the modes, and ctrl-alt-shift-page up/down to move the split.

Voice and Text Chat
- It is now possible to mute individual drivers.
- Incoming voice chat notifications are hidden when driving and voice chat is muted.
- Added muted indicator to voice chat notifications.
- Doubled the time the voice chat indicators stay on screen.
- Text chat can be disabled and enabled (while driving only) with a hot key.

Misc
- Owners of a hosted session can now permanently remove a driver from a race by typing the following command in the chat window:
!remove #32 - remove given car number
!remove smith - remove driver with last name smith (first one found!)
!remove john.smith - remove driver with name john.smith
 
- Added app.ini setting [View] DriverRotateHead=0.0-1.0. This lets the drivers head rotate as the car spins and may help some drivers see a spin more easily. Try a value of 0.2 for a reasonable effect. Defaults to 0.0.
- Added app.ini setting [View] DriverHeadWobble=0.0 to 1.0. This limits how much the drivers head wobbles when hitting bumps. Defaults to 1.0. This is useful to set to 0.0 for motion platforms.
- Added app.ini setting [replay] noRpyCtrlsOnNumpad=0/1 to remove all replay bindings from number pad permanently. This is primarily for live broadcasters so they do not accidentally pause the session while controlling the cameras.

Graphics
- ATI adaptive AA has bugs where trees go missing or blend into the sky, etc. A work around has been added that helps the situation. If the issue still appears, you can enable even more workarounds to try to help in renderer.ini:
[Graphics Options]
ATIAdaptiveAAFix=1 ; 0=off, 1=try to fix ATI adaptive AA driver bugs

Cars
- Many cars now have additional patterns and sponsor decals.
- Fixed a bug that had caused all fuel tanks to add their fuel at the center of mass of every car. Some cars will now have a much greater change in balance between full to low fuel.

Impala A
- Torque distributed into the live axle is more correct. This makes the car more stable on throttle in left turns.
- The wing has been replaced with the new spoiler.
- Rear quarter panels adjusted for 4 inch drop.
- Increased power, rev limit and altered drag to correspond with 2010 Daytona 500 qualifying and race pace speeds.
- Decreased engine cooling with qualifying tape configuration at Super Speedway tracks.
- The physical collision model better matches the visible 3D model.
- Slightly less engine braking.

Impala B
- Torque distributed into the live axle is more correct. This makes the car more stable on throttle in left turns.
- Raised the front end of the car to more accurately model valiance clearance on race track and reduce tire through fender issue. Setups will need to be altered as moving the front end has moved suspension geometry, increasing or decreasing static camber displayed in the garage.
- Increased weight of the vehicle by 178 lbs to 3585 lbs, as per NASCAR rules.
- Increased drag at all tracks to correlate better with real life top speeds.
- The physical collision model better matches the visible 3D model.
- Slightly less engine braking.

Silverado
- Torque distributed into the live axle is more correct. This makes the car more stable on throttle in left turns.
- Small update to tire wear rate for all tires and grip change at Super Speedway tracks.
- Differentials clamped for each track.
- Increased weight as per NASCAR minimum requirements.
- Edited ride height limits.
- Slightly less engine braking.

Late Model
- Torque distributed into the live axle is more correct. This makes the car more stable on throttle in left turns.

Silver Crown
- Torque distributed into the live axle is more correct. This makes the car more stable on throttle in left turns.

SK Modified
- Weight reduced to legal limit, with full legal left side weight bias.

Star Mazda
- Tires updated to feel better to drive after they had unintentionally become more slippery than desired after changes in recent seasons.
- The physical collision model better matches the visible 3D model.

C6R Corvette
- Tires updated to feel better to drive after they had unintentionally become more slippery than desired after changes in recent seasons.
- The physical collision model better matches the visible 3D model.
- Slightly less engine braking.
- Show gain/loss on dashboard. This gain/loss is against your best clean lap of the current session.

Monday, April 26, 2010

iRacing.com - IVR Promo Video 2010

Jefferson Greff  has made a promo video for IVR League 2010 you should see. Enjoy!

netKar PRO - Preview of Mugello race track

Radiator Springs Racing team has released a preview video of their new project - Mugello race track for netKar PRO. Video shows a lap around the track in the Fiat 500 Abarth.

Mugello Circuit (Autodromo Internazionale del Mugello) is a race track in the Mugello region of Italy near Florence. Its length is 5.245 km. It has 15 turns and a long straight. The track is used for Formula One testing, mainly by Scuderia Ferrari.

Sunday, April 25, 2010

InsideSimRacing: Episode 63

InsideSimRacing.tv has released a new episode 63. For this episodes top story, Jessica Lopez and Shaun Cole build a gaming/racing PC from scratch, Darin Gangi and Shaun show you some external displays for iRacing and rFactor. Retro review for this episode is Enthusia by Konami for the Playstation 2. In the segment "Top Sim Cars of All Time" they present rFactor mod CART Factor and Supra GT500 from GTR2.

Split/Second - Making Of: Power Plays

Disney Interactive Studios have released a new "Making of" video from Split/Second. The second chapter in a series of behind-the-scenes videos on the making of Split/Second entitled "Power Plays" shows how the development team at Black Rock Studio created power plays and how these explosive events can be used to take down your opponents.

In Split/Second, players take part in a fictional reality TV programme where participants race for money and glory. Throughout a race, players can build up their "powerplay" meter by performing stunts such as jumps and precision driving such as passing very close to objects and drifting. As the player builds up their meter, special events can be triggered which create obstacles for other players, create shortcuts or alter the race course entirely. These triggers are also activated by the player's AI opponents.

Split/Second is scheduled for release on May 18th 2010 for the PC, Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3.

Saturday, April 24, 2010

Blur - Beta Walkthrough Trailer

Activision has released a new video for Blur showing in-game footage, and developers talk about different weapons you can use to destroy your opponents in the race.
Blur is an upcoming arcade racing game, it features a racing style that incorporates real world cars and locales with arcade style handling and vehicular combat.

You will find more info about the game at their official website www.blurgame.com

F1 2010 – Second Developer Diary

Codemasters have released the second developer diary video showing ingame footage of the Monaco Grand Prix circuit. Video also shows Formula One test driver Anthony Davidson who talks about handling in F1 2010 game.
Codemasters will bring the F1 2010 to PC, Xbox 360 and Playstation 3 in September 2010.

Friday, April 23, 2010

iRacing.com - Grand Prix Masters promotion

Grand Prix Tours and iRacing.com bring you the Grand Prix Masters! All iRacing members may compete in this one-week simulated racing series for a spot in the Final Race with a real Formula 1 Driver and a chance to win great prizes including:
  • The Grand Prize — a Dell Studio 17 Laptop powered by Intel® Core™ i7 Quad Core Processor ($1,700 USD value)
  • Second Place — a Dell Inspiron Mini 10 netbook ($300 USD value)
  • Third Place– an iRacing Prize Pack including a $100 credit, die-cast car, and cap. 
The series is open to all iRacing members! If you’re not yet a member, join today and get a 1 Month Basic Membership including Star Mazda and Mosport for only $10. For activation use this link or enter “PR-GPMASTERS” on the Subscription page.
Click Here for official contest rules.

Thursday, April 22, 2010

iRacing.com - Preview video Ford Falcon V8 Supercar & Phillip Island

iRacing.com has released a first preview video of Ford Falcon V8 Supercar & Phillip Island race track showing the car from TV, chopper and cockpit view.
Pre-order the Aussie Ford V8 Super Car + Phillip Island Circuit and iRacing will give you $6 iRacing credits! All you have to do is buy them both between 5.4.2010 and 23.4.2010. iRacing will automatically send your bonus credits the week of the 26th.
The Aussie V8 and Phillip Island will be available for download during the 13th week of Season 1, or shortly thereafter. Bonus credits are in addition to any volume discounts you are eligible for. Limit one $6 iRacing credit per account. Purchases must be made between 00:01 GMT on 5.4.2010 (19:01 EDT 4.4.10) and 23:59 GMT on 23.4.2010 (18:59 EDT on 4.23.10) to qualify.

Wednesday, April 21, 2010

iRacing.com - Talladega 499 & 312

iRacing TV channel at YouTube has released a promotion video about upcoming races of the 2010 iRacing World Tour. Next two races will take place at Talladega Superspeedway this weekend.
First up is the iRacing.com Talladega 312 for Impala SS Class B, scheduled for Friday, April 23 at 7 pm ET (23:00 GMT). Next comes the iRacing.com Talladega 499 for Impala SS Class A (COT), slated for Saturday, April 24 at 11 am ET (15:00 GMT).
By simply racing you are automatically entered to win one of our many great NASCAR prizes. You can win $100 gift cards to the NASCAR.com Superstore, five pairs of tickets to the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Pit Crew Challenge in Charlotte, NC and one lucky winner will receive a NASCAR Racing Experience gift card good for a 'Qualifier' Driving Experience.

Tuesday, April 20, 2010

Project Tupi - New track by Reiza Studios

Reiza Studios has announced they are working on a track nicknamed “Project Tupi”. Ten preview screenshots that were posted at their website show a high detailed version of the Interlagos race track, the home of the Brazilian F1 Grand Prix.

Monday, April 19, 2010

NASCAR iRacing Drivers World Championship - Phoenix

iRacing.com has released a video recap of  the 5th round 2010 NASCAR iRacing Drivers World Championship at oval race track Phoenix International Raceway.

Split/Second - Exclusive Warehouse Strip Reveal Gameplay

Disney Interactive Studios have released a new exclusive video from Split/Second showing Warehouse Strip Reveal gameplay footage.
Do a barrel roll! Can you survive the onslaught of semis?
In Split/Second, players take part in a fictional reality TV programme where participants race for money and glory. Throughout a race, players can build up their "powerplay" meter by performing stunts such as jumps and precision driving such as passing very close to objects and drifting. As the player builds up their meter, special events can be triggered which create obstacles for other players, create shortcuts or alter the race course entirely. These triggers are also activated by the player's AI opponents.
Split/Second is scheduled for release on May 18th 2010 for the PC, Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3.

Sunday, April 18, 2010

iRacing.com - Lotus 79 at Barber Highlights

Video maker talengtp has released a video from iRacing.com showing highlights of Formula Lotus 79 Series at Barber Motorsports Park.

rFactor - Equipe Jaronn 2010 Season Promo

Video maker stabizisback has released the Equipe Jaronn 2010 Season Promo video from  rFactor with mod Historic GT & Touring Car 2.0 made by team HistorX. The video is showing the duel between two Renaults Alpine A310 at race circuit Spa Francorchamps in slow motion.

Saturday, April 17, 2010

X-Motor Racing - Version 1.25 Released

X-Motor Racing has released new version of their simulator. Changes from 1.24 to 1.25:
- Improved Tire model
- Added Turn Wheel Limit
- Physics optimization
- Improved suspension kinematics
- Improved steering system
- Improved graphics materials
- Added reflection controls slider
- Improved sound
- Added VehicleSound utility to customization sound
- Added Suspension telemetry
- Changes in engine simulation code
- Added Update master utility to manage updates
The full version is available here. If you have the full version, please online update in game menu.
X-Motor Racing is a racing simulator with accurate physics simulation. The game brings some innovation in racing simulation like a full customizable physics model. An advanced tire model, suspension, motor and more are available to tune them in the game.

Friday, April 16, 2010

Historic GT & Touring Car 2.0 – Over the limit 2

Video maker stabizisback has released a new preview video of  rFactor mod Historic GT & Touring Car 2.0 made by team HistorX. The video presents gameplay footage of new cars such as BMW 2002, Renault Alpine A310 or Ferrari 330 P4 at the end.

rFactor - F1 2010 Renault Shanghai

6e66o has released a new video from rFactor. It’s an onboard video of F1 Renault at Shanghai race circuit.

Thursday, April 15, 2010

Split/Second - Playing the Game Featurette

Disney Interactive Studios have released a new trailer of Split/Second, an upcoming action-racing video game developed by Black Rock Studio. The video shows gameplay footage and several interviews with developers.

In Split/Second, players take part in a fictional reality TV programme where participants race for money and glory. Throughout a race, players can build up their "powerplay" meter by performing stunts such as jumps and precision driving such as passing very close to objects and drifting. As the player builds up their meter, special events can be triggered which create obstacles for other players, create shortcuts or alter the race course entirely. These triggers are also activated by the player's AI opponents.

Split/Second is scheduled for release on May 18th 2010 for the PC, Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3.

F1 2010 - New rainy pictures

Codemasters have released new HD rainy screenshots from their F1 2010. They will bring the Formula One season 2010 to PC, Xbox 360 and Playstation 3 in September 2010.

Wednesday, April 14, 2010

iRacing.com - Video Contest

The inaugural iRacing.com Video Contest has reached the most exciting part of the process, the time where you get to vote for the winner. The team of experts have labored over all of the amazing entries for hours on end and have narrowed the field to four finalists:
  • Alexander Horn
  • Andrew MacPherson
  • Florian Godard
  • Christian Braun
Voting begins today so visit http://www.iracing.com/video-contest-march2010 to pick your favorite. They will tally up the votes next Friday (April 23) at noon EDT and announce the winner then.

Tuesday, April 13, 2010

iRacing.com - New videos for iRacing Video Contest

Alex Horn has released another stunning video, it is a quick promotional video of the NASCAR iRacing Drivers World Championship.
Christian Braun and Andrew MacPherson also released their videos for the contest.

Monday, April 12, 2010

iRacing.com - Florian Godard iRacing Video

Florian Godard has released his video for iRacing Video Contest showing most of iRacing cars and tracks in action. Enjoy!

F1 2010 - Official website launched

Codemasters has launched the official website F1 2010 title for the PC, the Xbox 360 and Playstation 3. They also released new in-game screenshot. It shows pitstop action at Monza race circuit.

rFactor - Preview video of Norisring 2009

Track maker Com8 has released  a preview video of the race track Norisring. Com8 is planning to recreate the 2009 DTM race and maybe also a 90's style adverts-set.
The track is 2.3 kilometers long and incorporates two hairpin corners and a long main straight. The Norisring hosts various series such as the DTM and the Porsche Carrera Cup.

Sunday, April 11, 2010

InsideSimRacing: Episode 62

InsideSimRacing.tv has released a new episode 62. This episode features the soon to be released budget wheel by Fanatec, the Porsche Carrera Wheel for the PS3 and PC tested with Gran Turismo 5 Prologue and iRacing.com. They also cover Capcoms Moto GP 09/10 for the Xbox 360 and Steelseries Siberia V2 headphones. In the segment "Top Sim Cars of All Time" you will see the Formula Armaroli and the Chevrolet Corvette C6 from rFactor.

Saturday, April 10, 2010

iRacing.com - Special Talladega promotion

iRacing.com offers a special Talladega promotion - 3 months + Talladega for only $25. It includes 3-month subscription to iRacing.com, Talladega Super Speedway, 3 cars modeled flawlessly after their real-world counterparts, 7 tracks with 14 different variations that have been laser scanned on-site to provide millimeter accuracy, rookie road racing and oval racing license.
 
For activation use this link or enter “PR-Talladega2010” on the Subscription page. Offer is valid for new members only and it expires on 30.04.2010.

rFactor - Norisring by Com8

Track maker Com8 has released first WIP screenshots of his race circuit project - Norisring. He is planning to recreate the 2009 DTM race and maybe also a 90's style adverts-set.
The track is 2.3 kilometers long and incorporates two hairpin corners and a long main straight. The Norisring hosts various series such as the DTM and the Porsche Carrera Cup.

Friday, April 9, 2010

InsideSimRacing: Episode 61

InsideSimRacing.tv has released a new episode 61. In this episode you will see a first look at rFactor 2 and interview with developer Gjon Camaj. ISR also presents the Apiga AP2 - foldable simracing rig and review of the console title for the Xbox 360 - Reflex MX vs ATV. In the segment "Top Sim Cars of All Time" you will see the Nissan Skyline R34 from rFactor and the Skip Barber Formula 2000 from iRacing.com.

Thursday, April 8, 2010

rFactor - Le Mans with Steve McQueen

Video maker ceSniperFactor has released a video from rFactor showing in-game footage of the movie "Le Mans".

Le Mans is a 1971 action film directed by Lee H. Katzin. Starring Steve McQueen, it features footage from the actual 1970 24 Hours of Le Mans race.

The movie's most memorable quote by Michael Delaney:
“A lot of people go through life doing things badly. Racing’s important to men who do it well. When you’re racing, it... it’s life. Anything that happens before or after... is just waiting.“
 

Wednesday, April 7, 2010

netKar PRO - Version 1.1 Released

Kunos Simulazioni has released the final version of netKar PRO 1.1 with several fixes. It also adds new features listed in the article.

* New Auto Update feature
* 500 Abarth AC add on car
* Aosta add on track
* New interface
* Improved phisics model
* Improved audio&graphics engine
* Support for Track IR PRO, Logitech G27 RPM LEDS
* nKPRO track Importer (KofLite.exe)

Licence for netKar PRO costs €19.90. You will get 5 circuits with various configurations and 5 five different cars, including four formula cars and the Fiat 500 Abarth.

Download >>>

iRacing.com - Alex Horn iRacing Video

Alex Horn has released a stunning video from iRacing.com showing most of iRacing cars and tracks in action. Enjoy!
 


Blur - Multiplayer Beta Trailer

Activision and Bizarre Creations have worked with Microsoft to transition the Blur multiplayer beta program to a free download on the Xbox Live Marketplace. Starting today, everyone who has a Xbox Live Gold account will be able to join in on the open beta demo.
Blur is an upcoming arcade racing game, it features a racing style that incorporates real world cars and locales with arcade style handling and vehicular combat.

Real-Time Racing - Corvette Grand Sport '63

Beta testers get ready to enjoy the ride of your life with the release of the Corvette Grand Sport '63. RTR just released a new build for you to test.

With a 6.2 liter V8 engine producing an amazing 600 bhp and 750Nm @ 5200rpm, the classic Corvette Grand Sport is the most powerful car that will be featured in an iOpener Enabled race to date!
Tomorrow (Thursday April 8 2010) at 11:00 GMT you will be able test your skills against Michiel Campagne of Tachyon Motorsport in a stunning race for three long hours.
If you are not a beta tester yet, you can pre-register for a beta key here.

Tuesday, April 6, 2010

iRacing.com - Special Offer for V8 Supercar & Phillip Island


Pre-order the Aussie Ford V8 Super Car + Phillip Island Circuit and iRacing will give you $6 iRacing credits! All you have to do is buy them both between 5.4.2010 and 23.4.2010. iRacing will automatically send your bonus credits the week of the 26th.
The Aussie V8 and Phillip Island will be available for download during the 13th week of Season 1, or shortly thereafter. Bonus credits are in addition to any volume discounts you are eligible for. Limit one $6 iRacing credit per account. Purchases must be made between 00:01 GMT on 5.4.2010 (19:01 EDT 4.4.10) and 23:59 GMT on 23.4.2010 (18:59 EDT on 4.23.10) to qualify.

Split/Second - Downtown Trailer

Disney Interactive Studios have released an in-game trailer of Split/Second, an upcoming action-racing video game developed by Black Rock Studio

In Split/Second, players take part in a fictional reality TV programme where participants race for money and glory. Throughout a race, players can build up their "powerplay" meter by performing stunts such as jumps and precision driving such as passing very close to objects and drifting. As the player builds up their meter, special events can be triggered which create obstacles for other players, create shortcuts or alter the race course entirely. These triggers are also activated by the player's AI opponents.

Split/Second is scheduled for release on May 18th 2010 for the PC, Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3.

MotoGP 09/10 - Review by GameTrailers.com

GameTrailers.com has released a video review of MotoGP 09/10 developed by Monumental Games.
MotoGP 09/10 is Capcom's second game, as a single publisher, using the rights to develop video games for the MotoGP series. It was released on March 19, 2010 for Xbox 360  and Playstation 3.



Monday, April 5, 2010

rFactor - Formula Armaroli @ Fuji

Video maker GeraArg has released an onboard video from rFactor showing a fast lap with Formula Armaroli on Fuji Speedway.
 

rFactor - F1 2010 Malaysia Mclaren vs Ferrari

6e66o has released an onboard video from rFactor showing the battle between F1 Ferrari  and  F1 Mclaren at Malaysia GP circuit.
 

iRacing.com - Talladega 312 & Talladega 499

The next two events in the iRacing World Tour 2010 schedule will be at Talladega Superspeedway on April 23rd and 24th. The purpose of the World Tour race events are to allow iRacers the opportunity to run in simulated real-world racing events from around the global motorsports calendar.

There are some important changes iRacing has implemented based on suggestions from iRacing members.

The grid size has been moved back to 34 cars. Also, iRacing split the sessions so that oval rookie and D level license holders will race together and will have one reset/repair during the race. Oval C, B, A and Pro license holders will have zero reset/repairs during the race.

Qualifying and open practice sessions for the two Talladega events will begin on April 17 at 00:00 GMT.

NASCAR iRacing Drivers World Championship - Bristol

iRacing.com has released a video recap of  the 3th round 2010 NASCAR iRacing Drivers World Championship at oval race track Bristol Motor Speedway.

Sunday, April 4, 2010

rFactor - Preview of Lancia Beta Montecarlo by DRM

DRM Modding Team has released new preview screenshots of the Group 5 Lancia Beta Montecarlo. The car has 1.7 liter turbo-engine with power of 490 HP.
New version of their mod Deutsche Rennsport Meisterschaft will include 5 different car models such as Porsche 935, BMW 320 Turbo, BMW M1, Ford Capri Turbo and Lancia Beta Montecarlo.
You can download "demo mod" including Porsche 935 and BMW 320 here.

rFactor - Preview screenshots of Sebring by Virtua_LM

Virtua_LM has released new preview screenshots of race track Sebring International Raceway. Besides the view on the track you also can see Lancia Beta Montecarlo from GTX5 mod made by Virtua_LM.
Sebring International Raceway is a road course auto racing facility located in Sebring, Florida. It is one of the oldest continuously-operating race tracks in the United States, its first race being run in 1950.

The course of the track is 3.7 miles (5.95 km) long. It is a seventeen-turn road course with long straights, several high-speed corners, and very technical slower corners. There is very little elevation change around the track and little camber on the surface, providing a challenging track for drivers, especially when it rains.

rFactor - Formula Armaroli by Reiza Studios

Reiza Studios and Armaroli Simulators are happy to bring you the Formula Armaroli add-on for rFactor.

The car´s concept is inspired by the classic turbo era of Grand Prix racing. Weighing 540kg and powered by a 650 HP turbo engine, the Formula Armaroli provides a thrilling driving experience, challenging both the novice and expert virtual racer alike to to try explore its limits.

The car comes with RealFeel-compatible physics and several upgrade options, including the choice of either analog or digital cockpit gauges and three different shifting options.

Download: Mirror 1, Mirror 2


You can also check in-game video made by stabizisback showing few laps driven at Mosport race track.