Wednesday, June 30, 2010

iRacing.com - Driving School

There are books on how to drive a racing car and schools in the physical world where aspiring drivers can get hands-on instruction.  Now drivers who race in the virtual world have the iRacing.com Driving School, a modular 16-unit online race-driving instructional package.  Nearly two years in the making, the school is available free to all members of the iRacing.com racing simulation service.  The school is now live on the iRacing.com member Web site. The first module of the iRacing.com Driving School is currently available to non-members on www.iRacing.com. Read more ...

Tuesday, June 29, 2010

Real-Time Racing - WTCC Race of Belgium 2010

Imagine yourself to be a professional race driver sitting in your race car waiting for the red lights to go out and your race to begin. With your right hand on the sequential shifter, your left foot on the clutch, your right foot carefully on the throttle and a heartbeat that seems to go faster with every second that passes. You are the star that fans want to see racing at Circuit Zolder! You are on the grid of the FIA World Touring Car Championship!

In this video FIA GT1 Ace Xavier Maassen challenges WTCC Ace Tom Coronel, from an iOpener Enabled simulator!

iRacing.com - NiWCS at Daytona

Round 11 of the NASCAR iRacing.com World Championship Series (NiWCS) will be broadcast live on iRacing.com tonight beginning at 9:00 pm ET (01:00 GMT).

This evening marks the NiWCS’ return to Daytona International Speedway where Dale Earnhardt, Jr. scored a memorable win in the series’ debut in February.

Monday, June 28, 2010

InsideSimRacing: Episode 70

InsideSimRacing.tv presents Episode 70 a special report from E3 on Gran Turismo 5. This is a very in depth look at the soon to be released Gran Turismo 5. They have exclusive footage of GT5 from the Mercedes SLS party featuring GT5 as one of the stars. Darin is part of the Sony Breakout session where they will release some new facts of what is coming in GT5. Shaun interviews Chris Hinojosa-Mranda an Associate Producer from the GT5 team. They also see GT5 in 3d with Head Tracking.

Sunday, June 27, 2010

Best of E3 2010 Awards - Best Driving Game

Buckle up and get ready for the driving game that left the rest in the dust at E3 2010!

Need for Speed: World - Developer Diary: Episode 2

Electronic Arts have released the second developer diary video of their racing game Need for Speed: World. The Black Box team focuses on Powerups.

Need for Speed: World is an upcoming installment in the long-running racing video game Need for Speed franchise published by Electronic Arts. This iteration is being developed by EA Black Box, the first MMORG in the Need for Speed series since Motor City Online, exclusively for Windows-based PCs. World is scheduled for release worldwide on July 20, 2010.

Saturday, June 26, 2010

iRacing Today – Episode 6

Trevor: "We start off the week with a story about my wheel situation, pass on some news of free content on the way, discuss the Road America 200, share some ways to save some money, get sucked into the dirt at Oxford Plains Speedway, and much more."

Listen the 6th episode at iracingtoday.com

Driver: San Francisco - E3 2010: Demo Walkthrough

Ubisoft delivers an alternative walkthrough to the E3 2010 demo.

iRacing TV - Episode 1

Move over SpeedTV and ESPN, iRacingTV is here. The first of what will be a monthly webcast is now available on iRacing.com, and features iRacing president Tony Gardner discussing a number of topics near and dear to the hearts of all iRacers. In addition to insight into the new iRacing.com Driving School, Tony gives you a behind the scenes preview on the great new build for 2010 Season Three. There’s also a competition segment touching on several different iRacing series.

This first episode will debut on iRacing.com, but note that our web team is hard at work on a dedicated iRacing.tv website which will serve as the home for all future episodes.

Click here and start enjoying iRacingTV.

Friday, June 25, 2010

NASCAR iRacing Drivers World Championship - NHMS

iRacing TV has released a video recap of the 10th round 2010 NASCAR iRacing Drivers World Championship at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.

rFactor 2 - First high resolution screnshots

For the first time we can see high resolution screenshots of the rFactor 2 by ISI. These pictures are showing Formula 1 cars at Spa-Francorchamps 1967 and Renault Clio on hillclimb track.

Thursday, June 24, 2010

Driver: San Francisco - E3 2010: Extended Debut Trailer

Take an extended look at the Driver franchise as Ubisoft returns the series to where it all began, the streets of San Francisco.

Test Drive Unlimited 2 - E3 2010: Core Improvements Interview

Executive Producer Vince Farquharson explains the core improvements the developers have made to 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 on September 10, 2010 for the PC, Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3.

Wednesday, June 23, 2010

InsideSimRacing: Episode 69

InsideSimRacing.tv has released a new episode 69. This show is exclusively about F1 2010 by Codemasters. ISR team was invited to a private demo. Darin interviewed Paul Jeal and Stephen Hood and asked all the questions you've hopefully wanted answered.

Tuesday, June 22, 2010

iRacing.com - Preview video of Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course

A quick video of the iRacing.com Riley Mk XX Daytona Prototype going around Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course - now available to iRacing members.

Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course is a road course auto racing facility. It was opened in 1962 by Les Griebling and several Mansfield-area businessmen as a location for weekend sports car racing. The track opened as a 15-turn, 2.4 mile (3.86 km) road circuit run clockwise. The back portion of the track allows speeds approaching 180 mph (290 km/h). There is grandstand seating for 10,000 spectators, and three observation mounds alongside the track raise the capacity to over 75,000.

Monday, June 21, 2010

iRacing.com - Free content

Christmas is coming early for iRacers, whether they’ve been naughty or nice. iRacing.com is adding a sleigh-load of free cars and tracks  to its base package in the weeks and months ahead.  You read that right -- free!

iRacing Rookie or veteran, you’ll be able to take advantage of the enhanced base package beginning in early July with the release of legendary Thompson International Speedway, the high-banked Connecticut bull ring that has been synonymous with New England motorsports for more than half a century.

Of course, you’ll need a shiny new car to race at Thompson. How about a Tour Modified?  The faster cousin of the SK Modified that has long been a staple of the iRacing garage is poised to join the service as well.  iRacers who already own an SK Modified will see the Tour Modified automatically added to their inventory, while those new to the Modified sim racing scene will receive both the SK and Tour Modifieds with a single purchase.  Like Thompson, the Tour Modified will be available in early July for practice and hosted racing, with official race series kicking-off in Season Three.

What could be better than a free new track and a shiny new race car? How about a free new track and two shiny new race cars? As hinted a few weeks ago, we’re also adding a street stock to the base package, one fresh from the JR Motorsports shop. Available in late 2010, the street stock will also be free to all iRacers.

Have we forgotten our road racers? Not hardly. One of iRacing’s worst-kept secrets is the fact that we’ll be adding the Mazda MX5 to our stable later this year. But we’ll bet you didn’t know it will be the new road racing rookie car (don’t worry Solstice fans, the Solstice will still be an integral part of iRacing); or that the Mazda will be available in both right hand drive (MX5 Cup) and left hand drive (MX5 Roadster) versions. And yes, as part of the basic package, the MX5 Cup and Roadster will both be free to all iRacers.

Regardless of the steering wheel location, you’ll need someplace nifty to race your shiny new MX5. Where better than (also free) Okayama International Raceway? The former home of the Pacific Grand Prix (1993-94), the 11 turn, 2.3 mile road course is set to join Brands Hatch, Silverstone, Oulton Park, Zandvoort and Phillip Island on iRacing’s expanding catalogue of renowned international circuits in 2011.

We've made our list and checked it twice: that’s two new tracks and two new cars (four if you count both versions of the MX5 and you have purchased the SK Modified). Ho-Ho-Ho!

iRacing.com

Sunday, June 20, 2010

League Racing with iRacing

Tony George Jr, Brian Simpson, Tomas Scheckter, Larry Foyt, Will Power and Justin Wilson discuss their racing on iRacing.com in the 16th Street Racing League (a private league hosted using the iRacing.com Motorsports Simulation service).

WRC 2010 - E3 Trailer

WRC 2010 is a new rally sim, planned to be released in 2010 on multiple platforms. The game will be published by Milan-based Black Bean Games and developed by Milestone, having obtained the official WRC license. The game will be fully iOpener enabled - a technology that will allow you to race against real drivers within the sim.

Saturday, June 19, 2010

Driver: San Francisco - E3 2010: Shift Ability Interview

The Driver franchise gets upgraded with an all new Shift Ability Feature, announced at E3 2010 with Creative Director Martin Edmondson.

Driver: San Francisco is slated for release on Xbox 360, PS3, Wii and PC.

F1 2010 - E3 2010: Developer Walkthrough

Developer goes through a race and talks a lot about the features in the game. Codemasters will bring the F1 2010 to PC, Xbox 360 and Playstation 3 in September 2010.

iRacing.com - Dale Jr talks about his simracing with (Extended version)

Dale Earnhardt Jr takes some time to explain how he has used iRacing.com Motorsport Simulations for work and play. Jr also discusses how people can make names for themselves, how the bar has been raised by iRacing.com, and how his friendship with iRacing staff member Kevin Iannarelli pulled him into the development process of the simulation.

Friday, June 18, 2010

iRacing.com - Top 5 US Racetracks

Sean Siff, a marketing manager at iRacing.com, has posted an article in iRacing blog about top 5 racetracks in USA.

Let us explore together the setting for all the fun we have at iRacing: the racetrack!  At iRacing.com, we painstakingly build a digital replica of each racetrack in our service so that our members have an opportunity to race on a certified and licensed version of the real place. Read more ...

iRacing.com - Real vs. Virtual - Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course

EvilSamiad has released the comparison video of real and virtual Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course in iRacing.com simulation. It is a showcase of the amazingly accurate iRacing tracks with real world photography.

Thursday, June 17, 2010

Gran Turismo 5 - E3 2010: History of Gran Turismo Trailer

Take a look back on the franchise that defined racing on the PlayStation.

iRacing Today – Episode 5

Trevor: "This week I talk about the World Tour event this weekend that I’m nervously looking forward to, hope that you can learn from something dumb I did, drive you around Lime Rock Park, show you where you can watch archives of iRacing Championship races, and as always bring you up to speed on what’s happening in the top tier of simracing."

Listen the 5th episode at iracingtoday.com

Gran Turismo 5 - E3 2010 Trailer

Enjoy the brand new Gran Turismo 5 trailer from E3, with exclusive never-before-seen footage of some of the 950+ vehicles and licensed and fictional tracks from the game, and get a sneak peek at what's to come in Gran Turismo 5.

Wednesday, June 16, 2010

Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit - E3 2010: Debut Trailer

Criterion Games has released a debut trailer for Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit. It is scheduled for release on November 16th for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3.

Pick a side, and slam the pedal to the metal in this debut trailer.

Driver - E3 2010: Debut Trailer

Ubisoft has released a debut trailer for their upcoming game Driver. Driver is scheduled for release probably this year for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3.

Burn across the Golden Gate with this trailer from Driver: San Francisco at E3 2010!

Tuesday, June 15, 2010

iRacing.com - Promo video Ford Mustang FR500S

iRacing.com has released a promo video of the Ford Mustang FR500S at Mid Ohio Sports Car Course.

The Ford Racing Mustang FR500 is a highly tuned race variant of the Ford Mustang, featuring V8 engine. These are turn key race cars not designed for public road use.

FR500S is powered by Ford's 4.6L V8 engine, it is rated at 325HP. The FR500S is often slotted in between the FR500C and FR500GT. The car was designed by both Ford Racing and Miller Motorsports for the Mustang Challenge series. The car features similar aerodynamic parts like those used on the FR500GT, but uses a DOT approved racing tire BFGoodrich g-Force

Monday, June 14, 2010

iRacing Today – Episode 4

Trevor: "We start the week off again gathered around the campfire for story time, get pumped up for the upcoming driving school, discuss driving etiquette, check out the Solstice, highlight a community website, and watch the tumbleweeds roll by on a quiet week in the Pro and World Championships."

Listen the 4th episode at iracingtoday.com

Test Drive Unlimited 2 - E3 2010: Exclusive Cars & Locations Trailer

Atari presents an Eden Games production with this new trailer for Test Drive Unlimited 2 featuring exotic cars and locations.

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.

Sunday, June 13, 2010

iRacing.com - Havoc and Skip Barber battle video

Video maker stabizisback has released beautiful videos from iRacing.com showing few slow-motion views and battle in Skip Barber race.

Saturday, June 12, 2010

iRacing.com - Grand Prix Masters Final

Twenty iRacers are poised to race online against Formula One driver Lucas di Grassi (Virgin Racing) and Star Mazda championship leader Conor Daly in the Grand Prix Masters Tournament Finals in Montreal on the eve of the Canadian Grand Prix. The finalists were the highest scoring iRacers during the Grand Prix Masters Tournament, held April 27- May 3 and sponsored by Grand Prix Tours, Dell and Intel.

The event will be broadcast live at 5:30 pm ET (21:30 GMT) on June 12 on iRacing.com.

More info at inRacingNews.com

Gran Turismo 5 – E3 2010: Exclusive Trailer

Sony burns up the tracks with this trailer teasing the long-awaited release of Gran Turismo 5!

Gran Turismo 5 is to be the fifth edition of the highly acclaimed Gran Turismo racing simulator series, scheduled for release in the fourth quarter of 2010. For the first time in the main series, an online mode will be available in the game, with 16 player capability. Both mechanical and external damage have been confirmed, along with interior damage for 170 "premium" cars. Night racing will make a reappearance for GT5, with every course having the option for night racing. Weather effects are also confirmed to be included, although the extent of the implementation is currently unknown. GT5 will be the first Gran Turismo game in the series' history to display in an optional Stereoscopic-3D resolution.

iRacing.com - New Previews of Ford Mustang & Mid Ohio

iRacing.com has released new preview screenshots and in-game video of upcoming content additions - Ford Mustang FR500S & Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course.

The Ford Racing Mustang FR500 is a highly tuned race variant of the Ford Mustang, featuring V8 engine. These are turn key race cars not designed for public road use.
FR500S is powered by Ford's 4.6L V8 engine, it is rated at 325HP. The FR500S is often slotted in between the FR500C and FR500GT. The car was designed by both Ford Racing and Miller Motorsports for the Mustang Challenge series. The car features similar aerodynamic parts like those used on the FR500GT, but uses a DOT approved racing tire BFGoodrich g-Force R1.


Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course is a road course auto racing facility. It was opened in 1962 by Les Griebling and several Mansfield-area businessmen as a location for weekend sports car racing. The track opened as a 15-turn, 2.4 mile (3.86 km) road circuit run clockwise. The back portion of the track allows speeds approaching 180 mph (290 km/h). There is grandstand seating for 10,000 spectators, and three observation mounds alongside the track raise the capacity to over 75,000.

Friday, June 11, 2010

Real-Time Racing - Xavier Maassen's 2010 vehicles

RTR crew is happy to announce the arrival of two new cars, as they are driven by their iOpener Enabled test pilot Xavier Maassen in the FIA GT1 World Championship and the legendary 24 hours of Le Mans this year.

Le Mans 2010
Driving a Corvette C6.R branded with iOpener Enabled and Adrenaline Control logo's the dutchman will try to secure the win in the LMGT1 class. As from today you as a gamer can drive his virtual car in the Real-Time Racing game as we have added the Le Mans livery exclusively to our iOpener Enabled game.

FIA GT1 2010
Besides driving the legendary 24 Heures du Mans, Maassen is also active in the FIA GT1 World Championship where he and team mate Mike Hezemans compete against various other premium brands in the pinnacle of sports car racing.

The gallery with more pictures is here.

Off Road Drive - E3 2010: Walkthrough

1C Company has released new "walkthrough" video of their racing game Off Road Drive from E3 2010.

Get dirty in the mud with 1C Company's new off-roader and Community Manager Nikita Putilin at E3 2010!

Thursday, June 10, 2010

InsideSimRacing: Episode 68

InsideSimRacing.tv has released a new episode 68. In this show, Jessica and Shaun take a look at the soon to be released Thrustmaster Ferrari Wireless GT Cockpit 430 Scuderia Edition and see how it performs on both the Playstation 3 as well as on the PC. Darin and Shaun review the new Superstars V8 Next Challenge for the PC thats developed by Milestone and published by Black Bean Games. In the segment "Top Sim Cars of All Time" they present WCORR off-road trucks for rFactor.

Wednesday, June 9, 2010

Driver - E3 2010: Debut Teaser

The Ubisoft press conference at E3 2010 will mark the return of the Driver series.

iRacing.com - Sports Illustrated

Sports Illustrated’s Mark Yost takes a look at iRacing. The article covers everything from its use as a training tool by professional drivers to giving fans a deeper understanding of the sport.

Off Road Drive - Official Trailer

1C Company has released the official trailer for their upcoming off-road game called Off Road Drive.

Off-Road Drive, the off-road racing simulation for PC and Xbox 360, is the first game ever to deliver a true-to-life, off-road, extreme racing experience. Players will take part in The Russian trophy, Off-Road Trial, Thai Trophy and many other events through the worst driving conditions with a variety of natural obstacles like swamps, rocks, snow and sand. No other game features this variety of off-road sport vehicles including tuned stock SUVs and trucks, as well as several classes of prototypes specifically built for off-road driving.

Tuesday, June 8, 2010

iRacing.com - Driving School

Kevin Bobbitt, the Director of Marketing at iRacing.com, has posted an article in iRacing blog about Driving School.

A couple of months ago I was so persuaded by a trailer video of Battlefield 2: Bad Company that I simply had to go out and buy the game -  it was video a coworker forwarded to me following a discussion about running a video contest here at iRacing. I hadn’t played a FPS game in years but I had always enjoyed them so I figured why not?  Besides, I was always pretty good at these types of games back in the day so the online multi-player versions should be a piece of cake.

Read more ...

Intro video for the iRacing Driving School which becomes a part of the iRacing service in June, 2010.

Monday, June 7, 2010

Blur - Freeze Trailer

Activision has released a new trailer for Blur. The trailer contains some cinematic footage of an explosion in slow motion.

A suspended moment in time to show some of what you might be missing in Blur.

iRacing Today – Episode 3

Trevor: "This week I mention a promotion that has sucked me in, tell a story about wheels and friends, explain your Safety Rating, take you around Lanier National Speedway, share how I learned the rookie tracks, and of course bring you up to speed on the Pro and World Championships.

Listen the 3rd episode at iracingtoday.com

Sunday, June 6, 2010

iRacing.com - Slow-motion videos

YouTube users OrionPeterRead and peichpk2 have released beautiful slow-motion videos from iRacing.com simulation. Enjoy!

iRacing.com - GP Masters Teaser

Watch iRacers battle the pro's Saturday June 12th at 5:30 pm EST on www.psrtv.com

Need for Speed: World - Developer Diary: Episode 1

Electronic Arts have released the first developer diary video of their racing game Need for Speed: World.

The EA Black Box development team express their thoughts on the present and future of Need for Speed: World.

Need for Speed: World is an upcoming installment in the long-running racing video game Need for Speed franchise published by Electronic Arts. This iteration is being developed by EA Black Box, the first MMORG in the Need for Speed series since Motor City Online, exclusively for Windows-based PCs. World is scheduled for release worldwide on July 20, 2010.

Saturday, June 5, 2010

NASCAR iRacing Drivers World Championship - Michigan

iRacing TV has released a video recap of the 9th round 2010 NASCAR iRacing Drivers World Championship at Michigan International Speedway.

iRacing.com - Laser Scanning

iRacing.tv has posted a new video that goes over laser scanning. Vice President of Arts & Production Greg Hill talks how they scan a track.

Why does iRacing laser scan race tracks with meticulous detail and how does it put that scan data into action? How does the laser scanning process help real-world drivers? How does the laser scanning process make iRacing's tracks feel more 'alive' with detail?

Not only does this video answer those questions (and many others), it's also an excellent piece you should share with everyone you know to show them how iRacing.com is different to anything else they may have tried.

iRacing.com - Josh Berry talks about iRacing.com

iRacing TV has released a video with Josh Berry. He talks about his experiences getting into the JR Motorsports late model after being 'discovered' through iRacing.com.

Friday, June 4, 2010

iRacing.com - Dale Jr talks about his simracing

iRacing TV has released a video with Dale Earnhardt Jr. He takes some time to explain how he has used iRacing.com Motorsport Simulations and other simulations for work and play.

F1 2010 - Extended Developer Diary #3

A few weeks ago, Codemasters released the 3rd dev diary that focused on weather. Today they have released the extended version of that video.

Codemasters will bring the F1 2010 to PC, Xbox 360 and Playstation 3 in September 2010.

Thursday, June 3, 2010

iRacing.com - Protest System

 
Tony Gardner, the president of iRacing.com, has posted an article in iRacing blog about protest system.

One subject that I read about quite often on the forum pages involves the protest system at iRacing.com. I frequently see comments questioning the effectiveness of the system, not to mention suggesting that we are often too soft in administering penalties for members who violate a sporting code rule. In fact, I was on the service recently in an open practice session and a member was driving recklessly.

Read more ...

Wednesday, June 2, 2010

iRacing.com - Get $30 iRacing Credits

iRacing.com has sent a newsletter ...

Renew your membership for a year and we’ll send you $30 iRacing credits. Think of it as a little thank you for being a member of iRacing. You can use your free credits to purchase cars or tracks, extend your membership further or even some hosted sessions.

Whether your membership expires this month or next year, you can still take advantage of this great deal. When you purchase another year it will be added to the length of your subscription so don’t worry about losing time. Feel free to extend by two or three years as well, you’ll get $30 iRacing credits for each year you extend.
   
With so much going on at iRacing.com and the $30 iRacing credits offer, now is the perfect time to extend your membership. Here is a quick look at what is coming soon to iRacing.com:

    * The iRacing.com Driving School
    * Fixed Setup Racing
    * Street Stock racecar
    * Spectator Mode and Visual Enhancements
    * Williams FW31 Formula One racecar
    * Thompson Speedway
    * Several International tracks including Okayama in Japan

Offer valid for existing accounts only. Offer expires June 30, 2010.

Tuesday, June 1, 2010

InsideSimRacing: Episode 67

InsideSimRacing.tv has released a new episode 67. In this episode Darin and Shaun review the new Superbike World Championship title SBK-X for the PC thats developed by Milestone and published by Black Bean Games. Shaun and Tommy take a look at the alpha build of GP Bikes for the PC. They also discuss the type of controllers used to play these motorcycle simulations. In the segment "Top Sim Cars of All Time" they present Porsche Fabcar Mod for rFactor.