Saturday, July 31, 2010

iRacing TV - Episode 2

iRacingTV Episode 2 is available for you to watch here: www.iracingtv.com

iRacing staffers Kevin Bobbitt and Sean Siff discuss the highlights of the latest build. Also featured are race highlights from the NASCAR DWC, Pro Road and Oval series and Mixed Class racing. Also, the episode features... an update on the Williams FW31 by vehicle dynamics engineer Eric Hudec.

iRacing Today – Episode 11

Trevor: "This week iRacing unleashes a monster build, I discuss my Brickyard 400 experience, explain Week 13, toll the bell on USA International Speedway, point out an informative section of the forums, and give perhaps a bit too much detail on the Championships."
 
Listen the 11th episode at iracingtoday.com

Friday, July 30, 2010

iRacing.com - 2010 Season 3 Build

iRacing.com has updated their online racing simulation to a new software build for the 3rd season of 2010. Here is the message from their newsletter:

iRacing.com just released the 2010 Season 3 build which includes tons of improvements and enhancements. We’ve told you from the beginning that the development never stops here at iRacing and we think our latest update to the world’s premier racing simulation software is our best one yet.

Night Racing is here
This long awaited feature has been added to iRacing with night racing at Richmond International Raceway. Whether you already own Richmond, or you purchase it today, the night version is FREE to you.

Online myRacer Status Indicator
Finding your friends on iRacing just got a whole lot easier. When you login to the home page you will see where your friends are racing and you’ll be able to join them with one click!

Fixed Setup Racing
Fixed setup racing is now available in both hosted sessions as well as a limited number of official iRacing series.

Spectator Mode
Watch races right on the member site. No need to wait for the replay anymore.

Updated Transmission Model
Members asked for more realism, and this new model will answer that call. You’ll need to learn to drive properly by shifting into and out of gears exactly as you do in a real world racecar. Don’t worry though, if the realism goes too far, you can choose to stick with the current transmission model.

Website Usability Improvements
We’ve improved the overall navigation through the site as well as eliminated the need for so many clicks when you just want to go racing.

Pocono Raceway
Coming mid-season. Including all road course configurations.

Dover International Speedway
Coming in this fall. The "Monster Mile" joins the ever growing list of NASCAR tracks at iRacing.com.

Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps
Scanning has been completed. This track is going in to immediate production.

New Member Forums
Coming mid-season. An entire new look-and-feel, with increased functionality.

Williams FW31
Coming in Season 4, 2010.

The new features and improvements listed above are just the tip of the iceberg for this build. Check out the complete build notes here for more information on these and to read about the rest of the build.

Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit - On Tour: New York

Hot Pursuit hits the road and stops in New York to show off the big chase!

Trailer showing the new Need For Speed being displayed in New York. Need for Speed Hot Pursuit brings the franchise back to its roots with intense cops vs. racer chases.

Loaded with action, this game will challenge you to become Seacrest County's top cop or most wanted racer. For the first time ever in a Need for Speed game, you'll be able to play a full career on either side of the law. This fall, whether you're a lead-foot speeder or a cop with a mean streak, make sure your aviators are spotless and your driving record is anything but.

Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit is scheduled for release on November 16th for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3.

Thursday, July 29, 2010

Need for Speed World goes live!

EA Games has launched their new online racing game Need for Speed World.

"Today, we are extremely excited to finally say that Need for Speed World is live and everyone can now download, install and play the game for free!  It's been a long time coming and the proverbial gates opened at 8:30 (PST) this morning..  We can't wait to see you all on the road, and in my case, in my rear view mirror.

If you're not quite sure how to play World then please take a few minutes to read through the Game Guide.  In it you'll find information on every aspect of the game including game controls, how to use Powerups, how to enter races and everything else you need to know about the game.

If you're ready to go, you can download the game from http://World.NeedforSpeed.com.  Once on the NFS World home page, simply click the "Download Now" button, install the game and launch it.  Although, please note that you will need an EA account to log in and play the game.

Please be aware that because we are expecting heavy traffic in the game and on World.NeedforSpeed.com we have disabled commenting on blog posts for 24 hours.  The purpose for disabling commenting is to ensure that World.NeedforSpeed.com remains stable and does not suffer long loading times.  If you would like to comment on a blog post please do so on the Need for Speed World forums."

www.needforspeed.com

iRacing.com - Intel GP Series Promotion

Here is your opportunity to compete on a global stage for your share of $23,000 , great prizes and world supremacy. This multi-tiered competition will decipher the best of several regions around the world to compete in the World Finals.

Round One: European Regional (July 27 - August 2)

This one-week racing series will determine the 10 best of Europe. These top competitors will then face off in a Regional Final race to determine who will represent their region of the world in the Extreme Masters Tournament World Final. Stay tuned for Dates and details for the North American and Asia/Australian Regionals coming soon! The series is open to all iRacing members!

Take advantage of this special price of just $5 and start your online racing career today!

For the activation use this link or enter “PR-INTELEMT” on the Subscription page. Offer valid for new accounts only.

Wednesday, July 28, 2010

iRacing.com - Intel GP Series

iRacing.com and Intel have partnered-up to create the inaugural Intel GP Series, a global online racing competition as part of the Intel Extreme Masters Tournament worldwide professional gaming competition.

The Intel GP Series consists of three one-week series on iRacing.com that will determine ten finalists from each of three regions (Europe, Americas/Canada and Asia/Australia). Each region will have their own Regional Finals that will determine the 10 participants in the World Finals. The top ten from all three Regional Finals combined will be invited to race in the World Finals in March of 2011. Total prize money in the Intel GP Series World Finals event is $23,000.

Round One of the Intel GP Series will take place during Week 13 (July 27-August 2) and will feature the European Region. Round One will consist of 20 lap races beginning at 15 minutes past the hour, every hour, in Star Mazdas at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca, with three drop days factored into the scoring. Details for Rounds Two and Three will be announced shortly.

iRacing.com

F1 2010 - Extended Developer Diary Video No.4

In this exclusive extended community edition of our 4th Dev Video, the virtual recreation of motorsport's most advanced racing cars and challenging circuits comes under the spotlight in the latest F1 2010 developer diary.

The new video takes viewers behind the scenes at F1 2010 developers, Codemasters Birmingham, and shows how all of the cars and circuits from the exhilarating 2010 FIA FORMULA ONE WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP™ have been painstakingly recreated in the game.

To deliver fans the most authentic FORMULA ONE™ experience, CAD (Computer Aided Design) data and extensive reference photography has been used to accurately simulate the 19 circuits that will host the 2010 FIA FORMULA ONE WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP. Once tracks are created, former FORMULA ONE driver Anthony Davidson, who is working as Technical Consultant on F1 2010, gives his feedback from a driver's perspective about the look and feel of each circuit in-game.

"Driving the real world circuits enables me to give that impression to the guys creating the game," said Davidson. "There's all these details that only a driver would know about. For instance, turn eight in Spa; I know straight away any car I have ever driven there always understeers and it's knowing that kind of detail as a driver that you can get over into the game. The circuits feel really spot on."

The developer diary goes on to explain how the appearance and performance of each individual FORMULA ONE car is authentically recreated, so even slight differences in design between the teams, such as a variation in wheel-base, are reflected in the handling of the car on the track. This will ensure that no two teams in the game will deliver the same driving experience.

The video also details how Codemasters has captured the engine sounds of actual FORMULA ONE cars during test sessions to deliver the unmistakable, intoxicating roar of the world's most exciting sports cars.

Tuesday, July 27, 2010

InsideSimRacing: Episode 74

InsideSimRacing.tv has released a new episode 74. In this episode they take a look at Atomic Accesories new Lamborghini Gallardo Force Feedback Wheel. They also test out the new Steadiplay wheelstand to see if its fit for racing. iRacing releases its new build this week packed with new items. In the segment "Top Sim Cars of All Time" they present F171 Tyrrell from rFactor and Saleen S7 from GTR 2.

Monday, July 26, 2010

World Super GT 2 – New sound for Corvette C6.R

Team RMT has released a preview video of the World Super GT 2 mod for rFactor 2 showing us the progress with new sound for the Chevrolet Corvette C6.R.

Need for Speed: World - Developer Diary: Episode 3

Electronic Arts have released the third developer diary video of their racing game Need for Speed: World. The vast open world of Need for Speed World is described in detail by the development team in the third World dev diary.

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.

Sunday, July 25, 2010

World Super GT 2 – Megane Trophy video

Team RMT has released a video of their World Super GT 2 mod for rFactor 2 showing the Renault Megane Trophy at Zolder.

Mégane Trophy car has undergone a raft of radical modifications in readiness for the 2009 campaign. The most visible change concerns its new body design which takes its inspiration from the lines of New Mégane Coupe. Under the bonnet, a fresh look has also been taken at the Renault-Nissan Alliance's V6 3.5 24V powerplant which now delivers 360hp.

Saturday, July 24, 2010

iRacing.com - iRacing World Championship at Infineon Raceway

Round 12 of the iRacing World Championship (iWC) will be broadcast tonight on iRacing.com at 22:00 GMT (6:00 p.m. ET) from Infineon RacewayGreger Huttu will be gunning for his twelfth win in as many starts while other iWC notables including Richard Towler, Shawn Purdy, Darren Marsh and Ilkka Haapala will be looking to break-up Huttu’s victory monopoly.

Huttu won on the Infineon IRL circuit back in May, coming home more than half a minute ahead of Bastien Bartsch, Dom Duhan and Haapala. This time Huttu & Co. will tackle the Infineon “long” circuit.

rFactor 2 - New High-Res Screenshots

Image Space Incorporated has released four new preview screenshots from rFactor 2. They are showing Mills Motor Park in the wet and during the night and the Palm Beach Raceway, a real-life karting track.

Friday, July 23, 2010

iRacing.com - iRacing Brickyard 400

The World Tour of iRacing.com heads to the fabled Indianapolis Motor Speedway on July 24 with a real sense of purpose: contributing to LIVESTRONG. Founded in 1997 by cancer survivor and champion cyclist Lance Armstrong and based in Austin, Texas, LIVESTRONG fights for the 28 million people around the world living with cancer today. LIVESTRONG connects individuals to the support they need, leverages funding and resources to spur innovation and engages communities and leaders to drive social change. Known for the iconic yellow wristband, LIVESTRONG’s mission is to inspire and empower anyone affected by cancer. iRacing will contribute five cents to LIVESTRONG for every lap completed by each driver entered in the iRacing.com Brickyard 400 Benefiting LIVESTRONG. iRacing members are also encouraged to visit the LiveSTRONG web site to sign for a pledge account for the event.

The 160 lap iRacing.com Brickyard 400 Benefiting LIVESTRONG is scheduled for Saturday, July 24 at 8:30 pm ET (00:30 GMT on Sunday, July 25) and will consist of splits of 34 cars each with every driver allowed one tow/reset following an incident. Race grids will be determined by qualifying time based on the fastest of two qualifying laps, with qualifying sessions beginning on Saturday, July 17 at 8:00 PM (00:00 GMT on Sunday, July 18).

Five $100 NASCAR SuperStore Gift Cards and one NASCAR Racing Experience will be awarded to the top fund raisers, and each spit winner will receive $10 in iRacing credits.

iRacing.com

World Rally Championship - Gameplay Trailer

Black Bean Games has released new gameplay trailer of their upcoming racing game World Rally Championship for the PC, Playstation 3 and Xbox 360.

Black Bean Games has announced the release date for their official World Rally Championship game as the title is scheduled to be available starting October 8th. The game will feature all 13 rally events from the 2010 schedule and cars from the WRC, Junior WRC and the Production WRC class.

Thursday, July 22, 2010

iRacing Today – Episode 10

Trevor: "This week I focus more than is likely healthy on my upcoming stint in the Brickyard 400, share what I learned about body position while racing, explore the birth of my favorite car, help you guys use your brain while driving, and explore a quite week in the championships."

Listen the 10th episode at iracingtoday.com

Wednesday, July 21, 2010

Announcement - Simraceway 2.0

Jonathan Haswell of Simraceway announced that they’ve released version 2.0 of their service:

"I’m excited to let you know that we’ll be releasing a major upgrade to Simraceway later today. The new Simraceway platform provides an immediate improvement to our speed and stability and provides the groundwork for rapid development of new features.

Simraceway v2.0 is a long-term investment in the future of online racing and will allow us to continue to expand the community of online racers."  Read more ...

Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit - Hot for the Holidays Interview

Product Manager Darin Perfonic drops new details about the Hot Pursuit experience.

This November, Need for Speed Hot Pursuit launches you into a new open-world landscape behind the wheel of the world's fastest and most beautiful cars. From Criterion, the award-winning studio behind the Burnout series, Hot Pursuit will redefine racing games for a whole new generation.

You'll experience stunning speeds, takedowns, and getaways as you battle your friends in the most connected Need for Speed game ever. Through Need for Speed Autolog and its innovative approach to connected social competition, your Hot Pursuit experience will extend beyond the console onto the web, social media, and mobile, constantly driving your gameplay in new and unique directions.

Loaded with action, this game will challenge you to become Seacrest County's top cop or most wanted racer. For the first time ever in a Need for Speed game, you'll be able to play a full career on either side of the law. This fall, whether you're a lead-foot speeder or a cop with a mean streak, make sure your aviators are spotless and your driving record is anything but.

Tuesday, July 20, 2010

iRacing.com - NASCAR iRacing Drivers World Championship - Indianapolis

iRacing TV has released a video recap of the 12th round 2010 NASCAR iRacing Drivers World Championship at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

Monday, July 19, 2010

F1 2010 - Real vs. Virtual in Spa

YouTube user 548425 has released the comparison video of real and virtual Belgian race circuit Spa-Francorschamps in Codemasters's F1 2010 racing game.

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

Sunday, July 18, 2010

InsideSimRacing: Episode 73

InsideSimRacing.tv has released a new episode 73. They start with Forza Motorsports, Past, Present and Future. They also review the Plei Chair by Plei Factory. In the segment "Top Sim Cars of All Time" they present Audi R15 TDI from Forza Motorsport 3 and Ford Falcon from rFactor mod Bathurst Legends 1972.

Saturday, July 17, 2010

F1 2010 - New gameplay videos

YouTube user MichaelVigars has posted new gameplay videos from F1 2010 by Codemasters. Videos are showing the race action at Belgian race track Spa-Francorschamps on dry and wet surface.

Codemasters have confirmed that there will be no demo version of their upcoming F1 2010 title. They will bring the F1 2010 to PC, Xbox 360 and Playstation 3 in September 2010.

Friday, July 16, 2010

Test Drive Unlimited 2 - Exclusive Aston Martin Trailer

Atari has released a new Test Drive Unlimited 2 trailer which features the Aston Martin One-77. Aston Martin say the car is the ultimate creative interpretation of the renowned British marque. It features a 7.3 litre naturally aspirated V12 producing 700 bhp and 750 Nm of torque. It can accelerate from 0-60 mph in approximately 3.5 seconds with a top speed of over 200mph.

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.

iRacing Today – Episode 9

Trevor: "Its a jam packed week with some exciting show news, a new schedule, some name mangling (I’m so sorry…), some time in the dirt at Charlotte, story time to learn from some Trevor dumbness, and of course a busy week in the Pro and World Championship series."

Listen the 9th episode at iracingtoday.com

Thursday, July 15, 2010

Live for Speed - Scawen talks about their progress


Developer of Live for Speed simulator, Scawen Roberts, talks about their progress:

"I've just scanned through the last few pages of the thread. I haven't looked at the thread for a long time, as I've been working a lot recently.

I think you are not correct about the contempt. We're just improving this simulator. I'm trying to program the tyres to behave as realistic as possible. It takes a lot of investigation and testing.

The reason I don't make progress reports is not contempt. It just doesn't make any sense to me to do, say, monthly progress reports. One of them says "I'm working on the tyre physics" and then the next month "I'm still working on the tyre physics" and so on. I just want to say something when there is something interesting to say. But the tyre physics has been a lot of development, a lot of testing and trying new things, finding it did some things well and others not so well. Changing some things, looking for reference material to refine constants, taking a break, coming up with a new idea to test, trying it out, taking some wrong turns, investigating something that turned out impossible, rewriting something, finding a better result, and so on...

Maybe you would suggest that all those twists and turns along the journey of development is exactly what I should be writing in the weekly or monthly progress reports, but actually I don't want to. When I am following a line of investigation, I don't want to say what I am looking at, instead I just want to get on with it and see if it turns out right or wrong in the end. It's kind of a private activity, not sure how to explain that.

From experience I have learned that it's not worth giving the beta testers a version that I still know is flawed. While there is still plenty for me to work on full time, and Eric and Victor are pleased with what they see but are still able to demonstrate situations where they think the handling is not quite like reality, the best thing to do is just carry on. For how long, I don't know. Not everything goes as expected. Some things I try make strangely little or surprisingly large differences and sometimes they open up a new area of investigation. Personally I am surprised overall how much there has been to learn and understand about the behaviour of tyres.

Today I thought I'd just have a look at this thread, but there are too many new pages for me to read in detail. Anyway, you may be assured we have not stopped development. I guess if we stopped development then we'd make a post about it. I'm not sure how that would happen, maybe if I got run over or contracted a fatal illness or perhaps someone will come and offer me a flight to the moon but I have to train at NASA for a couple of years. Unlikely, and there's really nothing better I can do than work on this simulator. I just don't want to write about every step on the development path, so that's why there is a long time between progress reports.

- I'm not planning to try and make the VW stability systems as refined or complete as the real thing. I tried something before, when we were apparently close to release at the end of 2008. Already learned something by taking some wrong turns at that point and I hope that it won't be too hard to get a couple of reasonable systems in place that enhance the handling.

- The suspension updates I hope won't be too difficult, though that is an area where one thing could lead to another, so I don't really know. I think it will be a case of "where to draw the line". It's doesn't need to be the final update to suspension systems but if I could get a bit of anti-dive and anti-squat working then it would help with the default car setups which are more softly sprung now.

- Limited setup system is just a whole bunch of logic programming, meaning it's a load of rules, nothing complicated like physics and geometry. So it shouldn't be too hard. But there will be a few things to sort out, like how it will work in the interface and deactivate an "extreme" setup when you join a "limited" setup host, and you'll need to specify if a setup you are working on should conform to "limited" or "extreme" setup rules.

After the updates are done and the beta testers are quite happy with it, I think there will be a decent period of public testing. The limited setup system should be quite interesting. Class balancing will also need to be sorted out, with new tyre physics and default setups on limited setup hosts, we'll probably find that some adjustments are needed. And of course, public testing will usually bring up other issues we can't think of yet."

Wednesday, July 14, 2010

iRacing.com - Brickyard 400 Promotion

In honor of this special event, iRacing.com is offering 3-Month Membership for only $30! You’ll even get the Cup Car and Indianapolis Motor Speedway for FREE! That’s a savings of over 50%! Also included in your 3-Month membership:

* Unlimited head-to-head racing and open practice 24/7 in the world’s premier online sim racing service
* 3 Cars and 7 tracks with 14 configurations modeled flawlessly after their real-world counterparts
* Race against drivers from around the globe in three officially sanctioned series (even more as your license improves)
* Both Oval and Road rookie racing licenses
* The ability to create custom race leagues and/or private race sessions for you and your friends
* Our all new interactive iRacing video driving school to help you grow as an iRacer

Take advantage of this special price of just $30 and start your online racing career today!

For activation use this link or enter “PR-Brickyard 2010” on the Subscription page. Offer valid for new accounts only. Cannot be combined with any other offer. Expires 7/28/2010.

Tuesday, July 13, 2010

iRacing.com - Laser scanning at Spa has started

iRacing.com has released a screenshot showing laser scanning process at race track Spa-Francorchamps.

Spa-Francorchamps is one of the most famous and beautiful race tracks in the world. The 7km long circuit is the venue of the Formula One Belgian Grand Prix and the Spa 24 Hours endurance race. It is considered to be one of the most challenging race tracks in the world, mainly due to its fast, hilly and twisty nature. Spa is a favourite circuit of many racing drivers and fans.

Monday, July 12, 2010

iRacing.com - Previews of night-time at Richmond

iRacing.com has released first preview screenshots of the night at Richmond International Raceway.

Richmond International Raceway is a 3/4-mile (1.2 km), D-shaped, asphalt race track located just outside Richmond, Virginia in Henrico County. It hosts the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series and Nationwide Series. "America's Premier Short Track" also was formerly host to the Indy Racing League IndyCar Series. Richmond International Raceway is one of a few race tracks to host all of its events under the lights.

Sunday, July 11, 2010

rFactor 2 - World Series by Renault

Russian team KMP Racing will help the development of Image Space Incorporated’s new racing game rFactor 2, the sequel of the successful rFactor.

rFactor 2 will feature the Formula Renault 3.5 category (2010 season) as part of the World Series by Renault championships.

WRC FIA World Rally Championship - Behind the Scenes

The new behind-the-scenes developer documentary is quite extensive in its coverage of what gamers can expect from the upcoming WRC FIA World Rally Championship as well as what the developers went through to ensure that the title was as authentic as possible.

Black Bean Games has announced the release date for their official World Rally Championship game as the title is scheduled to be available starting October 8th.

Forza Motorsport 3 - Exclusive World Class DLC Pack Trailer

All new World-Class content comes to Forza 3 on July 13, 2010 for a total of 400 Microsoft points. Here are the cars:

2011 McLaren MP4 12C
2010 Acura TSX V6
2010 Mercedes-Benz C63 AMG
2010 Cadillac CTS-V Coupe
2010 FIAT Punto Evo SPORT
2010 Mercedes-Benz CL 65 AMG
2010 Kia Forte Koup SX
2010 Mazda 2
2010 Citroen DS3
2010 Mitsubishi Colt RalliartJuly 2010

Saturday, July 10, 2010

iRacing.com - Dover coming to iRacing

Yet another legendary race track is in the works at iRacing.com: Dover International Speedway. Our laser-scanning crews traveled to Delaware last week to gather the data required to build a virtual version of the one-mile oval which has hosted NASCAR races since 1969. Nicknamed “The Monster Mile” for the special challenges of its concrete pavement and 24-degree banked turns, Dover annually hosts a pair of NASCAR triple headers with one Sprint Cup/Nationwide/Camping World Truck Series weekend in May and another in September, in the midst of the Chase for the Sprint Cup title.

Dover’s impending addition means the entire list of tracks on the 2010 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series schedule is either already available or under development by iRacing.com’s production department. Pocono International Raceway is slated for release later this summer and Dover now joins Southern California’s Auto Club Speedway and Kansas Speedway in iRacing’s development pipeline.

iRacing.com

Friday, July 9, 2010

Gran Turismo 5 - Action Trailer

Get into the action with this trailer featuring some extreme moments from Gran Turismo 5.

iRacing Today – Episode 8

Trevor: "Its another jam packed week with some interesting milestones for the show, more content updates, black boxes of information, some seat time in the SRF, a slightly different Pit Road Section and Championship updates."

Listen the 8th episode at iracingtoday.com

Thursday, July 8, 2010

Gran Turismo 5 - Tour Trailer

This new short trailer shows off the cars and tracks from downtown to the countryside.

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.

Wednesday, July 7, 2010

iRacing.com - Spa-Francorchamps coming to iRacing

iRacing.com has announced that iRacing.com has signed a licensing agreement with Spa-Francorchamps. The scanning process will be done this summer.

Spa-Francorchamps is one of the most famous and beautiful race tracks in the world. The 7km long circuit is the venue of the Formula One Belgian Grand Prix and the Spa 24 Hours endurance race. It is considered to be one of the most challenging race tracks in the world, mainly due to its fast, hilly and twisty nature. Spa is a favourite circuit of many racing drivers and fans.

iRacing.com - Ford Mustangs @ Road America

Video maker stabizisback has released a racing video from iRacing.com showing his race with Ford Mustang at Road America.

InsideSimRacing: Episode 72

InsideSimRacing.tv presents Episode 72 another E3 2010 special report. Another action packed episode as Darin interviews Thomas Jackermeier of Fanatec. They discuss a few new products coming soon as well as sim racing in general. Jessica interviews Tritton Technologies about their new line of headphones. They also take a first look at WRC, World Rally Championship by Blackbean. Exclusive footage accompanied by an interview of Fabio Paglianti.

Tuesday, July 6, 2010

iRacing.com - Historic British Grand Prix


In a celebration of the history of the British Grand Prix at Silverstone and in appreciation of the car that 32 years ago ushered in the ground-effect era of motorsport, more than a thousand members of iRacing.com are expected to participate in the iRacing.com Historic British Grand Prix. This group of race game enthusiasts and sim racers will compete in virtual versions of the Lotus 79, Mario Andretti's mount for his 1978 Formula One World Championship and the first car feature a fully-effective design that generates downforce through underbody aerodynamics.

When it comes to Grand Prix racing, it doesn't get any more historic than Silverstone. The modern World Championship was born on this former RAF bomber base, where Giuseppe Farina led a 1-2-3 sweep for Alfa Romeo, propelling him to the inaugural World Drivers Championship. It was also on Silverstone's storied grounds, 28 years later, that Colin Chapman's then-revolutionary Lotus 79 made its competition debut in the hands of Mario Andretti at the BRDC International Trophy non-championship event.

"Each year Silverstone pays homage to its grand prix history with at least two historic Formula One races," said Divina Galica, iRacing.com's director of partner relations. "As the eighth round in our 2010 World Tour, the iRacing.com Historic British Grand Prix allows our members from all over the world to join in paying tribute to this significant event in modern motorsport and a car that changed racing forever."

Galica noted that unlike the real-world Silverstone historic races, which because of tight scheduling at the UK's Formula One World Championship event must race on different weekends, iRacing's virtual version is scheduled for the same weekend as this year's real-world British Grand Prix.

The 68-lap race is scheduled for July 10 at 3 pm ET (19:00 GMT) and is open without additional charge to all iRacing.com members around the world. Grids for the 24-car race splits grids will be determined by qualifying time, with qualifying sessions beginning July 3 at 8 pm ET (00:00 GMT).

iRacing.com

iRacing Today – Episode 7

Trevor: "On this week’s show I discuss the large amount of official content released this week, talk about voice chat, take you around Laguna Seca, discuss another great community contributor, and take you through a busy week in the top tiers of iRacing."

Listen the 7th episode at iracingtoday.com

Monday, July 5, 2010

Test Drive Unlimited 2 - Environments Trailer

Atari has released a new exclusive trailer from their upcoming racing video game Test Drive Unlimited 2 showing the ever-changing environments in which you'll be racing.

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.

F1 2010 - Developer Diary #4

Codemasters have released the 4th developer diary video showing the car production process and new gameplay footage too.

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

Sunday, July 4, 2010

iRacing.com - NASCAR iRacing Drivers World Championship - Daytona

iRacing TV has released a video recap of the 11th round 2010 NASCAR iRacing Drivers World Championship at Daytona International Speedway.

Friday, July 2, 2010

iRacing.com - Thompson International Speedway & Tour Modified

Fans of high powered, open wheel short track action are in luck. On two counts. Thompson International Speedway is now included free in our base package. What’s more, the race car most often associated with the legendary Connecticut short track - the NASCAR Tour Modified, faster cousin of the SK Modified – is now available.

No matter the race car, action on the banks of Thompson’s high banked 5/8 mile is fast and furious. But racing wheel-to-wheel with a couple dozen 2600 pound, 600 horsepower Tour Modifieds is faster and furious-er than just about anything this side of the Space Shuttle. Those who already own the SK Modifed have automatically had the Tour Modified added to their stable. Purchase a Tour Modified and we’ll throw-in the SK Modified for free.

Thursday, July 1, 2010

InsideSimRacing: Episode 71

InsideSimRacing.tv presents Episode 71 another E3 2010 special report. This show they have a variety of topics, starting with Test Drive Unlimited 2 by Atari and Eden Games. Jessica talks with one of the lead developers, the Shaun interviews a dev from Criterion games while Darin checks out their new title Need for Speed Hot Pursuit. Jessica also stops by the Turtle Beach and Playseats booth to see what they have to offer.