iRacing FAQ

[Simon Trendell]

The first part of this is taken from the thread at RSC
iRacing FAQ - RaceSimCentral Forums

* Invite Status *
Public launch Tueday 26th August

------ RSC Thread -----------------------------------------------------

What Cars Are Included In The Initial Subscription?

Legends Ford '34 Coupe
SCCA Showroom stock B-Class Pontiac Solstice Z0K Club Sport

Cars will come in two versions, Rookie and Advanced. Rookie allows for no setup changes and the Legends cars are rev limited producing some 20bhp less than the Advanced cars

What Cars Can Be Purchased At Initial Launch?

Formula Mazda - $15
Late Model - $15
Radical SR8 - $15
USAC Silver Crown - $15
SK Modified - $15
Skip Barber Formula RT2000 - $15

What Tracks Are Included In The Initial Subscription?
Lime Rock Park x 2 (with or without the chicane)
Laguna Seca
Summit Point x 3
South Boston
Lanier
Oxford Plains
Lowe's Motor Speedway x 4

What Tracks Can Be Purchased At Initial Launch?

Atlanta Motor Speedway - $20
Layouts (3) - Oval, Legends Oval, Infield Road Course

Concord Motorsports Park - $15
Layouts (1) - Oval

Daytona Int’l Speedway - $25
Layouts (4) - Oval, Road, Short Road, Bike Road

Homestead Miami Speedway - $20
Layouts (3) - Oval, Road A, Road B

Infineon Raceway - $25
Layouts (3) - Cup, IRL, Long (with carousel turn)

Stafford Motor Speedway - $15
Layouts (1) - Oval

Martinsville Speedway - $15
Layouts (1) - Oval

Laguna Seca - FREE
Layouts (1) - Road Course

Oxford Plains Speedway - FREE
Layouts (1) - Oval

Richmond Int’l Raceway - $15
Layouts (1) - Oval

Road America - $25
Layouts (2) - Bend, Full

Silverstone Circuit - $25
Layouts (5) - Grand Prix, Southern, National, International, Historical Grand Prix

Irwindale - $15
Layouts (3) - Inner, Outer, Inner-Outer

USA Int’l Speedway - $15
Layouts (1) - Oval

Virginia International Raceway - $20
Layouts (6) - Patriot, Grand West, Full Course, North Course, Grand East, South Course

Are The Cars And Tracks Licensed?

All cars and tracks are officially licensed, although all license are non-exclusive and are not tied in to iRacing only.

How Much Will It Cost?

The monthly payments reduce with the length of contractual commitment.

So sign up for three months and it will cost you $17 per month, a six month contract will cost you $15 per month whilst and annual subscription will cost $13 per month.

Note the subscription is paid in full up front (e.g. $156 for an annual subscription)

A one month trial is available at $20 (this can be rolling)

The annual subscription has the added advantage of $60 credits towards cars and/or tracks.

Are there volume discounts?

There is a volume discount when purchasing cars ($15 each) and tracks ($15-$25 each). 10% off for 3 or more items. 20% off for 6 or more.

For Longer Contracts How Often Do I Pay?

Currently only a one off fee

Can iRacing Be Used For Modding?

Modding of iRacing will be limited to car skins only. Not clear if this will be available with the launch product

Is There Any Form Of Offline Play?

Customers will be able to drive alone using their purchased content although they will need to authenticate online first. Only subscribed members can use iRacing. There is no AI.

Are There Online Practice Sessions?

Yes. These weill start to run every few minutes so groups can join up to race together.

Is There a Free Demo?

There is no indication there will be a free demo, the $20 one month trial being the cheapest option to try it out

Where Are The Servers?

The servers are all based in the US and have been successfully tested worldwide. Bandwidth is such that 30, 40 even 50 cars can run where the series and track allows.

What Are The Competitions?

There will be 12 week competitions split into divisions by irating and car class globally and also by geographic area where groups will score points for their region to compete as clubs against other regions.

How Do I Advance?

You advance to advanced rookie cars as soon as your safety rating is high enough. You can then advance to what is called Class D racing until your first full season begins. You earn a Class D license at the end of the rookie season if your safety rating is high enough even if you didn't earn in during your rookie stint.

You'll start getting paired up with similarly skilled racers fairly quickly, but it can take a while for your rating to sort out.

You can always race down in a series below your current level.

What Is The Race Schedule?

Races will run throughout the day. Drivers will be able to join to suit them and score points for their championships. Qualifying is done in separate sessions (as many as you wish) your fastest lap will determine your grid position in your races.

There will be race weeks where you race on a given track as many times as you wish. The average points scored in the week goes towards the championship

Practice & Time trials currently start every 2 minutes
Qualifying starts every hour
Races are every 2 hours but ovals & road alternate each hour (so you can do one race per hour)

Can I Race With My Friends?

You can assign buddies. Depending upon the rating and server availability iRacing will try to pair you up. Where possible.
Planning ahead you can usually get a practice session together.

What Are The Race Lengths?

Race lengths will vary with the series, but generally the higher level series will have longer races then the lower series.

What About Fixed Setup Racing?

The rookie cars have fixed setups.

Will there be a racing school?

A racing school based on the Skip Barber format will be made available but not a launch

What About Wreckers?

Drivers have an iRating, so a clean driver will quickly move onto servers which poor drivers are not on. A licence can be suspended for deliberate wrecking. All customers have to sign up with their credit cards preventing a wrecker simply signing up under another name.

Are Private Leagues Supported?

Not at launch but planned in a later update

What Devices Are Supported?

Steering wheels: Everything including 900 degree controllers and FFB
Track IR: Yes
Matrox Triplehead2go: Yes but FOV a bit restrictive for multiple screens FOV increased in latest build
SoftTH Support: As above. Note that iRacing does not control AA so no AA in Softth changed in latest build AA now included!
Shifters: Any recognised by the O/S
Multiple controllers: Yes

What Is The Minimum & Recommended Specifications?

Windows XP or Windows Vista
Hyperthreaded Intel CPU, AMD Athlon 64 CPU, or any dual-core CPU
128MB Pixel Shader 2.0 (ATI 9700Pro or nVidia 6600 or better); 256 MB Pixel Shader 3.0 (ATI X1600 or nVidia 6800 GT/GS or better recommended) graphics adapter
1 GB system RAM
3Gb free hard disk space
Steering wheel and pedals required
Microphone optional, required for voice chat
Internet Browser Requirements

Firefox 1.5, Internet Explorer 6, or newer
Javascript enabled
Cookies enabled
Flash Player
Internet Connection Speed

56K dial-up at a minimum, Broadband (DSL or Cable) highly recommended. Satellite broadband excluded.

What Gameplay Options Are Included?

Note: iRacing will continually develop and gameplay options will be added throughout its development. Just because it is not listed in the launch material is no indication it will not be added. This section will be updated as we learn of new features to be added


Surround Sound: Yes
In game voice chat: Yes (can be switched off!)
Pre race chat rooms: Yes
Post race chat rooms: Yes
Live groove: No
Animated pit crews: No
What are the garage options on the different cars: These are customised by car using the realistic settings that can be modified
Are there day to night transitions: No
Is a spectator mode included: No
Weather - is rain included: No
Changeable weather: No
Clutch support: Yes plus auto clutch & blip. Although not fully modelled (car cannot stall)
Driver changes: No
Ability to join in qualy: Yes
Ability to rejoin mid race: Yes
Are non US character sets supported: unknown
Is telemetry included: No
What kind of driver stats can be displayed: Loads, although much more planned.
Can engines catch fire, drop oil etc.: Not in the beta build, expected for launch build
Can tyres blow: Yes
Visible tyre wear: No
Car reflections: Dynamic
Damage: Visible and affects performance.
Car resets: Two allowed

What Copy Protection System Is In Use?

iRacing proprietary system - use must authenticate before use. Anto cheat system in place to recognise modified exes or trainers running etc.

When Can I Subscribe!

The next round of invites are expected to be made up of those who've been joined the mailing list. Sign up here.

------ End of RSC Thread ---------------------------------

What painting options are there?

There are no customs skins, instead there are themes with 3 colours which you can customize. These colours are currnetly limited to a small palette, although hopefully they'll add the ability to set custom RGB or HEX values.

Can I read the sporting code?

It's a long read but you can get a good idea from it
http://members.iracing.com/membersit...ode_042408.pdf

Can replays be saved?

In early versions you could however replays are currently large and so the save button is disabled. Eventually it should be added back as it's highly requested. Live replays are pretty similar to rFactors.

Please feel free to ask questions and I'll get them answered and added to this post

How do I advance to the next License?

You must have a Safety Rating above 3.00 & of completed at least 4 races or 4 time trials (as a rook it's only 2 races).
A safety rating of 2.00 to 2.99 you will remain at your current license
1.99 below and you'll drop the next lowest license level

Where do I put setup files?

Downloaded setup files Should be placed in the "iRacing\setups\*car name*" folder within either "My Documents" for XP or "Documents" for Vista.