On the 8th of November, iRacing released their most recent developer’s blog, previewing the cars, tracks and features that will be released in the Season 1 build in just a few weeks. This is great insight to what iRacing has been working on and it’s also a nice way to get people excited about the new season, as there is plenty to be excited about. Let’s see what we can look forward to.
Cars
There are several new cars coming to the service, some of them were expected already and there is a huge surprise as well.
And let’s start right away with the big one, iRacing has announced that the Ferrari 499P Hypercar is going to be joining the service in the next build. This is a huge deal, as iRacing is getting a currently competing and Le Mans winning Hypercar. We’ve had GTP cars already that are racing in IMSA but not a car that is exclusive to WEC before. This is an amazing addition to the prototype field.
The development update also featured the announcement of the new Supercars. Both the Chevrolet Camaro and Ford Mustang will be available in the next build. This is a complete class update for the Supercars on iRacing to bring the cars up to date. By iRacing’s own admission, this was a long time coming and it almost already made the last build so this won’t be too much of a surprise for anyone.
The GT3 class is also going to expand with a new car as the Acura NSX GT3 Evo 22 is also coming to the service. With this, the GT3 class will have 10 cars now!
Tracks
For this season’s build, iRacing is releasing 2 fully new tracks that were built from the ground. The first of these two is Thruxton Circuit, which is located in the United Kingdom and is a usual host of Touring Car, GT and even some open wheeler races. And to add to that, the dirt oval fans won’t be left without any new content either. The season 1 build will also see the release of Huset’s Speedway, the ⅜-mile dirt oval in South Dakota.
Additionally, the developers also worked on refreshing the looks of two tracks. Those are New Hampshire Motor Speedway and Las Vegas Motor Speedway. These are mostly just visual updates and for that reason, they are also only calling it a refresh as well. And because of these, this update is free if you already purchased the tracks before.
Features
In addition to the cars and tracks, iRacing is also bringing in several new features to the simulation with this new build.
- Tire Model Update
A tire model update will be issued to the GTP and LMP2 classes which includes several key updates for these cars. - Debris Refresh
This feature is expected to improve how debris, such as gravel is pushed onto the race track. - AI Behavior
As always, iRacing is working hard on improving their AI racing model and once again an update is brought to this feature as well. - Graphics Update
The Season 1 build will introduce improvements to the lighting model. - UI Updates
iRacing is again bringing several small updates to their UI. - Bump Start
The GTP class cars will have a realistic bump start model now from the pits.
This would be what iRacing has announced so far for the 2025 Season 1 build, however, they claim to have saved some surprises as well for later. This is already very exciting and we can’t wait to see what they are still holding up their sleeves!