Video game development is full of names that have made groundbreaking steps you’ve never even heard about. Shawn Nash is a behind-the-scenes pioneer responsible for SODA Off Road Racing’s incredible physics, Papyrus’ graphical advancements and iRacing’s use of laser scan data for the physical track surfaces.
This interview with RSC, published in 2021, details his early life and career, through both his own company, Papyrus, Electronic Arts, to his time at iRacing.
As a direct ancestor of iRacing, the ‘Grand Prix Legends engine’ had multiple stock car racing false starts, before eventually releasing as NASCAR Racing 4. The original NASCAR 3, cancelled and replaced by one that used NASCAR 2’s engine, is barely remembered.
iRacing today released a new update for their service that includes some fixes and tweaks, but most notably introduces some logging for various software crashes they say users have been experiencing.
Patch notes:
SIMULATION:
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Race Servers
Some additional crash logs may now be acquired from Replays.
Some logging parameters for Session failures have been updated.
Physics
The collision parameters and physics properties for various movable track objects, such as various types of cones, tire bundles, bollards, barrels, brake markers, and bales, have been consolidated and balanced for improved realism.
Some parameters for handling torque calculations have been adjusted for the Zippy Prevention code introduced in Patch 2.
Some additional divide-by-zero checks have been added to a few physics systems.
iRacing Weather System
Significantly updated a water flow equation for transitional periods between dry and wet. This provides a slightly smoother transition as rain falls, the track changes state from “lightly wet” to “moderately wet”, and puddles begin to form.
Weather system code for processing drastic changes in weather over short periods have been updated.
The in-Simulation forecast wind direction calculations have been corrected.
Windshield wiper rain lines now render on opponent cars during a live Session, and render on all cars during Replays.
The maximum allowable amount of rain particles on windshields has been slightly reduced.
Windshield rain textures have been updated.
Fixed an issue where some raindrops would disappear at inappropriate times during a wiper swipe.
Graphics
Updates for a new version of PopcornFX to improve memory usage parameters.
Adjusted some processing scheduling and queuing for particle effects to improve processing.
Some additional crash logging has been added for PopcornFX processes.
Windshield texture mapping has been improved for rainy windshields.
Windshield particle effect processing code has been updated.
Fixed an issue where a GPU particle draw call could use the wrong rendering state/constants.
Fixed a spooky SSR issue where a Ghost Car that was in use for reference laps could cause large portions of your cockpit to not render whenever it was overlapping your car.
Audio
The Spotter Calls audio output has been adjusted to mix at 22050hz instead of 5512hz so that the Active Reset sounds we currently push through this channel will play back correctly.
Spotter – Foreign Language
The Italian – Renzo A. Olivieri spotter pack messages have been updated.
– – Molte grazie, Renzo!
CARS:
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Aston Martin DBR9 GT1
Ground-impacting collision properties have been updated slightly to reduce the likelihood of snags.
Dallara F3
iRacing setups have been updated.
Dirt Late Model
Tire tread pattern has been reverted to the initial 2024 Season 2 Release version.
FIA F4
Lowered aero penalties for floor and sidepod damage.
Ford GT GT2 / GT3
(GT3) – The UI model image has been updated.
McLaren MP4-12C GT3
The UI model image has been updated.
Porsche 911 GT3 Cup (992)
Slightly raised the nose collision area.
Super Formula Lights
Updated the drag and downforce aerodynamic calculations, particularly as related to front ride height adjustments. Some additional drag has also been added based on the front flap angle. In the garage, adjustments to both front and rear ride heights are now restricted.
A damage tuning pass has been completed which raised the stiffness and lowered the break limits for the nose and front wing, and lowered the mount stiffness for the dampers.
Fixed an error with the displayed RPM values for this vehicle’s engine.
Fixed a model error for damaged front sidepod and suspension.
iRacing setups have been updated.
[Legacy] Dallara DW12
Vehicle floor collision has been adjusted slightly to prevent bottom snagging.
iRacing setups have been updated.
TRACKS:
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Algarve International Circuit
Barney, Legendary Flagman, has finally arrived to flag races here!
Added configuration names to the in SIM user interface.
Autodromo Nazionale Monza
The mass of the arrow signs at this track have been dramatically reduced. They should no longer total cars on contact.
Motorsport Arena Oschersleben
Adjusted some gain-time checkpoints that were slightly too intrusive on the track limits.
(Alternate) – Added a missing track camera.
Winton Motor Raceway
(Club) – The standing start grid layout has been standardized.
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