Better known today as the developer of Skyrim and Fallout, Bethesda once had a well-respected racing game franchise and were deep into development of a licensed Skip Barber Racing title that never released.
Originally known as Papyrus Design, the legendary Massachusetts-based software studio developed highly-regarded simulation titles and published with Electronic Arts, Virgin Interactive and Sierra before their shutdown by Vivendi, owners of Sierra, in 2004.
Co-founded by arguably the father of the modern racing simulation, David Kaemmer, the studio created NASCAR and IndyCar titles that consistently pushed the genre forwards.
Their groundbreaking Grand Prix Legends game engine was used in three NASCAR titles between 2001-2003, evolving to become iRacing after Kaemmer re-acquired former Papyrus assets for his new company.
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Worth a news post of its own, iRacing have now posted a trailer for their recently released 2022 Formula One Mercedes car flying around Imola. You can check it out below.
Video description:
Fresh out of the 2022 World Driver’s Championship, the Mercedes-AMG W13 E Performance marks the second car built by the Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula One Team to come to iRacing. Shod in silver in a return to the German manufacturer’s traditional racing colors, the car also represented a drastic change from its predecessor, the W12, due to major changes in regulations from the 2021 season. Its most striking visual changes include much smaller sidepods than previous seasons, which were introduced in preseason testing and used throughout the year.
While not as dominant as the W12, the W13 still debuted on the podium in Bahrain with driver Lewis Hamilton, and teammate George Russell scored his first podium in the car two rounds later in Australia. The car began to truly find its footing after major upgrades in Spain, with at least one podium finish in seven of the next eight races. After back-to-back runner-up finishes for Hamilton in the United States and Mexico, the team capped off the season with a 1-2 finish in the penultimate round in Brazil, with Russell scoring his first career Grand Prix victory. In total, the W13 produced 17 podiums and six fastest laps across 22 events.
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iR is a subscription-based online service that allows sim racers to race a variation of cars and tracks from all around the world.