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.
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.
If there’s one thing iRacing could be criticized for, it’s the fact that it includes a number of 10+ year old roadcourse tracks that often no longer exist. While it’s marketed as a training tool, you have to wonder exactly how a driver could use it as one unless they are an oval-racer that’s more often supported with updated content.
While for most sim racers it might not make a difference to their enjoyment how accurate a track is, it can’t be ignored that a number of them sign up to the service under the impression they’re getting a current circuit.
I worked at iRacing, visited Lime Rock quite a few times over my years there, and it was completely rebuilt in 2008. That means that ever since then the iRacing version no longer existed in real-life. By 2012 I worked at ISI and I surveyed Lime Rock for rFactor 2. One the most interesting things was seeing iRacing users talking about how inaccurate the 2012 rF2 version was because they were comparing it with iRacing rather than real-life… That’s a clear indication to me that they thought they were using a current track in the iRacing service.
Whether you’re bothered by outdated tracks or not, it’s certainly one of the few downsides to the iRacing service. That said, iRacing remains the best place to find a race. Frankly, I’m really pleased to see this step and see a current version of this spectacular flowing circuit once again. It joins the recently updated Silverstone (surveyed in 2006, obsolete in 2010, replaced in iRacing 2019), and hopefully indicates that iRacing are working their way through their older content.
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