2024 Season 3 Release Notes [2024.06.03.01]
The iRacing 2024 Season 3 Release Build is here! This release includes new content, upgrades, and fixes for 2024 Season 3, which officially starts on June 10th at 0000 UTC! iRacing adds two new GT3 cars, the Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R and the Ford Mustang GT3. We’ve also added a two-for-one deal with the new Street Stock - Casino & Eagle - two cars included in the same package! The iRacing map expands with three new pins: Circuito de Navarra (3 configs), Oswego Speedway (2 configs, Dirt Oval coming soon!), and Sachsenring. We’ve also added a new track configuration to Indianapolis Motor Speedway that matches how the circuit is raced in NASCAR.
As for features, we have BIG NEWS! This release will fully implement the New Damage Model on ALL VEHICLES in the entire service! That’s right, every single car will now benefit from the improved physics and visual experience brought by using the New Damage Model. A few vehicles have received special attention with this release, including the Porsche 911 GT3 Cup (992) and the NASCAR Trucks Series Trucks. The Porsche has been updated to the latest available technical specifications, while the NASCAR Trucks Series Trucks have received significant updates and improvements based on research performed in partnership with NASCAR, as well as extensive computational fluid dynamics (CFD) analysis.
The iRacing application is also becoming fully featured with this release, with the addition of some long-awaited Stats and Results improvements: the Driver Leaderboard and Lap Charts & Lap Graphs. We are also rounding out the New Racer Onboarding experience by adding Sports Car as an option.
If you haven’t had enough to drink yet, you’re in luck - TEN additional vehicles are rain-ready, including the entire GT4 Class! And finally, all new content arrives AI-enabled. Get in gear and prepare for iRacing 2024 Season 3!
Season highlights include:
Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R
Ford Mustang GT3
Street Stock - Casino
Street Stock - Eagle
Circuito de Navarra (3 configs) [FREE!]
Oswego Speedway (2 configs, Dirt Oval coming soon!)
Sachsenring
New Track Configuration: Indianapolis Motor Speedway (Oval) [NASCAR version]
New Damage Model for ALL vehicles in the iRacing stable!
Porsche 911 GT3 Cup (992) Extensive Updates
NASCAR Trucks Series Trucks Aerodynamic and Chassis Overhaul
Stats: Driver Leaderboard
Results: Lap Chart & Lap Graph
New Racer Onboarding: Sports Car
Ten Newly Rain-Ready Vehicles [<Car Class> GT4 Class Cars (Aston Martin Vantage GT4, BMW M4 GT4, McLaren 570S GT4, Mercedes-AMG GT4, Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 Clubsport MR), Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R, Ford Mustang GT3, Global Mazda MX-5 Cup, Ligier JS P320, and Porsche 911 GT3 Cup (992)]
AI Racing for four new cars [Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R, Ford Mustang GT3, Street Stock - Casino, and Street Stock - Eagle]
AI Racing at seven track configurations [Circuito de Navarra - Speed Circuit, Speed Circuit Medium, & Speed Circuit Short, Indianapolis Motor Speedway - Oval, Oswego Speedway - Oval & Mini Oval, and Sachsenring]
Over 700 professionally crafted iRacing vehicle setups
The seventh-generation Ford Mustang has been the linchpin of Ford's modern motorsport efforts around the world, from the NASCAR Cup Series to Australia's Supercars series. It was no surprise, then, when the Blue Oval revealed that it would return to the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship for the first time since 2019 with the Mustang GT3, based on the 2024 Mustang Dark Horse model.
The Ford Mustang GT3 is powered by a 5.4-liter, naturally aspirated Ford Coyote V8 engine. Built and campaigned by Multimatic in the GTD Pro class, and run as a customer car by Proton Competition in both GTD and international GT3 series, the car also marks the first time since 1997 that a Mustang will compete at Le Mans. With past Le Mans winners like Mike Rockenfeller and Joey Hand drafted in to run with Ford's factory IMSA program, expectations are high as the brand writes the next chapter of the Mustang's racing legacy.
Upon the global sunsetting of the GTE spec at the end of the 2023 racing season, Chevrolet's Corvette C8.R would require a successor to be built under GT3 specifications. Enter the Z06 GT3.R, which would also see the brand pivot from a direct factory-backed Corvette Racing program to numerous customer teams-although the same Pratt Miller Motorsports group that led the factory GTE effort remains a key part of the racing efforts.
The Z06 GT3.R shares plenty with the C8.R it replaces, most notably the 5.5-liter LT6-based V8 engine. The car took its first IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship podium in the GTD Pro class at Laguna Seca in spring 2024, with Nicky Catsburg and Tommy Milner teaming up to finish third in class. More wins and podiums are sure to follow as the Z06 GT3.R builds upon the Corvette's extensive history of sports car racing success.
Oswego Speedway will be arriving in tomorrow's Season 3 update!
Known as "The Steel Palace," Oswego, New York's Oswego Speedway may be best known for its Supermodified events. Besides hosting major touring series, it's also the last track in the world to run Supermodifieds as part of its weekly races. Still, there's much more to Oswego than that—from frequent spots on touring modified, late model, and other open wheel series, to its annual dirt conversion for Super DIRT Week and the Big Block Modifieds of the Super DIRTcar Series, few ovals in America host such a diverse racing program.
Oswego's conversion from racing horses to racing cars began in 1951, when the track was converted to a 3/8 mile dirt track. That layout was paved the next year and remained as such until 1961, when it was lengthened to its current 5/8 mile configuration, although a 3/8 mile Mini Oval is still accessible. Oswego began hosting Super DIRT Week in the fall of 2016 and has undergone an annual makeover each year since.
Oswego Speedway's Dirt configuration will be added in a following patch shortly after the Season 3 update.
The Casino and Eagle Street Stocks will be available in tomorrow's Season 3 update!
When it comes to grass-roots racing, it doesn't get any more "rooted" than Street Stocks. Although there are (nearly) as many different variations on Street Stock rules as there are quarter- and half-mile race tracks around America, the common thread is the use of an older American street car as the basis of the Street Stock race car.
Depending on the race track and its rules (and your budget), Street Stocks range from little more than a street car with its interior gutted, its windows removed and a rudimentary roll cage to a full-on race car with a highly-tuned engine, upgraded suspension and plastic bodywork conforming to the shape of the original street car. (iRacing's Street Stock is built to the full-on race car rules).
Regardless of the specific rules, turning a street car into a Street Stock is not only less expensive than buying a purpose-built race car, the process of building a race car from a street car helps wanna-be race drivers and mechanics learn the fundamentals of race car construction, maintenance and setups. And learning is what it's all about, for Street Stocks is the class to learn the basics of stock car racing.
