While iRacing is mostly known for its competitive esports scene, its developers have been working hard to support those who would like to race against AI opponents, both to train or simply for fun.
With the recently released Season 2, new cars and tracks have been made available to race against the AI.
In terms of cars, you can select the new ARCA Menards Series Chevrolet SS, Ford Mustang, and Toyota Camry, on top of the revised Legends Ford ’34 Coupe, and the Dallara iR-01.
This gives you a good range of opponents across multiple completely different racing styles.
Looking at the tracks, you can now select both layouts of the new Portland International Raceway, two layouts for Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course (Chicane and Short) and three for Daytona International Speedway (NASCAR Road, Moto, and Short).
On top of that, the experience against the AI has been further enhanced by a refreshed set of car color, sponsor, and number combinations that the sim will automatically apply to your opponent, providing a more diverse and immersive visual experience. The developer promises “the most realistic-looking iRacing AI experience yet.”
Speaking of AI, iRacing launched a partnership with Microsoft Research to implement Large Action Models AI in the simulator.
If you’re unfamiliar with iRacing, it’s a subscription-based, esports-focused racing simulation platform on PC considered by many one of the most realistic in the industry. It features precisely simulated cars and LIDAR-scanned tracks that precisely reproduce their real counterparts, popular among many real racing drivers.
It’s also an attractive esports platform as it features racing regulations closely related to the ones used in real motorsports to create an online esports environment that feels as professional as possible, encouraging clean racing, racecraft, and fair play over winning or placing high in the rankings.
iRacing partners with several real-world racing series and organizations including Nascar, IMSA, the FIA, and many more.
The company behind iRacing is also publishing the next Nascar game, Nascar 25, which will be released this fall for PC and consoles.
