iRacing.com – Ford GT, HPD & Suzuka Teaser Video

iRacing will be releasing three important new content items shortly as the Ford GT, the HPD ARX-01C Le Mans Prototype and Suzuka will join their simulation as part of the summer 2.0 update.

Below is a new teaser video, showing both the GT2 car and the LMP2 car in action on the famous Japanese Formula One venue.

Campaigned by Robertson Racing, the Ford GT GT2-R is an American Le Mans Series GT2 car based on Ford’s road-going Ford GT Supercar. Following several seasons of ALMS competition, the GT2-R made its Le Mans debut last June.

Powered by a V8 engine and designed by Wirth Research, the ARX-01C started its racing life under Honda’s Acura brand. The car has won numerous races, including the LMP2 class at last year’s Le Mans 24 Hours in the hands of Strakka Racing.


  • Ricoo

    Looks good, nice work. The next revolution, it is a bit exaggerated tho.

  • lemming 77

    Do want. :(

  • Dave A.

    “will join their” -> “will be available for renting”

  • Nismo

    Suzuka looks amazing, even in that video, it’s clearly the best version of Suzuka i have seen. Really wish iRacing would update the sim with better lighting etc to really show their tracks off. They would easily be the best looking sim around with proper lighting. Cars and cockpits looks extremely flat in the screenshots. The day they update their lighting, i will resubscibe in a flash

  • Nismo

    Suzuka looks amazing, even in that video, it’s clearly the best version of Suzuka i have seen. Really wish iRacing would update the sim with better lighting etc to really show their tracks off. They would easily be the best looking sim around with proper lighting. Cars and cockpits looks extremely flat in the screenshots. The day they update their lighting, i will resubscibe in a flash

  • Rolands Svētiņš

    This vid makes me wanna race!

  • Mark

    Looking forward to the update this week – not only for the new tracks and cars but also to get to try the New Tyre Model out on the Skip Barber car. :-D

  • Moose

    So your basing you decision to resubscribe on the Lighting?  If i told my sim racing buddies i wouldn’t race a sim because the lighting wasn’t good enough they would call the men in white coats to my house ;)    Funny, but i always thought sim racing was about…..  racing.

  • gtrNL

    The NTM will only be released on the C6, Ford and Honda.
    You will have to wait before the Skip gets some new tyres…

    Anyway, I’m really looking forward to this update. The C6.R is my favo car and I’m just dying to drive Suzuka.

  • Heimdall Exus

    You’re wrong gtrNL. Yesterday iRacing staff confirmed the Skip as the one with the NTM. C6 NTM you be available later.

  • Heimdall Exus

    grtNL. As of yesterday iRacing staff confirmed that the Skip will be the one with the NTM. The C6 NTM will be available a little later.

  • Nismo

    Yep, basically their engine apart from the tracks is beginning to look dated now. I have seen what is possible elsewhere and yes physics are important but eye candy is aswell. And iRacing is looking tired in all the screens i see lately. Looks bland and lacking decent ligting. Not sure how much it’s changed since i stopped racing it about 3 months back after hammering it for a good year or so but it looked tired back then with it’s dated shadows etc and lighting.

    Good thing is i own all raod cars so when they do eventually update the sim to todays standards then i’m ready to go. With C,A,R,S just around the corner aswell that looks miles ahead of even SHIFT2 graphically i hope it’s gives iRacing a good kick up the ass.

  • stabiz

    C.A.R.S just around the corner? It was just announced.

  • frigopie

    i think iRacing ligthing is very clean and realistic… maybe some HDR needed to improve contrast between light and shadows but thats all

  • Nismo

    Couple of weeks away with the site going up etc. It has been in the works already for 6 months in the backround

  • aaltomar

    You have to take into account that iRacing is 100% online and has to have the most accessible graphics engine so that most can use the service. Of course having the option to bling it up is always a good thing. I think what’s missing mostly is the bloom effect which is quite overdone in many sims. The current engine is quite functional and I don’t miss much, maybe smoke would be fun to have as a volumetric type (plus changing weather and road surface).

  • Ricoo

    Those than can afford iRacing probably have a real beast as PC. :)

  • stabiz

    Thats the first beta, with probably extremely limited content and functionality.

  • Nismo

    I agree with you there totally, BUT like Ricco has alluded to below, most have decent sytems these days and it’s all about choice. If you have the system to max it with all the goodies then so be it, if not then aslong as iRacing make it scale well and let people turn ceratin options off then no biggie.

    It’s the thing i like about iRacing is how adjustable it is. But as said lately for me anyway, it’s looking tired and bland and needs sprucing up. Any shots that have looked half decent have been shopped and all the videos are full of effects to spruce the look up.

    You have to understand i’m not hating on the game as i like and raced it ALOT, but i’m at that point now where i no lon ger am happy with just solid physics but need great eye candy to go with the physics.

    iRacings car models, tracks and car behaviour in the replays for me is the best but it lacks that lighting and other effects like decent soft shadows, ambient occlusion etc to really show off the work that goes into it all.

    If you have the system, there is no reason iRacing can not be up there with all the latest titles graphically

  • Nismo

    I agree with you there totally, BUT like Ricco has alluded to below, most have decent sytems these days and it’s all about choice. If you have the system to max it with all the goodies then so be it, if not then aslong as iRacing make it scale well and let people turn ceratin options off then no biggie.   It’s the thing i like about iRacing is how adjustable it is. But as said lately for me anyway, it’s looking tired and bland and needs sprucing up. Any shots that have looked half decent have been shopped and all the videos are full of effects to spruce the look up.   You have to understand i’m not hating on the game as i like and raced it ALOT, but i’m at that point now where i am no longer am happy with just solid physics but need great eye candy to go with the physics.   iRacings car models, tracks and car behaviour in the replays for me is the best but it lacks that lighting and other effects like decent soft shadows, ambient occlusion etc to really show off the work that goes into it all.   If you have the system, there is no reason iRacing can not be up there with all the latest titles graphically

    Stabiz – It’s still coming soon though and is gonna be fun seeing it evolve

  • BSR-WiX

    iRacing can be run on a very modest system.  Your average mod requires a fatter PC . there are enough options to get everyone going. For all wistles and bells you need an modern average PC with a midrange videocard.  not to bad .  The difference between my I5 + Nvisia 285 and i7 + nvisia 570 is moderate. 

  • Bakkster

    IMO, the physics are the least of the reasons to like iRacing. There are better sims if physics is your only concern. Myself, it’s the SR and official racing that I like most, I’d probably pay for just that over another sim.

  • frigopie

    i think iRacing physics/cars handling are the best by far… which sim has better physics in you opinion?

  • sandboxgod

    Um what??? C.A.R.S. doesn’t look miles ahead of Shift2

  • Silly(c)One

    “i think iRacing physics/cars handling are the best by far… which sim has better physics in you opinion?”

    He may be refering to netKar Pro ? This one sure is a handfull to drive… Much steeper learning curve than iRacing, in my opinion.

    I haven’t driven anywhere as much as Nismo in iRacing, so I can still cope with its graphics, but it would really be a nice change indeed if they could boost up the effects. Spa in the sun really doesn’t feel natural at all, even with iRacing physics, my brains tells me something is wrong.

  • Silly(c)One

    “The difference between my I5 + Nvisia 285 and i7 + nvisia 570 is moderate. ”

    That’s because both your systems are high end compared to the huge market of home PCs.
    i5 and i7 won’t make a difference in simracing as no game actually on the market uses more than 2 cores, and on my previous machine, an Intel Core2Quad with an old GTS 250, iRacing was running with full options already… There is a lot of margin for graphical improvement, hell, even DiRT 1 was looking nicer than iRacing now.

    I have hopes for iRacing 2.0 though, but I may have been duped by the video editors ;)

  • Meton Sanga

    your brain tells you somthings wrong, because your not experiencing the gforces…. simple. its a problem with all games/sims…. unless of course you own a motion platform

  • Julian

    this the first post of mine here on virtualr, just because i know the situation of playing sims and then joining iracing. i bought netkar pro very long time ago, was paticipating the private beta test for the ‘new’ bugfree version (1.2 oder 1.3?? i forgot).
    netkar gives you a great feeling of driving a car, the “in the car” feeling is very cool. the ffb is a beast. but the lack of missing sim racers online, the bad netcode, laggy hitbox, slow development drive me nuts. it could be so much better.
    last week i took the chance and bought (rent :)) an iracing account for 3 month, with some additional content, and i have to say, it’s worth every cent. all races are hugh fun, every single racer stays cool in the first corner, it’s a pleasure to drive round for round bumber to bumper and to fight for a position without fear you could hit by a wracker kid.
    the graphics of iracing are clean, maybe to clean, but i like them, it’s much better than every other new racing game like shift, dirt, whatever with so much bloom, lightning and unsharen design.
    i play with a c2d 8800 with a ati 5700, 6gb ram and trackir5 a reach with a resolution of 1920×1080 an average fps count of 60 in a full racing field. for what i need more? maybe i need to adjust my options version 2.0.

    greets

  • SergeantBoner

    Hey its America, if you dont like it, you can just get out!

  • Ricoo

    It would be nice if there was shops where you could buy brains in America. :-P

  • Big Ron

    @Nismo
    It would look better with updated lightning. But it wouldn´t be the best looking game. In sum with lightning, shaders are the most important thing graphics-wise. And when it comes to shaders, iRacing sucks in all parts. 

  • stabiz

    How does it suck? I mean really suck? It could be better, and it likely will, but the need for things to either suck or rule is tiresome.

    Here are two unedited shots, I dont think this sucks at all:

    http://i1134.photobucket.com/albums/m601/eldouche/iRacingSim2011-05-0918-22-16-32.jpg

    http://i1134.photobucket.com/albums/m601/eldouche/iRacingSim2011-07-1719-39-32-23.jpg

  • Bakkster

    I’m not referring to anything, I haven’t really put enough time into the other current sims. I’m just saying the #1 most important thing about iRacing is the SR and official race system.

    I think iRacing’s physics are quite good (and NTM makes it even better) but even if they had crap physics I would still probably race it because of SR.

  • Nismo

    @ Big Ron – Yeah that’s why i said things like soft shadows, Ambient Occlusion etc, not just the lighting. But you are right lighting and better shaders is the main part to give it that next gen look. Don’t agree it sucks btw as i think the tracks use of decent textures shows how good iRacing could look. Unfortuntaly for me and proved by the shots below from Stabiz, the cars don’t get that same texture love, with both shots looking blurry and low res.   I just feel that iRacing for me anyway is the pinnacle of todays sim overall as a package but it lacks that top of the tree eye candy to really top it off. A few years back i was of the attitude of aslong as the physics are good, who cares what it looks like. But that was 2005 and now we are in 2011 and there is so much more avaiable to devs to make use of.

  • The Biff

    Updated graphics….same old ripoff. 

  • Stefan Lemke

    i hope it comes soon. i wainting to drive the vette…

  • sandboxgod

    I agree with you Nismo tho these PC sims can all use some graphics loving across the board if they can possibly spare the resources. It would seem like all it would take it just 1 talented graphics guru to get things up to par. It’s pretty strange that the console sims & ports are absolutely stunning while PC sims are getting left behind (in the graphics department). 

  • Meton Sanga

    console… sims…. im sorry but none of the racing games on console could be considered sim… Semi/sim/arcade yes! Sim NO!!!

  • DR.Joint

    Update will be launched tomorrow

  • aaltomar

    I’m running iRacing in triple screen 3×26″ and to get high framerates (no vsync –> high fps to prevent tearing I like them best when @ 124 ish) and I need to drop the resolution to 3x1680x1050 with a high-end i7-965 Extreme + 1xHD5850, 6GB mem. Also the quality settings are lowered, shadow maps only etc.

  • Bakkster
  • sandboxgod

    Meton I find it interesting how you gave no examples. Don’t forget all the good *affordable* hardware comes from the console sims (T500RS, Logitech, Fanatec, etc) + they still have some features not common to the hardcore PC sims (team liveries that can be traded, purchasing real parts to upgrade your car, etc). The PC sims are more powerful and have vast potential I agree but I think the console sims earned their right to be “sims” by a long shot. When I get on my T500RS wheel and hop into GT5 I feel a realistic car. Same with PC sims however I think they excel in other areas such as the focus on pits, tyre wear, fuel, mechanical damage, etc. But don’t forget games like GT5 model this as well.

  • Silly(c)One

    “your brain tells you somthings wrong, because your not experiencing the gforces…. simple. its a problem with all games/sims…. unless of course you own a motion platform”

    Yup, I do.

    Though I must admit I prefer the motion profiles for iRacing than Shift’s, for sure…
    DiRT games are a blast to play with motion, and with much better graphics than iRacing, but I wouldn’t trade my FW31 on the laser scanned Spa for any F1 201X track…

  • Silly(c)One

    Hrm, Bakkster, pix don’t show up ;)

  • Silly(c)One

    But actually, that wasn’t the point at all…

    Spa in the sun doesn’t feel natural, because I live 100km away from Spa and the sky is always covered in clouds and it rains 2 days out of 3… Hell I haven’t seen the sun for a week… in the middle of the summer !

    So my point was that iRacing should have at least a cloudy atmosphere instead of that perpetual sunny afternoon feeling.

  • Meton Sanga

    You mention GT5 feeling real? im sorry if you think it feels real, the cars use a central pivot point, and straight away thats not realistic. Infact being able to take my real car out on not only GT5 and Forza, Forza is more realistic, yet to me it is still a arcade/sim hybrid. As for purchasing real parts, none of the parts are real its a game, and those said parts are just an added +50HP or +0.4% grip etc.

    Remember just because it says the real driving simulator on the cover doesnt mean its a sim, its just a marketing tag that foolish people believe.

    All bashing aside, im not saying they are not ejoyable GAMES they both are… They are just not sims, but SIM/ARCADE hybrids.

  • amdrz0r

    nope it will not :)

  • Bakkster
  • Bakkster

    Reposted the pictures up top.

  • sandboxgod

    Those pics look quite good. I take it the graphics update coming in 2.0 will include better lighting, etc. It doesn’t quite look the great right now ingame. Anyway, I am quite looking forward to trying out 2.0. 

  • DR.Joint

    yea, bastards rescheduled the update to uknown date :S:S

  • sandboxgod

    sigh, just like I figured you don’t even seem to own a console at all  *DONT_KNOW*

  • Alexandr Fet

    How much does a blimp?

  • frigopie

    where did you see that?

  • DR.Joint

    iRacing forum

  • Nismo

    That is because pic 1 and 3 have some effects used on them and are shopped. They both have some form of DOF or defocus being used. The lighting looks excatly the same mate, as do the cars, nothing new

  • Pashalis Gergis

    No offense of course! Just been curious! :)

  • stabiz

    Nope, no photoshop. DOF is confirmed for this build.

  • Heimdall Exus

    tomorrow now.

  • Bakkster

    Yup, from the release notes:

    Depth Of Field Effect

    – A depth-of-field effect may now be enabled during replays via the replay options screen (see the lower right corner of the replay options screen for the new “depth of field effect” check box, which will requires a restart to take effect). WARNING: Enabling this effect will consume a large chunk of video memory for all of the off-screen render targets required to accomplish the effect. This effect also requires pixel shaders to be enabled.

    – When the effect is enabled, each camera’s depth of field is calculated using equations from optics which take into account the camera’s focal length, aperture, and current focus setting. The focal length of each camera is determined via its current field-of-view. Telephoto style shots (with a very narrow field of fiew) require long focal lengths and help best show off the effect. Camera apertures are adjustable via the camera tool (CTRL-F12) , and are specified as a fraction of the lens’ focal length. The first entries in the aperture drop list, f/1.0, f/1.4, f/1.0, f/2.4, etc., result in the largest apertures. To maximize the blur effects make the aperture large (a zoomed in camera and a low f-number such as f/1.4). To eliminate any focus related blurs from the shot make the aperture small (a wide field of view and/or a high f-number in the aperture drop list). Pre-existing camera sets default to f/8.0.

    – By default most of the replay cameras will auto-focus on the “focus car”. To manually set the focus elsewhere check the “Man. Focus” checkbox and use the focus slider to manually adjust the focus.

    – The effect breaks down a bit when things near the camera are very out of focus and very blurry and cause things that should be in focus behind them to visibly blur – this is due to a quality vs. performance tradeoff, but generally this tradeoff works out ok (as a starting point). This issue doesn’t occur when the focus is close to the camera and distant objects are out of focus.

  • Nismo

    That’s good to see, i wasn’t aware of that news. I take that back then about being shopped

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