IRacing Review

Tracks and cars

Outside of the actual act of driving, the most important aspects of a racing game are undoubtedly the selection of the tracks and cars available to the players. Above all, it is important that there is a lot of variety, but also that everything has been modeled as accurately as possible. After all, iRacing is supposed to be a genuine simulation experience, so accuracy is key. In this case, the developers managed to do both of these things effectively.

Including several configurations, there are more than 230 tracks available in iRacing on approximately 80 individual circuits. There are also more than 80 vehicles, custom built race cars modeled after real cars from the world of motorsport. Access to most of these comes at a price, however, as only a select few are included in the basic subscription option. In addition to gaining access to the game, a subscription grants access to 20 cars and 21 tracks.

Paywall

The rest of the tracks and the car must be purchased separately. These generally cost in the region of $ 12 which means getting your hands on everything in the game can get very expensive indeed. It’s a shame that so much content is locked behind such a paywall, even though the free offers are quite varied. There’s a good mix of popular racing circuits along with lesser-known circuits and a wide range of different vehicle types, so you can still enjoy a lot of what iRacing has to offer. But don’t expect to be able to access everything just because you have subscribed.

Visual

Speaking of tracks and vehicles, each of them has been painstakingly digitally recreated for use in iRacing. The team behind the game used LIDAR, a type of laser scanning, to make their portrayal of circuits and cars as detailed and accurate as possible. The amount of work that went into them is evident. As a result, the level of detail throughout is quite astounding.

Circuits like Daytona, Indianapolis, Silverstone, Brands Hatch, Monza and the Nürburgring are identical to their real-life counterparts. Likewise, the individual cars all look like models you would see in official racing around the world and each look superb. This excellent visual representation of the tracks and cars makes iRacing look like a real simulator rather than a simple game. As such, you simply trust the developers to get every little thing right when it comes to translating real racing into the digital world.