Senior Vice President and Executive Producer at iRacing Greg Hill tweeted a small update on Friday regarding the future implementation of rain on the iRacing service.
A photo shared to him by Tech Art Director Kevin Combs was posted shortly after 3:00 p.m. ET which had two Formula Vees side-by-side down the front stretch at the Autodromo Internazionale Enzo e Dino Ferrari, also known as Imola.
In the screenshot, the virtual Imola track had just been virtually rained on and you can see a number of important details regarding the conditions. Parts of the track were wetter than others, such as the shoulder area at the exit of pit road, wet enough to reflect the Dekra logos on the tower just outside the track.
On the racing surface, a drier racing line can somewhat be seen around the Vees. To their right, our left, there is some standing water where cars likely haven’t been driving over, or a point on the track where water might collect more easily.
Most importantly, the visibility factor will seemingly be imminent for rained-on races. The water spray behind the two cars is clearly visible. Beyond the cars, the rest of the track seems to be shrouded in fog (which is already a feature in the dry), and the skies match the dreary conditions perfectly.
It’s just a small glimpse at the future inclement weather conditions that will be coming to iRacing. Back in July 2021, the rain was announced during the 4 Hours of Charlotte special event benefiting the National Multiple Sclerosis Society.
Back on that date, fans were treated to glimpses of how the rain would form on the track, the drainage systems that iRacing was looking to implement, and the fact that they would be pulling real, historical data for every individual venue so as to make everything as realistic as it could be.
Hill said that they still were working on a lot of it, including how the water would move around the surface, how the grooved tires would interact on the puddles, and how it would look visually, among other factors. Bigger tracks might see rain in one spot and dry surfaces in another, another realistic factor to real life racing.
It would be assumed that the final product should be completely dynamic as well, reacting to other factors such as daylight versus night time, humidity, air temperature and track temperature, and all of the other details already programmed in through iRacing’s dynamic track model.
The tweet did state still that it would be upcoming and there still is no release date in sight. Even so, just from the picture alone, it looks more polished than it did six months ago when it was first announced. Usually, the folks at iRacing don’t drop little details like this unless it is close, and 2022 Season 2 is right around the corner… could we see some sort of beta or trial available in the next build?
I’ll be interested to see exactly how it gets implemented and how it compares to other racing games that already have rain featured. Until then, we’ll keep following it as more information becomes available, so keep it pinned.
