It was revealed on the iRacing Downshift podcast on Wednesday (10th August 2022) in an interview with Greg Hill, Senior Vice President and Executive Producer at iRacing, that the recently scanned four-cornered rectangular track at Indianapolis Motor Speedway will be shipping out to iRacing members in a September update.
The 2.5-mile oval is one of the most famous in the world, hosting the annual Indianapolis 500 event in May every year (except recently in 2020 due to the pandemic). “We shipped the road course in (the 2022 Season 3 Patch 3) build,” Hill said on the show around the 21-minute mark. “From here on out, we’re going to focus on completing the remaining configs and, for sure, ship the oval in September.”
At the end of July, iRacing released an updated version of Indy’s newer road course layout. The 14-corner clockwise turning circuit, which has been used for both the NASCAR and IndyCar Series for the last few years, was the first of the updated layouts released with the new scan data.
Now, the oval has been confirmed for a September release. Currently, the service offers the oval in two configurations with its 2009 scan data, as well as its 2009 road course scan and a 2009 bike course which took the road course counter-clockwise.
When Hill says remaining configs, he could be talking about the bike course, which would be fine as that’s also been updated with the new infield configuration in place. Also, the oval coming in two different configurations is due to the pit entrances of the NASCAR oval and the IndyCar oval being in separate places, so that could be part of it as well.
My mind speculates that since the scan data shows it as scanned, that the quarter-mile dirt oval inside of Turn 3 will also be included at some point. Heck, why don’t they make Indy the first Swiss Army Knife available on iRacing and add a fictional RallyCross track inside of it as well?
Whatever way it turns out, we know the oval is coming next month, possibly just in time for the 2022 Season 4 build. The updated road course was placed inside the previous version of the track, so I’d have to expect that also happens with the oval and the other remaining configs.
The full iRacing Downshift episode is embedded above, where Hill not only talks about the Indy rescan, but also some of the deeper insight on how those projects come together. It intrigued me that after Atlanta released, they moved all of their track builders on this one project to get the roadie out quick.
What do you think about the oval getting a facelift? What other new content do you hope to see when the new season arrives next month? Let us know your thoughts down there in the comments!
Featured Image: Simon Pagenaud leads a pack at the 2022 Indianapolis 500. Image by Jake Galstad via Motorsport Images.
