There was a hotfix patch dropped for iRacers on Thursday (2nd February) that contained a few necessary and desired changes following some recent events on the simulation in the community.
During the iRacing Daytona 24 two weeks ago, we witnessed top level teams going against the iRacing Sporting Code to gain an unfair advantage by utilizing the apron in the banked oval corners.
This area of iRacing’s Daytona International Speedway Road Course on iRacing is sectioned off by a slew of collide-able cones as drivers exit the infield and begin to drive on the banked oval. By avoiding the cones, drivers could go on the apron and with the speeds and grip available, faster times were attainable.
However, in the iRacing Sporting Code, Section 8.1.1.8. regarding Illegal Surfaces, it states that “drivers can only use the racing surface and allowed areas of the track for Qualifying and Racing. Any disallowed areas of the track and any advantages gained through their use will be determined by iRacing.com.”
The result of the matter was a slew of formal protests on the matter. iRacing has taken it a step further in today in adding slow down penalties to those sections, along with another row of cones that mark the area out of bounds. Not only will the move be considered illegal on paper, but also now by the coding.
Besides the Daytona debacle being rectified, iRacing also made a few other needed changes in today’s hotfix. Tire, Surface and New Damage Models all received some tweaks, replay file fixes were implemented and for the new noses on the NASCAR NEXT Gen, the Toyota should look a little better now.
The rest of the patch notes are listed below, courtesy of the iRacing forums.
SIMULATION:
Tire Model
- Fixed an issue for some cars where tire rubber was becoming unrealistically extra conditioned when driving over curbs and rumble strips.
Surface Model
- Soft surface model properties for gravel have been updated.
New Damage Model
- A system-wide adjustment has been made for how bodies that connect and retain contact with each other over time behave. This change is designed to reduce the likelihood and severity of objects snagging on one another.
- – – Objects that retain contact with each other must be allowed a degree of lateral displacement, provided they can overcome the forces of friction provided by their surfaces, the angle of movement, and the force of the movement. Too much displacement can cause snagging. To avoid snagging, we have limited the amount of displacement allowed relative to the axis of contact.
- Physics properties for a variety of wall objects have been adjusted to prevent snagging and catching behaviors, as well as reduce the likelihood of a vehicle becoming stuck bisecting the wall. These adjustments should also create more uniform damage from impacts based on the wall type. The wall types affected include: concrete, chain link fences, ARMCO barriers, and tire walls.
Replays
- Fixed an issue where users’ screens would serve a 10 second penalty in a dark void after loading a replay that included the maximum number of car types in the session.
CARS:
<Car Class> GT3 Cars
- A New Damage Model tuning update has been completed for these cars to avoid excessive scraping from curb impacts.
NASCAR Cup Series Next Gen Toyota Camry
- Texture mapping on the front fenders has been updated. This fixes some UV warping from the 2023 Season update, and fixes issues with damage decals and camera draw distances.
TRACKS:
Daytona International Speedway
- (Road Course) – Slowdown penalties have been added to the banked apron, and cones have been adjusted to show where it is safe to use the apron again.
