New iRacing patch adds LA Coliseum, brings NASCAR NEXT Gen changes

Wednesday’s iRacing patch, the second for 2022 Season 1, isn’t a long one, but it is an important one towards the future of the simulation platform. In development with NASCAR for their season-opening Clash event on 6th February, the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum short track is officially available to own on iRacing today. On top of that, the NASCAR NEXT Gen cars which will adorn the track in two Sundays have been updated to the latest specifications.

Back in September 2021, it was announced that the pop-up racing venue inside the historic American football stadium would open the NASCAR Cup Series calendar with an exhibition event. Similar to the annual Chili Bowl in which the track is not a permanent fixture, the LA Coliseum track was produced in mere weeks following the conclusion of the 2021 College Football season.

@BarneyFlag is ready pic.twitter.com/ZFq686HHXx

— Greg Hill (@greghi11) January 25, 2022

In part, a lot of that prep work came in conjunction with the folks at iRacing and their technology to scan, create, build, and transform the venue, as well as test it constantly with eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series talent, to get the final version.

Many of those eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series drivers will kick off their 2022 season with their own clash event next Tuesday (1st February) at the venue. Wednesday’s addition to the sim will also give the NASCAR Cup Series drivers an opportunity to test the new track before the real event takes place.

They’ll also be able to utilize the finalized racing package for the 2022 season. The NASCAR NEXT Gen race cars have been on the service since May 2021 and have remained fairly untouched as the development continued in the real world.

Now, with the finalized 670HP engine via tapered spacer, as well as a 4-inch spoiler on the back for the majority of the races on the season, iRacers will finally have the right numbers to go out and race in. A visual update to the cars was confirmed on the forum to come at a later date. It will drive and act as it should, however, even though the spoiler will still be tall.

Other updates to the sim include NVIDIA Reflex support getting enabled, as well as other select car and track updates. The rest of the patch notes are, as always, listed below. Let us know what your thoughts are on the new track and the updated NEXT Gen car in the comments!

SIMULATION:

Graphics

• NVIDIA Reflex support has been enabled.
• – – When enabled in the Graphics options (on the top right), and when the Simulator is GPU-bound, this option reduces Simulator to render latency by enabling low latency mode in the device driver. When enabled with “boost mode” it also keeps the GPU clock rate higher when the Simulator is CPU-bound, which can help a little bit too. Enabling NVIDIA Reflex in the Graphics Options can help reduce this latency, mainly when the Simulator is GPU-bound. When CPU-bound, there is not much Reflex can do.
• An additional graphics-related system meter, named “T” has been added to the user interface.
• – – The T-Meter measures the total frame time from when the renderer started generating the frame until the GPU completed drawing it. It is not the same as the R + G timer, because the CPU queues frames to the GPU and they can pile up, also the GPU is running in parallel with the CPU.
• – – The maximum pre-rendered frame widgets are hidden when Reflex is enabled, since it takes over and keeps it near zero.
• The NVIDIA Reflex option is disabled by default if the GPU/driver does not support it.

Spotter

• A new setting, “[SPCC] textDurationFactor=1” has been added to the app.ini file.
• – – This value is the multiple for the length of time spotter text messages are displayed on the screen (ie: a value of 2 leaves spotter messages on the screen twice as long as the default value of 1).

TrueForce

• TrueForce support has been temporarily disabled while we await a patch to GHUB. 
• – – This was done because TrueForce being enabled will cause the Simulator to fail to close properly.
• – – All Logitech G923 users will need to recalibrate their steering.
• – – If desired, you can manually turn TrueForce support back on by manually editing the “app.ini” file and setting “[Force Feedback] trueForceEnabledForcedOff=1”.
• Reworked Logitech TrueForce support so users will no longer need to recalibrate after the system is enabled/disabled.
• – – That’s right! This is hopefully the last time you’ll be forced to recalibrate by an update!

CARS:

Ferrari 488 GT3 Evo 2020

• Fixed an issue where the IMSA numbers were black instead of white.

Hyundai Elantra N TC

• Fix issue with this vehicle having a corrupt “yaml” telemetry string.
• Fixed a texture issue on the trunk area.

Mercedes-AMG GT3

• The occurrence frequency of ignition cut backfires has been reduced to a more realistic level.

NASCAR Cup Series Class Cars

• Drafting parameters have been updated.

NASCAR Next Gen Class Cars

• Drafting parameters have been updated.
• Vehicle parameters have been updated slightly to satisfy the latest NASCAR rules packages.
• Car specs have been updated based on the latest information from NASCAR.
• Fixed an issue with a cyclic modulation in the engine sounds for high RPM.
• iRacing setups have been updated.

Porsche 911 RSR

• Fixed an issue where the steering column was invisible when this vehicle was viewed in the Paint Shop.

SCCA Spec Racer Ford

• Brake bias adjustments are now allowed during Fixed Setup Sessions.

TRACKS:

Charlotte Motor Speedway

• Fixed an issue with dark green grass edges.

Daytona International Speedway

• Fixed some issues where some off-track surface types were not set properly.
• (Road Course) – The time penalty for cutting the Bus Stop has been increased, and  tire barriers have been deployed in defensive positions at the Bus Stop to prevent course cutting.
• (Road Course) – The sausage curb has been removed.

Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum

• NEW TRACK!
• The Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, a short asphalt oval, is now available for purchase and racing!
• More than 100 years ago, one of the United States’ most iconic sporting venues was commissioned as a memorial to veterans of World War I. Since then, the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum has hosted just about every event imaginable, from the Summer Olympics (three times as of 2028, which will become a record for any facility at that time) to the Super Bowl, and has served as the home stadium for numerous professional and college sports teams in football, baseball, soccer, and rugby. The stadium has even hosted dozens of major off-road motorsport events, with trucks and cars jumping in and out of the Coliseum entrance every lap.
• In 2022, NASCAR became the latest major league sport to join the venue’s legacy with the Busch Light Clash at the Coliseum. A quarter-mile circuit constructed within stadium walls will see the annual preseason all-star race of the NASCAR Cup Series leave Daytona for the first time. The track was designed and tested by iRacing in cooperation with NASCAR in advance of the unique event, with top real-world and sim racing pros all logging countless laps before both its release on iRacing and real-world debut. The change in venue also leads to a change in format, with qualifying heats to build the feature grid in a manner similar to a local short track race.
• Now’s your chance to take the wheel in a unique part of NASCAR history in one of America’s most iconic sporting venues. See if you’ve got what it takes to conquer the Coliseum quarter mile!
• Add the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum to your iRacing landscape by purchasing it from the iRacing store here: https://members.iracing.com/membersite/member/TrackDetail.do?trkid=437

Nürburgring Combined

• The rolling start grid has been moved back to the gantry on the straight to mitigate issues with proper spacing on starts with multi-class Sessions.

Oran Park Raceway

• Fixed some issues with terrain planes sticking through some walls.