In terms of officially licensed Super Touring race cars, RaceRoom is far ahead of the competition, and it is set to extend that lead later this year with two more.
The Ford Mondeo and Peugeot 406 have been confirmed as in development, and work-in-progress images have been shared.
The Mondeo was set apart from the rest of the 1990s touring car era by using a V6 engine, which required some trick engineering by British firm Prodrive to lower its centre of gravity and adjust its weight balance.
That’s the model seen here, one of the later Mondeos, which were significantly more competitive than earlier examples, this one being either a 1999 or 2000 specification. This is identifiable not just by the swooping headlights, but also the dramatically wider track and snug front wings compared to the 1997 and 1998 versions.
While the Ford finally achieved a British Touring Car Championship in 2000, the Peugeot could only dream of such success, failing to win a single race in that series.
It was a different story in Germany, however, as Laurent Aïello took it to the big German manufacturers in their own championship, the STW, claiming the title in 1997. He also finished runner-up in 1998 and third in 1996, by far and away the most successful driver of a 406.
Aïello would move to the BTCC and Nissan in 1999, although the Primera won’t be coming to RaceRoom soon, sadly.
“The only car we are not touching at the moment is the Nissan Primera as there was no chance to get a license done with Nissan,” said RaceRoom’s Director of Strategy and Sales, Christian Wacker-Baur.
He was also able to confirm that the Mondeo came about thanks to a new Ford licensing deal that also included the Mustang GT3, which will be released for the platform on 4th August alongside three other DTM models.
These two further Super Touring cars bring the roster up to 10, alongside the likes of the Alfa Romeo 156, Opel Vectra and Volvo S40, with the new additions set for a launch “in the near future.”
Classic cars, tracks and maybe Formula 1
With those two models confirmed, Wacker-Baur also provided hints at further future content for RaceRoom.
“The NSU TT is a small race car, very popular in RaceRoom, but it is a stand-alone car,” he said.
“We are working on two little ‘brothers’ for this car so it’s not alone. In the near future, we will be able to create a car class around the NSU TT.”
The diminutive rear-engine race car is from the 1960s, so it sounds as if two more compact models from the same era are on the way.
Wacker-Baur also talked about a “big” Nürburgring-themed update for December, including liveries front he recent 24 hour race and “two or three” new cars from the event.
‘Cup’ cars, for one-make championships, with a “French flag” are also on the way. No specific models or brands were mentioned, although it can’t be the Alpine A110 Cup, as that was already added for free earlier this year.
Oh, and Formula 1… possibly.
“There is a little chance that we can touch the Formula 1 topic in RaceRoom,” said Wacker-Baur.
“I cannot say too much about it, but there is maybe a chance we get a car.
“That would be really awesome and I think a Formula 1 experience on RaceRoom would be really great.”
Backend systems and multiplayer championships
As part of the same news deluge, automated multiplayer series and championships, tracking points across multiple ranked races, is in development.
So too is a new backend system, which doesn’t sound exciting in itself, but it should allow changes to the front end for sim racers, such as “having a driving school or single-player events with presets that you can click and already have a race setup that we think will be a fun combo,” explained Jean-Francois Chardon, Head of Kw Studios.
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