Back in May 2021, Tony Stewart led the charge with a brand new entertainment-focused oval stock car championship – the Superstar Racing Experience. Now that same series is set for iRacing inclusion next year.
It also had an official game, SRX: The Game, for PC, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One which was later natively upgraded for the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S.
This was developed by Monster Games, as a follow-up to two eponymously titled Stewart games and showcased a significant step forward in driving physics for the Unity-using team. It was then purchased by the simulation membership platform iRacing in January 2022.
Things have now gone full circle, with a partnership between SRX and iRacing confirmed, with the current specification car (each entrant uses identical vehicles) set to be scanned for a 2024 availability. It features a naturally aspirated 700bhp V8 engine.
“We’re excited to welcome SRX into iRacing in a future release,” said iRacing president Tony Gardner.
“The SRX car has been a big request from our customers, and many of their past and present tracks are already on the service, which will allow for a quick and seamless integration. We’re looking forward to a release sometime next year, and can’t wait for our iRacers to get their hands on it!”
The 2024 Camping World SRX Series has confirmed a six-date calendar and ESPN coverage, but not the venues at present. The iRacing announcement clearly states that the “series” will be added, not just the car, although due to a lack of a confirmed calendar for next season, it’s nigh on impossible to speculate if it means additional venues will be available virtually.
“We think that the SRX car, schedule, and race format will produce incredible action in the virtual world as in the real one, and the series should prove to be a popular addition to iRacing in 2024,” said SRX Chief Executive Officer, Don Hawk.
Tony Stewart, who is instrumental in the creation of the category, Marco Andretti and Ryan Newman are the three champions to date.
It runs on short oval tracks, with drivers assigned crew chiefs and chassis randomly per round and has an entertainment-first approach, with ‘competition’ cautions.
