The development of iRacing began in 2004 when Dave Kaemmer, a co-founder of the Papyrus Design Group, partnered with John W. Henry to create FIRST.net LLC, which then acquired the code to NASCAR Racing 2003 Season. Kaemmer then worked this source code into what would become iRacing, released four years later in 2008. iRacing retains the multi-body physics system of NR2003, as well as some of the track presentation and multi-user packet code, but everything else has been changed, or is completely new, like the tire model and graphics engine.
The simulation focuses on creating an environment in game that will mimic real-life driving as closely as possible, including the use of LIDAR-scanned cars and tracks. In most circumstances, players are confined to a cockpit-only view when driving. iRacing offers a day-night-cycle, offering more dynamic racing due to temperature variation and limited sight at night. As of 2024, iRacing also added a realistic dynamic weather model, simulating rain and fog with its respective effects on the track's surface and temperature. Racing wheels and gamepads are supported, as are adaptive controllers and other auxiliary input devices. iRacing also supports the use of VR headsets.
Content is delivered through a base subscription containing 24 cars and 32 tracks, with a total catalog exceeding 100 vehicles and circuits available for individual purchase. These include stock cars, open-wheel formula cars, prototypes, and dirt-surface vehicles. Support for computer-controlled opponents was added in late 2019. Initially limited to a small selection of tracks and cars, the developer has gradually added support for more of the game's content.
iRacing operates in seasons lasting 13 (rarely 14) weeks, four seasons per year. New content and features are typically released in the week before the start of a new season. iRacing sanctions many different race series on its service, some of which are meant to correspond to race series held in real life. These are called official series, and can be ranked or unranked.
The service employs a multi-tiered licensing and rating system to manage player conduct and competition:
License Classes: Drivers progress from "Rookie" through grades D, C, B, and A. A specialized Pro license is reserved for top-tier eSports competitors.
Safety Rating: A no-blame system that tracks "incident points" incurred for off-track excursions, loss of control, or contact. It is calculated based on a corners-per-incident (CPI) ratio.
iRating: An Elo-type skill rating used to group drivers of similar ability into different "splits" or championship divisions.
The platform maintains extensive ties with professional motorsport bodies. A partnership with NASCAR, established in 2010, has been renewed and continues to this day. This collaboration supports the eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series and various qualifying ladders. On November 2, 2020 NASCAR Hall of Fame member Dale Earnhardt Jr. was named as executive director at iRacing.com.
Other major partnerships include:
IMSA: Collaborative series such as the IMSA Hagerty iRacing Series and the IMSA iRacing Pro Series for professional drivers.
Porsche: The Porsche eSports Supercup and the inclusion of numerous Porsche vehicles in the simulation catalog.
FIA: An agreement reached in 2023 resulted in the rebranding of the Formula iR-04 as the official FIA F4.
World of Outlaws: eSports championships for late models and sprint cars.
USAC: iRacing.com has a partnership with the United States Auto Club.
In 2020, during the suspension of real-world racing due to the COVID-19 pandemic, FOX Sports broadcast the eNASCAR iRacing Pro Invitational Series. The inaugural event reached nearly one million viewers on FS1.
Between December 2021 and January 2022, iRacing.com expanded by acquiring Orontes Games and Monster Games. These acquisitions integrated specialized technology, such as the Orontes game engine, and brought industry veterans Richard Garcia, Christian Folkers, and Thorsten Folkers into the development team.
From an initial base of 16,000 subscribers in 2009, the service grew to 50,000 by 2013. By April of 2020, iRacing.com president and CFO Anthony Gardner claimed the service had over 160,000 active subscribers. iRacing has received favorable reviews from automobile, racing and gaming magazines as well as websites dedicated to racing simulators. The service has also been criticized for not yet including features often found on other racing simulators, such more advanced visual damage modeling. The introduction of rain in early 2024 addressed a long-standing feature gap, though its application was initially limited to specific car classes and series.
The corpus source is the Wikipedia article "iRacing.com". Primary archives, autobiographies, period programmes, and specialist publications were not consulted.
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