On the heels of the abject failure of the Big Ant Studios Kickstarter campaign for a new Dirt Track Racing game, iRacing has announced that dirt racing will be added to their advanced racing simulation which now features dynamic racing surfaces. iRacing’s Executive Vice President, Steve Myers, is confident that it will be launched at some point in 2016.
According to Myers, the development of dirt cars and dirt tracks is the next logical step following the advent of dynamic track surfaces which iRacing introduced last year. The asphalt and concrete tracks in iRacing evolve during the races based on the rubber laid down on the track as well as temperature changes and weather conditions.
The next natural step was to develop a dirt surface model and dirt race cars. – Steve Myers
iRacing is working closely with Clint Bowyer Racing and the University of Northwestern Ohio (UNOH) to make dirt racing tracks that closely match the quality and fidelity of their paved tracks. The first car scanned for iRacing dirt is Clint Bowyer Racing’s Dirt Late Model.
Although iRacing is not perfect, they do go to extraordinary lengths to produce cars and tracks that accurately simulate real racing. From short oval stock cars to NASCAR, to road racing all the way up to the Formula 1 level, iRacing is the undisputed leader in simulated racing. This is great news for dirt racing fans, and all of those sim racers who have been longing for an accurate, up-to-date dirt racing simulation.
I hope they are able to do it right. I’ve never really sim raced on dirt so I’m not sure what to expect or even if I’ll be any good at it. I suck at Road racing.