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iRacing announces low-cost Tech Tracks

by: Dave -
More On: iRacing

Apparently not every race track that iRacing starts on gets finished. As a professional IT person in a small business, I can tell you that any number of things can derail a project before it can be completed. In the case of partially completed race track projects, it seems as if they have a few that were pretty far down the path of being completed, but for some reason decided that they weren't worth the effort to finish. The problem is that people were expecting them and still want them, even if they aren't feature complete.

iRacing has announced that they will release these tracks for a nominal sum (currently $5.00) for private use. The first (and thus far, only) example is Long Beach, a temporary road circuit that hosts a number of different race classes annually, chief amongst them being Indycar.

I bought the Long Beach track to get a feel for what kind of vaue they are. The track surface itself is fully laser-mapped and rendered, but the surrounding scenery is all wireframe. Given the concentration required to drive the track withtout hitting any of the many concrete side barriers, I hardly noticed the lack of scenery. And considering that I strive to become proficient at the iRacing tracks because it makes watching actual racing on the tracks far more interesting, I don't really miss not being able to enter online races. For a mere $5, I think it is a good value.

About iRacing Tech Tracks:

  • Tech Tracks are essentially tracks that for one reason or another are unfinished iRacing tracks but are to the point of being driveable.
  • For a track to be considered a Tech Track, the track is not on our current production list to complete. We may someday complete a given Tech Track or not. We are making Tech Tracks available because of the many requests we get from real world drivers and members.
  • Tech tracks will not ever be put on a schedule for official series or special events. However they can be used for testing or private sessions. They will include race control and grid boxes and can be used for private or league racing.
  • The standard license fee of a Tech Track will be $5 (U.S currency).
  • The Tech Track is what it is and we will not be actively updating the track in any way unless we decide to fully finish it. If we do finish it, we will take the tech track away and issue iRacing credit for the purchase price to any member who purchased it. Again, do not buy a tech track with the assumption it will be finished someday.
  • Tech tracks will not be part of any volume discount purchase program like the 100% club.