iRacing Season 3 2026 dropped on June 9, 2026. Below are the complete official release notes for build 2026.06.09.01. For our full editorial coverage of everything in this build, see iRacing Season 3 2026 Is Live: Full Build Breakdown.
2026 Season 3 Initial Release Notes [2026.06.09.01]
The iRacing 2026 Season 3 Release Build is on the grid and ready to fly! This is one of four major annual releases for iRacing, and it adds new content, features, upgrades, and fixes. iRacing 2026 Season 3 officially starts on June 16th at 0000 UTC!
Season highlights include: BMW M2 Racing (G87), EURO NASCAR RC01, Formula Vee Cutlass and Conqueror, Qualcomm Circuit (Naval Base Coronado), WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca (Updated Laserscan and Fully Rebuilt), Charlotte Motor Speedway Rallycross Dirt Road (New Config), Chicagoland Speedway (Major Art Update), Oran Park Raceway (Major Art Update), 3D Curbs at Circuit de Nevers Magny-Cours and Motorsport Arena Oschersleben, iRacing Race Servers Anycast network routing, Heat Racing support for AI Opponents, Track Map widget (four variants), Fuel Calculator widget, Incident Tracker widget, Controls Profiles, Tire Compounds display, Drag-to-Resize, Unicode Support, NASCAR Whelen Tour Modified and SK full vehicle refresh with new tires, GT3/GT4/GTE Class Updates, BMW M Hybrid V8 Evo update, Dallara IR18 with ramp flaps and Indy 500 body wicker, Porsche 911 Cup (992.2) X tape, Dynamic Track Updates, Pit Speed Limiter Updates, Short Track Asphalt Oval Drafting Improvements, Series-Specific Sporting Regulations and Branding, Series Discovery interface, Simplified Chinese language support, and Rain racing for four new vehicles.
iRacing Launcher
Series-Specific Sporting Regulations and Branding
A new feature has been added: Series-Specific Sporting Regulations and Branding. This feature provides a way to add real-world rules, pit stop procedures, or vehicle adjustments to an event, such as locking certain options or enabling different car configurations. Each event can have one set of regulations applied. Series-Specific Sporting Regulations are available when creating Hosted Sessions including League events, but are not available if AI Opponents are included.
Official Series using regulations in Season 3 include: BMW M2 Cup by Nitro Concepts (Rookie Ruleset), IMSA Endurance Series (IMSA Ruleset), IMSA iRacing Series (IMSA Ruleset), IMSA iRacing Series Fixed (IMSA Ruleset), IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge Series (IMSA Ruleset), IMSA Sportscar Endurance Challenge (IMSA Ruleset), iRacing DTM Series (DTM Ruleset), Nurburgring Endurance Championship (NEC Ruleset). Special Events: Watkins Glen 6 Hour June 19th (IMSA Ruleset), 6 Hours of Road America July 24th (IMSA Ruleset), Petit LeMans Season 4 (IMSA Ruleset).
Series Discovery
When first selecting Official racing, members are prompted to choose preferred racing disciplines. Tags now work in conjunction with chosen disciplines. The “Match All Tags” toggle controls whether results must match all selected tags or any selected tag. Series Discovery can be restarted via Account, Options, Preferences, Run Series Discovery.
Other Launcher Changes
A new logo has been added to the iRacing Updater. A new visual treatment has been applied to the iRacing Installer. An option to enable Anycast has been added near the IPv6 networking option (defaulted on). Simplified Chinese is now available as a supported language in the iRacing Launcher.
iRacing Simulation
AI Racing
AI Drivers are now available at Dirt Oval tracks. Starting cars: Dirt Legends Ford ’34 Coupe and Dirt Street Stock. Twelve Dirt Oval track configs supported: Bristol Motor Speedway Dirt, Bristol Motor Speedway Dirt 2021, Eldora Speedway, Fairbury Speedway, Huset’s Speedway, Kevin Harvick’s Kern Raceway Dirt Track, Lanier National Speedway Dirt, Lernerville Speedway, Limaland Motorsports Park, Lucas Oil Speedway Dirt Oval, Port Royal Speedway, The Dirt Track at Charlotte. AI Heat Racing is now available. New AI vehicles: BMW M2 Racing (G87), EURO NASCAR RC01, Formula Vee Cutlass and Conqueror, Pontiac Solstice and Rookie version, Radical SR8. New AI tracks: Autodromo Nazionale Monza all three Combined configs, and WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca. AI vehicle skill improvements for NASCAR Legends 1987 Class, NASCAR Cup Next Gen Class, Audi 90 GTO, NASCAR Whelen Tour Modified and SK, Radical SR10. Fixed a display issue where AI vehicle RPM and gearing could appear incorrect.
User Interface
New Track Map widget with four modes: Track Map (top-down, full circuit), Mini Map (zooms in on focus car, rotates with direction of travel), Flat Map (horizontal single-line view), Radial Map (time-normalized, circular, inspired by pit wall tooling). Track Map settings: enable/disable via Widget Editor, label options (Car Number, Class Standings, or Driver Name), Mini Map Zoom, Player Relative Setting, Widget Scale, Widget Resize. Multi-class cars shown with different colored dots by class.
New Fuel Calculator widget. Begins extrapolating after 5% of race time or 10 minutes. Calculation modes: Last Lap, Last 10 Laps, Session Average, Minimum Lap Usage, Maximum Lap Usage. Displayable values: Usage, Laps to Empty, Fuel at End, Fuel to End, Pit Stops, Last Stint Fuel, Target Usage. Pit Window visualization with progress bar. Green-White-Checker estimation with configurable number of GWCs. Available on drive and session screens. Liters/gallons toggle per widget. Works in team racing.
New Incident Tracker widget displaying incident points, event limits, and DQ parameters. New Control Profiles feature: swap control profiles from dropdown in Options screen, following the existing UI Profile System. Baseline profile imported from default controls, car-specific profiles named after the car. New Drag-to-Resize for Track Map widget, virtual mirror, and Chat Box vertical scaling. Tire Compound stamps added for all tire compound types including wet and dry, displayed in Relative/Standing Blackbox and relevant UI Widgets. Added gap display between classes during multi-class pacing. Increased number of in-Sim background colors for distinguishing car classes. Session Rules Widget added to Session screen for Spotters and Spectators. New Force Feedback and Haptics settings page. ABS line highlights now show in Replays for Throttle/Brake Widget. Fixed pedal input ABS telemetry graph continuing to move while Replay was paused.
Connectivity
iRacing now supports Anycast network routing protocol for Race Servers. Traffic routes as short a distance as possible on the open internet before reaching iRacing’s backbone. All race farms support both Unicast and Anycast routing. Anycast is default. iRacingPing.exe utility added to iRacing installation for testing Unicast and Anycast ping times to race farms. Race farms: Sydney (AU-Syd.iracing.com), Sao Paulo (BR-Sao.iracing.com), Frankfurt (DE-Fra.iracing.com), Tokyo (JP-Tok.iracing.com), US East (US-East-OH.iracing.com), US West (US-West.iracing.com).
Physics
Pit Speed Limiter functionality updated to use an improved speed-based PID controller. This eliminates driveline oscillations that sometimes occurred. Pit speed rules updated to be slightly more strict with reduced tolerance. Tracking distances while speeding. Improved speed limit tracking precision. Pit speed UI now shows speed with 1 decimal place of precision. Red slowdown coloring kicks in at exactly the pit speed limit. For dirt oval tracks, pit lanes are now open during races. Improved pace car release timing during cautions.
Dynamic Track Model
Adjusted shadow impact on track surface temperatures based on sun angles. Solar energy in Static Weather conditions reduced, bringing track temperatures more in line with realistic weather modes. Improved heat transfer calculations from opponent vehicle tires sliding on a racing surface, particularly for dirt. Track cleaning staff adjusted: at asphalt road tracks, dust cleaning within racing lines is slightly less effective between sessions, leaving some dust in areas not used during normal racing. Dust debris generation scaled down slightly. Aero effect on dust and gravel removal scaled down. Research into rubber accumulation, marble formation, and aerodynamic marble clearing in oval refresh work.
Graphics
Far terrain display can no longer be disabled in ini files. Updated variety of texture shaders at many tracks. Reduced vertical velocities on debris particles by roughly 25%. Added ResolutionScalePct setting for OpenXR in rendererDX11OpenXR.ini. Fixed rain not appearing in mirrors. Fixed particle effect emitter remaining enabled after wheel detachment.
Spotter/Crew Chief
New spotter messages for rejoining the track. Spotter warns when car is at unfavorable angle to racing line while slower than surrounding traffic. Low-priority spotter calls suppressed when high-priority calls are queued. Spotter packs now support UTF-8 characters. New Mandarin Chinese Spotter Pack (Tong Li). New Czech Spotter Pack (Mira Chlastak). Italian, Spanish, and Portuguese packs updated.
Cars
GT3 Class
Series-Specific Sporting Regulations support enabled. Default regulations now run tires and fuel sequentially; IMSA regulations required for simultaneous service; NEC regulations for simultaneous service at slower Nurburgring fuel rate; DTM regulations for ultra-fast 4-tire pitstops. Traction Control system significantly updated: parameters tuned with real-world professional GT driver feedback, TC setting range now determined by dry or wet tire type, TC toggle disabled above pit speed limit. ABS parameters updated. Class Balance of Performance fine-tuned. iRacing setups updated. Drafting parameters updated for radiator cooling and side-by-side racing.
GTE Class
ARBs may now be adjusted during pit stops. Traction control toggle disabled above pit speed limit. Drafting parameters for side-by-side racing adjusted. Balance of Performance fine-tuned. iRacing setups updated.
BMW M2 Racing (G87) – New Car
New car. The BMW M2 Racing (G87) is free base content for all iRacing members. 313 horsepower from twin-turbo inline-four engine, top speed 270 km/h. Goodyear 265/660 R18 tires. Shock absorbers based on modern GT3 technology. Series-Specific Sporting Regulations support enabled. Rain Racing available. AI Racing available.
BMW M2 CS Racing (F87) – 2020
Vehicle name updated to BMW M2 CS Racing (F87) – 2020 for clarity.
BMW M Hybrid V8 Evo
Updated to the latest Evo version. Includes physical updates including headlights. Paint schemes and templates updated. Free and automatic update for all current owners. This is now the only version available.
EURO NASCAR RC01 – New Car
New car. The EURO NASCAR RC01 is available in the iRacing Store. 5.7-liter V8 producing over 400 horsepower, weighing 1,225 kg, featuring sequential transmission. Based on the NASCAR Euro Series car competing at Brands Hatch, Spa, Zandvoort, and the Nurburgring. Rain Racing available. AI Racing available.
Formula Vee – Cutlass and Conqueror – New Cars
Two new vehicle models available as a two-pack purchase. Cutlass based on elements from Formula Vees competing in Australia. Conqueror based on elements from Formula Vees competing in the British Isles. Both models use identical physics to the original Formula Vee Classic. Rain Racing and AI Racing available for both. Original Formula Vee renamed Formula Vee – Classic. Rear collision parameters updated on all three models.
Dallara IR18
Ramp flaps and Indy 500 body wicker added for use at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Fixed issue with illuminating right-rear lamps. iRacing setups updated.
NASCAR Whelen Tour Modified
Full ground-up overhaul. Rebuilt front and rear suspension to real-world spec. Rear Track Bar uses live height system. Spring rates adjusted per track type. Shocks rebuilt on rebound and compression with digressive behavior and blowoff valve. Shock adjustment range reduced from 40 to 20 clicks with same overall range. Aerodynamics updated with less downforce. New bias-ply tires with unique left and right compounds. New garage and tech limits specific to Tour Modified. Setups will no longer transfer between Tour Modified and SK. Updated brake system with different front and rear pad compounds.
NASCAR Whelen Tour Modified – SK
Full ground-up overhaul. New 604 Crate engine with more power and new torque curve. Rebuilt front and rear suspension to real-world spec. Rear Track Bar uses live height system. Spring rates adjusted per track type. Shocks rebuilt with digressive behavior and blowoff valve. Shock adjustment range reduced from 40 to 20 clicks. New bias-ply tires with unique left and right compounds. Aerodynamics updated with less downforce. New garage and tech limits specific to SK Modified. Setups will no longer transfer between SK and Tour Modified. Updated brake system.
Porsche 911 Cup (992.2)
TC toggle enabled for disabling TC below pit road speed. ABS adjusted so wheels lock when car is spinning or backwards. Rearward draft power reduced, side-draft power increased, engine cooling airflow when drafting reduced. Garage adjustable headlight pinstripe added. Series-Specific Sporting Regulations support enabled. Audio improved. iRacing setups updated.
Other Car Updates
Audi R8 LMS EVO II GT3: Downforce increased slightly, drag increased slightly. Audi 90 GTO: Dry tire parameters adjusted, front diff coast locking returned to previous value, gearbox parameters adjusted, setups updated. Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R: Engine torque increased, aerodynamic drag increased slightly. Ferrari 296 GT3: Aerodynamic drag increased slightly. Ford Mustang GT3: Aerodynamic balance shifted rearward. Ford Mustang GT4: Balance shifted rearward, differential updated. McLaren 570s GT4: Engine torque curve reshaped, 10 kg ballast added. McLaren 720s GT3 EVO: Engine torque increased, drag increased. Mercedes-AMG GT4: Adjustable differential added, 10 kg ballast removed, fuel burn rate increased 3.0%. Porsche 718 GT4: Aerodynamic drag increased, fuel burn rate increased 2.5%. BMW M4 GT4 Evo: Total downforce increased, balance shifted rearward, differential updated, fuel burn rate increased 2.5%. Ford GTE: Downforce increased for BoP, low fuel warning may be cancelled. Aston Martin Vantage GT4: Aerodynamic balance shifted rearward, differential coast locking increased. Super Formula SF23: Clutch updated to thermal modeling. Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO: Downforce increased, drag increased, dashboard lap time updated. Late Model Stock: Drafting parameters updated. Acura ARX-06 GTP: Fixed wheel damage repair issue. Multiple cars received iRacing setup updates.
Tracks
Qualcomm Circuit (Naval Base Coronado) – New Track
New road course. 16-turn, 3.4-mile street circuit at Naval Base Coronado, San Diego. Available in the iRacing Store. Designed in collaboration with NASCAR for the 2026 Cup Series San Diego race. Mixes high-grip runway concrete with lower-grip asphalt streets. Previously home to the Coronado Speed Festival vintage racing events 1997 to 2016.
WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca – Fully Updated
Fully rebuilt from the ground up with new laser scan data and new artwork. Includes 3D modeled curbs. Automatically granted to all members who purchased paid licensed access. Members grandfathered into free access must purchase a license for the new version. Old version is retired. Pending hosted sessions using old version have been canceled and will not be charged. AI enabled.
Charlotte Motor Speedway
New track config added: Rallycross Dirt Road. This config excludes the Joker pathway entirely. Free for all members as part of base content. Cones added on apron of oval turns for Roval configs. Track camera set updated.
Chicagoland Speedway
Major art overhaul. Track surface, buildings, fences, trackside objects, and scenery updated. Trees, shrubs, and 3D foliage added. Textures, shaders, and lighting updated to current standards. Updated SAFER foam barriers added. Night lighting updated. Track camera set updated.
Circuit de Nevers Magny-Cours
3D modeled curbs added. 3D grass added. Track camera set updated. Some trees updated.
Motorsport Arena Oschersleben
3D modeled curbs added. SpeedTree system updated for improved foliage. Some tire barriers updated. Improved water appearance and reflections.
Oran Park Raceway
Major art overhaul. Track surface, buildings, trackside objects, and scenery updated. Trees, shrubs, and 3D foliage added. Textures, shaders, and lighting updated. Track camera set updated.
AI Racing Track Additions
AI Racing now enabled at Bristol Motor Speedway Dirt, Bristol Motor Speedway Dirt 2021, Eldora Speedway, Fairbury Speedway, Huset’s Speedway, Kevin Harvick’s Kern Raceway Dirt Track, Lanier National Speedway Dirt, Lernerville Speedway, Limaland Motorsports Park, Lucas Oil Speedway Dirt Oval, Port Royal Speedway, The Dirt Track at Charlotte. Also enabled at Autodromo Nazionale Monza all three Combined configs and WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca.
Other Track Changes
Various pit stall and starting grid counts adjusted at Concord Speedway, Dover Motor Speedway, Five Flags Speedway, Langley Speedway, New Smyrna Speedway, and others. Long Beach Street Circuit: slowdown penalty at Turn 5 increased, tire barrier made physical. Daytona International Speedway: fixed drive-through penalty issue when bypassing infield on pit-out lap. Brands Hatch Rallycross: slowdown penalty for Turn 3 increased. Sonoma Raceway Rallycross: pit lane exit removed. MotorLand Aragon: track limits optimized, slowdown penalty added at final hairpin. Sebring: pit wall updated and straightened to real-world location. Various other track updates including camera set updates, grid count increases, and minor fixes.
