In the June Issue | Unlikely Hero: iRacing Awakens a Silenced Motorsports World

Nicole
By Nicole Suddard
May 14, 2020 | iRacing, Virtual Racing

There’s a hero in this saga of the coronavirus pandemic, and nobody saw it coming—not even the hero.

"iRacing has been around a long time, and it’s just something that keeps evolving, and they’ve perfected it. Here we all are, just longing for some sports action, some competitive action that we can broadcast and show the fans, and boom! Here it is in our lap."

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Comments
dean1484
dean1484 GRM+ Memberand MegaDork
5/12/20 11:31 a.m.

First off where is the rest of the story?  I click on the link and I don't see any more than what is written above?  I was hoping for more. .. . 

But back on subject:

I actually prefer watching eNASCAR races versus the real thing.  The biggest thing is the lack of cautions.  

I really am hoping that iRacing develops there software to be more TV broadcast friendly and virtual racing becomes the norm and on track racing resets back to being  (dare I say) more Grassroots.

With a bit of tweaking and working closer with the networks I bet they could augment the broadcast quality to that of other games (or possibly better).  Add in ray tracing and work a bit more on the virtual fans, pavement textures, water textures etc.  You don't need it for the on line racing participants.  Only process the feed to the TV broadcast as it would take some computing horsepower (like the graphics/rendering workstation computer I am using to type this message)  It would only applied to the feed for the broadcast so the live racing would not be effected keeping the latency to a minimum for the competitors.  I think with just a bit more work from iRacing in conjunction with network partners you would be hard pressed to tell iRacing from the real thing.

In reply to dean1484 :

It's a teaser for something in the upcoming issue. That's where you'll find the rest of the story. 

dean1484
dean1484 GRM+ Memberand MegaDork
5/12/20 3:38 p.m.

Then they should say that and not have you clicking in circles.

Tom Suddard
Tom Suddard GRM+ Memberand Director of Marketing & Digital Assets
5/12/20 7:27 p.m.

Sorry dean; that hardwired "Read the Rest of the Story" link on the forum post is already on our developers' to-do list. They're making faster progress than usual thanks to our generous forum supporters, but it's still a little bit out as they focus on higher-priority items.

SnaabWagon
SnaabWagon None
6/10/20 9:57 a.m.

As I opened to your feature article on iRacing and began reading, I was saddened to find not only that Steven Cole Smith felt the need to bring politics into your magazine, but that the editor apparently saw no problem with it, either. I simply closed the magazine and went on to the next part of my day. In this politically charged environment we find ourselves in, I look to my automotive hobby as a refuge and a source of enjoyment. If I want politics I can go to social media. Even there, most groups I belong to don't tolerate discussion that is not related to the group's purpose. Steven Cole Smith must be in such a small political echo chamber that he feels he cannot possibly offend what may be half your readership. I want to think that echo chamber is not the GRM staff office, but really, I don't want to think of it at all. I don't often write letters, but my disappointment in your otherwise fine publication compelled me to do so this time.    

aircooled
aircooled MegaDork
6/10/20 10:43 a.m.

I have to agree with Snaab on this one.  There is a pretty blatantly political statement in there, and a couple of completely unnecessary paragraphs, which could have been easily replaced with something like "because of the pandemic shutdown...".  

I do hope that GRM learns from this and tries harder to avoid such unnecessary provocations.

Marjorie Suddard
Marjorie Suddard General Manager
6/10/20 11:05 a.m.

There was a two-paragraph timeline to the shutdown that included two statements from our president, which were presented without comment and in context, to show how suddenly the shutdown happened, and how quickly and thoroughly our world changed. It set the tone for sim racing's sudden coming to the forefront. Let's ease off those triggers a bit.

Margie

Tom Suddard
Tom Suddard GRM+ Memberand Director of Marketing & Digital Assets
6/10/20 11:29 a.m.

Just to fill everybody in, here is the opening of that story. 

Mustang50
Mustang50 Reader
6/10/20 11:48 a.m.

I too have to agree with Snaab I read GRM to escape all of the garbage we're going through.   Also I'm old (72 this weekend) and I'm not in to any kind of video games or computer racing.   I read the articles but as B.S. Levy said in one of his books talking about racing at airport circuits there is no pain when you make a mistake.  Sorry I prefer getting out with like minded people, making some noise, smelling burnt rubber and unburned hydrocarbons.

aircooled
aircooled MegaDork
6/10/20 11:51 a.m.

OK, one thing is that is not clear, and may be misconstrued is the "(it used to be greater!)" part (that is the part I thought might be a political statement).   It's not entirely clear that that is a quote or comment (looking at it again, I think it's a quote since it's within the rather long quote, which is easy to miss). The whole presentation of it though....

Either way, I think, in consideration of how things have been going, avoiding such things in the future would be a good idea. 

I would not have a problem discussing the nuances of this more specifically, but I don't think that would end well here, and now....

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