Sim racing game iRacing is adding an interesting new car, but it’s not based of any real-life vehicles. Rather, it’s an open-wheel race car designed by Dallara, but exclusive for the sim racing service.
The Dallara iR-01 is designed not for real racing regulations, but for sim racing, where real-world rules need not apply.
The result is a sim racer’s dream. A lightweight chassis of 600kg , no halo (this car is not compliant to any safety requirements since it’s in a video game), limited electronics and driver assists, easy to follow other cars, and most importantly, a roaring 3.0 V10 engine producing up to 900 horsepower.
It has the vrooms vrooms you want from an open-wheeler, something that’s missing in today’s machines.
The Italy-based race car manufacturer have designed sports cars and open-wheelers before, and has a 10-year relationship with iRacing. This is the first time the two collaborated for something like this- designing a new car just for the racing sim.
The Dallara iR-01 will be part of the Dallara Formula iR Series as the premier open-race car, with plans of a World Championship utilising the car currently in the works.
Gran Turismo has done something similar before, utilising a real car designer to make a car for their game, and using it in its top-flight tournaments with the Red Bull X2019. It’s interesting to see iRacing is following suit.
The Dallara iR-01 will be added to iRacing in the 2021 Season 1 build, which will drop later this month.
Source: iRacing