Release Notes for 2012 Season 3

The release notes for the 2012 Season 3 build are as follows:

Hosted Sessions

– Gridding – In a multi-class event you can now select a third gridding option “One class per car – grid all cars in a class together”.

– Weight Penalty – You can now specify a weight penalty in kg for each car class independently. The value must be positive and currently the highest the penalty can be set is 250kg.  The value can be set in either lbs or kg. If you click on the label “KG Penalty” it will switch to “LBS Penalty” and vice versa.  Please note, it always stores the value as kg in the database, so there will be some loss of precision when switching back and forth between lbs and kg.

Notifications

– The notification icon on the footer has been updated so that it is more pronounced. The notification box has been re-styled.

Leagues

– You can now create or join a League through a new built-in League section of the iRacing member site.  Leagues provide a place for racers to get together with a group of like-minded iRacers and custom tailor their racing activities to what interests them, as well as a social hub for discussion and organization.  Within each league, competition on many levels can occur: “Race Seasons” can be set up where League admins create a schedule of races with or without Championship standings, or more casual one-off races can be set up at any time for fun.

This area is accessible via the new “LEAGUES” link that is located in the primary navigation links area.

When you arrive in this area, you are first presented with a Directory of all of the Leagues in iRacing.  Some leagues may be openly recruiting members (indicated by a “Join” button in their row) while others will be closed for private competition.  To join a league, click on that Join button to send the league admin an application for membership.  If your interest is rather to create a league, click on the large “CREATE A LEAGUE” button in the upper right corner of the screen.  This will bring up a dialog where you enter your desired League name and save it (there is a charge for this).  Upon league creation, a league management wizard will appear which allows immediate access to adding members, creating race seasons, or personalizing your new League section.

A great deal more functionality is available, and a quick look at this functionality is available in video form by following this link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NOriRMFpwsc&feature=plcp

Simulation

Graphics/UI

– A mouse rollover help capability has been added to the simulation user interface. For now, help is available on setup items in the garage for all the oval track cars, and also on the graphics options screen.

– Try to do something more reasonable if Direct3D 9 has to deal with more than 4 GB of texture memory.

– Allow specifying an alternate FPS limit when on battery power.

– Auto hide the mouse cursor instead of permanently disabling it while driving.

– Fix a bug that caused the mouse scroll wheel to stop working when on secondary monitor.

Spotter

– Make damage spotter messages only play when chatty set to high.

– Make leader/pace positions only play when chattiness set to medium.

– Bump suspension damage threshold up to > 0.8 from > 0.5 to try and minimize how often we hear the ‘you’ve got wheel damage’ message.

– Make SPCC_N21 to SPCC_N99 messages optional, so international translations can override them as needed in custom spotter packs

Telemetry

– Log pit stop and in car adjustments to telemetry (dcBrakeBias, etc).

– Turn on shock deflection to live telemetry (LFshockVel, etc).

– Output shift indicator RPM’s to telemetry.

– Marked shiftIndicatorPct telemetry variable as deprecated.  Replaced by DriverCarSLFirstRPM define in the session string.

– Output relative track location of players pit stall to telemetry (DriverPitTrkPct: in the Session string).

– Output gear grind info to telemetry (ShiftPowerPct and ShiftGrindRPM).

Controls/Force Feedback

– Stop G27 shift lights from getting stuck on when you exit the sim.

– Tweak G27 shift indicator to be more linear.

– Finish filling in shift indicator data for all cars.

– Fanatec wheels now display their gear/pit limiter info on the built in numeric display.

– Fanatec CSW wheels now use the shift indicator lights.

– Fanatec pedals vibrate when locking up the wheels with the brake assist aid turned on.

– You can turn off all wheel displays by setting app.ini [misc] enableWheelDisplay=0.

– FFB wheels now use FFB effect to limit wheels rotation to the rotation of the virtual car.  Can be disabled with app.ini [misc] steeringBumpStopDeg = -1, or adjusted to any level of firmness using the same variable.

– New app.ini option [misc] steeringFFBLinearForce=0, setting it to 1 will turn off the boost we apply to small FFB forces giving you true linear FFB force output.  This will make it more difficult to dial in your FFB feel, so be careful when applying this.

– New app.ini option [misc] steeringFFBBaseOffset=0 that forces the FFB motors to output a minimum force.  This can help tighten up a wheel around neutral, when the drivers have a lot of FFB dead zone.  Settings in the 0.05 to 0.15 range are typical (5% to 15%).

– Smooth out joystick data when using it to look left/right while driving.

– Improve joystick detection code to better deal with small joysticks, like those found on the Fanatec CSW wheel.

Garage

– Added a notes tab for entering notes that get saved with a setup, for all cars.

Physics

– Fixed a bug in the detroit locker differential that wasn’t unlocking the correct wheel when it should have when unloaded. Makes a noticeable change to turn-in characteristics of all the NASCAR cars.

– Fixed a bug which would cause engine torque to produce twice as much rearward weight transfer as it should, but only while the clutch is slipping.

Black Box

– The F3 black box will now dim the display of other cars that are in a pit lane.

Cars
– The “Chevrolet Impala SS 2009” and the “Chevrolet Impala Class B” (formerly part of the same package) have been split out into their own packages.  With this split the Chevrolet Impala SS 2009 has been re-named the Chevrolet National Impala.  Members who owned the single combined package of both cars prior to the Season 3 build will continue to own both cars, but now in the form of two packages instead of one.  Going forward the cars will need to be purchased independently.

– The way numbers are displayed on the cars have been adjusted so that there is less space (kerning) between the numbers. This mainly concerns forward and back leaning numbers.

Chevrolet Corvette C6R

– Maximum braking torque has been decreased to reduce likelihood of tire lockup.

Chevrolet Impala

– Tires have been updated and may feel more forgiving at the limit.  Newer more representative tire staggers have been applied.

– The aerodynamics have been updated with newly received data.

– Grill tape options now come in 10% increments.

– Detroit Locker tuned with more locking/unlocking action torque to match better with the unlocking bug fix.

Chevrolet Impala Class B

– Tires have been updated and may feel more forgiving at the limit.  Newer more representative tire staggers have been applied.

– The aerodynamics have been updated with newly received data. A fraction less drag at Super Speedway tracks.

– Grill tape options now come in 10% increments.

– Detroit Locker tuned with more locking/unlocking action torque to match better with the unlocking bug fix.

Chevrolet Monte Carlo SS

– Aero forces now act in a fashion more similar to our other high level stockcars.  Handling should remain similar or with no noticeable change at all.

Chevrolet National Impala

– The aerodynamics have been updated with newly received data.

– Engine power updated to use NASCAR-spec engine.

Chevrolet Silverado

– Tires have been updated and may feel more forgiving at the limit.  Newer more representative tire staggers have been applied.

– The aerodynamics have been updated with newly received data.

– Detroit Locker tuned with more locking/unlocking action torque to match better with the unlocking bug fix.

– Spek gauges have been added to the cockpit.

– Roll bar camera has been updated so the view isn’t blurry.

Dallara IndyCar

– Steering effort reduced at oval tracks.

– More accurate speed estimates for selecting gears in the garage.

– Drafting performance improvements at all track types.

Ford Falcon FG01 V8

– Increase power steering assist.

– Reduced caster limits to more realistic range

– Increased tire degradation.

– Engine fuel economy has been reduced.

Ford Mustang FR500S

– Updates to collision sphere stiffness, damping and strengths.

Legends Ford ’34 Coupe and Rookie

– Full physics refresh to suspension, chassis, tires and baseline setups.

Lotus 79

– Reduce radiator blockage effects while in slipstream.

– Aero oversteer with trailing car in close proximity has been reduced.

Modified – SK and Tour

– Added the New Tire Model, along with a full physics refresh to suspension, chassis, tires, aero and baseline setups.

– Additional garage variables added for setup tuning including: track bar heights, ballast adjustment, steering ratio as well as rebound and compression damping.

Pontiac Solstice and Rookie

– Added the New Tire Model, along with a full physics refresh to suspension, chassis, tires, aero and baseline setups.

Riley MkXX Daytona Prototype

– Increased power steering assist.

VW Jetta TDI Cup

– Added the New Tire Model, along with a full physics refresh to suspension, chassis, tires, aero and baseline setups.

– The gauge needles and lit numbers shouldn’t overlap each other at night anymore.

Williams-Toyota FW31

– Fixed a bug inside our inerter function.  Inerter ranges have been reduced to satisfy simulation integration step limitations.

– A fraction more max braking torque available.

Tracks

– Flaggers have been added to the Start/Finish Lines of all tracks to display Green, Yellow, White, and Checkered flags. The initial implementation of the flagger is limited to live timing only and will not display the flags in replays, rather it displays the current live state of the flag in the current session. The flagger will not be visible if Vertex Shaders are disabled. Replay functionality and corner works with local cautions will be coming in a future update.

– Older tracks have had their base lighting edited to match some of our newer day tracks.  Difference will be subtle.

– Updated track surface shaders have now been added to the following tracks:

Barber Motorsports Park

Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps

Indianapolis Motor Speedway

Iowa Speedway

Thompson Speedway

Watkins Glen International

Barber Motorsports Park

– The gas station has been edited so it displays properly, it is no longer inside out.  The attendant at the station is relieved.

Charlotte Motor Speedway

– Fixed a section of track exiting pit road where the car would sink below the surface.

Darlington Raceway

– Fixed the problem with the black box resetting pit requests – a painted line in the middle portion of the pit lane thought it was racing surface instead of pit lane!

Daytona International Speedway

– Adjusted night lighting to reflect the lack of Musco lights.

Infineon Raceway

– Fixed a bump/seam on the corner that leads onto Indy config.

Oulton Park Circuit

– Removed some x-sections on curbing for Fosters config to improve FPS.

– Turn 1 had a segment that was set to concrete that was causing a spec issue, fixed to be set as asphalt.

– Fixed a seam in turn 5 sand trap.

Oxford Plains Speedway

– Fixed a seam in the infield grass on Turn 2 exit.

New Smyrna Speedway

– Adjusted night lighting to reflect the lack of Musco lights.

Suzuka International Racing Course

– Fixed a bug in the West configuration so that pit stalls 14 through 23 will have their laps counted properly.

USA International Speedway

– Fixed a few camera issues with the camera set.

– Widened the race groove by creating a new min and max race line.

– Fixed camera tv1_00; turned off manual focus so cars will no longer be out of focus on the front stretch.

Virginia International Raceway

– The safety truck just outside pit road has been lowered so that it sits on the terrain.

Enjoy!

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