iRacing Patch 3 Tunes Up Race Control, Spotters, Cars, and Tracks

iRacing published its 2026 Season 3 Patch 3 release, version 2026.07.10.04, with changes covering race control, race servers, graphics, spotter audio, telemetry, cars, and tracks. The Steam release post also points players to the full iRacing Forums release notes.

The biggest forward-looking feature is an early multi-class, multi-pace-car race-start system. It will be tested in a limited-time “iTested” Official iRacing Series. Participants will receive the “iTested” account Award badge, while the collected test data will help iRacing estimate when a wider rollout may happen.

Patch 3 also addresses incorrect driver-swap lap counts, invisible timing ghost drivers, a transition crash between Open Practice and Race Session, AMD mip texture issues, and a possible spotter failure after driver swaps. Japanese and Romanian spotter packs have been added, with more updates for Italian, Spanish, and Ukrainian audio.

On the car side, GT3 telemetry and traction-control behavior received several corrections. The NASCAR Cup Series Gen 7 now has pit stops closer to the real-world nine- to 10-second four-tire range, while individual updates affect the Aston Martin Vantage GT3 EVO, BMW M4 GT3, BMW M Hybrid V8 (EVO), Skip Barber Formula 2000, and other cars.

Patch Notes – iRacing 2026 Season 3 Patch 3

This release focuses on additional updates, improvements, and fixes for the 2026 Season 3 release. The full notes cover simulation systems, cars, and tracks.

Simulation

Race Control

• An early version of a multi-class multi-pace car race start system has been implemented, and will be testable by you in an upcoming limited-time “iTested” Official iRacing Series!
  • Participants in this Series will receive the coveted “iTested” account Award badge, and will help us collect test data on how this feature is operating. Once analyzed, this test series results may give us a better time estimate on when you can expect a full system-wide roll-out of this feature.
• Fixed an issue where the Simulator could incorrectly present team and driver lap counts for driver-swap sessions if you connected somewhat late into the session, while the Server was keeping accurate counts. This could falsely indicate you have met the driver-change requirements, when in fact your team has not done so.

Race Servers

• Fixed an issue where timing ghost drivers were completely invisible – that was too spooky and made it difficult to compare yourself to them.
• Fixed a crash that could occur on the client when transitioning from Open Practice to the Race Session.

Graphics

• Fixed an issue where AMD graphics cards could be overly aggressive with mip texture tossing, and visuals could look suboptimal.

Spotter/Crew Chief

• Some spotter code has been adjusted which may fix a current issue where the spotter potentially quits his job after a driver swap.
• Updated the timing for spotter calls at race starts for when you have car(s) high or low around you.
• A new Japanese spotter pack “Japanese-COEIROINK_Aoba” is now available in iRacing!
  • Special thanks to Hironori Kobayashi for the hard work on this project!
• A new Romanian language spotter pack has been added to iRacing!
  • Special thanks to Roman Bobik for the hard work on this project!
• Updated some additional Italian and Spanish spotter calls.
• The Ukraine-Vitaliy_Chizhuk spotter pack has been updated.

Telemetry

• Fixed an issue where the telemetry value “CamCarIdx” could be incorrect when watching the pace car.

User Interface

• Fixed an issue where Relative and Standings black box heights were sometimes not getting initialized properly.

Cars

GT3

• Resolved an issue where the SDK-reported Traction Control values could be different from the value observed in-car and in the black box displays.
• iRacing setups have been adjusted to suit the TC changes made directly to the car.
• Improved how TC states are stored and restored when changing tire compounds.

NASCAR Cup Series Gen 7

• Pit stop times have been improved to more closely reflect the 9 to 10 second four-tire pit stop times seen in the real world.

TCR Cars (Touring Cars)

• The splitter ride height limit now obeys the adjusted ride height limit for wet tires.

Aston Martin Vantage GT3 EVO

• Fixed an issue where the dash display ABS was incorrectly offset.
• Fixed an issue with an incorrect brake master cylinder size reference.

BMW M4 GT3

• Increased the size of the gearbox intercooler, TGEAR on the in-car dash will now show lower temperatures. There is no performance change as a result of this fix.

BMW M Hybrid V8 (EVO)

• “(EVO)” has been post-pended to this car name to correctly reflect its status.
• Added a missing IMSA endurance decal to the right side of the car, and removed extra electrical shutoff decals from the Neutral Inception livery.

EURO NASCAR V8GP

• iRacing setups have been updated.

Lucas Oil Off Road Pro 4 Truck

• iRacing setups have been updated.

Skip Barber Formula 2000

• For the damage model, fixed an issue where the front wing endplates could stay behind if the front wing was detached.

Tracks

Daytona International Speedway

• Improved the race control sensitivity surrounding potential pit exit course cuts.
• Fixed an issue where disobeying the pit exit cones during a rolling start from the pit lane at Daytona Oval could be ignored.

Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course

• Fixed an issue with the Start/Finish booth and bridge being disabled at low visual detail levels.

Which change matters most for your next iRacing session? Share your thoughts in the comments, and follow us on X, Bluesky, YouTube, and Instagram.

iRacing

Developed by iRacing

From NASCAR, rallycross, and Aussie Supercars to sports cars and Grand Prix racing, iRacing has it all. All you need is a computer, a gaming wheel or game pad that simply plugs into the USB port of your computer and an Internet connection. iRacing centrally organizes all of the racing for you with over 150 cars and tracks, 40 official series , or you can choose to host your own race or race in one of over 800 private leagues.

• Genre: Racing, Simulator, Sport
• Platforms: PC (Microsoft Windows), Oculus Rift
• Modes: Single player, Multiplayer, Massively Multiplayer Online (MMO)
• Release: 2008-08-26
• Publisher: iRacing.com Motorsport Simulations, iRacing
• Age Rating: ESRB E
• IGDB Rating: 92.3/100

Steam Epic Games Store Official Site