Sim Racing — news

The McLaren W1 hypercar will be added to Forza Horizon 6 on 10 September as part of the game's Car Pass DLC programme. While the British Automotive Series car roster for the title has not yet been formally announced, McLaren has confirmed its participation through the seasonal DLC content.

Motorsport UK has awarded inclusion grant funding to Disability Racing in Virtual Esports (DRiVE), a sim racing programme focused on accessibility for disabled participants. The organisation will use the support to organise an Accessible Motorsport Conference. The initiative represents an effort to expand participation in sim racing among underrepresented groups within the motorsport community.

Steven Wilson secured his place in the eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Championship Series Championship 4 Finale with a dominant performance at Michigan International Speedway on Tuesday night. The defending two-time champion led 53 of the final 54 laps to claim his third victory of the 2026 season, extending his career win tally to 20 and tying him for third all-time with Nick Ottinger. Wilson's Spire Motorsports entry proved competitive throughout the night, though he dropped as low as eighth early in the race before methodically working his way forward. After taking the lead on Lap 20, Wilson managed tire degradation expertly while competitors struggled with pit strategy decisions. A final caution with two laps remaining set up eNASCAR Overtime, where Wilson held off Connor Yeroschak of Letarte eSports on the restart. Wilson's teammate Femi Olatunbosun completed a Spire 1-2 finish, securing the team's Championship lead. With two races remaining in the three-race Postseason format, three drivers currently occupy the points positions above the cut line: Yeroschak, Wyatt Tinsley (Kansas City Pioneers), and Bobby Zalenski (ERA eSports Team). However, any of the nine remaining drivers outside Wilson can still win their way into the Championship 4 Finale at the NASCAR Hall of Fame in Charlotte next month. The next opportunity comes in two weeks at Texas Motor Speedway, followed by a final race at Kansas before the title decider.

The latest hotfix for Assetto Corsa EVO has introduced official support for TrackIR, the head-tracking peripheral widely used in sim racing cockpits. The update also includes a new livery for the Mk.8 Volkswagen Golf R. TrackIR integration allows drivers to control their in-game viewpoint through natural head movements, eliminating the need for manual camera adjustments during racing and enhancing immersion in competitive and casual sessions alike.

Asetek Racing has confirmed that its Dual Mode Shifter and Load Cell Handbrake will arrive in October. The peripherals represent the company's latest additions to its sim racing hardware lineup, expanding options for drivers seeking advanced input devices for competitive and recreational simulation.

Sim racing hardware manufacturer Asetek has announced the October 2026 release of two new peripherals for its RaceHub ecosystem: a dual-mode shifter and a load cell handbrake. The additions mark an expansion of Asetek's sim racing control options, complementing its existing wheel and pedal offerings. Both devices are designed to integrate with the RaceHub platform.

The 2026 eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Championship Series Playoffs begin Tuesday night at Michigan International Speedway, with ten drivers competing for four remaining seats at the Championship table. The three-round playoff format will also visit Texas Motor Speedway and Kansas Speedway before concluding at the NASCAR Hall of Fame in Charlotte, where the winner of the Dale Earnhardt Jr Cup will be crowned. Michigan holds particular significance for the playoff field. Last year, Steven Wilson claimed victory at the track after a late-race caution reset the field, ultimately propelling him to the championship title and an eighth win of the season—a single-year record. Tucker Minter dominated that race but saw his points advantage evaporate following an ill-timed spin in overtime. Minter will have a chance for redemption on Tuesday, though Wilson's dominance last season—he won eight races across the 18-race 2025 campaign—sets a high bar for the field. Meanwhile, Garrett Manes claimed his first Championship Series victory at the Daytona regular-season finale after a four-year drought. Manes came back from a lap-down penalty to finish second, then inherited the lead when fuel-related issues struck the field on the final lap, securing his first win in 80 attempts. The William Byron eSports Bracket Challenge will also conclude at Michigan, with Parker White and Connor Yeroschak facing off in the final round. Coverage begins at 8 p.m. ET on eNASCAR.com/live and iRacing social media channels, with the Countdown to Green pre-race show starting at 7:45 p.m. ET. Following Michigan, the playoffs continue September 15th at Texas Motor Speedway.

The Automobilista 2 modding community has successfully implemented DLSS 5 neural rendering technology through ReShade, delivering enhanced visual fidelity to the racing simulator. The integration brings Nvidia's latest upscaling and frame generation technology to the sim, though users report a notable performance trade-off alongside the graphical improvements. The implementation was achieved via ReShade, the popular post-processing framework that allows third-party visual enhancements without modifying the core game files.

The RENNSPORT racing simulator is entering a new development phase with revised priorities centred on core performance improvements rather than feature expansion. The studio has signalled that artificial intelligence, force feedback fidelity, and overall stability will form the foundation of upcoming work. The shift reflects a common pattern in sim racing development, where refinement of existing systems often yields greater player satisfaction than incremental content additions. Enhanced AI behaviour, improved haptic feedback through steering wheels, and reduced technical issues are areas that directly affect the driving experience across all content.

iRacing's 2026 Season 3, Week 12 (September 1–7) features a full calendar of racing across multiple disciplines, highlighted by the iRacing Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway as part of the NASCAR iRacing Series. The special event recreates the real-world Labor Day tradition at the historic oval, available in both fixed and open setup configurations using current NASCAR Cup Series machinery. The NASCAR iRacing Series continues its 36-week campaign at Darlington for Week 27, with fixed-setup races scheduled for Wednesday 21:00 GMT, Friday 01:00 GMT, Saturday 10:00 and 16:00 GMT, and Monday 01:00 GMT. Open-setup sessions run Thursday 01:00 and 18:00 GMT, Saturday 01:00 GMT, and Sunday 14:00 GMT. Elsewhere, the iRacing Grand Prix Tour reaches Week 15 of 24 at Autodromo Nazionale Monza with the Mercedes-AMG F1 W13 E Performance, while the INDYCAR iRacing Series concludes its 17-week season at WeatherTech Raceway at Laguna Seca. Dirt racing takes centre stage with the Dirt 410 Sprint Car Tour at Huset's Speedway (Week 29 of 37) and the Dirt Super Late Model Tour at Eldora Speedway (Week 31 of 39). Short-track enthusiasts can compete in the NASCAR Modified Tour at New Smyrna Speedway and the Super Late Model Tour at Stafford Motor Speedway. The Vintage Grand Prix Tour returns with the Lotus 79 at Suzuka International Racing Course for Week 11 of 16. Daily racing series include the FIA F4 Esports Regional Tours and GT3 Regional Tours, which serve as qualification pathways for their respective global championships. New for 2026 is the FIA Cross Car Championship at rookie level, featuring mixed-surface rallycross racing at Daytona. The Ring Meister series runs the Pontiac Solstice at the Nürburgring Nordschleife, while Draft Master Challenge by SIMAGIC features 1987-spec NASCAR Cup Series cars at Daytona. Rain Master Challenge by Podium1 offers wet-weather GT3 racing at Spa-Francorchamps.

Retro-styled top-down racer Pretend Cars Racing 2 has officially left Steam Early Access, bringing its arcade motorsport gameplay and track creation tools to full release at a budget price point. The title combines classic isometric racing aesthetics with modern features including a built-in track editor, allowing players to design and share custom circuits alongside the game's existing content library.

iRacing has introduced Physics Islands, a technical optimisation designed to reduce CPU physics processing overhead by more than 50 percent in large-field races. The feature is intended to free up computational resources while maintaining simulation fidelity. According to the platform, Physics Islands will also create headroom for future enhancements to physics calculations, input handling, and force feedback systems. The optimisation addresses a long-standing performance bottleneck in online racing simulators, where CPU load scales significantly with the number of active vehicles on track.