NASCAR’s online competition has been the
clear winner among other sports — such as
tennis —- that have dabbled in virtual gaming
during the shutdown.
At Dover International Speedway, the finishing
touches should have been applied this week,
the sponsor signage added, everything spruced
up for what would have been a NASCAR Cup
Series race Sunday.
Instead, NASCAR drivers will spend the day on
those simulators at virtual Dover. Blake Shelton
is the grand marshal for the track that has
been in the sim company’s bank for years, and
David Hasselhoff will sing the national anthem.
Hendrick Motorsports driver William Byron is the
favorite for the fourth straight erace. There’s no
chance of rain.
The real stars of iRacing are the 3D car artists,
software programmers and engineers - in
NASCAR parlance, the team back at the shop.
They visit tracks with laser scanners on tripods
to capture in perfect detail every bump, curve,
crack and painted line in a digital point cloud.
The crew takes up to 10,000 pictures of, not just
of the track, but any grandstands, bridges or
other structures in the distance connected to
the property. It can take four to six months from
first photos to simulated finish.
There are 98 licensed tracks across IMSA, World
of Outlaws, USAC and other notable racing
series and more than 2.85 billion iRacing laps
have been turned since 2008.
“We’ve always had a commitment to
authenticity at all costs,” said Greg Hill, who leads
the art and production teams at iRacing. “That’s
Image: Carlos Osorio