Throughout the year, iRacing will run a whole range of series including a full-length IndyCar season, and their newly announced schedule all but confirms a previously confirmed road course is soon heading to the sim.
Portland International Raceway hosts a round of the IndyCar Series in August and was recently confirmed to be coming to iRacing in their November 2024 development update blog. It has not been officially confirmed when that will be, but thanks to an announcement from iRacing, everything points at it to happen soon.
Every year on iRacing, there are a bunch of series that run annually as opposed to within a season. One of those is the IndyCar iRacing Series, which runs full length races on the same weekends as the actual IndyCar Series, with the tracks not on iRacing swapped out for fitting alternatives.
For example, the season opener in St. Petersburg is instead occupied by another Floridian race venue, Sebring, and the Canadian Grand Prix circuit in Montreal covers the spot held by Toronto on the real-world schedule. Last year, the void left by Portland was filled by Watkins Glen, but this time, the round on the weekend of August 10th should be on the Oregon venue.
This means that the track will release as early as the Season 2 build in March or the Season 3 build in June at the latest. Additionally, the other series' schedules released alongside the IndyCar iRacing Series may also give an idea as to when certain other confirmed tracks will be releasing.
On the weekend of the real life race on May 4th, the Grand Prix Tour series' round is at Sebring, also swapping out its absent real life Floridian venue just like the IndyCar series. This pretty much confirms that if Miami is getting added this year, it will not be in time for the Season 2 build release.
Miami will not be getting added for 2025 Season 2 before the real life Grand Prix, with next year being more likely. Image: iRacing.com
The same goes for Mexico City. The iRacing team are working on the next licenced NASCAR title with Monster Games, and they have stated that all tracks will be laser-scanned just like they do for the PC-based sim service. This lends some credence to the idea that the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez would likely also get added to iRacing due to it having a round on the NASCAR Cup Series schedule this year on June 15th.
Unfortunately though, that would appear to not be happening in time for the NASCAR iRacing Series round - which instead has the Daytona Road Course as that week's track - or for the Mexico City Grand Prix. The Grand Prix Tour series will instead be at the Jerez circuit, meaning we cannot expect the Mexican venue in time for Season 4 in September.
CREVENTIC sees a major change in the form of removing touring cars for the ever-popular GT3 class, subsequently reflecting the real life 24H Series' adoption of GT3s. The series will follow the real-life schedule as closely as possible, with 12-hour races at Mugello, Spa, Misano and Magny-Cours in place of Paul Ricard, which is not in iRacing. Additionally, the final round will be a 24-hour race at Barcelona.
But there is one more series, brand new for 2025 that for fans of the Lotus 79, it will be a very welcome addition.
The Vintage Grand Prix Tour will run a schedule that replicates the 1978 Formula One season as closely as possible featuring tracks that were on the real world schedule such as Long Beach, Zolder, Brands Hatch, Watkins Glen, and even Monza without the first chicane - although the Variante Rettifilio double chicane that preceded the modern chicane was already in place in 1978.
Additionally, despite Hockenheim being on the schedule that year, a certain other German track will be in this series. Drivers can attempt to tame the Lotus 79 around the Nordschleife for 14 laps, which may seem too far removed from reality but do not forget, it was only two years prior that F1 last visited the Green Hell.
Will you be picking up Portland when it is added to iRacing, and which of these annual series is of most interest to you? Let us know in the comments below, and join the discussion in our iRacing forum!
Portland International Raceway hosts a round of the IndyCar Series in August and was recently confirmed to be coming to iRacing in their November 2024 development update blog. It has not been officially confirmed when that will be, but thanks to an announcement from iRacing, everything points at it to happen soon.
Every year on iRacing, there are a bunch of series that run annually as opposed to within a season. One of those is the IndyCar iRacing Series, which runs full length races on the same weekends as the actual IndyCar Series, with the tracks not on iRacing swapped out for fitting alternatives.
For example, the season opener in St. Petersburg is instead occupied by another Floridian race venue, Sebring, and the Canadian Grand Prix circuit in Montreal covers the spot held by Toronto on the real-world schedule. Last year, the void left by Portland was filled by Watkins Glen, but this time, the round on the weekend of August 10th should be on the Oregon venue.
This means that the track will release as early as the Season 2 build in March or the Season 3 build in June at the latest. Additionally, the other series' schedules released alongside the IndyCar iRacing Series may also give an idea as to when certain other confirmed tracks will be releasing.
No Miami or Mexico City in iRacing?
Alongside Portland's confirmation in the November 2024 development update blog, another US-based venue was mentioned to be on its way - the Miami Autodrome, which hosts the F1 Miami Grand Prix. If it does release this year, it will likely not be in time for the real-world event due to it not featuring on iRacing's own F1 annual series schedule.On the weekend of the real life race on May 4th, the Grand Prix Tour series' round is at Sebring, also swapping out its absent real life Floridian venue just like the IndyCar series. This pretty much confirms that if Miami is getting added this year, it will not be in time for the Season 2 build release.
Miami will not be getting added for 2025 Season 2 before the real life Grand Prix, with next year being more likely. Image: iRacing.com
The same goes for Mexico City. The iRacing team are working on the next licenced NASCAR title with Monster Games, and they have stated that all tracks will be laser-scanned just like they do for the PC-based sim service. This lends some credence to the idea that the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez would likely also get added to iRacing due to it having a round on the NASCAR Cup Series schedule this year on June 15th.
Unfortunately though, that would appear to not be happening in time for the NASCAR iRacing Series round - which instead has the Daytona Road Course as that week's track - or for the Mexico City Grand Prix. The Grand Prix Tour series will instead be at the Jerez circuit, meaning we cannot expect the Mexican venue in time for Season 4 in September.
New Series Addition
Along with the schedules for the IndyCar iRacing Series and Grand Prix Tour, there was additional confirmation that two major sportscar endurance series would be back in the form of the CREVENTIC Endurance Series and Nürburgring Endurance Championship. The latter, of course, will run exclusively on the combined Nordschleife circuit, with the new rookie-class BMW M2 CSR replacing the Toyota GR86.CREVENTIC sees a major change in the form of removing touring cars for the ever-popular GT3 class, subsequently reflecting the real life 24H Series' adoption of GT3s. The series will follow the real-life schedule as closely as possible, with 12-hour races at Mugello, Spa, Misano and Magny-Cours in place of Paul Ricard, which is not in iRacing. Additionally, the final round will be a 24-hour race at Barcelona.
But there is one more series, brand new for 2025 that for fans of the Lotus 79, it will be a very welcome addition.
The Vintage Grand Prix Tour will run a schedule that replicates the 1978 Formula One season as closely as possible featuring tracks that were on the real world schedule such as Long Beach, Zolder, Brands Hatch, Watkins Glen, and even Monza without the first chicane - although the Variante Rettifilio double chicane that preceded the modern chicane was already in place in 1978.
Additionally, despite Hockenheim being on the schedule that year, a certain other German track will be in this series. Drivers can attempt to tame the Lotus 79 around the Nordschleife for 14 laps, which may seem too far removed from reality but do not forget, it was only two years prior that F1 last visited the Green Hell.
Will you be picking up Portland when it is added to iRacing, and which of these annual series is of most interest to you? Let us know in the comments below, and join the discussion in our iRacing forum!
