Nothing’s better than getting home, saying auf pantsdersehen to anything more substantial than a pair of gym shorts and enjoying some small-screen entertainment. If your screen is usually an iRacing display, you’re in for a treat: the lovable wonks showed up before Le Mans to scan the Circuit des 24 Heures.
There have been plenty of that have included the 24 Hours of Le Mans’ full street circuit over the years, including and the last two releases in the Gran Turismo series, although none quite have the cult following that iRacing does.
Part of that cult following is from the series’ attention to detail, as you can see here. They don’t just grab the layout, but attempt to replicate the bumps and other key details to put you at Le Mans from the comfort of your own home.
This also made scanning Le Mans’ circuit a bit tougher for the iRacing team. It’s a track that doesn’t exist except for a short period of time during the year. So, they had to show up before the track was opened to competitors in order to scan it.
iRacing claims that the 24 Hours of Le Mans circuit is their single most requested track to add. It’s Le Mans. It’s precious unobtainium for the masses. Few of us will ever get to drive it, and even those who do get precious little seat time there. As 2015 winner Jordan Taylor points out, there’s simply no opportunity to come and practice the track in the offseason. It simply doesn’t exist.
Taylor speaks the truth about how significant it is to have Le Mans somewhere to study and drive, too. Seat time in anything—so long as it’s somewhat accurate—helps. As much as I suck at video games, even my fumble-throughs on friends’ racing sims have helped get me familiar with a track before I show up to drive it in real life. You show up more confident because you’ve already seen the track and have some idea of what to do.
So, soon you can practice driving the full Circuit des 24 Heures from wherever, thanks to iRacing. Cool. Next step: saving up for a lilac GTE-Am Porsche, haha.
No release date for iRacing’s version of Le Mans has been set, but the legwork has been done to get all the information they need.
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