Porsche 911 GT3 Cup Released for iRacing

[Paul Jeffrey]

iRacing.com have today made available the first Porsche model ever to grace the simulation, with the Porsche 911 GT3 Cup becoming available to purchase with immediate effect.

Following the end of the EA exclusivity licence many simulations have secured the rights to represent Porsche on the virtual racetrack, and this 911 GT3 Cup for iRacing is the first of many expected new models to be brought online in the coming months.

"This is great news for iRacing and for the 65,000 iRacers around the world,” says Kevin Bobbitt, Director of Marketing and Communications for iRacing.com. “Porsche’s success in sports car racing is without parallel, from Le Mans and the Nürburging to Daytona and Sebring. Porsche is the ideal partner for iRacing as we continue developing our sports car and endurance sim racing capabilities.”
​

Porsche 911 GT3 Cup Specifications:

• Engine displacement: 3,996 cc (244 cu in) DOHC flat-6
• Power output: 485 hp (357 kW) @ 7500 rpm
• Gearbox: 6-speed semi-automatic (paddle shift), dog-type manual transmission
• Weight: 2,878 lb (1,305 kg) including driver
• Fuel delivery: Fuel injection
  
• Aspiration: Naturally-aspirated
• Length: 4,564 mm (179 in)
• Width: 1,980 mm (78 in)
• Wheelbase: 2,456 mm (97 in)
• Steering: Power assisted rack and pinion
• Brakes: Aluminum six piston (front)/ four piston (rear)
• Suspension: McPherson strut (front)/multilink suspension (rear)

Porsche 911 GT3 Cup Release Trailer

In other iRacing news, the development team have released their second 2017 season 1 update. Although rather compact in size, the new update does contain several small bug fixes to the general simulation and adds fixes for the flickering issue of the digital display's of the Ford Falcon and Holden Commodore V8 Supercars occurring in certain circumstances.

2017 Season 1 Patch 2 Release Notes

SIM

• Fixed an issue that in some cases could cause a crash, when entering or exiting the Garage while the portion of the replay being viewed shows your car in the world.
• Fixed a bug at tracks where the starting line is further down the track than the finish/timing line that could cause the leader of the outside pacing line to get black flagged for passing the leader when doing rolling starts.

Replay

• Fixed an issue that could cause incident counts and progress towards driver-change requirements to be displayed incorrectly when watching a saved replay.

EasyAntiCheat

• Updated SDK.

Ford Falcon FG V8

• Fixed an issue where the digital display would flicker and Z-fight with the graphics overlay.

Holden Commodore VF V8

• Fixed an issue where the digital display would flicker and Z-fight with the graphics overlay.

Porsche 911 GT3 Cup Car (991)

• NEW CAR AVAILABLE! The Porsche 911 GT3 Cup Car (991) is now available for purchase and use.

iRacing.com is a premium online only racing simulation that is available to play right now. The first fruits of the new Porsche licence in the form of the 911 GT3 Cup can be purchased with immediate effect.

Check out the RaceDepartment iRacing sub forum for all the latest news and discussions with regards to the simulation. Here you will find some excellent community created car setups and plenty of threads created by our wonderful iRacing community members. Head on over to the sub forum and get involved in the conversation today!

Are you happy with the Porsche licencing deal for iRacing? Do you like the new car? Let us know in the comments section below!

 

[Brownninja97]

still find it so awesome that they are back in the games that actually matter, we have a lot of time to make up with porsche.

 

[Ilya_K]

Congratulations for iRacing fans and drivers! I was driving a lot this car in Assetto Corsa (I am in love with this car ) and now Porsche Cup car will appear in another good racing game!

 

[burrito]

Drives quite nice, softer than expected (in terms of suspension and damping, it is upset by bumps more than a out and out race car) and the brakes are very sensitive (maybe because they are a little too powerful for the speeds achieved by the car) but perfectly fine once used to them. All in all a good edition that will hopefully mean good participation in the mid level cars (which always produce the best racing anyway).

The default setup is awful though. Needs 1 rear wing and some ARB adjustments straight away.

 

[Ilya_K]

Drives quite nice, softer than expected (in terms of suspension and damping, it is upset by bumps more than a out and out race car) and the brakes are very sensitive (maybe because they are a little too powerful for the speeds achieved by the car) but perfectly fine once used to them. All in all a good edition that will hopefully mean good participation in the mid level cars (which always produce the best racing anyway).

The default setup is awful though. Needs 1 rear wing and some ARB adjustments straight away.

Same thing with brakes in ACS! I usually run this car with 90% brake power and its fine + no ABS and TC)

 

[Kurupt CDN]

Great to see porsche back in sim racing!

"This is great news for iRacing and for the 65,000 iRacers around the world,”

That part killed me! Lol

 

[sjb266]

Great Car.. Did a few laps of Nords and Bathurst..

Feels Great.. On-throttle over steer is really intuitive unlike other cars in the game .. Can get close to the limit pretty quickly..

A real pleasure to drive..

Close to the top of the pile.. Well done Porsche and iRacing i'd say!

 

[ThatRacingGuy]

Goodbye C Spec you will not be missed. Hello Porsche

 

[Baz Cutting]

great car.handling very forgiving even when pushing the limits,can be corrected if you are quick enough.done some laps round bathurst and the glen.glad to have the porsche in the1 true sim.braking you have to be more delicated though.loving this car

 

[Deleted member 205301]

great car, well done by iracing
Precise, forgiving but not too much. As usual, seems more "realistic" than AC...
I wait a bit for some update in the folowing days (as they always do).
Maybe a true alternative to the GT3 (and maybe a new "wrecking car")

 

[ThatRacingGuy]

I've heard that they developed a new tyre model out of things they learned about dirt and used it in the 991. If this is the case then this would be a good thing to hype about in further content.

 

[Deleted member 205301]

Comparing the Porsche with the C-spec car (wich I run 6 entire seasons in cup and IMSA), and...braking is a WAY easier in the Porsche !!, same for corner exiting...in all case the Porsche is easier, smarter, and generally more balanced, laptime are still a bit faster in C-spec (about 1sec for me).
And the more I think about ,the more i'm afraid : c-spec was really hard to master (perfectly) under braking, ans was always sliding on turn exit (full gaz was bad idea), and so, lots of "kids" (or med-drivers) were not confortable with it, and so prefears driving gt3, wich made the c-spec perfect racing for experienced guys. Now it will no longer be the case.
Wait and see, but this car is very good (this "butterfly effect" on gaz is brilliant)
@++

 

[Peter Stokman]

HUGH overrated HYPE no better then AC porsches (might be even worse then AC) and 1 for 11 dollar instead off 15 plus for 15 dollar (approximatly)

 

[burrito]

Did you actually buy it? I appreciate your opinion about the cost but your post is very aggressive and maybe you could expand upon your point about it being worse or the same as the porsches in AC (I don't own the Porsche packs so 'd be interested in the difference).

 

[Deleted member 205301]

and 1 for 11 dollar

real one is 280.000 , so it's very cheap

 

[RichardHessels]

Did you actually buy it? I appreciate your opinion about the cost but your post is very aggressive and maybe you could expand upon your point about it being worse or the same as the porsches in AC (I don't own the Porsche packs so 'd be interested in the difference).

Like any other car in AC, drives good, but also feels a bit numb and synthetic

 

[sjb266]

HUGH overrated HYPE no better then AC porsches (might be even worse then AC) and 1 for 11 dollar instead off 15 plus for 15 dollar (approximatly)

I so want to love the AC Porsche packs.. I own them all.. But every time I drive them I lose interest in a few minutes..
No feel... Sluggish handling.. Just dull.. And that under steer.. Urgh..
I think AC is a great game.. But the new 911 is a better car in iRacing..

Just my 2 cents!

 

[tlsmikey]

Having owned both, I think the iRacing has much better feel and isn't as numb. The sound is also a bit better which is appreciated from the synthetic sound that came with the AC one. Really fun car to drive and one i'm happy to own.

 

[Patrik Marek]

I think it looks rather good, probably the first car I would buy in iRacing, although the RUF's were great since you basically got 4 cars for 1

 

[Monotelefunken]

HUGH overrated HYPE no better then AC porsches (might be even worse then AC) and 1 for 11 dollar instead off 15 plus for 15 dollar (approximatly)

Well, I'm not exactly sure what you're basing your fairly sweeping comparison on - except the pricing differences, of course? Have you actually tried the mod already or are you just unhappy with the pricing policy of iR? It's not entirely clear from your post?

Regardless, concerning the actual mod, I've arrived at a slightly different conclusion from yours. I think this specific iR mod actually is worth the asking price this time. Allow me to explain why:

I have driven both mods. Yesterday I tested them (both ACs and iRs versions) back to back for about six hours on several tracks - tracks that are laser scanned and can be found in both sims. I've driven the AC version a lot more before this, of course, as it's been out for awhile already. I tried parallel setup changes, tried to create similar weather and temp conditions etc. etc. It is impossible to create identical circumstances, of course, but I tried my best and found that I actually could draw some conclusions from it all.

I find both versions to be very good mods. They have a surprising degree of similarity in handling character and even, to some extent, in how they respond to setup changes. To feel this much "sameness" when comparing between two completely different sim engines and FFB philosophies, is really quite rare, in my experience.

The AC version really is a wonderful, high quality mod and - as you said - a lot cheaper than the iRacing car. Having said that, I must state that my initial impression of the iRacing version is that it may very well be one of the best mods I've experienced so far on any simulator platform. What really surprises me is that I've rarely found that a iRacing car mod feels like it belongs among the best of the best in its own car class/category across all sim platforms (last years McLaren F1 mod excluded). This one does, though.

As you hopefully can deduce from above (if you read closely), I am not really an iR fanboy in any way or fashion. I probably spend the most time with AC, closely followed by AMS and then rF2, with RRE and iRacing getting roughly equal attention. I find that all platforms have their strengths and weaknesses.

My conclusion above on the Porsche versions is only my humble personal opinion, of course, and in no way do I claim it to be any more valid or accurate than yours - just different.

However, theres a bit more to this:

After having tried out the iR Porsche for a few intense and exciting hours, I went on the iR forum board to check out other initial impressions. There I stumbled upon a fascinating car-specific thread on the new Porsche (titled "FAQ"), that was started by a well known real life racer (I've recently started calling them "Analogue Racers", sigh...). His name is Elliott Skeer and he has raced the actual car extensively, proving the level of his skills by winning the Carrera Cup US championship in 2015.

Here's a link to his web site, if you're interested: https://elliottskeerracing.com/

What I find really fascinating with Elliot's initial post is that he barely seems able to contain his excitement over how accurately he thinks this mod reflects even some really small nuances of his real world drive. He does come across as being genuinly and deeply impressed! Elliott also provides some more meat on the bones by getting into some fairly specific handling details and by illustrating his points with links to videos of himself driving this car IRL. It's all looks fairly convincing - well, to me, at least

Anyway, enough of this blabbering from me. Why not head over to the forum yourself and have a look and see if Elliotts points maybe could change how you view the mod? Maybe you just need a little more time with it? Or maybe you're just not interested? And I can definitely understand if you simply are happy enough with AC:s version - it really is a stunning mod in itself!

I know I'm pointing you to a a members-only forum, but as I get the impression from your post that you probably have tested both mods yourself, then you likely are a member already, so this shouldn't be a problem, I guess?

Anyway, thanks Peter and everyone else for your patience! And I sincerely hope I don't come away sounding too arrogant or something in my (superlong) post. I'm not a native English speaker and I've experienced that misinterpreted nuances sometimes can lead to unintended backfiring here on the Interwebs

Cheers y'all,

mtf

PS. Just in case you somehow missed it: The iR Porsche really is very very good - difficult and challenging to drive on the edge, yes, but really good! Just get it, will ya, m-kay!