After a brief, and troubled, 12 months apart, IndyCar and iRacing have resumed their decade-long partnership to bring official esports for the championship back to the sim racing platform.
It’s the latest in a string of high-profile racing series which have seen relationships sour with a new developer and publisher, subsequently parting ways after little progress and finding new — or, in this case, returning to former — gaming partners.
The British Touring Car Championship was first out the door back at the beginning of November, having seen its promised game fail to materialize — and it’s unclear where the licence for that series will end up. It was followed soon after by NASCAR which, like IndyCar, has returned to the familiar ground of iRacing.
While it’s not clear what will happen to the similarly promised IndyCar game, the new partnership between the series and iRacing will bring back official IndyCar branding to the sim a little over a year after it was removed — taking effect in the next few days.
Notably the reunification will see the return of the iRacing Indianapolis 500 to the platform’s Special Events list later this year. The race traditionally runs towards the end of May, and is currently listed as TBD, but has been slotted into the calendar in roughly that timeframe.
Racers will also be pleased to hear that the deal sees the licensing for the Indianapolis Motor Speedway extended, and grants iRacing increased flexibility to run further official IndyCar Series races.
Ben Hendricks, senior manager of esports and emerging virtual experiences at IndyCar, commented: “We are very excited that our most avid gamers and fans will have full access to the IndyCar Series through this licensing agreement with iRacing. They are longtime partners, and we look forward to official IndyCar Series racing on iRacing for many years to come.”
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