iRacing Almost Reaches 1 Billion Laps Ran in 2023 as Fans and NASCAR Drivers Rejuvinate the Sport

To be a professional racer back in the day, there was only one route that had to be followed. That is, get into a machine on a track and learn the trade of racing. This was thought to be the foolproof learning curve that would allow an aspiring car racer to get the hang of the real experience. However, the 21st-century inventions and simulation gaming like iRacing have somewhat broken this theory.

Now, why so? iRacing is a subscription-based simulation video game developed by publisher iRacing.com. The motive behind this invention was to provide users with a near-to-real car racing experience. Since its launch in 2008, the video game has seen some lean patches, but the previous year’s data revealed by the publisher online has hinted towards a positive trajectory.

What has been fueling the rise of iRacing over the years?

It is evident that when you have a sophisticated game like iRacing, you will need to attract eyeballs towards it, but how do you do so? There’s this in-game structure of license classes that ensures that the gamers are grouped based on their skill set and not at random. iRacing is another lever that the publisher uses to gain more subscriptions. The partnerships with NASCAR, World of Outlaws, Porsche, and Fox Sports are other major steps taken in the right direction.

As highlighted earlier, NASCAR has a good partnership with them that stretches back to 2010. This certainly was a gateway for many of the aspiring racers to make it into the big leagues. The game hit the purple patch last year in 2023, and the players and fans associated with the game celebrated the rise of the game. The publisher also shared some interesting data via their Instagram handle, while aiming for an astronomical number of laps.

Speaking of NASCAR influence, William Byron is a prime example of someone who made it into the NASCAR Cup Series through iRacing. The ten-time Cup Series winner has been open about being a computer nerd and how data and simulation are changing the motorsport landscape. Not only that, NASCAR Hall of Famer Dale Earnhardt Jr is also the executive director at iRacing. So the amount of recognition a game needs from a professional is on the money with this game.

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The biggest factor that lures in more players is that you can race against the likes of William Byron or Dale Earnhardt Jr for real. It’s not just a game, but a real learning experience that can hand the novice player their big ticket into NASCAR, just like Byron.

William Byron highlights the fierce competition

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While the majority of NASCAR driver history traces back to their go-karting or dirt racing days, the same was not the case with HMS’s William Byron. Although he does race against real races on the circuits, he is still active in playing competitive simulation races on iRacing.

Highlighting how competitive the gameplay can be for the gamer, Byron said, “I think honestly, there’s more quality competition just because everyone has access to the same resources, so I think it makes the races really close and competitive. Obviously, real racing is very competitive, and there’s a lot there. But I think there are a lot of people on iRacing that are super competitive and a lot of equal abilities.”

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With a total of 23,006,502 drivers playing on iRacing, it looks like the game has hit the right notes amongst motorsports gamers and passionate fans.