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Patch NotesiRacingSeason 3

iRacing 2026 Season 3 Patch 1 Notes (15th June 2026)

AI drivers hit the Naval Base, controller issues get sorted, and the UI gets some VR love in this week's patch.

Nathan Lees5 min read
iRacing cockpit view with AI driver training complete at Naval Base Coronado circuit
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AI drivers have finally completed their boot camp and are ready to race at Qualcomm Circuit (Naval Base Coronado), which is in this week's patch. They've also improved their overall skills with the EURO NASCAR V8GP, though iRacing fixed a quirk where they'd incorrectly apply brakes during bump drafts, a detail that matters if you're using AI for practice or testing setups.

Beyond the AI work, this patch addresses some friction points that have been nagging the community. Controller keybinds now display correctly when you're using multiple devices with the same button IDs, and H-pattern shifters can finally use the same buttons for both incremental and absolute gear shifting without conflicts. That's a quality-of-life fix that should smooth out setup time for sim racers juggling multiple input devices.

The UI gets some attention too, especially for VR users, focus driver display positioning and the Relative Widget got fixes. Several tracks received updates, from Charlotte Motor Speedway's new dirt road map to Qualcomm's improved track orientation and cleaned-up pit area. Check the full notes for car-specific tweaks across GT3, EURO NASCAR V8GP, and Formula Vee.

Full Patch Notes

Buff Nerf Fix Tweak

2026 Season 3 Patch 1 Release Notes [2026.06.12.02]

========================================================================

Patch Release:

  • This release is a Patch, focusing on additional updates, improvements, and fixes for the 2026 Season 3 Release.

iRACING Launcher

—---------------------------------------------------------

Demo Drive

  • Fixed an issue where the BMW M2 Racing (G87) was unavailable for use.

Simulation

—---------------------------------------------------------

Installer

  • Fixed an issue where iRacing was not correctly prompting the required installation of Microsoft VC redistributable packages that are needed by iRacing to function.

AI Racing

  • AI Drivers have completed boot camp, and are now fully trained and ready for racing at Qualcomm Circuit (Naval Base Coronado)!
  • Fixed an issue where AI Drivers could incorrectly apply brakes when being bump drafted.
  • AI Drivers have improved their overall skills with the EURO NASCAR V8GP.

User Interface

  • Fixed an issue where Keybinds for other controllers were shown when activated. For example, now if two devices with the same button ID are bound to different actions, they will both work, and correctly show up as distinct Controls when the buttons are pressed on the Settings > Keybinds screen.
  • For Control Profiles, fixed an issue where loading a car with a Legacy car-specific profile, when you've already defined a global default, does not import the old profile data.
  • For the Session Entries and Black Boxes, tire compound indicators are now correctly reset when leaving a Session, and are hidden when a participant leaves the event.
  • For the Relative Widget, fixed an issue with overlapping time and license on the large template.
  • Updated the UI positioning logic when using a VR device.
  • Fixed an issue where the focus driver display was not loading the default position correctly in VR.

Race Servers

  • Fixed a spooky issue where ghost and reference lap cars were completely invisible.

Controls

  • Fixed an issue with controls and H-pattern calibration, where the same control/button could not be used for incremental versus absolute gear shifting. iRacing once again allows for both types of controls to use the same buttons/gear positions on a wheel or H-pattern shifter.

Spotter/Crew Chief

  • Some vehicle damage calls from the Spotter have had their priority upgraded.
  • Fixed an issue where the spotter text messages would not fall back to the hard-coded defaults if they were missing from a spotter pack.
  • The Mandarin-Tong_Li spotter pack has been updated. Thank you, Tong Li!

Telemetry

  • Telemetry may now optionally log ALL cars in a Session.
  • A new app.ini switch, irsdkLogAllCars=0. When set to 1, all the CarIdxXXX arrays will be allowed to grow to the actual size of the entries table.

Cars

—---------------------------------------------------------

GT3

  • Fixed an issue with rotary dials and dynamic Traction Control (TC) settings.
  • More sensible default TC settings have been applied throughout the class.

EURO NASCAR V8GP

  • Fixed an issue with brake bias incorrectly reporting as bar balance in the garage and black box.
  • Slightly reduced transmission whine sounds.

Formula Vee - Cutlass & Conqueror

  • Fixed an issue where the pit crew forgot to make sure their tents used the same colors as the driver's car. A quick trip to the fiber arts store solved this problem.

Tracks

—---------------------------------------------------------

Algarve International Circuit

  • Fixed an issue with track name localization.

Charlotte Motor Speedway

  • (Dirt Road) - Track map has been added.

Circuit de Nevers Magny-Cours

  • Near fences have been converted to real 3D objects.

Oran Park Raceway

  • Loading background image has been updated.
  • The main garage is now a solid object.

Qualcomm Circuit (Naval Base Coronado)!

  • AI Drivers have completed boot camp, and are now fully trained and ready for racing at Qualcomm Circuit (Naval Base Coronado)!
  • Rotated the track map to a better orientation, and updated it.
  • Some overlapping crowd members have been removed.
  • Brake markers and some ads have been updated.
  • Some extra pit area catch fences have been removed.
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Written by

Nathan Lees

Gaming journalist and founder of XP Gained. Covering patch notes, breaking news, and updates across 160+ games.

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