“Ranked Best Racing Game of All Time!” screams the official website and now iRacing – a popular subscription-based racing simulator – is finally available to play on Linux.
The game, first released for Windows back in 2008, is designed to appeal to both enthusiasts and real-life racers – many of whom use it as a training tool.
With a solid reputation amongst both pro and wannabe camps due to realistic rendering of tracks and vehicles (all officially licensed from real-world racing bodies) and accurate physics modelling, iRacing’s arrival is a pretty big deal.
iRacing for Linux Hits Alpha
The company behind the sim, confusingly called iRacing.com, announced plans for Linux and Mac ports earlier this year in an effort to broaden their customer base. They estimate that around 15% of their potential market are using these platforms.
With the Mac build getting released last week attention is now turning to brining the Linux version up to par.
To kick things off a new alpha build of iRacing for Linux was made available to members for testing on the official iRacing forums earlier this week.
There is a “drawback” (depending on your perspective): iRacing for Linux appears to rely on WINE. While they’ve made things easy by bundling everything up neatly into one single .Deb installer, it isn’t the truly native port some will have wanted.
We also hear that Logitech racing wheels work well, including FFB [Force Feedback], while kit from Fanatec will also work if put in ‘Logitech mode’. (Thanks, Ryan!)
WINE or not, iRacing for Linux will live and die by its performance. Based on some early feedback we’ve heard it does, even at this early junction, hold up well.
For a taster of gameplay (albeit on Windows) action hit play on the video below.
Getting The Alpha
Now for the real kicker: iRacing is a subscription-based game.
Membership of iRacing (required to play and access download links) starts from $8.25/m if you sign up for a year. Month-by-month subscriptions are also available at $12/m.
For more details on the game, pricing and more you’ll need to head over to the official iRacing website.
- Source: iRacing.com, via Ryan W.