iRacing 2026 Season 1 Update: New F1 Circuits, Porsche Cup Refresh, and More

iRacing’s latest Development Blog gave us an in-depth preview into what racers can expect in Season 1 of 2026. Senior Vice President and Executive Producer at iRacing.com, Greg Hill, posted the update to the iRacing forums on November 15th and detailed what is coming for the near future of iRacing.

Tracks

F1 fans of the past and Supercars fans of the present will be excited to see the Adelaide Street Circuit coming to iRacing for 2026 Season 1.
Featuring in Formula 1 from 1985 to 1995, the Adelaide Street Circuit was the original Australian Grand Prix and hosted many season finales, including the infamous 1994 collision between Michael Schumacher and Damon Hill, where Schumacher’s Benetton hit Hill’s Williams and damaged its suspension, handing Schumacher the championship on the final day.

The track, although slightly altered in the years since, has hosted the V8 Supercars (now known simply as Supercars) Championship since 1999, with the exception of the COVID-affected year of 2021. The circuit shares the characteristics of many other street tracks, with walls right on the limits, difficult and bumpy surfaces, and a tight, twisty layout that challenges drivers at the very limit.
Personally, I'm excited to have this famous track added to the iRacing roster, following Bathurst and The Bend as Australia’s major circuits featured in iRacing, along with many of the smaller ones.

Miami International Autodrome is another track arriving in Season 1 of 2026. Another street circuit, Miami entered the F1 calendar in 2022 as the rights holders looked to increase F1’s popularity in the USA.

Unlike Adelaide, Miami has not been popular with F1 fans. Its layout has been described as boring and not challenging, and fans are becoming frustrated with the increasing number of street circuits on the calendar. Not every track can be a perfect drivers’ track or racing track, but we will have to wait and see whether these criticisms carry over into iRacing, and whether other classes of car such as GT3 will improve its perception.

It’s worth noting that in his forum post, Greg Hill spent a great deal of time outlining the character and history of Adelaide, while Miami received a much shorter introduction that focused mainly on iRacing’s collaboration with the track’s management and its location rather than the layout or racing. Perhaps this hints that even iRacing are not fully confident about Miami’s addition.

Bahrain International Circuit, already featured in competitor sim Le Mans Ultimate, and Circuit Paul Ricard in France have also been teased. Although they are not arriving in Season 1, Hill stated that development on both tracks is underway with work beginning in early 2026.

Cars

There are no major new additions for the sports car or formula classes in 2026 Season 1. This is a little disappointing, as the new Formula Regional car for the real 2026 season was recently announced and big-name competitors in sports cars, such as the Aston Martin Valkyrie hypercar, are still missing.

However, the Porsche 911 GT3 Cup (commonly known as the Porsche Cup) will receive a refresh to match the real 992.2 generation. According to Greg Hill:

“In the real world the car sees a small bump in power over the previous generation (+10 hp), improved front axle response through revised aerodynamics and suspension geometry, improved driver display functionality, ABS and TC as standard and other reliability and maintenance optimisations. Performance is expected to be around 1 to 1.5 seconds per lap faster than the 992.1 model for a typical grand prix style circuit.”

The new generation also receives the same tyre model update that the GT3 and GT4 classes received in 2025. The biggest change, however, is the addition of traction control (TCS) and anti-lock brakes (ABS). This aligns the car with the real Porsche Supercup spec but is a controversial topic among iRacing Porsche Cup enthusiasts.

The 992 Cup has always been a difficult car to drive. It is heavier than the GT3 variant, has less aero, and has historically run without driver aids, leaving the driver fully responsible for brake modulation and traction control through skill alone. To some, adding these aids is like putting stabilisers on a Tour de France bike. Still, TCS and ABS are not magic, and top-tier drivers will remain comfortably faster. Personally, I don’t see an issue, and it might even reduce the ridiculous turn 1 pile-ups from massive divebomb lockups.

A guaranteed positive is that the 992.2 will be a free update to all owners of the current Porsche Cup car.

For dirt racers, there’s exciting news. All users will receive the new FIA Cross Car free of charge, featured in a brand new FIA Cross Car fixed series within the dirt road licence class. While not explicitly confirmed, it appears the Cross Car will be available to Rookie-class drivers. Hill also noted that this addition is part of a broader effort to develop the “lower rungs” of iRacing’s dirt road ladder.

Plenty of other cars are receiving smaller updates, including the GR86, Dallara IR18, NASCAR Trucks, and several GT3 cars. For full details, you can read the official Development Blog post.

iRacing UI

Introduced at the start of the current season, the new in-sim UI has been a major improvement over the outdated previous interface. While the layout changed only slightly, the look, feel, and functionality were drastically improved.

More improvements are coming for Season 1 of 2026, including search functionality within the settings menu. Although small, this will be a significant quality of life update.

Widget Editor is also being added, allowing users more control over what appears on screen during sessions. Greg Hill describes it as:

“Widget Editor provides a host of customization options for dozens of elements in the UI. Available options include hiding UI elements from view, anchoring, precise offsetting, widget templates, individual widget scale and opacity, individual widget reset, global widget reset, and more.”

Black boxes are receiving a refresh as well, with the ability to show multiple black boxes at once. Currently, they can only be viewed one at a time using the F1 to F11 keys. From 2026 onward, users can display up to four simultaneously, making it easier to track multiple pieces of information without cycling.

Although many third-party overlay apps exist, such as RaceLab and iOverlay, they use extra system resources and often require paid subscriptions for advanced features. The new black box update will be welcome for users who prefer to stick with iRacing’s built-in tools.

New Graphics Engine

This one is not coming in Season 1 or possibly even in 2026, but since it was mentioned in the Development Blog, it’s worth discussing.

iRacing is widely considered the pinnacle of racing simulators, with professional esports events and countless real-world drivers from major championships such as Formula 1 and NASCAR competing regularly. However, compared to titles like Le Mans Ultimate or the upcoming Project Motor Racing (see our review of that here), the graphics have fallen behind. The engine is aging and lacks the realism expected from top-level simulators.

Some games push too far in the other direction. Gran Turismo, for example, often feels overly vibrant with exaggerated lighting effects. But iRacing has drifted further from the modern standard over time.

iRacing acknowledges this and is developing an all-new graphics engine. Hill stated that development will continue throughout 2026, suggesting a possible 2027 release. The blog included photos of the new rendering engine running for the first time, which is an exciting glimpse into its progress.

Verdict

It’s not the biggest upgrade we’ve seen recently, but if every season is special then none of them are, and Season 1 of 2026 brings several exciting developments and worthwhile quality of life improvements.

The new graphics engine teaser is a major highlight, as is the single player Career Mode that has also been hinted at. I’m particularly looking forward to racing around the Adelaide Street Circuit and trying the new Porsche Cup car, perhaps at the same time, and then looking ahead to more excitement throughout 2026.