iRacing 2026 Season 3: Everything New in the June Build
The benchmark sim has just rolled out its big mid-season update, and iRacing 2026 Season 3 does not hold back. Released on June 9, it officially goes live on June 16 at 0000 UTC. On the menu: brand-new content — including a BMW handed out free to the whole community —, an iRacing-designed circuit, a major overhaul of GT handling, AI arriving on dirt, and a wide round of UI improvements. Here's the rundown.
Four new cars, one of them free
The headline gesture of the season is the BMW M2 Racing (G87), free for all members at no extra cost. Conceived as an entry-level touring car, it's both demanding and easy to get to grips with: perfect for starting out without breaking the bank, and for stepping up to tougher classes later. Three more newcomers join it.
The EURO NASCAR V8GP, from the NASCAR Euro Series, blends an American-style big engine with European-style twisty circuits, with no electronic aids whatsoever. The Formula Vee gains two purely cosmetic bodies, and BMW's GTP steps up to its 2026 Evo version — a free update for anyone who already owned it. Worth noting: all of these cars work in the rain from the start, with dynamic weather supported out of the box.
Two tracks: one brand new, one classic rebuilt
The big news on the track side is the Qualcomm Circuit, designed by iRacing's own teams and added to the sim before it even exists in the real world. Set on a US naval base in San Diego, it lays out 16 turns over 5.4 km — double the length of the site's former layout. Expect long high-speed straights, tight right-angle turns and four chicanes, alternating heavy braking with technical sections.
Meanwhile, the legendary Laguna Seca — and its famous Corkscrew, that downhill left-right plunge — has been rescanned and rebuilt from the ground up. For a track this essential, it was an overdue refresh: surface, elevation and surroundings all gain noticeably in realism.
GT3 and GTE reworked in depth
This is arguably the most significant change for endurance racers. iRacing keeps reworking its classes one after another, and this time the GT3 and GTE are on the bench. The five GTE cars — Ford, Ferrari 488, BMW M8, Corvette C8.R and Porsche 911 RSR — are brought in line with the latest GT3 standards: fully reworked tires that deform more realistically, rub blocks added under the front, softer suspension and a slightly higher ride height.
More broadly, dry tires have been retuned to warm up faster, respond better and support the rear of the car more effectively. The expected result: more readable, more predictable behaviour when you push.
Rules modelled on real motorsport
A major new feature for organisers: events can now apply rules drawn directly from real life — a mandated pit stop procedure, locked setups, or even electronic aids switched off. For GT3, three options appear: no traction control, no ABS, or both disabled. A handful of official events benefit from this right away — a long-standing community request.
On top of that, the pit speed limiter has been reworked for more precise stops, and drafting (the slipstream effect behind another car) has been retuned on short asphalt ovals.
AI lands on dirt
Computer-controlled drivers can now challenge you across twelve dirt ovals, in either the Dirt Street Stock or the Dirt Legends Ford '34 Coupe. Better still, heat racing (the short qualifying races that set the starting grid) now works against AI — solo, in leagues or across a full season. The Pontiac Solstice and Radical SR8 become AI-compatible too, as do Laguna Seca and three layouts of Monza.
Interface and connection: comfort gains
The big UI project keeps moving forward with genuinely handy tools: custom display profiles you can swap in one click per car, a configurable live track map, a built-in fuel calculator, an incident counter and drag-to-resize elements. All of it cuts down on installing third-party apps just to track basic in-race information.
Less visible but welcome: a new way of connecting to race servers routes the sim onto iRacing's network at the point geographically closest to you, for a potentially more stable connection.
A car given to the entire community, an ambitious brand-new circuit, a long-awaited GT overhaul, AI finally arriving on dirt and more realistic rules: 2026 Season 3 ticks an impressive number of boxes. This is exactly the kind of update that makes you want to fire up the sim again — whether you're a GT endurance racer, a dirt-oval fan or simply curious enough to try the free M2. See you on the grid on June 16.
2026 Season 3 at a glance
ℹ️ Information collected on June 10, 2026 from iRacing's official release notes (iracing.com).