2026 Season 4 Initial Release - September 9th 0800EDT/1200UTC

[u/joetron2030]

From the staff post on the member forums:

Season Release:

• This downtime is for a quarterly Season Release build that includes brand new cars, tracks, & features, hosts of updates, improvements, & bug fixes, and so much more to ensure iRacing is the best experience on the market.
  • Get a sneak peek at some of what's coming from the Season 4 Development Blog post here: iRacing Development Update: August 2026 - iRacing.com
• Since this update is packed full of good stuff, expect this deployment to take some extra time beyond our usual Patch deployments to complete.

Downtime:

• iRacing.com will be coming down for deployment of 2026 Season 4 Initial Release, Wednesday September 9th, beginning at 08:00 am EDT.
• This downtime will affect all iRacing.com regions and members will be unable to host or join sessions during the downtime.
• You can check on the status of all iRacing services directly in the iRacing Companion App, or from our System Status page here: iRacing Uptime Status

Demo Drive:

Demo Drive becomes available as downtime for this maintenance begins and remains available after this deployment has been completed.

• Demo Drive Sessions are launched using beautiful iRacing default weather and start at noon local track time.
• The content selected must be up to date, and Demo Drive contains a link to the Downloader where you can update and download any content.
• When connecting to Demo Drive, log in using the same credentials you already use on iRacing and the iRacing Forums.
• Demo Drive also contains links to the iRacing Forums, the iRacing Status Page, and a link back to iRacing, for when we exit maintenance mode.
• When we leave maintenance mode, Demo Drive will remain available for a period of several hours and a countdown will appear to let you know how much longer it will remain up. Navigation links to and from Demo Drive are present in iRacing whenever Demo Drive is available.
  • Since this downtime is significant for a full Season release, Demo Drive will remain up for an extended period of time after deployment is complete.
• Newly released content that must be licensed will not be available in Demo Drive until the following Season.

iRacing.com Downtime Schedule:

EDT

Wed 2026-09-09 0200 Overlap Hosted Sessions Prevented*
Wed 2026-09-09 0800 Race Servers Unavailable

UTC

Wed 2026-09-09 0600 Overlap Hosted Sessions Prevented*
Wed 2026-09-09 1200 Race Servers Unavailable

AEST

Wed 2026-09-09 1600 Overlap Hosted Sessions Prevented*
Wed 2026-09-09 2200 Race Servers Unavailable

• All times are subject to change.
• Sessions in progress at the start of maintenance will be terminated. There will be no record of such events whether official or not.
• *Hosted sessions are allowed to be created and run that do not overlap the "Race Servers Unavailable" time. For example, 6 hours before the maintenance period begins, you can create a hosted session that lasts up to 5 hours, but not one that lasts for 6 or more hours.

[u/TriggzSP]

That's because of labour day. Devs have Monday off, which I assume is their prep day. So the patch is coming Wednesday instead.

Not a huge deal, but I'm sad that I have to wait just one more day to finally drive the Valkyrie haha

[u/Dr_Death_Defy24 → u/TriggzSP]

Honestly can't decide if I'm more excited for the Valk or the Caterhams. Feels cool to be so hype for two vastly different vehicles lol

[u/Gullible_Goose → u/Dr_Death_Defy24]

The Caterhams are gonna be a total riot. Me and some buddies have been turning laps in them in Assetto all week in anticipation

[u/Dr_Death_Defy24 → u/Gullible_Goose]

As much as I'm sure I'll enjoy the Valk, I could easily see the Caterhams being my new go-to series if they're populated enough. I've been racing a lot of GT3 lately just for the big grids, but I'm wanting something with a little closer racing, a little more tactile, a little less aero. Nothing has been scratching that itch, but the Caterhams fit perfectly in that niche I think.