I recently sent a few questions to iRacing and Tim Wheatley responded with these answers...
1) You've already stated in the FAQ's that because of the complexity of the program engine, mods to the game would be nearly impossible. In addition, it seems that you'd like to keep control over the content that moves through the iRacing system. That said, is there any possibility at all in the future that would allow modding of any type? For instance, selling an official "editor" or "sandbox" that would allow the construction of custom cars and tracks.
TW - It’s very doubtful that modding will be allowed in any form. It would also be impossible for anybody to create tracks of the quality we have. Even though there is 1 scanned track for another sim, even that one is a far lesser resolution on the scan and differs from the real track quite a bit.
2) Also in the FAQ's it is stated that the cars and drivers are paintable. There have been some posts saying that this is not the case or that custom paints must be purchased. Would painters ever need to pay for a paint they created? Also, would it be possible to trade custom painted cars with other racers?
TW - I’m not sure where anybody is getting the purchase thing from, we haven’t even discussed totally custom paints yet. The car, suit and helmet painter works like this (and is free):
We will obviously be adding more shapes and decals in the future, it’s just basic function right now. Though, saying that, I have never seen two of the same car in a race…
3) Is there a trial version if iRacing?
TW - No there isn’t. You can subscribe to the full service for a month, for $20.
4) A few writers have come up with figures ranging in the 20 and 30 thousand dollar ranges for a league of 15+ drivers to race for a year with a good variety of cars and tracks. Leagues are very important to a majority of the sim racers. Would iRacing be offering any sort of "group" or "league" discount for pre-established leagues?
TW - That’s absolutely laughable. We haven’t even discussed pricing yet, but I’m pretty happy to see those numbers floating around because we’ll obviously not cost anything like that. There should actually be some league info released in the next few months.
Thanks for coming to the source to get your information, things tend to sound a lot better when they weren’t created and filtered by people not connected with the company!
Regards,
Tim Wheatley