The collaboration between BMW M Motorsport and iRacing continues in earnest, as the latest top-tier race car from Munich will head to not just the IMSA Weathertech Sportscar Championship next year and the FIA World Endurance Championship in 2024, but will also to the virtual race tracks of the simulation in the very near future.
The BMW M Hybrid V8 will be the fourth car to head to iRacing, following on in the footsteps of the M8 GTE, M4 GT4 and M4 GT3, which also shows how commited BMW is to helping the ongoing competition on the platform, along with working hand-in-hand to develop the digital version along with the real-life car, which is currently testing.
The 4-litre V8-hybrid sportcar has a total combined output of 671 bhp and will make it’s real-life debut at next year’s Rolex 24 Hours at Daytona in January, plus the work that both parties have put into this project for the virtual racing world was unveiled at the recent BMW SIM Live event this past Saturday.
“When it comes to introducing real BMW M race cars to the virtual world, BMW M Motorsport and iRacing have been close and perfectly attuned partners for many years,” said Maurizio Leschiutta, LMDh project leader at BMW M Motorsport.
“As the head of such an important project, confidentiality is my number one priority; it would be fatal if the competition discovered the technical details of our car that we want to keep secret. In that respect, I came away really impressed by iRacing’s professionalism.
“We are making CAD data and findings from our simulator and racetrack tests available to iRacing. They are used as the basis on which to create a realistic virtual version. This gives every sim racer the opportunity to experience the performance of a state-of-the-art prototype and the appeal of BMW M Motorsport.”
“We’re incredibly excited to confirm that the BMW M Hybrid V8 will be coming to iRacing in the coming months,” said iRacing executive vice president Steve Myers.
“We’ve been eagerly anticipating the LMDh class for a few years now, and BMW M Motorsport’s support has been indispensable in helping us to bring both their entry and the new class to iRacing. Building this car in the sim has been a joy for our team, and we can’t wait to see the community’s response upon release.”
It just goes to show how much effort that real-life manufacturers are putting into the value that sim racing provides, so will anyone else follow BMW’s lead into bringing more of these epic-looking cars? Your turn next, Porsche!
