RaceRoom Historic Update is out: new interface, FFB and content

Out now: what Historic Update has brought

RaceRoom began maintenance on October 20, warning that it could last up to 24 hours because of its backend migration. That night it pushed the client files so players could download them, but online services stayed closed until around 9:30 CEST on October 21, the date of the official launch announcement and patch notes. These list client version 0.9.9.05 (BuildID 26101636) and dedicated server version 112.0.1721. The download is roughly 80 GB because every car and track archive has been repacked in a faster-loading format.

The four announced cars and four venues have arrived, along with a Hockenheimring update to 2026 spec with new run-offs and a revised pit lane. The new content is paid: the official store lists each car at €6.98; Spa-Francorchamps 1995, Laguna Seca Historic, Fliegerhorst Wunstorf and Glasbachrennen at €9.97 each; and a €45.00 Historic Pack containing the four cars and three of the tracks. Glasbach is not part of the pack. These are the euro prices shown on October 23 without logging in; the store does not state whether VAT is included.

The store has changed too: liveries are no longer sold separately, so buying a car unlocks all of its liveries, and anyone who had bought any livery for a car now receives the rest automatically. Test Drive now lets players try any store car on any track they own.

The new interface replaces both the in-game menus and the old website: main menu, store, competitions, Ranked Multiplayer, leaderboards, profile, garage and options share one design and backend. Statistics return with time on track, distance, wins, podiums, clean laps, incident points and daily and weekly streaks, among others, and a first set of achievements arrives. They count from October 20: RaceRoom says the old statistics could not be transferred.

On force feedback, the changes explained in Grid Talk are confirmed: the gyro fix, rebuilt power steering supporting hydraulic, electro-hydraulic and electric systems, an option to enable it on every car, modelled steering-rack types and physics-based stationary FFB. Smoothing, Gyro Damping, Gyro Effect and Road Noise settings are added; FFB now uses a single DirectInput effect and, according to the studio, holds 400 Hz in almost every situation, large grids included. On the physics side, the tyre contact model evaluates the whole contact patch, and traction control and ABS levels are reversed: 1 is now the lowest and 6 the highest.

The update also moves VR to OpenXR, retires Flash from every in-car dashboard, spreads AI physics across several CPU cores and, by the studio's figures, almost halves loading times on large grids. We have not measured these results.

• Rolling-start corridor offences are detected and warned, but not yet penalised.
• The dirty-tyre vibration has been removed for now and will return reworked; the Bump Amplification setting, which no longer had any effect, is gone.
• Statistics from before October 20 are not kept.
• The official sources consulted do not include a dedicated post-launch known-issues list.

Glasbach: a 5.3 km hill climb in RaceRoom

RaceRoom has confirmed its recreation of Glasbach, a 5.3 km German hill climb that has already made its competitive debut. The official 12 October bulletin says it was used at the FIA Esports European Hill Climb Cup final in Luxembourg. The studio describes a narrow road lined with barriers, offering a different challenge from a conventional circuit.

A hill climb measures the run from start to finish rather than a sequence of laps. After its competition debut, Glasbachrennen is now available to everyone with Historic Update as paid content, priced at €9.97 in the official store. Its store page describes a road just over 5 km long with 223 m of elevation gain, and in multiplayer each driver runs alone against the clock with rivals shown as ghosts.

The FIA final in Luxembourg: the background

FIA information places the onsite championship final on 9–11 October 2026. Its eight participants came through online qualification held from 20 August to 7 September. The competition ran on RaceRoom for PC through Steam.

The FIA explains that qualification used a free car and a free hill climb. That condition applied to the qualifying phase: since release, Glasbachrennen has been sold in the RaceRoom store at €9.97 and is not included in the Historic Pack.

Historic Update: named content and a release date

RaceRoom expanded on its plans in Grid Talk Episode 10, broadcast October 16. The official description retains October 20 as the announced date for Historic Update 2026 and lists four cars and four venues. The programme also explains a technical overhaul that goes beyond expanding the garage.

Abarth 1000 TCR and Mini Cooper S Mk3 will join Group 2 alongside the existing NSU and Scirocco. Peugeot 406 and Ford Mondeo will expand Super Touring. For Spa-Francorchamps 1995, the studio describes a reconstruction based on photographs, videos, old onboard footage and data supplied by teams. Wunstorf adds an airfield circuit associated with historic DTM and STW grids.

• Peugeot 406 and Ford Mondeo Super Touring.
• Abarth 1000 TCR and Mini Cooper S Mk3 for Group 2.
• Spa-Francorchamps 1995.
• Laguna Seca Historic.
• Fliegerhorst Wunstorf.
• Glasbachrennen.

Unified menus, statistics and initial achievements

The studio presents a new interface for the main menu, single-player race setup and player profile. A renewed backend will replace the previous infrastructure and allow a unified appearance across screens. Car metadata will also help players discover content and set up car-and-track combinations.

According to the head of KW Studios, profile statistics that had been disabled because of their load on the old system will return. Those data will be expanded, and a first iteration of in-game achievements is coming. These are features announced for this update, rather than our own assessment of their performance.

Rolling starts put the driver in control

Rolling starts will no longer be controlled by the AI: the player will retain control of the car throughout the procedure. The studio links the change both to greater driver involvement and to avoiding problems with the previous automatic control.

For the Nordschleife, RaceRoom describes a procedure inspired by the Nürburgring 24 Hours. Multiple classes can be arranged into three groups starting three minutes apart. Each group leader decides when to accelerate within a corridor before the start/finish line, releasing that group. This explanation does not establish the format as a universal rule for every race.

Force feedback: revised gyro and power steering

The team says it found an error in the gyroscopic effect that added too much steering weight and masked some tyre information. Correcting it led to broader work on the steering simulation. The new transient model follows the transmission from the tyre contact patch through the suspension and steering rack to the steering wheel.

Power steering has also been reworked to represent differences between cars without it and systems such as those used in GT3s. A setting will let users enable power steering for every car if they wish, including historic models that did not have it in real life.

For drivers who want some of the previous effect’s weight back, the studio announces an old-gyro slider. That option will restore the effect without making it the only available configuration. The claimed improvements in feel are the developer’s assessment: we have not yet tested this update.

RCC and Alpine Esports also feature in the programme

Grid Talk announces the return of RCC and the arrival of the official Alpine Esports series in RaceRoom. The latter will have an Alpine GT4 competition and a supporting Alpine Cup series, whose car the representative identifies as free in the simulator. He also announces an Alpine GT4 test drive as a prize for the winner. The discussion does not provide complete regulations or establish that entries are already open.

Schedule, December preview and outstanding purchase terms

The official Expo programme schedules the RaceRoom Content Reveal for Saturday, October 17, at 11:30 CEST. That presentation and the October 16 Grid Talk precede the announced October 20 release. The technical information added here comes from the official episode’s explanations, rather than attributing unverified details to the stage presentation.

At the end of the episode, RaceRoom previews another update for December, related to the Nürburgring and featuring new cars and liveries. It does not yet identify those models or a specific day. Historic Update prices, which these earlier sources left open, are now covered in the opening section.