How To Buy Cars in iRacing: 2024 Guide

iRacing as a racing sim works very differently from many other racing sims or games. You don’t simply buy the game once and have access to all content, or buy a season pass like you can with many other titles.

Instead, iRacing operates as a subscription-based service, with a constantly updating ecosystem. This may lead to confusion on how to access new cars, what you have to buy and what is included with the base subscription.

In this guide, I’m going to run through exactly how to purchase new cars in iRacing. I’ll show you what is included in the core iRacing subscription, and I’ll also recommend what content you should consider buying first.

How Buying Cars in iRacing Works

Before I touch on exactly how buying cars in iRacing works, I think it’s best to have a brief overview of how iRacing’s subscription works.

To start racing in iRacing, you need an active subscription. A subscription can be billed monthly, quarterly or annually, and all the while your subscription is active, you will have access to the iRacing platform.

If you are looking to save some money on your iRacing subscription, check out our working 2024 iRacing discount codes.

Once you have an active iRacing subscription, you will immediately gain access to a range of core content. This core content includes a range of cars, 18 in total, and a series of tracks. You can race this content across a range of different series, and it is certainly enough to provide plenty of hours of racing.

The core content includes just 6 different road cars, 2 open wheeled race cars, and a range of Nascar and off-road cars. This means that if you want to enjoy more road racing such as GT3 or to expand your open wheeled racing to Formula 3 or Formula 1, you will need to buy more cars.

How to buy cars in iRacing

To buy cars in iRacing, you have to head over to the store either on the iRacing web platform or the desktop app. Here, you can filter and find any car that you would like to race. Simply add the cars you would like to your basket, and proceed to the checkout.

• Step 1 – Open up your iRacing UI or head over to the web platform.
• Step 2 – Head over to the store, which can be found in the sidebar.
• Step 3 – Select cars, and use the filters or search function to find a car.
• Step 4 – Click purchase or add cars to your cart.
• Step 5 – View your cart and continue to purchase.
• Step 6 – Once a car has been purchased, you will be able to download and install it the next time you open the iRacing UI.

Can you test drive cars in iRacing?

The good news is that you can test drive any car that you don’t currently own in iRacing before purchasing it. The bad news is that you can only do this at set times.

During any server maintenance or downtime, you can access iRacing and race offline. This includes racing and driving cars that you don’t currently own.

To do this, you need to download and install a car before any scheduled server maintenance. You can do this without purchasing the car.

Then, while the server is in maintenance mode, you won’t be able to race online, but you can still drive and test drive cars. Visit testdrive.iracing.com during server maintenance, and you will be able to choose and drive any car that you have downloaded regardless of whether you own it or not.

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How much do cars cost in iRacing?

In total, there are well over 100 different cars and tracks included in iRacing for you to choose from. These include a high number of GT4 and GT3 cars, as well as a variety of other racing disciplines.

Each car in iRacing has a set price, and that price depends on whether the car is currently in use in a series, or if it is a legacy car. Legacy cars are cars that no longer feature in active series, but can still be raced in hosted sessions.

The cost of each car in iRacing is;

• Individual car = $11.95
• Discounted car = $2.95 or $4.95

How to use discounts to buy cars cheaper

Using the individual car costs above, you can quickly calculate just how much it will cost to purchase all 100+ cars that iRacing has to offer, and that figure is quite large.

Luckily, there is a way to purchase new cars in iRacing at a lower price using bulk discounts. If you purchase multiple pieces of content at the same time, you will receive a bulk discount.

The amount of discount you receive depends on a few factors, including how many pieces of content you are purchasing, and how much content you already own.

The different iRacing bulk discount amounts are below;

• 10% bulk discount: Buy 3-5 pieces of content at once.
• 15% bulk discount: Buy more than 6 pieces of content at once.
• 20% loyalty discount: Own 40 pieces of content to receive this discount on every future purchase.
• 30% loyalty discount: Own all available content to receive this discount on every future purchase.

Read our guide on how to start iRacing on a budget for some great cost-saving tips.

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How many cars are in iRacing?

iRacing features a huge car list of over 100 cars in total. These range from road racers such as GT4 and GT3 cars, to open wheeled cars, NASCAR and oval cars, and dirt and rallycross cars.

No matter which discipline you lean towards, there is a pretty decent number of cars to race with.

Read our complete guide to how many cars are in iRacing for more information on which cars are included in the core membership, and which premium cars are available.

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What are the best cars to buy first in iRacing?

While you can race for months or even years in iRacing using just the base content, eventually there will be a point where you want to progress to a new series. And that means you may need to purchase a new car which isn’t included in the iRacing membership.

Depending on your favourite racing discipline, or your current progression path there are a range of cars that we’d recommend you buy first. You really want to prioritise cars that can be used across a range of different series, or cars that you really enjoy driving.

This way, you’ll get the most value out of every new car you buy in iRacing. Cars such as the Ferrari 488 GT3 car offer the highest value due to appearing in multiple series across different license classes.

For our thoughts on which cars are the best to buy first in iRacing, read our complete guide where we show you our top picks for the best cars to buy in iRacing.

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