Yesterday was that special day of jokes, hoaxes and pranks again – April Fools’ day. Here are some of the “special announcements” that were made in the sim racing world.
iRacing
As usual, iRacing never disappoints with its April Fools’ day announcements. The first one was a new vehicle – the Porsche P133 farm tractor. Having only just added one of the latest and greatest Porsche race cars to the game, going back to the German manufacturer’s origins with the next addition seems like a reasonable decision.
The P133 sports a 3-cylinder diesel engine producing a total of 33 HP and to show that iRacing don’t like to compromise on their April Fools’ jokes, they have even provided a video showcasing the P133.
More details on the @Porsche 133 can be found on our cars page: https://t.co/zBgb3IcUUq pic.twitter.com/lWhWQNC1pi
— iRacing.com (@iRacing) 1. April 2017
Of course, one joke is never enough and later that day, iRacing announced its new REDLINE energy drink – a certainly very special beverage. Homebrewed in iRacing’s “twice-cleaned server room” and containing “the fuel (and actual fuel) everyone needs to drive their best”, it will only be available in a limited run of 1000 cans.
Also introducing iRacing REDLINE. Order yours today! https://t.co/MmNASDC39K pic.twitter.com/X0fhbxjeLz
— iRacing.com (@iRacing) 1. April 2017
Fanatec
The Porsche P133 was not the only German announcement yesterday. German sim gear manufacturer Fanatec even went as far as announcing a whole new “product” on their Facebook page, in form of the ClubSport Wheel Base V2.5 inverted. As a perfect match to the inverted Clubsport pedals, the new ClubSport Wheel Base V2.5 inverted will feature “the latest DirectDive(tm) technology”, will be compatible with ALL “past, present and future gaming consoles” and of course – you guessed it – with Mac. PC’s will not be support as of now and Fanatec replied in the comments, explaining the reasoning for this decision.
The wheel will be “available” at a reasonable 299,95 USD (incl. tax) or 789,95 Euro (excl. tax).
RaceDepartment
A not so obvious attempt was taken by RaceDepartment. Yesterday, the site reported that the UK is banning laserscanning technology from its local tracks. Reason for the ban is supposedly the damage caused by the process. The article even includes references to “research” done by Brunel University and quotes by a professor involved in the research. A poll was also started and taking participation and the comments into account, not all of the readers got the joke right away (we did not either), since the article is presented in a pretty convincing way. Thankfully though, all of it is not true. Well played, RaceDepartment! You can check out the article for yourself here.
McLaren
Although this April Fools’ day joke may not be directly sim racing related, it is certainly worth a watch. McLaren also spared no effort and released a video of a 570GT with a rather special wrap.