Estimated reading time: 6 minutes
After months of simmering community feedback, curious design choices, and a physics model some still call “mysteriously polite,” Rennsport has finally dropped a double hitter with Patch 1.13.0 and the follow-up 1.13.1. And for once, they’re giving everyone a fair crack at the Nürburgring 24H layout—even if it took a tidal wave of N24 hype and pressure from Founders Pack-holdouts to make it happen. You’ve got until June 25 before it vanishes behind the virtual paywall again, so get your reps in.
That’s just one slice, though. Under the hood, Rennsport’s finally trying to show it’s more than just a good-looking demo reel.
Open Setups and Semi-Unleashed Physics
For the first time since launch, open setups are available in Time Trial and across all cars. It’s not total freedom—gear ratios, brake pressure, and a few other parameters remain locked—but at least we’ve escaped the purgatory of default tire pressures and cookie-cutter spring choices. This is a major quality-of-life upgrade for any driver trying to push the edge, not just hotlap within factory tolerances.
Paired with the updated ABS and TC behavior, the car control actually feels less sterile now. TC interacts more like a proper race system—not a roadsafety nanny—and low levels let you hang on to slip angles without slapping your hand. Same for ABS: early settings keep the pedal honest while letting you trailbrake properly.
Audio Rework Done Right—for Once
Major props are due on the audio side. The AMG GT3 saw the biggest upgrade, and it actually sounds like it’s got a real drivetrain attached now. You hear transmission whine under load, distinct external and internal mic blends, and adaptive effects like gravel hits, diff chatter, and crash reverbs based on your view. Opponent audio finally sweeps in with doppler filtering and a sense of proper spatial fade.
Tire noise also got refreshed with a new load-based model. No more one-size-fits-all scrub sound regardless of tire load or direction. Different surfaces, speeds, and camber loads now influence the rollout and slip sounds. For once, headphones do something other than annoy the cat.
This overhaul may feel cosmetic, but for cockpit drivers and immersion hunters, it’s transformative. The audible layers are the clue to mechanical limits—you can now listen for mechanical sympathy rather than guess.
Lite UI Wins, League Points, and Player Reporting
Beyond tires and exhausts, a few UI and QoL tweaks landed with a satisfying thunk. Replays still explode (hold that thought), but player reports can now be filed directly from Race History, complete with notes. Combined with the new League Point System—where splits are merged and DNFs stop farming ghost points—it’s a solid nudge toward competitive legitimacy.
More camera options too: interior visibility sliders, proper seat positioning, anti-aliasing options beyond the weird blurfest defaults—all stuff other sims had a decade ago, sure, but it’s finally here. Given how many cockpit-only players were ready to uninstall over view jank, this is a real pacifier win.
They’ve also fixed rolling start logic and tightened jump start rules: now a mistimed launch earns a disqualification, not free pole. Obvious fix, but one that actually matters if you care about sanctioned league rhythm.
The Old Bugs Still Bite
Then there’s the bad news. And there’s still a list.
Replays are going to crash on you. Period. This isn’t entirely Rennsport’s fault—Unreal Engine has its own cursed replay implementation—but knowing that doesn’t help when your Nürburgring lap vaporizes after 15 minutes. Worse is the in-car menu (ICM), which still hijacks input, rendering your button box or mapped functions non-responsive until you restart the session. That’s day-one stuff that somehow persists.
Pit crew dramatics? Still an unfixed meme. They clip through garage walls like spectral indie game assets. Parts of car interiors suddenly don’t render depending on the cam, breaking VR and dashboard immersers entirely. It’s amateur-hour visual bugs that nobody believes are top priority—and maybe that’s the problem.
And is anyone going to remove that “Local Contest” button that does nothing? Feels like you’re one dropdown away from seeing placeholder lorem ipsum text and realizing half the UI is orphaned.
But the biggest screw-up is core to this patch: setups don’t persist between sessions. Yeah, open setups are here—but every time you load into a new TT, it resets you to default values. You can’t benchmark or develop without manually reloading or reentering camber, toe, or pressure numbers every single time. For a sim courting eSports viability, that’s not just sloppy—it’s counterproductive.
Still No Path Forward… Just a Slicker Roadside
This patch smacks of departmental progress with no overarching direction. Audio and car feel? Vastly improved. Surface systems like reporting and camera tilt? Great. But drivability nuances, proper endurance race structuring, and progression still feel like they’re TBD. There’s no indication yet whether mod support or custom lobbies with save states are on the radar. Still no liveries outside dev handouts, still no user-facing telemetry APIs, still no roadmap for rank resets or sanctioning integrity.
And without a firm stance on where this sim is going—serious PC simulator or polished gateway to eSports events–it all settles into a gray space. Looks sharp, sounds right, but plays like it’s unsure who it’s for. The sim racing scene doesn’t care if your GT3 car has 4K tire textures if it resets your damn setup between sessions.
Exclusive Ring Access and a Gimmicky Livery Hustle
That Nürburgring 24H layout access? It’s good. It’s overdue. It’s limited-time only. Just like the “PRPL Beast” AMG livery you can nab if you run a 2.4-hour event on June 21 or log any TT lap before the 25th. It’s styled after the #17 GetSpeed Mercedes from the real N24—a nice crossover, but clearly an influencer carrot with a weak string attached. We’ve seen the same marketing loop from GT7 to Forza—it gets predictable.
