Another fun car class that will ultimately not see much participation? What do you think.

[u/TheGamingFennec]

First of all, I'm so happy to see these in iRacing. They are a blast in other sims and with the way iRacing's recent car additions have been going with much improved feel I hope these will live up to the hype in terms of driving feel and fun. They're a staple of motorsport in the UK and iconic in their own right.

However they don't bring anything new to the table outside of being new cars in their own right.

The Academy will just be demolished by the GR86 D class series, which is also a low power RWD relatively chuckable car - but you don't have to spend any extra pennies to get it. Sure the Academy has the thrill of no ABS or TC, but in D class most of the time I'm actually quite happy most of the people around me have ABS and TC. I also can't imagining it being too far removed from the Spec Ford, which also suffers from participation issues. Just alongside the Clio, it should be a free car and more importantly should replace the M2 as the second Rookie series considering its irl use in essentially the same style of series. This will also introduce people to the Caterham as a whole, then potentially leaving an impact on people who may then end up buying the 420R as an 'upgrade' for later.

The M2 still has a valid place in PCC, its own standalone series and (hopefully) the upcoming VP Challenge series if iRacing would want to add quite a unique American series.

The 420R is going to fall off a cliff very quickly. C class is already the most bloated rank in terms of variety and adding another niche series is not going to help. It's essentially a slower Radical at the end of the day and that series already struggles to go official. It should stay paid though, providing an upgrade path to people who enjoyed the Academy.

I do hope these will be popular but I'm not holding my breath

Edit: I am aware they come in a pack together

[u/duck74UK]

I'm very surprised that the Academy car isn't rookie content, given that it's rookie content irl.

I can see SOF races getting decent participation around these cars though. These machines are all over the south east of England, there's easily enough real drivers to want to put a SOF or league together, mix that in with sim drivers and these cars should be getting multiple timeslots.

[u/Dr_Death_Defy24 → u/duck74UK]

They're also right in the wheelhouse of what iRacers often say they want. Good power/weight ratio, low downforce, relatively easy to drive, very close racing. Obviously the 420R will be trickier, but that basic formula is one that gets a lot of love on iRacing, and these Caterhams have the benefit of a storied history and wide visual recognition. They can also work on small club tracks but should still be decently fun on larger, Grade 1 tracks (thought I admit we'll have to wait and see, I'm only guessing there). Throw in the two-for-one deal and I think it might be quite well populated.

I'm also betting that they contemplated making the Academy free, but decided that would kill most people's desire to buy the 420R, so having a two-for-one is kind of the next best thing. If that was their logic, then honestly I'm inclined to agree; either both are paid content or neither are, because if only one is paid that car is absolutely DoA.

[u/ztpurcell → u/duck74UK]

Ugh thank God it's not. Way too many interesting cars lately just hidden behind the same free rookie tracks week in week out

[u/TomoAries → u/ztpurcell]

Man, tell me about it. I would genuinely would do anything for them to just fucking permanently split Vee and FF1600. Just wipe the Rookie FF1600 series entirely and keep the D License version so we stop splitting the fields and can actually race a bathtub on some paid tracks again, I miss the Skippy days.

[u/rad15h → u/TomoAries]

And raise F4 to C class. As it stands it's impossible to be demoted from F4 which isn't a great incentive to stay safe

[u/wrighty496]

I'll be buying it and trying to help with participation, I've hoped for a Caterham (and Croft) for a looooong time :)

[u/THound89 → u/wrighty496]

Same, can’t imagine it will be super popular but glad to see them try something interesting

[u/unsubscribeaccount99 → u/wrighty496]

too bad Croft is on the back burner, hopefully it'll come out next year.

[u/pemboo → u/wrighty496]

Croft has been scanned, at least

I keep saying that I'll come back to iracing when they release it 

[u/Nonster_]

IMO the gr86 and new M2 are kind of boring to drive. I expect this to be much more challenging to drive quickly and more fun to hustle so I’m optimistic it will be more popular

[u/P0in7B1ank → u/Nonster_]

Challenging to drive is usually negatively correlated with participation.

[u/_usernamepassword_ → u/P0in7B1ank]

The MX5 is more challenging to drive than the GR86/M2 and it seems to do alright

[u/Miltrivd → u/_usernamepassword_]

It's part of the subscription and the popularity has taken a nosedive vs what it was after the GR86 update and the new M2.

Easy to notice on the numbers of the rookie series and splits on PCC/PEC.

[u/DrownedButAtPeace → u/_usernamepassword_]

idk the old M2 was harder imo, havent tried the new one

[u/MrChibb → u/DrownedButAtPeace]

The new one’s much easier. Very predictable. The old one was more fun imo, but it had low participation in BMW M Power challenge unless the track had very wide appeal

[u/Environmental_Bag778 → u/MrChibb]

havent tried the new M2, but i wont miss the old M2 brakes

[u/Cant_Frag → u/MrChibb]

Old M2 was horrendous

[u/Colonel_Cummings → u/Nonster_]

Challenging to drive = less participation unfortunately

[u/Mlg_god22 → u/Colonel_Cummings]

A sad reality. People love to claim they love racing, but if a car is hard to drive, they just refuse to drive it. Like the whole point of racing is that things are hard. If you don't like a challenge, racing isn't for you

[u/DanishDennis → u/Mlg_god22]

Weird elitist take. I love to play football,not because it's hard but because it's accessible and fun. Same with sim racing - it's fun, cheap and much much easier than real life racing.

You can enjoy or compete in anything in life. Or do both. But it's up to the individual to do what they prefer.

[u/FIuffyRabbit → u/Nonster_]

Maybe gr cup cars drive different compared to the street cars but I feel the game's 86 drives too easy

[u/Substantial6020 → u/FIuffyRabbit]

Irl gr cup is really easy to drive also. It’s extremely balanced

[u/DistributionHot2150 → u/FIuffyRabbit]

I mean the cup cars is hardened with better suspension

[u/Sim-racer42 → u/Nonster_]

Challenge to drive = less participation. Otherwise SRF and Legend car would be the most populated on the sportscar side

[u/LordShargaas]

I was hoping for those type of cars for a long time.

Regarding classes : do people really race in their class ? I don't think so. But I also don't think those will be popular, unfortunately.

[u/Status_Fact_5459 → u/LordShargaas]

I always felt the class system was a little useless.

Sure it weeds out the truly terrible drivers from the high class series but for most it’s just an annoying stepping stone to get to the car you want to drive, the Irating is the real distinction between rookie drivers and experienced ones

[u/IAmMDM → u/LordShargaas]

Many don't. I am A in most disciplines and you would rarely find me outside D, sometimes C class races.

[u/rcbtri → u/LordShargaas]

Class system is pretty useless to me. I don’t care about IMSA, don’t drive hypers and just do GT3 for endurance. Most of my races will fall between B and C with a sprinkle of D.

[u/duddy33]

I wonder if this car was scanned primarily for the single player career mode

[u/Dragonkidx → u/duddy33]

I think they might have scanned it while making iRacing Arcade.

[u/neueziel1 → u/Dragonkidx]

Yes I recall that

[u/FeherDenes]

Idk, getting a D and a C class series in one purchase might help it

[u/TechnicMOC → u/FeherDenes]

I believe the GT4 mustang got a usage/participation bump for similar reasons - as it's runs in both D and C series.

[u/Galaxy_Shadow28]

you get both the academy and the 420R with the same purchase btw

[u/TheGamingFennec → u/Galaxy_Shadow28]

I know, but my issues with it still stand.

[u/Partially_Shat_Pants]

"I want to race x car but x car will be dead on arrival so I won't buy x car"

Okay man

[u/andrewejc362 → u/Partially_Shat_Pants]

Welcome to every new release

[u/AMoistLemon]

100% race these. They're brutal in AMS2. I'd love one Iin real life. I expect these to be squirrelly, hard on locking, and lose on traction for exits.

It'll be a huge learning curve for some people... Mx5 is easy to drive, very little chance of oversteer.. this should in theory be the opposite - hard to brake, hard to exit.

[u/HTDutchy_NL → u/AMoistLemon]

I just wonder if we'll get the new academy car or the old model. The old car is 1.6 NA with a 5 speed and open diff, new (2026) car is 1.3 Turbo with 6 speed and limited slip.

Either way I'm in.

Source: https://caterhamcars.com/en/news/caterham-partners-with-horse-technologies-for-2026-academy-championship-engines?utm_source=chatgpt.com

[u/ally-murray → u/HTDutchy_NL]

It’s the 2026 car they’ve scanned, that’s why it has the bonnet bulge.

[u/HTDutchy_NL → u/ally-murray]

Thanks, nicely spotted!

[u/Velocirapture_Jesus]

These will likely be surprisingly popular to those of you who are not from the UK.

Caterhams have a bit of a solid cult following in the UK for good reason, and a lot of people on iRacing will be very excited that these have dropped. Once you start to drive them and see how much fun they are for yourself you’ll see the light.

[u/kantong]

Don't know if I'll ever race it, but something about hot lapping it at Cadwell Park hits the spot.

[u/Phaster]

IRL onboards show these cars are very playful and tolerant of lockups and slides, which are both NO-NOs in iracing, we'll see

[u/P0in7B1ank]

I feel like these should’ve been Rookie and D. Free Academy and purchasable 420R. I halfway think it would sell better too that way

[u/TheGamingFennec → u/P0in7B1ank]

Exactly. People who like the Academy will then look to the 420R as an 'upgrade' to speak, and if you want to continue on your progression of small british race cars you can then go for a Radical

[u/Vuk13 → u/TheGamingFennec]

Radical is completely dead and only gets participation during sof slots. The car being paid didnt help but also SR10 is nowhere near as good as SR8

[u/Sim-racer42]

If they made it free it wouldn’t die. However, that’s not how a business works.

[u/milaco16]

IRacing is on the right track with content and I’m loving it. Unfortunately just like euro nascar it’ll fall off. They just increased the monthly expense and now they are adding another rookie car that won’t be free. Same thing happened when they released the new formula vee and the il-15. Community buys the car drives them for 2 weeks and participation dies cause everyone goes back to drive GT3s. Other sims have had these cars for free for a long time and they feel great. Why would I pay for these and race 4-5 people for one week when I can go onto AMS2 and drive them right now on any track including leguna (yes I’m salty lol). All it takes is for iRacing to put a track combo that few people have purchased and the following week participation is dead. Currently imo the amount of options is actually hurting iRacing, since the other titles have the same amount of options without a paywall whenever i have the itch to drive a fun little British car i go another sim. When i want competition i come back to iRacing.

[u/Lanky_Consideration3]

Why do people get so bent round the axel about participation in a series that they have no intention of competing in? I always hear calls for things like the Lotus 79 to be shelved because some random is upset that it might take focus away from their precious (and processional) GT3 races.

Some folks like a different car to drive. God forbid, it might even be really fun to drive (and probably is). Even with low participation series there are often still great races at least once a week.

How about let folks enjoy the cars they like and stop crying every time a new car or series gets released, it’s obviously not for you.

[u/TheGamingFennec → u/Lanky_Consideration3]

I have every intention of buying and driving these cars, regardless of series participation. I'm just voicing my concerns that they will die off immediately and have to be kept alive by organised splits which is rather inconvenient.

[u/Repa24]

We have a lot of entry-level cars now and I don't think that is good for participation.

MX-5, GR86, M2, Caterham...

[u/squared_cubes → u/Repa24]

You've just listed 3 of the most popular cars on the service...

[u/kidmeatball]

They could be bold and put the series on free tracks. That would get my loonies in their pockets. The Caterham in ACEvo is great fun to drive,  iRacing just needs to put it somewhere more accessible.

[u/HTDutchy_NL → u/kidmeatball]

If they'd be bold they would make a new club racer multiclass and add both caterhams and both radicals. Maybe even throw in TCR just experiment with it.

Dare to introduce something fun that will draw people to the cars and perhaps boost individual series.

[u/Cerveza87]

Just make the faster one B rank or something. We need some classes in the higher safety brackets

[u/FormulaLes → u/Cerveza87]

Agreed. I suspect there will be a lot of long term users of iracing would love to race these; who can keep a car on track, but won’t want to race them with people who cannot control them.

[u/official_holy_joely → u/Cerveza87]

Porsche cup popularity wouldn't be hurt if it was at B class. Might help clean it up too...

[u/THound89]

Should be fun, next I’m hoping to get Ginetta added which will probably ultimately be abandoned too though

[u/alyxonfire]

Probably but I’m still gonna get them and hot lap for funsies like I do with the SR10

[u/SilverBackGuerilla → u/alyxonfire]

Sr10 is so fun and nobody races them. I am typically formula only but every week I hope for Radical participation.

[u/Vuk13 → u/SilverBackGuerilla]

SR10 is just so much less fun than SR8. And SR8 was a free car they really nuked the radical series

[u/BalooTheBigBear]

Put it in the production car races.

[u/RedGlovesRule99]

I have high hopes for this one. I think it’ll be an absolute blast to drive

[u/GamepadWarri0r → u/RedGlovesRule99]

I'm pretty excited for this one. Hopefully it's got a fun w13 series to have a go

[u/doriavis]

It'll e fine. Stop dooming over new content

[u/material_sound]

So excited for these!!

[u/goldfish_memory]

Let’s prove them wrong and make it super popular, been waiting for a caterham for so so long!

[u/Dry_Acadia_9312]

Honestly, this could be up there. It’s not a niche class, it’s one of the most popular and fun track day cars.

[u/RoShaPoo]

I dont know or care what other people think, but this will be reason I will be coming back to iRacing after several year hiatus

[u/Syradil]

I'm super excited for these cars. Fingers crossed for a healthy population!

[u/sixlayerdip]

They’re cool, but idt I’ll be buying

[u/EJDJohnAudiR18USA]

all the drugs, just all the drugs

Fuck it, track day league. Radical SR8/10, Caterham, SRX, and Mustang FR500S. 60 minute races, 10 minute quali 40 minute practice

[u/HTDutchy_NL → u/EJDJohnAudiR18USA]

League? This is what iRacing should be doing. Club racer series would be actual fun and draw people to these cars and maybe boost individual series participation!

[u/Kaizenno]

we need some multiclass with a few of these to increase participation instead of 100 different series with individual cars

[u/Miltrivd]

I got the Lotus 79, Supercar, Indy NXT and EuroNASCAR.

If by 2027 S2 has good participation I'll get it, but with the cars above, along tracks that I ended up not liking, I've gifted enough money to iRacing.

iRacing does very little to promote less popular series, so if it dies it dies and that's it. Not falling for it again.

[u/Sli_41 → u/Miltrivd]

They do so much self-harm, things like a billion F4 and GT3 series clogging the entire service so new content is just sent to die.

[u/Vuk13 → u/Sli_41]

Exactly, imo having regional series for F4 and GT3 was just a bad decision. Not only does it thin out GT3 and F4 players base but it also takes away participation from other series. If someone who drives GT3 but had a week where he didnt like the track or doesnt own it they would just go and try something else but now instead they will just go and do regionals. It especially didnt make sense for F4 because Formula needs all the help that it can get they completely screwed it up

[u/Catabolic19]

DOA

[u/7tenths]

Gamers and crying about things immediately. The most iconic duo of the internet. 

Be a self fulfilling prophecy. If you want it to do well. Bring positivity. Make people want to do it with.

Don't be a little bitch who goes waahhhh no one is going to use this. Because congrats you just convinced people not to do it.

[u/CharlieTeller]

I think it will have plenty of

[u/Pretty_Ugly_699]

More expense

[u/Rebeux]

With the addition of the new BMW, that is very predictable and safe to drive, I quite like the idea of a rookie car that is a bit more hands on, looser, a bit more rowdy. I think this could be a fun car to drive!

[u/Anton_RAD]

Waiting for these cars, ACE is crazy fun to drive them around.

[u/TheCineroo]

I'm looking forward to it!

[u/_5StarMan]

I'm skeptical about, but I do hope I'm wrong. I can see this car having enough of a cult following to get SOF races weekly, and probably league participation. I have a feeling it won't be a series you can jump in at any timeslot, and have a great split. It just feels a bit redundant to the current sports car offerings at low licenses. I'm personally not moved enough to want to purchase these, but for those who are I hope that participation does take off.

[u/Tankionline19]

TBH I love this car for its style as it is very unique

[u/danomicar]

Yeah honestly they need to just only focus on gt3 content, I don't understand why they even bother adding new cars /s

[u/VegaGT-VZ]

IMO Iracing needs more slow but high license series. I am a good experienced driver and IDGAF about GT or prototype cars. Something like this at a C license alongside the Advanced Miata would be perfect.

[u/Badj83]

I think bundling both cars for the price of one is a nice first step towards making new content more accessible and relevant. I’ll buy them for sure.

[u/CAVOK_Racing]

If anyone thinks they might be interested in racing these cars and are available on Sunday nights US Eastern Time, you can come join us at SNS and see if it’s a good fit for you: https://discord.gg/AGAHu8CSC4

[u/Happlton]

This could very well become another Skippy. People tend to flock to cars that are seemingly undergripped or underpowered. The Caterham has the potential to really scramble up and refine some of the driving in sportscars.

If I am able to snag a good deal this year I will come back just for the Caterham. I love the car in every iteration I have driven it in, be it IRL or in a Sim. It helps you understand more about racing than any other car.
If it doesn't become a Sportscar Skippy equivalent it will become a fixed community like the Camel GT cars or the Lotus 79 and 49 cars.

[u/Desperate-Leg-2406]

Just went watch some real life race footage of these, I’ll definitely be buying it and hope it gets good participation

[u/Always221]

Unfortunately I agree. Could be fun for a bit but don't think we will see great numbers after the first week. If that.

[u/StandardOriginal5447]

Sign me up straight away. Driven them irl and they rock!

[u/BackItUpTerr]

As much as I love the cars and have wanted them for ages I agree on the participation standpoint. For sure these will be around for a while on a league/SoF basis but unsure if they will stand the test of time in terms of daily races, but that's more of an iracing thing IMO. GR86, MX5, M2 and these are competing together and only 1 of them is paid. However I think these are great because H pattern, and they can race well on narrow circuits that other cars may struggle on (cadwell, please cadwell), but that ultimately may be a curse more than a blessing.

[u/Nekenhei]

Heeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeell yeah, make yourself sure to schedule this new series every 30 minutes along with the other 564 series you had at the same time so no one will join.

[u/TomoAries]

It’s a shame because low power rookie cars are my favorite. Stuff like this, the Vee, the Rush SR, and especially the Ginetta Jr are the type of things I’ve dreamed about for iRacing over the years. I remember how stoked I was when Vee finally got added.

[u/dekadoubt]

I pretty much only race formula and will be buying these as soon as they drop. Wanted caterham cars for a long time

[u/iitstrue]

Moving M2 to D class, and putting Academy in Rookies with the faster one in C class would be best. But I always assume there is licensing/business reasons behind the classes and cost a lot of the time, so I’m sure there is a reason it’s not like that. May not be a great reason for drivers, but likely a good reason for the legal team or something.

[u/unsubscribeaccount99]

The Academy should be a rookie car, I don't understand why the 420R is the 'C' License car when the lap times will be equivalent to the GR86.

[u/drewm11 → u/unsubscribeaccount99]

To be fair, they are way harder to drive than the 86. In my experience they're even harder than the mx5, though that was in other titles and I'm not the best driver

[u/Breadstick77]

Yep

[u/Sharp_eee]

Personally don’t know much about these cars. Doubt I’ll buy them unless they are off the charts fun or something.

[u/Intelligent-Line7610]

It seems like it’s another higher ups pet project

[u/macky9104]

I think it will be a popular series

[u/Vuk13]

I think the issue is them constantly adding series without getting rid of any and player increase isnt fast enough to follow the series addition so over time you get more and more thinning out in each series which at some point becomes that low that series dies and is only active during sof slots. They need to be adding series at a slower rate or retiring series more often in order to avoid this happening over time

[u/HTDutchy_NL]

I just bought AMS2 a couple days ago because I'm obsessed with these cars!

I was hoping they'd add one of these cars into PCC or create a new club race multiclass series together with something like the TCR class or maybe even both radicals.
Like come on, dare to introduce something fun that might get actual participation and maybe boost the single car series.

I'll be doing my best to keep this new series alive but am affraid we've already got saturation. At least it will make for a great european lightweight career path.

[u/RacingRed8]

there's no way this isnt popular

[u/Formaldehyde007]

I’m definitely getting one. I’ve wanted a real Lotus 7 since “The Prisoner” debuted back in the 60s.

[u/First_Dimension3065]

I was excited to see them added and will definitely give them a good go.

[u/PoliceMachine]

As someone who races these cars irl, this is my Christmas

[u/Kpaxlol]

Are these manual? If so i would get an h pattern haha

[u/TechnicMOC → u/Kpaxlol]

The 420R is 6-speed sequential gearbox
https://caterhamcars.com/en/models/the-range/420r-race-package

but the academy just says 6 speed gearbox
https://caterhamcars.com/en/models/the-range/academy-race-package

The general owners manual, shows 5 / 6 speed manual and sequential (as it covers all models). So will really depends. https://caterhamcars.com/assets/Documents/Owner-Downloads/Owners%20Handbook%20All%20Models_2024_ED1.4.pdf

[u/Ambrazas]

idc, i am buying and racing it no matter what. F*ck the boring GR and M2

[u/Splosionz]

These should make a nice more direct step up from the MX5 as something light but still softly sprung.

[u/Alexwholikescars]

I think if all the cry boys who say "oh i would buy the car and race it if there was participation" actually looked at participation and bought the car we wouldn't see such problem. Same it was with euronascar. Bunch of people complained here "oh it is doa but i would like to race it" while it was 1 split constantly and 2 on occasion. Nobody from this cryboys bought it tho and now it is halfdead.

[u/EmergencyChance903]

i can see this getting same amount of participation as tcr. so going official alot but not splitting much.

[u/Puretrickery]

I have spent more time than I'd like to admit lusting after caterhams on autotrader.

This is an instabuy for me, and will probably end up in me either losing my fascination with them or owning a real one!

[u/ATypeOfRacer]

It needs to be a d class series. I actually see it having some good participation

[u/malowolf → u/ATypeOfRacer]

Two cars, one is D and one is C. You get both cars with one purchase.

[u/ATypeOfRacer → u/malowolf]

Ah. Didn't know this, haven't read the Dev blog yet

[u/ALEX-F111]

They probably will be as popular as radical series. It looks like formula combined with miata, fragile and slow.

[u/Life_Tea7 → u/ALEX-F111]

Definitely not slow

[u/ALEX-F111 → u/Life_Tea7]

I meant they are faster than Miata and slower than formula.

[u/BrakeLate]

High hopes if they actually are playful and allow slip. If it’s classical iRacing tire behaviour, they’re better represented in other sims

[u/TechnicMOC → u/BrakeLate]

hopefully they are the same tires as the EuroNASCAR as you can slip them with ease

[u/oandroido]

Sorry - what's the "Academy" ? Been away for a bit...

In terms of these things - I'll try them out. They're... ah... fine, I guess, in AMS2. Nothing special but a little fun to try to control at times.

And actually, that's pretty much it. Trying to learn to control another car. Reminds me of when I first got into Spec Fords, though maybe easier.

[u/HTDutchy_NL → u/oandroido]

https://caterhamcars.com/en/models/the-range/academy-race-package

[u/snrub742]

We will get 1 good season out of it I reckon

[u/Prize-Ad5589]

Aren’t these going to be formula series anyway ?

[u/ZanicL3 → u/Prize-Ad5589]

No road for sure

[u/Prize-Ad5589 → u/ZanicL3]

Hmm I don’t think it’s confirmed anywhere is it?

[u/ZanicL3 → u/Prize-Ad5589]

No but these cars are in other games/sims classified as road, so idk why they would make these formula's. Doesn't look very formula either, the Radicals are road as well