The 2023 iRacing Stats Show Some Impressive Numbers

With a total of 501,657,697 laps completed over the last 12 months, and 1,565,866 total events, the 2023 iRacing stats show some impressive numbers.

Posted with a couple of days left in the year, there are some interesting insights from the figures shared by iRacing, including the number of unique drivers, and the proportion of ranked events versus those hosted by members.

iRacing 2023 End of Year Stats:

• Unique Drivers 297,749
• Total Drivers: 23,006,502
• Ranked Events: 979,277
• Unranked Events: 122,280
• Hosted Events: 464,309
• Total Events: 1,565,866
• Laps Completed 501,657,697
• Miles Raced: 918,900,308.57
• Hours Raced: 8,742,127.69

Obviously the number of unique drivers doesn’t mean active subscribers, as some people may have not used their membership all year, and others may have only paid for a month of sim racing during 2023. But hypothetically, at full price for a year, you’d be looking at $32,752,390 if all of those people had signed up for 12 months (and that’s without any additional car or track purchases etc).

The real figure for membership revenue is likely to be a fair bit lower, especially with regular half-price sales and people letting their subscription lapse. But it does show that iRacing has a sustainable long-term business model despite the fact the total number of drivers is much less than popular mainstream games (especially current free-to-play shooters etc). And why it can afford studio and licence acquisitions, along with experimenting with releasing a first console game.

Another interesting stat which stands out is that there have been 1,565,866 events throughout 2023, and around a third have been hosted race meetings (464,309). Ranked official events will always be the main option for racing, but it shows how important league racing and one-off hosted events are. Again, this doesn’t reveal the typical participation levels, just that the events have taken place. But it would be fascinating to know which private leagues are the most popular for sim racers, especially after racing a fourth season of a Jetta Cup – which had around 30 drivers each week in a car effectively retired from official events.

And lastly, it’s good to know the total number of drivers when thinking about iRating, and how you rank against everyone else. Given the reputation of iRacing as the most competitive, and potentially most expensive, sim racing service (although the second point is debatable), you’re competing against 300,000 of the most committed (if not quickest) sim racers in the world whenever you take part.

You can sign up to iRacing, here (and credit your referral to ORD, which we’d appreciate!). And see all vehicles included in your basic subscription, or what you can access by paying more, in our full official iRacing car list, here.

Or check out all of the included circuits, and the others you can buy, in our full official iRacing track list, here. And keep up with all the latest iRacing news, updates and eSports, here.