Independent Claim 13 — Detailed Software / Computer-Readable-Medium Mapping
Publicly Disclosed iRacing Software Functionality Assessed Against Issued Claim 13. Claim 13 is a separate independent claim and is assessed independently according to its own issued wording. Observable software functionality and internal instruction-level implementation are distinguished throughout; no infringement conclusion is drawn.
Granted U.S. Patent —US 12,528,021 B2
View Issued Claim 13Opening claim position
Claim 13 — Non-Transitory Computer-Readable Medium
Claim 13 is directed to a non-transitory computer-readable medium storing one or more computer instructions for facilitating one or more users in virtually participating in a real-world racing event.
The instructions, when executed by one or more processors, cause those processors to perform the specified functions. The issued claim expressly requires instructions that cause processors to:
- receive a data feed from a real-world racing event;
- process that feed;
- generate a multi-dimensional virtual environment;
- substantially replicate the physical racing environment;
- create virtualized representations of each participant;
- move those representations according to the corresponding physical participant's movement;
- include one or more user avatars;
- communicate with user computer hardware;
- present the virtual environment from the user's avatar viewpoint;
- display participant representations and their movement;
- enable visualization of the racing event as time passes;
- receive and act on user instructions;
- allow the user's avatar to navigate the race path; and
- enable the user to participate and compete against the event participants.
Claim 13 is a separate independent claim and is assessed independently according to its own issued wording. It is not treated as Claim 1 in software form. The controlling text is the issued claim set of US 12,528,021 B2. Where the exact claim text is quoted, the issued wording “computer instructions” is preserved; “software” is used only as explanatory shorthand outside the claim quotation.
Why Claim 13 is different
Three Independent Claims, Three Protective Forms
Claim 1 — Method
Performance of the computer-implemented process.
Question: is the method being performed?
Claim 7 — System
Hardware and processor arrangement configured to perform the required functions.
Question: does the required hardware / processor system exist?
Claim 13 — Software / Medium
Stored computer instructions which, when executed, cause processors to perform the required functions.
Question: are stored instructions present which cause processors to perform the claimed functions?
The underlying technical architecture is closely related across the three independent claims, but the evidentiary question for Claim 13 is different: what publicly available evidence establishes the existence and functionality of stored software instructions?
Claim 13 — exact software architecture
Stored Instructions to Event-Derived Virtual Participation
Non-transitory computer-readable medium
Stored computer instructions
One or more processors execute the instructions
Receive real-world racing event data
Process event data
Generate multi-dimensional virtual environment
Represent physical environment
Create virtualized event participants
Move participants according to corresponding physical movement
Create / operate user avatar
Communicate with user hardware
Display event environment
User input / navigation
User participates and competes
This is the principal Claim 13 architecture. Each stage is a function the stored instructions must cause processors to perform, not merely a capability observable in a product.
Software-evidence discipline
Observable Functionality Is Not the Same as Stored Instruction Evidence
Public-facing software functionality may support an inference that computer instructions exist to perform that functionality. However, publicly observable behaviour does not necessarily disclose the exact internal instruction set, code structure, storage medium, processor allocation or data-flow implementation.
Observable software function
What the product publicly does.
Internal instruction-level implementation
What software instructions actually cause processors to do.
Every Claim 13 limitation below distinguishes these two levels. Where the latter is not publicly documented, no speculation is offered and the finding is recorded as Not Established From Public Disclosures. No statement is made that iRacing code performs any function; findings are framed as publicly observable functionality or first-party documentation.
Claim 13 — limitation structure
Analytical Groups 13A–13R
Limitation 13A
Non-Transitory Computer-Readable Medium
Issued claim language — verbatim
“A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing instructions”
Reproduced verbatim from the granted claim, without correction, paraphrase or reordering. Controlling text: issued claims of US 12,528,021 B2
Software architecture — analytical restatement
Software requirement
- Software instructions stored on a non-transitory computer-readable medium.
- A non-transitory medium may generally include persistent or tangible computer storage used to store executable instructions.
- No definitive claim construction beyond the issued wording is offered here; construction requires review by qualified U.S. patent counsel.
Observable software function
iRacing is distributed and operated as computer software. Public documentation establishes installation and execution of iRacing software on user computers, including installed client software, simulation files, vehicle and track content, executable programs, configuration files and stored data.
Internal instruction-level implementation
The medium and storage layout of the shipped instruction set are not publicly documented beyond installation-level description.
Evidence, source and date
iRacing publishes installation documentation describing download and installation of the simulation software and its content onto the user's computer.
iRacing SupportiRacing Support — Installing iRacingAccessed for this review August 2026
iRacing publishes system requirements for the user PC on which the software is installed and executed.
iRacing SupportiRacing Support — System RequirementsAccessed for this review August 2026
Entity / product attribution
- iRacing.com Motorsport Simulations, LLC (core iRacing service)
- User (local hardware and storage owner)
Software gap
This does not establish that the stored instructions contain the complete functionality required by Claim 13.
Technical / legal noteThe medium limitation is assessed at a general level only; the legally material question is what the stored instructions cause processors to do.
Final section position
Claim 13 — Current Public-Evidence Position
Strong public evidence exists for iRacing's software-controlled virtual environment, physical track reconstruction, user control, processor execution, hardware integration, display and competitive racing functionality.
Public evidence does not presently establish stored instructions implementing the central physical-event-feed-to-event-participant movement architecture required by Claim 13.
Complete Claim 13 correspondence is not presently established.
Commercial takeaway
The Strategic Software Opportunity
iRacing already operates a mature software platform containing many of the downstream components contemplated by the granted patent.
The principal unresolved technical bridge is whether, now or in future products, iRacing software receives a corresponding physical race-event feed and converts physical participant movement into virtual participant behaviour against which the remote user competes.
That is the strategic question the granted patent places before iRacing.
Next
Dependent Software Claims 14–18
Claim 14
User performance data
Claim 15
2D / 3D environment
Claim 16
Modifiable environmental / physical conditions
Claim 17
User-modifiable virtual equipment
Claim 18
Racing surface
These claims will be analysed as Claim 13 plus their respective additional limitations.