Backwoods Simracer
AI Roster Builder
iRacing AI rosters from real 2026 grids, or a random multi-class field, with Trading Paints liveries.
- Build a roster below. You get a zip.
- Unzip it and double-click
Install roster.bat. It puts the roster inDocuments\iRacing\airostersand downloads the liveries. - In iRacing, create an AI race and pick the roster.
Full instructions and help below · Windows only (iRacing is too).
The full-season 2026 entry list, with each team's real livery where one's on Trading Paints.
Bigger grids are trimmed: each class keeps its share; cars without a livery go first, then the slowest.
Use your own CSV
Columns: number, driver, car, skill, age, paint_url (+ optional custom_number,
class_id), and a # name: My Series line at the top. car is the iRacing car
folder or name, paint_url a Trading Paints showroom link.
Examples.
Pick a class (its cars are spread over its models) or a single car. Slower classes get more cars. Random names and numbers, and random popular liveries.
Downloaded
- Unzip it: right-click > Extract All.
- Double-click
Install roster.batin the unzipped folder. If Windows says “Windows protected your PC”, click More info > Run anyway. - When it says Done, start iRacing and pick as the AI roster.
How to use it
- Build a roster. In the builder above, pick a series on Real grid, or add classes and car counts on Random field. Pick a style and click Build & download zip.
- Unzip it. Right-click the zip in your Downloads folder > Extract All > Extract.
- Double-click
Install roster.batin the unzipped folder. It copies the roster toDocuments\iRacing\airostersand downloads each car's livery from Trading Paints. That can take a few minutes, since liveries are big files. Wait for Done, then press any key to close the window. - Race. In iRacing, go to Race > AI Racing, create a race, and pick your roster. It's named after the series and style, e.g. IMSA 2026 Realistic.
Windows may say “Windows protected your PC” the first time, because the .bat came from the internet. Click More info > Run anyway. It's a plain text file, so you can open it in Notepad first to see what it does. It only downloads liveries from Trading Paints and writes to the roster's folder.
The options
- Real grid: the full-season 2026 entry list for a series. Skill follows the championship standings.
- Max cars: bigger grids are trimmed to this many. Each class keeps its share of the field; cars without a livery are left out first, then the slowest.
- Random field: pick classes (their cars are spread over every model in the class) or single cars, and how many of each. Slower classes get more cars by default. iRacing allows 16 car models in a session, so if the classes add up to more, a random 16 are used.
- Realistic: a spread-out field with a few mistake-prone drivers, mostly at the back, so you get the odd crash and caution.
- Chaos: everyone is over-aggressive and every fourth car is a wrecker. Good for practicing restarts and avoiding wrecks.
- Your own CSV: under Use your own CSV on Real grid. Columns:
number, driver, car, skill, age, paint_url, and a# name: My Seriesline at the top. See the series files for examples.
If something goes wrong
Some cars have plain paint instead of their livery
Trading Paints was busy or the download dropped. Double-click Install roster.bat
again. There's a copy in the roster's folder in Documents\iRacing\airosters. It
downloads only what's missing. A few real-grid cars have no livery on Trading Paints at all; they
always race in a plain iRacing paint.
It says “Couldn't find roster.json”
The .bat was opened from inside the zip. Extract the zip first (right-click > Extract All) and run it from the extracted folder.
It says iRacing's folder wasn't found
The .bat looks for Documents\iRacing, wherever Windows keeps your Documents
(including OneDrive). If it isn't there, it leaves the roster in the unzipped folder. Move that
folder into your iRacing\airosters folder yourself.
The roster doesn't show up in iRacing
Check there's a folder for it in Documents\iRacing\airosters with a
roster.json inside, then restart iRacing's AI race screen.
Updating or removing a roster
Build it again with the same name and run the new Install roster.bat; it replaces the
old one. To remove a roster, delete its folder in Documents\iRacing\airosters.
Downloaded liveries are cached in %LOCALAPPDATA%\ai-rosters\paints; delete that folder
to free the space.
Can I use it without Windows?
iRacing itself is Windows-only, and so is the installer. On another computer you can still build the zip and copy it to your racing PC.