You can run an iRacing HUD with Horizon Labs alone, with no SimHub and no plugin. iRacing publishes its telemetry in shared memory on its own, so there is nothing to switch on in the game. Select iRacing in Horizon Labs, start a session, and the HUD goes live once you are in the car.
Setup
- Start Horizon Labs and open the Connection section of the settings.
- Choose iRacing under Game. The hint reads “nothing to enable in game”, and the IP and port fields are greyed out: there is no network connection to configure.
- Run iRacing windowed or borderless if you want the HUD drawn on screen. Exclusive fullscreen can hide an overlay. This does not apply to the OBS browser source.
- Drive. Load into a session and get in the car. Horizon Labs reads iRacing’s telemetry interface and draws the HUD.
Start order does not matter. iRacing creates its shared memory only while it runs, and Horizon Labs retries about once a second until it appears. If you close iRacing, the HUD can stay on its last frame until the next session.
What the HUD gets from iRacing
These are the fields Horizon Labs fills for iRacing, grouped as on the game page:
- Engine
- Speed (km/h and mph), RPM, rev limit, gear, boost
- Inputs
- Throttle, brake, clutch, steering
- Race
- Lap number, current lap, last lap, best lap, position, fuel
- Dynamics
- Longitudinal, lateral and vertical g-force, pitch, roll, heading, drift angle
- Car
- Car name
Tyre temperatures are not used. iRacing only updates them while you are in the pits, so a live tyre widget would be misleading. The full list lives on the iRacing page.
These are driving-data fields from your own car. Horizon Labs does not draw a timing tower, a relative or a standings board of other drivers, and it does not read iRacing’s session or series data. See the next section.
Put it on stream with OBS
- In the Overlay settings, set Display mode to OBS (browser source), or Both.
- In OBS, add a Browser source with
http://127.0.0.1:8088/overlay/index.html. If you changed the OBS port, use that port. - Set the source to your canvas size, for example 1920×1080, and place it above your iRacing capture.
The same page works in Streamlabs, Meld Studio and TikTok LIVE Studio. The full walkthrough is Add a live telemetry HUD to OBS. Because the OBS source is rendered by OBS, iRacing’s window mode does not affect it.
Design your own
The HUD is not a fixed set of overlays. The Horizon Labs Designer is included, with ready-made HUDs filtered by game and a vector editor where you bind any layer to a field iRacing sends. Check which fields your game sends before you bind. Fields iRacing does not provide are flagged in the editor.
In practice, many iRacing drivers end up with two things: a data-heavy overlay for the racing information, and a clean HUD for the car. Horizon Labs is built for the second. If you stream, you can combine them in OBS as separate sources, each with its own layer order, though this page has not tested a specific pairing.
When SimHub, RaceLab or iOverlay still make sense
Horizon Labs is a driver HUD and a design tool. For some iRacing needs, other tools are built for the job. Each of these facts comes from the product’s own page.
- You want standings, a relative or a series overlay. RaceLab is built around competitive sims. Its page lists 33 overlays for iRacing, including Relative, Standings, Delta, Radar and Fuel Calculator. Its Pro tier adds VR and an iRacing Series module. Basic is free.
- You only race iRacing and want iRacing-specific overlays. iOverlay focuses on iRacing, with a free tier and a Pro subscription.
- You drive hardware. SimHub is a broad hub for dashboards, shakers, LEDs and motion rigs, and has its own dashboard editor and community library.
- You race in VR. RaceLab lists a VR mode in its Pro tier. The Horizon Labs pages describe an on-screen overlay and an OBS source, not a VR display.
Horizon Labs fits if you want a HUD that looks the way you draw it, you play other games too (it covers 36 games for one one-time price), or you prefer no subscription. Horizon Labs is the author’s own product; the points above are the criteria that matter for iRacing.
Choosing what to show
Because the HUD draws your own car, it suits a clean driver view rather than a data wall. A layout that works for most iRacing sessions uses:
- Gear, speed and RPM with a shift indicator, large and centred or low on the screen.
- Throttle, brake and clutch traces, which also read well on stream.
- Current, last and best lap and your position, so you can see pace without leaving the car view.
- Fuel level, for stints where you manage fuel.
- G-force and drift angle, if you like to see how the car is moving.
Horizon Labs works on 16:9, 21:9 and 32:9 screens, and the OBS canvas option lets you match 1080p, 1440p, 4K, ultrawide or 32:9 streams.
Check that data is arriving
The Connection section has a Live status block with the last packet time and packet count, and Diagnostics lists the telemetry state. Get in the car and roll forward: if those move, Horizon Labs reads iRacing. If the HUD on screen or in OBS still looks empty after that, the issue is in the overlay or the browser source, not in iRacing.
A fair side-by-side
All of these figures come from the products’ own pages, as summarised on our compare pages. Horizon Labs is the author’s own product, and it is judged here on the same points as the others.
| Tool | Focus | Price | Stream |
|---|---|---|---|
| Horizon Labs | Own-car HUD, vector editor, 36 games | Pay what you want from €4.99, one-time | Browser source |
| RaceLab | Competitive sims: standings, relative, 33 overlays | Basic free; Pro €49.90 per year | Overlays work as browser sources |
| iOverlay | iRacing only | Free tier; Pro subscription | Streamer garage cover and Twitch chat integration |
| SimHub | Hardware, dashboards, motion | Free version; licence pay-what-you-want from €8 | Not stated on the pages checked |
Troubleshooting
- The HUD does not move. Check that the Game selector says iRacing. Then be in the car: while in menus the HUD holds its last frame.
- It works in OBS but not on screen. Switch iRacing to windowed or borderless, or use OBS mode only.
- The browser source is blank. Open the URL in a normal browser. If it loads there, refresh the source in OBS. If not, check that Horizon Labs is running and the port matches.
Good to know
Horizon Labs only reads the telemetry iRacing publishes. It does not inject into the game or edit its files. iRacing’s own terms still apply, so check them before you use any overlay in a competitive environment.
Sources: RaceLab, iOverlay, SimHub. Checked 2 November 2026.