Chat
Send chat messages and interact with iRacing’s chat system. Includes sending custom messages, triggering built-in chat macros, replying to messages, whispering a specific driver, toggling the chat window, and managing the chat window.
Select the mode from the Mode dropdown in the Property Inspector.
Send Custom Message
Section titled “Send Custom Message”Send a user-defined chat message. Supports template variables — for example, Going {{Speed}} mph resolves the current speed at send time. Multiline input is supported in the Property Inspector for easier editing, but newlines collapse into spaces when the message is sent (iRacing chat is single-line).
Details
Section titled “Details”- Method: iRacing API
- Dial: No rotation support
- Default binding: No keyboard binding
- Telemetry-aware icon: Yes — when the button text or message template references live variables (e.g.,
{{Speed}}), the button re-renders whenever those variables change
Setting: Message Text
Section titled “Setting: Message Text”The text to send. Accepts template variables. Defaults to empty — configure before using this mode.
Setting: Font Size
Section titled “Setting: Font Size”Font size (5–36 px) used to render Message Text on the button. Defaults to 11. Only affects the on-button rendering, not the sent message length.
Timing
Section titled “Timing”Sending a message opens the chat window, pastes the text, presses Enter, then closes the chat window. Three waits in that pipeline are configurable under Common Settings → Chat (all default 200 ms):
- Open → Paste delay — wait after opening the chat window before pasting. Too short and the paste can land before iRacing has focused the chat input, dropping the text. (This delay is shared with Race Admin’s “Type in Chat”.)
- Paste → Enter delay — wait after pasting before pressing Enter. Too short and Enter can fire before the paste registers, sending an empty or partial message.
- Enter → Close delay — wait after pressing Enter before closing the chat window. Too short and the close can fire before iRacing has processed the message, leaving the chat window with focus after sending.
The Enter keypress is also held briefly so it isn’t dropped under load. If messages send empty, partially, or not at all — or the chat window keeps focus after you send — especially on slower machines or when a clipboard-manager app is running — raise these delays.
Chat Macro
Section titled “Chat Macro”Send one of iRacing’s 15 built-in chat macros.
Details
Section titled “Details”- Method: iRacing API
- Dial: No rotation support
- Default binding: No keyboard binding
- Telemetry-aware icon: No
Setting: Macro Number
Section titled “Setting: Macro Number”Which macro slot to fire (1–15). Defaults to 1. The macro’s text is defined inside iRacing, not in the Property Inspector.
Setting: Font Size
Section titled “Setting: Font Size”Font size (5–36 px) used on the button. Defaults to 11. For macro mode, this only applies when a custom Key Text is set — the default “Macro + number” layout uses fixed font sizes.
Reply to the most recent chat message using iRacing’s reply command.
Details
Section titled “Details”- Method: iRacing API
- Dial: No rotation support
- Default binding: No keyboard binding
- Telemetry-aware icon: No
Settings
Section titled “Settings”- No additional settings
Whisper
Section titled “Whisper”Send a private whisper to a specific driver. Whisper has no SDK command in iRacing, so this mode falls back to a keyboard binding.
Details
Section titled “Details”- Method: Key binding
- Dial: No rotation support
- Default binding: No default key binding — Whisper has no default iRacing hotkey, so you must configure it in both iRacing and the Property Inspector
- Telemetry-aware icon: No
Settings
Section titled “Settings”- No additional settings
Toggle Chat On/Off
Section titled “Toggle Chat On/Off”Show or hide the chat window. iRacing’s Text Chat Toggle control has no SDK command and ships with no default key, so this mode falls back to a keyboard binding.
Details
Section titled “Details”- Method: Key binding
- Dial: No rotation support
- Default binding: No default key binding —
Text Chat Togglehas no default iRacing hotkey, so you must bind a key in iRacing’s Options → Controls → Text Chat Toggle and the matching key in the Property Inspector - Telemetry-aware icon: No — iRacing does not expose chat-window state via telemetry, so the button cannot reflect whether chat is currently visible
Settings
Section titled “Settings”- No additional settings
Open Chat
Section titled “Open Chat”Open the chat input window without sending anything.
Details
Section titled “Details”- Method: iRacing API
- Dial: No rotation support
- Default binding: No keyboard binding
- Telemetry-aware icon: No
Settings
Section titled “Settings”- No additional settings
Cancel
Section titled “Cancel”Cancel or close the chat window.
Details
Section titled “Details”- Method: iRacing API
- Dial: No rotation support
- Default binding: No keyboard binding
- Telemetry-aware icon: No
Settings
Section titled “Settings”- No additional settings
Shared settings
Section titled “Shared settings”In addition to the mode-specific settings above, two Property Inspector settings apply to every Chat mode.
Setting: Icon Color
Section titled “Setting: Icon Color”The background color used for the chat button icon. Defaults to #4a90d9 (blue).
Setting: Key Text
Section titled “Setting: Key Text”Custom text displayed on the Stream Deck button, replacing the default icon labels. Supports two lines (use a line break to split) and template variables for live-updating button text.