What a paint file actually is
An iRacing livery is a texture file wrapped around the car's 3D model. In practice that means a flat image mapped onto bodywork that curves in three directions, so every stripe, number and sponsor logo has to be placed knowing where it will land on the doors, the nose and the rear wing.
Layered paint files keep those decisions separate: the base colour sits on one layer, graphics on another, number and name plates on others. That is what makes a livery editable later — a team can change a colour or a driver's name without repainting the whole car, and a template buyer can recolour a design in an evening.
How a commission runs
It starts with a brief: the car, the series it runs in, colours you like, sponsors that must appear and anything you want the livery to feel like. A plan and a price come back first, so nothing is being designed on guesswork.
The first pass blocks the layout across the whole car rather than polishing one angle. From there the details get tuned together — stripe geometry, plate placement, finishes, shading — and the finished package is delivered as paint files with a short install walkthrough.
Template or commission
A template is a design already built for one car class and sold as an editable file. It is the faster and cheaper option when you want a strong look and are happy to swap numbers, names and colours yourself.
A commission is for anything the template cannot cover: a bespoke layout, a specific sponsor arrangement, a team identity across several cars, or a livery built around an idea you have not seen anywhere. Most team and league work falls here, because matching cars and individual driver plates need designing as a set.
Getting it on track
Delivered files drop straight into the game's paint folder. Racing on Trading Paints, the livery is uploaded once and loads automatically for anyone in the session, which is why most drivers take a personal profile link with the files.
Finishes matter as much as the design: matte, gloss, chrome and metallic surfaces all live in the same texture, and getting them right is what stops a livery looking flat under floodlights. That is part of the build, not an extra.