AC 1.7 released, and now it has an official support for custom launchers! So, no more replacing original launcher and related problems. So, I strongly recommend you to switch to a new Official starter (and, in case it tells you your AC version is obsolete, here is the latest launcher — other starters could mess up with AC updating).
Some recent changes:
New control buttons for AC 1.7
Such as ABS, traction control and MGU-K buttons.
RSR support
It could be even better if RSR devs would help with integration, but at least it works. Also, you can use this Chrome extension if you want to start races directly from browser.
Sim Racing System support
Again, same situation — SRS devs didn’t want to integrate it, so it might be buggy. Still in development, but could be used even now. And, just in case there’ll be any issues, you can always join to the race through Online tab.
Chromium plugin (“Awesomium”)
I personally like how IE works — it’s fast and smooth — but if you’re experiencing any problems with it (for example, if you don’t have IE 11 installed), you can always switch to using Chromium engine. Just go to Settings/Plugins and download it.
Improved Online section
Now CM can ping up to hundreds servers at once. Sadly, it affects accuracy, but you can choose what you prefer (accuracy or pinging speed) in Settings/Online. Also, I’ve added new sorting types and made interface more user-friendly (but, again, you can always switch to the old compact look and change sorting from context menu of the label with number of servers).
Some other improvements, such as booking or totally rearranged “Latest & Shortcuts” section (I’m going to remove it completely and replace with fixed tabs in Online and LAN sections) are coming.
Replays
Replays section was seriously updated. Now it can show what car was used, supports filtering and even sharing (only with Google Drive for now, but still).
Screenshots
This section is mosly a placeholder at the moment. I have to find a way how to render previews quickly without damaging scrolling smoothness first.