Le Mans Ultimate Gameplay Footage Highlights Monza, New Hypercar Sounds

Ferrari 499P Le Mans Ultimate Gameplay Footage.jpg
You wait months for Le Mans Ultimate updates, then two along at once...

A day on from unveiling the Ferrari 499P with a rendering, the first formal gameplay footage has been released using the Le Mans-winning car for Le Mans Ultimate.


Images: Le Mans Ultimate

As a rFactor 2 derivation, you would be forgiving for thinking Le Mans Ultimate would look and sound identical to the over-a-decade-old driving simulation. Perhaps now, though, we’re starting to see some noticeable differences as we near the new title’s release date.

So far, shiny screenshots have looked promising. But apart from a public test at this year’s 24 Hours of Le Mans event and a tiny teaser of cars moving on track for the release date announcement, little to no gameplay footage has been available.

That changes today, 21st December 2023, with an onboard lap around Monza with the Ferrari 499P following the car’s unveiling yesterday. You can watch it embedded below.


In action, we can see a refreshed Monza (when compared to rFactor 2), with updated signage such as the WEC digital display above the pitlane entry and what appears to be enhanced lighting effects.

The car’s interior, while masked slightly by a shallow depth of field effect, looks to be extremely detailed. Cables adorn the A-pillar, the carbon fibre weave of the dashboard is noticeable and the steering wheel display rate to the real-world device.

The main takeaway must be the sound, the 120° turbocharged V6 snarling up the rev range accompanied by the electrical hybrid whine – the latter especially noticeable under braking during which the system recoups energy. Unless we’re very much mistaken, it’s analogous to listening to an onboard from the 2023 season. Uncanny.

Ferrari 499P Le Mans Ultimate Gameplay Footage RD.jpg


On the flip side, while gameplay at last is a positive sign of life – plus the accompanying stills of the Prancing Horse on track – we must also note what’s missing to date. Notably, there’s no sign of an in-sim HUD (although one was seen at the Le Mans event) or trackside camera angles and footage so far is bereft of any on-track opponents battling.

Moving images of vehicles using the new-build tracks not carried over from prior platforms – Portimão’s Algarve International Circuit and Fuji Speedway – must also wait for another time, evidently.

Le Mans Ultimate Ferrari 499P Monza Gameplay


While the media has not yet driven Le Mans Ultimate in its current build, it’s set to carry across and build upon rFactor 2’s tyre model, plus add in an asynchronous car-sharing multiplayer mode. We’d be staggered if Motorsport Games’ RaceControl online ranking system wasn’t involved, either.

Let’s hope that we see more from Le Mans Ultimate in the new year, and third parties get to go hands-on before its 20th February 2024 release date.

What do you make of the Le Mans Ultimate gameplay footage? Let us know in the comments below.
About author
Thomas Harrison-Lord
A freelance sim racing, motorsport and automotive journalist. Credits include Autosport Magazine, Motorsport.com, RaceDepartment, OverTake, Traxion and TheSixthAxis.

Comments

*remembers.the.good.old.times.when.there.were.playable.demos.prior.to.release* :roflmao:
I a
which cars/tracks are expected which aren't in RF2?
Fuji & Portimao. All the 2023 Hypercars. The game starts with the 2023 season, so all the tracks from the WEC schedule, plus Le Mans. All are fresh scans, the style is undoubtedly rF2, but they are all new tracks. The cars also from 2023, so we get all the GTE's in their last glorious ride. We Get the LMP2 & Hypercars which includes Toyota, Glickenhaus, Porsche, Ferrari, Caddillac, Peugeot(best livery) & Vanwall. Again, the cars are not ports from rF2. Same teams built them, but they are all new.
Later DLC will be available for the new teams in 2024 like Lamborghini, BMW & Issotta Fraschini. Also new tracks, and the entirely new for WEC, the LMGT3 field.
Technically we already have all the tracks, but Fuji & Portimao & Imola & Qatar & COTA & Sao Paulo are 3rd party conversions. And the scans for some tracks like Lemans and Sebring are getting dated. Same goes for some of the Hypercars, we have mods for Porsche & Ferrari & the Glick, plus an official Vanwall but the LMU cars will all be new from the ground up.
We are also assuming the Hypercars that use Hybrid will have more features than the mod cars currently available.
 
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English is native to me (despite being Welsh!) and "hype" means going OTT with promoting something. and "hyped" is VERY exited about something. So I'd say several notches up from "looking forward to something". No idea if others think the same.
Listening to Welsh is like trying to hear Tolkien's ancient Elvish. Whut????
 
Looks like graphics are much better than rF2... Good news
Now I have rF2 unistalled, and I didn't buy the latest content since I was focused on ACC mainly, but to be honest, that out of focus steering wheel and the graphics, look really good! Not to mention the sound...
Let's hope in a step forward in the simracing world!
 
which cars/tracks are expected which aren't in RF2?
The 2023 lineup of WEC, to my understanding. So all of the hypercars, since rF2 only has the Vanwall in an official capacity. Updated versions of the relevant GTE and LMP cars with appropriate BoP would be my assumption. Most of the tracks are repeats, hopefully given a fresh coat of paint and updates. I believe there are at least one or two tracks from the WEC schedule that do not have S397 variants in rF2. I assume the 2024 lineup with new GT3 variants and the relevant hypercars won't be too far behind as DLC/patches, if it isn't in v1.0.
 
Well, if this LMU sim doesn't work out, Reiza just announced that Le Mans and three LMDh cars will be released for AMS2 this week. :):)
 
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Premium
Well, if this LMU sim doesn't work out, Reiza just announced that Le Mans and three LMDh cars will be released for AMS2 this week. :):)
Currently, above average car mods in rFactor 2 still beat AMS2 official contents easily in my opinion (driving wise).
Advanced Simulation Modding does visually high quality mods and their physics are normally quite good.
Then you have StormGangModding who make absolutely top notch mods, physics wise, using the expertise of their members, which includes a Honda America mechanical engineer who... is one of the people responsible for Honda's simulators where Pagenaud, Dixon, Herta, Grosjean (well, he not anymore), ...
And Pagenaud even practices at home in rFactor 2 using StormGangSimulation's ACURA GTP mod*.

* available for league use at ChampionshipMotorSport's discord, but soon public in the Steamworkshop. They are also working in getting them visually up to scratch, doing the Lambo GTP, ... and they made also the Acura, the Lexus, the Huracan, ... GTD
 
It's not a challenger.
It's a Lemans DLC pure and simple with no skins or names.
So you buy the sim and DLC then you still paying for coffee to get skins then name mods and ... lol
Should not need any mods ! LMU won't need mods. BIG difference.
Even rF2 BTCC DLC had skins and names.
They said they are going to spend another 2 years ( servers public in 2025 ) fixing everything in base sim that should have already been done.
With improvements over last couple years S397 has already done most of what it needs.
So it can spend more time on 2024 content and tweaking.
 
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I'm currently driving rF2, just to review what we can maybe expect in terms of LMU basically. I really hope there will be some improvements or fixes on a couple of topics which are not running really well on rF2 like ai, performance consumption, loading times, setup quirks etc. that we all can have a better experience.

I'm also comparing Monza with the Ferrari trailer currently released. If you go side by side it's impressing how similiar it looks...

What is strange on my end in rF2: I'm starting a session....doing my installation lap....so far so good. Smooth performance (120fps +). Then I pause, going back to the boxes, drive out again and I have endless stuttering. FPS drops down to 20-30fps. I pause the game....restart and back on 140 fps.
Do anybody else have this in rF2?


Back to LMU: I'm so interested in how S397 will integrate the ERS system. Which modes are there, how is the system performance calculated and is there a transfer of power between the combustion engine and e-drive? Means...when e-drive kicks in is the combustion engine limited if both performances added together would go over the performance curve the ACO has defined. So a dynamic interaction between both drives. Exciting stuff. How many days to relase? 48)
 
early access = incomplete sim, omfg you think MSG would have learnt from nascar 21. Wont be good for rf2 means s397 workers will be putting all their efforts in 2024 to finish off LMU and releasing dlc's as they have mentioned before.
 
Premium
Currently, above average car mods in rFactor 2 still beat AMS2 official contents easily in my opinion (driving wise).
Advanced Simulation Modding does visually high quality mods and their physics are normally quite good.
Then you have StormGangModding who make absolutely top notch mods, physics wise, using the expertise of their members, which includes a Honda America mechanical engineer who... is one of the people responsible for Honda's simulators where Pagenaud, Dixon, Herta, Grosjean (well, he not anymore), ...
And Pagenaud even practices at home in rFactor 2 using StormGangSimulation's ACURA GTP mod*.

* available for league use at ChampionshipMotorSport's discord, but soon public in the Steamworkshop. They are also working in getting them visually up to scratch, doing the Lambo GTP, ... and they made also the Acura, the Lexus, the Huracan, ... GTD
This used to be the case, but in my opinion , not anymore. RF2 has a few exceptional cars that are best in class, the Porsche cup, and the BTCC cars. The rest are all over the place in terms of quality and nowhere near as consistently excellent as the AMS2 roster now 1.5.5 is out. There are also some standouts in AMS2, the DTMs, the formula junior, a lot of the historic F1 stuff, the F3 now is amazing, and the new GT3 gen2s and LMDH cars are fantastic ( I think they hired a couple of the top AC modders to help out ). But that's my subjective view, not fact.
I hope LMU gets VR, once it does, I will buy it to support S397, as I've gotten a lot of joy out of RF2.
 
Just found out there is no motion code for the title, (and no VR support). I'll wait on my purchase if and when the full vision of the title is for sale. Kudos to those supporting the title through their early release purchase. If it does see the light of day as a [near] totally polished simulation it will be the influx of cash at this point to development.
 
Premium
Just found out there is no motion code for the title, (and no VR support). I'll wait on my purchase if and when the full vision of the title is for sale. Kudos to those supporting the title through their early release purchase. If it does see the light of day as a [near] totally polished simulation it will be the influx of cash at this point to development.
With "motion code"? do you mean for motion rigs? If so, you heard wrong.
SimHub is now fully compatible.
As for VR, it's possible to get it to work with a workaround, but yes, no official support yet.
 

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