Le Mans Ultimate: How Close Can rFactor 2 Mods Get?

Le Mans Ultimate or rFactor 2 mods.jpg
With Le Mans Ultimate tracing its roots to rFactor 2, can mods bridge the gap between the two games? Here are all the RaceDepartment liveries you need to recreate a 2023 FIA WEC grid in rF2.

Image credit: Studio 397

The official World Endurance Championship game, Le Mans Ultimate is at the time of writing just one week away. But for many sportscar fans that have spent the past few decades waiting for a Le Mans racing game, that week will no doubt prove too long.

A quick scroll through RaceDepartment mods will show that several games feature content and liveries for last year’s entry list. No less so than rFactor 2, the game upon which LMU is being built. So what if we decided to recreate Le Mans Ultimate using RaceDepartment mods for rFactor 2? Well, here is a list of all the livery creations you can find for the 2023 Le Mans grid.

LMU Content for rFactor 2​

Of course, we understand that every piece of content required for the 2023 FIA WEC is not present in rF2. Filling out the Hypercar class will no doubt be a struggle full of endless Googling and quality assessment. Some models do feature on the Steam Workshop. Meanwhile, the now-deceased Vanwall Vandervell 680 released as official rF2 content in 2022.


Elsewhere, the 2023 World Endurance Championship calendar featured seven circuits, as the LMU social pages will attest. Among these, Fuji and Portimao do not feature as official content for rFactor 2. The former does feature in RaceDepartment’s mod list. However, as an old conversion from the original rFactor title, quality is unlikely to match the rest of the calendar.

In fact, Studio 397 managed to recreate in great detail Sebring, Spa, Le Mans, Monza and Bahrain for its sandbox title. These circuits sit alongside the full GTE and LMP2 list one needs to fill a 2023 grid.

Le Mans Liveries in rFactor 2​

It is this lowest class from the 2023 Le Mans grid that RaceDepartment rFactor 2 livery mods do a great job of recreating. In fact, RD user @Laurent Leceurs has put together no less than 13 liveries from the GTE class from LM 2023. In addition, @pparas48 has numerous GTE liveries to help fill the field further, notably a Ferrari GTE collection. Together, these two painters give the community 10 full-season 2023 WEC liveries and four more present at the 24 Hours.

Unfortunately, the LMP2 class for 2023 is somewhat lacking. However, the 2022 ELMS class is very strong, with several cars fitting either season. Liveries for United Autosport, Inter Europol and PREMA come from @José Mª. Adding to this healthy collection comes RD user @Ned with a Jota LMP2 livery. Whilst inaccurate to the 2023 season, it is nice to see the infamous endurance racing team in rF2.

rFactor 2 GTE cars.jpg

GTE cars in rF2 have many 2023 liveries. Image credit: Studio 397

Going back to Laurent Leceurs, they have also given the community a number of liveries for the Hypercar class. Using a trio of mods found on the rF2 Steam Workshop, every Porsche, Ferrari and Glickenhaus livery from 2023 is available. Far from the correct model, pparas has painted the Cadillac DPI-VR in Hypercar colours.

Is rFactor 2 a LMU Replacement?​

Having scrolled through the many rFactor 2 mods available on RaceDepartment, it is fair to say that Le Mans Ultimate certainly has its place on the market. The standard Studio 397 game does not currently feature enough accurate liveries to rival the official release. Bringing every car and livery from the 2023 WEC season, including Le Mans-specific colours, LMU definitely out-does rF2.

However, as a stop gap for the next week or so, rFactor 2 is certainly a serviceable Le Mans simulator. In addition, those with a passion for VR immersion will have to make do with mod collections until the official game gains support.

What Le Mans car and livery mods do you use for rFactor 2? Tell us on Twitter at @OverTake_gg or in the comments down below!
About author
Angus Martin
Motorsport gets my blood pumping more than anything else. Be it physical or virtual, I'm down to bang doors.

Comments

Let's talk about the elephant in the room: in some weeks the content of LMU is going to be ripped and available. It is up to the devs to add features to the game engine that Rfactor 2 can't replicate or rip off.
 
Let's talk about the elephant in the room: in some weeks the content of LMU is going to be ripped and available. It is up to the devs to add features to the game engine that Rfactor 2 can't replicate or rip off.
honestly I will never use the crappy conversion ripped for Assetto, when I have LMU physics....in fact I never use Assetto ;)
 
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Depends. ACC isn't as open as AC. What if LMU isn't locked down like ACC but still open like RF2? Then think that LMU comes with some under the hood improvements that RF2 never gets. Then everybody has a reason to bring mods to LMU. That increases adoption and revenue and for MSG there's no looking back.

It also solves the problem of the baggage of the name rFactor 2 which, I hate to say it because I like rF2, may be irreparable at this point.

I think this is MSG's way of launching rFactor 3 that we've all been asking for.
Don't get me wrong. I think S397 would have a killer game up their sleeve if they keep LMU as open as rF2. They've said that modding isn't supported but to not support something isn't the same as actively blocking it. We will see how it pans out, but I suspect there will be people trying to get content from rF2 into LMU or vice versa not long after release. One thing that is also important to note in that regard is that the driver ranking is crossplatform. Wich means that they still have the option to use rF2 for everything that isn't tied to the ACO license. Though I see it more in that way that they might try to follow the Simbin approach with the Race series and basicly release different games using the same platform, if LMU is a success.
 
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Premium
if we import all the LMU content into rF2, like the project cars 2 content into AMS2, bye bye LMU for the offline players.
rFactor 2 does not support (yet?) the hybrid powertrains used by LMH/LMDh nor the brake migration system, both of which will be featured in LMU.

I believe that if LMU is a success, further down the road, rF2 will receive more functionalities on that end.

Reportedly the real road system and the tyres are much improved too with tyre temperature reacting dramatically to adverse conditions (wet tyres in a dry track will burn and slicks in a wet track will go stone cold) and the track evolution and wet line also being improved.

rFactor 2 will never lose value for me. Today I drove the 992 Cup and the M4 Class 1 and both felt thrilling and worthwhile coming back for.

If we add to that a large batch of excellent mods being done and trialed, there will always be plenty to yearn for in rF2.
 
rFactor 2 does not support (yet?) the hybrid powertrains used by LMH/LMDh nor the brake migration system, both of which will be featured in LMU.

I believe that if LMU is a success, further down the road, rF2 will receive more functionalities on that end.

Reportedly the real road system and the tyres are much improved too with tyre temperature reacting dramatically to adverse conditions (wet tyres in a dry track will burn and slicks in a wet track will go stone cold) and the track evolution and wet line also being improved.

rFactor 2 will never lose value for me. Today I drove the 992 Cup and the M4 Class 1 and both felt thrilling and worthwhile coming back for.

If we add to that a large batch of excellent mods being done and trialed, there will always be plenty to yearn for in rF2.
yeah, the 992, BTCC or any official paid DLC destroy any game.
 
We don't know if there are any core changes to the Le Mans game compared to Factor 2 so this question is impossible to answer.

If there are underlying/core changes to any aspect of the LM game - such as to the gfx engine, sound engine, physics engine, etc. - then that can't be replicated in RF2 identically. If there are no core changes compared to RF2, then - technically speaking - it can all be replicated 1:1 identically.
 
Premium
I'm still trying to get to the bottom of the wide range of AI opinions with rF2. Like most sims, it can vary from car to car and track to track, along with skill and aggression settings. With official cars and tracks, rF2 AI consistently impresses me more than most. Certainly far more than AC and when it comes to believable and varying behavior, more than ACC. AMS2 is really ramping up their AI quality in recent months, but I still find rF2 AI to be more impressive on average. Whether it's covering off inside lines intelligently, putting pressure on me, effectively navigating multiclass traffic or occasionally screwing up in mostly believable ways...I've never had a terrible impression of it. The few times I've taken to the time to set up the "AI learning" behavior and allowed the AI to actively learn through solo practice sessions, it's gotten even more impressive on those tracks.

Is your underwhelming impression of rF2 AI based on official content, modded content, a mix? Genuinely curious about where the difference lies.
I've not had great experiences with the RF2 AI, even on BTCC content. But to be far its been a while since I tried it as AMS2 and AC have sucked up all my time recently.
 
I don't like the "star lighting" at all. It's way overdone.

For the rest the screenshots/video's look quite promising.
its actually if anything underdone.
if you look at tv camera footage from these races under dusk or night conditions you will see that if a car is filmed dead on almost, you cant see anything but this "star lighting",
 
its actually if anything underdone.
if you look at tv camera footage from these races under dusk or night conditions you will see that if a car is filmed dead on almost, you cant see anything but this "star lighting",

So it would really depend on how it's implemented in other views. For broadcast camera views yes. But we don't have cameras as eyes, so the effect should be different. No idea how it realistically looks irl through a visor and windscreen though :) (or hood/bumper view, etc.)
 
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We don't know if there are any core changes to the Le Mans game compared to Factor 2 so this question is impossible to answer.

If there are underlying/core changes to any aspect of the LM game - such as to the gfx engine, sound engine, physics engine, etc. - then that can't be replicated in RF2 identically. If there are no core changes compared to RF2, then - technically speaking - it can all be replicated 1:1 identically.
Well i have seen quite some very familiar objects. Look at the marshals (safetyworker and corner worker) they have identical animations, still checking their watch every 5 seconds.
 
Is rFactor 2 a LMU Replacement?
I wonder how many people get it yet

LMU is an rFactor 2 replacement

Well....I don't see it that dramatic but at least one lobe of the lung is disposed. rF2 became more popular after S397 has taken over it mainly due to the endurance content all around the WEC and Le Mans events etc. Actually it was also the reason for me to choose rF2 as my go-to-sim some years back beside physics and ffb.

From my point of view the question is if it still makes sense to keep rF2 alive with developments and progress from the dev sides or if time has come to establish a new game after rF2 with a lot of significant improvements (can call it rF3 perhaps). The title is more than old and many things seem to be very complicated and it's likely that there will be not much of a change in playerstats anymore. Or devs are continuing use it as a test sim while working on LMU and perhaps something else in future.
 
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Premium
I love mods, but have to be honest.
It sucked to much time in my simracing Journey for the last 25 years !
I can not even remember how much tome it costed me and how many thousands mods i have downloaded for many many simulations.

I have to admit i prefer now sims like ACC, closed to mods and with quality dlc. I can more drive , less download and install (of course, not really possible with AC , automobilista, rfactor 2 always on my hard disks !!)

It would maybe be good for LMU to follow this path, because all S397 content has always been of good quality.
I can not choose what is the best.
 
RF2, being a sand box, like RF1 before it, if history teach us some thing, can be made to do almost anything. Can it match LMU offering? Off course. It is a question of when not if. It all depends on the determination and talent of the modding community.
It seems to me that RF2 is harder to mod, than RF1 or AC, but still do able.
The question is more, why bother when S397, as already done all the work, on RF2 platform, If LMU does not have any fatal flaws?
In the largest scheme of what being a “serious” sim racer is, cost of software is very low compare to the total cost.
LMU, as presented so far, if one is interested in the WEC 2023 season, looks like the perfect offering. happy Valentines!
 

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