Le Mans Ultimate: Monza & Customer Porsches in the Spotlight

Le Mans Ultimate Proton Porsche LMDH 963 Monza.jpg
With WEC's resurgence in popularity thanks to the new Hypercar rules and a number of manufacturers in the top-flight prototype category of the sport, endurance racing fans are curious for Le Mans Ultimate. The title is set to be released by the end of the year - and after Le Mans, Monza was the focus of the second batch of preview images.

Image credit: Le Mans Ultimate on Twitter

A full 2023 grid including all LMH and LMDH prototypes, the full WEC calendar and rFactor 2 as a base - the ingredients for Le Mans Ultimate are definitely there, but the title still has work to do until its release in Q4 of 2023, as @Angus Martin 's first hands-on experience at the 24 Hours of Le Mans showed. Luckily, there should be enough time to improve in time for LMU's launch.

To go along with round 5 at the 6 Hours of Monza, new previews were showcased, highlighting Italy's Temple of Speed. The track itself looks like you would expect Monza to look - the old timing towers on the main straight, the surrounding parklands and the green, white and red curbs are all there. Even the artwork honoring Michele Alboreto at the former Parabolica, which has officially been named after the 1985 F1 runner-up, is present.

Le Mans Ultimate Monza Parabolica Alboreto.jpg

Monza's Parabolica has been renamed to Curva Alboreto in 2021, honoring the 1985 Formula One vice champion who lost his life in a testing accident at the Lausitzring in 2001. Image credit: Le Mans Ultimate on Twitter

Additionally, more cars have been shown - or rather two more liveries, to be exact: The Porsche 963 was already part of the first batch of previews showcasing the designs of the works outfit. This time, the two customer teams are in the spotlight, as the golden machine of Hertz Team Jota and the simple but eye-catching decor of Proton Competition's vehicle are in the spotlight.

Le Mans Ultimate Jota Porsche LMDH 963 Monza 2.jpg

The golden 963 of Jota is one of the more striking cars on the WEC grid in 2023. Image credit: Le Mans Ultimate on Twitter

Unlucky Debut for #99​

The latter made its debut at the event, but did not have much luck doing so: An undetermined technical gremlin forced the #99 Porsche 963 out of the race after four hours, resulting in the car of Gianmaria Bruni, Harry Tincknell and Neel Jani being classified in 33rd position. Jota's fortunes were better, with the #38 of António Felix da Costa, Will Stevens and Ye Yifei crossing the line in ninth.

The next previews are hopefully not tied to the next WEC round: The race at Fuji Speedway is scheduled for September 10th - which would be quite a long wait for more, especially considering the targeted launch time frame of Q4 of 2023.

Le Mans Ultimate Monza Main Straight.jpg

The Italian Temple of Speed looks like you would expect it to look in Le Mans Ultimate. Image credit: Le Mans Ultimate on Twitter

Your Thoughts​

What do you think of the new previews to Le Mans Ultimate? What would you like to see next? Let us know in the comments below!
About author
Yannik Haustein
Lifelong motorsport enthusiast and sim racing aficionado, walking racing history encyclopedia.

Sim racing editor, streamer and one half of the SimRacing Buddies podcast (warning, German!).

Heel & Toe Gang 4 life :D

Comments

There's very good reasons for having little faith in S397...

It took them years to figure out how to work on the tyres in rF2 despite having all the information from ISI... Plus there's been many scenarios where they broke something that ISI had working within the title and left it broken for years... Like the AI...

Having MSGS on top of that makes the whole deal a very easily questioned development project...

Especially after the NASCAR title being the only title that the MSGS licence deals has brought into reality and how terrible it is...

I too am not holding any hope that the Le Mans Ultimate game will exist... It's more likely to be like the BTCC game and just be content for rF2...
I am not claiming that it didn't take long and that there weren't obstacles. Before 2022 you would see me writing similar posts on the forum. 2020 and 2021 were hard times for rF2 fans. That said, last year they really fixed the most obvious issues and build something that I would call a very solid platform for any racing sim. They are aware of what needs to be done to fix the last AI issues that were introduced with the latest patch and are about to release them with the next big update in Q3. As much as I respect Marcel, there were some wierd management desicions made aswell when MSG wasn't involved. Breaking the AI and not fixing it was done in the transition time between ISI and Luminis and the first iteration of the UI wasn't MSG business aswell. But as goes the saying goes, you are allways smarter in hindsight.

And what are you talking about regarding tyres? According to Tim Weathley there haven't been ISI physics developers involved in rF2 since 2017, so what do you expect? Dealing with tyre physics was their smallest issue at that time besides fixing all the spagetti code that was left over by ISI. Fact is, the platform wouldn't be were it is now without S397 and MSG. We didn't even have windscreen whipers under ISI. :p
 
Talking absolute rubbish.

Rubbish? That’s a studio that made a shitty nascar game, failed Indy and BTCC game. Then, just when rf2 is good, they decided to do a separate game from rf2 with Le Mans content. No way I’ll buy a separate Le Mans game with a small fraction of tracks when rf2 is literally there.

Look at what rf2 got this year compared to last year, you tell me that’s a game that is alive and kicking? The amount of paid content is pathetic

Rf2 is quite solid game now. Shame these awesome cars won’t be in rf2.
 
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I'm yet to understand the timing for this new sim's release, since there are big changes in the competition format already announced for next year!...
Meaning, is it going to be launched with this year's rules & cars, or next year's ones?
I like the "mighty 38" pic, though :)
The game will come with the 2023 season. Future seasons would have to be added via DLC.
 
I'm aware Nascar Ignition 21 is really bad, and to be honest, that's still a worrying sign for any new MSG / S397 game because of what they did. However, LMU isn't a yearly release. This is what they excelled at. (Studio 397 is a namesake honoring 397 laps in Le Mans)

Because most of these tracks are already available in RF2 for us, and the cars all drive really well, we know their capabilities to deliver content is professional.

My biggest worry is the online stability, progression, and what direction they're taking with LMU. I have a prediction the offline will make use of AI testing to make it just like GTR2's endurance races, with AI as your 2nd driver and the ability to save mid-race. As for online, well, all they need to do is optimize and minimize disconnects at all costs, and we got ourselves a worthy WEC game.

And then there's the untapped potential to evolve endurance racing as we know it by for example, allowing AI to take over disconnected drivers and trusting AI as a stand-in driver for going solo.
For me really the greatest challenge will be to actually render properly the hybrid side of things rather than just using a black box boost and all other considerations that go with brake migrations and WEC rules over energy consumption. None of these features are really available currently in RF2 so I guess this begs the question as to how the hybrid will be depicted in order for this to be a simulator and not just an arcadish game.
Then for sure all other considerations for MP, endurance and all that are also valid, but without proper simulation of the vehicle PU dynamics it's not going to be so interesting for me.
 
Rubbish? That’s a studio that made a shitty nascar game, failed Indy and BTCC game. Then, just when rf2 is good, they decided to do a separate game from rf2 with Le Mans content. No way I’ll buy a separate Le Mans game with a small fraction of tracks when rf2 is literally there.

Look at what rf2 got this year compared to last year, you tell me that’s a game that is alive and kicking? The amount of paid content is pathetic

Rf2 is quite solid game now. Shame these awesome cars won’t be in rf2.
Maybe ask yourself if the WEC content would have enough visibility if it was just sold as a DLC for rF2. I bet, it's the exact same reason why SRO wanted to have a fully lisenced Blancpain game and not another DLC for AC. Those big companies want to sell their own product and not be part of something that only some tech nerds know about. It's also one of the reasons why we have Indycar, BTCC and WEC content in rF2 in first place. Without MSG promising those titles we wouldn't have a long list of great tracks and cars in rF2 at all. It's the reason why GTR1 and GTR2 weren't released as DLCs for rF1. Why is nobody crying about that? Are we getting senile or just bad memory?

And contrary to your assumption I don't see them straight up porting the content that is in rF2 allready to LMU. Atleast they won't get away with it because people will notice it instantly. Monza had a bit of an update if you compare it with the rF2 version. Bahrain and Sebring might be ok, Spa needs a bit of an update aswell. Portimao and Fuji need to be done from scratch. And looking forward to 2024 they need to build Interlagos, COTA, Imola and Quatar. As for the cars, only the C8R, the 488 and the Vanvall are ready for a straight port. The rest needs to be redone from scratch or an extensive update. Using the RSR or the Oreca would be a complete shot in the foot, as they are 2017 spec. The Aston needs some visual updates. So besides the three mentioned cars, there is a huge list of cars that isn't in rF2 or not up to spec. And this isn't taking into account the new cars for 2024.
 
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Gonna be interesting how good the game will be, how finished it is at its release and what that all means to rF2 and its strong focus on endurance racing.
 
Rubbish? That’s a studio that made a shitty nascar game, failed Indy and BTCC game. Then, just when rf2 is good, they decided to do a separate game from rf2 with Le Mans content. No way I’ll buy a separate Le Mans game with a small fraction of tracks when rf2 is literally there.

Look at what rf2 got this year compared to last year, you tell me that’s a game that is alive and kicking? The amount of paid content is pathetic

Rf2 is quite solid game now. Shame these awesome cars won’t be in rf2.
They (Studio 397) werent the ones doing NASCAR, Indy or BTCC standalone games.
That were other Studios within Motorsports Games.
And frankly, how long do you think rF2 has to be kept alive? Games dont last forever, at some point, as sad as it is it has to end.
Also, we dont know if it ends, but expecting the cars in rF2 was never really realistic anyway.
 
For me really the greatest challenge will be to actually render properly the hybrid side of things rather than just using a black box boost and all other considerations that go with brake migrations and WEC rules over energy consumption. None of these features are really available currently in RF2 so I guess this begs the question as to how the hybrid will be depicted in order for this to be a simulator and not just an arcadish game.
Then for sure all other considerations for MP, endurance and all that are also valid, but without proper simulation of the vehicle PU dynamics it's not going to be so interesting for me.
the hybrid in rF2 isnt just a boost, it actually has what you would need, the energy limit rule not, but its no use anyway in a sim without those type of cars, we will have to look for this ones some more LMU gameplay gets shown.
 
I fully expect this game to be great.
I actually expect it to be a solid offering. I am concerned about ai as RF2 under S397 has been awful for 7 years, but I don't think it will suffer the awfulness of NASCAR.

But as I said previously, I also expect it to basically be a stripped down RF2 so I don't see me buying it. I do think it will run decently though.
 
Honestly, I am more looking forward to LeMans in Automobilista 2, knowing that it will be different (not the real/full event) but I expect the track and the driving feeling to be better…
You know that this game isn't just about Le Mans, it's about the whole WEC season with all cars and tracks. I mean, you will still be able to enjoy Le Mans in AMS2 with a few cars that run the real event, but it's like doing a Bathurst 12 hour race or Spa 24 with Raceroom while you have ACC sitting in your Steam library. I am actually more looking forward to the historic stuff that they are planning for AMS2, but for the modern content there might be no way around LMU. And from my perspective it might be much better if Reiza flesh out their historical content alot more because that's actually really their niche and what they are good at.
 
I am not claiming that it didn't take long and that there weren't obstacles. Before 2022 you would see me writing similar posts on the forum. 2020 and 2021 were hard times for rF2 fans. That said, last year they really fixed the most obvious issues and build something that I would call a very solid platform for any racing sim. They are aware of what needs to be done to fix the last AI issues that were introduced with the latest patch and are about to release them with the next big update in Q3. As much as I respect Marcel, there were some wierd management desicions made aswell when MSG wasn't involved. Breaking the AI and not fixing it was done in the transition time between ISI and Luminis and the first iteration of the UI wasn't MSG business aswell. But as goes the saying goes, you are allways smarter in hindsight.

And what are you talking about regarding tyres? According to Tim Weathley there haven't been ISI physics developers involved in rF2 since 2017, so what do you expect? Dealing with tyre physics was their smallest issue at that time besides fixing all the spagetti code that was left over by ISI. Fact is, the platform wouldn't be were it is now without S397 and MSG. We didn't even have windscreen whipers under ISI. :p
Given S397s history of breaking things that work they need a bit more time to get their reputation back...

Even if rF2 is much better now, there's a huge chance they'll find a way to break something that worked beforehand in the next update... They've made a habit of breaking things that worked under ISI and leaving it for years...

As far as the tyres go, S397 didn't have a clue on how to develop them and created terrible physics on their cars for years... They had a huge modding scene back then and could of leaned on the modders work for information... Instead they produced a lot of content that turned people off of rF2 because of the terrible tyres ruining the rest of their work... All the while modders were able to produce some great content... And when S397 do find fixes it just goes to their newest paid DLC, a lot of the old DLC gets left without updates for years...

MSGS and S397 may have saved rF2 in your eyes, but in the eyes of many including myself they almost killed it by the end of 2021 and forced many long time ISI supporters to look elsewhere for their sim racing...

Given what Reiza has managed with the Madness engine it's fair to say that if ISI had made a deal with Reiza instead of S397 for rF2 that it would be in a much better position now... All of that MSGS loaned money helped get licences but has led to a very sour reputation... Because with investment comes expectations...
 
the hybrid in rF2 isnt just a boost, it actually has what you would need, the energy limit rule not, but its no use anyway in a sim without those type of cars, we will have to look for this ones some more LMU gameplay gets shown.
Well actually that is what it is in RF2. No brake migration, no energy management with regen and deployment strategies. This is what has to be at the core of LMH/LMDH otherwise it's just not worth.
 
Given S397s history of breaking things that work they need a bit more time to get their reputation back...

Even if rF2 is much better now, there's a huge chance they'll find a way to break something that worked beforehand in the next update... They've made a habit of breaking things that worked under ISI and leaving it for years...

As far as the tyres go, S397 didn't have a clue on how to develop them and created terrible physics on their cars for years... They had a huge modding scene back then and could of leaned on the modders work for information... Instead they produced a lot of content that turned people off of rF2 because of the terrible tyres ruining the rest of their work... All the while modders were able to produce some great content... And when S397 do find fixes it just goes to their newest paid DLC, a lot of the old DLC gets left without updates for years...

MSGS and S397 may have saved rF2 in your eyes, but in the eyes of many including myself they almost killed it by the end of 2021 and forced many long time ISI supporters to look elsewhere for their sim racing...

Given what Reiza has managed with the Madness engine it's fair to say that if ISI had made a deal with Reiza instead of S397 for rF2 that it would be in a much better position now... All of that MSGS loaned money helped get licences but has led to a very sour reputation... Because with investment comes expectations...
I am a firm believer that S397 saved RF2, but I do feel there is still much to do, too much to count, while iRacing has already solved all that and more. It's more like, they managed to save the game from extinction, but at the same time failed to really revitalize it because of RF2's inherent limitations and their reluctance to update old content.
 
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I am a firm believer that S397 saved RF2, but I do feel there is still much to do, too much to count, while iRacing has already solved all that and more. It's more like, they managed to save the game from extinction, but at the same time failed to really revitalize it because of RF2's inherent limitations and their reluctance to update old content.

They had a much better starting point then people give ISI credit for...

It had a lot of the features nailed down to improve on... Sure it was in sore need of graphical updates and a few other things, the AI worked and learned the tracks better the more you drove them and the online experience was good...

It was a solid platform that didn't need saving but some polish...

The limitations of rF2 and the engine/tyre model aren't really that bad when you look at the issues with UE5 and the Madness engine... It's got very few flaws and limitations in comparison...

The major limiting factors have been the packaging system and it's development cycle since S397 took over where important features have been broken, like the AI and MP, all the while S397 redesigned the UI over and over... Which is far less important than fixing those bugs...
 
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Given S397s history of breaking things that work they need a bit more time to get their reputation back...

Even if rF2 is much better now, there's a huge chance they'll find a way to break something that worked beforehand in the next update... They've made a habit of breaking things that worked under ISI and leaving it for years...

As far as the tyres go, S397 didn't have a clue on how to develop them and created terrible physics on their cars for years... They had a huge modding scene back then and could of leaned on the modders work for information... Instead they produced a lot of content that turned people off of rF2 because of the terrible tyres ruining the rest of their work... All the while modders were able to produce some great content... And when S397 do find fixes it just goes to their newest paid DLC, a lot of the old DLC gets left without updates for years...

MSGS and S397 may have saved rF2 in your eyes, but in the eyes of many including myself they almost killed it by the end of 2021 and forced many long time ISI supporters to look elsewhere for their sim racing...

Given what Reiza has managed with the Madness engine it's fair to say that if ISI had made a deal with Reiza instead of S397 for rF2 that it would be in a much better position now... All of that MSGS loaned money helped get licences but has led to a very sour reputation... Because with investment comes expectations...
Sorry, but this is the first time that I read that people stopped playing rF2 due to S397 releasing cars with terrible tyres. From where are you pulling these figures from? S397 needed to release quite a bit of content to fund further development because the stock content in rF2 under ISI was all over the place. Most of it is legacy content now. You can read all of this in the forum as Tim Wheatley was kind of enough to shed a bit of light on this subject. It's no secret that people left rF2 due to difficult accessibility (the UI taking too long with wierd design desicions), no real pick up play MP and the lack of AI development - as said that was Marcel's desicion and not a plan of MSG. The content structure was an issue, that was pointed out by the users for a long time and only changed after MSG made their survey. People allways try to sweep this under the carpet, but the biggest mistakes were made under ISI and Luminis, not MSG. People left rF2 under MSG for a lot of reasons but poor development is porpably not one of them.

I am also surprised that you think Reiza would have saved rF2 instead of S397. You mean the same company that was how many years late to even release a game - five years? A company that has been busy tweaking FFB and physics in AMS2 to death just to release a game changing update after another just to barely reach the same player numbers as rF2? Reiza, the same company that has been promising an update for their rF2 DLC for years now. I am sorry to say this, but this smells nonesense.
 
I just hope this game will be a "work off the errors" made in rF2 and be a starting point for rF3. :)
 
Sorry, but this is the first time that I read that people stopped playing rF2 due to S397 releasing cars with terrible tyres. From where are you pulling these figures from? S397 needed to release quite a bit of content to fund further development because the stock content in rF2 under ISI was all over the place. Most of it is legacy content now. You can read all of this in the forum as Tim Wheatley was kind of enough to shed a bit of light on this subject. It's no secret that people left rF2 due to difficult accessibility (the UI taking too long with wierd design desicions), no real pick up play MP and the lack of AI development - as said that was Marcel's desicion and not a plan of MSG. The content structure was an issue, that was pointed out by the users for a long time and only changed after MSG made their survey. People allways try to sweep this under the carpet, but the biggest mistakes were made under ISI and Luminis, not MSG. People left rF2 under MSG for a lot of reasons but poor development is porpably not one of them.

I am also surprised that you think Reiza would have saved rF2 instead of S397. You mean the same company that was how many years late to even release a game - five years? A company that has been busy tweaking FFB and physics in AMS2 to death just to release a game changing update after another just to barely reach the same player numbers as rF2? Reiza, the same company that has been promising an update for their rF2 DLC for years now. I am sorry to say this, but this smells nonesense.

I'm one of many who got sick of the modders having a better handle on the tyres than S397... Search engines exist, I'm sure you'll find plenty of whinging about the tyres on S397s work being far too slidey for years...

Hell even the Formula E drivers thought it was such a joke that one of them subbed in a sim racer to race for them during the COVID esports replacement series with real drivers... Formula Edrift was what the drivers called it as the fastest way around the corner was to drift the Formula E car... Even on hairpins...

What Reiza has done with the Madness engine is a huge achievement... Give them something that actually worked in where rF2 was when ISI had it and they'd of taken the rF2 project a lot further...

Taking something broken and making it work and taking something that worked and breaking it is vastly different...
 

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