New Le Mans Game Coming December 2023

Le Mans Ultimate Header 2 Porsche 963.jpg
Image credit: Motorsport Games

We were promised a game for the 24 Hours of Le Mans back in mid 2021. It is now official, with Le Mans Ultimate set for a December 2023 release.

A couple of years ago, Motorsport Games and rFactor 2 developers Studio 397 announced they were developing an official standalone game of the World Endurance Championship and the 24 hours of Le Mans. With virtually no official word about the game since, many had reason to believe it would never come to be.

Other titles promised by Motorsport Games, such as one for the British Touring Car Championship and another for IndyCar, were delayed. This led to the community having fears about whether the game would ever see the light of day. However, those fears can now be put to rest with the announcement of Le Mans Ultimate.

What will be in Le Mans Ultimate?​

The game will immerse the player in the 2023 World Endurance Championship season. That means players can drive on all seven tracks: Monza, Spa-Francorchamps, Sebring, Bahrain, Portimão, Fuji and last but by no means least, the legendary Circuit de la Sarthe in Le Mans.

As for cars? Le Mans Ultimate will feature LMH and LMDh racers from Toyota, Ferrari, Porsche, Cadillac, Peugeot, Glickenhaus and Vanwall along with the Oreca 07 LMP2 and also Aston Martin, Corvette, Ferrari and Porsche GTE cars.

Le Mans Ultimate Ferrari 488 GTE.jpg

Le Mans Ultimate is coming this year. Image credit: Motorsport Games

There will be a feature called RaceControl, an innovative multiplayer service. It includes the ability to complete endurance races with friends via a collaborative asynchronous mode. But gamers who don’t want to compete in the online experience will also be accounted for with single player modes.

How to Play Le Mans Ultimate​

Motorsport Games have stated that the game will be PC-only for the first year at minimum. Content updates are expected in the second half of 2024. Afterwards, the developers will evaluate when the right time will be to bring the game to console.

With December 2023 expected to be the release window, sim racers can play the game early if they’re attending the 24 hours of Le Mans from 7-11 June. At the Circuit de la Sarthe, developers will be present, along with ten racing sims for fans and spectators to turn some laps. They can drive the Ferrari 488 GTE as well as the Porsche 963 LMDh, and can also provide feedback.

Before the release of the game, Le Mans Ultimate will be the new platform of the Le Mans Virtual Series. The first two full seasons and all three renditions of the 24 hours of Le Mans Virtual all took place on rFactor 2. The season will begin later this year, most likely in September like the previous two years.
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Luca [OT]
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This is a wait and see for me at this point. I do like this era of racing (many do not. I don't like F1, but many do. To each his own.) If this game takes this class of racing to the next level, I am all for it just like ACC making GT3 great (IMO). However, if it is an old antiquated system like RF2, not interested. (RF2 never got me interested, though I own it. Too hard to get private servers running - in my experience).
 
I expect the release date to be the same as the BTCC and Indycar games...

2050...
 
very glad this title is still alive. Extremely curious to read the first proper reviews around christmas then, judging by what happened so far to their other titles I will definitely NOT pre-order but rather wait for independent reactions.
Me too. I will be a very happy guy if we get a great WEC title, but I'm cautiously lowering my expectations until we learn more details.
 
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I understand what you mean. Rfactor 2 looks very realistic, but only in very specific circumstances. 3pm and want your scenery to look like a "chance of rain/ greyish" day at Brands Hatch, Rfactor 2 can do that. Rain is awful, and there are no other atmospheric elements such as haze, fog or variations of rain that can make driving more difficult.
Thats right. Racing in the night the cars in front lit up by my own lights look like cartoons.
 
This is great news! Now let's hope the product will meet our expectations. Been looking forward to this for a long time :)
 
fingers crossed this will happen, had an amazing WEC game on dreamcast back in the day. Bit fed up of having "some" cars and "some" tracks from a series in one sim and different cars and tracks from same series in another. Nice to get it all in one cohesive package (like ACC and MGP games).
 
I would say completely opposite
on the screens it literally looks like rFactor 2 if it even is new game not rF2 but should be since it will be displayed this week
so probably the game itself is just modified rFactor with some options deleted like mods, some options added like better controler support and some options modified like UI
so if it will work properly, especially on consoles it's good way to get money from the market but since content is heavily limited longer lifespan is doubtful so they will be able to add all that content and other improvements to the "mother" and main game in their portfolio means rFactor 2 after some time without any bigger problems
it is certainly possbile to do, but still, dont expect it to happen, we dont really know what the plan is going forward, for now the content is for the new game, which will be supported for a while. What will be going on for rF2 we will see, its theoretically possible its going to not be a priority anymore, maybe and actually hopefully the new LM game will open the door for a new rF, because one of rF2´s biggerst issues is the need to allow old/legacy content to work properly, that definetly limits its development.
 
What's interedting on the official Web site is that it is clearly stated S397 is in charge of the game in itself and MSG is bringikg its own multipl1yer solution (can't remember the name, but I assume it is a new one, as I've never heard Nascar Ignition had a peculiar effective multiplayer system. And, as this is the official esport game for Le Mans event, money should be put in that last aspect. No information about the AI...
 
Apparently, making a spin off from largely existing rF2 content is exciting to a lot of people for some reason. S397 should replicate that winning formula for BTCC, Indycar....resulting in glorious new titles that will get people even more turbo-pumped:

- BTCC Generations
- Indycar: Origins
 
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Apparently, making a spin off from largely existing rF2 content is exciting to a lot of people for some reason. S397 should replicate that winning formula for BTCC, Indycar....resulting in glorious new titles that will get people even more turbo-pumped:

- BTCC Generations
- Indycar: Origins
I think a few variables are in place here for me.

1) Cost. As an RF2 owner who has already paid a lot of Euros for the Endurance content already, I have no interest in paying 35 or more Euro for nearly identical to what I already have. Not to mention that this is the final year for GTE , so the next paid dlc is obv GT3 (so another $25 to $30 Euro) There would need to be something huge for me to shell out a decent amount of money for a cleaner version of RF2 with 7 tracks and 3 to 4 car classes.
2) Is it the same gfx engine as RF2? That would be a deal breaker. The engine is incapable of simulating most weather conditions such as fog, haze and rain is poorly implemented.

3) Will it be moddable?

4) Is there an actual career mode and are the ai reasonable? Currently RF2 is terrible in both these aspects so this would be a huge leap.

There may be a market for those that enjoy RF2 physics but hate the hot mess that RF2 is, but if it uses RF2 GFX engine that is a huge no for me. At the right time of day (dusk/ dawn) RF2 looks fantastic...but as I stated earlier, the atmosphere of the game sucks. Badly.
 
I think a few variables are in place here for me.

1) Cost. As an RF2 owner who has already paid a lot of Euros for the Endurance content already, I have no interest in paying 35 or more Euro for nearly identical to what I already have. Not to mention that this is the final year for GTE , so the next paid dlc is obv GT3 (so another $25 to $30 Euro) There would need to be something huge for me to shell out a decent amount of money for a cleaner version of RF2 with 7 tracks and 3 to 4 car classes.
2) Is it the same gfx engine as RF2? That would be a deal breaker. The engine is incapable of simulating most weather conditions such as fog, haze and rain is poorly implemented.

3) Will it be moddable?

4) Is there an actual career mode and are the ai reasonable? Currently RF2 is terrible in both these aspects so this would be a huge leap.

There may be a market for those that enjoy RF2 physics but hate the hot mess that RF2 is, but if it uses RF2 GFX engine that is a huge no for me. At the right time of day (dusk/ dawn) RF2 looks fantastic...but as I stated earlier, the atmosphere of the game sucks. Badly.
Same engine doesnt mean much tho, it can certainly improve, just because certain things arent in rF2 doesnt mean the new game doesnt have them aswell and vice versa. Starting from the ground up and only worrying about the content they offer is going to allow things to be different, which rF2 and all its old/ 3rd party content would never be capable of without pretty much breaking those. And this part isnt speculation from my side, rF2 recently had to patch AI issues resulting from mods using the old rF1 engine format, which prevent shifting etc.

I would expect it to not be modable, wouldnt make any sense to support it in this title. It may be possible to still mod it somehow, like the Project Cars/AMS2, but probably not intended in a WEC title.

As for AI they recently pretty much reworked it to a very nice level for Road Course racing (which is what WEC does). There will be another patch for some newer weird issues, but other than that if they use the rF2 ai, it is now able to properly race each other and the player and also finally with working Safety Car.

Carrer mode is something interesting. I wouldnt expect it to make up some story thing like F1, but maybe if they were to introduce some lower categories there could be some sort of career like Project Cars 2. But other than that what kind of career would there be in WEC? maybe some sort of progression throught the 3 classes, but otherwise no idea what could be done.
 
If the game requires a permanent connection (like RF2) to play even after a complete installation, it will be without me.
 
Apparently, making a spin off from largely existing rF2 content is exciting to a lot of people for some reason. S397 should replicate that winning formula for BTCC, Indycar....resulting in glorious new titles that will get people even more turbo-pumped:

- BTCC Generations
- Indycar: Origins
May I remind you that recycling content is a common practice? Reiza for example are recycling their content since GSC. After that they released Stockcar Extreme, Formula Truck, AMS1 and to some extend AMS2 partially offering recycled content from their own repository and SMS. Several of the cars and tracks from PC1 appeared in PC2 and I wouldn't be surprised if some of the assets in AC found their way into ACC. Simbin/S3 offered their cars and tracks in various gmotor platforms while also using certain cars in different ACAC GT Masters packs. Let's face it, why shouldn't they do it if the assets are good enough to be packaged into something different? Are you asking them to create everything from scratch for the sake of creating it from scratch? I hope you know how expensive game development is these days?

I would like them to create something like a common launcher for all their games from where I can start rF2 as the sandbox platform, the WEC game, the BTCC game or the Indycar game. If all is packaged nicely I see zero issues with that approach. And if we are completely honest, they only can recyle a fraction of the content as some of the stuff is heavily outdated visualy. There is no chance they will be using content like the Oreca or RSR. Even the BTCC game wich would be closest to release needs 4 new tracks.
 

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