Watch: First Le Mans Ultimate Gameplay


Image credit: Motorsport Games

After Motorsport Games and Studio 397 announced their upcoming Le Mans Ultimate title, we went along to the real life Le Mans event to experience the unreleased sim first-hand.

The developers behind rFactor 2, Studio 397 and their parent company Motorsport Games recently revealed that a new sim will be hitting the market in December 2023. This title, called Le Mans Ultimate, will allow players to experience the World Endurance Championship.

While many of the cars and tracks are available across other sims, including rFactor 2, Le Mans Ultimate promises to bring something new to the table as a standalone title. To introduce the game to the world, Motorsport Games brought a demo version to the real life Le Mans event. There, eager WEC fans could try it for themselves. Our editor Angus couldn’t pass up the opportunity to take a look.

Le Mans Ultimate Gameplay​

Perhaps unsurprisingly, Angus reported that Le Mans Ultimate feels similar to rFactor 2. In fact, it seems to have been developed in the same engine and uses the same physics model. Naturally, this meant that the overall experience was pretty good for an early demo version.

There were some issues, though. For instance, Angus reported a lack of feeling on the brakes. This means that it was difficult to avoid lockups, and to properly get the car slowed down on corner entry.

Another problem was to found in the form of the kerbs. They were very aggressive, causing the car to lose balance and stability at the drop of a hat.

The two cars available for selection were the Ferrari 488 GTE and the Porsche 963 hypercar. Angus opted for the latter, as it is not yet available in rFactor 2.

Le-Mans-Ultimate-Queue-min-1-1024x769.jpg

Le Mans Ultimate was available to play at the real life Le Mans event. Image credit: Angus Martin

In terms of sound design and force feedback, there was clearly still a lot of development left to be done. The soundscape in particular lacked many of the elements one would expect, such as wind noise and the sound of the transmission.

To hear more of Angus’ thoughts about the Le Mans Ultimate gameplay demo, and to see the game in action, watch our latest YouTube video.

What do you think of the first Le Mans Ultimate gameplay footage? Tell us on Twitter at @OverTake_gg or in the comments down below!
About author
Jacob (OverTake)
Jacob (OverTake)
My name is Jacob and I have been writing for OverTake since November of 2020. I come from the UK, but I'm now living in Berlin. I love to watch, write about and sometimes shout about all forms of racing.

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Comments

Durge Driven
Hope this gets traction and becomes a yearly title.
Maybe they can go one better then F1 and get it released on time.
 
T
Cannot wait for the port into RF2.
Unless this is going to see the day on consoles, struggling to understand why this is not DLC rather than a copy paste of existing code with new models into a new game.
RF2 cannot simulate hybrid, so I doubt this will even be a fully simulated game, rather will like a lot of s397 content 95% complete before moving on.
 
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eg01st
TeddyBearx said:
with 4090 and simucube I will always support rF2 or LMU, it's not with AMS2 or raceroom that I can use the potentiel of my hardware, it's only with rF2 and ACC.
Click to expand...
Or just sell 4090 and simucube, get 1060 and G29, and no problem of "unused potential" :D
 
P
thepharcyde said:
Cannot wait for the port into RF2.
Unless this is going to see the day on consoles, struggling to understand why this is not DLC rather than a copy paste of existing code with new models into a new game.
RF2 cannot simulate hybrid, so I doubt this will even be a fully simulated game, rather will like a lot of s397 content 95% complete before moving on.
Click to expand...
RF2 already simulates hybrid with the BTCC content and since the new game uses the same physics engine as rF2, any hybrid simulation developed for LMU could also be used in rF2 I assume.

It’s to early to tell if LMU will be an ‘upgrade’ compared to what we already have in rF2. It must be more than just adding the missing tracks and hypercars. It must have single player championships and, please… don‘t dumb down the physics and FFB we are used to with rF2. For future DLC‘s, I hope they will look at classics, e.g. Group C.
 
H
So the comsequence of this news is: S397 is not going to release much for rf2 this year but instead there will be another Nascar type flop after which, somewhere in 2024, we finally get hypercars as some rf2 DLC. With BTCC the stuff was just put in rf2 directly which was great for me but did not make much money probably.

So for rf2 players this news sucks.
 
Durge Driven
Isaac Chavira said:
They already said it will not be a yearly. Just DLC after DLC.
Click to expand...


Yearly release or updates like other sims does not really matter.

Hope this gets traction and becomes a yearly title.
Maybe they can go one better then F1 and get it released on time.

Releasing it on time for Lemans each year would be a major coup considering no other sim has ever done it.
I believe ACC was only released sometime around 3rd or 4th round of the championship.
 
Durge Driven
henkjansmits said:
So for rf2 players this news sucks.
Click to expand...

The previously announced acquisition of Studio 397, the company behind the industry leading racing simulation platform, rFactor 2. Studio 397 will maintain its brand and name while continuing to develop the rFactor 2 platform, as well as working on other Motorsport Games titles.
Click to expand...

If Lemans 2024 is released before the actual race ( no sim has ever done this) including new manufacturers, BMW, Lamborghini among others then it could get decent sales. No other sim in history has done this.

If it takes off then rFactor 2 will surely reap some of the benefit ?
I mean if they had money to splash around why wouldn't they invest more in rF2 ?

I did say "IF" ;)




The funny thing is even it it does take off that won't stop MSG and rF2 haters from bagging it with the majority not even trying it.
TRUE SIMMERS ! :redface::redface::redface:
 
T
Durge Driven said:
Hope this gets traction and becomes a yearly title.
Maybe they can go one better then F1 and get it released on time.
Click to expand...
Tbh, I personaly don't care if it's released on time or not. The important thing is that it is actually a solid and smooth working product with enough polish. I know, people will go completely crazy and hold it against the product and especialy the company publishing it, but the experience with other recent sim titles shows that there is a delay to be expected. I actually think that it's complete nonesense to release such a product before the holidays with a clear prospect of crunch time, but the marketing advantage before Christmas is huge obviously.
 
Durge Driven
Well if you didn't care why quote me.
It's just one persons hope and opinion.

For mine getting a series released on time is still a major coup simply because it has never been done before.
No one including me knows what effect this could have on sales.
I am just hoping it's positive nothing more.

I don't get why people constantly whine about sims at all frankly because I don't and never have.
I mean you can try it and get your money back, no harm no foul.
Why do they have to then blow up someone else's sim by constant negative feedback just because they can? How does that help the industry ? You tell me okay !

I am talking another full year into development ( this June to next June)
Surely by then it should be more solid more smooth more polish then release ?
 
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D
ChaosZeroJK said:
I'll be the first to say that graphics aren't everything, but that looks like an early 2009 build of rF2.
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As someone who was there and played it. I believe the graphics were fantastic, my main simulator is rFactor2 and I know how that game looks. This was a massive graphical update that I immediately noticed. And it looks beautiful, these camera shots did not do it justice.
 
R
sbabb said:
depends who told you what. There are quite a few different setups at the site from Thrustmaster and different settings from more children and beginner friendly to slightly more simish, there are obviously a lot of aids used as its aimed at the average race fan at the track to check it out, this isnt simexpo. That might or might not heavily influence the opinion of more experienced simracers. And from people that tried it I heard the graphics have gotten better for example and in gereral on the more advanced rigs it was reported to me that it was just as good as rF2, but since I didnt try it I dont know how true that is.

As with all games, just wait and see what comes out of it and what doesnt. I personally will see when the game is shown at its release state to decide. It could be amazing now and terrible later or the other way around at this stage.
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That's what can be heard in the video. But I agree, let's wait and see the final result. At the moment I'm not impressed but I'd like to be surprised.
 
D
TeddyBearx said:
I didn't read AC2 or ISI in this thread, you have posted in the wrong place, or do you go on random thread to give your wishlist ?
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Didn't read anything about hardware in this article so what are you talking about 4090 and Simcube? You just randomly name drop to impress someone
 
carlton999
If its anything like rF2 I wont buy it. I own rF2 and I uninstalled it. I just don't like the at game. I love driving Prototypes, but not enough to spend money on this. I will wait and see.
 
J.J.McClure
Premium
Hello Community.

Applause, applause, applause.
Another racing game that focuses on the LMP, GT3 class. That is...
I am absolutely floored. That's something completely new. That's never happened before.
Ultimate. Nothing more can come of that.
Because ultimate means that no further increase is possible. That's downright ridiculous.
No, seriously.
Does it need another mainstream sim? Aren't there already enough sims that map exactly that content?
But probably the makers have installed completely new physical things. As long as where the rubber of the tires comes from. What the poor farmer gets per kilo of rubber. Is the farmer happy, has he a wife and children?
They have to throw something out in terms of marketing so that the part sells. appeals to me personally.
After GTR2, occasionally Automobilista 2 and Assetto Corsa Comp. certainly not a new sim about GT and LMP.
I'd rather stay with Assetto Corsa and drive vehicles there on the LeMans race track.
And without showing me the "baby line".
But the best thing is that I can choose in which era the race takes place.
Maybe the physics in AS are not "up to date".
But I don't care, because I've never sat in a vehicle of the racing classes and I've never had the opportunity to chase such a vehicle around the course for 2 hours at the limit.
For me personally, what the car does in AC is understandable.
Thanks, but no thanks to the racing game LeMans Ultimate.
My opinion may not please everyone, but thanks to my long gaming career with dozens of racing games,
another racing game therefore does not ignite any orgasms in me.
So far, Microprose was the only publisher who made an experiment in racing games.
Spirit of speed 1937. The race tracks, the vehicles. Damals großartig, heute extrem veraltet.
 

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