As we wrote recently, Le Mans Ultimate is currently in Early Access for a reason. Many features that were announced to be features are missing. Not for long, however! As Motorsport Games’ own Stephen Hood explained in the announcement of for the September 2024 update, quite a bit of what was promised is now in its way to the endurance simulator. Not only content updates were announced, but also gameplay and feature updates which will enhance the experience of any driver. The update is scheduled to go live on September 24.
A TL;DW Rundown of the Announcements
First off, let’s write a quick overview about what is scheduled to arrive soon:
Additionally, Stephen Hood gave an overview over features that are being worked on and will come in the future:
Now, let’s briefly dive into each topic.
Everything Scheduled to Arrive in the September Update
Co-Op Mode
The biggest USP Le Mans Ultimate promised at its announcement was the possibility to do asynchronous online co-op races with friends. Together, you could race a 24-hour race in your own time. Only got time to do 1 stint right now? Do that one stint and send the game on to your friend who can continue.
This system was a refreshing re-imagining of how endurance racing could work. It isn’t only geared towards the crowd that loves endurance racing, but also at the, also large in numbers, single-player sim racers. After all, you race against AI opponents and can do so in your own time.
When Le Mans Ultimate launched into Early Access, it was a bit of a disappointment to not have this innovative feature included. Quite a few people decided not to buy the simulator due to this, for the, essential feature missing.
The upcoming update, however, finally launched this feature into a beta state. It was mentioned that there will be issues. Still, everyone who has been looking forward to this system can try it out starting with the 24th of September.
Save & Load
For those who want to race endurance races completely alone, the introduction of co-op mode also helps. This is because Co-Op mode includes a functionality which allows a driver to pause the game while doing a pitstop. In Co-Op mode, this is when you turn the car over to your team mates. In single player, this is the moment you can save the game and continue it at a later point.
This feature enables doing solo 24-hour races without lack of sleep or lack of … other necessary bodily functions.
Season Select & Car Select
To reflect the growing number of pieces of content in Le Mans Ultimate, Studio 397 changed the way a player can select their season and car. It will be possible to select which season of cars you want to race against and the car selection will be optimised and more sightly.
Circuit of the Americas
Circuit of the Americas (COTA), which has been hosting the Lone Star Le Mans, is coming in the September 2024 Update. Recently, this venue hosted the 2024 edition of the Lone Star Le Mans, in reference to the state of Texas being the “Lone Star State” due its former status as an independent republic.
Furthermore, this event was won by (spoiler alert) the private Ferrari entry driven by Robert Kubica, Robert Shwartzman and Yifei Ye. Their hard-fought success showed, however, that COTA is a great circuit to race on. Whereas, many other series have shown that in the past. COTA famously hosts not only WEC, but also Formula One and MotoGP events regularly. More local events like GT World Challenge North America or MotoAmerica make their stops here, too.
Previously, COTA has been features in Assetto Corsa Competizione and iRacing as official content. Other sims include the circuit as a mod as well. The comparison between the different versions will become exciting in the future, when the announced GT3 class, which has replaced GTE, arrives in LMU. At that point, the driving physics and details of the circuit will be able to be scrutineered against one another and allow for a great comparison.
Alpine A424 LMDh & Isotta Fraschini Tipo 6 LMH Competizione
These two new cars complete the 2024 WEC Hypercar class. No more hypercars need to be added. All upcoming content drops will therefore either feature GT3s or, potentially, future hypercars. For now, let’s focus on the confirmed two additions, though.
Alpine A424 LMDh
The Alpine A424 LMDh is a hypercar in the Le Mans Daytona h ruleset. This French manufacturer joined the WEC grid in 2024 using the Oreca chassis as a platform. An Alpine-modified Mecachrome V634 3.4L V6 powers the drive train in addition to the spec 50kW Bosch MGU.
Alpine currently field 2 cars, using their traditional race numbers of 35 and 36. The 35 team consists of Paul-Loup Chatin, Charles Milesi, Ferdinand Habsburg as well as their stand-in driver Jules Gounon who already had three entries this season. Their 36 team is made up of Nicolas Lapierre, Mick Schumacher and Matthieu Vaxivière.
Both cars immediately showed surprising competence, culminating in a podium for the 36 at Fuji. Although the 35 was running at the front of the field in the same race, they suffered a penalty. So Alpine has been on the up and up and is looking to improve further, still.
Even though the Alpine is made to LMDh spec, they currently only participate in WEC and haven’t entered IMSA yet.
Isotta Fraschini Tipo 6 LMH Competizione
Conversely, the ill-fated Isotta Fraschini Tipo 6 LMH Competizione hasn’t has the best 2024 season. Even though it’s reliability was great, their pace wasn’t much so. After 5 races and not scoring a single point, the partnership between the manufacturer and their partnered racing team “Duqueine Team” came to an abrupt end. Subsequently, the manufacturer announced their immediate withdrawal from the 2024 WEC season.
Nonetheless, this only small manufacturer in the 2024 WEC season leaves us with a delight legacy. Their joining of Le Mans Ultimate leaves us with a delightful vehicle to control. Basically, this is 2024’s Vanwall Vandervell 680.
Various Other Updates
Various other updates include
Le Mans Ultimate’s Future
While the Le Mans Ultimate September 2024 update announcement includes future features and changes, we will go over them separately. Some features, like private hosted sessions, deserve more space to consider all opportunities they bring.
Until then, this update looks to shake up the entire sim racing scene and bring Le Mans Ultimate into the limelight.
One more important thing, however, is that the price Le Mans Ultimate was being sold for will change. Shortly after the update drops, the game’s price on Steam will be raised. So if you are interested in getting LMU, now is the best chance. Here is a link to its Steam page, where you can buy Le Mans Ultimate.
If you plan on getting LMU and want setups as well as an entire suite that helps analyse your telemetry, Coach Dave Delta integrates Le Mans Ultimate. You can subscribe to Le Mans Ultimate using this link (and help us out a bit as well, because this is an affiliate link).