Le Mans Ultimate Release Time Confirmed

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With its Early Access release on February 20 around the corner, the Le Mans Ultimate release time has been confirmed. Here’s when you can get your hands on the official WEC game.

Image credit: Studio 397 / Motorsport Games

Endurance racing fans are eagerly awaiting the release of Le Mans Ultimate. The official WEC game features all cars and tracks of the championship’s 2023 season and is set to launch on February 20, although in an Early Access state rather than the full release as it was initially planned.

Le Mans Ultimate Car List: All Vehciles In The Official WEC Game
Click to expand...

Nonetheless, being based on rFactor 2 and bringing a complete grid of Hypercars as first-party content for the first time in sim racing, LMU is high on the list of most exciting releases in 2024 for many. A day before launch, the Le Mans Ultimate release time has been confirmed on the game’s official Twitter account.

Check the list below for the Le Mans Ultimate release time in your part of the world via a representative city. All 2024 WEC locations are also included.

Le Mans Ultimate Release Times​

  • Los Angeles: 4 am
  • Austin: 6 am
  • New York: 7 am
  • Sao Paulo: 9 am
  • London: 12 pm
  • Le Mans: 1 pm
  • Spa-Francorchamps: 1 pm
  • Imola: 1 pm
  • Manama (Bahrain): 4 pm
  • Doha (Qatar): 4 pm
  • New Delhi: 5:30 pm
  • Fuji: 9 pm
  • Sydney: 11 pm
  • Auckland: 1 am (Wendesday)

https://twitter.com/x/status/1759553265736278482

Put more universally, this list translates to a launch time of 12 pm UTC, which also aligns with the approximate unlock time that the game’s Steam page gives. In fact, it had changed from “approximately 1 day” to “23 hours” even before the official announcement had been made.

To give another preview, Studio 397 and Motorsport Games have released another gameplay video. This time, it shows the POV of the #7 Toyota GR010 hybrid carving its way through lapped traffic at Fuji, trying to make up for time lost at the start. The video provides a glimpse of how the AI handles multi-class racing, which should be very interesting to singleplayer sim racers.


Are you looking forward to Le Mans Ultimate on release or are you holding off for a while? Let us know on Twitter @OverTake_gg or in the comments below!
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About author
Yannik Haustein
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

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Comments

Dethrone1427
They gotta sort that "Toyota" sound out. Sounds like they just lifted the Ferrari sound. The Toyota hybrid system isn't so pronounced and has a lot deeper engine note. Having said all that I will be buying tomo as I can't wait for this focused (for once!) racing title. I think it's gonna be a future classic.
 
Peter Kerényi
Good to know!

Answering the question about at the end of the post, if the initial feedback isn't very negative during the 1-2 hours between release and me getting home from work, I will get it day one. Steam refund also exists (recently bought and successfully refunded WRC due to technical issues with AMD GPUs), so there's little risk.
 
TheBigHase
No offense(!) but pls God let AC finally have rolling start /SC and this game isn't even needed. Same graphics and nothing spectacular I don't see in AC or mods already. Don't mean to sound harsh and I do appreciate the efforts as I always do, but do you guys think this game is really needed that much!? How about Nürburgring 24h next - would be my suggestion.
 
D

  • Deleted member 526227

TheBigHase said:
No offense(!) but pls God let AC finally have rolling start /SC and this game isn't even needed. Same graphics and nothing spectacular I don't see in AC or mods already. Don't mean to sound harsh and I do appreciate the efforts as I always do, but do you guys think this game is really needed that much!? How about Nürburgring 24h next - would be my suggestion.
Click to expand...

Thx for this huge contribution to the topic.

Now to the topic: 22h 46min left :)
 
N
TheBigHase said:
No offense(!) but pls God let AC finally have rolling start /SC and this game isn't even needed. Same graphics and nothing spectacular I don't see in AC or mods already. Don't mean to sound harsh and I do appreciate the efforts as I always do, but do you guys think this game is really needed that much!? How about Nürburgring 24h next - would be my suggestion.
Click to expand...
I would be nice to have these things in AC, but I doubt they'd be possible without some kind of "hack". There are already rolling starts but the race time starts before the green flag. Same thing with driver swaps, it works but it's a hack. It's not done in the proper way. Or I could mention livery selection. And choosing a car in replays. AC has lots of problems, it's not perfect.
I don't see why people ignore these issues. Maybe they just got used to them. AC is great and the modding possibilities are great but we need to go forward in sim racing and make some progress. It's all becoming a bit too stale.
Edit, forgot to say the main point: I for one welcome new games! Otherwise, sim racing dies.
 
Last edited:
T
TheBigHase said:
No offense(!) but pls God let AC finally have rolling start /SC and this game isn't even needed. Same graphics and nothing spectacular I don't see in AC or mods already. Don't mean to sound harsh and I do appreciate the efforts as I always do, but do you guys think this game is really needed that much!? How about Nürburgring 24h next - would be my suggestion.
Click to expand...
I think LMU will offer more out of the box to make it the worthwhile experience and the go to sim for WEC racing as much as ACC is the go to sim for GT3 racing or AMS2 the go to sim for historic content or just the Brazilian Stockcar V8 series. For me rF2 is the best current platform when it comes to creating the Le Mans experience in terms of visuals, sound, physics, track and car quality, FCY or SC or the AI just being competent enough at multiclass racing. One thing that allways lacked in rF2 though was a proper hybrid system so it's great that I won't have to rely on workarounds to get a nice offline race with all 62 cars in consistent quality. And I won't have to go lurking on forums to find the right skins for the series. I just hop into the game and I am ready to go. That alone is a very big plus in my book and reason enough. I don't understand why people limit themself so much to just one product. Take each product for what it does best and you will get the most out of our simracing time. ;)
 
Antonio Castagna
TheBigHase said:
No offense(!) but pls God let AC finally have rolling start /SC and this game isn't even needed. Same graphics and nothing spectacular I don't see in AC or mods already. Don't mean to sound harsh and I do appreciate the efforts as I always do, but do you guys think this game is really needed that much!? How about Nürburgring 24h next - would be my suggestion.
Click to expand...
This sim was created exclusively to repair the messes that were made with the previous editions of the Virtual Le Mans, as well as to exploit the license itself, complete with WEC. Throw in the hype that has been created around it since Ferrari returned to the premier class, you will understand that MG and S397 are trying to exploit everything to recover from the economic disaster they have suffered and therefore return to a sort of normality. Obviously all this was necessary? No, it could easily be implemented on rF2 and be put like the many DLCs that are already there, but you can't put 'the official WEC game' on a sim that already has 11 years on its back at the end of next month (March 2024) , we might as well do like Kunos who made ACC precisely to be 'the official gt world challenge game', what was once the Blancpain GT Series.
 
Cote Dazur
Just a few more hours, exiting!
Looking forward to see and hear the first video preview.
Hoping it is going to add a great alternative to my already rich hobby.
 
Tigerteeth
TheBigHase said:
No offense(!) but pls God let AC finally have rolling start /SC and this game isn't even needed. Same graphics and nothing spectacular I don't see in AC or mods already. Don't mean to sound harsh and I do appreciate the efforts as I always do, but do you guys think this game is really needed that much!? How about Nürburgring 24h next - would be my suggestion.
Click to expand...
Any officially licensed game has a massive amount of sales compared to a title that has been modded with unlicensed content. Look at the F1 and WRC games for example, they often provide a good return to those who bring them to market. It was just a matter of time until someone secured the WEC license after the rapid success of the series recently.

I have modded AC within an inch of it's life with mods, tracks and weather plans to recreate various championships (cheers modders!), but I'll be picking up LMU early as it's nice sometimes to have a sim that's been officially endorsed.

I think the price is reasonable as well for something worth taking a chance on.

More choice is always a good thing.

Edit - Antonio kinda made my point already :)
 
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Johnr777
TheBigHase said:
Thx for your useful comment on mine. Kiddo do you wanna tell me what to think or write or so!? Do you have a problem with comments that maybe are not your opinion whatsoever!? There you go- so don't even try.
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He is not wrong, there is zero effort on your part to even get remotely close to the topic. Why would any studio develop or not develop a game based on whatever mod is available for AC?

There’s maybe 2-3 good current hybrid cars, no good version of Lemans, Sebring, Fuji or Bahrain. Ridiculous AI…

I will look forward to give this one a go, it could properly fill one of my “wants” since Test Drive Lemans
 
Badwheels
Looking at the list of representative cities on the list, what the hell is Austin doing there ? Uh........Chicago maybe for the US.
 
Kevin Troschinski
Personally i don´t get all the trouble around it.

I will buy it anyway, because:

1) I do not drive rF2 as it does never picked me up as Singleplayer, so i see a great chance here to play finally a rF2-physics based game, which actually can offer me something more.
However i a am negativly suprised they did not manage to bring a championship mode so far.
This could be the no-buy dagger, but here comes reason 2:

2) When i visit a well-known fastfood restaurant with my kids i have to spend more money as they ask for the game.
So as a sim-racer there is absolutely no reason not to buy it. Even in case it will take longer to get a 100% ready game.

3) Yes several games has the tracks and cars, where we can try to simulate the WEC, but as mentioned above there is no full package so far.
 
SharkVA
TheBigHase said:
No offense(!) but pls God let AC finally have rolling start /SC and this game isn't even needed. Same graphics and nothing spectacular I don't see in AC or mods already. Don't mean to sound harsh and I do appreciate the efforts as I always do, but do you guys think this game is really needed that much!? How about Nürburgring 24h next - would be my suggestion.
Click to expand...
Honest and respectful question, have you spent any time in rF2? Aside from car models, there's a world of difference between AC, rF2 and assumably LMU. From racing AI, to multiplayer, to tire models, to underlying systems. There's ample room for all of them in the market and despite the staggering amount of work done by mod makers for AC, it leaves plenty to be desired and improved upon.
 
Kevin Troschinski
Kevin Troschinski said:
So as a sim-racer there is absolutely no reason not to buy it.
Click to expand...
EDIT : I have to quote myself here:D

Of yourse only from my personal perspective. They are parts in the world where the price is worth lot more than one fastfood meal. And where people must think twice about spending money.
Or if you obviously dislike modern prototype cars, or just generally hate rFactor2 - are reasons not to get it.....
 

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