Le Mans Ultimate: "The Second Stint" Details Free June Update

BMW Hypercar.jpg
BMW M-Hybrid V8. Images: Studio 397 / Motorsport Games
Studio 397 and Motorsport Games have a free update for Le Mans Ultimate up their sleeves ahead of the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Now, they have given more details on what to expect.

From a new hypercar to in-game replay modes and a radar tool - the Le Mans Ultimate update set for June 10 is shaping up to be quite spectacular.

Le Mans Ultimate New Content​

The major headline of the new update are the arrival of the BMW M Hybrid V8 Hypercar - and the full roster of 2024 Hypercar liveries to accompany it. The lack of these 2024 liveries has been a community bugbear since LMU released and, finally, in the month of Le Mans, they can look forward to the 2024 chariots. The addition of the BMW as free content is a nice touch, too.

Following the arrival of the 2024 liveries for existing Hypercars, the first of the 2024 paid DLC packs is expected to launch next month. The pack will include Imola (Autodromo Internazionale Enzo e Dino Ferrari and further content to be announced closer to the pack's release date.

The 2024 content will be split across four individual packs, including the July drop. These will all be bundled together to create the 2024 Season Pass. In total, it will include a further four Hypercars, four new circuits and seven GT3 cars.

GR010 - Black.jpg

Toyota GR010.

Two free GT3 cars will find their way into all early-access players' accounts towards the end of this calendar year as well, completing the GT grid. Once these packs are released, all the current cars across all the classes in the WEC will be present and correct in LMU - although cars like the Peugeot 9X8 would also need an overhaul to reflect the off-season changes to the cars during the off-season.

In-Game Updates​

Alongside the new BMW Hypercar and the 2024 liveries is the much-called-for revision of race starts and the addition of an optional Radar. These updates are quality-of-life changes predominantly, but these two changes will likely make monumental differences to how players, new and experienced, will be able to enjoy LMU going forward.

Used to help improve awareness whilst racing – the radar enables you to see where opponents are when running wheel-to-wheel, helping situational and spatial awareness in the heat of the moment. This tool will be available in both online and offline modes.

Yellow 499p.jpg

AF Corse Ferrari 499P.

The revised race starts will balance the penalty system in a much more accurate way. Communication with players will also be improved in the pre-race phase to make sure everyone knows exactly what the protocol is to try and have a clean race start, especially on formation laps.

A feature that many expected from the start also makes its way into the update: a proper in-game replay mode. Looking back at your race will now be possible with in-game Replays, enabling you to rewind your past online and offline wins and losses. Driver Labels that can be toggled on and off have also been added in conjunction with the in-game replay mode.

Those of you lucky enough to be at Le Mans this year will be able to test and experience these cars for free at the LMU booth from the 11th of June. Multiple special events will also be held throughout the Le Mans event.

Le Mans Pitlane.jpg

Le Mans Pitlane.

What do you think about Le Mans Ultimate's newest update? Are you excited about the new Hypercars in the future? Let us know on X @OverTake_gg or down in the comments below!
About author
Connor Minniss
Website Content Editor & Motorsport Photographer aiming to bring you the best of the best within the world of sim racing.

Comments

How would you define a "complete WEC game"?
2025 there will be different liveries and perhaps new manufacturers and almost certainly new versions of the 2024 cars.

25 years ago I was using Windows NT 3.51.
Today I'm still using Windows 10 and before that Windows 8
Volkswagen are currently on the eighth generation of the Golf.
If you wait for something to be complete you'll never buy it.
If I can play the current year's cars in a championship offline and it works. It's not exactly rocket science is it. Put it in a box and give me the price. All this shaming for wanting this modest package without holding me to ransom with DLC, subscriptions or lack of transparency about the roadmap. What exactly is negative about this expectation. All I hear is, 'sit still cow, stop whining while they milk you.'
 
Premium
If you want the "current season" to make it a complete game then I suspect that it will only reach that state at the end of 2024. 2025 will see a whole new set of liveries and teams that will need to be updated.
The current early access LMU is based around the 2023 season, of course.

Don't forget that S397 have the task of creating multiple liveries for each car.
United Motorsports car 59 has four different liveries in 2024 as does car 95, whereas Inception Racing car 70 has just one.
 
This is coming along nicely... Some things to be left begging for, but for something not even out of year one it's very promising as it moves into the second stint...

It also appears the new MSGS/S397 is actually listening to it's fans and it's critics... Which is a major boon for WEC fans wanting a good game...
 
What's premature about announcing something that was announced before release? Who came up with the idea that there wouldn't be DLCs? And if you have watched the video carefully you might have noticed that you don't need to own all DLC cars to race gainst them. It's actually very simple: if you think that the game is good enough for you you buy the DLC, if not you simply wait. Nobody is forcing anyone. And people who like a bit more variation get more stuff to play with. Easy as it get's. And what does it matter if the content is released now or later. Should they wait and sit on it? They can release the stuff and test it as soon as possible.
I don’t think my post was all that negative, I am just pointing out that it’s a little strange to announce *four* DLC packs when the game is still far from finished. That’s all. I like LMU but I don’t play it that often because it still feels incomplete in many aspects.

When the DLCs are released, I will definitely consider buying them, depending on a) price and b) state of the base game.
 
Again depends on personal preference to offline /online for me.
Where the player base is should get the most attention but seems paid servers takes precedence.
Been running full offline races for couple weeks moving up from 1, 2 hour races.
Honestly everything is pretty good, better then rF2 hands down in a few areas.

OFFLiNE:
AI control back and saved progress and AI driver swaps would do me, need nothing else.

Things I would like is a whole different story.

Like free roam, can't drive through any gaps anywhere acts like arcade.

You can't park anywhere and press ESC to garage ( you need to start race as driver , dumb ) without constant yellow, good thing is in LMU the other cars don't slow just don't pass each other. In rF2 this caused accidents as AI slowed too much and caused concertina effect.

Championship and Career would be bonus but looking at current figures how do they pay for that when everyone won't support them, like people get refund saying not recommended, fix this and that and might buy it is not supporting them.
 
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I must say that I have not tried this sim game yet. Reading through all the whining and complaining, We are talking about Rfactor2 (studio 397) to date nothing comes close to the feeling of driving a car on a track with (ffb) So I'm going to support them. How much does a beer cost and a fun evening with girls... ;)you can complain about anything. nice things can cost quite a bit. I come from the old sim racing era.
 
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You might be suprised but the radar is the most requested feature in the wishlist section. Next to 2024 DLC wich will come - surprise, suprise - and VR, wich have been the hot topics on discord. So what are you raging about? That they fullfill user requests? That a feature that is present in the two most played sim racing titles get's requested by people who come from those titles and that they follow those requests? What's the purpose of the request section then?

And don't get me wrong, I hate the radar with passion but I have come to the conclusion that the world isn't spinning around me. ;)
I would think that for an Endurance focused title.. driver swaps would be part of the core, thats my main gripe... that tegether with the fact that with a 13900K and a 4090 the performance in UI and game itself is ridiculous low ... but hey.. i guess the radar is the **** ... :/
 
Premium
Considering they have not addressed UI yet and still failed to address with this release update I'm guessing this will never be fixed. Most likely it's a limitation of the technology they have chosen and one has to assume they have zero control over it and now they are stuck with it. Such as shame as the game has so much potential. If you manage to get past the UI it actually drivers great.
Regarding the DLC, having a season pass is a good idea ...but for me it's a pass till the UI issue is fixed.
 
A feature that many expected from the start also makes its way into the update: a proper in-game replay mode.
"Here's an idea, let's re-release rF2, but as early access. We’ll give it a new name and disable features like VR and replays. In a couple of months, we can re-enable those features and call it an update. It'll make the punters think we're doing something other than just releasing content."
 
The non responsive UI is the single reason I don't play this game. From what I understands it mainly affects users on W11.
I have a 12 Gen Intel cpu and an AMD 6700 XT vidcard. There is a slight pause of the UI before the animation changes to the proper screen. I'd guess about 1 second or less. Couldn't be more unconcerned. The track loading, however, feels more like the original rF2 loading times. Oh, and W11 x64 home @1440p.
fingers crossed, no crashes yet, well there are driver caused on-track crashes, but no lockup from the sim. Running as intended.
 
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I would think that for an Endurance focused title.. driver swaps would be part of the core, thats my main gripe... that tegether with the fact that with a 13900K and a 4090 the performance in UI and game itself is ridiculous low ... but hey.. i guess the radar is the **** ... :/
ACC is an Endurance focused title aswell and that title didn't recieve driver swaps, let alone a working MP several months after release and noone had an issue with that. Content was dripfed into that title eventhough people had payed similar amounts as they did for LMU. Driver swaps are coming for sure, but as with other features that worked in rF2 and aren't in LMU yet, it will most likely recieve an update and a proper UI integration to make the experience smoother. And regarding your performance issues I can only say that I understand the frustration, but given the fact the title runs very smooth on my 6700K and my 1070 at reasonable settings at 1080p shows that it is most likely a very specific issue that you are having. Have you sent your performance logs to the devs? A friend of mine has a much better config than me but he has more issues than me aswell.
 
If you want the "current season" to make it a complete game then I suspect that it will only reach that state at the end of 2024. 2025 will see a whole new set of liveries and teams that will need to be updated.
The current early access LMU is based around the 2023 season, of course.

Don't forget that S397 have the task of creating multiple liveries for each car.
United Motorsports car 59 has four different liveries in 2024 as does car 95, whereas Inception Racing car 70 has just one.
Fair enough, the previous season line up is fine with me. So what about the other aspects I mentioned? Offline full championship, the season without buying additional DLC cars and tracks, without a subscription? A working game with basic race implementation?
Why is this unacceptable? It's not whining. This is 'Le Mans Ultimate'. Mt favorite series, the reason for my annoyance is that I want to buy the Le Mans series with these basic features and I'm on forums arguing for what anyone should consider the basic package. I'm sick of being held to ransom by these companies. These things are important and need to be addressed as it's getting worse across the industry.
 
I don't mean to be negative, I want a complete WEC game! What do you predict will be the complete cost for the complete game?
I couldn't tell you exactly, but how much did iRacing or rFactor2 with all the contents cost today? I don't think so cheap and even today they release content regularly like Automobilista 2 etc... I don't understand what the problem is with paid content, for other games it's all ok if it's LMU is not good! That's all boy... :thumbsup: :thumbsup:
 
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I really don't understand people who complain.
Let's have a look at what we get :
  • Amazing innovative features (like radar and replay mode - still no offline session save though, which means no ability to run 24H unless you leave your machine on forverer).
  • ONE Hypercar and a couple deliveries (there are dozens deliveries made by amateur here posted daily).
  • TWO GT3 cars by end of the year (based on track record from this dev, most likely end of Q1 2025).
Let's have a look as to why people may be complaining :
  • We are getting a paid season pass in early access, we all love that, as it almost always mean that existing content will never be fixed.
  • Bugs that were reported (and plaguing rF2 as well) are not resolved.
  • No improvment on graphical fidelity, just look at that BMW trailer, it's pathetic for 2024 (I asked the devs on their forum about it - response : the engine is "old").
  • No sign of ever fixing the audio balance on some cars (meaning the Aston GTE will always have the engine sitting on the passenger seat, ridiculous, how hard is it to fix that over the last 3 months ?).
  • Lots of QoL feature are just looked over. For example a very basic one : where is the ability to adjust freely the camera in 2024 ? I can't play some cars due to the inability to adjust the view, how is that going to be for paid content ?
  • No information on how multiplayer will be monetized.
And I honestly don't have the motivation to go browse all my bug reports on their forum (posted over 20+ just in February) and test them as I write this down.

Sure no reason to complain, you're right. :whistling:
 
Let's have a look at what we get :
  • Amazing innovative features (like radar and replay mode - still no offline session save though, which means no ability to run 24H unless you leave your machine on forverer).
  • ONE Hypercar and a couple deliveries (there are dozens deliveries made by amateur here posted daily).
  • TWO GT3 cars by end of the year (based on track record from this dev, most likely end of Q1 2025).
Let's have a look as to why people may be complaining :
  • We are getting a paid season pass in early access, we all love that, as it almost always mean that existing content will never be fixed.
  • Bugs that were reported (and plaguing rF2 as well) are not resolved.
  • No improvment on graphical fidelity, just look at that BMW trailer, it's pathetic for 2024 (I asked the devs on their forum about it - response : the engine is "old").
  • No sign of ever fixing the audio balance on some cars (meaning the Aston GTE will always have the engine sitting on the passenger seat, ridiculous, how hard is it to fix that over the last 3 months ?).
  • Lots of QoL feature are just looked over. For example a very basic one : where is the ability to adjust freely the camera in 2024 ? I can't play some cars due to the inability to adjust the view, how is that going to be for paid content ?
  • No information on how multiplayer will be monetized.
And I honestly don't have the motivation to go browse all my bug reports on their forum (posted over 20+ just in February) and test them as I write this down.

Sure no reason to complain, you're right. :whistling:
Wow practically the same complaints and problems that there were at the time with rFactor2 or Assetto Corsa (the update to the car audio with the latter came practically halfway through the game's life...). Yet afterwards they were the two most downloaded and used games ever! I understand the complaints and it's right that there are, but let's have a little faith, the game is new on the market, it just takes patience and that's it.
 
correct. unfortunately a lot of spoiled children complaining here. It seems to be normal these days. How are you in daily life, do you complain so much? :roflmao:

just enjoy life is short!!!
 
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