The WEC season is almost over, but Le Mans Ultimate is shifting up a gear: The September update is here, adding new features, completing the Hypercar grid, and more.
Images: Studio 397
Just one more race remains on the World Endurance Championship calendar - the title battle will be decided at the 8 Hours of Bahrain on November 2, 2024. The official game of the series, meanwhile, is only getting started: Le Mans Ultimate has released its big September update alongside the second DLC pack, which completes the 2024 Hypercar grid.
Le Mans Ultimate DLC 2 Content
The DLC, which will set sim racers back £9.99 / €11.99 / $12.99, adds the Alpine A424 and the underdog Isotta Fraschini Tipo 6 Hypercars, as well as a new location - Circuit of the Americas. The Texas track brings the circuit count in LMU up to nine, with two more still to come to complete the 2024 calendar, those being Lusail and Interlagos. The DLC pack is available now.Additionally, a number of new liveries for some of the Hypercars and the LMP2 grid are part of the update as well - for everyone, not just those who purchased the DLC.
Alpine A424
Arguably one of the best-looking cars on the Hypercar grid (although beauty is always in the eye of the beholder), the Alpine A424's striking looks debut in LMU with the September update. The car also has its trademark sound on board, produced by its turbo V6 derived from the Mecachrome Formula 2 engine. As a result, we could see the A424 become a fan favorite - to an extent.While the car is pleasant to drive, it was a bit off the pace compared to the front of the grid in our test sessions - which seems accurate when looking at the real WEC season so far. Most recently, Alpine celebrated its first podium in the series, scoring a third-place finish in the 6 Hours of Fuji with the #36 car driven by Nicolas Lapierre, Mick Schumacher and Matthieu Vaxivière.
Isotta Fraschini Tipo 6
Truly a David vs. Goliath effort, the tiny Isotta Fraschini outfit decided to take on the mighty works teams like Toyota, Ferrari or Porsche in WEC with its own Hypercar - and to LMH specs, even, not with an LMDh car that has a number of spec parts. Unfortunately, the car was pulled from competition ahead of the Lone Star Le Mans round at COTA and will not see action in the 2024 WEC season anymore.Despite the car often being at the tail end of the Hypercar grid, the car at least managed to finish the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 14th - unlike several competitors that all had to retire from mechanical issues, including both Alpines.
Studio 397 went behind the scenes with Isotta Fraschini and the Duqueine team at Le Mans, highlighting the Hypercar squad's passionate effort despite its budget constraints. The mini documentary is titled 'La Sfida - The Challenge' - and honestly, it makes us miss the Italian prototype on the grid even more.
The LMU representation of the Isotta Fraschini is not as slow as you would expect from its competition history, but it is certainly a bit trickier to drive than the Alpine. We found it to be rather adventurous through high-speed corners in particular in which it tended to become rather nervous. It was fun to drive in a way, but over the course of an endurance race, it might be difficult to keep up.
Circuit of the Americas
The latest venue for LMU is a welcome addition for some, but a circuit that others just cannot get along with - COTA is a track that sim racers either love or hate, as a recent community question on OverTake also showed.Regardless of where you stand, there is no denying that the US-based track has been recreated very well, just like Imola when it joined the sim's circuit lineup back in July. Its layout may be a pain for some to learn, but those who love the track already should feel right at home.
The only thing that should receive another look, in our opinion, is how the AI behaves near pit entry and exit. When we tested the new content, we were often ignored by AI drivers who were already on the track when we exited the pits - they just went to the apex anyway and clattered into our car more than once.
Conversely, we went to pass a GTE Ferrari on the left right before the final turn, which is where pit entry is - and which is where said Ferrari abruptly decided that it wanted to pit and crashed right into our car as we were alongside. Then again, GT cars and prototypes tangling is not exactly rare in real life, either - see the example below, although that was largely the result of Earl Bamber's impatience to find the gap.
Which track could be next? We will have to wait and see. As Motorsport Games CEO Stephen Hood told OverTake, the WEC license does not automatically come with all the track licenses. This means MSG has to negotiate them with the individual tracks - albeit with the FIA on their side of the table, which helps matters, according to Hood.
New Features
Of course, new content is not all that comes with the latest Le Mans Ultimate update. In fact, two new features in particular should catch the attention of sim racers.Co-op Mode (Asynchronous Multiplayer)
Thus far, Le Mans Ultimate had not been a title that allowed you to play with friends unless online matchmaking mercifully put you in the same lobby. While this has not changed, the new co-op mode, or asynchronous multiplayer, enables racers to tackle endurance events together on their own time.Players take part in race events (pre-set ones for now, similar to the online events), do one or more stints, and then pass the race to friends for them to continue it when they have time. That way, you can even do 24-hour races without having to block a weekend. All team members can choose their own difficulty, which means that even if your first driver schooled the AI at the highest difficulty level, the others do not have to fear dropping back immediately once they take over.
The mode also features a leaderboard as teams will accumulate points for race positions, overtakes and clean racing.
Mid-race saves
For those who want to take on the challenge alone, the new mid-race save feature is their best friend. It allows you to do full race distances, but not all at once - simply head to the pits, save your progress and pick up the race again later.In singleplayer races, the game will now pause when pitting, too. You will not have to fiddle with the pit strategy menu while out on track anymore to have everything set up - you still can, of course, but you can also choose your next set of tires, fuel load and aero adjustments without time pressure once you pull into your pit stall.
Other Updates
Several smaller adjustments make life easier in LMU now, too. The reworked car selection screen makes things a lot more structured while also noting which livery was run at which race - a neat detail to select track-specific paint schemes for your car. Players can also switch between 2023 and 2024 grids now, although the 2024 field will still have GTE cars on track until the first LMGT3 cars are added to LMU.VR racers, meanwhile, will be happy to see improvements to the "hidden" VR function, as virtual reality is not officially supported yet. LMU's HUD and UI should now work in this mode, as well as MSAA.
You can find the full changelog below.
Le Mans Ultimate September Update Changelog
What are your thoughts on the Le Mans Ultimate September Update? Let us know in the comments below and join the discussion in our LMU forum!
