Le Mans Ultimate Online Subscriptions Expected To Arrive In December 2024

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Ahead of the expected December update to Le Mans Ultimate, Motorsport Games reported its Q3 earnings, hinting at the future of the company - and subscription services within LMU to be expected next month.

UPDATED NOVEMBER 15, 2024, 10:12 UTC

Before 2024 reaches its conclusion, Le Mans Ultimate is due another update that will also introduce the first batch of LMGT3 cars to the sim. That should not be the only addition of note, however: In publisher Motorsport Games' Q3 2024 earnings call, company CEO Stephen Hood mentioned that subscription services for the online system in LMU and rFactor 2, called RaceControl, "should go live next month".

That does not mean that the entire online experience will be subscription-based, however. Instead, it will focus on Online Championships - hosted servers for leagues and similar uses will not be part of the subscription model, however, as Studio 397 told OverTake. More details on the December update and the implementations of online subscriptions are set to follow soon.

For MSG, the model is supposed to become an additional revenue stream while keeping the core online elements free for players. While the company continued not to turn a profit in Q3 of 2024, it did substantially decrease its losses compared to the previous quartes of this year. For the period between April and June, the company reported a net loss of $3,563,507, which is down to just $9,827. This is a result of the ongoing restructuring measures in the company that included reduction of its workforce by about 40%.

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Image: Motorsport Games

CEO Hood Remains "Upbeat"​

While this does not eliminate the fact that "the Company does not believe it has sufficient cash on hand to fund its operations over the next year", according to the press release relating to the financial release. As of October 2024, Motorsport Games is looking for an investor or buyer to continue work on Le Mans Ultimate past the two updates that are yet to be delivered.

Nonetheless, Hood's outlook remains positive, as he underscored in the earnings call: "I am upbeat about the future of the studio and its technology. We have shown that a united and focused team of passionate, talented individuals can defy the odds and transform our organization into the forward-thinking games company we were always meant to be."

Part of this optimisim is also the partnership with Kindred Concepts, the creators of F1 Arcade. A fourth venue has recently opened in Washington, D.C., providing MSG with additional licensing revenue as the simulator-equipped bars run software based on rFactor 2. Another US venue is planned to open in Denver, Colorado in 2025, according to Racer.com.

What are your hopes for the future of Le Mans Ultimate? Let us know in the comments below and join the discussion in our LMU forum!
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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

pz666
Hood has done a great job of restructuring the bloated mess that was MSGS...

Now he has the long road or the short road...

Long is to rebuild their reputation after years of flailing in the industry with gobbling up licenses and not doing anything but releasing shovelware if they did anything at all...

Short is to sell it off so it's someone else's issue...
 
Jimmi Allison
OverTake
Premium
One can fear, that they will not support dedicated servers (on our own server) to simply get revenue through the same (wonky) system they did for rF2. No real control and no way to restart anything if somethign goes down. Sure iRacing does the same, but is also proven to be a tad more reliable :)
I hope that is not the case, but in reality it could get rid of some of the bad publicity rf2 had around servers (some claiming it was too hard to setup a server).
Regardless - these cars will probably be another good looking release for the engine for sure.
 
T
it's cool, but the AI and offline training is the best use for me ;) ! It doesnt't change my lap times, AI or humans ;), and I add the AI in LMU is so cool, they fight each other so much, some room improvements for sure, but probably my best experience, combined with physics and FFB, it's pure art !
 
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Botmeister
Good to see that casual online play remains free of charge. I wouldn't have taken a subscription if it would've been mandatory for online play.
 
Botmeister
Frederick Alonso said:
I'm bored of the negativity around simulators in general. The devs are all doing amazing work for many sim racers. Usually, we only see negative people while the positive ones just don't say much as there is no reason for it.

Keep going. It's the best era ever for Sim Racers ;)
Click to expand...
  • pz666 says: "Hood has done a great job of restructuring...."
  • Jimmi Allison says: "I hope that is not the case, but in reality it could get rid of some of the bad publicity rf2 had around servers...."
  • TeddyBearx says: "it's cool, but the AI and offline training is the best use for me....'
  • Me says: "Good to see that casual online play remains free of charge. I wouldn't have taken a subscription if...."

Everybody who posted before you was not negative. We merely shared opinions about some personal preferences. Which should be fine, right? Did you perhaps built up some perception because of too many negative replies in the past? Because often you would've been right, but I don't get it in this case.
 
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G
What are your hopes for the future of Le Mans Ultimate?

I hope that the VR visuals become as good as Automobilista 2. The shadows under the cars are missing, the game looks very flat, it looks like ambient occlusion is missing. The mirrors are not in the same level as Automobilista 2. The camera/head movement feels worse. So I hope that these subjects could be improved.
 
Yannik Haustein
OverTake
Premium
gamma123152 said:
What are your hopes for the future of Le Mans Ultimate?

I hope that the VR visuals become as good as Automobilista 2. The shadows under the cars are missing, the game looks very flat, it looks like ambient occlusion is missing. The mirrors are not in the same level as Automobilista 2. The camera/head movement feels worse. So I hope that these subjects could be improved.
Click to expand...
That I would love to see as well. The GTP/LMDh cars in AMS2 and iRacing are excellent fun in VR, and it would be great if LMU's VR mode reached those same heights once it gets added in properly. Looking forward to be in that 9X8 cockpit in 3D and everything :D
 
M
Premium
gamma123152 said:
What are your hopes for the future of Le Mans Ultimate?

I hope that the VR visuals become as good as Automobilista 2. The shadows under the cars are missing, the game looks very flat, it looks like ambient occlusion is missing. The mirrors are not in the same level as Automobilista 2. The camera/head movement feels worse. So I hope that these subjects could be improved.
Click to expand...
Totally agree on this. If they could fix these aspects the VR would be excellent.
 
R
Many announcements and opinion articles on Overtake lately whereas Pista Motorsport's latest patch has been released (with new content, wheel support, FFB improvements...). Is there any satisfying improvment ? Are the new cars any good ? Is the team following the announxed roadmap ? It is not that I iam against opinion articles, it is a way to interact with the community and to keep publishing (that's the rule of social media and entertainment unfortunately) but skipping news about something real, actually existing in the simracing world, is disappointing.

Whatever is the obscure story around Pista M, the devs deserve some attention, especially compared to MSG and its record of BS and bad practices. Don't worry, LMU has its fanbase which have probably already read these news before being published on OT. Now that MSG is nothing more than a rebranded S397 (with probably a few too costly now unrelevant positions), with its fanbase, it will be fine. Maybe helping a small unknown team, with ambition (with features other titles don't offer although in early development stage) should be a priority ?

Nothing against LMU and MSG, don't get me wrong, I'm glad the title still exists and evolves. Nothing against these paid online services if they don't split the community. At worst, it will be like rfactor2, MSG will go backwards, nothing definitive.
 
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Havner
Jimmi Allison said:
One can fear, that they will not support dedicated servers (on our own server) to simply get revenue through the same (wonky) system they did for rF2. No real control and no way to restart anything if somethign goes down. Sure iRacing does the same, but is also proven to be a tad more reliable :)
Click to expand...
The day they announced "private hosted servers" was the moment it became pretty clear they don't intend to release a dedicated server software. Some people assumed that those private servers are exactly that, a way to host their own servers, but in terms of rF2 and race control "private hosted servers" are servers hosted by S397 that you pay by the minute.

Now they announce the subscription is coming and say that those private servers are not part of that. Which only means that you pay separately for both (not that you can host your own outside of subscription). So you have a subscription for something yet unannounced and private hosted servers that you pay by the minute.

I hope I'm wrong, I really do. But I highly doubt that.
 
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Rot Teufel
pz666 said:
Hood has done a great job of restructuring the bloated mess that was MSGS...

Now he has the long road or the short road...

Long is to rebuild their reputation after years of flailing in the industry with gobbling up licenses and not doing anything but releasing shovelware if they did anything at all...

Short is to sell it off so it's someone else's issue...
Click to expand...
main problem is Dmitry Kozko is still responsable for found rising MSG, wich leaves some doubts about the economical situation of the company on long term.
From the other side, Hood has at least more knowledge how a videogame company works and maybe can turn Kokzo more on the reason side (wich was never on the long term even on parent company Motorsport.com).
Said that, better discount on all rF2 packs (more than 50%) and a small cut on LMU could maybe help a bit to boost sales.
 
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