Speed and Length: A Guide to Time Scaling Endurance Races

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Time Scaled Endurance Races Guide.jpg
Image: Reiza Studios
Fancy racing a 24 Hour race but don't have the time for it? Here is your guide to the best time acceleration and race lengths you need to run accurate endurance races.

Automobilista 2, iRacing, Le Mans Ultimate, Assetto Corsa Competizione, and many more. Sim racing in 2024 loves a game that enables endurance racing. Sportscar content is rushing its way into titles and many new releases even focus on the discipline.

But seeing races last up to a full day in length, running one's own endurance race, especially offline, can be a daunting process. Mid-race saving in certain games definitely helps reach the end of a mammoth duration, but gaming has a special feature allowing players to speed up time. Yes, you can technically drive for just a minute all whilst witnessing every second of a title's day-night cycle.

But numbers and maths are not something many will want to tackle when setting up a single player session, so we are here to help. In this guide, you will find every race duration possible to the full minute with its associated time progression acceleration value for all major endurance race lengths run in the real world.

There are many different race lengths to complete in endurance racing.

There are many different race lengths to complete in endurance racing. Image: FIA WEC PressSite

Time-Scaled 24-Hour Races​

The 24-hour race distance is no doubt the Holy Grail of endurance racing. Le Mans, Daytona, Nürburgring and Spa are certainly some of the most famous events on the annual calendar and some that drivers dream of one day winning.

But there is a reason for the full-day's infamy - it takes a full day to complete. In the real world, this means swapping between a multiple drivers. But when racing offline, chances are you will not have a pair of buddies waiting in the garage. So to run your own Le Mans 24 Hours, we would recommend speeding up the process in-game with Time Acceleration.
  • 2X Time Acceleration for 12 Hours
  • 3X Time Acceleration for 8 Hours
  • 4X Time Acceleration for 6 Hours
  • 5X Time Acceleration for 4 Hours, 48 Minutes
  • 6X Time Acceleration for 4 Hours
  • 8X Time Acceleration for 3 Hours
  • 10X Time Acceleration for 2 Hours, 24 Minutes
  • 12X Time Acceleration for 2 Hours
  • 15X Time Acceleration for 1 Hour, 36 Minutes
  • 16X Time Acceleration for 1 Hour, 30 Minutes
  • 18X Time Acceleration for 1 Hour, 20 Minutes
  • 20X Time Acceleration for 1 Hour, 12 Minutes
  • 24X Time Acceleration for 1 Hour
  • 30X Time Acceleration for 48 Minutes
  • 60X Time Acceleration for 24 Minutes

In many games, your race distance to the minute is difficult, bordering on the impossible depending on their UI system. In this case, opting for a full-hour like the 3-hour at 8X Time Progression may well be the best route for an intense yet reasonable race length.

Manageable 12-Hour Enduros​

If the 24-hour race is infamous among sportscar enthusiasts, the 12-hour distance is not far behind. Sebring's 12 Hours and the Bathurst 12 are wicked events that always offer up some of the best racing of the year. But yet again, completing a 12-hour race solo is quite the task. Here are all the durations and time progressions you need.
  • 2X Time Acceleration for 6 Hours
  • 3X Time Acceleration for 4 Hours
  • 4X Time Acceleration for 3 Hours
  • 5X Time Acceleration for 2 Hours, 24 Minutes
  • 6X Time Acceleration for 2 Hours
  • 8X Time Acceleration for 1 Hour, 30 Minutes
  • 9X Time Acceleration for 1 Hour, 20 Minutes
  • 10X Time Acceleration for 1 Hour, 12 Minutes
  • 12X Time Acceleration for 1 Hour
  • 15X Time Acceleration for 48 Minutes
  • 16X Time Acceleration for 45 Minutes
  • 18X Time Acceleration for 40 Minutes
  • 20X Time Acceleration for 36 Minutes
  • 30X Time Acceleration for 24 Minutes
  • 60X Time Acceleration for 12 Minutes

Whilst a race ending on the hour is pleasing to those bugged by numbers, endurance racing is all about strategy. As most car classes will last pretty much an hour per stint, setting a strange race distance such as the 2 hours and 24 minutes of 5X Acceleration will make for a more complex and entertaining finish, forcing you to think throughout the race.

10-Hour Races With Time Acceleration​

The 10-hour race distance is perhaps one of the least common on the worldwide stage. In general practice, series use the duration to match up with certain distances. For example, the FIA World Endurance Championship ran a 1,812km event at Qatar this year with a 10-hour time limit. Elsewhere, IMSA's Road Atlanta finale, or Petit Le Mans, is perhaps the most famous event to the length.
  • 2X Time Acceleration for 5 Hours
  • 3X Time Acceleration for 3 Hours, 20 Minutes
  • 4X Time Acceleration for 2 Hours, 30 Minutes
  • 5X Time Acceleration for 2 Hours
  • 6X Time Acceleration for 1 Hour, 40 Minutes
  • 8X Time Acceleration for 1 Hour, 15 Minutes
  • 10X Time Acceleration for 1 Hour
  • 12X Time Acceleration for 50 Minutes
  • 15X Time Acceleration for 40 Minutes
  • 20X Time Acceleration for 30 Minutes
  • 30X Time Acceleration for 20 Minutes
  • 60X Time Acceleration for 10 Minutes

The lower we go on this list towards shorter race lengths, the fewer options we have for durations above a typical stint length. For the full endurance experience of pitstops, we would recommend implementing additional fuel burn values when dropping below an hour of racing.

How To Setup 8-Hour Races​

Another rarely seen endurance race length is the third-of-a-day. Internationally, the FIA WEC gets an 8-hour finale at Bahrain each year whilst this year's Indianapolis Intercontinental GT Challenge round will run for the full 480 minutes.
  • 2X Time Acceleration for 4 Hours
  • 3X Time Acceleration for 2 Hours, 40 Minutes
  • 4X Time Acceleration for 2 Hours
  • 5X Time Acceleration for 1 Hour, 36 Minutes
  • 6X Time Acceleration for 1 Hour, 20 Minutes
  • 8X Time Acceleration for 1 Hour
  • 10X Time Acceleration for 48 Minutes
  • 12X Time Acceleration for 40 Minutes
  • 15X Time Acceleration for 32 Minutes
  • 16X Time Acceleration for 30 Minutes
  • 20X Time Acceleration for 24 Minutes
  • 30X Time Acceleration for 16 Minutes
  • 60X Time Acceleration for 8 Minutes

As we approach the single-digits in hours raced, noticing time progression acceleration becomes harder and harder. Unless your race begins in the early morning hours or moves towards sunset, the main variation throughout a race will be in the track temperature.

6-Hour Races​

Across the FIA World Endurance Championship, 6-Hour races are highly common with the quarter-day duration forming the so-called 'standard' race length for the series. Main-season events such as Imola, Spa and Fuji all run to 6 hours, just like IMSA's Watkins Glen race and the GT World Challenge's Paul Ricard round up until last year.
  • 2X Time Acceleration for 3 Hours
  • 3X Time Acceleration for 2 Hours
  • 4X Time Acceleration for 1 Hour, 30 Minutes
  • 5X Time Acceleration for 1 Hour, 12 Minutes
  • 6X Time Acceleration for 1 Hour
  • 8X Time Acceleration for 45 Minutes
  • 9X Time Acceleration for 40 Minutes
  • 10X Time Acceleration for 36 Minutes
  • 12X Time Acceleration for 30 Minutes
  • 15X Time Acceleration for 24 Minutes
  • 18X Time Acceleration for 20 Minutes
  • 20X Time Acceleration for 18 Minutes
  • 30X Time Acceleration for 12 Minutes
  • 60X Time Acceleration for 6 Minutes

If you are looking to run a full season of your favourite endurance championship with a single time progression rate, might we suggest the 5X-mark. Sure, a 4-hour, 48-minute Le Mans, Spa or Daytona enduro will be tough to complete in one sitting. But as you move through shorter distances, you will still get more than a single stint at every race.

What is your favourite race length to run and what is your go-to game for racing endurance events? Let us know on Twitter @OverTake_gg or in the comments below!
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About author
Angus Martin
Angus Martin
Motorsport gets my blood pumping more than anything else. Be it physical or virtual, I'm down to bang doors.

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Comments

Kevin Troschinski
Although I'm not an endurance fan at all, I always race for 15 minutes, no matter what game or class.
How else would I ever manage around 70 championships across 5 sims in my lifetime? :D
Nevertheless, firstly, I think the idea for such an overview is great.
I also scale the time for my 15 minute runs alone to experience different weather conditions. Thanks
 
Cote Dazur
Thank you for this article and the time tables. Time is an important factor in making endurance races different, but just one factor of many. Weather change is also a very important factor. Fuel and tyre consumption and preservation also. Mechanical incertainties. Accident with the possibility of taking the time to fix the damage. Difference in talent between pilots of the same team. Dealing with traffic as we are racing different cars classes simultaneously.
Lots more factors to consider with bigger impact on the race outcome than “normal” racing. As much a game of chance as it is a game of skill.
The complexity as always been one aspect that made endurance racing less appealing to me both as a spectator and as a SIM enthusiast.
I nostalgically remember my first SIM endurance encounter was in Gran Turismo, where there was a 24 minutes Le Mans, with night day, rain transition, tyre wear pit strategy to consider to win or lose the race. All the ingredient were there.
My main interest in SIM racing, beside trying to master different tracks in different driving conditions in different car types, is also, being immerse in VR in different cockpit with as much veracity as possible. All my favorite SIM are pretty good at this, with ACC being my favorite in that aspect and lately, but not in VR yet, LMU paying attention to realistic details.
 
Last edited:
D
Some helpful information to add would've been what percentage of these enduros these durations are. I want to do quick WEC seasons at x% of the races' lengths (for example 10%, 25%, or 33%). Which of these setups would I use?
 
Last edited:
Angus Martin
DSonicBoomGTE said:
Some helpful information to add would've been what percentage of these enduros these durations are. I want to do quick WEC seasons at x% of the races' lengths (for example 10%, 25%, or 33%). Which of these setups would I use?
Click to expand...
Ah yes, that's a very good point.

It is also fairly simple to calculate (at least for the single digit time acceleration):

2X acceleration = 50% race distance
3X accélération = 33% race distance
4X acceleration= 25% race distance
5X acceleration = 20% race distance
6X acceleration = 16.5% race distance
8X acceleration = 12.5% race distance
10X acceleration = 10% race distance

So as in the article, I would recommend 5X (20%) for a full season
 
pz666
Time acceleration...

In the sims that don't do weird stuff with it, it's cool... But when it goes haywire it's one of the worst things in sim racing...
 
D
This is nice, but it's only half the guide. You also need to know how to set up pitstops, tire and fuel wear, and championships. Oh and btw there's real weather in AMS2 so you can try and simulate the race that did happen from 1970 onwards.

For most 12 and 24 hour accelerated races I'd use 2x Fuel Use and 3x Tire Wear. Also setting accelerated mechanical problems is a good one for fun results.

Set at least 4 mandatory tire pitstops for 12+ hour races if you will accelerate time.

Finally for championships, always set the real length of the race whether its in hours or laps. When you will actually play the championship you'll be able to choose how many percent of the full race you want to do and it will automatically accelerate time to fit this timeframe.

Always create you pit-stop strategies before the race and make new strategies for each new race.

Be careful using the ai driver swap. It mostly works but I've had it bug out in changing weather conditions where ai driver would pit every lap. Other times it worked fine.

Weather wise I wouldn't recommend having dynamic or dramatically changing weather in races under 1 hour real time. I mean dry into rain or vice versa is fine, but more than two slots will lead to weird results like everything is suddenly but not gradually wet and the other way around. Ai can deal with it, but it's annoying for the player, despite being a fun surprise.
 
Last edited:
S
pz666 said:
Time acceleration...

In the sims that don't do weird stuff with it, it's cool... But when it goes haywire it's one of the worst things in sim racing...
Click to expand...
Yeah, any real sim should suffer from that realisticly though. In no situation a simulated weather system will retain it's state over a stretched period.

Having said that though, the main factor to run endurance is the strategy involved behind it, if you remove that and just accelerate time, as this article suggest, you then just run a 60 min race with a coat of paint. Nothing akin to endurance at all.
 
D
shadow82 said:
Yeah, any real sim should suffer from that realisticly though. In no situation a simulated weather system will retain it's state over a stretched period.

Having said that though, the main factor to run endurance is the strategy involved behind it, if you remove that and just accelerate time, as this article suggest, you then just run a 60 min race with a coat of paint. Nothing akin to endurance at all.
Click to expand...
Tire wear and fuel use, as well as mechanical failures are accelerated as well.
 
D
shadow82 said:
Love to stop in the pit every 3 laps at LeMans huh ?
Click to expand...
I don't know? You have to make up your mind whether you want to do endurance racing or "just 60 min race with a coat of paint". Can't help you with that, but as I'm sure you're already aware the factors by which tire wear and fuel use are accelerated can also be adjusted separately.
 
Seven Smiles
What we really need is an "AI skip mode"™ instead (basically a variation on mid-race saving): the game runs at low or even 1x time acceleration but at certain points the AI takes over and "drives" its sesssion instantly then hands back to the player. The multiplication factor is then the ratio of time that the AI drives vs the time the player drives, or perhaps finer control like "I'll drive the first 10 minutes, the AI does the next 4 hours, I'll drive the dusk session, the AI does the next 6 hours, I'll drive the dawn session, AI does the next 8 hours, I'll drive to the finish."

I think this would work for multiplayer as well as single player.

If fuel or tyres are needed during the skip then either the AI handles that or optionally hands back to the player (that might be messy in multiplayer).

Another benefit is that dawn/dusk would happen gradually and not the too-rapid"Day time!" "Night time!" that you get at 60x
 
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TomLehockySVK
I made my own time calculation table:

45 minute event, 10x speed, dividided by 60 minutes = 7,5 hours in-game time
60 minute event, 24x speed, divided by 60 minutes = 24 hours in-game time
60 minute event, 30x speed, divided by 60 minutes = 30 hours in-game time
45 minute event, 30x speed, divided by 60 minutes = 22,5 hours in-game time
120 minute event, 12x speed, divided by 60 minutes = 24 hours in-game time
 
cangrejin
stop stop stop.... are you telling me that the "time acceleration" makes you run "normally" but the day-night cycle speeds up?...ok...
but that would make other things not be taken into account...
you must take into account TIRE WEAR and FUEL CONSUMPTION... (also according to the time acceleration)
otherwise, it would happen that you would run a 24 hr race (in 1,2,3 hrs summarized by seeing how the day-night cycle "runs" through the sky)...but not having changed tires or refueled...in 24 hrs!!! (virtual):(:(:(:redface::poop:

That is why these factors are taken into account FIRST (wear and consumption)

(I play f1 challenge...and as I want all cars to have 2 pit stops...BUT I also want it to be a "short" race (between 15 and 20 laps)...I increase the consumption and wear UNTIL it enters the 2-stop window within the agreed laps.

I explain it in detail: if in f1 (f1 challenge 99-02) the race is 70 laps...and everything is normal...all cars go to 1 stop.
but: you can't run a 70-lap race...(something normal)...so you do a short race of (I don't know) 20 laps.... problem: the cars don't stop in the pits because they still "hold on" with the consumption and wear (fuel and tires)
solution: increase the consumption and wear, (in a private test) test up to how much can the car last on track... if it is ALMOST half... it is one stop... if it is ALMOST a third... it is 2 stops.
(one pit stop: two stints: start>pit>finish)
(two pit stops: THREE stints: start(first third)>pit>second third>second pit>third third and finish)
 
P
From my experience, time acceleration and fuel rate increase work well in all sims, but tyre wear...not always. As the complexion of simulations increase, wear is not just a simple rate anymore and it gets tied up with other stuff, which can lead to some wonky behavior, like one tiny lock up causing a fatal flatspot that blows the tyre. I wouldn't use that in anything newer than the crop of rF1 engine based sims (but Live for Speed is from that era and had flatspots already!)
 
Chazz Ranger
depapier said:
This is nice, but it's only half the guide. You also need to know how to set up pitstops, tire and fuel wear, and championships. Oh and btw there's real weather in AMS2 so you can try and simulate the race that did happen from 1970 onwards.

For most 12 and 24 hour accelerated races I'd use 2x Fuel Use and 3x Tire Wear. Also setting accelerated mechanical problems is a good one for fun results.

Set at least 4 mandatory tire pitstops for 12+ hour races if you will accelerate time.

Finally for championships, always set the real length of the race whether its in hours or laps. When you will actually play the championship you'll be able to choose how many percent of the full race you want to do and it will automatically accelerate time to fit this timeframe.

Always create you pit-stop strategies before the race and make new strategies for each new race.

Be careful using the ai driver swap. It mostly works but I've had it bug out in changing weather conditions where ai driver would pit every lap. Other times it worked fine.

Weather wise I wouldn't recommend having dynamic or dramatically changing weather in races under 1 hour real time. I mean dry into rain or vice versa is fine, but more than two slots will lead to weird results like everything is suddenly but not gradually wet and the other way around. Ai can deal with it, but it's annoying for the player, despite being a fun surprise.
Click to expand...
Depapier is the real hero. I mean, are we really so bad at clock math and using a calculator that we need an extensive list to tell us that setting your time scale to 12x equals a 2hr race IRL for a virtual 24hr race? :laugh: Figuring out how to set pits for fuel & tire wear is what most people would appreciate help with. Sorry Angus, this is a lazy article :coffee:
 
Cote Dazur
Chazz Ranger said:
Figuring out how to set pits for fuel & tire wear is what most people would appreciate help with
Click to expand...
Having the list of what time acceleration is needed for simulating certain endurance race length is very nice, but I think we all agree that it is only part of what needs do be done for a more accurate accelerated endurance race simulation. Pit stop strategy for fuel and tire consumption is also needed.
contrary to time acceleration, fuel and tires has to be SIM specific, so instead of a news article, maybe, those of us, who are deeper into endurance racing, could create threads in their respective favorite Sim to help the plebeian, like me, in making the right choices, without having to spend precious time figuring it all out, which is not likely to happen for someone only moderately interested, like me.
I, for one, would be delighted to try those strategies.
 
Last edited:
Emery
Is the state of education worldwide so low that people can't figure this out on their own? What about alternatives such as pausing game or saving/resuming game?
 

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