2020 Virtual 24 Hours of Le Mans (Live Stream)

[Paul Jeffrey]

Welcome to the central discussion thread for the first ever official 24 Hours of Le Mans - virtual edition.

This weekend marks an historic moment for the genre of sim racing, as the WEC, Automobile Club de l'Ouest and Motorsport Games are set to host what could well turn out to be the largest organised virtual race in history - the Le Mans 24 Hours Virtual.

Held as an officially sanctioned event in place of what would have been the real Le Mans 24 Hours this weekend, the race features an incredible selection of official teams, manufacturers and drivers. Two Formula 1 World Champions, three Indy 500 victors and seven outright Le Mans 24 Hour winners join together with some of the finest rFactor 2 sim racers racing side by side with their real world contemporaries .

Held at the beautiful Le Mans circuit in rFactor 2, and making use of the LMP2 and GTE content within the simulation, the race is set to become a high watermark for the increasingly popular esport movement we are experiencing at present.

You can catch all the action live here:

 

[ianthem]

To be clear at the start... Lando Norris has more talent in real-world racing, and sim racing, than I could ever hope emulate, so I'm not pretending to know more than him about what entails a good simulator. However, I can compare his results to other real-world and sim drivers.

I find it amusing that someone uses Lando Norris as some kind of ultimate and supreme authority on sim racing. Despite acknowledging the fact that he has grown up with them, and spent a crazy amount of time in the past 3+ months streaming them... In events on any platform against other established sim or real world drivers he is lucky to be mid pack. That's if he finishes at all. I've often enjoyed his enthusiasm and personality, but here he is really just coming off as a petulant child. Somehow, other drivers are finding a way to be successful in RF2, as they are in every other major racing sim, and somehow, Lando Norris isn't finding much success on any sim.

Perhaps he should think a bit before making a big deal about uninstalling a sim on his live stream.

Lando has had a ton of connectivity issues, when it comes to this event but also in official F1 events. I think he may be doing something internet wise, like either his internet is too slow or he's trying to run his rig over Wifi, that's causing him huge problems every once in a while.

Anyway, hopefully the influx of attention rF2 is getting helps them make enough of a profit to put more energy into solving the bugs when it comes to online stuff. I think that all this attention came about a bit too soon for them to fully capitalize on, it'd have been nice if all the overlays and new interface had been finished a couple months earlier, but all the same the game could have been completely looked over too.

 

[GeekyDeaks]

Well, other than waking up in a comfortable bed instead of on some half deflated inflatable, I'm finding this reminds me of my experience with the event over previous years in that I go to bed thinking it's started to get a bit boring, then awake to find the team I thought was a cert has 'retired' (ahem) and now there is a cheeky Corvette splitting the Porsche blockade

I also only just realised this is an rF2 sub. I'm pretty new to sim racing, and haven't tried rF2 so I cannot comment on it, but I have seen plenty of weird and wonderful stuff occur in my so far brief on-line foray of others, so I'm trying to just take all the events I have watched for what they are and not worry about the underlying sim foibles too much. This one is enjoyable for me, but I have also really been getting into the v8 and the all stars series.

I'm not sure why but the commentary is missing on the youtube feed for me, but it's working direct on motorsport.tv

 

[Patrik Marek]

This thread is fun, we should be glad that esports event got so much exposure , and not bitch about why they chose rf2

I said it earlier , if they needed lemans and the current lmp and GTE cars , rf2 ws only option . As simple as that

Hopefully , if they do it next year , things will be better, but I'm not sure they will

It's a shame , and complaining about it won't help it
I'm pretty sure s397 knows pretty well that their product is far from perfect , and I'm sure they will try to fix these issues

I'm not surprised it's not going all that well, cause I have been having lot of frustration myself , each time I launch rf2

But again, as I said , there was no other choice

 

[Gevatter]

If this event opened my eyes to one thing, it's that I never realized how small the LMP cars are compared to the GTEs.

 

[Nick Hill]

If this event opened my eyes to one thing, it's that I never realized how small the LMP cars are compared to the GTEs.

Oh, yeah, I had a similar experience attending the Indy race at Laguna Seca last year. Mazda had a whole area setup and they had one of their DPi cars on display. I honestly thought it was an elaborate scale model built for display purposes. When I went in for a closer look (it was just sitting on a little platform - not roped off, not even so much as a "do not touch" sign) and began noticing all the little details and clear signs of race wear and minor damage, it gradually dawned on me it was an actual car. They look so much bigger on TV, but they are really tiny.

 

[manu68]

This is a fantastic event, and as a big Le Mans fan i enjoy it a lot.
I also enjoyed a lot the broadcast on ACC some werks ago.

What a pleasure to listen to legend guys supporting simracing, or racing themselves !

The broadcast is excellent, so as the race.
Rf2 is a great game, so as other title.

I dream i could attend such an event myself.
I just hope racedepartment could make it a reality for people like me someday !

 

[Kenny Paton]

Well despite the overnight controversies it's nice to see that there's still 27k watching on the YouTube channels.

We've came a long way

 

[banfy211]

this 24h virtual is really good
I have 2 suggestions for S397 after this race:
-give access to the replay to the community
-feature request for next year le mans: having the possibility to drive ourselves with this replay, other cars being ghost cars
thanks!

 

[Kenny Paton]

Server crash but hopefully they'll fix it quickly.

 

[mozzie]

Red flag again!? Let me guess, it’s peoples hardware that’s causing problems again?

 

[Alex Townsend]

This is a fantastic event, and as a big Le Mans fan i enjoy it a lot.
I also enjoyed a lot the broadcast on ACC some werks ago.

What a pleasure to listen to legend guys supporting simracing, or racing themselves !

The broadcast is excellent, so as the race.
Rf2 is a great game, so as other title.

I dream i could attend such an event myself.
I just hope racedepartment could make it a reality for people like me someday !

It is a reality here. We have the 2.4 hours of Le Mans. Awesome event and one of my favourites.

I really don't see why people are biatching and whinging about rF2 this and that, it's a great title, it has issues alright but enough people seem to be able to use it without really having too many problems it would seem, definitely doesn't spoil their day.

I'm loving the broadcast, its incredibly professional and at a glance it almost looks and sounds like the real thing.
All sim racers should be happy that this is getting the focus it deserves. Sim racing is getting some global recognition and hopefully it paves the way for better online multiplayer net code, better optimised simulation for faster loading and more realistic graphics that even the more modest systems can run.
It could be a really great thing for the hobby no matter which sim you prefer.

(For the record I love them all)

 

[Jim Layee]

Just catching up on the thread after a sleep and I must admit the real race usually causes even more negativity so , carry one you'e doing fine

 

[Ole Marius Myrvold]

I'm pretty sure s397 knows pretty well that their product is far from perfect , and I'm sure they will try to fix these issues

Oh they do. Remember that they have their own car in VEC, they race in endurance races, and have done it since well before they took over rF2. Actually if I'm not wrong some of them were staff here at RD many years ago, drove and organized old RDLMS seasons as well.

So they surely know its not perfect, and they work to get it better.

 

[Kenny Paton]

Red flag again!? Let me guess, it’s peoples hardware that’s causing problems again?

On the plus side it allowed us to enjoy an interview with the legend that is Sir Jackie Stewart.

 

[John-Eric Saxén]

Red flag again!? Let me guess, it’s peoples hardware that’s causing problems again?

How would a hardware problem on client side propagate to the server?

 

[mozzie]

How would a hardware problem on client side propagate to the server?

I was being sarcastic. The previous red flag session people here were claiming it was not rF2’s fault and that it was the teams faults for not knowing how to use rF2 properly, or issues with their systems. I know, sounds ludicrous, right?

 

[Oldzeb]

people who rejoice for two reboot of the server saying things as stupid as untrue it's crazy to have this mentality..I imagine people between 30 and 50 year-olds pouting like 4-year-olds because racing isn't on their favorite game....but how old are you serious...this community is so pitiful, so toxic.

 

[Patrik Marek]

One thing that would have been helpful , and I wanted to see it in any sim since Jeff Grammond GP2, when you crash / run out of fuel, Marshalls pushed you to track side where crane picked you up

This way , it would be much easier to resume racing , cause there will always be a way to restart from pit garage

And if you lose connection , AI should drive you to pits

 

[Kenny Paton]

this community is so pitiful, so toxic.

Not most of it just a small minority of vocal members who sometimes make it seem so.

 

[David Jessat]

I was being sarcastic. The previous red flag session people here were claiming it was not rF2’s fault and that it was the teams faults for not knowing how to use rF2 properly, or issues with their systems. I know, sounds ludicrous, right?

For someone who dislikes this event you seem to spend a lot of your time on it. May I ask why?

Never said this weren't server problems by the way, only that people taking part hinted at it being some problems with driver change, might as well have been server issues. I still don't get how 2 30 min red flag periods in over 20 hours are somehow a poor result, especially when compared to reality.
Not saying there haven't been some issues, sure is far from perfect, but I enjoy this very much!