2020 Virtual 24 Hours of Le Mans (Live Stream)

Paul Jeffrey · Jun 13, 2020

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:

patchedupdemon · Jun 16, 2020

Ole Marius Myrvold said:
If I had spent all the time I have on my PC doing virtually nothing, on simracing instead, I'd probably be a pro simracer

Nope, you only become a pro simracer, once you make friend in the cabal, that know the physics hacks, or 3rd party programs that pass the anti cheat

Peter Stokman · Jun 16, 2020

Wayne Hutchison said:
I don't know one NASCAR driver who prefers rF2 to iRacing - if you want to race on ovals you have no other choice than iRacing.

yes nice lets keep that oval racing to icereacing , no need for it , wont say its easy to drive but its boring

Ole Marius Myrvold · Jun 16, 2020

patchedupdemon said:
Nope, you only become a pro simracer, once you make friend in the cabal, that know the physics hacks, or 3rd party programs that pass the anti cheat

If so... I should've been a pro simracer already. At least your first requirement is well and truly in the bank!

patchedupdemon · Jun 16, 2020

Ole Marius Myrvold said:
If so... I should've been a pro simracer already. At least your first requirement is well and truly in the bank!

Never heard of ypu across any of the sims, so no your aren't in to club

Ole Marius Myrvold · Jun 16, 2020

patchedupdemon said:
Never heard of ypu across any of the sims, so no your aren't in to club

Wasn't the thing "Making a friend in the cabal". Not "Have a name" ?

Durge Driven · Jun 17, 2020

Detractors just want to grind rF2 into the ground because for some reason it effects their sensibility that many think rF2 is the sim for them even with it's problems

I mean could you not just be happy for us ?

Personally I think anyone still complaining or trying to convince others they are wrong should seek professional help

Kenny Paton · Jun 18, 2020

Durge Driven said:
Detractors just want to grind rF2 into the ground because for some reason it effects their sensibility that many think rF2 is the sim for them even with it's problems

I mean could you not just be happy for us ?

Andrew Harper · Jun 18, 2020

Some articles if people are interested (sorry if these are repeats)

Rebellion Williams Secure Virtual Le Mans Win
Le Mans 24 Hours Virtual, Did It Work?

Porsche GTE Win a “Team Effort” Between Sim, Real-Life Squads
Rebellion-Williams Team Wins Virtual 24H Le Mans

I was listening to the Marshall Pruett podcast the other night with Graham Goodwin, and like their twitter feeds they were pretty dismissive of the whole thing ("the race was won by someone in a pretend car"). Talked about it for about three minutes and then moved onto IMSA.

Bit of mixed bag, there is the "it's only boys playing a game" crowd and so on which is to be expected I guess; and then those who truly saw it as something unique and we'll never see anything like this again.

Kenny Paton · Jun 18, 2020

Andrew Harper said:
I was listening to the Marshall Pruett podcast the other night with Graham Goodwin, and like their twitter feeds they were pretty dismissive of the whole thing ("the race was won by someone in a pretend car").

I suspect that some people will never accept it, but that's their right and it looks like they are a minority with this event.

avenger82 · Jun 18, 2020

Smiggir said:
The tire model has changed many times since 2008, what's the point to have flatspots and tyre compounds in the sim if they needs to be changed every 3 months? Let's have the basics good and then move on the addon features.

You are talking about iRacing tire model? Because after more than 10 years of struggling with NTM they don't have basics good. rF2 didn't have major change since introduction of CPM in 2015. Then in 2018 there were some substantial fixes. Since two years I didn't hear about tire model updates. It doesn't mean there are no substantial issues.

avenger82 · Jun 18, 2020

CrimsonEminence said:
No, it's the driving and the setup of the commenters, like stated by Oldzeb.^^ No way, that something is weird. I have to exploit even more aspects of the setup, to receive a stable car, because rF2 likes its exploits.

I don't think I get it. So you don't agree GTE tend to get more difficult to drive after update that was year ago? Most people drive with setups similar to default and should have cars, don't have time to find exploits. I think by default setups should be rather stable for the cars to drive similar to real life handling - not loose, oversteery like Corvette and Porsche to some extend.

CrimsonEminence · Jun 18, 2020

avenger82 said:
I don't think I get it. So you don't agree GTE tend to get more difficult to drive after update that was year ago? Most people drive with setups similar to default and should have cars, don't have time to find exploits. I think by default setups should be rather stable for the cars to drive similar to real life handling - not loose, oversteery like Corvette and Porsche to some extend.

It was sarcasm, mate...
Of course the GTE drive like crap, that's the point i want to make the whole time, while other people try to blame the driver and setup!

I thought, it was obvious enough...

Btw. it seems, mechanical failures were off and ABS allowed on low, in the 24h event, so interesting perspective there, of how different the deal can be treated and how little the actual event really compares to the actual home use.^^

avenger82 · Jun 19, 2020

CrimsonEminence said:
It was sarcasm, mate...
Of course the GTE drive like crap, that's the point i want to make the whole time, while other people try to blame the driver and setup! I thought, it was obvious enough...

Btw. it seems, mechanical failures were off and ABS allowed on low, in the 24h event, so interesting perspective there, of how different the deal can be treated and how little the actual event really compares to the actual home use.^^

A ok. I don’t think they drive like crap, but as many people said they are too difficult for GTE cars(too oversteer prone to me) . If pro drivers who participated in the event said generally it’s more real that iRacing than they can’t be that bad. What’ s interesting real setups dot really work in rF2.

CrimsonEminence · Jun 19, 2020

avenger82 said:
A ok. I don’t think they drive like crap, but as many people said they are too difficult for GTE cars(too oversteer prone to me) . If pro drivers who participated in the event said generally it’s more real that iRacing than they can’t be that bad. What’ s interesting real setups dot really work in rF2.

Like mentioned, low ABS and no mechanical failure was activated in the event, so you can exploit the sh** out of these cars with early downshifting and late braking. The comparison to the normal use lacks heavily...

mantasisg · Jun 19, 2020

Perhaps someone ellaborated what part of real setup doesn't really work in rF2 ? Of course if in case something is fundamentaly not accurate about tires, then naturaly there might to be a major shift for whole setup.

As for GTE being difficult. It is always super subjective what difficult actually is. If you are good driver and mechanically sympathetic with some knowledge you might and should provide some reasoning for that. I think it is unreasonable to expect a racing car to be very easy and to have very high performance at the same time. But as I said this whole easy/hard is very subjective and doesn't describe very much. Generaly most drivers are expected to be way off-pace and not admitting not being good enough themselves. It is way less likely to complain that car/tire is too good, and that one shouldn't be so good lol

But of course too easy and too hard are both valid ways of something not being true to reality. I think that both can be true at the same time. For example it can be hard to keep car under the limit, but relatively easy to keep it at and coming back safely from exceeding the limits. It can be easy to keep car under the limit, and would require some balls to go over the limit, where the car would be very challenging.

avenger82 · Jun 19, 2020

mantasisg said:
It is way less likely to complain that car/tire is too good, and that one shouldn't be so good lol

IIRc Some simmers said that some GT3 in rF2 are too easy to drive over the limit - too easy to catch a slide.
Also some say cars in pCars2 are too easy to drive in general .

patchedupdemon · Jun 19, 2020

Forget one some say, everyone will talk their crap point of view, even though they don't and never will actually drive the cars.
It's simple, if you enjoy it, carry on, if you don't, move on, there's plenty more sims to bitch about if you don't like this one.
This is regardless of the fact that things can be better in rf2, it is what it is.
Get a life folks, this should be a hobby, ya know, something to do, when you an elusive hour or two, after work,and family bissiness.
If this is the only thing you have to do, and you spend most hrs in a day on it, get a job, get a life,

Kenny Paton · Jun 19, 2020

Interesting article from WEC CEO Gerard Neveu.

Gerard Neveu on Le Mans Virtual’s huge audience success

www.motorsport.com

Evi · Jun 20, 2020

Some more viewer numbers.

Le Mans 24h Virtual receives record TV and digital audiences

www.motorsport.com

Really enjoyed the event. Congratulations to S397!
Marcel mentioned that there might be a blog post with some behind the scenes info. Really curious how event looked and felt from the other side of the screen.