Welcome back Le Mans Ultimate fans! Step into the September update with us as we explore all the new features, functions, UI changes and the various modes in the game’s second major update deployed alongside the DLC Pack 2. Be sure to check out the full release notes for the granular details, we are covering the major stuff in this one!
Let’s begin with a video from Studio 397s boss, Stephen Hood, who unpacks the September news:
Co-op Mode Explained
The biggest feature of the September update will surely be the new co-op mode. It’s been talked about for several months, was supposed to be released earlier in the year, has been tweaked several times, but is now finally here.
Co-op mode is Studio 397’s first real venture into bringing the heart of proper endurance racing to the platform to replicate the real World Endurance Championship. It’s where you will be able to complete co-op events with your teammates or friends, gaining points for various accomplishments during the races.
Co-op mode is arriving in a beta phase, however, and LMU is expecting some bugs to be present, but your feedback will be invaluable as always to improve this function.
You’ll be able to enter time-limited events online, with teams of up to 3 drivers, earning points racing against the AI, which will see you rank on a global leaderboard based on your race settings. Such things as AI strength, positions gained, how clean you race, how well you overtake cars and more will dictate the points you accrue.
Sign up with your team, assign a stint schedule, complete your stint, do your pit stop, leave a note for your teammates and hand the car over for them to complete their stints. All sounds very promising and is building the base for a big future.
Save, Load & New Seasons
One of the highly requested features has been moved up in priority and released in this update thanks to the community survey, that being a save and load option for single-player races. The game will now give you 3 save files for you to stop and continue a race at your convenience. If you do not save the race yourself the game will automatically give you 3 backup saves in case you forgot.
Alongside your save options, you will now find a new UI displaying the different seasons of the World Endurance Championship for new race weekends. You can now select between the 2023 and 2024 seasons. Each is equipped with the tracks, cars, liveries and drivers from each given season. Please note the 2024 season is yet to have the 2024 LMGT3 cars as they will be released later in the year.
More Improvements
One of the biggest improvements is the car seat position save function. This means you can tweak every car individually to suit your cockpit driving style, instead of it being a universal seating position for all cars. This should make it a more comfortable experience for you in each car you drive.
The AI has also been improved with tweaks so they are more adept with their fuel management logic, meaning you are not disadvantaged in a solo race against the AI that would usually see you needing to pit for fuel, whilst they could go the entire race. The AI will also drive slower back to the pits after a session is complete.
Additionally, the Force Feedback normalisation has been optimised for users, making sure there is less variation in strength from car to car like before. Making each class of car more consistent in its FFB output.
2024 Livery Updates
Amongst the miscellaneous updates to the game, Studio 397 have ensured the remaining 2024 Hypercar liveries are now in the system, along with all of the updated LMP2 liveries. Because of the sheer volume of different liveries you can now choose from, you can see they have vastly improved the UI of the car selection process, with a 2023/2024 option, car class, manufacturer and then car number, which is far more sleeker than the endless scrolling of liveries previously.
Virtual Reality
For those players who have been using the hidden VR functions on Le Mans Ultimate, you actually have several updates and improvements on VR to enhance your experience further! Whilst it is still not a full release of the Virtual Reality function, you can test them out and give further feedback to the team ahead of a full release!
What’s Next?
Private Servers & Community Overlays
Partnering with SimGrid, private servers are on the way. Soon, you’ll be able to host your own events through RaceControl.GG and SimGrid. You will be able to create, search and find various championships from communities and you’ll be able to track your results, standings and more through the site.
This should be a massive boost for communities and drivers who actively race on Le Mans Ultimate but want something more than single-player racing. Studio 397 is also working on a dedicated WEC overlay that will be made available for all communities to use as an extra support tool.
It’s touted that the private servers will work similarly to how iRacing has it set up, where you purchase a server for a set amount of time through the UI that will then appear in a hosted session for you to join.
Online Championships
As part of the next steps for Le Mans Ultimate, they are working on bringing you a fully-fledged online championship mode, that will coincide with a new subscription-based model that will open up other certain races, enabling drivers and teams to try and qualify for championships such as the coveted Virtual Le Mans Series, when it returns, amongst other cool prizes.
When signing up for an online championship the premise will be to pick one car for the entire season, have a limited number of attempts to complete each round and for the more advanced championships, you’ll get one shot only. Ranking impact will be increased in these races and overall standings of these championships will have a points system that can fluctuate based on the SOF.
It seems to be a play out of the iRacing book, which has so much success with its online competition system, with weekly and monthly events and championships that always see tens of thousands of drivers and teams enter.
Pick Up Your Copy Today
The future looks promising for LMU as they continue to deliver new content, new updates, new features and improvements for all to enjoy.
Those not yet on the grid can take advantage of the base game introductory price of £24.99/ €29.99 / $32.99 right here until the 30th of September, when the price will then be set at £29.99/€34.99 / $37.99 to reflect the increase in content and gameplay features. The base game features all of the Hypercars and circuits from the 2023 Centenary season as well as the classic LMP2 and GTE cars. Those already clocking the hours can also download the 2024 BMW M Hybrid V8 Hypercar for free via Steam today.
