Le Mans Ultimate is still a baby in the sim racing space, but the sim launched by Studio 397 has seen a very strong start to life. Helped by the many activation zones at real-world race events, great publicity on social media and of course being the official game of the World Endurance Championships – a series that is getting ever-popular amongst racing fans.
Today we take a look back at the first 6 months of the title, take a look at some of the steam chart numbers to back up the strong start seen by LMU, why it’s retaining players, why it can only get better and stronger in the sim racing space as the rest of this year passes and why you should consider picking up the title yourself.
Le Mans Ultimate Steam Charts
The steam chart numbers don’t lie, whilst we are sure they are not 100% accurate, it’s a good representation to measure off against other sim racing titles. As we can see there have been just short of 13,000 peak players combined in the first 7 months, with just under 5,000 playing it at launch, making it positively received and one of the most played racing titles.
Le Mans Ultimate also had the highest number of average players and peak players that can be remembered at the launch of a new title. Higher than ACC, AMS2, rFactor2 and RaceRoom after the first 6 months.
Furthermore, it has a higher current peak player base than the now-established AMS2, rFactor 2 and RaceRoom titles in 2024, which is just a testament to the title that is only getting stronger. For a title still in early access, it’s impressive, as much can still be improved with the sim.
Activation Zones
Activation Zones have been a big part of LMU’s strategic plan to get the sim racing title out there for people to experience. In 2023 over 3,000 people tried Le Mans Ultimate at the 24h of Le Mans. In 2024 activation zones have been live at Spa, Imola and Le Mans during the real World Endurance Championship events, with more than 5,000 people getting behind the wheel to try the sim.
Following a successful three-event tour around Europe this season, the Le Mans Ultimate Simulator Experience, presented by Thrustmaster and the FIA World Endurance Championship will travel to two further destinations, with stopovers in America and Japan in the coming months.
This is something that will expand the horizons of the sim racing title, which has really only appealed to the European markets so far, as LMU will have activation zones in both COTA and Fuji rounds of the WEC season. The COTA activation zone is rather special as drivers will get an exclusive experience trying HY cars on the yet-to-be-released COTA circuit.
An Exciting Road Map
This is a big reason why Le Mans Ultimate can be better and stronger and cement itself in the sim racing space as a major player. Being the official title for the World Endurance Championship the base game already immerses drivers into the series with the entire roster of 2023 cars and tracks.
The road map for Le Mans Ultimate then brings drivers into the current 2024 World Endurance season with brand new Hypercars, LMGT3 cars and new circuits on the current calendar. Some of which the title is already seeing. Studio 397 has already released the BMW M Hybrid for free, alongside the 2024 Pack 1 DLC containing the Lamborghini SC63, Peugoet 9X8 2024 and the Autodromo Internazionale Enzo e Dino Ferrari Imola.
We know Le Mans Ultimate will have 3 more DLC packs to finish the year with the remainder of the 2024 HY class being complete, alongside 9 brand new GT3 cars (2 of which will be free) and 3 more brand new circuits, likely to be COTA, Qatar and Sao Paulo.
This will bring Le Mans Ultimate bang up to date with the real World Endurance Championship and they can start 2025 super strong, with a complete sim racing title that gives you all the drivers, liveries, cars and tracks from the last two seasons of the series. The real-world series in 2025 then remains exactly the same.
Major Features Still To Appear
Considering Le Mans Ultimate is still pretty much a single-player title, with an online competition system that can see you compete against other drivers in solo events, it’s doing rather well. It might also be one of the main reasons why players are yet to pick up the title and why players are holding back from trying the sim.
Adding team functionality and driver swap features is something coming soon, however. This is a feature that will undoubtedly pull in attention from more players and esports teams alike and it will finally embody what the World Endurance Championship is about. Team events and proper endurance racing.
Proper VR compatibility and support is likely to come at some point, something that is asked for every week. Studio 397 hasn’t put a timeline on it, but they do anticipate it to appear further down the line.
Finally, they are working on bringing community racing to the forefront. Something we see done so successfully on titles such as Assetto Corsa Competizione. Dedicated servers are touted to appear and operate much like you see on iRacing, where you can rent a server within the game’s UI for a set amount of time. This could be the game-changing piece of the puzzle for the longevity of Le Mans Ultimate.
Virtual Le Mans Series
The Virtual Le Mans Series has been one of the largest sim racing competitions around since its inception. With a mouth-watering prize pool of $250,000 on the line in the last edition of the series.
What makes this competition unique is entry has to be done with real-world teams, drivers and elite sim racers combined to make the grids. Last year the F1, F2 and F3 champions took to the grid for the Virtual Le Mans series alongside many top names and brands who compete in the real Le Mans series.
Motorsport Games and Studio 397 have already said Le Mans Ultimate will be the sim used when this series finally comes back, touted for an anticipated 2025 return. When it does it will automatically grab the attention of the sim-racing world and drivers will flock to the title to prepare for one of the largest competitions in the world.
To Conclude
Le Mans Ultimate has many things going for it in the early access stages. It’s still capturing the market and it’s still luring new people onto the sim as each week passes and as each new feature or update comes. They are doing things slowly and properly without rushing the development of anything to bring people the most complete sim racing title.
If they continue listening to the feedback of the racing community, they keep implementing what everyone wants and they keep delivering on expectations in terms of new content, then there is no reason why this title doesn’t become one of the major players in the sim racing space. Especially if they can capture the community aspect that will see many new community leagues formed on the title.
