The WEC season is almost over, but Le Mans Ultimate is shifting up a gear: The September update is here, adding new features, completing the Hypercar grid, and more.

Just one more race remains on the World Endurance Championship calendar – the title battle will be decided at the 8 Hours of Bahrain on November 2, 2024. The official game of the series, meanwhile, is only getting started: Le Mans Ultimate has released its big September update alongside the second DLC pack, which completes the 2024 Hypercar grid.

Le Mans Ultimate DLC 2 Content​

The DLC, which will set sim racers back £9.99 / €11.99 / $12.99, adds the Alpine A424 and the underdog Isotta Fraschini Tipo 6 Hypercars, as well as a new location – Circuit of the Americas. The Texas track brings the circuit count in LMU up to nine, with two more still to come to complete the 2024 calendar, those being Lusail and Interlagos. The DLC pack is available now.

Additionally, a number of new liveries for some of the Hypercars and the LMP2 grid are part of the update as well – for everyone, not just those who purchased the DLC.

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Alpine A424​

Arguably one of the best-looking cars on the Hypercar grid (although beauty is always in the eye of the beholder), the Alpine A424’s striking looks debut in LMU with the September update. The car also has its trademark sound on board, produced by its turbo V6 derived from the Mecachrome Formula 2 engine. As a result, we could see the A424 become a fan favorite – to an extent.

While the car is pleasant to drive, it was a bit off the pace compared to the front of the grid in our test sessions – which seems accurate when looking at the real WEC season so far. Most recently, Alpine celebrated its first podium in the series, scoring a third-place finish in the 6 Hours of Fuji with the #36 car driven by Nicolas Lapierre, Mick Schumacher and Matthieu Vaxivière.

Isotta Fraschini Tipo 6​

Truly a David vs. Goliath effort, the tiny Isotta Fraschini outfit decided to take on the mighty works teams like Toyota, Ferrari or Porsche in WEC with its own Hypercar – and to LMH specs, even, not with an LMDh car that has a number of spec parts. Unfortunately, the car was pulled from competition ahead of the Lone Star Le Mans round at COTA and will not see action in the 2024 WEC season anymore.

Despite the car often being at the tail end of the Hypercar grid, the car at least managed to finish the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 14th – unlike several competitors that all had to retire from mechanical issues, including both Alpines.

Studio 397 went behind the scenes with Isotta Fraschini and the Duqueine team at Le Mans, highlighting the Hypercar squad’s passionate effort despite its budget constraints. The mini documentary is titled ‘La Sfida – The Challenge’ – and honestly, it makes us miss the Italian prototype on the grid even more.

The LMU representation of the Isotta Fraschini is not as slow as you would expect from its competition history, but it is certainly a bit trickier to drive than the Alpine. We found it to be rather adventurous through high-speed corners in particular in which it tended to become rather nervous. It was fun to drive in a way, but over the course of an endurance race, it might be difficult to keep up.

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Circuit of the Americas​

The latest venue for LMU is a welcome addition for some, but a circuit that others just cannot get along with – COTA is a track that sim racers either love or hate, as a recent community question on OverTake also showed.

Regardless of where you stand, there is no denying that the US-based track has been recreated very well, just like Imola when it joined the sim’s circuit lineup back in July. Its layout may be a pain for some to learn, but those who love the track already should feel right at home.

The only thing that should receive another look, in our opinion, is how the AI behaves near pit entry and exit. When we tested the new content, we were often ignored by AI drivers who were already on the track when we exited the pits – they just went to the apex anyway and clattered into our car more than once.

Conversely, we went to pass a GTE Ferrari on the left right before the final turn, which is where pit entry is – and which is where said Ferrari abruptly decided that it wanted to pit and crashed right into our car as we were alongside. Then again, GT cars and prototypes tangling is not exactly rare in real life, either – see the example below, although that was largely the result of Earl Bamber’s impatience to find the gap.

Which track could be next? We will have to wait and see. As Motorsport Games CEO Stephen Hood told OverTake, the WEC license does not automatically come with all the track licenses. This means MSG has to negotiate them with the individual tracks – albeit with the FIA on their side of the table, which helps matters, according to Hood.

New Features​

Of course, new content is not all that comes with the latest Le Mans Ultimate update. In fact, two new features in particular should catch the attention of sim racers.

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Co-op Mode (Asynchronous Multiplayer)​

Thus far, Le Mans Ultimate had not been a title that allowed you to play with friends unless online matchmaking mercifully put you in the same lobby. While this has not changed, the new co-op mode, or asynchronous multiplayer, enables racers to tackle endurance events together on their own time.

Players can set up a race, do one or more stints, and then pass the race to friends for them to continue it when they have time. That way, you can even do 24-hour races without having to block a weekend. All team members can choose their own difficulty, which means that even if your first driver schooled the AI at the highest difficulty level, the others do not have to fear dropping back immediately once they take over.

The mode also features a leaderboard as teams will accumulate points for race positions, overtakes and clean racing.

Mid-race saves​

For those who want to take on the challenge alone, the new mid-race save feature is their best friend. It allows you to do full race distances, but not all at once – simply head to the pits, save your progress and pick up the race again later.

In singleplayer races, the game will now pause when pitting, too. You will not have to fiddle with the pit strategy menu while out on track anymore to have everything set up – you still can, of course, but you can also choose your next set of tires, fuel load and aero adjustments without time pressure once you pull into your pit stall.

Other Updates​

Several smaller adjustments make life easier in LMU now, too. The reworked car selection screen makes things a lot more structured while also noting which livery was run at which race – a neat detail to select track-specific paint schemes for your car. Players can also switch between 2023 and 2024 grids now, although the 2024 field will still have GTE cars on track until the first LMGT3 cars are added to LMU.

VR racers, meanwhile, will be happy to see improvements to the “hidden” VR function, as virtual reality is not officially supported yet. LMU‘s HUD and UI should now work in this mode, as well as MSAA.

You can find the full changelog below.

Le Mans Ultimate September Update Changelog​

New Features​

• Added Co-op game mode
• Save and Load for Race Weekend
• Updated car select screen
• 2024 and 2023 WEC Seasons added (Note that 2024 Season has the 2023 GTE class until LMGT3 are available)
• Car Settings Manager (saves seat positions uniquely per car)

Code​

Stability
• Fixed several invalid memory accesses causing crashes
• Fixed crash that could happen when disconnecting a wheel or other peripheral device
AI
• Reworked AI logic with regards to fuel management in races to prevent them running out of fuel
• Ensure AI drive slower at the end of the race when returning to the pits
• Fixed various AI pit lane overtaking issues
• Fixed several issues that would cause AI to behave erratically and crash into other vehicles
• AI now wait for a safe pit release

Physics
• Added soft fall off to battery usage as it becomes empty or full to prevent large shifts in car behaviour as regeneration or propulsion stops
• Fixed virtual energy estimates being displayed incorrectly when using kWh

Graphics
• Minor adjustment to colour balance of Sky
• Minor fix for Terrain Shader pattern textures not blending
• Fixes and improved logging around managing the application of weather at session changes online, to address occasional scene over exposure.

HUD
• Added FFB meter
• Made track map outline a bit thinner
Online
• Fixed normal server disconnects (like when leaving) being detected as erroneous/unexpected disconnects.

UI
• Fixed online menus not updating after a few hours of inactivity
• Fixed black screen after Studio 397 splash at start-up
• Fixed Multiview not working on custom resolutions
• Fixed world-flag displaying too large
• Fixed incorrect naming of some timezones
• Fixed naming of some drivers
• Added new launch video
• Improved tab navigation when in car setup
• Fixed the Le Mans track defaulting to 1 min in Race Weekend

VR
Note: this is not a full release, we have included some incremental improvements for those users that wish to try it. You can do this by adding +VR to the launch options of the game.
• Fixed issue with MSAA not functioning in VR
• Fixed HUD so it works in VR
• Fixed UI so it works in VR

Tracks​

Algarve International Circuit (Portimāo)
• Corrected name of default setup folder
• Corrected circuit detail settings for Pit Officials

Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari (Imola)
• Corrected name of default setup folder
• Fixed crowd / grandstand seats popping in on start finishing straight
• Fixed bump in support road on exit of Aque Minerali
• Fixed lack of trees in rear view on hill behind Aque Minerali

Autodromo Nazionale Monza
• Corrected name of default setup folder
• Corrected circuit detail settings for Pit Officials
• Fixed curb geometry at Curva del Serraglio
• Rebuilt barrier collisions
• Updated rolling start so P1 starts from right hand side.

Bahrain International Circuit
• Corrected name of default setup folder
• Setup pit door sharing for final 2 pit boxes
• Smoothed AI entry into Pit Lane from Racing line

Circuit de la Sarthe (Le Mans)
• Corrected name of default setup folder
• Adjusted track limits at Mulsanne chicanes
• Removed brake marker which no longer exists for Ford Chicane

Circuit of the Americas
• Initial release

Fuji Raceway
• Corrected name of default setup folder
• Corrected circuit detail settings for Pit Officials
• Fixed helicopter sound for external track camera

Sebring International Raceway
• Corrected name of default setup folder
• Corrected circuit detail settings for Pit Officials

Spa Francorchamps
• Corrected name of default setup folder

Cars​

General Notes
• Initial release of Alpine A424 LMDh and Isotta Franschini TIPO6-C LMH
• Added all remaining 2024 Hypercar liveries
• Added 2024 LMP2 liveries
• Added Coach Dave Academy Imola setups
• Added track specific bop for GTE
• Fixed various issues with missing AI driver talent entries
• Optimization to rendering interior of cars from exterior views
• Reviewed tyre compounds and revised temperatures which tyres reach peak grip levels
• Reviewed Fuel Mixtures, and simplified down to a Safety Car mix and Race mix.
• Equalized FFB strength across cars, with the following approximate adjustments. Note this is a percentage change, someone previously running 50% strength on the BMW would need to run 40% to get the same output.
• BMW Hypercar +20%
• Cadillac Hypercar +20%
• Ferrari Hypercar +10%
• Glickenhaus Hypercar +34%
• Lamborghini Hypercar +20%
• Peugeot Hypercar (both) +12%
• Porsche 963 Hypercar +24%
• Toyota Hypercar +6%
• Vanwall Hypercar +32%
• Oreca LMP2 +0%
• Aston GTE +11%
• Corvette GTE +16%
• Ferrari GTE +9%
• Porsche GTE +6%

BMW M Hybrid V8 LMDh
• Reduced MaxPowerOutput[kW] at Le Mans (-3)

Ferrari 499P LMH
• Increased WeightPenalty[kg] at Sebring (+15), Portimao (+22), Imola (+25)
• Reduced MaxPowerOutput[kW] at Imola (-5)

Lamborghini SC63 LMDh
• Updated physics based on new data received from Lamborghini
• Adjusted BOP for updated physics

Peugeot 9X8 2023 LMH
• Reduced MaxPowerOutput[kW] at Monza (-8)

Peugeot 9X8 2024 LMH
• Fixed an issue with warping on fins when car is viewed from a distance
• Fixed an issue with small area of cockpit not receiving shadows
• Increased WeightPenalty[kg] at Le Mans (+3), Imola (+3)

Toyota GR010 LMH
• Increased WeightPenalty[kg] at Sebring (+13), Portimao (+30), Imola (+5)
• Reduced MaxPowerOutput[kW] at Imola (-5)

Oreca 07 LMP2
• Updated default setups

What are your thoughts on the Le Mans Ultimate September Update? Let us know in the comments below and join the discussion in our LMU forum!


Nota: El contenido ha sido traducido por Google Translate, por lo que algunos términos pueden ser imprecisos

Fuente: https://www.overtake.gg/news/new-content-new-features-le-mans-ultimate-september-update-out-now.2448/

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