Le Mans Ultimate has hit Early Access. Fans can experience the thrill of endurance racing, driving official World Endurance Championship cars from the Aston Martin Vantage AMR LMGTE to the 2023 Le Mans-winning Ferrari 499P Hypercar on iconic circuits.
Currently, Le Mans Ultimate only includes cars and tracks from the 2023 season. We asked Motorsport Games CEO Stephen Hood about Studio 397’s future content plans for Le Mans Ultimate this year.
Will 2024 cars and tracks come to Le Mans Ultimate?
Since the debut of the Hypercar class in 2020, Le Mans has enjoyed a resurgence in popularity, with the sport celebrating its centenary last year. This year is set to be an exciting WEC season, with Lamborghini set to debut in the Hypercar class alongside Alpine, BMW, and Isotta Fraschini.
Meanwhile, Toyota will be looking to reclaim the crown after Ferrari claimed its first overall 24 Hours of Le Mans victory in nearly 60 years. Elsewhere, two new locations (Qatar and Imola) join the WEC race calendar this year, with Interlagos and COTA also returning.
Unfortunately, this means Le Mans Ultimate will soon be outdated, with the opening 2024 WEC round in Quatar taking place on 2 March.
Speaking to RacingGames, Hood confirmed that Le Mans Ultimate will receive new cars and tracks from the 2024 WEC season at some point: “Yes, definitely,” he tells us.
Hood went on to say that incorporating 2024 content “has been a huge effort” for Studio 397.” Work on new cars and tracks has already begun, starting with negotiations with manufacturers.
“We’re starting to work with the teams on what they’re doing for 2024 and still need to conclude those negotiations, incorporate the data, and finish building the models,” Hood explains. “Meanwhile, there’s still a lot of work to do on refining the 2023 content to make it as good as it can be.”
Hood wouldn’t offer a release window for upcoming content, but hinted that 2024 cars and tracks will be added in packs like rFactor 2 instead of being “drip-fed.”
"We're offering everything on day one"
“There’s some great teams and manufacturers coming into the sport now. It’s the next logical step, but I don’t put an immediate timeline. We’re offering everything on day one: we’re not starting out with a single car and a single track,” he asserts.
“We’re offering a suite of content on day one that will probably keep people entertained for a long time. In time, we will add the 2024 content. It probably won’t be drip-fed, but maybe in content packs when it’s right to do so.”
“We’re going to be a 1:1 replication of what happens in the WEC every year thereafter. Great tracks, great cars and manufacturers coming to the sport is an obvious go-to for Le Mans Ultimate. It’s the official product of the WEC, so we need to remain current.”
As well as all cars and tracks from the 2023 season, Le Mans Ultimate launches with a race creator and online multiplayer, but features like VR, career mode, and coop multiplayer are absent in the Early Access build.
VR support is “definitely on the radar” according to Hood, but Studio 397 is primarily focusing on gathering feedback and fixing bugs to improve the experience. Hood says he expects “big ticket items” to come from “summer onwards.” Looking ahead, Hood thinks porting Le Mans Ultimate to consoles "makes sense" if it sells well on PC.
Le Mans Ultimate is not only the first dedicated Le Mans game in over 20 years, but it also arrives at a time when interest in the endurance race has seen a huge resurgence.
“There’s a real love and affection for endurance racing right now," says Hood. "For us, it’s a dream. There’s so much attention on Le Mans and endurance racing suddenly at the right time when we’re launching a game.”
Le Mans Ultimate review and guides
For more on Le Mans Ultimate, check out our Early Access review. You can also check out our guides on how to change the race length, adjust the FOV, and play in VR using a workaround. If you’re playing with a wheel, you can also find the best wheel settings here.
Are you looking forward to driving the 2024 cars in Le Mans Ultimate? Let us know in the comments below.
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