So for someone who owns AC, ACC, AMS2, RF2, and iracing, what does Le Mans have to offer?

[PsychOut83]

Serious question. I'm interested in this game (but holding off for native VR) but I'm not really sure what this game offers that the others don't. Superior physics like RF2 but with updated graphics?

[PaxB]

At this point not really a lot besides the Hypercars which are a ton of fun to drive. The physics to me feel on par with rFactor 2, maybe a little bit better and hitting a high curb is more punishing in the LM2 and Hypercar classes. Definitely better physics than iRacing but that is kinda obvious since it's based on rF2.

LMU does look a lot better than rF2 but, mainly the lighting and a higher level of detail on the cars. Tracks are about the same but updated to what they looked like during the 2023 WEC season. The cars have pretty nice dirt buildup on the windshield as well as the body. Racing at night looks fantastic too.

If you're looking for content, there is not really much to do at the moment, only race weekend which you can also use for a private practice session if you disable qualifying and race. Same goes for customizing the race weekend. You can only enable or disable classes. The number of cars in each class is based on how many cars ran that race in the 2023 season. So if you want a GTE only race at Monza you will always have 12 cars on the track.

AI is not as good as in rFactor 2 but since it's based on the same engine I expect them to fix that rather sooner than later. AI cars love to divebomb, run into the rear of your car in a braking zone, move under braking and switch lanes before braking. On the other hand it's quite easy to pass them on the outside of a corner as soon as you understand their behaviour. They do occasionally spin out, crash or cut a corner like in real life but what's currently missing is penalties for the AI, yellow sectors, full course yellow, a safety car and they do nto seem to have a pit strategy. If you do practice and qualifying before the race they will pit but only then. And if it starts to rain they stay on dry tires until their planned pit window comes up. This will all be fixed I guess but at the moment it's only fun to have short races under good weather conditions against the AI.

Overall I would say wait for the first few patches and updates unless you want to use it for hotlapping and practice and get a grip of the new Hypercars. Which is what I do, spending hours in private practice.

[GEORGE SAVVAS]

This Sim is amazing, physics are Rfactor 2, excellent, Graphics are very polished, the car models are all re done, i know this because i play RF2 in VR and the LMP2 and GTE's are a lot more detailed. I'm really enjoying this title and can't wait for VR and a 2024 DLC which i will gladly pay for. Forgot to mention the Tracks are incredible.

[Conure]

I have ACC and iRacing and love both. I've got a dedicated sim rig with decent gear (Fanatec DD and Simagic P1000 hydraulic pedals) and this sim absolutely brings the equipment to life in a way the others don't. I generally don't drive iRacing for pleasure, because it just feels a bit bland. It's awesome for multiplayer of course, but if I want to turn laps for fun, it doesn't cut it.

This on the other hand is an absolute pleasure - the feel of it through the force feedback is amazing, the way the cars handle and move, the sounds. All amazing. To me, it's like the best bits of iRacing and ACCs enginescombined. Beautiful graphics (but not blurry like ACC), good native multiplayer, and man, it's just incredibly fun to drive.

iRacing is of course still well ahead for multiplayer and probably physics, but this is just incredibly fun.

[Aysedasi]

Originally posted by PaxB:

Overall I would say wait for the first few patches and updates unless you want to use it for hotlapping and practice and get a grip of the new Hypercars. Which is what I do, spending hours in private practice.

For me, even though everything is very laggy - menus, etc and the online experience is glitchy to say the least, the beauty of the sim is the online racing, which is vastly more fun than racing the AI or just hotlapping.

[Saxohare]

Originally posted by PsychOut83:

Serious question. I'm interested in this game (but holding off for native VR) but I'm not really sure what this game offers that the others don't. Superior physics like RF2 but with updated graphics?

The Ai isn't that great, I got bumped at lots of unexpected places on track
There is very little to none connected to the road feel in the FFB at low speeds
But the Online is great, no locked or public lobbies, just scheduled races, great
Helas are the setups fixed for all Bronze and Silver races

[Lavos]

Compared to iRacing. Physics are better, and collisions are much more realistic. Cars won't immediately turn into boats after they're hit, this allows for some bumping, and less stressful online. Another plus in this area are track penalties, that are much more lenient, if you're loosing a lot of time as you're cutting corners, you can get without any penalties, and if you're gaining time, you can often just lift or break a little, and you'll not get any penalty as well.
Safety rating and drivers rating systems work similar to iRacing, but there are fewer races available at one time.
Night racing is done extremely well, with tires getting cold on the straights, and splendid visibility of the trackside objects.
There's plenty of menue bugs currently, if you don't wait a little for game to load after track is loaded, and you start clicking around, expect CTD ASAP.
Online races are mainly fixed setup, daylight races of small grid of cars, possibly to assess net code as the game is still in early access. Another plus over iracing is that fixed setups are actually competent and very fast. And it's allowed to change fuel, traction control, brake bias, and engine mapping.

[Zakalwe]

Originally posted by PsychOut83:

Serious question. I'm interested in this game (but holding off for native VR) but I'm not really sure what this game offers that the others don't. Superior physics like RF2 but with updated graphics?

It's a much tighter and more refined sim that rF2. Of the other sims you mention, I think it blows AMS2 away with ease (as it does with other simcades like PC2). ACC is closer in experience, but still a noticeable step below LMU. I've never tried iRacing, but I'd say that Race Room gives LMU a bit of a run for its money in terms of wheel FFB. My advice would be to wait for the big patch drop coming between today and Sunday, and try it at that point.

As for a USP, it's got full backing from the FIA WEC, so you get all the fully licensed cars and tracks from the best racing season outside of F1, wrapped up in what might be the best driving physics to date. Reason enough, I'd say.

[MaC22]

LMU

[Jason Cooper]

I have about 10 sims best FFB physics = rf2 MP = IR VR = AMS2 & IR, what i do not do anymore is support early release they are always a disappointment, i would rather wait till its at a release stage even if the price is higher. yes its rf2 with a touch up, not a complete re work.

[Raffi]

Steam offers a refund, so you can try it out and if you don't like it, return it!

[corksons]

Just the option to drive on Sebring with proper cars was enough to pay 30 euros, everything else is icing on the cake.
I drove on Portimao and Bahrain, also really good tracks!

[shadow82]

Originally posted by PsychOut83:

what this game offers that the others don't.

Official WEC licence and a slightly improved version of rF2 that might get refined over time. Your call if you wish to get it. If you are used to the GTE, LMP2 and the few Hypercar in rF2, that is pretty much the experience you will get as of today.

Having said that though, I spent shy of 110 hours since release in early access, so in my books the 30€ (or your local equivalent) were well worth it even if I never played it ever again (which will not happen as I still play daily and it is slowly taking over my ACC play time).

[Jason Cooper]

Originally posted by Raffi:

Steam offers a refund, so you can try it out and if you don't like it, return it!

agree but why put yourself through the disappointment, would much prefer a more well polished sim, then i wouldn't read so many complaints like LMU is getting. If i was developer this kind of feedback would certainly make me think about releasing anything in an early state. I know 100% "the last garage" being built by ex s397 worker Marcel Offerman told me in a MSG it will never be released as early access. https://thelastgarage.com/

[jellobiafra]

I think it´s pretty good at this point.
They obviously worked on the cars, tracks and physics first.
And that's the most important thing for a racing game.
The rest comes later.