Launched in February, Le Mans Ultimate is the official game of the FIA World Endurance Championship. For BMW fans, the game is about to become more relevant with the addition of the M Hybrid V8. It’ll be available as a free DLC from June 10, just days before the actual 24 Hours of Le Mans. BMW M Motorsport will be at the real race with two cars but you’ll virtually drive it sooner than that.
Meanwhile, these teasers show the M Hybrid V8 in question will wear the typical M livery rather than the Art Car design penned by Julie Mehretu. At the start of the actual race on June 15, the #20 car driven by Sheldon van der Linde, Robin Frijns, and René Rast is going to have the special wrap. Dries Vanthoor, Raffaele Marciello, and Marco Wittmann will pilot the #15 car on the famous Circuit de la Sarthe.
Stephen Hood, CEO of Studio 397 and Motorsport Games, says the team has worked with BMW to faithfully replicate the M Hybrid V8. BMW’s electrified racer is coming to Le Mans Ultimate as part of a bigger June update. Players are also getting free liveries for the 2024-spec Toyota GR010, Ferrari 499P, and the Porsche 963. Additional details about the big update will be disclosed next week.
Available on Steam, Le Mans Ultimate is not the first video game to feature the BMW M Hybrid V8. The LMDh racer has been available in iRacing since the end of 2022. Some nerdy facts about the company’s flagship racer are worth mentioning here. The hugely intricate electrified race car features no fewer than 1,900 individual parts, not including the engine. It packs 640 horsepower from its hybrid P66/3 engine, which features a whopping 4,306 components.
It has some big shoes to fill at this year’s Le Mans considering 2024 marks a quarter of a century since the V12 LMR won the endurance race. If it won’t be able to replicate the success its predecessor had in 1999, maybe Le Mans Ultimate players will.
Source: Le Mans Ultimate
