(all is 100% related to rF2 future)
After serious use of Le Mans ultimate, just out of curiosity and because I am a fan of rfactor 2, and although it is obviously early access, I notice this without surprise :
Le Mans ultimate has exactly the same physics as rfactor 2 (if there is a difference it is extremely small, apart from the hybrid of course), the ffb is strictly identical especially if it is correctly configured that is- that is to say in the same way between the two simulations, the graphics engine is strictly identical with a very slight pleasant improvement on the le mans ultimate but which remains weak, the sound engine remains exactly the same with a slight improvement which is very appreciable indeed, we feel that the ui code is exactly the same as that of rfactor 2 but as far as I am concerned this UI is a real disaster in terms of ergonomics and user friendly and also in terms of customization capacity given that is in a simulation.
Apart from the content, what interests me 99.99% without any exaggeration I assure you is the realism of driving, it is exactly the same frankly we are not going to quibble.
I'm not taking into account the fact that there are really major bugs for the moment because it's early access, on the other hand the experience I had with the le mans ultimate at the interface and bug level was a disaster to be honest but as I tell you I am perfectly aware it is early access so no problem.
I actually have two major problems with Le Mans ultimate :
1) Le Mans ultimate is none other than rfactor 2 and I defy everyone to say the opposite, but due to its WEC license, and immensely limited in content which is extremely damaging and even blocking concerning me as a passionate about driving.
It's very important for me to drive a large number of cars, but even more important, cars with extremely different physics and behavior, and it's exactly the opposite in Le Mans ultimate without even talking about the variety of cars and their year of their type of transmission et cetera.
Furthermore, even if it is only an early access and the first year of the game, the number of circuits is very ridiculous even if the wec compliant ones I agree, the variety, the type and the number of circuits is really less than it should be for an rfactor 2 enthusiast like me and I just want to say as a driving enthusiast quite simply.
Furthermore, I consider that the greatest endurance circuit and even the greatest circuit in the world from all points of view is not Le Mans at all, sorry I'm going to offend some French people and people from Sarthe, but the greatest circuit of the world in short but also of endurance and in what concerns me the Nürburgring.
There are no less than 5 endurance races per year on this circuit, the 24 hours and the VLN.
All with many more different cars, 200 cars on the circuit and so on. In short, I'm not going to draw you a drawing, it's seriously so much better. Of course everyone has the right to like or not like the Nürburgring, but for me this circuit is totally essential even if it is obviously personal, the little time I spend on the simulator is either on the nürburgring combined, 99% of the time easily, either on the targa florio because it is a totally fantastic circuit precisely what we will never have on le mans ultimate.
Sorry to be a bit like the guys in virtual reality who say and it's a bit annoying it's true no support in VR therefore no purchase of games, the guys say that all the time (I should point out that I have 5 years of VR so I know what it is), here I want to do a bit of the same guy who says no Nürburgring, no Le Mans ultimate.... But actually it's personal, this circuit is foundational for me, this year alone I spent more than 25,000 km on this circuit virtually on rFactor 2.....
But in any case, not a very varied circuit and of different types and so on, and in number, for me Le Mans ultimate has no interest, I said for me, didn't I, for me !
So note these two arguments, the argument of the cars which is totally major and main, and the argument of the circuits including the exclusion of the Nürburgring for endurance even if I integrated it perfectly it does not come into account in the wec.
And obviously note that for me rFactor 2 is the only real simulation in a sense of extremely high-end driving realism and research by the publisher, and that I include in this sense Le Mans ultimate, I am not trying to absolutely demolish the game, but note my second point.
2) My second is much simpler, it is quite simply that I am convinced that unfortunately le mans ultimate has already killed rfactor 2 from the beginning of its development about a year and a half or two years ago and even more during its announcement.
Indeed, the only desirable thing would have been to continue to evolve rFactor 2 very strongly and gradually, obviously including if possible all the cars which are planned for Le Mans ultimate, with possibly some specific adaptations to the wec in the parameters of the ui or other, and add the missing circuits.
This would have involved paying for one or more DLC in the form of a package, this DLC could very well have cost quite a lot more than €30 in any case without a doubt.
You are going to tell me, and this is where we will disagree, that if they had done that they would have sold a lot less and it would have made a lot less money... Well I will answer you, without any doubt, yes, but the choice they made by releasing Le Mans ultimate is a commercial choice which is not necessarily bad actually, but unfortunately this commercial choice goes against the interests of both users of rFactor 2 but in my opinion of all SIM Racer.
So the choice of a progressively greatly improved rFactor 2, with possibly in addition to the other DLCs and the DLCs corresponding to the wec, was in my opinion a solution perhaps 1000 or 10000 times better than the one chosen except on the commercial level but the business plan is none of our business, we are passionate, is it...
Is not it....?
The second choice, in my opinion would have been both better than Le Mans Ultimate but not an intelligent choice either, would have been rFactor 3.
So, I reinvested in rFactor 2, and it's still great and even, to tell the truth, almost better knowing that the successor does much less of course, notably the aspects that I mentioned to you.
I'm having a lot of fun on rFactor 2 these last few days, I really regret that it's no longer improved and believe me when I saw the words of the former boss of s397 Marcel, I said to myself that indeed it's It was very unlikely that they would really come back.
To simplify his remarks, it's been almost 2 years or a year and a half that he has been working almost exclusively on Le Mans ultimate, almost 2 years that the code of the two games has deviated from each other, if he had to come back to it he will not come back for at least a year at least so the difference between the two codes would be too significant and would require too much investment.
So we can believe it, we have the right to believe it, but I don't believe it and I prefer not to believe it.
So I'm continuing on rfactor 2, that's all I can tell you.
Be careful, apart from the content which does not suit me at all due to its variety, its diversity, its interest in driving and its number, I consider that Le Mans ultimate is in terms of graphics, sound, and above all what really counts driving realism strictly identical to rFactor 2 (with very slight sound and graphic improvements but nothing exceptional).
I'm not here to criticize Mans Ultimate, but recognize that disappointment is quite legitimate when you're a long-time user of rFactor 2!
