The History of Le Mans in Games

Playing it on the DC was amazing. I've often thought about it and gone back to it quite a few times over the years.
I used to play it in stints over the 24 hours, you could save your progress at the pit stops. After the first playthrough & subsequent win in the LMP1 class, I'd often play with the 911 in the weakest class, (GT2 I think), & see how high I could finish. I can remember the driving being intense as you needed to push like crazy & try to make no mistakes to finish well into the LMP1 class! It was pretty difficult but possible.
I remember the feeling of despair when it started to rain in the dark towards the end of a stint when your slick dry tires were already ruined but it wasn't quite time to pit, what to do!
And that was just Le Mans. There was also a whole championship with the other tracks.
An amazing game to this day, anyone who has a DC & hasn't played it, get on it!
An amazing game :) One of the greats.
 
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I kind of like the Le Mans 24 arcade game. Given the possible hardware limitations of the board (which may be PS1/N64 level; I don't know), I think the the game's version of Le Mans is quite accurate for the time. It was also the game debut of the Mazda 787B and the Porsche 917K. However, it sucked that the game was by default programmed so that you had to put in another credit to finish the 24 hours, but I do understand that it is because one credit isn't supposed to last you ~12 minutes.
 
@glassjaw - Great article, really well written, & thoroughly interesting. Awesome job! 👍 Reading it was an education in sim racing history, & I admit that I knew little about the subject outside of driving Lemans in GT games. I had so many great Shuffle & Spec races in GT5, & have a deep affection for the track. Nice to learn about the various virtual renditions of the event/track over the years. Strange that the GT Sport version got no mention though...


:cheers:
 
FerrariF1GT
I kind of like the Le Mans 24 arcade game. Given the possible hardware limitations of the board (which may be PS1/N64 level; I don't know), I think the the game's version of Le Mans is quite accurate for the time. It was also the game debut of the Mazda 787B and the Porsche 917K. However, it sucked that the game was by default programmed so that you had to put in another credit to finish the 24 hours, but I do understand that it is because one credit isn't supposed to last you ~12 minutes.
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Some people do like it, and honestly when I watch the right person play it (like Mr. Thunderwing in the video in the article there) it looks much better than I give it credit for. But then I play it and...it just doesn’t feel right.

As far as the accuracy of the track in the game, the fastest lap recorded in the ‘96 race was 3:46, which is nearly 2 and a half minutes longer than in Le Mans 24, so not entirely sure what you mean by accuracy there. The Model 3 board was actually quite powerful for its day, somewhere between the Dreamcast and PlayStation 2, so I think a longer rendition would have been possible. But perhaps not desirable for an arcade racer.

VBR
@glassjaw - Great article, really well written, & thoroughly interesting. Awesome job! 👍 Reading it was an education in sim racing history, & I admit that I knew little about the subject outside of driving Lemans in GT games. I had so many great Shuffle & Spec races in GT5, & have a deep affection for the track. Nice to learn about the various virtual renditions of the event/track over the years. Strange that the GT Sport version got no mention though...
:cheers:
Click to expand...

Thank you! I left out GT Sport, as well as Forza 7 and many other notable and more recent games with Circuit de la Sarthe for the reasons I mention at the beginning of the section about Grid. Many games have the track, but they don’t necessarily have the rights to the 24 Hours of Le Mans. This piece was more about the race itself, rather than the venue.
 
glassjaw
As far as the accuracy of the track in the game, the fastest lap recorded in the ‘96 race was 3:46, which is nearly 2 and a half minutes longer than in Le Mans 24, so not entirely sure what you mean by accuracy there. The Model 3 board was actually quite powerful for its day, somewhere between the Dreamcast and PlayStation 2, so I think a longer rendition would have been possible. But perhaps not desirable for an arcade racer.
Click to expand...

It was shortened likely for arcade play.
 
I played the "Le Man 24 Heures" game a lot when it was first released (on the PS2?). :cool:
I seem to remember that it also included a few other tracks, like Road America, but as I say I'm just going by memory & I have played a shed-load of other Racing / Driving Games. I loved the fact that you could actually drive the 24 hour Race in real time. Your tyres wearing down & Fuel depleting over a few hours, timing your pit-stops (where you could save your Game progress) for when you needed to have a comfort-break !! :lol:
I'm unsure if it included any Damage to your car, but that would have made you a little less "reckless" when over-taking the slower car classes.
But the best / most realistic things were the real time Weather and day/dusk/night/dawn/day effects. Some great memories... :cheers:
 
I believe that SMS used the film Le Mans as the blueprint for the historic version in the DLC, which would make a lot of sense as its probably the best source of detail on the track from that period.

A first lap around it from my first download of the DLC. First in a 924 GTP and then 512S
 
Only thing I could find wrong with Project Cars 2 Le Mans was the fact that you can't save it mid race :guilty:

I still have the Playstation 2 Version of test drive Le Mans, for me personally it's still the best representation of Le Mans ever created, really wish another developer would grab hold of the licence and go all out on another. To have a proper dedicated GT/WEC game would be amazing!!
 
BasherB59
I played the "Le Man 24 Heures" game a lot when it was first released (on the PS2?). :cool:
I seem to remember that it also included a few other tracks, like Road America, but as I say I'm just going by memory & I have played a shed-load of other Racing / Driving Games. I loved the fact that you could actually drive the 24 hour Race in real time. Your tyres wearing down & Fuel depleting over a few hours, timing your pit-stops (where you could save your Game progress) for when you needed to have a comfort-break !! :lol:
I'm unsure if it included any Damage to your car, but that would have made you a little less "reckless" when over-taking the slower car classes.
But the best / most realistic things were the real time Weather and day/dusk/night/dawn/day effects. Some great memories... :cheers:
Click to expand...

Yes, the PlayStation 2 port included a few extras. You got the 2000 cars as well as the ‘99 ones, and also Road Atlanta for Petit Le Mans. That’s probably one of the earliest games with that track, until it became a Forza staple.
 
Chikane
@glassjaw Wanted to say that it was a honor that you use one of my pictures in this great article. :)

I'm So hype for the race this weekend
:D
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It’s an amazing photo! I’m so glad I found your stuff on the forums. Captures the historic spirit so well 👍

I’m hyped as well! :D
 
I remember the PS1 Le Mans game, was a lot of fun though you could only select first person view if I remember correctly? I'm a bit of a chase cam fan generally. I think I also own the PS2 version/update though I don't remember actually playing it yet, hmmm.

*EDIT* Having checked Youtube it looks like chase cam was available in the PS1 game, which is weird and not how I remember it. Maybe there was just no cockpit cam, but that wouldn't usually be of note to me. Does anyone know if there was more than one official PAL Le Mans game for the PS1 or is my memory playing tricks?
 
GTP_Yamicarlos
Why there is no mention of Gran Turismo or Forza titles in this article?
Click to expand...

glassjaw
Thank you! I left out GT Sport, as well as Forza 7 and many other notable and more recent games with Circuit de la Sarthe for the reasons I mention at the beginning of the section about Grid. Many games have the track, but they don’t necessarily have the rights to the 24 Hours of Le Mans. This piece was more about the race itself, rather than the venue.
Click to expand...
Maybe try reading the article ;)
 
I think we all can agree- "Le Mans 24 Hours" perhaps did Le Mans best. My ONLY complaints with LM24H were the long load times and MAYBE the sound (at least for the PS2 version). I thought it was great seeing Circuit de la Sarthe for Gran Turismo 4. Even if there wasn't variable time and weather, Le Mans is still Le Mans. What mostly compels me is how there haven't been too many quality sportscar racing games. We all know various NASCAR games, Formula 1 games, even rally. The sportscar racing variety, however, has been mostly limited. So cherish games like the ones mentioned in this thread/article.

As for other versions, I ALMOST won Le Mans in GRID... if only I didn't spin out in the Porsche Curves in the closing seconds of the event.
 
Chikane
glassjaw

"...Many games have the track, but they don’t necessarily have the rights to the 24 Hours of Le Mans..."

Maybe try reading the article ;)
Click to expand...

In the Endurance section of Gran Turismo 4 they made 2 races at Le Mans with 24 hours of duration. Maybe the autor of the article forgot about it. I think PD had rights of the race to include those challenges. In GT5 the race was back, this time they even use the name "24 Hours of Le Mans".
 
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GTP_Yamicarlos
In the Endurance section of Gran Turismo 4 they made 2 races at Le Mans with 24 hours of duration. Maybe the autor of the article forgot about it. I think PD had rights of the race to include those challenges. In GT5 the race was back, this time they even use the name "24 Hours of Le Mans".
Click to expand...

It appeared as "Circuit de la Sarthe 24h" in both games.

latest


latest
 
It still doesn't appear they had the license as it doesn't have the actual race logo (can't remember when they switched, so here's both).

24_le_mans_logo.png


Granted even if they did it's not like they really brought anything new to the table. GT4's race didn't even have a day/night cycle and by the time GT5 did it had been done already.
 
I agree about GT4. But Gran Turismo 5 has the "name of the race" there as the image I post earlier shows. So, I believe it should be included in the article. I'm trying to help here, not fighting.
 
GTP_Yamicarlos
I think PD had rights of the race to include those challenges. In GT5 the race was back, this time they even use the name "24 Hours of Le Mans".
Click to expand...

They didn’t.

There is nothing barring Polyphony (or any dev) from adding a race at that track that lasts 24 hours. But considering the lack of official endorsement, range of cars and teams that actually competed in the event in a given year, realistic classes and so on — not to mention the fact that GT4 only gave you five other rivals to compete against — it’s pretty clear that PD wasn’t pulling out all the stops for an authentic 24 Hours of Le Mans experience.

This story is about honoring the games that did.
 
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Scaff
I believe that SMS used the film Le Mans as the blueprint for the historic version in the DLC, which would make a lot of sense as its probably the best source of detail on the track from that period.

A first lap around it from my first download of the DLC. First in a 924 GTP and then 512S
Click to expand...


You are right. We used Le Mans movie as a main reference (I love the movie so much. It is actually the reason why I am such a petrolhead since childhood and why I love everything Le mans :).
We also had a lot of photos from that era that wasn't published anywhere I believe.
It was always my dream to make this track and it is kinda sad for me to see that pretty much nobody is playing it. Everybody is at Spa or Brands Hatch with GT3 cars. :-(
 

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