Le Mans Ultimate’s new VR update is promising

In addition to the Circuit of the Americas, the Alpine A424 and the Isotta Fraschini Tipo 6 being made available, Le Mans Ultimate’s September 2024 Update 2 has refined the sim’s virtual reality experience. 

Although VR compatibility is still officially in beta, Studio 397 has implemented a few quality-of-life improvements. Therefore, multisample anti-aliasing functions and both the game’s user interface and on-track heads-up display work while in-headset.

Fortunately, LMU runs very well in VR considering the mode is still in beta – and it’s easy to get up and running. Using my Pimax Crystal Light, the on-track image is sharp and runs smoothly, reminding me of rFactor 2’s VR mode (which shouldn’t be a shock given both games share a lot of DNA).

Graphics settings

With medium graphics settings, however, I found that the frame rate dipped a little when a lot of cars were on-screen. This was even more pronounced as day turned into night or when inclement weather descended on the circuit.

Understandably, more optimisation is required but it’s a great start. The HUD and game menus also work well, but occasionally the UI freezes or flickers, leading to the occasional game crash.

Again, as more work is done on optimisation I’d expect this to improve, and the fact I was tinkering with graphics settings and trying to record VR gameplay at the same time probably didn’t help.

What I did notice, however, was that I had to run with 4x MSAA to get rid of the majority of jaggy lines, which can be extremely off-putting when travelling at 170 mph. Post-processing should also be set to low unless you’re lucky enough to have a monster PC.

Naturally, CPU-melting graphics settings like shadows and the number of visible vehicles should also be adjusted if you experience any frame rate issues. 

Speaking of CPUs melting, when trying to record LMU’s VR (through SteamVR) I experienced huge issues due to my Pimax Crystal Light defaulting to 3232 x 3824 pixels per eye, making the final in-headset footage rather choppy.

After dropping the resolution (and with a lot of help from sim racing guru and YouTuber MrGit) I finally managed to capture some acceptable footage, but rest assured it looks so much better in-headset.

Check out our guide on how to get VR working in LMU, plus some advice on recording your in-headset gameplay footage.

Have you tried Le Mans Ultimate’s latest VR update? What are your thoughts? Let us know in the comments below.

How to play Le Mans Ultimate in VR

The process for playing Le Mans Ultimate in VR is a simple one:

1. Right-click on LMU icon on Steam
2. Click ‘Properties’
3. Click ‘General’
4. In ‘Launch Options’ type ‘+VR’

Le Mans Ultimate September 2024 Update VR changelog

Note: this is not a full release, we have included some incremental improvements for those users that wish to try it.

You can do this by adding +VR to the launch options of the game.

• Fixed issue with MSAA not functioning in VR

• Fixed HUD so it works in VR

• Fixed UI so it works in VR