Le Mans Ultimate’s v1.0 release breaks player records

After a convoluted and troubled development period, Le Mans Ultimate’s v1.0 release arrived yesterday (22nd July, 2025), and by all accounts it was a huge success for publisher Motorsport Games.

Although the game currently has a threadbare single-player experience and v1.0 lacked any major content updates, players have lapped up LMU’s full version, with its previous peak concurrent player record on Steam smashed by around 3,000 players.

In our review, we complained that v1.0 added just two new cars to LMU: the Aston Martin Valkyrie Hypercar and the Mercedes-AMG LMGT3, plus a revised BMW M4 LMGT3, with the changelog indicating minimal game updates.

However, its excellent physics and multiplayer experience have prevailed, with 8,463 players running LMU yesterday evening, despite core single-player features like career and championship modes not arriving until 2026.

LMU’s new player record is a remarkable turnaround for MSG given its financial difficulties, but for context, 2014 sim Assetto Corsa hit 14,381 players in the same period. However, LMU’s more direct competitors, Assetto Corsa Competizione and Automobilista 2, reached 4,035 and 1,624 players, respectively (active player stats are unavailable for iRacing, sadly). 

What did you make of Le Mans Ultimate’s v1.0 release? Let us know in the comments below.