Sports car racing is a discipline of golden ages: The Group 4 era of the Porsche 917 and Ferrari 512, Group C madness in the 1980s, and, more recently, the LMP1 rocketships of big manufacturers battling out on track. The Hypercar era in IMSA and WEC has reignited interest in these big-scale endurance races, as numerous manufacturers have already entered or announced their plans - but the class is still suspiciously underrepresented in sim racing.
Image Credit: Studio 397
Since its debut in 2021, the Hypercar class is running as LMH in WEC and GTP in IMSA, alongside the LMDh class. The difference: Hypercar manufacturers have to build their prototypes and their hybrid systems from scratch, wheres in LMDh, they have to choose from one of four chassis and use a spec hybrid system.
That makes for a dozen examples of the fastest prototypes in sports car racing, all with their own, unique take on their designs. Of course, sim racers cannot wait to get their hands on the virtual wheels of one of these missiles on wheels - but there are not many choices in the virtual garages outside of mods yet.
iRacing took the first step when they announced the addition of the BMW M Hybrid V8 LMDh car in late 2022 - even before the actual car had made its debut in competition, which happened at the 24 Hours of Daytona in January 2023. It is rumored that Porsche's 963 entry could be the next current prototype to find its way into the service.
Image Credit: iRacing
Shortly after iRacing had announced their plans for the BMW LMDh, rFactor 2 followed suit with their rendition of the Vanwall Vandervell 680. At the time, it was not yet clear if the car would be allowed to race in WEC due to a dispute over homologation, which was resolved in time for the 2023 season, allowing the car onto the grid.
However, to fully capitalize on the growing popularity of both WEC and IMSA due to renewed manufacturer interest, as many of these cars as possible should find their way into more sims, making them more accessible and creating even more excitement for the real series. The LMP1 vehicles in iRacing are a great example for this - even though the the class was slimmed down considerably after 2016 due to Porsche and Audi dropping out of WEC, the cars were still immensely popular on the service in the following years.
Despite all the different philosophies in car design, a Balance of Performance keeps them all somewhat competitive. This might make the LMH/LMDh vehicles great for esports purposes as well - after all, the amount of choice racers get in GT3 is one of the strengths of that class, and it is seemingly everywhere in sim racing. Should the majority of prototypes eventually find their ways into more titles, this might for an exciting alternative.
Image Credit: Studio 397
Since its debut in 2021, the Hypercar class is running as LMH in WEC and GTP in IMSA, alongside the LMDh class. The difference: Hypercar manufacturers have to build their prototypes and their hybrid systems from scratch, wheres in LMDh, they have to choose from one of four chassis and use a spec hybrid system.
Legendary Manufacturers Return
This allows for a wide variety of vehicles, and manufacturer interest has proven high, leading to another golden age of sports car racing that has even brought Ferrari back to top-class sports car racing - the iconic Italian marque had been absent since the 1970s. Alongside them, Toyota, Vanwall Vandervell, Peugeot and Glickenhaus have already taken to the track in the LMH class, while Cadillac, Porsche, BMW, Acura have chosen the LMDh route. Lamborghini, Alpine and Isotta Faschini are due to enter with their own LMDh and LMH cars in the future.That makes for a dozen examples of the fastest prototypes in sports car racing, all with their own, unique take on their designs. Of course, sim racers cannot wait to get their hands on the virtual wheels of one of these missiles on wheels - but there are not many choices in the virtual garages outside of mods yet.
iRacing took the first step when they announced the addition of the BMW M Hybrid V8 LMDh car in late 2022 - even before the actual car had made its debut in competition, which happened at the 24 Hours of Daytona in January 2023. It is rumored that Porsche's 963 entry could be the next current prototype to find its way into the service.
Image Credit: iRacing
Shortly after iRacing had announced their plans for the BMW LMDh, rFactor 2 followed suit with their rendition of the Vanwall Vandervell 680. At the time, it was not yet clear if the car would be allowed to race in WEC due to a dispute over homologation, which was resolved in time for the 2023 season, allowing the car onto the grid.
Just Two Out of 12
Unfortunately, this rather short list exhausts all the LMH/LMDh choices in sim racing when it comes to official content as of May 2023. Of course, developing virtual versions of these cars takes time, and it is possible that Motorsport Games' license for an official WEC game might hold back other developers in this regard, much like their IndyCar license did with iRacing and Automobilista 2.However, to fully capitalize on the growing popularity of both WEC and IMSA due to renewed manufacturer interest, as many of these cars as possible should find their way into more sims, making them more accessible and creating even more excitement for the real series. The LMP1 vehicles in iRacing are a great example for this - even though the the class was slimmed down considerably after 2016 due to Porsche and Audi dropping out of WEC, the cars were still immensely popular on the service in the following years.
Despite all the different philosophies in car design, a Balance of Performance keeps them all somewhat competitive. This might make the LMH/LMDh vehicles great for esports purposes as well - after all, the amount of choice racers get in GT3 is one of the strengths of that class, and it is seemingly everywhere in sim racing. Should the majority of prototypes eventually find their ways into more titles, this might for an exciting alternative.
