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Le Mans Ultimate | Career Mode & Console Version SOON? | Stephen Hood Interview — Transcript

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0:00Hey guys, welcome back to Overtake. It's
0:02Yanek and Mitchell here and we just had
0:04a 30 minute talk with no other than
0:06Steven Hood from Studio 397. Um, yeah,
0:09always a pleasure to have someone be as
0:12open in interviews as Steven and uh,
0:14yeah, lots of interesting facts and
0:16little snippets on LMU's next update and
0:19its future, too. So, uh, definitely give
0:21this one a watch.
0:22>> We talked about pricing of the new
0:25American track packs. We talked about
0:271.4 before and a big part of that
0:29interview was also the online racing um
0:32and also career mode and consoles.
0:34>> Hello Stephen. Thanks for taking the
0:36time. Glad to have you once again.
0:39>> Hello Yanik. Um thank you very much for
0:42for inviting me again and asking me all
0:44the questions that you would like to
0:45ask. It's always a pleasure for me. So
0:47thank you.
0:48>> Absolutely. It's always highly
0:50interesting too and uh especially now
0:52considering that big things are in store
0:55once again for LMU version 1.4. 4 is
0:57around the corner as we heard uh a few
1:00yesterday I think it was. Of course the
1:02big thing was uh United States tracks.
1:06Would they come? Would they not? It
1:08turns out that they will and uh we get
1:10to enjoy Daytona and Laguna Seikka
1:12first. Seeing how IMSA is obviously
1:16occupying these for sports car racing in
1:18North America and WC is not. So the acco
1:21isn't. Uh how did that come to be and
1:23what kind of role did licensing play in
1:25this? Ooh. Um, big question. Uh, I don't
1:29know if you noticed, but quite a few
1:31people for a while were asking for more
1:32track content and um, the calls for that
1:37quite widespread and we've always
1:38understood why. Um, but it was a choice
1:42of ours um to try and maintain
1:46what is effectively if if you look at
1:48the world of motorsport and the content
1:50that would be available for for
1:51simulation racing games quite narrow.
1:54And we wanted to keep that narrow uh
1:57focus for a couple of reasons. One
2:00because it's a joint venture with the
2:02acco. So it's a deal where you know the
2:06two organizations are together. So it
2:08makes sense to build it around that
2:10championship. We have expanded you know
2:12and adding um ELMS content.
2:15And then people imagine that we would
2:17add Asian lemon content, but we've seen
2:19widespread calls for all sorts of
2:21tracks, you know,
2:24Nifa, Green Hell, you know, let's throw
2:27let's throw everything that we want into
2:28it. And I think that's a good thing
2:29because people want to drive that kind
2:32of track content because they're having
2:34fun in Lemon Ultimate. So it stands to
2:37reason that people want to, you know,
2:40throw all sorts of ideas into it and
2:42disregard the fact that it is a license
2:44to title in a joint venture with the
2:47acco and it's called Lemon Ultimate. So
2:50the narrow focus has enabled us to just
2:52try to deliver as good a product as we
2:55can around that championship. We
2:57ourselves would like to add more
2:58content. So this is us stepping into
3:02something else. Um, and we did have
3:06conversations with IMSA and they are
3:08ongoing. They've been a great bunch. Um,
3:13those conversations are much easier to
3:14have now that Lemon Ultimate is
3:16successful and everybody can see, you
3:17know, sim racers are enjoying it. So,
3:19you know, it's a very different
3:20conversation than it would have been 2
3:22or 3 years ago. Um, and we're great
3:24friends with NASCAR again. And um
3:29because it's still a licensed title, we
3:30decided to just license the individual
3:33circuits into the product for now. Not
3:35even the the full IMSA calendar. Who's
3:38to say that that won't come in the
3:39future? So it's it's us kind of dipping
3:42a toe into a different area and trying
3:45to to push into the US a little more
3:47with a product that's still called Lemon
3:49Ultimate. Um so we'll we'll we'll see
3:52how it goes. It's it's very new ground
3:55for us. Um, but at the end of the
3:57result, I think it gives players more
3:58content to enjoy in lemon.
3:59>> Yeah, looking at uh the track pack
4:02number one for the US tracks. Uh, the
4:05price uh is significantly higher than
4:08what we were used to for the more
4:10ultimate DLCs. I think you change it a
4:12bit now because we had the the first
4:13packs being cars plus one track. I think
4:15the first one was €12 and now we have uh
4:18two tracks for €20. That's for me for
4:22for my feeling quite a raise in in
4:24price. So, how did that come to be?
4:27Because most of the tracks for the
4:29American tracks are already in rac. And
4:32people would argue, hey, you got the the
4:34base work already done. Is it is it that
4:37much of a difference to recreate the
4:38tracks? Is are the scans new? Is the
4:41licensing more expensive or what is the
4:42reason for
4:44>> for the pack being quite quite pricey?
4:47If you look at all the six tracks then
4:49being almost full price like a game. I
4:52think I think people would would say
4:54that's a lot.
4:57Uh well I would agree with that that
4:59there's a price increase. I wouldn't
5:01necessarily agree that they're pricey or
5:02expensive because it depends on the
5:04value that we provide. Actually the cost
5:06is not necessarily the building of the
5:09content. it becomes expensive when it
5:12comes to licensing because a lot of
5:14people imagine that um you know
5:16historically because we had a joint
5:18venture with the acco that that we get
5:21automatic rights to incorporate things
5:23like the GT3 cars and the hypercars and
5:26all the tracks because we're
5:27representing the championship. Actually
5:29many of the motorsport series are
5:31nothing like um Formula 1 where they
5:33package the entire rights and you buy
5:35the license and you can um feature it.
5:38we still have to license probably 95% of
5:42the content in order to replicate um a
5:45championship that we have a deal for.
5:49That's not really how it works because
5:50some of these series haven't been in
5:53motorsports space for a long time. So,
5:54they don't collect all of the rights to
5:56kind of offer them up like a
5:57broadcasting deal for games. Um and it's
6:00the same for the US tracks. Obviously
6:04they don't come through the acco you
6:06know it's not part of a lemon JV we have
6:09to go out and negotiate all of those on
6:11an individual basis in many cases and
6:14pay
6:16you know when you're talking about
6:17prices when you see the cost of
6:19licensing some of the circuits
6:21they vary quite substantially and we
6:24don't [clears throat] pay yeah o over
6:26the odds for these like we we just
6:28refuse to do it but it does cost us.
6:30The the question is just also because
6:32people are very concerned nowadays of
6:34Yeah. licenses. Yeah. We have the game
6:36license and it's limited especially with
6:38racing games. We all know that after a
6:40certain time period um stuff just
6:43disappears from the stores because of
6:45the licensing. Can you at least assure
6:47people if they now Yeah. spend $45 for
6:50the for for the six tracks that they
6:53have them for a while or how does that
6:55work? Can Can you give them a guarantee
6:57of of how long the license will last?
7:00>> Well, I give you a guarantee as much as
7:02anything is guaranteed in the world of
7:04software. Yes. Maybe your computer won't
7:06work tomorrow or we we don't um we might
7:10pull things from sale in the future if a
7:12license expired like we have a deal
7:14with, you know, the rights holder for a
7:16circuit. We don't pull it from the game.
7:19I mean, if you've purchased it and
7:20you've incorporated into the product as
7:22DLC, then it's it's yours to keep. What
7:24we tend to do is license things for a
7:27number of years for this very reason. I
7:29mean, you know, a lot of players will
7:32think, you know, um, how long does
7:34[clears throat] Lemon Ultimate run for?
7:36You know, how long will I have access to
7:37all of these tracks? I mean, we we
7:39license the content for longer than I
7:41imagine that we would typically keep
7:43operating Lemon Ultimate. And in some
7:46cases, we have to pay that upfront. And
7:49with the case of the original content
7:52and where the company was, I would
7:54actually argue that we absorbed a lot of
7:56that cost because when Lmon Ultimate
7:58came out of the gate, especially in
8:00early access and and we changed our
8:01approach to it and that was a gamble and
8:04the pricing of content, I think we were
8:06very competitive because we were trying
8:08to absorb some of that cost because we
8:10wanted to get people to experience the
8:13product for themselves.
8:15That doesn't mean that, you know, next
8:17week, you know, tracks are going to cost
8:18$1,000. It's it's got to be within a
8:21region of what's acceptable, but we do
8:24pay for these things. We are a business.
8:26We try to keep it as fair as possible. I
8:28think the US tracks are actually great
8:30value because a lot of people have been
8:32asking for them. But but staying on
8:33content real quick here. You mentioned
8:35the Asian Lar series for instance
8:37earlier. Um which was I think something
8:40that you mentioned you wanted to do very
8:43early on uh in LMU's life cycle. I mean
8:46that you mentioned it not that you would
8:47want to bring that early on in the life
8:48cycle. Um can you share anything about
8:51the plans for these this future content?
8:53Historic too I think were were mentioned
8:55back then. So any updates on that? I
8:58mean, in the case of Asian Lemon series,
9:00um you we've had discussions about
9:02incorporating that content into Lemon
9:05Ultimate. Um I'm personally not sure
9:08that it be as um popular for players as,
9:12you know, the US tracks. Um that that
9:16isn't, you know, with scientific
9:18research, but actually what it comes
9:20down to is how willing the rights
9:22holders are to engage with motorsport
9:24games,
9:25>> right? So in the case of um IMA and
9:27NASCAR, obviously they're already in the
9:29gaming space and a lot of their content
9:30is licensed and they can see how Lemon
9:33Ultimate operates. It's a very easy
9:34conversation. They're very welcoming.
9:36When it comes to Asian Lemon, we end up
9:39chasing a lot of people and the prices
9:40are quite staggering. That's normally
9:42what happens at the beginning of
9:44conversations. Um and it just became
9:47much easier to land the the US tracks at
9:49the end of the day. Complicated, but
9:51easier because they were open to
9:53negotiation. Um, so who's to say that
9:56Asian Lemon won't come in the future? I
9:58think we'd like to incorporate it. I
9:59think it would make sense. It's in our
10:01orbit of Lemon. Um, and as for historic,
10:06that's an ongoing conversation
10:07internally. There's nothing concrete
10:09there right now. Um, I try to temper my
10:12enthusiasm for historic because I'm so
10:14old myself. You could consider me
10:16historic. Um, but I wonder whether or
10:19not, you know, there's a younger
10:20generation who just think, well, these
10:22cars just deserve to live in a museum,
10:24not not in a racetrack. You know, the
10:26truth is somewhere in between. Um, but
10:29because there's so much to focus on at
10:31the moment, updating for 27 season, new
10:33cars, bringing the US track pack, trying
10:35to get more content available for the
10:36product in the future, that historic is
10:38always kind of just moving along the
10:40line. But I think there's an enthusiasm
10:43to to deliver that at some point. The
10:45the last update we got was in March
10:46regarding career mode and I think um the
10:49single player crowd is uh eagerly
10:51awaiting uh more yeah they they are
10:54lurking for career experiences and such.
10:57Um is it is it is it the first career
10:58mode that your studio has has ever done
11:01and uh what are the major challenges and
11:03uh is 2026 still the goal to to deliver
11:07it? Career mode is something that I care
11:09greatly about
11:11um because I've got some experience of
11:13working on on them in the past and I
11:17know how much of a rabbit hole career
11:18modes are and career mode for me is not
11:21just a championship mode where you chain
11:23the races together though there's a
11:26calling for that as well. How can we not
11:27have that in the product? Um yeah and
11:30there's there's some value in that
11:32argument. Um, it is in progress, funny
11:36enough. I was just reading some
11:37documentation on it earlier to
11:39understand where we are and seeing all
11:40the the screen designs and the work
11:42that's going into the product at the
11:43moment. It is something that I want to
11:45see further along in its development
11:48before I start saying, you know,
11:50definitively it's coming out here
11:52because I'm probably the one that's
11:54going to be stalling the arrival of
11:56career mode.
11:58and I'd be stalling their arrival of
12:00career mode because I don't want a
12:03generic career mode to be added to Lemon
12:05Ultimate because actually I I believe
12:07and I'm sure the the team do as well
12:08from everything they've been saying to
12:10me is that
12:12even if in the future and I don't want
12:14to set off alarm bells here with
12:15everybody thinking that we're going to
12:16drop Lemon Ultimate tomorrow and start
12:18working on whatever the people think
12:20we're doing our factor 3. Um
12:24the single player career mode for Lemon
12:26Ultimate would give the product such a
12:28tale that it will be valuable to the
12:31company. Like it makes business sense to
12:33deliver a career mode because even if
12:35people are going on to the next, you
12:37know, hot thing whether or not it's from
12:38us or or somebody else and playing
12:41[clears throat] online in that that
12:42title, whatever it is, people would
12:44still be playing Lemon Ultimate in
12:46career mode. that that's the kind of
12:48experience that I want because it'll be
12:49fun and I'll be so heavily invested in
12:51it. So, it's it's a very vague answer on
12:55uh where we are 2026. I mean, given
12:58where we are at the moment, yes, I would
12:59like to see it out this year. That's
13:01always been the plan. I mean, elements
13:03of it are playable now. Um I just want
13:06to get further into it. It I care about
13:08it so much that we can't just shove it
13:10into the product and launch it tomorrow.
13:12some some patience for a higher quality
13:15result than required. Uh I think
13:17>> at least you have not dropped it like
13:19others did. So
13:21>> yes yeah yeah yeah some people can drop
13:23it and I kind of understand why they
13:24would drop it because you know some
13:27people like to claim that they're going
13:28to do everything you know from A to Z in
13:30the alphabet and it sounds great and
13:32it's great for the back of the box and
13:34the promo and then they start looking at
13:36it and they go you know pardon my French
13:38but oh how we going to deliver this
13:40as well. Like if you don't even have the
13:42basics of of it being fun and driving
13:44around and having multiplayer, who cares
13:45about career mode? But the the team and
13:48I really care about what we deliver. So
13:51it it's important to us. We're not
13:53dropping it, but
13:56it needs to be given the time to
13:58breathe. And so asking sim racers for
14:00patience, I know, is a bit of a
14:01nightmare. Um, and
14:03>> the advantage is that you have already a
14:05a a pretty decent AI to race against.
14:08like it's on on some tracks, especially
14:10the multiclass handling, it's like it's
14:11so good sometimes to race against the AI
14:14>> that from this standpoint, you have a
14:16good baseline. Um, at least there's
14:18that. Yeah. So,
14:19>> oh yeah, there's a there's real value
14:20there. But when you think about putting
14:22the races together into career mode that
14:23that AI needs to drive consistently and
14:25there needs to be a theme and a story,
14:27otherwise it breaks and then it feels
14:29like, oh, it was great here and it was
14:30terrible here and that messed up the and
14:32it destroys the magic of what I imagine
14:34the care mode should offer. So, there's
14:37there's a lot to it. We're still a
14:39relatively small team, but the design
14:41capability
14:43of the team gives me great hope for that
14:46career mode. You know, seeing what I see
14:48now, I'm excited about it. So,
14:50>> yeah. Is there is there some news about
14:52also the the console version? I think
14:53that's the second big project that your
14:56team is working on. Um, how's that
14:58coming along? Yeah, there's a big
14:59milestone this year um you on us very
15:03shortly actually um that I think we're
15:06we're sailing towards with great
15:07confidence. There's always a challenge.
15:09It's like how long is this piece of
15:10string when you it comes to converting
15:12what is you know in console land
15:15considered a hardcore racing simulation
15:18for high-end PCs for the most part onto
15:21gaming consoles and we don't want that
15:25that experience has to be the same on
15:27consoles. So we set a very high bar uh
15:29for ourselves in terms of the sim
15:31experience. It's going well and actually
15:35we've added a few more key people to the
15:37team um to kind of facilitate that. It's
15:40in progress with an external developer
15:42in the UK that's got a lot of
15:44experience. They're a very good team.
15:46Communication is very strong. Um
15:48although I'm I will be nervous until the
15:50day it arrives and people start enjoying
15:52it. That's just my nature. So we have to
15:55give that room to breathe as well. But
15:56but it's it's on track, which is a very
15:59positive thing to say. And uh I think
16:02it'll be very special moment when people
16:04can play Lemon Ultimate on a gaming
16:06console, you know, in their living room.
16:08That would be pretty cool. Um it's taken
16:11a long time to get here. There are a few
16:12missed starts at the beginning of our
16:14journey, but now um for Locom to
16:16console, I think that's going to be
16:18really cool.
16:18>> Yeah, I agree. Uh I mean, the question
16:20has been brought up ever since you guys
16:22launched into early access, I believe.
16:24uh console version when and it's still
16:27you know comments on on social media
16:29posts on any news we do about LMU has
16:32when is the console version coming. So
16:34uh yeah I think that's going to be very
16:36exciting for a lot of people too. Let's
16:38uh quickly switch to the multiplayer
16:40side of things such as like the
16:42reporting needs some changing that sort
16:44of thing because that is um a change in
16:46in 1.4 before protests lefting
16:48>> driving standards in in racing games are
16:51really important and there are you've
16:54heard me probably talk about on videos
16:56lots of idiots out there who don't care.
16:59Um but equally you there's a lot of
17:02people who
17:04don't intend to cause wrecks that make
17:06mistakes that you know weren't aware are
17:09still learning and we've got to be
17:10conscious of those people and it's it's
17:12difficult balance. That's why we added
17:13things like um uh the radar, you know,
17:18early on for for LMU because we think
17:20it's important. Some people would say,
17:21"Oh, radar is not correct. You'd be
17:23playing with triple screens and D," but
17:25it's just not the reality of of of how
17:28people play. Give them the tools to
17:29counteract the things that are deficient
17:31from just playing sim racing versus you
17:34playing in real driving in real life.
17:36And it will help standards and it
17:37certainly did. And we put quite a lot of
17:39focus onto this. So we have a protesting
17:41system and inevitably when you give
17:42players tools to protest, they protest
17:45everything because the person protesting
17:47is definitely right and the person
17:50they're protesting again is definitely
17:51wrong and again somewhere the the truth
17:54is somewhere in the middle. So it takes
17:56us a long time to go through these
17:57things. But what we have been doing is
17:59not ignoring it. We do think it's a
18:02problem generally on online and we do
18:04think it's a growing problem in LMU
18:06because more and more people are coming
18:07into the funnel and playing it. So those
18:09standards kind of, you know, inevitably
18:12fluctuate. We know that we have to
18:15proactively do work. That means hiring
18:17more people like you may have seen, we
18:19put job adverts out there for um
18:21stewards. We're actually bringing
18:24employees in, put them on the payroll
18:27and contractors depending on people's
18:29availability to increase the number of
18:31people um policing the system. And in
18:34the back end, we've been working on
18:36improving the system so it's easier for
18:39people to review. We've also been
18:41working on all sorts of systems, AI
18:43systems to start attributing the
18:45likelihood of blame and helping. So
18:48there's a whole bunch of work, but what
18:50people see online is, oh, driving
18:51standards are dropping.
18:53Most games need to react to it
18:55immediately. I don't know what immediate
18:56reacting to it immediately is, but we've
18:58been doing a load of stuff and investing
19:00in trying to improve the whole system
19:02and adding people so that it would
19:03improve because I don't see many other
19:06people doing that. And the reason they
19:08don't do it is because it's hard. We're
19:10not ignoring it because it's hard. We're
19:12actually investing in and hiring people
19:14to improve that system. And you'll see
19:16in, you know, the next update video that
19:18we'll talk about that specifically
19:21um because we got a plan for it and we
19:23go on to the next level and we'll
19:24improve it. we'll improve it and we'll
19:26improve it like really meaningfully and
19:28hopefully the industry will start
19:29copying us because it does need to be
19:32tackled.
19:32>> The organizational part with race you
19:35called it um plus the new net code and
19:39uh combined with with better stewarding
19:41and everything um and the fact that
19:44there's a 24-hour race set on the
19:45special events calendar for October. Um
19:48things are pointing very much in the
19:50direction of maybe [snorts] a Lal
19:52virtual return sometime in the not too
19:54distant [laughter] future.
19:56>> Yeah. What was that scheduled for
19:57October 2026 or
19:59>> I think it was October. Yeah.
20:01>> Oh, okay. Just just double checking. Um
20:04yeah, I mean that just speaks to what
20:07we're trying to do. Um for for me
20:09personally and and many of the team it's
20:11a it's a disappointment not to have
20:13raced you know had another big lemon
20:16virtual and brought that back into
20:17Lemon. We were really excited about that
20:19when we when we shifted um to focusing
20:23on Lemon Ultimate and improving the
20:24technology and which was a departure
20:26from from the RF factor base. A lot of
20:28people give us a lot of positivity for
20:31the net code being really good and it is
20:34um and the scale of races that we can
20:37run and you know uh with race control
20:41narrow race OS you know providing a more
20:44transparent and easy to access layer to
20:46enjoy a multiplayer racing
20:49um and that that's great but actually
20:51what we're focused on a lot of the time
20:53is where we need to be we need to be
20:56further ahead
20:57driving standards we're proactively
20:59tackling. Like I say, we're investing in
21:01that and and we have a plan for it cuz
21:03it's easy to get it wrong. Um,
21:06but running the big online systems and
21:08improving the code, I I hope
21:11demonstrates to to our audience that
21:14just because we had something that
21:15worked most of the time previously
21:17doesn't mean it's acceptable for us
21:19going forwards. This does need to be
21:21improved. Look, I get really frustrated
21:23with, you know, people dropping
21:26connections. Sometimes it's because, you
21:27know, it's their own hardware problem or
21:29connection problem. Sometimes it's to do
21:31with game code. And we're constantly
21:32trying to fix those things. Is sometimes
21:34a needle in a hay stack. But it's really
21:36disappointing. People invest their time
21:38and money in these things and have a
21:39great time and then boom, something goes
21:41wrong. We need to improve it. Um, I I've
21:44recently relocated to a place that
21:46probably doesn't have the best internet
21:47access and it is very apparent.
21:50>> You're not in Germany, right?
21:51>> I'm not in Germany. Well, you think it's
21:53in Germany? No, I'm in the aisle of man
21:54now. So, I'm I'm stuck in island in the
21:57Irish sea. Yeah. So,
21:59>> um, you know, I had a great internet
22:02connection where I was before in the UK.
22:04>> Um, it's not so strong now. and we all
22:06kind of remote work and we're all
22:09dialing into these races, playing the
22:10opt out, playing the development builds.
22:13Um, I love the fact that after so long
22:16from a release, people are still
22:18frustrated internally by some of the
22:20issues and were willing to dive into the
22:22code and change things quite
22:24dramatically in order to bring about
22:25improvement because Lemon Ultimate is
22:27not just a product for you know today.
22:30Even if the the the game has a tale for
22:32let let's say the next seven years we
22:35would hope to take the best
22:36underpinnings of Nan Ultimate into
22:38future products just like we've taken
22:40you know the best underpinnings of our
22:42factor into LMU has to keep moving
22:44forward you don't just reinvent the
22:45wheel there it's a long-winded way of me
22:47saying yes there are substantial
22:49improvements coming um will we ever make
22:53it perfect I don't know if you can right
22:55now in the next few years but we're not
22:58stopping where we are there's got to be
23:00better stability, um, improved net code,
23:04improved service for players, improved
23:06reporting and protesting and
23:08transparency of system and all of those
23:10things are starting to come together for
23:11the next phase. So, Lemon Ultimate is an
23:15evergreen product for us and um, I think
23:17we're about to see the next step in that
23:19journey.
23:20>> I I saw some platforms seem to have some
23:22kind of API where they can pull data and
23:25in regards to the distribution of the of
23:27the rank. Yeah. bronze, silver, gold,
23:29platinum. And it turns out like 80% of
23:32the Lultimate drivers are bronze, which
23:34is kind of explainable because some
23:36people just drive very casually and just
23:38drive maybe 10 10 online races and then
23:41they go single player or whatever. But
23:43only not not even 1% of the drivers seem
23:46to be in gold and just a handful in
23:48platinum. So it's like a very thin top
23:52end and then like 20% are silver and
23:55then really no one is gold. No one is
23:57gold. No one is platinum because people
23:59can farm rank of course when they do the
24:01championships so you get you get more
24:03driver rating and such. Um is is the
24:06balance of that also a topic that is
24:08discussed within your team?
24:10>> Um I think I think it gets discussed
24:12sometimes because people don't see the
24:16raw numbers like they see results or
24:19they they'll see people like yay talking
24:21about something I lost you know 50% of
24:23my driver ranked because he lost his
24:26connection or something. um
24:29it's not quite true. You know, it isn't
24:31ELO distribution model and it copies,
24:34you know, a lot of what other people are
24:35doing. So, yes, you do get a lot of
24:38people in that in that bronze group, but
24:39you get a lot of kind of transient
24:41people that move through different ranks
24:42and then come back down again and it's
24:44changing constantly. It's not like one
24:46guy just sits in in platinum. Um, we do
24:49talk about it internally, but what we
24:51care about is what is the end goal and
24:53it's the distribution ideally on the
24:56driving ability in order for us to
24:58determine splits for races. And you do
25:01get a lot of, you know, I'd call them
25:03casual drivers, not because, you know,
25:06they just jumped from Gran Turismo into
25:08LMU and they're starting to do some some
25:11championships and some online races, but
25:13because their time is limited. We we
25:15actually see a lot of people who would
25:17love well they think it would be a dream
25:20to be able to spend a lot more time like
25:21competing on online races and
25:23championships and grinding to get a
25:25better rank but just don't have the time
25:26to do that. They still have the
25:28mentality to enjoy it. I mean I'm one of
25:30those, you know, I've got a day job and
25:32I I like online racing. Um I like to try
25:35and take it seriously. my rank is is not
25:37great and I haven't been on there for a
25:38while, but I think it's a fairly normal
25:41distribution and is something that will
25:44probably improve in showcasing the
25:47higher ranks across a greater
25:49cross-section of players as we improve
25:52the overall service. I still think LMU's
25:55online service, even though it's pretty
25:57strong and it's accessible, is in its
25:59infancy and you get a lot of people in
26:01this kind of bronze category. As we
26:03start improving these things and making
26:05championships more accessible, more
26:06interesting with more content, I think
26:08that will just grow over time and we'll
26:10see a stronger spread.
26:12>> Yeah. Have you thought about casual more
26:14casual races even that are maybe even
26:16unranked so people can just like use it
26:19as a practice because you will introduce
26:20more practice servers for for the paying
26:22members which is totally fair like the
26:24race control pro plus players get some
26:27some extra benefits in the in the next
26:29update. Also, the the the Joker thing
26:30where they can delete delete two of the
26:33results being a bit less gatekeepy uh in
26:36in sim racing um would be one way to to
26:39add maybe some more casual racers and
26:41and add more academy
26:44stuff or style to the game that makes it
26:46more accessible for for new sim racers
26:49maybe
26:50>> because that can be quite overwhelming I
26:52think for beginners.
26:53>> Oh yeah, for sure. For sure. I mean
26:55that's one of the the key reasons why we
26:57started um working on career mode for
26:59single player
27:01>> is because there's a lot of feedback
27:02that we get from people all over the
27:03place not just in industry amongst us
27:06but um you know players that people end
27:10up being scared of competing online. One
27:13because they don't like the idea of the
27:14competition and two because you know
27:16it's not that they can't grind to
27:17improve their skills and practice and
27:19get better. It's they don't want to ruin
27:21other people's races and get blamed. I
27:23mean, that that's still quite a striking
27:26um uh point for us because it turns
27:30people away from sim racing. It sounds
27:32very elitist, heavy competition. Um so,
27:35unranked races um is is not probably
27:38anything that's on the near-term radar.
27:40I don't know if it necessarily solves
27:42the issue that having the jokers as a
27:44step towards doing this because you know
27:47your race can be ruined from
27:50maybe you have one of those rare
27:52occasions where you know LMU lets you
27:54down and every time that happens you
27:56know
27:57we hit ourselves because it's
27:59unacceptable but there are other things
28:01like people's network connections go
28:02down or somebody streaming something
28:04causes your problem uh your cat jumps on
28:07your your SIM rig all of these kind of
28:09things things, life gets in the way,
28:11right? Um, and having the jokers is
28:14really important, but we're not finding
28:15that the ranking system is necessarily
28:18keeping away the more casual races
28:20because it's not a consideration for
28:22them at the very beginning. They just
28:24want to be in the easier lobbies, which,
28:27you know, the rank gives them. And um,
28:30they want to learn. Sometimes they even
28:32say, "I'll start from the pit lane.
28:34start from the back because I just want
28:36to be in the race rather than in the
28:38pack or fighting for the lead, you know,
28:41and so we are working on things that
28:42will get us towards inviting more of
28:44those people in, but I don't know if
28:46that's necessarily the focus of LMU in
28:48the short term.
28:50>> Yeah,
28:50>> it could be a focus of another product
28:52in in the future. Not a focus or a big
28:54component of it, but LMU is where it is.
28:57I don't think we need to stretch it left
29:00right into the casual space and into the
29:01hardcore space. We need to broaden where
29:04we are and make it accessible but um one
29:06thing at a time.
29:07>> Yeah, good good point.
29:08>> I think that was a lot of interesting
29:10insight. Once again um as always if you
29:12have caught a previous chat of ours with
29:15Steven you probably knew what to expect.
29:17[laughter]
29:18Um so uh yeah, we won't keep you any
29:21longer. Thank you for your time,
29:22Stephen. Massively appreciated as
29:24always. Um yeah, we're looking forward
29:26to getting our hands on V1.4 for and uh
29:29to see what LMU is going to do in the
29:32future as well. Um but uh yeah, for now
29:35I think it's time to say goodbye and
29:37thank you for your time.
29:39>> Thank you so much, gentlemen. Appreciate
29:40it as always. It's a pleasure. Thank
29:42you. [music]
29:49[music]
29:56>> [music]

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