Following this year’s Gamescom event in Cologne, KT Racing has revealed more about its upcoming Endurance Motorsport Series title, courtesy of its Nacon Racing channel on YouTube.
It’s been a couple of months since we last talked about EMS, a rather unusual take on the world of endurance racing from the rather busy teams at Nacon and KT Racing. For the uninitiated, it’s along the lines of a driver/manager sim, where players can not only race but perform the roles of an engineer and team manager — and either focus on one or switch between them on the fly.
The rather chunky, 21-minute video, presented by KT Racing’s community manager Alexander Arthur and featuring creative director Alain Jarniou, covers some familiar ground but also brings us some interesting new tidbits.
Probably the most interesting of the new details is the livery editor. Players will be able to create a livery at any point while playing — as expected — but where EMS’s effort differs is it applies to every car to which players have access.
Put simply, it allows you to create a team identity across all of your vehicles, regardless of their class, without having to edit each individual car. You can pick colors for the overall design and, using the layer system, discrete areas of the car. That also applies to graphics and we’d presume, although we don’t get to see it in this clip, sponsor decals and the like.
This also extends beyond the cars too. Players will be able to select the main color for their team relative to the colors used on the livery, which will affect pitbox aesthetics and the appearances of the driver and their teammates. With the choice of colors used on the liveries, players can choose from a number of patterns to display on the racing overalls, and this customization also applies to player (and team) helmets.
By the looks of it, the livery editor in EMS will really streamline the experience and will make even “basic” liveries look more appeasing to the average eye. It’s something of a pioneering addition to what’s become an expected feature in racing games, and we’re very interested to see how it works.
You’re not compelled to use it either. Players can also opt to use official team or manufacturer liveries as well, or apply individual liveries to cars. While we don’t know exactly how extensive this will be, it’s never a downside to have options.
Next up is some more information on the game’s team mechanics. The game’s tagline of “race as a driver, win as a team”, teases the underpinnings of its design where it isn’t simply about racing but managing from the pit wall as well, and while you’re not performing one task it’s assigned to a game AI.
There are three different roles in EMS — Driver, Engineer, and Mechanic — between which you can swap at any point whether in single-player or multiplayer races. You’ll need a team to fill the other roles, and that means you’ll have to recruit talent. Each individual AI in every role offers their own gameplay-specific buffs, or may have drawbacks.
A couple of these are highlighted in the video, starting with driver Yuna Ishikawa. Her perk is “Finishing Expert”, where her “Endurance” skill is increased during the final lap of the race. We can also see some other drivers with detailed perks like “Captain” (quicker as a starting driver), “Careful” (faster when the car hasn’t broken down during the race), Experts with various tires.
It’s not all quite so straightforward. One called “Bad Sport” gives the driver a full spread of stats boosts when the car has penalties to serve, while the “Stubborn” driver is faster but ignores the engineer’s instructions…
This system applies across the roles too, with similar perks for mechanics and engineers. We can see several that give the team a boost at given circuits or in different cars — the “LMP2 Expert” buff increases all stats if the player car being used is, you guessed it, an LMP2 class machine — and there’s some others that could provide interesting synergies with the drivers.
You’ll need a squad of three drivers, a team of mechanics, and an engineer for each car you enter into each race, and as players progress through the career they will be able to hire better drivers, engineers, and mechanics. These all range from bronze to platinum, like FIA driver grades, and each level has better skills than the one before. For example, silver-grade mechanics will be able to service the car quicker during a pitstop when compared to bronze mechanics, and so on.
It all looks like Endurance Motorsport Series is taking an incredibly interesting approach to a racing title in this day and age, and it certainly has our eye.
Originally expected to release in Q4 of this year, EMS will release on PC, Xbox, and PS5 consoles in early 2026. We can’t wait to hear (and see) more so stay tuned to GTPlanet for more as it’s revealed!
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