I'm surprised that in the six pages this thread already has only once was the "Le Mans" game been mentioned.
I have that game (the PS2 version) and I already made the full 24 hour race twice.
In that game you can save in the pits. The first time I tried to do the full race, I did it alone, one fuel tank/set of tyres per night. IIRC, each fuel tank lasted for about two hours (driving smoothly and trying to be precise the tyres lasted that time also), so I was doing about "two hour" enduros every night four nearly two weeks (some nights I made two turns, some nights I didn't have the possibility to play).
I won that race (in the yellow 2000 Audi). AND, it was such a fantastic experience (that game really gives you the feeling you are there) that I decided I had to do it the hard way (24H straight), but of course with some friends. I decided to invite two, but somehow I found almost all of my friends were interested and, in the end, our "team" had 8 drivers.
So, by 16:00 PM of a particular saturday in one weekend of August 2003, 8 "racers" started what would become our Le Mans experience ... it was awesome.
We decided to split the 24 hour in three periods. 16:00 to 24:00 saturday (one hour turn for each driver); 0:00 to 8:00 AM sunday (two 30 mn turns each driver, just to ensure no one went to bed ... but we could sleep on the couch); 8:00 AM to 16:00 PM sunday (same as the "night shift").
Yours truly had the honor to start the race, so I drove the 16:00-17:00, the 0:00-0:30, the 4:00 - 4:30, the 8:00-8:30 and the 12:00-12:30 turns.
We finished 10th overall which, not bad considering that:
a) some of the 8 weren't very experienced "game race drivers" - tyre wear was so bad that it was useless to fill the tank to 100%, midrace we decided to fill it just to 80% (saving a few seconds in the pits and leaving them with the car slightly lighter);
b) our car was a privateer Panoz (Danish), with a top speed much lower then the Audis, Pescarolo and some others (that was terrible in the Hunaudieres straight, and in the twisty sections please re-read the above "a)" comment
Anyway it was such a great experience that we all promised to come back to "Le Mans" again.
After that 2003 race we did (spring 2004) the 10 hour Petit Le Mans race (Road Atlanta circuit, it rained for about 3/4 of that race), just as a build up to the promised 2004 Le Mans race, but it wasn't however possible to do it in the summer of 2004. Maybe 2005 will be the year of the great win
I tell you all this just for you to know that a 24 hour race, with some friends, is a fantastic gaming/racing experience.
Now, back to GT4:
As soon as I realized (read it here) that GT4 included, not only the Nurb track, but also the Le Mans one (this was completely new to me) AND 24 hour races in both these circuits, I talked to my friends about it and that maybe we shoud run our 24 hour Le Mans race ('05 edition) in this game.
But, and we have been discussing this matter, there are at least three good reasons to play it again in the "good old" Le Mans game (and none of them is the "no save" problem):
a) 6 cars in GT4, against the 24 car line up of LM. How can you drive through the night without overtaking, in almost every lap, a few Porsches, or Vipers, or Corvettes, or sometimes even catching up other prototypes ... or just chasing their tail lights lap after lap ... or noticing those front lights get closer and closer in the Hunaudieres straight (Is it an Audi
? Is it the Pescarolo
? Noooo, it's just a works Panoz
!!!!
b) Dry race from start to finish. What kind of realism is that? We want to know that rain can come, or go, and ruin your well-planned fuel/tyre comsumption turns (our '03 edition didn't have any rain, but that was the game's decision in that event, not the game's only weather option)
c) 24 hours sunshine. If you want to feel a 24 hour racing experience, you won't feel it that much. "It's 3 AM and the sun is where it was since the beggining of the race, and where it will be until the end of it". No comments needed here ...
GT4 is, without a doubt, THE BEST concerning graphics/sound/car physics. The best "driving simulation" game. But "racing simulation" - specially if we're talking 24 hours - is something different.
However, we are still considering GT4 in our discussion. Because, unlike LM (one car, one team against all other 23 AI cars) in GT4 we can link up to six PS2 and, if we get enough friends to do this, we will be able to race against each other.
btw, most people seem to be concerned that the PS2 will not stand the 24 hours. My PS2 did it without any problem.
Sorry if this was too long, and even a bit off topic ...
That is one of the dumbest things I've ever heard. They shouldn't allow sharp kinives anymore, because they could cut someone.
