Le Mans 24 Hours launched in November 1999 on the PC and PS1. It was eventually ported over to the Dreamcast (2001) and PS2 (also 2001) and also got a Game Boy Colour version.

Why? Well, we’re F1 fans. This isn’t F1. BUT! It did have a 24 hour race feature that seemed like a BRILLIANT idea to indulge in when we were at university. We never did do the whole 24 hour thing in the end, but Official Dreamcast Magazine claimed to and that’s at least something.

Anyway, this was a racing game. There are many like them, but this one has 24 hours available. Yeah?

Do You Dare Race for a Day in Le Mans 24 Hours (1999)?

The first version of the game didn’t meet with good reviews. The PC version met with some abysmal results, with a fair few 3/10s, 2.5/5s, and the like. The PS1 version faired poorly, too.

However, the game got new developers (Infogrames Melbourne House) for the Dreamcast and PS2 ports, plus did a full remake of the PC original. The Dreamcast one, which we picked up around 2003, got some great reviews.

As did the PS2 and GBC ports.

The Game Boy Colour one looks pretty cool. Although it’s depiction of the iconic Circuit de la Sarthe is slightly on the extravagant side. French game devs Velez & Dubail handled the GBC version and, well… guess they’re not motorsport fans.

It looks cool, though, unlike the 1999 PS1 version. It looks a little bit generic, although we do love the original PlayStation’s blocky polygon style graphics. It’s iconic.

Anyway, the goal of Le Mans 24 Hours is to drive in races and win them (shock horror) based on the FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC).

The main action takes place in an arcade mode that’s simple, fast-paced, and fun. There are also other tracks from the world of WEC, realistic weather (rain, fog and the like), plus a coveted night-to-day system.

Fantastic and all that, but our reason to buy the game was for that 24 hour mode. The full 24 hours. It seemed such a romantic concept and, owning a Dreamcast, we didn’t waste any time snatching the game up with some grand dreams.

About the Full 24 Hour Mode in Le Mans 24 Hours

Above is the Dreamcast version and nearly an hour of action. We had a look around online and, to our surprise, haven’t found anyone who’s done a full 24 hour race. We presume it MUST have happened on Twitch at some point.

The Dreamcast was a powerful console, so the game still looks great (plus, the banging music that’s reminiscent of Wipeout on the PS1). Although the below version has had a 4K and 60FPS uplift (that’s not how the 2001 version looked, but it was still fancy for the time).

In our second year of university in Nottingham, from 2004-2005, a young Mr. Wapojif was determined to do the full 24 hour run. He’d been inspired, like the idiot he is, by the Official Dreamcast Magazine’s issue that featured the game’s review. We had a look around online in Out of Print Archive to find the exact issue, but couldn’t locate it (bummer).

But we do remember, vividly, the mid-review feature they did on completing the full 24 hour race. Whether they did it or not is irrelevant, but in the piece they joked about drinking Red Bull to keep going and how time seemed to stop whilst playing.

And that society, the world, was moving on without them as they completed hour after hour. They also revealed it rained in the full 24 hour race as they’d accidentally turned on the maximum rain feature.

Mr. Wapojif wanted that nerdy experience!

Discussions were in place in winter 2004 between two uni friends to take the task on. Sadly, it never went beyond discussion phase and the idea petered idea. Probably for the best.