DevLog 1 — An Introduction to My Project

Hi! I’m Karlito, and this is my first devlog. I’d like to use this devlog to introduce my project, explain its current state, and share my plans for the future.

So, what actually is LMU Telemetry?

The TL;DR is that it’s a telemetry tool for Le Mans Ultimate. However, many people don’t know what that means, so I’ll explain it here.

What is Le Mans Ultimate?

In short, Le Mans Ultimate is a racing simulator. Unlike traditional racing games, it doesn’t simply say “the car accelerates when you press W.” Instead, it simulates the engine, tires, driveshafts, brakes, track grip, and many other factors to provide a realistic driving experience.

What is telemetry?

Telemetry is a way for simulators to output simulation data, such as speed, position, engine temperature, and much more. At a lower level, it’s essentially a chunk of memory containing numbers that are constantly updated with current information.

What LMU Telemetry actually does

LMU Telemetry aims to visualize these data points in a way that’s easy to understand and can help users improve their driving. It does this in several ways. For example, one feature draws real-time graphs of various metrics such as speed or delta time compared to your best lap.

The current state of development

The app is currently little more than a glorified demo. It has some rough UI elements and only plots graphs for a hardcoded car (index 0). While this works in private lobbies, where you’re always the first car, the system fails in most other situations.

In short, the app isn’t very useful yet, but it’s a start.

Main goals

Live telemetry view
- Real-time graphs
Map view
- A view showing the track layout and the line you drove
Sharing features
- Exporting laps and comparing them with laps driven by other users

Requirements

The app must be performant
- Running LMU can already be demanding on some systems, so the app shouldn’t use more resources than necessary
Linux support
A reactive and polished UI

Future plans

Windows support
- Depending on how difficult this turns out to be, it may be implemented sooner
Strategy mode
- Useful for endurance and team events, allowing you to monitor the tire and fuel status of other drivers

So, what now?

Right now, I’ll focus on getting the app to its MVP state. This means refining the UI, fixing bugs, and, most importantly, making the app genuinely useful.

Well, that was quite a long one, wasn’t it?