Choosing an LMGT3 car in Le Mans Ultimate has never been harder – and that’s a good thing. The recent 1.4 update and hotfix have reshuffled the pecking order, and more importantly, they’ve pulled the whole field closer together than it’s ever been.
Where the old tier list had clear gaps between the strong cars and the weak ones, those gaps have now shrunk dramatically. Almost every car is viable, and the “best” one increasingly comes down to your driving style and the track in front of you.
To cut through it, we’ve put our LMU pro driver’s eyes over every car post-update and built a fresh tier list, with a breakdown of what each car does well, where it struggles, and who it’s for. Two things have changed at the top: the Lexus RC F and the resurgent BMW M4 are now the two strongest cars on the grid.
The Tier List at a Glance
| Tier | Cars |
| Strongest | Lexus RC F, BMW M4 GT3 |
| Dark horse | Porsche 911 GT3 R, McLaren 720S Evo, Lamborghini Huracan GT3 |
| Mid pack | Aston Martin Vantage AMR, Chevrolet Corvette Z06, Ford Mustang, Mercedes-AMG GT3 |
| Underdog | Ferrari 296 GT3 |
| Back marker | None |
For the first time, there isn’t a car we’d tell you to avoid. Even the Ferrari down in Underdog is genuinely usable now. With that context set, here’s each car in more detail.
The Strongest Tier
Lexus RC F GT3 is The Overall Best LMGT3 Car
The Lexus was the undisputed number one last time out, and while it’s no longer quite as dominant, it remains the most complete car on the grid. It still has the best tyre wear in the class, excellent race ability, huge versatility and about the most predictable, drivable nature of any LMGT3 – equally at home in the wet or the dry, and easy to lean on across a long stint.
Its weaknesses are the ones it’s always had, and they’ve been nudged slightly worse by the tyre changes: acceleration and traction. You’ll get walked on the straights by the Fords, Corvette, Aston and especially the BMW, and with slightly softer qualifying pace you often start a race on the back foot. But once the race settles, you’re armed with the best tools out there – the tyre life, the braking and the consistency to reel people back in.
Luke’s expert insight: “Despite not being as popular as before, I still believe it’s probably the strongest car, especially in endurance races – always there, always a very good pick.”
Best for: Endurance racing, hot conditions, drivers who want a car that does everything well.
Get Lexus RC F LMGT3 Setups here.
BMW M4 LMGT3 – From Backmarker to Front-Runner
No car has swung further. Last tier list, the BMW was in the Backmarker tier; now it’s one of the two strongest cars in the game. The differential changes (you can now run adjustable preload) have given it far more entry rotation and much greater consistency through a corner – gone is the chronic understeer-then-oversteer that made it so frustrating. It’s still snappy on throttle at low speed, so you’ll run a touch more traction control, but it’s a far nicer car to drive.
The bigger story is simply that it’s rapid. It’s very quick on qualifying fuel, its tyre wear is hugely improved, and it’s one of the easiest cars to drive on both fixed and open setups. Pair that with the straight-line speed it’s always had, and you’ve got a superb all-rounder that’s currently leading major LMU championships. The one real caveat is wet weather, where its lack of mechanical grip and traction still bites.
Luke’s expert insight: “I originally wasn’t sure, but on raw pace and that massive straight-line speed, the BMW just edges it – you could even argue it belongs above the Lexus.”
Best for: all-round pace on fixed or open setups, straight-line speed, and anyone wanting a fast car that’s easy to get on with.
Get our BMW M4 setups in Delta.
The Dark Horse Tier
Porsche 911 GT3 R is a Secret Weapon
The Porsche has dropped from Strongest to the top of Dark Horse, but don’t read too much into that – it’s still very much a top car. Great cornering speed, strong braking, lovely tyre wear and excellent wet-weather pace make it a dependable all-rounder in almost any situation. It’s simply not quite as potent on outright race and qualifying pace as it was at its peak.
Interestingly, it’s had a redemption arc on low-downforce circuits: at a track like Monza, where it historically struggled, it’s now among the very quickest. The flip side is that it’s lost a little ground at Fuji and Portimao.
Luke’s expert insight: “Not quite as super-strong as it used to be – but still one of the top cars, and you could easily argue it into Strongest.”
Best for: wet races, all-round consistency, and low-downforce tracks like Monza.
Get Porsche 911 GT3 R Setups here.
McLaren 720S GT3 EVO – The Underrated Comeback
The most underrated car in Le Mans Ultimate right now. You don’t see it often, but when you do, it’s up the front – the Daytona 8 Hour grid was rife with McLarens running 1-2-3 near the front. Its calling cards are top speed and race ability: strong straight-line pace lets you lift early for energy saving without losing much time, which makes it lethal on the right track (Daytona, Spa, Monza).
The trade-off is braking. It struggles to stop, which really shows at a track like Fuji where you’ll find yourself overshooting Turn 1 even off what feels like a good brake point, and its high-speed front-end response and traction remain a bit lacking. Learn to drive around the brakes, though, and there’s serious pace on offer.
Luke’s expert insight: “This is the embodiment of a dark horse – you don’t see it much, but whenever it’s used it’s right at the front. The return of the McLaren era, and I’m here for it.”
Best for: high-speed, low-downforce circuits, energy-saving races, and drivers willing to master its braking.
Get our McLaren 720S Evo setups in Delta.
Lamborghini Huracan LMGT3 – The High-Risk Qualifier
The grid’s most polarising car. It’s been hit with the heaviest BoP nerfs of any GT3 – added weight, and it’s the only car with a front ride-height limit (a 5.2cm minimum at most circuits) to rein in its downforce.
That’s worked to a point: it’s no longer overpowered on qualifying fuel, but it’s still probably the best one-lap car on the grid, with excellent downforce, superb brakes (just behind the Ferrari) and genuinely strong wet-weather performance thanks to its mechanical grip.
Where it pays for that is the race. It still wears its tyres more than most, carries a bigger qualifying-to-race delta because of its heavy fuel load, and it’s a seriously tricky, pointy car – you almost have to drift it to extract the pace. Classic high-risk, high-reward.
Luke’s expert insight: “Even though I don’t love driving it, I have to be impartial – it’s still a very, very strong car, just a very dicey one.”
Best for: qualifying pace, wet conditions, and confident drivers chasing one-lap speed.
Get our Lamborghini Huracan setups in Delta.
The Mid Pack Tier
Aston Martin Vantage GT3 EVO – The Strong Car That Slipped
Previously one of the strongest cars, the Aston has fallen to mid-pack. It still has the things that made it good – strong straight-line speed, solid general race ability, and a wonderfully wide setup window that lets you adapt it to almost anything.
But it’s become more of a qualifying car (it heats its tyres very quickly), and the recent tyre changes have sharpened its two long-standing weaknesses: low-speed understeer (made worse by a very slow steering rack that needs a lot of lock) and poor traction.
It’s still competitive, but you’ll notice it far less often in the big events than you used to.
Luke’s expert insight: “Still a useful car, but its weaknesses have been made more potent by the tyre updates – it’s no longer one of the strongest.”
Best for: qualifying, and drivers who value a wide setup window and strong straight-line speed.
Get Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evo Setups here.
Ford Mustang GT3 – The Fast but Ferocious Pick
A former favourite that’s lost some of its shine. The Evo update made the Mustang lazier and more understeery, and 1.4 pushed that further.
There’s a genuine upside: its traction, once a weakness, is now excellent, its tyre wear is strong, and it’s good at slow-speed, traction-limited tracks like Sebring. But it’s lost its old virtual-energy advantage – it’s now among the weakest cars on energy – and it’s become twitchy under braking, vague through the steering, and worse over kerbs.
It’s still fast and still a strong race car – and in fixed-setup racing it remains head and shoulders above the grid – it’s just no longer the sweet, do-everything car it was a couple of updates ago.
Luke’s expert insight: “It’s still one of the better cars, but the things that made it great have been swapped for lesser positives – for me it’s weaker than it was.”
Best for: Experienced drivers who enjoy a challenging car, drivers who are happy to qualify mid-pack and race forward, sprint and medium-distance events.
Get Ford Mustang LMGT3 Setups here.
Mercedes-AMG GT3 – Fast but Frustrating
On paper, the Mercedes has plenty going for it: excellent acceleration, very good traction, and solid all-round pace that puts it near the top of the sheets at some tracks.
In the right hands, it delivers results. But it’s held back by how difficult it is to drive – poor consistency, a nervous high-speed balance, and it is diabolical over kerbs, prone to spinning itself at places like Le Mans (Indianapolis and the Porsche Curves) and Silverstone. The 1.4 braking changes have made it more squirrely under braking, too.
It’s quick, but it asks a lot of the driver for a car that sits mid-pack on everything else.
Luke’s expert insight: “Pretty fast and a decent all-rounder, but really difficult to drive and not really worth the effort versus a BMW or a Lexus.”
Best for: confident drivers who can tame it, on circuits without big kerbs.
Get Mercedes AMG LMGT3 Setups here.
Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R – The Tamed Primadonna
Long known as a prima donna – blisteringly fast but brutal on tyres and hard to drive – the Corvette has been partly tamed. A 1.3 weight shift made it safer on conservative setups (though chasing outright pace still means a snappier car), and crucially, a fix to its rim-heating brought tyre temps down around 10 degrees, making it far more viable over a race distance.
The 1.4 braking changes hurt it, though: it runs some of the hottest brake temperatures in the class, which leads to tramlining – brake hard and the car wants to go straight rather than turn. So pure drivability hasn’t really improved, but race usability has, thanks to better tyre wear, strong acceleration and traction, and the ability to run low wing to save virtual energy.
Luke’s expert insight: “Drivability hasn’t improved, but in race trim it’s genuinely better – better wear, strong traction, good energy saving.”
Best for: race-trim pace and energy saving, if you can manage its braking.
Get our Corvette Z06 setups in Delta.
The Underdog Tier
Ferrari 296 LMGT3 – The Rebuilt Underdog
The Ferrari was rock-bottom last time, and it’s been meaningfully rebuilt. It keeps its core strengths of excellent downforce and a genuinely lovely car to drive – and it’s gained what are now arguably the best brakes in the entire LMGT3 class, thanks to larger brake discs. More precise, direct steering has improved its low-speed turn-in, and shorter gearing has given it better acceleration.
It’s not fixed completely: acceleration is still on the weak side (most of the grid will still out-drag you), race ability and mechanical grip still lag, and it struggles in the wet. But it’s far closer to the front than it was, and it’s now a car you can genuinely hold your own with.
Luke’s expert insight: “It’s still not the greatest, but it’s a lot closer to the strongest cars now and viable at the very least – the gap is tiny.”
Best for: drivers who prioritise braking and handling feel, and don’t mind giving a little away on the straights.
Get our Ferrari 296 setups in Delta.
Quick Reference: Best Car by Purpose
| If you want… | Go for the… |
|---|---|
| The best endurance / consistency car | Lexus RC F |
| The best all-rounder right now | BMW M4 |
| The best wet-weather car | Porsche 911 GT3 R |
| The best one-lap qualifying pace | Lamborghini Huracan |
| The best brakes on the grid | Ferrari 296 |
| The best straight-line speed | BMW M4 |
| The best car for newer drivers | Lexus RC F |
| The strongest fixed-setup car | Ford Mustang |
| The most underrated dark-horse pick | McLaren 720S Evo |
Every Advantage You Need For LMU
Whichever car you land on, the fastest way to make it work for you is with Coach Dave Academy setups, telemetry and tools inside Delta. Our pro setups for every LMGT3 are ready to install, so you can skip the guesswork and get straight to finding time on track, made even easier with our Video Analysis, AI Coaching and Setup IQ. Explore our LMU setups in Delta.
Final Thoughts
The big takeaway from this update isn’t any single car – it’s how close they all are now. The gap from the strongest to the weakest has shrunk to the point where driver preference genuinely decides where a car lands; you could reasonably move the Ferrari up into Dark Horse, or split the Lexus and BMW either way, and not be wrong. That’s a brilliant place for the class to be, with grid diversity approaching what we see in the Hypercars.
So treat this tier list as a guide, not gospel. Tier lists shift with every update, but a car’s character tends to stay true – so find the one whose strengths match how you like to drive and the tracks you race most, and back yourself. Right now, there’s no wrong answer.
Frequently Asked Questions
After the 1.4 update, the two strongest cars are the Lexus RC F and the BMW M4. The Lexus is the best endurance and consistency pick thanks to its tyre wear and drivability, while the BMW has become the quickest all-rounder on raw pace and straight-line speed. Which edges it depends on the track and whether you prioritise one-stint pace or race-long consistency.
Yes. The biggest mover is the BMW M4, which has gone from the bottom tier to one of the two strongest cars, largely thanks to differential changes that fixed its handling. The Ferrari 296 has also been rebuilt from rock-bottom into a genuinely viable car. More broadly, the whole field has been pulled closer together – for the first time there’s no car we’d tell you to avoid.
The Lexus RC F. It’s the most predictable and drivable car in the class, equally comfortable in the wet or the dry, and forgiving over a long stint – so you can focus on racecraft rather than fighting the car. It can still be sharpened up with setup once you’re ready for more.
The Porsche 911 GT3 R is the standout wet-weather car, with excellent pace and consistency when the track turns. The Lamborghini Huracan is also strong in the rain thanks to its mechanical grip, though it’s a trickier car to handle overall.
The Lamborghini Huracan is still probably the best one-lap car on the grid, even after heavy BoP nerfs – it has superb downforce and brakes. The trade-off is race pace: it’s hard on its tyres and carries a big qualifying-to-race delta, so it’s a high-risk, high-reward choice.
