Factory Seat 1.3.0 beta

A test build of 1.3 "Split Strategy", for anyone happy to try it early. It's a pre-release: the app's update notice won't offer it, and it will tell you when the real 1.3 is out. Your careers carry over, but if you'd rather not risk a season in progress, export it first (the Export button on its card on the home screen).

1.3 is about the road your career takes:

• Two roads to Hypercar. New careers pick the GT road (LMGT3, better GT teams, then a make's factory Hypercar) or the prototype road (LMP3, LMP2, Hypercar). A career from before 1.3 picks its road once, at the end of its current season.
• Loyalty. Seasons with a make (or, in LMP3 and LMP2, a team) build loyalty, and results build it faster: Unknown, On their radar, Development driver, Factory driver. How you leave matters: walking out on a deal costs some, a broken contract or a rival burns the bridge. Every offer tells you what signing it does first. (#21)
• Three doors to Hypercar: a factory driver of a make with a Hypercar, the prototype road, or a big enough reputation on its own.
• Test days. Teams try you out in practice, in their car, against the fastest AI lap. Impress them and they call when the season's over.
• IMSA beside the WEC. Teams with the budget run both, and your seat can come with both championships, each with its own standings. Needs three IMSA rounds in packs you own. (#15, #21)
• Rivals who grow out of your races.
• GTE Classic: the 2023 WEC in LMGTE, from a privateer Am seat to a factory Pro drive. (#4)
• LMP2 can race the full WEC instead of the ELMS and Le Mans.
• How careers work: every rule in one place, on New Career and the Career tab.
• briefing.json adds the round's championship and test days; nothing that was there changes. Format: docs/briefing-json.md.
• All of it in Korean, German, French, Spanish and Brazilian Portuguese. The new text is a first draft and still being reviewed.

The numbers behind it (how fast loyalty grows, what a walk-away costs, the reputation each door asks for) are first settings. Tell me where they feel off.

Full list: CHANGELOG.

Install

Download FactorySeat-Setup-1.3.0-beta.exe below and run it. It updates 1.2 in place and keeps your careers. Close the app first. Windows SmartScreen may warn about an unrecognised app, because the installer isn't code-signed. Choose More info → Run anyway. To go back to 1.2.0, install it over the beta; an exported career is the safe way to bring a season back with you.

SHA-256 of the installer: f166006b5d478854cc5d952763f44352cc4b76bf630b10c2718894eaaa589326
VirusTotal scan of the installer: 0/67 detections

Found something off? Post in Discussions and say it's the beta.

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Factory Seat 1.2.0 — Green Flag

Green Flag: everything you know before it drops. 1.2 is about what happens between the races: your engineer's debrief, the press, sponsors who notice how you're doing, and what's at stake when you line up for the next one.

• 📬 An Inbox. After every race that counts, your race engineer, your team principal and your manager send mail. The tab shows how many are unread, and the newest is on the Next race page. A career from before 1.2 opens with mail for its last race.
• 🔧 The engineer's debrief, built from LMU's own lap data: where you started and finished, your best lap and every sector against the fastest AI in your class, each stint and how your pace held up, track limits, penalties, contacts and damage. It can tell a slow end of stint from low fuel or energy apart from tyre wear.
• 🎙️ The press and one interview question. A big result makes the headlines, and after the big moments (a win, the championship lead changing hands, a podium or retirement at a big race) the press asks one question. Humble is always safe, confident is a bet your next race settles, and blaming the team works once a season. Each answer shows what it does before you pick.
• 🤝 Sponsors through the season. Season-start offers now grow with your reputation: a rookie gets one small deal, an established driver up to three. A result above expectations brings a sponsor's offer mid-season, which you sign or turn down in the Inbox.
• 🌍 Local sponsors and your nationality. A new tier of 32 independent, regional brands in 8 countries backs drivers from their own country. Pick your nationality on New Career, or set it on the Career tab.
• 🎯 What's at stake, before each race: the championship maths ("finish P4 or better and you stay ahead, whatever they do"), double points, an interview bet the race settles, a sponsor who wants a podium here.
• ⏱️ Preparation and practice. The briefing shows your record at this track, and practice run after you start the race weekend is read for pace: your best lap against the AI's, a target lap, and AI Strength advice that now uses practice first.
• 📊 Full race results and lap analysis for every counted round on the Calendar, class by class, including races run before 1.2: every lap with its sectors, top speed, fuel, tyres and pit stops, with your bests and anything quicker than the best AI marked. (#9, and #14 from kykykyl2. Thank you!)
• 🏆 Championship only, picked on New Career: seasons and points, no reputation, sponsors, offers, guest drives or interviews, and any car you like each season. (#5)
• 📅 Past seasons' final standings. Click a finished season on the Career tab for its final drivers' and teams' tables, class by class, with the champions marked.
• ⛽ Pit plans that fit the car. The planner knows how long a tank lasts for each class at each track, measured from real races, instead of one 50-minute guess. An LMP3 race at Imola no longer gets a stop it never needs. LMP3 is measured at Barcelona so far and estimated elsewhere; more measured numbers come in small updates. You can help: #17.
• 🗺️ Clearer when a race doesn't count: the right circuit on the wrong layout now says so ("you raced the ELMS layout of Imola; this round uses Grand Prix"), and a race saved part-way says plainly not to start the weekend again.
• 🔔 Updates you won't miss: from now on, a new version opens with a card saying what's in it, once, with Get it and Not now.
• ✨ An opening animation, and a short tour of what's new the first time you open 1.2 (Settings › Show the tour again).
• 🧩 briefing.json for companion apps like Milky28's Factory Seat Companion adds the stakes, your history at the track, practice and AI Strength advice. Nothing that was there changes. Format: docs/briefing-json.md.
• 🌐 All of it in Korean, German, French, Spanish and Brazilian Portuguese. Thanks again to arch642 for reviewing the Korean.

Bug fixes

• A long race saved more than once (say, a 24-hour race run in stints) no longer brings up a "Race ended early" pop-up asking for a DNF every time you switch tabs. It stays "saved to finish later" until you finish it.

On the beta? The app will offer 1.2.0. New since beta 2: the bug fix above, past seasons' final standings, a tidier Career tab for championship-only careers (no nationality or reputation, which they don't use), the measured LMP3 tank time at Barcelona, and arch642's second Korean review.

Full list: CHANGELOG. Ideas for what's next go in Discussions › Ideas.

Install or update

Download FactorySeat-Setup-1.2.0.exe below and run it. It updates any earlier version in place and keeps your careers, including a race you saved to finish later. Close the app first. The installer isn't code-signed, so Edge may say it "isn't commonly downloaded" (choose ⋯ → Keep → Keep anyway) and Windows SmartScreen may warn about an unrecognised app (choose More info → Run anyway).

New to Factory Seat? Watch the 4-minute setup video.

SHA-256 of the installer: 3008a8699487689782828a8881716d87e6b2021f407b09ba384e653144fea86c
VirusTotal scan of the installer: 0/68 detections

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Factory Seat 1.2.0 beta 2

Beta 2: one small addition for companion apps. briefing.json now gives the AI Strength advice as a step on LMU's slider too (round.pace.step, round.practice.aiStrengthStep: +3, +1, 0, -1 or -3), and its stakes lines are guaranteed most important first. Asked for by Milky28 for Factory Seat Companion (#6). Nothing else changed since beta 1; if you have beta 1, this installs over it.

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A test build of 1.2, for anyone happy to try it early. It's a pre-release: the app's update notice won't offer it, and it will tell you when the real 1.2 is out. Your careers carry over, but if you'd rather not risk a season in progress, export it first (the Export button on its card on the home screen).

1.2 is about what happens between the races:

• An Inbox. After every race that counts, your race engineer, your team principal and your manager send mail. A career from before 1.2 opens with mail for its last race.
• The engineer's debrief, from LMU's own lap data: start and finish, your best lap and every sector against the fastest AI in your class, each stint and how your pace held up, track limits, contacts and damage.
• The press and one interview question after the big moments. Humble is safe, confident is a bet your next race settles, and blaming the team works once a season. Each answer shows what it does before you pick.
• Sponsors through the season. Offers grow with your reputation, a result above expectations brings a mid-season offer to the Inbox, and a new tier of local brands backs drivers from their own country (pick your nationality on New Career or the Career tab).
• What's at stake, before each race: the championship maths, your record at this track, and a practice session read for pace with a target lap.
• Full race results and lap analysis for every counted round on the Calendar, including races run before 1.2. (#9, #14)
• Championship only: seasons and points, any car each season. (#5)
• Pit plans that fit the car, from measured tank times per class and track. LMP3 is an estimate until it's measured.
• briefing.json adds the stakes, your history at the track, practice and AI Strength advice (also as a slider step); nothing that was there changes. Format: docs/briefing-json.md.
• All of it in Korean, German, French, Spanish and Brazilian Portuguese. The Korean is still being reviewed.

Full list: CHANGELOG.

Install

Download FactorySeat-Setup-1.2.0-beta.2.exe below and run it. It updates 1.1 in place and keeps your careers. Close the app first. Windows SmartScreen may warn about an unrecognised app, because the installer isn't code-signed. Choose More info → Run anyway. To go back to 1.1.1, install it over the beta; an exported career is the safe way to bring a season back with you.

SHA-256 of the installer: 01cde94c4082cb43b6bc81a22b8efe9ccea882e4793e517d93eb374f01dca1a3
VirusTotal scan of the installer: 0/69 detections

Found something off? Post in Discussions and say it's the beta.

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Enjoying it? Buy me a coffee on Ko-fi ☕

Factory Seat 1.2.0 beta

A test build of 1.2, for anyone happy to try it early. It's a pre-release: the app's update notice won't offer it, and it will tell you when the real 1.2 is out. Your careers carry over, but if you'd rather not risk a season in progress, export it first (the Export button on its card on the home screen).

1.2 is about what happens between the races:

• An Inbox. After every race that counts, your race engineer, your team principal and your manager send mail. A career from before 1.2 opens with mail for its last race.
• The engineer's debrief, from LMU's own lap data: start and finish, your best lap and every sector against the fastest AI in your class, each stint and how your pace held up, track limits, contacts and damage.
• The press and one interview question after the big moments. Humble is safe, confident is a bet your next race settles, and blaming the team works once a season. Each answer shows what it does before you pick.
• Sponsors through the season. Offers grow with your reputation, a result above expectations brings a mid-season offer to the Inbox, and a new tier of local brands backs drivers from their own country (pick your nationality on New Career or the Career tab).
• What's at stake, before each race: the championship maths, your record at this track, and a practice session read for pace with a target lap.
• Full race results and lap analysis for every counted round on the Calendar, including races run before 1.2. (#9, #14)
• Championship only: seasons and points, any car each season. (#5)
• Pit plans that fit the car, from measured tank times per class and track. LMP3 is an estimate until it's measured.
• briefing.json adds the stakes, your history at the track, practice and AI Strength advice; nothing that was there changes. Format: docs/briefing-json.md.
• All of it in Korean, German, French, Spanish and Brazilian Portuguese. The Korean is still being reviewed.

Full list: CHANGELOG.

Install

Download FactorySeat-Setup-1.2.0-beta.exe below and run it. It updates 1.1 in place and keeps your careers. Close the app first. Windows SmartScreen may warn about an unrecognised app, because the installer isn't code-signed. Choose More info → Run anyway. To go back to 1.1.1, install it over the beta; an exported career is the safe way to bring a season back with you.

SHA-256 of the installer: 02c25cf8377c9ccd4590223778f7f1e88854b2ee36fd82b74796bddf65bb2146
VirusTotal scan of the installer: 0/68 detections

Found something off? Post in Discussions and say it's the beta.

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Factory Seat 1.1.1

Two fixes for 1.1 "Grid Walk".

• Guest drives count straight away. A guest race in the team's car, under its number, no longer asks you to confirm "first race of the season: you raced as #…". If you race it under another number, the app now tells you which numbers the team runs. (#10)
• You always get a seat in your own class. If a team from the class above noticed a big result, its offer could take the only seat in your class. A driver who was promoted on reputation but not kept by their team then saw only step-up offers. Now there's always an offer in your class too. Moving up is never forced.

Install or update

Already on 1.1? The app offers the update in Settings. Or download FactorySeat-Setup-1.1.1.exe below and run it. It updates an earlier version in place and keeps your careers. Close the app first. Windows SmartScreen may warn about an unrecognised app, because the installer isn't code-signed. Choose More info → Run anyway.

SHA-256 of the installer: a525d3b1653a90a11a1281aa0e0dbbc7880ea51af2eeb5aa82536627642c205e
VirusTotal scan of the installer: 0/70 detections

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Factory Seat 1.1.0 — Grid Walk

⚠️ There's a newer version. Get the latest Factory Seat here: Latest release. Your careers carry over when you update.

Factory Seat in your language, a setup checklist on the briefing, and real pit stops for full-length endurance races.

Thanks to everyone who suggested something in the first few days. Most of this release came from you. The plan it follows is in Discussions #3.

• 🌐 Factory Seat speaks your language: Korean, German, French, Spanish and Brazilian Portuguese. It picks the language you run LMU in on Steam, or choose one in Settings › Language. Briefings use the exact names LMU gives its settings in that language, checked against the game, so you can find every one in LMU's own menus. Requested by Abject-Pressure-4402 on Reddit and arch642 here (#2), who also sent in the Korean translation and reviewed it against LMU's own Korean wording. Thank you!
• ✅ A setup checklist on the briefing: tick off each setting as you set it in LMU, with a count of how many are done. It's only a helper: nothing waits on it. Thanks to the Reddit feedback about how much there is to set up.
• 🏁 Your first race in 3 steps: a new career's briefing now says plainly that you set the race up yourself in LMU's Race Weekend, and the Start race weekend button has moved to the top.
• ⛽ Real fuel for full-length races: run a 12 or 24 hour race at its real length (Time Scale X1) and the briefing now says Real fuel and tyres, so you get the real race's pit stops instead of twice as many. Thanks to geodillo429 for spotting it.
• 💾 Saved races are recognised more reliably: a race you save to finish later counts as saved however long you sit in the menus before leaving, and when you load the save another day and back out. No more being asked about a DNF you didn't have.
• 🧩 briefing.json for companion apps: the next race's settings, written next to your saves, for overlays like Milky28's SimHub setup check (#6): Factory Seat Companion shows a checklist right on LMU's race setup screen and turns green when everything matches. It's Milky28's project, so questions about it go to their repo. Format: docs/briefing-json.md.
• 🎨 Own-brand sponsors say plainly that the app doesn't paint cars: you make the livery in LMU, and the brand brings its sponsor deals.
• 🔒 Even quieter on your network: the app no longer looks up its own internal page address when it starts. Its only network request is still the optional update check.

On the beta? The app will offer 1.1.0; the only change since the beta is the reviewed Korean translation.

Translators wanted: German, French, Spanish and Portuguese are first drafts. If you play LMU in one of those languages, Settings › Language › Open folder explains how to fix a word yourself, and corrections are very welcome in #3.

Full list: CHANGELOG. Next up in 1.2: what happens between the races, plus the championship-only mode and full race results from the calendar. Ideas go in Discussions › Ideas.

Install or update

Download FactorySeat-Setup-1.1.0.exe below and run it. It updates 1.0.x or the beta in place and keeps your careers. Close the app first. Windows SmartScreen may warn about an unrecognised app, because the installer isn't code-signed. Choose More info → Run anyway.

SHA-256 of the installer: 7f806e96ee31658931c0ca6f49aae9d29d9fcef009a5936e16a9558eca90a89c
VirusTotal scan of the installer: 0/69 detections

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Factory Seat 1.1.0 beta

A test build of 1.1, for translators, companion-app builders and anyone happy to try it early. It's a pre-release: the app's update notice won't offer it, and it will tell you when the real 1.1 is out. Your careers carry over, but if you'd rather not risk a season in progress, export it first (the Export button on its card on the home screen).

What's in 1.1 is in the 1.1 plan:

• Factory Seat speaks your language: Korean, German, French, Spanish and Brazilian Portuguese. It picks LMU's language from Steam, or choose one in Settings › Language. Briefings use the exact names LMU gives its settings in that language. Thanks to arch642 for the Korean translation. Spot a wrong word? Settings › Language › Open folder explains how to fix it yourself, and corrections are very welcome in Discussions.
• Your first race in 3 steps: a new career's briefing now says plainly that you set the race up yourself in LMU's Race Weekend, and the Start race weekend button has moved to the top.
• Tick boxes on the briefing to tick off each setting as you set it in LMU. It's only a helper: nothing waits on it.
• Saved races are recognised however long you sat in the menus, and when you load a save and back out without saving again.
• 12 and 24 hour races run at full length (Time Scale X1) get Real fuel and tyres, so they have the real race's stops.
• briefing.json for companion apps: the next race's settings, written next to your saves, for overlays like Milky28's SimHub setup check (#6). Format: docs/briefing-json.md.
• Own-brand sponsors say plainly that the app doesn't paint cars: you make the livery in LMU, and the brand brings its sponsor deals.
• No more DNS or SmartScreen lookups of the app's internal page address when it starts. Its only network request is still the optional update check.

Full list: CHANGELOG.

Install

Download FactorySeat-Setup-1.1.0-beta.exe below and run it. It updates 1.0.x in place and keeps your careers. Close the app first. Windows SmartScreen may warn about an unrecognised app, because the installer isn't code-signed. Choose More info → Run anyway. To go back to 1.0.3, install it over the beta; an exported career is the safe way to bring a season back with you.

SHA-256 of the installer: 36859b478d5426f23c117c27b066e569dd4390dae716cd695b5e3ec5d083da06
VirusTotal scan of the installer: 0/69 detections

Found something off? Post in Discussions and say it's the beta.

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Enjoying it? Buy me a coffee on Ko-fi ☕

Factory Seat 1.0.3

⚠️ There's a newer version. Get the latest Factory Seat here: Latest release. Your careers carry over when you update.

Finishing a race and leaving straight away now counts.

If you took the checkered flag and left without a cool-down lap, LMU writes the cars still on their last lap as unfinished, so 1.0.2 could read your finished race as a quit and ask whether to rerun it or take the DNF. Once you've taken the flag, the race now counts as finished, and cars that hadn't crossed the line yet keep the places they were running in. Quitting or saving before the flag works as before.

Install or update

Download FactorySeat-Setup-1.0.3.exe below and run it. It updates an earlier version in place and keeps your careers. Close the app first. Windows SmartScreen may warn about an unrecognised app, because the installer isn't code-signed. Choose More info → Run anyway.

SHA-256 of the installer: 83482b4668c5bd805862a83e025b2d0548f4eb6ee85c4b3ca5510d18cb2f8520
VirusTotal scan of the installer: 0/68 detections

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Factory Seat 1.0.2

⚠️ There's a newer version. Get the latest Factory Seat here: Latest release. Your careers carry over when you update.

Saving a long race part-way no longer counts as quitting.

LMU logs a race you save to finish later exactly the same way as a race you quit, so 1.0.1 would ask whether to rerun it or take the DNF. Factory Seat now spots the race-weekend save LMU writes when you save, and tells you the race is saved to finish later. Load it in LMU, finish it, and the full result counts as normal. A real quit (no save) still asks whether to rerun or take the DNF, and if you abandon a saved race you can still take the DNF from Check now.

Also: the pit-plan tip for long races now describes saving correctly. You save it yourself during a pit stop.

Install or update

Download FactorySeat-Setup-1.0.2.exe below and run it. It updates an earlier version in place and keeps your careers. Close the app first. Windows SmartScreen may warn about an unrecognised app, because the installer isn't code-signed. Choose More info → Run anyway.

SHA-256 of the installer: fc3c172cfb71817ea990237d8fdafddc07cbae6b135b627a9564a7670b229f1a
VirusTotal scan of the installer: 0/70 detections

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Factory Seat 1.0.1

A small one: Settings › About now has a Ko-fi button for anyone who'd like to support the project. Factory Seat is free and stays free; the tip jar is entirely optional.

Install or update

Download FactorySeat-Setup-1.0.1.exe below and run it. It updates 1.0.0 in place and keeps your careers. Close the app first. Windows SmartScreen may warn about an unrecognised app, because the installer isn't code-signed. Choose More info → Run anyway.

SHA-256 of the installer: de7bd63b673a2ee01abd2b25e61f1a669ae69a9914485c0e2717b91a556a7dd6

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