So Im itching for a decent Sim racer and I was waiting for GTS to come out for comparison sake. How does PC2 compare to GTS for those who have both? Ive been a long time GT fan but there seems to be a lot of stuff about GTS that Im not thrilled about: always online, lack of rotating races, overwhelming emphasis on online, etc.
How do you guys think these two compare? Also I would be playing with a gamepad for the time being. I want to get a wheel but cant justify $600 for a wheel and chair set up anytime soon.
Short history:
I really liked GT5 and GT6 (100%ed even), I played the GTS closed beta for over 25h, I didn't like pCARS1 all that much.
With a wheel it's not even a question, Project CARS2 definitely then.
In my opinion this is the most advanced tire model out there and even if it's not tuned quite perfect for realism and a little uneven depending what car you pick (there are still some that are somewhat awful and very off), about a third of the cars in pCARS2 though are really "wow! *big smile on face* ". Then there are the changing conditions, having raced all these tracks over and over mostly in sunny and cloudy weather in the summer in lots of other games, it's something different with the changing conditions, or the brown leafs in autumn or even the low sun in the winter. You don't get that anywhere else.
Now with a controller... I'm probably the wrong guy to ask, but I might enjoy GTS or even Forza 7 more. These games are made for a controller, unlike Project CARS, which has actual sim physics(sure, a bit much grip, a bit too forgiving over the limit, still way more sim than Forza and GT), modeled suspensions geometry that leads to accurate bump steer for example, correct CoG and spin inertia that can easily spin you out under braking or even just from lift-off oversteer. These things are harder to notice without FFB from a wheel and even harder to counteract with just the stick on a controller. With an FFB wheel the forces from the tires, working through the steering geometry on a real life steering wheel are modeled and would
theoretically let you feel exactly those forces on an FFB wheel, which lets you react intuitively and correct. GTS and Forza don't have this kind of FFB.
Also in pCARS2 the ABS is under-sophisticated and not very realistic which is also not helping when you're dealing with very different brake pedal travel until tire lock up for each car.
The game is just harder on a controller, even if SMS have some countersteer controller-aid finally in pCARS2. In GTS these effects are (unrealistically) toned down to make the game more accessible in general but especially for controller play.
But don't forget to consider the different track count of each game as well (even if you love what is there, after 100h of play less than 20 tracks are super boring, I remember that from Forza 5 very well). And in my opinion GTS's car list is somewhat boring. No cool old cars (I think the Audi Quattro S1 Evo 2 is the only one I've seen in GTS so far).
The AI in pCARS2 is far from perfect, but mostly because of uneven pace per lap (super fast in some sections, slow in others). You can have a good race close to them, they will give you some room, but also take a defensive line on some straights or try to overtake somewhat aggressively depending on aggression and difficulty.
The career aspect is underwhelming in both games in my opinion. The kind of career mode I would want is what Codemasters F1 games do (or the new EA Sports titles, Madden's story mode in pCARS or Assetto Corsa... nice).
SMS have been pretty generous with community time trial events, but I would have liked it if they did something similar to GT Sport with the daily races. The online lobbies have mostly always been GT3 class cars.
Organzied matchmaking, even if it's only open at certain times per day would be great. Then even I would play online.
