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Project CARS | OT | Made by 80.000 slightly mad developers

Mascot

Member
I did so testing for a friend on pCARS recently after a loooong layoff of maybe six months away from the game. Man, I know this game is a rough diamond but I'd completely forgotten just how fucking thrilling it can be with the right car/track combo. I was running twenty car GT3 grids around Monza at 90% AI with the surround cranked up, the Buttkicker pummelling away and Crew Chief barking instructions through my headset. It was heavenly.

Anyone care to share some latest titbits from pCARS 2 development..? I've got the racing bug again..!
 

Blizzard

Banned
I thought all the backer payments were done, but a new PCARS1 payment randomly showed up yesterday. That's a nice Christmas present.
 

danowat

Banned
I did so testing for a friend on pCARS recently after a loooong layoff of maybe six months away from the game. Man, I know this game is a rough diamond but I'd completely forgotten just how fucking thrilling it can be with the right car/track combo. I was running twenty car GT3 grids around Monza at 90% AI with the surround cranked up, the Buttkicker pummelling away and Crew Chief barking instructions through my headset. It was heavenly.

Anyone care to share some latest titbits from pCARS 2 development..? I've got the racing bug again..!

Man I wish PCars had AC physics, or AC had PCars AI.

I can't play either without wishing the two had a baby.

After playing AC the physics in PCars feel terrible, especially the road tyres, and the AI in AC leaves a heck of a lot to be desired.

If someone could combine the strengths of each, that would be something special.
 

Mascot

Member
Man I wish PCars had AC physics, or AC had PCars AI.

I can't play either without wishing the two had a baby.

After playing AC the physics in PCars feel terrible, especially the road tyres, and the AI in AC leaves a heck of a lot to be desired.

If someone could combine the strengths of each, that would be something special.

In pCARS singleplayer I only ever use GT classes because the tyres feel predictable and the AI is fantastic. In all other classes either tyres, AI, or both are fucked in some way.

pCARS is pretty much modern age GTR for me. It's a big compromise but one I can live with as the racing in GT classes is more than good enough.
 
No, what you really want is rFactor 2 Ai. They can be REALLY fast, the drive naturally, can handle big packs, don't play line up in slow convoys and take overtaking opportunities.. they also don't use your car as brakes or sometimes forget that you are there. Most amazing thing is how the AI can handle multi-class races without getting too stuck in traffic, looks really natural.

https://youtu.be/-5TwDVUissM?t=20m31s
(watch 1 minute or so if you like, very natural behavior in my opinion)

Only disadvantage is that they look a bit sheepish-boring slow when you turn the difficulty down too much, so some console players might not be happy with that.

Automobilista has the same base AI, I think. It's based on the ISI engine as well.
 

DieH@rd

Banned
The game actually earned more than I thought it would. Good job SMS.

Anyone knows for how long we will recieve payments? I believe it was 2 years for PC version and 3 years for console ports, or other way around.
 

Mascot

Member
PCars 2 should be landing around September, according to Ian Bell.

It's still a very tight run as we're a bit behind on GUI and Career so nothing is set in stone yet. Current guess is Septemberish.

Also, re manufacturers on board:

OK it's Christmas. None of the famous brands are missing this time.

We've started QA already. We plan at least 7 months of QA for polishing and bug fixing.

http://forum.projectcarsgame.com/search.php?searchid=10442107
 

Momentary

Banned
I don't think we are aloud to really talk about it. They are VERY adamant about sniping people who break NDA. I will say that the current line up of cars looks fantastic.
 

Zeknurn

Member
I understand that but last time there were people that shared things within minutes of it being posted on the private forums. Where as now, there's practically zero information about the game out there. I guess having a higher cost for entry has weeded out the worse people.

Speaking of which, what happened to the pretendcars prick? Did he give up?
 

DieH@rd

Banned
Just make it good SMS. I did not back pCARS 2, but I can't wait to play it.

edit - I just checked my paypal, and damn, shame I did not invest more in pCARS 1. ROI was really great.
 

fresquito

Member
I understand that but last time there were people that shared things within minutes of it being posted on the private forums. Where as now, there's practically zero information about the game out there. I guess having a higher cost for entry has weeded out the worse people.

Speaking of which, what happened to the pretendcars prick? Did he give up?
There was no media or info lockout with PC1. With PC2 we have been told to not share anything.

All I can say is thart my impressions is that SMS did a super good postmortem of PC1 and are trying to address most of the bioggest complaints with PC1. And in my opinion, they're doing a pretty fine job. Of course, they're strenghtening some of the best parts to and throwing some new challenges in between. I don't think anybody that loved or liked PC1 will dislike PC2. It's, without a shred of doubt, the better game.
 

Mascot

Member
There was no media or info lockout with PC1. With PC2 we have been told to not share anything.

All I can say is thart my impressions is that SMS did a super good postmortem of PC1 and are trying to address most of the bioggest complaints with PC1. And in my opinion, they're doing a pretty fine job. Of course, they're strenghtening some of the best parts to and throwing some new challenges in between. I don't think anybody that loved or liked PC1 will dislike PC2. It's, without a shred of doubt, the better game.

Are they genuinely acknowledging the complaints with pCARS 1 and are they serious about addressing them? Annoying things like general UI and menus, crap leaderboards, silly livery selection methods, borked multiplayer options, no custom championships etc etc. One of the biggest frustrations was the stubborn way they ignored good suggestions from the community with pCARS 1.

Basically, all the annoying things and counter-intuitive design decisions?
 

paskowitz

Member
If they haven't fixed the FFB tuning then I will keep my money. I shouldn't have to consult a forum thread to get the FFB right for each and every car. The physics for the road cars also need to be improved.
 

Mascot

Member
If they haven't fixed the FFB tuning then I will keep my money. I shouldn't have to consult a forum thread to get the FFB right for each and every car. The physics for the road cars also need to be improved.
Amen to that. Pcars is basically a GT racer only for me as that's the only class I felt happy with the FFB and handling, even after much tweaking. I'd be happy enough if they ditched the road cars and concentrated on the race versions.
 

fresquito

Member
Are they genuinely acknowledging the complaints with pCARS 1 and are they serious about addressing them? Annoying things like general UI and menus, crap leaderboards, silly livery selection methods, borked multiplayer options, no custom championships etc etc. One of the biggest frustrations was the stubborn way they ignored good suggestions from the community with pCARS 1.

Basically, all the annoying things and counter-intuitive design decisions?
That's my impression, yes. The UI is not finished. It's a bit behind schedule, as far as I understand. It was their intention to make it good this time, but wasn't going all that well. Finally they hired a very committed individual that is doing a fantastic job. How good it will be in the end? I don't know. I wouldn't say it's a big step from PC1, but a huge jump forward.

I can't really comment on multiplayer features, or any feature, in fact. Like I said, I think they did a super good job at taking notes and analizing where the first game failed. Now, how good the fix for these problems will be, I don't know. It's too early to tell.
 

terrible

Banned
Whether or not I buy pCARS 2 at full price depends on if the FFB out of the box is good. I don't feel like spending more time tweaking the FFB than playing.
 

danowat

Banned
just tell me road car tyre physics are decent and theyve lost that weird bouncy flapping suspension feeling that has been there since shift this time round.
 

danowat

Banned
I can say that PCARS2 feels a lot better with a Gamepad, I think I even prefer it to AC's handling now.

Thems big words bruh!!!!!.

Do people really think that this will release in 2017?, I remember the debacle that was the release of PC1, so either they've learnt alot or learnt nothing........

I'm tempted to say I'll eat my hat if it comes out this year, but I don't own a hat, and I can't imagine hats are particularly tasty.
 

Mascot

Member
That's my impression, yes. The UI is not finished. It's a bit behind schedule, as far as I understand. It was their intention to make it good this time, but wasn't going all that well. Finally they hired a very committed individual that is doing a fantastic job. How good it will be in the end? I don't know. I wouldn't say it's a big step from PC1, but a huge jump forward.

I can't really comment on multiplayer features, or any feature, in fact. Like I said, I think they did a super good job at taking notes and analizing where the first game failed. Now, how good the fix for these problems will be, I don't know. It's too early to tell.

That's all good to know, cheers. I'm hearing very positive impressions from a few insiders, and the changes, updates and expansions from pCARS 1 to 2 sound qute exciting and very ambitious. I think pCARS 2 will need to be something very special (and very polished, stable and complete on day one) to win back the people who felt burned by pCARS 1.

I can say that PCARS2 feels a lot better with a Gamepad, I think I even prefer it to AC's handling now.

This is so, so important. Wheel users are in the vast minority so it's absolutely crucial that it plays well out of the box with a gamepad. pCARS was a disaster in this area and there must have been a LOT of players who abandoned the game after only a few hours because of this. I believe I read that there will be several presets this time around for wheel FFB, pad controls and even car tunes?

Do people really think that this will release in 2017?, I remember the debacle that was the release of PC1, so either they've learnt alot or learnt nothing........

I'm tempted to say I'll eat my hat if it comes out this year, but I don't own a hat, and I can't imagine hats are particularly tasty.

Ian Bell said he was being cautious when he recently tabled Septemberish 2017 as the release date, so maybe they did learn from pCARS?
 

danowat

Banned
This is so, so important. Wheel users are in the vast minority so it's absolutely crucial that it plays well out of the box with a gamepad. pCARS was a disaster in this area and there must have been a LOT of players who abandoned the game after only a few hours because of this. I believe I read that there will be several presets this time around for wheel FFB, pad controls and even car tunes?

Agreed, I remember having some dialogue with Ian and the team about this, and he freely admitted that the pad implementation wasn't as good as it could have (should have) been, so he is aware just how important it is.

Outside of the sim racing bubble there are still a lot of people who like sim racers, but don't have (won't have) a wheel, so it is important if they are intent on wooing those.

I fear that the damage has already been done, and many of those players will be cautious in the extreme, this is one of the reasons why I am surprised they can hit Sept 2017, there has been no marketing, there has been no attempt to appease those people who did give up on 1, it just seems a bit odd that they are 7 months out of release and the hype machine hasn't whirred into action, maybe all that pre realise hype from PC1 wore the poor thing out and they need to build a new one?
 

Mascot

Member
Agreed, I remember having some dialogue with Ian and the team about this, and he freely admitted that the pad implementation wasn't as good as it could have (should have) been, so he is aware just how important it is.

Outside of the sim racing bubble there are still a lot of people who like sim racers, but don't have (won't have) a wheel, so it is important if they are intent on wooing those.

I fear that the damage has already been done, and many of those players will be cautious in the extreme, this is one of the reasons why I am surprised they can hit Sept 2017, there has been no marketing, there has been no attempt to appease those people who did give up on 1, it just seems a bit odd that they are 7 months out of release and the hype machine hasn't whirred into action, maybe all that pre realise hype from PC1 wore the poor thing out and they need to build a new one?

Yeah, their task will be harder this time around because there will undoubtedly be a large group of "fool me once..." naysayers. Ian Bell has indicated that marketing/reveals will start 'soon', whatever that means. There's still nine months, not seven until the projected release date so I guess we'll start to see things around March..?
 

Mascot

Member
I'm guessing it would be commercial suicide otherwise, but is pCARS 2 definitely confirmed for vanilla PS4 and Xbone? It sounds very ambitious and performance wasn't perfect on the 'old' machines. SMS aren't just making it for PC, Pro and Scorpio, are they? Nah, what am I thinking. That would be daft.
 

danowat

Banned
It's a tough question, and it's one of the issues I have with mid gen refreshes, the developer has to choose between supporting the higher spec machine and risk alienating (arguably) the larger install base of the lower spec machine, or do they dilute the development team and effective have to try and support 2 different specs and make sure the game runs well on both.

I don't think a two tier system on a platform that is supposed to be a fixed across the board is a very good idea, but it's too late for that now!.

Be interesting to see how it goes in terms of supporting one or both specs, not sure how it is in terms of the PS Pro, but I know MS has said that developers can only support Scorpio if they want too.
 

VVV Mars VG

Member
I think if PC and Scorpio are the top tier performance, then slight graphical alterations for PS4 Pro, such as other resolution rendering techniques. As for the base systems, they have more data for optimisation, more solid code and by reducing graphic options plus limiting the size of the field they should be able to find a good balance.
 
Yeah, their task will be harder this time around because there will undoubtedly be a large group of "fool me once..." naysayers.
Marketing like "dirt", "ToD", "Porsches", "Pro support", "iRacing like online structure", "improved VR" ... All nice marketing they could do that usually would get me excited, but not after pCARS 1.
Give me a nice DEMO a month before release where I can try very different cars on maybe only one track, but with rain/ToD and all car setup options. It's basically the only way to get me to pay full price (or more).

Also they need to think about a carrot-on-a-stick structure and good optional easy control modes /driving-aids if they aim for higher sales, we've talked about both before.
 

Mascot

Member
Also they need to think about a carrot-on-a-stick structure and good optional easy control modes /driving-aids if they aim for higher sales, we've talked about both before.

There was almost an... arrogance, (for want of a better word) with how pCARS launched. It was as if the game was only being sold to WMD insiders already intimately familiar with the game or to racing sim diehards who (it was probably assumed) would be happy to fettle with it to get it in shape. Catering to casual players almost seemed like an afterthought.
 

danowat

Banned
There was almost an... arrogance, (for want of a better word) with how pCARS launched. It was as if the game was only being sold to WMD insiders already intimately familiar with the game or to racing sim diehards who (it was probably assumed) would be happy to fettle with it to get it in shape. Catering to casual players almost seemed like an afterthought.

Almost?, ALMOST!!!!!

Bwah bwah ahahaha

The main man was still saying the product was the best thing since sliced bread once it was released and the state it was in became apparent to the buyers, it was a mess at release.

It took numerous patches before it was in a state where it could be considered finished, and the arrogance continued during that time.
 

Mascot

Member
Almost?, ALMOST!!!!!

Bwah bwah ahahaha

The main man was still saying the product was the best thing since sliced bread once it was released and the state it was in became apparent to the buyers, it was a mess at release.

It took numerous patches before it was in a state where it could be considered finished, and the arrogance continued during that time.

I meant more about how casual players were left to fend for themselves and scratch their heads about FFB, car tuning, pad settings etc. It was almost as if it was assumed that everyone would head to the pCARS forums to get the support and advice they needed to break through the game's outer shell. I think SMS just forgot how many people would be booting up the game cold, and how few users actually frequent game forums. It's probably the most inaccessible game I've ever played, and I'm quite familiar with the genre.

But yeah, it is easy to forget what a state it originally launched in. The patch note history makes very uncomfortable viewing. Thank God for the post-launch support it received, as this was undoubtedly absolutely necessary.
 

danowat

Banned
I guess that's one of the drawbacks of creating a game in a huge echo chamber.

Anyway, back on topic about PC2.........

Has there been any talk of a custom championship creater?, AC has just added one to the PC version (console coming), and I can't believe it's taken this long for a sim racer to offer something like this.

I also hope they expand on the leaderboard system, something relatively simple that can massively increase the longevity.
 

fresquito

Member
There was almost an... arrogance, (for want of a better word) with how pCARS launched. It was as if the game was only being sold to WMD insiders already intimately familiar with the game or to racing sim diehards who (it was probably assumed) would be happy to fettle with it to get it in shape. Catering to casual players almost seemed like an afterthought.
I wouldn't talk about arrogance. What you complain about (and rightly so) had more to do with a) The lack of a high caliber UI lead and b) Time. The game was a developing nightmare, from having to switch systems mid development, to money shortcomings. You can say whatever you want about Ian Bell, and I'll probably agree to everything you say, but he did magic with the budget he had. But magic can last just so long.

I think there's not a lot of people that has experienced as many bugs and problems as I have in PC1, as an user and as a TO for my community. And one thing that always amazes me about people, even about people that have clocked over 500h in the game, is how easy they forget about the good stuff in PC1.

For an insider like me, it's easy to understand why things went the way they went. Watching the PC2 development makes things only far more evident. The base for PC2 is far more solid than PC1 could ever dream about, both from a development point of view and from an economical point of view. Noise in the WMD enviroment is cut to a minimum, which makes communication with the team all the more fruitfull. PC2 development looks a lot less thrilling, yes, probably because WMD2 understand this is not a fairytale anymore. As for me, I'm happy that SMS don't look like they have put themselves in the adventure of creating the best sim ever with 3.4 millions.
 

Mascot

Member
PC2 development looks a lot less thriving, yes, probably because WMD2 understand this is not a fairytale anymore. As for me, I'm happy that SMS don't look like they have put themselves in the adventure of creating the best sim ever with 3.4 millions.

I'm not sure i get the meaning here - can you please elaborate, Fres?
 

fresquito

Member
I'm not sure i get the meaning here - can you please elaborate, Fres?
Language failure xD

I think I just misused the word "thriving". I always related this to this very noisy and full of people place, but turns out the direct translation to my language doesn't fit what I meant. It turns out it's meant to talk about a place that is doing super well :-D

What I meant:

WMD1 was super noisy, with lots of expectations, crazy high expectations. The biggest part of us did not know shit about game development. We had this stupid idea that the game would be done by SMS from our ideas alone. And everyone had a different idea. There was a lot of misunderstandings going from day 1 to forever. Misunderstandings were originated both because misleading speech from SMS heads and because a ton of people were entitled enough to put 10€ and think that SMS owed them a game made only for them.

So, it was a very thrilling and epic ride that finished with a bang when the game released. There was a lot of deception, there was a lot of anger, of bitter words and stresss, specially true for the SMS staff. Because deadlines being unmet, because financial dangers, because WMD1 screaming at them while mods were throwing oil around instead of, you know, moderate. This was SMS's game to do or die and they almost died.

This time around, most of us are returning WMD1 members. Things are far quieter, more gentle and laid back. In that enviroment, the staff is more focused on their job and WMD, as a concept, is working better than ever. It's easier to elaborate discussions, create suggestions and accept them. Imagine people telling you in your face how lazy you are, how shitty your game is... one month in. That was WMD1 for SMS. Now people don't say the gamepad controls are crap because they don't care, they say: Hey, I've been testing this and tried 0.2 up here and 0.3 down there and works wonders. Sounds more useful, doesn't it? The team recognises that work even on the patch notes.

Besides, despite its neverending list of problems, PC1 was a financial success. That's also a part on why everything is less intense now. You don't see so much on the line. You see a clear plan, a clear idea, things that have to be addressed, and don't mistake what I'm saying, the blue guys are doing a terrific job, but there's no desperation, no panic, no nothing that strays their thoughts from meeting the plan.

So, what PC2 is bringing to the table is very exciting on paper, and from what I've tested so far it looks like it's got everything in place to deliver what I expect from it. I would say PC2 is looking like what I thought PC1 would be, so I'm very excited and looking forward to play the final release build. But from the development point of view, or more exactly, the storytelling of the development, is not that interesting, to be honest.
 

Mascot

Member
Some pCARS 2 info and screenshots

post-2-0-16331800-1483553643.jpg


post-2-0-03040300-1483553656.jpg


post-2-0-07754200-1483553778.jpg


post-2-0-04921500-1483553792.jpg


post-2-0-66455200-1483553770.jpg

Has the publicity finally started..?
 

fresquito

Member
I think that's more of a leak+Ian comments on the Official Forum than news. I mean, it's news to people, but I find hard to believe these are official screenshots. Many of these screenshots belong to very early builds. For isntance, some of the rallyx shots are taken from a fictional track and are missing all the trees and dressing the track has. So we are probably talking about mid 2015 shots. In other cases, they are more recent shots (the Ice track came in last year).

These all belong to Project CARS 2, that much I can confirm, but they are in no way representative of how the game looks now.
 
Do people still play this regularly?

Just bought it on eBay the GOTY edition.

Hoping to jump online and
Boost trophies mweheheh
so wondered if anyone is up for a few races?
with me winning mweheheheh

Add Luvs_2_Squidge if so :)
 
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