PC2 First Impressions......

[PaulH]

So it's out!
What's your "first impression" on the game...

Me, I've tried it for 99mins, under the 2 hour Steam refund. Will I be refunding? Nope

Very positive so far

FFB - Big improvement, still needs quite a bit of tinkering, but out the box feels much better

Physics - Big big improvement over PC1, you now actually feel connected to the road, you can feel what the front wheels are doing(my biggest gripe with PC1), although still early days, much improved

UI - Much much better, like the way you can change game settings in the pits now, car/track/skin choices much better

Sounds - Much improved too, gear change sounds are much more mechanical sounding, engines sound better than PC1 but that wasn't hard

and lastly Graphics - Looks stunning!, crisper, light snow on the windscreen looks bloody real!

So, although early days, I'm feeling very positive........so far

 

[bmanic]

One thing im not that happy with is that in pCars 2 i can not adjust the finial drive ratio on the 650s GT3 unlike AC where i could. No idea what one is real or not on that setting.

Hint: These are the typical "attention to detail" things that are unfortunately missing in AC.

I believe the ISR review is based on an older version of pCars 2 as i have not seen any of the graphical issues that he commented on in his review.

I think the issues may be computer spec related. I have a few graphical anomalies that I haven't seen reported elsewhere.

NOTE! There is a new Gforce driver out today (or yesterday) which seems to have some pCars 2 specific things. Downloading that right now to see if it helps.

 

[bmanic]

Uhm, Gotta check where I installed. Can't save wheel settings, ingame settings, nothing. No profile saves. Really annoying.

Ouch! That sounds like a nasty case of Windows user control issues. Hope you get it sorted!

What version of Windows by the way?

 

[Jacco van der Zaag]

Windows 10. Might be my antivirus though..

 

[Jacco van der Zaag]

Fixed it. Might be my Bitdefender 2018. Had some issues with 'Save files and stuff '

 

[jimortality]

I flippin love it!

 

[TeSL9]

Ohh my ... Just few laps in (30 laps,dry+rain, ferrari f50 at brands indy) but this feels very very good! Just smiling all the time now even writing this
..this is going to take my time now oh my god!

Everything works like a dream! Edit: well not the AI. It needs work.
Try it guys

 

[Dave R]

Good impressions from me as well. Ran it for 45 minutes or so last evening
-Ford GTE at Watkins Glen-AI was wonderful
-Nissan GT3 at Sugo
-Indycar at Texas and at Indy-AI was good at Texas but at Indy, they seem disjointed. I was able to pass several cars in the first corner
-Indycar at Road America-Wonderful.

 

[Dady Cairo]

No joy. Saving issues.

This is a ANTI VIRUS SOFTWARE FILE PROTECTION ISSUE
Turn your AV off for that,then it works.
I prefer the MS Defender in Win 10!!
No Problems.
DC

 

[Philip Antonia]

Damn!! Now I want to try PC2 :-/

 

[Lars Hansen]

I'm not going to critisize SMS because they have led the way on the console and included ovals, but I will give my honest impressions (as an IndyCar and oval fan) later.

I think the main issue with the ovals is that there are only three tracks included.
Which is fine for the Indycars (well, in a pinch), but it leaves the stockcars a little....flat.

 

[cpt_gandy]

Well i maxed out the downforce on the Honda Indy car and it does make the ffb feel heavier/more planted in the turns which is what i was hoping for

 

[tpw]

My first impression after 3 hours: SMS have pretty much totally redeemed themselves with pCARS2. All the things that drove me away from the first game have been improved to such an incredible extent, I don't predict I'll be shelving this one in disgust any time soon.

FFB: A really nice compromise between the tight and super detailed AMS FFB and the slightly sloppy AC FFB. I can feel the weight of the cars now, and what the front and back of the car is doing. And I didn't have to #$%^ around for hours in an arcane menu to do it!

AI: Seem much much better behaved than the abominable pCARS1 AI. They don't try to kill me, and they don't drive on grass all all the time but if they do they actually get affected by it and slow down a little. They're actually affected by wet weather too. I've done a few races in a few different classes (F5, FC, GT4, GT3) and never once rage quitted!

Bugs: The game hasn't crashed on me yet.

Weather: This is the first ever game where I actually want it to rain. The change in feel is fantastic, not like suddenly driving on ice, and the AI are properly affected too. Puddles grab your wheel in a realistic way - avoid them. And the visual and audio fx are sublime.

Sound: A vast improvement in cockpit, and some of the cars (eg Nisaan GT3) are just audio porn to my ears. Maybe the trackside camera views could do with a little more distance damping and reverb, if I'm being picky.

Presentation: much clearer and easier menus, and an extremely polished look in general.

Cons: where's the bloody Arials?

 

[bmanic]

I'm really surprised by the civilized online play on the public servers. I guess the rating system is scaring everybody into behaving.

Sure, there has been quite a few first corner crashes (when will people ever learn??) but once that is sorted it has been very nice and civil, with some awesome close racing. I'm also surprised of just how solid the online experience is technically.. I've only seen one bad case of warping but that dude had his ping meter on red. No idea how much actual ping that is but it seems Red = truly bad.

No issues racing in a mix of green and yellow ping.

I'm slowly trying to raise my safety rating. I did get up to 'F' but it dropped down to 'U' again after a race with a major first corner incident where pretty much every single car in the race crashed.

 

[JoelGL]

I'm really surprised by the civilized online play on the public servers. I guess the rating system is scaring everybody into behaving.

Sure, there has been quite a few first corner crashes (when will people ever learn??) but once that is sorted it has been very nice and civil, with some awesome close racing. I'm also surprised of just how solid the online experience is technically.. I've only seen one bad case of warping but that dude had his ping meter on red. No idea how much actual ping that is but it seems Red = truly bad.

No issues racing in a mix of green and yellow ping.

I'm slowly trying to raise my safety rating. I did get up to 'F' but it dropped down to 'U' again after a race with a major first corner incident where pretty much every single car in the race crashed.

So no more tweaking of files? Can you share your TX FFB settings? TIA. I noticed though it varies per car and track. Hope a hud similar to FFBClip becomes available for easy viewing of values on track.

 

[TobiasR]

Tried it in the 2h "trial", loved everything about it, except... handling and FFB. Sadly, this kills it for me completely

Something about the steering in this game just feels disconnected when compared to AC, AMS or rF2.
It's a shame because the game seems like a complete package otherwise.

 

[2112]

One thing im not that happy with is that in pCars 2 i can not adjust the finial drive ratio on the 650s GT3 unlike AC where i could. No idea what one is real or not on that setting.

Correct me if I am wrong, but you cannot adjust final drive in GT3 cars at all. You can change the gear cassette but there is no adjustment of the gearing itself.

I played last night (the early release time for those of us on the West Coast of the US was great!) and lost track of time. I went to bed way too late.

There are a number of issues, such as the micro-stutters brought up in another post(s?), and button assignments, (There are a few assignment issues that preclude me from using my peripheral number pad to its potential), but overall the experience surpasses my expectations.

FFB was great as soon as I got it figured out. Physics was more in line with what it should have been in PC. I felt that it was a mix of iRacing, RF2 and AMS. The did a great job in improving that part of the game.
The thing that made the physics for me was the ability to take a 962 onto Nords, turn a good lap, and not have to fight unrealistic rotation of the car just to keep it on the track. I was, instead, able to drive an aggressive line without worrying about the tail whipping about in a fashion that would make one scratch their head in confusion. I did a lot of head scratching with PC physics.

Spent some time at Daytona with a Porsche GT3 and the driving/racing was very fun. Again, I was able to wring the most out of the car without the worry of simple manuevers sending the car into a death slide. When I would lose the car it was because I did something stupid.

The last 45 minutes was spent a Long Beach, (My home track), with the indy cars. This was fantastic. Again, I was able to drive aggressively and only get penalized if I pushed the car past my own abilities as opposed to the abilities of the physics.

I write this now as I count the hours until I can drive the 75 miles home, from work, to jump back on a explore the game deeper. I think my other sims, including iRacing, will be gathering dust for awhile.

 

[thewanted]

For the guys with direct drive wheels (specifically the Bodnar SimSteering 2), does the game correctly set the degrees of rotation for each car if you leave it set to 900 degrees in Windows, ie. just like Assetto Corsa does?

 

[Chobonator]

Tried it in the 2h "trial", loved everything about it, except... handling and FFB. Sadly, this kills it for me completely

Something about the steering in this game just feels disconnected when compared to AC, AMS or rF2.
It's a shame because the game seems like a complete package otherwise.

As soon as I set the FFB to RAW and bumped up the volume and other sliders just a bit, I was very satisfied. It's like a mix of rFactor 2 without the dry harsh feel there used to be and Raceroom, which is a bit more rubbery.

 

[Dady Cairo]

I had my doubts but i realy must say a "BIG WOW" for this sim.Perfect Performance-Perfect FFB-Userfriendly UI!!
Defenitly worth the money and a "Keeper".No Refunds needed.I'm a Fanboy of SMS now....
And the AI is pretty out of the box so far,in my opinion better as AC as it came out.
Thanx SMS
DC

 

[Chobonator]

Damn!! Now I want to try PC2 :-/

This is wise.