PC1 I just can't settle with pcars? Is it just me?

[Ichthus]

For some reason I just can't get into it.

I've all the addon packs. I've spent so much time tweaking the settings...and it just seems to be missing something. It never looks as good as the promo videos even though I've a good rig. The FFB never seems to give me a great feel. The shadows are all over the place and some tracks look very good and some look poor.

I don't think I'll ever be buying any more addons.

Am I the only one that's getting to the point of uninstalling and moving on? It's just 'not doing it for me'....could be me not necessarily the game.

I also get the feeling I'm playing a game and not a sim sometimes....

 

[Sele1981]

Its not about the FFB, its about the physics. These are on par with Gran Turismo or Forza and not more...

 

[Adam#81]

To each their own, I disagree, but ok, you should play whatever you feel is closer to what you think the cars should drive like.

 

[CCL71]

@Adam#81 Thanks man, I'll give that a try and let you know the results.

 

[Lily Starfox]

I've been quite disappointed with Project Cars cos first of all, the game looks NOTHING like the countless photoshopped pics we saw during the last 2/3 years.
Assetto Corsa, especially since 1.5 update, looks better than PC now.

Secondly, when I started playing it the first time, I thought, "what is this, 1995? Daytona USA had more realistic handling!"
To be fair, ok it felt like Need for Speed shift series...

Third, no Ferraris, and many interesting cars are absent anyway.
I don't really care for PC "vanilla" content.
I prefer much more AC or older games like GTR2.
Matter of taste though, I admit.

Fourth, it's not exactly moddable.
AC already has countless tracks and cars, whose some of them look much better than anything in PC.
It might be interesting to see what Automobilista becomes with the coming mods...
Nowadays in 2016, non-moddable games have no future in my book.

The two things it has over many of its rivals is night and rain...
(I'm addicted to night racing and I always loved the rainy "mood" in racing games)
But for this, I still have GTR2...
And coincidentally, I just reinstalled it yesterday, with the incredible GEMFX filter, HDmodv5, and if you find some nice hd tracks, it actually looks BETTER than Project CARS. lol
Feels much better too.
And it has countless mods.

To be fair, I just thought of another positive point, besides night and rain.
Like Dirt Rally, it's good for people who don't want to spend hours modding a game.
For them, I admit, it IS the #1 racing game at the moment.
No other game give you that much content "out-of-the-box", I guess.
(I mean on computers, I don't know about console games like Gran Turismo or Forza)

Edit : why so many replies basically say "you need to tweak the FFB"? Good FFB won't improve unrealistic physics...

 

[Adam#81]

I don't think the physics are bad, on the contrary I think they are very good. The only thing that does not feel "proper" is how difficult the cars get over the limit, it is catchable, but you must be on top of your driving 100%, in AC you have to do some really dumb **** to lose it like this. I feel that it should be a little easier to do slides etc.

The reason i'm insisting on getting the FFB right, is that once your driving and the FFB work together, you will catch those errors that you might make by overdriving the car, and then you will not think as bad of the "physics". I hear so much boasting by AC fanboys about better physics, when there are quite a few things that are not taken into consideration on their tire model. If you have good FFB, and you still don't like the driving, that's fair enough, but before that I think you re selling the game short by not giving it a proper chance. But not everyone has my patience with these things, ok.

I m not going to argue graphics, it's up to taste and yes AC is pretty up there with the post processing filters, but I would like to make those textures crisper, if you know the file that I have to edit.

 

[Lily Starfox]

I m not going to argue graphics, it's up to taste and yes AC is pretty up there with the post processing filters, but I would like to make those textures crisper, if you know the file that I have to edit.

I don't know precisely about files to edit to get "crispier" textures, but personally I use a custom SweetFX filter and it does look crispier now.
I know it's only a filter and it doesn't change the textures, but as long as you don't overdo it, it does look like an improvement.
You can find some Sweetfx settings on RD.

Bernd's latest filter does include SweetFX, you could try it =>
http://www.racedepartment.com/downloads/bernds-real-life-weather.4739/

 

[CCL71]

@Adam#81 I made the changes in the profiler and I switched tweaker files to the bump plus classic. The settings in that file seemed close to yours so the additional changes were minor. And lastly, I increased FFB in the game from 75 to 85; I didn't want to go up too much as I didn't want an artificially heavy feel. My test track of choice lately has been Bonnachbrae because of the bumps and elevation changes. Overall, I have to say that the changes were an improvement. There is more feeling in the wheel and I do have a better idea of what the car is doing.

With that being said, it still doesn't compare to A/C, RR and rFactor2. To @Lily Starfox point, the overall feel of the physics (and FFB) seem to be geared more towards the Forza/Gran Tourismo audience than the PC sim crowd. I find that I can catch slides easier in PCARS than I can in other games. If Iracing is the hardest to correct in, PCARS is the easiest. If feels like the world slows down dramatically when the rear comes out so it gives you time to fix it. In other sims, you need to fast and smooth with your inputs to correct the car.

In any regard, I appreciate the tips. They certainly made a difference and allow me to enjoy my laps more. I think it's inevitable that we all will make comparisons between games as they are all supposed to be "simulators". But for me, I'm going to stop doing that; They all have their pros and cons and I'll accept each one on it's own merits.

***Side note*** Turning down the spring, constant and periodic settings to 0 in my profiler killed FFB in rFactor2 and changed the feeling in A/C.. After testing, I found that setting the spring and damper to 0 and leaving constant and periodic at 100 was the best compromise for all of my games. My overall gain is at 85 in the profiler which was the default so I've never changed it. So the lesson for me was to be careful when making changes in the profiler for one game, as it may have an adverse effect in others.

Thanks again.

 

[Adam#81]

Ok i assumed you knew that most other games use periodic and spring effect. You need them for AC and rF. What cars do you generally drive? Cause for me in AC I can seem to catch oversteer a lot easier than in PCars, I think it's more progressive. We are all different

Also my wheel is not heavy, it's on the light side. I don't have a lot of wheel weight, because i want to feel the small details of the FFB in PCars. If you add wheel weight, the subtle forces of tire slip will get lost. Having said that, my settings are not perfect. Ideally I would like a little more prominent low forces, but it's good enough, I got tired of tweeking and I wanted to focus more on driving.

 

[Adam#81]

Also, since we have the same wheel base, what are your settings in AC? both control panel and in-game settings. That would be nice to compare what I m using at the moment.

 

[Andy_J]

Ok i assumed you knew that most other games use periodic and spring effect. You need them for AC and rF. What cars do you generally drive? Cause for me in AC I can seem to catch oversteer a lot easier than in PCars, I think it's more progressive. We are all different

You need spring effect on at 100% for RF2??? I dont use it at all.

 

[Adam#81]

I don't know, the only ones i have played are PCars and AC, I was just repeating what CCL71 said about his experience, my bad.

Oh btw CCL71, constant on 100% for PCars, just making sure.

 

[CCL71]

@Andy Jackson No spring for rFactor2. When I set constant and periodic to 0, I lost all feeling in rFactor. So they're back at 100 while spring is at 0..all is good in every sim.

@Adam#81 I don't really have a preference with the exception that I'm not a big open wheel guy. I'll run them every so often but I've never been very good with them. A/C and rFactor2 seem to communicate details better for me, although differently. rFactor2 is lighter then A/C in my current configurations but both communicate the details well. I will say that I notice a difference in weight in PCARS depending on what car I'm driving. If I go from the GT 86 street car into a GT3 race car, the difference in steering effort is very noticeable. I don't think I can say the same with other sims but then again, it could all be in my head.

My settings in A/C are:
gain 100
filter 0
min force 0
kerb 60
road 50
slip 0 (I probably will play with this to see what effect it has)
Profiler settings are the same across the board, I don't change them for each sim.

 

[Adam#81]

Of course, the cars take different kind of strength to drive, it's not your imagination. LMPs and Formulas have tight and heavier steering and GTs have lighter but still sharp steering. Anything under gt4 has loose steering and doesn't corner very sharply.

 

[Stuart Gillard]

I have to say that after reading this thread I was pretty much in the same mindset as all of those who are having issues with the FFB and physics and for me this has been the case since launch. I've tried the game a few times after patches but have never managed to get it to feel right.

I've played Assetto Corsa a LOT and love the game, the FFB, the physics it just has it all in bucket loads and does it so well, it is a true sim in my mind and then we have Project CARS...I've seen a lot of YouTube videos recently of people having a great time racing online in leagues and going on about how they can feel the car, what its doing, where the limit of grip is and so on and I just couldn't understand how they were getting this feel from the game but I knew I wanted it as what I was seeing was just amazing racing.

Initially I wanted the same feel as I was getting in Assetto Corsa, I tried to get a feel I was comfortable with time and time again and couldn't do it, and if I am honest, due to pCARS somewhat complicated FFB setup not only being linked to the controller setup but also to car setup the Assetto Corsa feel is never going to be achieved. However what I have managed to find after spending a LOT of time trying different settings from all over the web is the ability to feel the cars every move which I've never experienced until now, knowing when grip is going away, when I can start to accelerate of out a corner without that back stepping out, knowing just how late I can leave braking, for me it feels like a new game.

I was using the Aston Martin GT3 V12 Vantage as my test car which I have always struggled with especially under braking with over rotation from the back end under hard, late braking as well as other areas and after trying these settings (which are at the bottom of the post) all these issues have been resolved, for me the car feels great, the game now feels great that being said each car does need to be tweeked but now I am happy that I have a game I can enjoy and I've had some amazing races since online, for me now it is equally as much fun as Assetto Corsa, not the same, but just as much fun.

1) Thrustmaster TX 458 settings - possibly working universally for all wheels ..?

2) Logitech DFGT settings - I am using these with my G25

Not sure if these will help anyone, but for me these are the best I've found so far for feel by a long way, hopefully they will but give them a go see what you think.

 

[Sele1981]

But even the best settings for the wheel can not change the arcadeish physics. I am pretty happy with the Pcars FFB. It´s on the same level as AC or IR. But the physics. Man the physics. Just take the Formula Gulf for a ride. You can drive insanely through corners and the game forgives you everything (yes all driving aids are 100% off). When you start losing the car there are invisible driving aids who correct mistakes. Strangely there are other cars wich feel ok. Like the E30 M3 BMW for example.

The difference between the AC and Pcars developers is simply that Kunos is doing it with passion. They work on the game constantly and I wonder how they make money. Pcars on the other side goes the EA way. Only money counts. PCars was not even half done and totally buggy as they announced Pcars2.

 

[Adam#81]

I see this "arcadey feeling" being thrown around a lot in these forums, you guys seem to love to hate PCars. I just don't see what this arcade feeling is and I've played most of the recent sims from GTR onwards (except for iRacing, i just don't like the idea of a subscription).
On the FGulf, i can't comment too much on it, since I ve only driven the car a handful of times just to see it. I more prefer FB and FC in that regard. But i didn't really see anything wrong with it those few times. The car is slower than the FC and a good upgrade from FRookie, it has massive aero and wheelbase compared to FRookie, so I didn't really see how it is too grippy in that sense. It has both good mechanical and aero grip.
Where are you basing those claims of the Gulf being too forgiving? Are you comparing to the real car or what exactly are you feeling wrong.
The only thing I have noticed too on Formulas is that it can feel that they can be suspiciously easy to get back on the road when you have a small counter-steer event. Perhaps the aero helps a little too much directionally in getting the car on track.
Generally, Formulas go where you are pointing them at, are you sure you are not suffering from Road car and GT syndrome where you are not used to the car stuck on the tarmac and following your wheel directly?

 

[SteinA]

They will not admit the hate Adam. There's quite a few who even admitted it on their own profile page (including some staff members). I have no idea how it's possible to hate a videogame/sim or whatever you call it. Dislike yes but not hate

 

[Adam#81]

Well regardless of hate or not, I want to know more tangible fact and not just a blanket statement of "the car feels too good".

 

[Sele1981]

I see this "arcadey feeling" being thrown around a lot in these forums, you guys seem to love to hate PCars. I just don't see what this arcade feeling is and I've played most of the recent sims from GTR onwards (except for iRacing, i just don't like the idea of a subscription).
On the FGulf, i can't comment too much on it, since I ve only driven the car a handful of times just to see it. I more prefer FB and FC in that regard. But i didn't really see anything wrong with it those few times. The car is slower than the FC and a good upgrade from FRookie, it has massive aero and wheelbase compared to FRookie, so I didn't really see how it is too grippy in that sense. It has both good mechanical and aero grip.
Where are you basing those claims of the Gulf being too forgiving? Are you comparing to the real car or what exactly are you feeling wrong.
The only thing I have noticed too on Formulas is that it can feel that they can be suspiciously easy to get back on the road when you have a small counter-steer event. Perhaps the aero helps a little too much directionally in getting the car on track.
Generally, Formulas go where you are pointing them at, are you sure you are not suffering from Road car and GT syndrome where you are not used to the car stuck on the tarmac and following your wheel directly?

Why should I hate it? I am not a 12 year old fanboy
I just write my opinion on Pcars. For me the most important part of a racing game are the physics.
I have never driven an open wheeler (or any racecar) but I have over 10 years of sim racing experience. And more or less all cars feel pretty similair in good sims. Especially in situations where the car goes into over/understeer you get more or less the same feedback and reaction of a car. You know what the car will do when you go too fast through corners. Either all the sims I played for more than 10 years did it wrong and only Slightymad nailed it? Or otherwise. The game was a sim as it was in development but then they made it console friendly.

 

[Adam#81]

Well some of the things I wrote were general observations in this forum, not necessarily for you, so pardon me on that, I didn't clarify. The real question was, how do you know that it corners too well? I m not asking for real world experience that would be ridiculous. I mean, did you drive this car in another game and it is so much faster in PCars that you feel is competely off? Cause most people i ve talked about on this car seem to think that the combination of not so much power with so high aero and mechanical grip, can make this car seem too good.