PC1 Latest Build testing.

[Andy_J]

As you all know, Ian gave me a free pass to test the latest builds and that's what I have been doing for the last week. I will report here as and when I see fit to tell all about my findings.

But I will say that the latest build (296) is quite good. Now lets make some sense of my statement. I used a Lotus 98T in helmet cam using my antique MOMO red wheel and I can honestly report it is coming along much better than I anticipated. The actual feel and immersion is damn fine at this point. The handling is strange at first compared to say...RF2 and FVA, but it grows on you within minutes. At this point in time, this actual car feels good. I like it and I love the Milan circuit. The damage model has come on leaps and bounds.

I am doing some more testing all of next week using a G27 and I will also test some of the other cars that don't interest me as much (I am a F1 nut) and see how the feel in comparison to Shift 2, because that is what I was initially comparing PCars to.

I would like the replay function to have a directors mode though. Something that jumps from action to action and from car to car.

Aside from that, the replay's do crash my PC quite often but I understand that is being looked at.

Watch this space.

 

[Kjell Eilertsen]

If they didn't spend another second on the looks of the rain but instead diverted 100% of their efforts to getting the FFB and physics right in the rain, I'd be happy.

Question: Has anyone out there played Forza 5? If so, how does pCARS compare both in terms of looks, game performance and car handling? Thanks.

Well, the guys making special effects are hardly the same guys making physics and FFB tweaks, so there's no reason both can't be worked on at the same time.

 

[Blkout]

If they didn't spend another second on the looks of the rain but instead diverted 100% of their efforts to getting the FFB and physics right in the rain, I'd be happy.

Question: Has anyone out there played Forza 5? If so, how does pCARS compare both in terms of looks, game performance and car handling? Thanks.

pCARS looks better than Forza 5 in my opinion and that's really saying something because Forza 5 looks great but its worth noting that Forza 5 is on Xbox One and pCARS is on PC at the moment. It remains to be seen if pCARS will look as good on the PS4 and XBox One but it likely can't. That being said, pCARS on PC at very high graphics settings is as close to photo realistic as I've seen yet.

 

[William Wester]

^^^ what he said on graphics. As for the feel of pCars, to me there is very little feel/feedback using a wheel with Forza. I can't get the same connected to the road feel, the feel of tires and an alive suspension, I get with the good PC sims (pCARS, AC, GSCE, R3E, etc.). When I first got my TM TX I started on my PC, when switching to my XOne I thought there was something wrong with the wheel. I tweaked as much as the console/FM would allow (very little) but it is what it is.
Granted, if I would have started on the console I may not have the same opinion but as it is now I don't bother switching my gear to the console, I use a gamepad and I can have some fun with FM or FH2. With that said, when I was playing more console racers I actually thought the FM series was more sim-like than the GT series, and still think highly of the FM series for a console racer.

 

[traind]

Anyway that doesn´t mean that AC´s graphics suck, they are actually pretty great. I only miss the Nordschleife

It's the wrong thread for this but.... there is a nice modded version of the Nordschliefe available for download right now for AC. Not as sweet as the pCars version but good nonethless. There is also a laser-scanned Kunos made version coming to AC bundled with a 10 car pack as paid DLC. The Kunos version will likely be released in late Q1 2015--- although that is a guess. The cars in the DLC look great too.
Nurburgring Nordschleife
Sauber Mercedes C9
Corvette C7R GTE
Nissan GTR GT3
Alfa Romeo 4C
Alfa Romeo GTA
Alfa Romeo 155 V6 TI
McLaren P1
McLaren F1 GTR
Ruf RT 35 S
Mercedes 190 E 2.6-16 Evolution 2

 

[Rob]

I raced when was younger but have not been gaming for but a few years. I was pretty quick to learn that wheel and computer power was important but would never let me beat the16 year old gamer who has been at it for ten years. However, even though my experience is limited to the 360, certain games were closer to what I remembered. Race Pro was the best imo. So your comments are interesting, especially since I feel fora5 is a big leap from the uselessness of 4. It sounds like I might be in for a pleasant surprise. If they port the console well.

 

[Andy_J]

Well today I did some more testing of the latest Pcars build. Dissapointed I am (said in Yoda's voice). Because the force is not strong with this one.

Seriously, the GUI is amazing, the cars look great, the sounds are wonderful. But the FFB is terrible. I have been playing quite a lot of GSCE and Assetto Corsa lately and to go back to Pcars is a real big downer in my opinion comparing handling, physics and FFB. Not only the terrible FFB but the game constantly crashes too.
I expected better by now to be honest.

ps, yes, WMD fanboys, I did delete my profile etc etc blah blah. At this present time, AC and GSCE are much better driving wise.

 

[William Wester]

Well today I did some more testing of the latest Pcars build. Dissapointed I am (said in Yoda's voice). Because the force is not strong with this one.

Seriously, the GUI is amazing, the cards look great, the sounds are wonderful. But the FFB is terrible. I have been playing quite a lot of GSCE and Assetto Corsa lately and to go back to Pcars is a real big downer in my opinion comparing handling, physics and FFB. Not only the terrible FFB but the game constantly crashes too.
I expected better by now to be honest.

ps, yes, WMD fanboys, I did delete my profile etc etc blah blah. At this present time, AC and GSCE are much better driving wise.

Car, track, assists, wheel, ??? It helps to quantify as pCARS is good in some areas and not so good in others, and the FFB with some wheels are good out-of-the-box others not or need tweaking.
If you posted those comments in the build thread on WMD you would get asked the same questions.
Not disagreeing with your experience, but a blanket statement helps no one.

A little something from SMS - 3 years and 415 pages of feedback and discussion featuring Ben "The Stig" Collins, Nicholas Hamilton and SMS physics devs:
Driver Feedback Compilation.

 

[Andy_J]

William, I'm just telling you how I see it now. I use the same wheel with global settings for all my sims. I am sorry that you feel my opinion is somewhat short and to the point and not to your taste. I tell it how I see it. I am bitterly disappointed with the feel of Pcars in the current build and in the current default state. Not to mention the constant crashes to desktop.

And if I posted those comments on WMD I would get attacked with the utmost vitriol. It is not a blanket statement and it is not designed to help anyone, just inform them. Hope that clears that up?

Absolutely not interested in hearing paid consultants opinions or feedback. I judge games myself. I still look forward to the finished game, I really do, but compared to the race sims I have mentioned earlier, it's no where near as good in feel or force feedback.

Merry christmas.

 

[William Wester]

William, I'm just telling you how I see it now. I use the same wheel with global settings for all my sims. I am sorry that you feel my opinion is somewhat short and to the point and not to your taste. I tell it how I see it. I am bitterly disappointed with the feel of Pcars in the current build and in the current default state. Not to mention the constant crashes to desktop.

And if I posted those comments on WMD I would get attacked with the utmost vitriol. It is not a blanket statement and it is not designed to help anyone, just inform them. Hope that clears that up?

Absolutely not interested in hearing paid consultants opinions or feedback. I judge games myself. I still look forward to the finished game, I really do, but compared to the race sims I have mentioned earlier, it's no where near as good in feel or force feedback.

Merry christmas.

As I said, I'm not disagreeing with your experience.

One example, you mention frequent crashing. I was just on WMD and run across this post in the current build thread "Ok i disabel detailed grass , no crashes , thx". This isn't a tell all, but a particular issue discussed and corrected in this case for this member.

Also, you would not get attacked if you posted issues, with detail, you were experiencing (but I don't know your reputation on WMD). I see problems/dislikes posted every day, but general statements don't go over well as it doesn't help development. I find much to like in pCARS but also get discouraged with bugs or lack of progress in some areas, I just don't post my discouragements. If the game isn't for you (at this point in development), so be it, no harm no foul.

Merry Christmas!

 

[Kjell Eilertsen]

My latest experience has been no ffb what so ever, no idea what's wrong and I've tested a few standard things like deleting profile and messing with the settings, but the wheel stays limp. Due to my current state with intense chest and back pain I haven't spent much time trying to rectify it though.

 

[Andy_J]

One example, you mention frequent crashing. I was just on WMD and run across this post in the current build thread "Ok i disabel detailed grass , no crashes , thx". This isn't a tell all, but a particular issue discussed and corrected in this case for this member.

I don't frequent the WMD forums that much William, just no need for me to visit there at all. So I was not informed of that fix.

My testing is on what I am given. Right now, Pcars is off my radar. It's just not good enough.

 

[Rob]

"Although procedures vary from one field of inquiry to another, identifiable features are frequently shared in common between them. The overall process of the scientific method involves making conjectures (hypotheses), deriving predictions from them as logical consequences, and then carrying out experiments based on those predictions. An hypothesis is a conjecture, based on knowledge obtained while formulating the question. The hypothesis might be very specific or it might be broad. Scientists then test hypotheses by conducting experiments. Under modern interpretations, a scientific hypothesis must be falsifiable, implying that it is possible to identify a possible outcome of an experiment that conflicts with predictions deduced from the hypothesis; otherwise, the hypothesis cannot be meaningfully tested."

Scientific Method. Wikip.

William was just saying that nobody can glean any repeatable or factual underpinning for your opinion. You were halfway there, but the reason William asks for more information is, I suspect, so that others may either verify your outcome (or hypothesis, if given), or disprove it, or, in this case, maybe offer a fix. It's not that hard to understand really. Andy, your posts are valuable to me, but they have to give very specific information for others to be able to duplicate them and then take notice to fix them. The whole project is based on this process.

 

[Andy_J]

"Although procedures vary from one field of inquiry to another, identifiable features are frequently shared in common between them. The overall process of the scientific method involves making conjectures (hypotheses), deriving predictions from them as logical consequences, and then carrying out experiments based on those predictions. An hypothesis is a conjecture, based on knowledge obtained while formulating the question. The hypothesis might be very specific or it might be broad. Scientists then test hypotheses by conducting experiments. Under modern interpretations, a scientific hypothesis must be falsifiable, implying that it is possible to identify a possible outcome of an experiment that conflicts with predictions deduced from the hypothesis; otherwise, the hypothesis cannot be meaningfully tested."

Scientific Method. Wikip.

William was just saying that nobody can glean any repeatable or factual underpinning for your opinion. You were halfway there, but the reason William asks for more information is, I suspect, so that others may either verify your outcome (or hypothesis, if given), or disprove it, or, in this case, maybe offer a fix. It's not that hard to understand really. Andy, your posts are valuable to me, but they have to give very specific information for others to be able to duplicate them and then take notice to fix them. The whole project is based on this process.

Do your own testing and clever talk to yourself straight from the dictionary. I am just telling you what I think. Take it or leave it. Probably leave it. I don't really care. I am not bothered if any one can glean any information to be honest.

merry xmas.

 

[Fabrizio Corona]

I had to check if i'm on the WMD forum or not. This must be very clever trolling from Wadell and Wester.

"A little something from SMS - 3 years and 415 pages of feedback and discussion featuring Ben "The Stig" Collins, Nicholas Hamilton and SMS physics devs:"
Really good laugh right here.

 

[Kjell Eilertsen]

I had to check if i'm on the WMD forum or not. This must be very clever trolling from Wadell and Wester.

"A little something from SMS - 3 years and 415 pages of feedback and discussion featuring Ben "The Stig" Collins, Nicholas Hamilton and SMS physics devs:"
Really good laugh right here.

Care to elaborate?

 

[William Wester]

I had to check if i'm on the WMD forum or not. This must be very clever trolling from Wadell and Wester.

"A little something from SMS - 3 years and 415 pages of feedback and discussion featuring Ben "The Stig" Collins, Nicholas Hamilton and SMS physics devs:"
Really good laugh right here.

Hmm, how can I be trolling with comments on pCARS, in a pCARS topic thread, without derogatory pCARS comments

 

[Rob]

Hmm, how can I be trolling with comments on pCARS, in a pCARS topic thread, without derogatory pCARS comments

It's the small, weak man's "argument" when he has no meaningful discussion to add but disagrees with what you said. When you attack the person, you have lost your argument (if you had any) or your point, and your credibility.

 

[Andy_J]

Please people, it's Christmas. Be nice.

 

[Fabrizio Corona]

Hmm, how can I be trolling with comments on pCARS, in a pCARS topic thread, without derogatory pCARS comments

Because in one comment you talk about paid consulants, one of which knows next to nothing about simracing. The other is there just because he's Hamilton's brother and played 2-3 sims in his life.
In fact the FFB is utter crap, you should thank those few users who waste their time and struggle to get quite numb but decent weight feel to a few cars. The physics department is still lacking FAR behind any modern sims, but they never forget to show off their super tyre model.Most of the cars still don't have a final tyre model (it's been like this for 2+ years), it'll be a miracle by itself if you manage to get a decent tyre model for half of them next year.

The other comment is trying to make three right turns in what could have been a 5 word reply, just for the sake of sounding sophisticated, ostentating the fact he knows a few fancy words and giving us poor uneducated peasants a mighty link for each and one of them to the great unknown treasure that is Wikipedia. Ending it all with a sympathetic remark while deriding Andy's poor attempt at expressing his opinion. Touché.

 

[William Wester]

So I'm a troll because I posted a public document.

In Internet slang, a troll (/ˈtroʊl/, /ˈtrɒl/) is a person who sows discord on the Internet by starting arguments or upsetting people,[1] by posting inflammatory,[2] extraneous, or off-topic messages in an online community (such as a newsgroup, forum, chat room, or blog) with the deliberate intent of provoking readers into an emotional response[3] or of otherwise disrupting normal on-topic discussion.

I guess you were right, the link I posted did upset you

Ok, back on topic, @Fabrizio Corona you have convinced me, pCARS is utter crap.