PC2 PCARS 2: Cars, Cars and More Cars - New Images Revealed

[Paul Jeffrey]

Not wanting to be out shone by the big news reveals from E3, Slightly Mad Studios have released plenty of new images from Project CARS 2 in recent days.

Entering into the fray come some big hitting machines these last few days, not least of which are Le Mans challengers from Porsche and Ford in the form of the 911 GT R and GT GTE, plus a few previously unseen tin tops and a bit of a lean towards yesteryears golden age of racing.

It is often said that a picture tells a thousand words, and I've already used up some of my 1000 word limit in this post, so I'll just drop these here and let them do the talking...

Project CARS 2 is scheduled for release across the Xbox, PlayStation 4 and PC platforms on the 22nd September 2017.

The Project CARS 2 sub forum here at RaceDepartment is the place to go for all the latest news and discussion around this exciting new game from Slightly Mad Studios. Check out the sub forum, get involved in the discussion and join our community as we await release later this year!

What do you think of the cars revealed so far? Any brand / model or series not currently confirmed would you like to see added next? Let us know in the comments section below!

 

[Kyle Pearson]

How can i read this criticism ?

Join WMD when it opens up for pCARS. Granted it's too late for PC2, but there may be a PC3 in the future.

 

[Rob]

Without going back on the history I can almost guarantee that it's the way you stated your point and not the point itself. I haven't banned anyone in ages though, our moderators take care of that and from what I can see they do a great job. Any ban is always discussed among the whole group and normally follows warnings.

If though you feel you've been removed unfairly please PM me your forum name and I'll look into it. I'm not saying it can't happen as we have allowed a few people to return.

Ian, I may owe you an apology. If it's fair to be a critic, you have to be fair. And since reading that you have four superspeedway ovals (at least according to 3rd party sources), I needed to come back and give you an apology. Contingent upon them working online. But if you have the IndyCar license...and you combine Daytona, Indy, Texas, and Monza into a league schedule, that works. Quite nicely. So...thanks.

 

[Celestiale]

From all those Sim Racing Youtubers, mostly a bunch of buffoons that hate over games where they don't like one or two small aspects, i think he alongside Jimmy Broadbent is the most objective and trustworthy. So i am pretty amazed about his feedback...

getting more and more optimistic about the game

 

[Ian Bell]

Ian, I may owe you an apology. If it's fair to be a critic, you have to be fair. And since reading that you have four superspeedway ovals (at least according to 3rd party sources), I needed to come back and give you an apology. Contingent upon them working online. But if you have the IndyCar license...and you combine Daytona, Indy, Texas, and Monza into a league schedule, that works. Quite nicely. So...thanks.

Very decent of you Rob but I can't for the life of me work out what you did wrong

Edit, just spotted the video above from ISR. I told you so

 

[Rob]

Very decent of you Rob but I can't for the life of me work out what you did wrong

Edit, just spotted the video above from ISR. I told you so

Looks like you are going to have a hit on your hands pending online testing, but I must say, we still run leagues in pCARS1 and it's usually a rock solid experience. The near game breaking online bugs were hammered out in what has to be the greatest post-release support of any racing game on the console.

And you are right...your crew not only got him to wear the t-shirt, but completely transformed one the the toughest critics of your handling model. Well done. I hope the Forza take-down is complete one day. .

 

[Celestiale]

I just hope most cars will drive like the 720S physics-wise, or at least come close to it.
Would be a shame if they have some flagship cars out there, "handcrafted" within hundreds of hours, and wash away the rest "Forza-like" with some generic codes...
That's really the only worry i have left regarding the physics

 

[Ian Bell]

I just hope most cars will drive like the 720S physics-wise, or at least come close to it.
Would be a shame if they have some flagship cars out there, "handcrafted" within hundreds of hours, and wash away the rest "Forza-like" with some generic codes...
That's really the only worry i have left regarding the physics

Honestly I think some other cars are even better. The thing is that the tyre data we got from Pirelli which we tweaked live at McLaren with Chris transfers directly to many other cars in the game. Getting suspension working as it should is fairly easy... Throttling and drivetrain/diff code is all new and better, but the 'secret sauce' is in the tyre modelling and that's probably more than 90% of what you feel when you play a sim.

I'm biased but I think we've nailed it now. I think we've raised the bar. The real drivers think so also and so do our thousands of testers. I can't be confident that we won't have a couple of 'howlers' in there where we cocked something up but if that's the case I have no doubt our fine punters will let us know and we'll fix it

 

[Celestiale]

Honestly I think some other cars are even better. The thing is that the tyre data we got from Pirelli which we tweaked live at McLaren with Chris transfers directly to many other cars in the game. Getting suspension working as it should is fairly easy... Throttling and drivetrain/diff code is all new and better, but the 'secret sauce' is in the tyre modelling and that's probably more than 90% of what you feel when you play a sim.

I'm biased but I think we've nailed it now. I think we've raised the bar. The real drivers think so also and so do our thousands of testers. I can't be confident that we won't have a couple of 'howlers' in there where we cocked something up but if that's the case I have no doubt our fine punters will let us know and we'll fix it

Ok i take your word for it always the case that there are some howlers in, case in every Sim to date. As long as the majority of the cars drives good and feels right, i think every sensible person should look over it, as long as the rest is getting fixed later.

Of course there will always be the folks who rather want 30 well modeled cars, then 100 well modeled cars, and 20 not so well modeled cars. Because of logic

 

[2stains]

Honestly I think some other cars are even better. The thing is that the tyre data we got from Pirelli which we tweaked live at McLaren with Chris transfers directly to many other cars in the game. Getting suspension working as it should is fairly easy... Throttling and drivetrain/diff code is all new and better, but the 'secret sauce' is in the tyre modelling and that's probably more than 90% of what you feel when you play a sim.

I'm biased but I think we've nailed it now. I think we've raised the bar. The real drivers think so also and so do our thousands of testers. I can't be confident that we won't have a couple of 'howlers' in there where we cocked something up but if that's the case I have no doubt our fine punters will let us know and we'll fix it

Freaking awesome , but will i need a new GPU to play pCars 2 @ 4k 60fps with decent high settings and no aliasing ?
I hate aliasing !

 

[Will Mazeo]

From all those Sim Racing Youtubers, mostly a bunch of buffoons that hate over games where they don't like one or two small aspects, i think he alongside Jimmy Broadbent is the most objective and trustworthy. So i am pretty amazed about his feedback...

getting more and more optimistic about the game

While I'm looking forward to PC2 I'm skeptical of these videos due to SMS marketing style, never know if people aren't being paid to say what they are saying. So better wait and see.
The track list still bugs me tho, hope they have more tracks "inside each country" than a continent focus thing. I.e if I wanna do a Italian GT, PWC, Australian GT online league, will I be able to do it in PC2?

 

[Rob]

I just hope most cars will drive like the 720S physics-wise, or at least come close to it.
Would be a shame if they have some flagship cars out there, "handcrafted" within hundreds of hours, and wash away the rest "Forza-like" with some generic codes...
That's really the only worry i have left regarding the physics

The ISR guys were saying that it's not just a few cars that have a dedicated driver giving feedback, but many drivers, who each drive the virtual car they are commenting on. The "crowd" funding (once past the lawyers) was another genius move, but the fruit of that move will not be seen until pCARS2, I'd imagine. I don't know the balance sheet, but my guess is SMS did quite well, both at the retail level and with the initial funding. Even if the #2 game funding push was down from #1, the first was, by the looks of it, big. I'm not aware of any other (console) game that has as much driver input across so many cars, including the IndyCar. That will pay off.

I know it's a heavy PC crowd here, but the real stunner was what SMS did to the console. They completely transformed the SIM experience (which was missing) on XBO and PS4. Others followed, but I think people loose sight of just how much code was packed into the console versions. Whereas Kunos achieved a drive-by, followed by a hit-and-run (soak the market and then vanish)...and Turn 10 just doesn't care, SMS is busy improving what was an already stunning *final* performance.

Best I can tell, at least on the consoles, their only competition is going to be from GTR2 (unless T10 has a come to Jesus moment). It's going to be hard to slap down something as comprehensive as pCARS2, but many of you PC guys say that GTR's work on the PC is highly regarded. My worry is that, even a great company with high end PC products, will tend to fall flat on their first attempt on the console, partially due to the massive bureaucracy...which Kunos either knew or found out, takes money and people to combat.

 

[MarkR]

I know it's a heavy PC crowd here, but the real stunner was what SMS did to the console. They completely transformed the SIM experience (which was missing) on XBO and PS4. Others followed, but I think people loose sight of just how much code was packed into the console versions. Whereas Kunos achieved a drive-by, followed by a hit-and-run (soak the market and then vanish)...and Turn 10 just doesn't care, SMS is busy improving what was an already stunning *final* performance.

I agree with you that pCARS brought a great racing experience to console, day-night cycle and weather remain well ahead of the competition. Kunos, yes that too don't get me started on that shameless console cash grab. Turn 10, well I think they do care but their core audience is as wide as possible, I have hope for Forza 7 becoming something more now it is also a PC game.

Back to Project CARS though, I think transformed is a little strong. There are still many bugs in the game that were never resolved, particularly in multiplayer. The biggest problem is the peer to peer multiplayer which causes a screen freeze when other players join or leave rooms, this causes chaos in open multiplayer rooms and enough trouble in private lobbies in qualifying. All the same I enjoyed many long distance Le Mans races with a fixed private lobby. Add to those multiple problems with the steering wheels and losing or maximising force feedback for no reason and you get quite a bit of wasted time while everyone gets set to race. None of these problems was insurmountable but they cost us quite a bit of time sitting in lobbies when we could have been racing.

The real elephant in the room though for pCARS was the road car handling, truly awful in most cars. For example Forza's Megane R26 at the Nordschleife is far more realistic. Many of pCARS road cars lap times were well ahead of the real cars too. Switch to GT3s and the situation reverses and pCARS is far better than Forza.

There was also the issue that pCARS didn't really work very well on the gamepad, not an issue for many people here I'm sure, but an issue for the majority of console players which is reportedly resolved for pCARS 2.

 

[Rob]

I agree with you that pCARS brought a great racing experience to console, day-night cycle and weather remain well ahead of the competition. Kunos, yes that too don't get me started on that shameless console cash grab. Turn 10, well I think they do care but their core audience is as wide as possible, I have hope for Forza 7 becoming something more now it is also a PC game.

Back to Project CARS though, I think transformed is a little strong. There are still many bugs in the game that were never resolved, particularly in multiplayer. The biggest problem is the peer to peer multiplayer which causes a screen freeze when other players join or leave rooms, this causes chaos in open multiplayer rooms and enough trouble in private lobbies in qualifying. All the same I enjoyed many long distance Le Mans races with a fixed private lobby. Add to those multiple problems with the steering wheels and losing or maximising force feedback for no reason and you get quite a bit of wasted time while everyone gets set to race. None of these problems was insurmountable but they cost us quite a bit of time sitting in lobbies when we could have been racing.

The real elephant in the room though for pCARS was the road car handling, truly awful in most cars. For example Forza's Megane R26 at the Nordschleife is far more realistic. Many of pCARS road cars lap times were well ahead of the real cars too. Switch to GT3s and the situation reverses and pCARS is far better than Forza.

There was also the issue that pCARS didn't really work very well on the gamepad, not an issue for many people here I'm sure, but an issue for the majority of console players which is reportedly resolved for pCARS 2.

While a agree that pCARS struggled out of the gates, and still does in some areas you cite, the private lobbies I play in various leagues (and have every weekend since the title came out) are very solid. It's night and day from the first issue, and we are painfully aware (having started the very first British GT league) of how far they have come. Our first races were slaughter houses for internet connectivity and the home of many bizarre bugs. These were quashed, but the trial was painful, and the community slowly came back to the game, especially in the GT category, where leagues are running stronger now than in the first year.

IMO, nothing about Forza is good, unless you like eye candy. The handling is basically a generic footprint for fakery and caters to controller players because Turn 10 has zero concern for handling fidelity. They never will...which is why, if SMS gets this right, it will only erode Turn 10 market share even further. Personally, I hope the SIM market punishes Turn 10 with a cozy new bankruptcy, in recognition for all they have done for SIM racing (0). Only then will gigantic monstrosities of deception, like Turn 10, turn away from Mortal Combat, with a wheel.

 

[TzZyO]

3000+ paid critics? I guess that explains the current Project CARS Metacritic score...

The upcoming title indeed looks promising though, but I still regret wasting my money on the first one. Then again, I still regret wasting my money on Assetto Corsa and Dirt Rally too. Maybe I should just give up on waiting for a sim I'd consider as a good one.

 

[Ian Bell]

Freaking awesome , but will i need a new GPU to play pCars 2 @ 4k 60fps with decent high settings and no aliasing ?
I hate aliasing !

Last week I'd have said you'd need a faster system but the team have gotten the new physics running at the same speed as the old physics and they've fixed a major hit with our fully 3d trees. They've managed to save some space for LiveTrack 3.0 and it's running smoothly now (again this was NOT the case 2 weeks back). So as of today, it's running at or around pCARS1 efficiency despite all of the additions. That's not to say you might need more memory on your GPU in certain scenarios but in general your pCARS1 kit will run pCARS2 just as well right now.

 

[Ian Bell]

3000+ paid critics? I guess that explains the current Project CARS Metacritic score...

The upcoming title indeed looks promising though, but I still regret wasting my money on the first one. Then again, I still regret wasting my money on Assetto Corsa and Dirt Rally too. Maybe I should just give up on waiting for a sim I'd consider as a good one.

Sorry man/woman (your title is ambiguous to be fair). I have no clue what you mean. No one in WMD can affect metacritic, it's all from professional websites, with 'weighting' ... I'm wildly guessing that's what you were insinuating...

 

[Rob Every]

The basics of this are obvious

Not a fan of the past game, and like others will treat the new one with trepidation. And look for reviews from people I know are not biased and largely play the same as I do. And are trusted to be straight.

That is worth far more to me and a few others than endless PR, marketing stuff. I know a lot of people are affected by that, but you only have to look at Dirt4's recent release to see where most even slightly sim based games are going, and it's not the PC market. That is what that marketing is aimed at. And that is fine.

I think PCARS did well on console, I tried it and enjoyed it for a while, (obviously did not buy a copy jeez what do you take me for!)

But the friend whose version I played never touched it again after I bought him AC. That says a lot for me, and he still plays GT6!!

So, wait and see is my take. The release and the blurb is exactly the same as before, look who we got to test it, look at the pretty pictures, look how much we can charge and people will pay it. Aren't we amazing.

Fair play to Bell, he is being proactive in his approach this time and hopefully learned from before, as that all terribly tainted the past game for a lot of people whether they were directly affected or not.

Believe the hype if you want, it's the same as before.

Doesn't make the game any better until it is reviewed by people you trust.

 

[2stains]

Last week I'd have said you'd need a faster system but the team have gotten the new physics running at the same speed as the old physics and they've fixed a major hit with our fully 3d trees. They've managed to save some space for LiveTrack 3.0 and it's running smoothly now (again this was NOT the case 2 weeks back). So as of today, it's running at or around pCARS1 efficiency despite all of the additions. That's not to say you might need more memory on your GPU in certain scenarios but in general your pCARS1 kit will run pCARS2 just as well right now.

Well that's great , for now , as you say .
Awesome to not have the flat paper trees of other Sims on the market at the moment .
So if i dont play in rain my GPU memory should cope ? (thats my take on your post) .
As for aliasing , how does that compare to the previous title at DS2X ?
Is there any chance of a pixel density / render scale slider ? Like other top AAA titles now have . So maybe i and other could just lower the res but a little (1800p instead of 2160p) (sacrilegious on pc i know ,lol) instead of having to drop all the way to 1080p .

 

[Vojko Music]

Without going back on the history I can almost guarantee that it's the way you stated your point and not the point itself. I haven't banned anyone in ages though, our moderators take care of that and from what I can see they do a great job. Any ban is always discussed among the whole group and normally follows warnings.

If though you feel you've been removed unfairly please PM me your forum name and I'll look into it. I'm not saying it can't happen as we have allowed a few people to return.

Done and thank you.

 

[Ian Bell]

Well that's great , for now , as you say .
Awesome to not have the flat paper trees of other Sims on the market at the moment .
So if i dont play in rain my GPU memory should cope ? (thats my take on your post) .
As for aliasing , how does that compare to the previous title at DS2X ?
Is there any chance of a pixel density / render scale slider ? Like other top AAA titles now have . So maybe i and other could just lower the res but a little (1800p instead of 2160p) (sacrilegious on pc i know ,lol) instead of having to drop all the way to 1080p .

Mate, I'm mainly struggling to talk to someone called 2stains. Nothing personal but...