PC2 Project CARS 2 announced with crowdfunding options

[Alex Franchini]

Slightly Mad Studios has officially announced a sequel to Project Cars today as Project Cars 2 is now official, and the WMD crowdfunding campaign has gone live.

Apparently the first big difference with the first title is that PCars 2 will feature off-road racing, along with Touge and Hillclimb events.

The crowdfunding tool-packs, which you can see on the WMD page, start from 50 British pounds and go all the way to 10,000 pounds.

Here's the shortlist of the PCars 2 features:

• THE LARGEST TRACK ROSTER EVER – 50 unique locations and 200+ courses including ‘loose surface racing’ on dirt, gravel, mud, and snow. All will have dynamic time of day and weather allowing you to play anytime, anywhere

• THE WIDEST VARIETY OF MOTORSPORTS with 8 different disciplines now including Rallycross, Hillclimbs, and Touge. 200+ cars from over 40 different vehicle classes including never-before-seen Concepts and Banned Race Cars

• CO-OP CAREER – Play as the Teammate Driver, Spotter, Driver Swap, or Co-Pilot. More choices, more opportunities, more strategy, greater risks and greater rewards

• SEAMLESSLY CONNECTED – Socialize and compete via Online Track Days, have players from around the world take the place of AI-controlled drivers in your solo play, and get news updates on the Driver Network around you

• PRO ESPORTS RACING – Skill & Behavioural-based matchmaking, create your own Online Racing Leagues, and Live Broadcast and Spectator functionality

• YOUR HOME FOR RACING – Your own personal, customisable Test Track to tune and test your cars. Invite others to showcase your passion for racing and learn race craft and engineering with the Project CARS Academy

Update: First videos already out on YouTube
Update 2: Videos have been removed from YouTube

 

[Dyrgl]

I have him on my ignore list why doesn't everyone else? lol

Ignore list is a very WMDish thing to do. That´s not the right attitude. If you don´t like something someone says, counter it if you can. Banning or ignoring is for spoiled kids IMO.

 

[Richard Eriksson]

WMD reps coming here to soothe emotions, but still manages to take on a demeaning attitude. Damn.

This is the real problem. The backlash comes now with this odd announcement, but really, if more simracing people hade been on the WMD forums it would have come a lot sooner.

To me, this is a continuation of an alarming attitude within SMS and WMD. WMD is not the happy place of collaboration it was said to be... It really is nothing different from any business meeting where the power clique will bully the rest into submission.

Its just that for many people not being members (conveniently shut off after a while) the hype took over and the reality is dawning now.

But the sim itself is good. It is kind of a more user friendly GTR2... It is a shame that certain business people are where they are in SMS.

 

[John Peat]

I just took PCars 1 off my Steam Wishlist.

*shakes virtual cash in clenched fist of glory*

 

[Sheamus Power]

I think what you're overlooking here, when it comes to people being upset with this move by SMS, is that they foresee SMS pumping out titles more often to make money rather than develop what they currently have. This is valid reasoning to dislike the announcement of a second game so soon because as someone stated earlier in the thread, the more popular sim titles haven't really gone with this method of development for their games, excluding the F1 series. So to them, and myself included, it sends a dangerous message that SMS would rather provide additional features in a game by producing sequels rather than use any of the methods some popular sim titles use (i.e. subscription, paid DLC, purchasable content) and it's a very foreign concept. It can be a good thing, but it can also be very bad for us as well.

Whether it works or not will have to be seen. For one, it may very well be just as much or even less cost to the consumer in the long run, but it also presents problems to the community. Such as requiring everyone to purchase the new game in order to play together, something a lot of sim racers find to be a significant aspect of being able to play with friends.

However, all of this is disregarding the absolutely terrible PR they have in not only dealing with how they announced this, but also in how they deal with peoples' reactions. If they had simply dealt with it in a more professional manner they'd reduce the backlash significantly. Ian Bell in particular has been a terrible spokesman for the game and that could very well hurt them more and more as this goes on.

My opinion is we'll see the pCARS2 community become an even worse version of the previous game. Because even more people are now focusing on what SMS is doing and will be more critical of the second game. Which in turn will lead to their community being even more defensive about the game, which at this point would be very hard to do, but it'll happen. They'll become even more divided from the rest of the sim racing community and will be lucky to meet the expectations of pCARS1, let alone surpass it.

I see your point, I really don't understand why they'd do it now of all times, it does seem like they've messed up with PR big-time (just look at the amount of backlash on this thread alone). I feel like everything, even going along with a crowdfunding model, would have worked or at least received better if they had announced this a few more months down the line rather than now.

It'll be a long ride to see all this out.

 

[Tal]

frankly, even though I didn't even buy PC1, I'd be pissed if they announced a sequel at any time sooner than at least 2 years after PC1's release. Good racing sims can last for a decade, and I don't think yearly iterations are a good direction for this community (of simracing... not arcade stuff)

 

[Stereo]

Ignore list is a very WMDish thing to do. That´s not the right attitude. If you don´t like something someone says, counter it if you can. Banning or ignoring is for spoiled kids IMO.

It's like ad block; they're advertising PCars (with no regard to the actual facts, since unlike real ads you can't prosecute random guys on the internet for lying) and I'm blocking them.

I look forward to the day PCars 1 has enough bugs eliminated to be worth playing. I really do. (to clarify: bugs I care about. I know some people can live with it and that's fine for them)

 

[Dinca Andrei]

Someone posted a video on BSR and because its a satire,i found it extremly funny.

http://captiongenerator.com/47101/Pcars-2-developer-insights-

 

[modmad]

Widest variety of motorsports and largest amount of cars.....bmw, mercedes audi how boring the same makes and models in every other racing sim what people are asking for is more representation in motosports that draw the crowds ie DTM, British Touring Cars, V8 Supercars, and the World Rally Championship only 2 of these are represented in the first game the rest are one off classics and that makes for boring racing 200 locations lol same tracks in Eurpoe only 3 in Asia and one in Australia what a joke!

 

[John Addison]

Every time I see this I pee my self.........

Someone posted a video on BSR and because its a satire,i found it extremly funny.

http://captiongenerator.com/47101/Pcars-2-developer-insights-

 

[Cote Dazur]

Someone posted a video on BSR and because its a satire,i found it extremly funny.

http://captiongenerator.com/47101/Pcars-2-developer-insights-

2 things in that video I find hilarious, "Project Cash" and "Slightly Mad Studio but insane customers", those are keepers.
Thank you for sharing.
@Dyrgl, you reached the spoiled kid in me in less than 20 messages, you made it to the list, congratulation!

 

[Leynad777]

I don´t like this financial model as well, but it´s everybodys own choice to join or not. Some Let´s Players got so many more viewers through Project Cars pre-build-videos, it´s smart to charge more for the privilege.

So much rage here and i don´t see this critics regarding iRacing. They charge more for one year subscription than you spend for the pCars release price plus DLCs and upcoming DLCs. And the prices for cars and tracks in iRacing are just ridiculous. You can´t even test the cars you (have to) buy or get bundles for reasonable prices.

Yes, pCars have quite a few bugs which can spoil the fun, but they are working on that. 40 people working on vs 1 and that´s a lot. Patch 1,5 is already finished and in the testing phase. Problems with the AI driving in rain races should be solved soon and other stuff. This is a huge complex game and other sims have so many issues as well since more than half a year. The AI in AC you can´t even call "Intelligent" and no patch did anything substantial to that problem.

And one thing i can say: I love the Force Feedback with my personal tweaks and it´s my No. 1 compare to AC and Raceroom. Still weak in full straights, but If you like a feisty FFB, just put up the SoC strength-/laterla-/differential FFB-forces to values like 20/190/190 (instead of 0/0/0, but decrease main force and Fy, increase Fm). Get the Ruf, Audi or Z4 GT3 (many other cars working as well, but not all with this high values), start up a laserscanned track, Nordschleife or Watkins Glen and wonder what an awesome sim-experience you get out of this title. And with the option of rain and night it´s the pinnacle of sim racing for me

 

[Rob Miliczky]

Yes, pCars have quite a few bugs which can spoil the fun, but they are working on that. 40 people working on vs 1 and that´s a lot. Patch 1,5 is already finished and in the testing phase. Problems with the AI driving in rain races should be solved soon and other stuff.

Sounds like a broken record.

 

[LacSlyer]

Yes, pCars have quite a few bugs which can spoil the fun, but they are working on that. 40 people working on vs 1 and that´s a lot. Patch 1,5 is already finished and in the testing phase. Problems with the AI driving in rain races should be solved soon and other stuff. This is a huge complex game and other sims have so many issues as well since more than half a year. The AI in AC you can´t even call "Intelligent" and no patch did anything substantial to that problem

I've said it before and I'll say it again, other games having bugs/issues doesn't alleviate this game from having them. Especially considering how substantial some of them are to the gameplay.There's quite literally a bug in every single aspect of the game. There's no reason that some of the bugs that still exist should have been in the release version of the game because they should have been the very top priority when it comes to fixing bugs.

 

[Leynad777]

I've no game breaking problems with the it. There's always a workaround and certainly not more than I have with other sims. rFactor 2 isn't even starting anymore and was a pain in the ass from day one. With AC I had much struggle before I could enjoy it. Raceroom did some stupid changes with latest update and the AI is with some combinations not playable. My problem with iRacing is, I don't like it, especially this lifeless FFB which I noticed after spending quite over 100 bucks. And Project Cars should be perfect after a few weeks release?

 

[LacSlyer]

I've no game breaking problems with the it. There's always a workaround and certainly not more than I have with other sims. rFactor 2 isn't even starting anymore and was a pain in the ass from day one. With AC I had much struggle before I could enjoy it. Raceroom did some stupid changes with latest update and the AI is with some combinations not playable. My problem with iRacing is, I don't like it, especially the FFB which I noticed after spending quite over 100 bucks. And Project Cars should be perfect after a few weeks release?

Again, other games having issues doesn't equate to it being alright that this game has issues. Furthermore, simply because you haven't had issues doesn't mean they don't exist. Go look on their official forums at the ridiculously long list of known bugs - keep in mind these are only the ones they acknowledge being bugs.

http://forum.projectcarsgame.com/sh...ead-(PC)-Not-for-bug-reporting!-Updated-19-06

It's not only ridiculous how big that list is, but how long it has gone with no fixes to some of the major ones. For instance, track limitations on a lot of tracks is beyond comprehension, literally every track has issues and negates any of the leaderboard competition.

There's just so many problems and a lot of them greatly effect how you play the game. Just because you don't experience it, or don't notice it, doesn't mean they don't exist.

 

[gabolifal]

I got a few rules that I developed after all these years and disappointments as a gamer in general:

Rule #1: You don't preorder.
Rule #2: You don't donate crowd funding money to people you doesn't know.
Rule #3: You don't feel sorry for game devs, they are professionals like everybody else.
Rule #4: You don't buy Ubisoft and EA games.

Therefore, I'm happy.

 

[Emerson Meyer]

This reminds me IL-2 Sturmovik: Cliffs of Dover. The game was lauched bugged beyond hope. 6 months later it was dead.

 

[c172fccc]

Following the development of pCARS 1 was the best gaming experience I've ever had. We had weekly/daily update which kept me playing after all these years. We could really participate in the making of the game; some of my liveries and ideas made it into the base game. It was also the best community I ever was involved with, I don't care what people say or think about the WMD members, for me, the majority was and still are amazing people. Also, now I have some good insight of how a racing game is made.

Now, since the game was released, I nearly didn't play it, because there is no more weekly/daily update to kept me playing weekly/daily and the WMD forum of pCARS 1 is a bit dead. I thought that the patch 1.4 would get me back to the game, but after playing 30 minutes, I got two "major" bugs that ruined my race. I' m now waiting the next patch to play that game again (more than 30 minutes, I hope).

All of that to say that I would be crazy to not get in with pCARS 2. I will get back my beloved weekly/daily updates and new insight of how a racing game is made. Oh, and looking at the dev post on the pCARS 2 forum, they are already working on the biggest gripe I had with pCARS 1 (regardless of the bugs), so I'm an happy man.

 

[SwaggerJacker]

After releasing a gob of a game earlier this year, Completely Mad Studios in collaboration with World of Under Development has shamelessly announced the release of Rain Simulator 2 in 2017.The head of the studio Mr. Wookie, verified this in a separate statement adding that all their official forums are now open for begging. Begging will close once their coffers are full after which Mr. Wookie and his henchmen will head-off to Hawai and Vegas for an indefinite vacation. The flamboyant Mr. Wookie draws inspiration from Mr. Kim Jong-un and bans anyone who challenges him or his Rain Simulator on his home ground. Users of RS 1 do at times fly off the handle and accuse Mr. W of having simulated brilliant sun flares which have no place in a project that goes by the name of Rain Simulator.

Rain Simulator 1 although not officially moddable was used by low-end computer users as a GPU stress software. This was later revealed to be a free DLC by Mr. Wookie and his henchmen. The exact date for the release of Rain Simulator 2 has not been confirmed yet but Mr. W closed his official press statement saying that, "This time we will simulate snow, storms, hailstones, hurricanes, tornadoes and what not. The icing on the cake is that sun flares and Hurricane Sandy and Katrina will be available as free DLCs with RS 2."

This cracked me up!

 

[SwaggerJacker]

SMS should've clarified these things in the press release, because it's obvious that trolls and fanboys will bite with such news.

Which one are you?