PC1 Project Cars breaks 1 million sales

[Alex Franchini]

Bandai Namco has announced that Slightly Mad Studios' racing simulator Project Cars has sold one million copies worldwide.

The news comes from an official press release, and presumably counts sales from all three platforms (PC, PS4 and Xbox One). According to the press release, PCars is also the "best-rated racing game for Playstation 4" - which we assume is talking about the Metacritic rating, currently sitting at 84.

Slightly Mad Studios head honcho Ian Bell declared: "throughout the development phase, the community has been fundamental - giving us daily feedback, telling us what needed to be improved, highlighting what they wanted the most and ultimately making it one of the racing games of their dreams". The press release ends with Bell saying that the studio "will be talking more about that future very, very soon", substantially implying that a PCars sequel is in the works.

What do you think of Project Cars and its success? Let us know in the comments below!

The cover image has been taken from our Racetube: check it out for more Project Cars screenshots and videos!

 

[Tim Lundy]

That is fantastic news. Regardless of your personal opinion of the game, like or dislike, love or hate, it's good news that any game marketed as a racing sim could be so successful so quickly. The fact that it did so as a somewhat broken mess only opens the door for someone else to come along and do a better job and achieve even more financial success. Bodes well for the genre IMO.

 

[Ole Marius Myrvold]

I don't know what the pc sales were but if you use steam stats which I've been monitoring since release pcars has the highest ingame users of any racing title on steam nearly tripling Assetto corsa which was the former champ.
I know I sound like another wmd member, creating hype and protecting my investment but trust me there are some bugs and other issues and like you I am eagerly awaiting a patch tho for the pc version when I hear people say it's broken or unplayable I'd have to disagree as it was no more of a mess than any of the other Sims apon release lol

This is the only place you sound like "just another wmd member". When you compare a game that has been out for a while, with a brand new game - and the active players. When the question was number of sales on PC

But it is great news to have a more serious racing game selling this much!

 

[Patrick Moore]

Well done!

 

[ziggy12345]

Take the graphics engine out of Pcars and put it in AC. Job done!

 

[Micas_WMD]

Come on, stop this misleading marketing hype and focus on patching the current issues with the game first before shouting from the rooftops that you are the best thing ever. Once the bugs are fixed and the missing features have arrived I am sure the user scores will go up but this claim is premature now.

So much envy dripping from that. Bram, you really need to take over Andy Gartons job because you are clearly better suited to prioritizing the assignment for the devs.. some of which may be getting a rest.. but hey.. I'm sure you know the game engine backwards and forwards and can just right in and divide up responsibilities. You can save us from the wildly successful first month. It's too much money and success and we're all going to get corrupted so we need somebody to drag it down the drain before we lose ourselves.

Slightly more seriously, every critical post here is coming from someone who has absolutely no idea what they're talking about. But, the proof is in the Gloat. Game's out.. selling tons and tons of copies. People are having a lot of fun with it. We'll go on and do it again. It's going to be great.

The 'making **** up' is truly the funniest read of my day.

 

[Justin]

So much envy dripping from that. Bram, you really need to take over Andy Gartons job because you are clearly better suited to prioritizing the assignment for the devs.. some of which may be getting a rest.. but hey.. I'm sure you know the game engine backwards and forwards and can just right in and divide up responsibilities. You can save us from the wildly successful first month. It's too much money and success and we're all going to get corrupted so we need somebody to drag it down the drain before we lose ourselves.

Slightly more seriously, every critical post here is coming from someone who has absolutely no idea what they're talking about. But, the proof is in the Gloat. Game's out.. selling tons and tons of copies. People are having a lot of fun with it. We'll go on and do it again. It's going to be great.

The 'making **** up' is truly the funniest read of my day.

If people ever wonder why WMD members get a bad rap in the racing sim community, just point them to this post.

There is no point to this post other to antagonise someone who has a very valid opinion of the game.

Go get excited over your sales numbers and potential monetary gain on your investment. Just because the game has sold well doesn't mean people haven't dropped the game and are no longer playing it due to the issues.

PC player numbers hover at only 3500 peak users a day, less than half of what it was in launch week. The same is likely happening on consoles too.

PCARS has many issues that need patching, simple as that.

 

[Rob Every]

Game design is like this now. Look at Watchdogs, look even more at Destiny.

If you make it look pretty enough it will sell by the bucketload, NO MATTER WHAT ELSE YOU DO WITH IT.

You have to credit SMS for at least recognising that fact.

They clearly targeted next gen consoles, that again is a pure, obvious and clear business decision. It's easier to write games for two consoles, easier to market, you get monumentally more coverage in the press and social media.

All I see on Virtual R is release after release, it has been that way for years. They are so in the pocket of SMS it is embarassing and I have tried to keep active on there, and the pathetic way they report everything else is laughable. Simple facts, no dress up, no links. Every PCARS post has links to sellers, Steam etc. The site is basically owned by them or so it seems.

You cannot argue with figures. The game has been marketed and hyped to hell, and amazingly for the sim community has managed to endear itself to people, something no other game apart from perhaps GPL has managed to do. People are crazily obsessed with it instead of simply acknowledging its faults.

Critics have tried to be a voice of reason, but check out Steam comments, the vast majority of posts there are faults, issues, problems. Interspersed with praise.

People who think this title selling well is awesome, amazing are a little naieve. Because what that MIGHT mean is that developers now come up with pretty games with little substance, just like this one. Just like Watchdogs, Just like Destiny.

When as sim gamers, all you want really is feel, decent FFB that doesn't need guides and patches to work, and most importantly an offline and online portal that is almost faultless. It can happen, it has happened, and so far these areas are lacking it seems in this game. After I tried it recently I felt little. I felt more in playing WSPC/Enduracers/Historix on Rfactor in 5 minutes than trying this game for an hour, and that says it all.

But who cares, it looks pretty.

 

[Andy_J]

But, the proof is in the Gloat. Game's out.. selling tons and tons of copies.

You love winding up the community don't you Micas? You do it wherever you are registered. You are the most accomplished troll that ever crawled around the interweb and you are definitely not a race sim enthusiast despite what you claim. Just an investor in a not an investment scheme.

Originally Posted by Micas on NoGrip
Oh dear.. I'm not beloved by everyone. /sadface
and I haven't even started my World Gloating Tour yet. and I just made a few hundred thousand dollars

 

[bmanic]

If people ever wonder why WMD members get a bad rap in the racing sim community, just point them to this post.

.. and your post is a great example of the "brainwashing" going on here at these forums. It is quite infuriating that so many of you conveniently forget and ignore the constant.. and I mean CONSTANT.. bashing of Project CARS over the past 4 years. Heck it all started before the project was up and running.

These are OLD "feuds" and injustices here, creeping up yet again. Bram has a very clear agenda. If you are too blind to see it then I can't help you or force you to see it. He keeps denying it but that doesn't change the truth nor lesser the poison.

It's an action vs reaction thing going on here. Anybody with even a tiny bit of intelligence can clearly see it.

So yeah, keep on blaming "people from WMD".. it's after all the easy way out. You're all innocent here and "entitled to your opinion" even if it means lying and spreading complete BS over and over again.

Have you ever noticed how it is virtually impossible to create a "feel good" thread of any kind in these forums? All of them, and I mean literally all of the good threads have had at least one guy trying to turn it all around. These are real tangible "hate" on these forums towards SMS and now apparently anybody who was part of the project. It's bizarre.. we are playing video games with plastic toy wheels. Totally bizarre..

 

[Justin]

.. and your post is a great example of the "brainwashing" going on here at these forums. It is quite infuriating that so many of you conveniently forget and ignore the constant.. and I mean CONSTANT.. bashing of Project CARS over the past 4 years. Heck it all started before the project was up and running.

These are OLD "feuds" and injustices here, creeping up yet again. Bram has a very clear agenda. If you are too blind to see it then I can't help you or force you to see it. He keeps denying it but that doesn't change the truth nor lesser the poison.

It's an action vs reaction thing going on here. Anybody with even a tiny bit of intelligence can clearly see it.

So yeah, keep on blaming "people from WMD".. it's after all the easy way out. You're all innocent here and "entitled to your opinion" even if it means lying and spreading complete BS over and over again.

Have you ever noticed how it is virtually impossible to create a "feel good" thread of any kind in these forums? All of them, and I mean literally all of the good threads have had at least one guy trying to turn it all around. These are real tangible "hate" on these forums towards SMS and now apparently anybody who was part of the project. It's bizarre.. we are playing video games with plastic toy wheels. Totally bizarre..

We're spreading lies? How are we lying when there are multiple issues with the game that the developers themselves have even admitted to? All we want is the game to be fixed and improved, as there is a good product underneath that is being marred by these problems.

If RD truly had an attitude problem with the game, WMD and SMS, they wouldn't covering news like this nor would Bram be running pretty popular club events for it. If there's an agenda driven by past events I can't really see it.

What Bram and many others here get annoyed with is the constant defensive posts WMD members make. For every thread with positive thoughts that are "derailed" by people with legitimate criticism, the same happens vice versa by those who try to defend the reputation of the game and the studio.

Let us have our own opinion of the game please.

 

[Bram Hengeveld]

Bram has a very clear agenda.

Tell me please, I am curious. Your fellow investor accused me of the same but failed to back it up with some solid facts. I challenge you to do the same.

My agenda is that I am not going to tolerate anymore misinformation, false advertising and promises that aren't kept. All these have been highlighted perfectly fine with facts and figures during the last weeks and in this thread as well, yet you and some others keep shouting and posting very aggressively without answering the questions raised or come up with facts that state otherwise.

As long as the marketing hype train is spreading bs, I'll do my best to show that it ain't true. Check the links in this post and tell me that I am making stuff up.

You can discuss your views as well albeit in a normal way and not with insults of last week which will not be tolerated.

Stick to the facts and don't derail threads with accusing people of lying without proof. Remember the libel accusations? Works both ways, so back up your claims with facts and figures.

FYI: I have no problem with BN and SMS issuing a press release that they have sold 1 million copies, which is a great result. I have a problem with texts like these that are factual not true and I showed you the figures that the user ratings are off compared to the mainstream review websites (speaking of an agenda):

Project CARS has firmly positioned itself as one of the greatest driving experiences ever made - created by the fans, for the fans!
​

What it should have stated:

Project CARS has firmly positioned itself as one of the best selling sim racing games of all times as 1 million copies have been sold .
​

I have no issues with that.

 

[jimortality]

I want a popcorn smiley please

 

[Karl de-Boorder]

These are OLD "feuds" and injustices here, creeping up yet again. Bram has a very clear agenda. If you are too blind to see it then I can't help you or force you to see it. He keeps denying it but that doesn't change the truth nor lesser the poison.

You're probably the last person who should be speaking about agendas:

http://www.reddit.com/r/simracing/c...a_has_been_announced_for_ps4_and_xbox/cruh6jm

You're so feverously defending PCars you're not reading your own posts!

Edit: To add something besides stirring the pot.

Like everyone else I was tentatively excited to see Project Cars come out. But left incredibly disappointed by the lacklustre AI and the fact they don't submit to the same driving conditions that the player endures (using slicks in the wet with same laptimes). That isn't a buggy game, that's a game that isn't finished. I can't believe that was missed, that must have been intentionally over looked to get the game out the door with the promise it'll be fixed down the line.

Then comes the piss-weak post release support. The Witcher 3 comes out a week later and is on version count 1.05 with the most recent patch (which landed yesterday) fixing most outstanding serious bugs. Yet we're still waiting for one huge bug fixing patch on the PC for Project CARS. Apples and oranges I know, but it winds me up when you see the head of the studio writing shitty sarcastic remarks instead of empathising with people are encountering so many game breaking bugs.

 

[Andy_J]

You're probably the last person who should be speaking about agendas:

http://www.reddit.com/r/simracing/c...a_has_been_announced_for_ps4_and_xbox/cruh6jm

You're so feverously defending PCars you're not reading your own posts!

Nice post. No doubt you'll get a dislike from @jimortality or the usual wmd crew.

 

[jimortality]

Nice post. No doubt you'll get a dislike from @jimortality or the usual wmd crew.

Seriously? I've never had anything to do with WMD, I just bought a game like a lot of other people.

 

[Rob]

That is fantastic news. Regardless of your personal opinion of the game, like or dislike, love or hate, it's good news that any game marketed as a racing sim could be so successful so quickly. The fact that it did so as a somewhat broken mess only opens the door for someone else to come along and do a better job and achieve even more financial success. Bodes well for the genre IMO.

You make an interesting point. Don't want to say I was thinking the same thing now....but. . I agree with Bram on one hand if you look at the game in isolation. As an xbox user, I was just as guilty for buying into the hype and thinking they could set the gold standard. Instead, what they have done is (hopefully) demonstrate that, yes, a true "SIM" (insert your own definition here) can be very very successful on the console, but unless you make it reliable, beautiful and seamless, with decent physics on a $400 wheel, it's no better than Need For Speed. Or Forza Horizon 2, for that matter. In fact, unless they can get the Thrustmaster much closer to not just feeling good but actually *working* (it just goes limp at times) and the multiplayer side fixed so that friends (all that "community" talk sometimes make me throw up a little in my mouth) can actually be in a room together and play, you can throw this title well behind Turn 10's creations. In fact, I bet Turn 10 has weather coming. And I bet when they get the tire wear sorted (not to mention the fuel) they will suddenly "become" what everyone thought, on the xbox, that pCARS would be. And I never thought I would say that in a million years, since the immersion of pCARS shows so much promise. It's like being 48 and walking through the University of Arizona Campus.

 

[David Ignjatovic]

But, the proof is in the Gloat. Game's out.. selling tons and tons of copies.

As you know, I predicted pcars would do over a 1million units, but what I'm curious about is whether or not you now accept pcars as SHIFT3, or do you prefer to keep running the hype train even after the monies rolled in?

 

[Dinca Andrei]

No offense but you choose to surround your self with all that multi media cap I have fb and twitter and the only time I saw pcars ads were ones from sms and pc gamers and Rd all of witch I choose to follow none of them promoted any more or less than any of the other sim title.
As for people getting all hysterical over non official pretty pictures by random wmd members I really can't reply to that with out coming across as sarcastic ass
The only advice I can give is don't judge a book by its cover and don't fall for the hype!

when the project was first announced I followed it and read there "goal" for the project before joining. As a former forza/gt fan looking for more than what they offered and not a full blown hardcore sim I was intrigued that they wanted to lose the publisher and develope a racing experience simulation based on the communities feedback and bring it to all the platforms, something in which had never been done in a racing title.
Pc sim racers often feel the world revolves around us but unfortunately the money is in consoles and in pcars case all future licenses and development is based on the success of console sales.
what I categories as a sim may be different than your opinion just like ffb settings.
Yes the game has bugs as does every game, how ever going back to what they set out to do I feel they released a well rounded product asides from the xbox version with more content and features than any other titles which also set a new bar for console racing games going forward.
There for I don't see how sms scammed you?

Surrounded?!..i was only a follower of pCars on twitter...thats all......and you know why i am so upset about all this,because of the way it was handled by some of the people at SMS...
They killed the game for me and many others with the ""GOD"" attitude from SMS forum and everywhere i could read something... people tossed aside for their criticism (talking about the good one,not the that some trow it there out of rage)...i really wished for this game to be what they said it will be,but no...maybe for a breef time the intentions were really to make something amazing,and i believed that...but to much dishonesty and lack of respect...that put me off

 

[Kyle Pearson]

Can't we all just get along?

 

[Micas_WMD]

You love winding up the community don't you Micas?

<mod-edit: removed profanity>

^
Umm.. k.. that wasn't 'profane', but whatever..