PC2 Sim Discussion Monday - Project CARS 2

[Paul Jeffrey]

First day back in the office for many this morning, what better way to pass the time than have a good discussion about the new Project CARS game?

Now the dust is beginning to settle around the recent release of Project CARS 2, we thought it a good time to look deeper into the game, driven by our community, and share our findings and impressions from the heavily hyped new racing title from Slightly Mad Studios.

Do you have some useful tips for getting the most from the sim? Found a magic setting to really unlock the FFB? Got a trick up your sleeve that helps bring sharper graphics for little FPS trade off? Or do you simply want to share your most / least favourite car and track combinations?

So long as it remains on topic, respectful and mature, we want to know your thoughts!

Mondays be like...

 

[AnklaX]

- FFB is very good, very advanced but physics is not.
- So far, I've yet to spin out in a car. I lost control badly but never spun out, even with very old cars. There always seems to be some traction control, I can slide but not drift. - Bad transition between drifts or poor recovery from drifts can throw the car off the track at times. From the cars I've tried, this hasn't happened.
- Many restart required in the first lap because of very aggressive AI but after that can be very competitive but can also be unaware of the players presence.
- Looks good on my humble system with a R9 270x 4gb GPU with many settings turned down.
- Yet to see any bugs.

This is clearly not a sim but I feel this game could attract new people into sim racing. If that happens, this game is a good thing.

 

[Richard Wilks]

I cannot believe people are still throwing the "this is too easy, therefore, it's not a "sim" in this day and age. I have been hearing that argument since the original GTR2...

 

[vee10]

I cannot believe people are still throwing the "this is too easy, therefore, it's not a "sim" in this day and age. I have been hearing that argument since the original GTR2...

I actually think it is harder than most sims and I like it. The road cars especially are right on the money.

As for the sim racing community a large prescription of prozac or some other anti-depressant would work wonders. Sat in our pretend cars moaning like the world has imploded if a car we have never driven in real life does not feel like we thought it would. Bunch of self entitled numb nuts really aren't we?

 

[Nick Hill]

I actually think it is harder than most sims and I like it. The road cars especially are right on the money.

As for the sim racing community a large prescription of prozac or some other anti-depressant would work wonders. Sat in our pretend cars moaning like the world has imploded if a car we have never driven in real life does not feel like we thought it would. Bunch of self entitled numb nuts really aren't we?

Difficulty-wise, I think it's closer to AMS than it is to RaceRoom/AC.

Oh, and as far as the really flimsy premise that hard = realistic (which has been an albatross around the neck of our community for far too long), I really and truly blame GPL and iRacing for this. I should make clear that I don't blame the sims themselves, as both sims are great in their own contexts and represent vital milestones in the evolution of our beloved sub-genre. Rather, I blame the collective perception that has grown up around these sims. I wish I had a dollar for every time I watched a video or read a post or blog that made some statement totally lacking in irony to the effect of "GPL is the most realistic sim ever" or "of course iRacing is the most realistic sim" as though such a statement of fact can be made.

Latest example I've come across (says GPL is considered most realistic sim of all time):

 

[Deleted member 99238]

I have a suspicion that FFB in the game is dynamic and the longer you play the better it finds your steering wheel and the better it gets.

 

[Andy_J]

I have a suspicion that FFB in the game is dynamic and the longer you play the better it finds your steering wheel and the better it gets.

So a sort of self learning self aware FFB? Cool. Really advanced stuff. This sim should be the sim of all sims.

 

[T.L]

I refunded it. It was a huge disappointment for me, FBB is horrible on my T300
compared to my other sims. (I only drive formula)

 

[FlyPT]

I have a suspicion that FFB in the game is dynamic and the longer you play the better it finds your steering wheel and the better it gets.

Yes, self adjusting to clip, the reason some people think it changes while racing.
It's not a bug.
We, WMD and SMS should make a better explanation about the FFB.
While Raw should be used in DD wheels wich has no auto adjust, the other profiles make that calibration.


EDIT:
Look here from 12:05

 

[vee10]

Yes, self adjusting to clip, the reason some people think it changes while racing.
It's not a bug.
We, WMD and SMS should make a better explanation about the FFB.
While Raw should be used in DD wheels wich has no auto adjust, the other profiles make that calibration.

Understatement of the year!

 

[FlyPT]

Understatement of the year!

Maybe,
But I forgot about the video I added to the above post, so it's a question of searching.

 

[vee10]

Maybe,
But I forgot about the video I added to the above post, so it's a question of searching.

I got it nailed now, tbh it's no different than any other driving game.

Usual scenario of a new driving game.

A lot of in and out of menu's is that better?
Is that worse?
I got it nailed!
No I have not because someone has a totally different idea on RD so let's give that a bash.
That's no good I will go back to my original settings, what were they again?

Arghh! balls to it i'm having a brew.

 

[Dan Marr]

Just my 2p... as we’ve all witnessed there’s a reason I’m a commentator here, but ever since I played PCars2 yesterday I’ve just had this feeling of wow... gunning a XJR-9 down the Mulsanne (wish we had the version with the full straight!) just gave me the most amazing smile - as others have said the wet feels far too grippy when the pros would complain how dangerous the conditions are, some of the circuits seem so far off it’s funny but beyond that, I’m looking forward to spending more time with it and joining in on the Racing Club events! I do hope we could split the LM versions of the GrpC cars away from the standard aero ones, but if this is what we already have, I can only dream what else we’re going to get from DLC...

 

[F_B]

I actually think it is harder than most sims and I like it. The road cars especially are right on the money.

As for the sim racing community a large prescription of prozac or some other anti-depressant would work wonders. Sat in our pretend cars moaning like the world has imploded if a car we have never driven in real life does not feel like we thought it would. Bunch of self entitled numb nuts really aren't we?

The simracing community often reminds me of this

 

[Deleted member 99238]

Yes, self adjusting to clip, the reason some people think it changes while racing.
It's not a bug.
We, WMD and SMS should make a better explanation about the FFB.
While Raw should be used in DD wheels wich has no auto adjust, the other profiles make that calibration.

Under the description to me it reminds application which i use for Assetto Corsa - FFBClip app:
http://www.racedepartment.com/downloads/ffbclip-app.7910/
The meaning is the same?

 

[Nick Hill]

Yes, self adjusting to clip, the reason some people think it changes while racing.
It's not a bug.
We, WMD and SMS should make a better explanation about the FFB.
While Raw should be used in DD wheels wich has no auto adjust, the other profiles make that calibration.


EDIT:
Look here from 12:05

Just to make sure my eyes aren't deceiving me, you are saying dev recommendation is anyone with a direct drive wheel should use "raw" ffb setting?

 

[Deleted member 99238]

Look here from 12:05

OMG, where have you been with this video before?
The description which in the game menu does not very clearly explain the essence of these presets.
I felt that the description of these presets is not all right.
This is a big omission from the developers.
This need to be corrected with a patch.

 

[FlyPT]

Raw has no Auto tune.
With a DD wheel, you have no clipping problems, so using other profiles with compression and auto tune is not the ideal. This is how I understand it, unfortunately I have no DD wheel.
You can make a custom profile like the ones available online already (files for PC only) without Auto tune, so in reality, you have lot's of options to setup FFB.
Custom profile, just opens the file you created and uses that configuration (restart needed I think).
If you have no file, PCARS2 creates a standard one.
There's people with much more understanding of it all than me, but when Raw was made, it was for the more powerful wheels like the CSW, not only DD.

When this was implemented, the auto tune was really noticeable, with development, it was possible to hide it more, but it's there. It's a good way to enhance FFB on the weaker wheels, my case with an old G25
So in one lap you might not get FFB on a curb and in the next one you will notice the curb or even the opposite if you get clipping on that lap, the FFB might be decreased making that curb not noticeable.
Some might think it's bad, but that happens if you start going off road and making some crazy things on track that make the FFB clip, than you will notice it decrease to a point where you almost loose it.
But it's dynamic all the time and I think it's only updated in certain conditions (for example, I think it's not updated while you are cornering).

But please, don't make make statement as something 100% correct, might have missed something in the development, there was so much to look for...

 

[ermo]

Just to make sure my eyes aren't deceiving me, you are saying dev recommendation is anyone with a direct drive wheel should use "raw" ffb setting?

Yes. It was configured to be pure rack forces -- no extra anything.

The Informative preset has a bit of compression/signal shaping to bring out the details that would get lost if you were to use RAW with a wheel with limited dynamic range and linearity issues (think Logitech G27). This preset employs the auto-adjustment functionality, which over time calibrates itself to ensures that you get to make use of the entire dynamic range of your FFB wheel.

The Immersive preset also uses compression/signal shaping (with the auto-adjustment functionality outlined above) and dials in some Seat of Pants (SoP), which samples cornering forces at the rear of the car to give you a better idea of what the rear is doing if you prefer that sort of FFB.

EDIT: As the above post says, the auto-adjustment happens based on the values in the FFB 'bins' (the six bars you see at the bottom left when you turn on the telemetry HUD). If too many samples land in the rightmost bin, the FFB is clipping and will be turned down a notch. The strength isn't adjusted while cornering (to avoid the wheel becoming lighter/heavier during cornering for no apparent reason).

 

[Deleted member 99238]

The Informative preset has a bit of compression/signal shaping to bring out the details that would get lost if you were to use RAW with a wheel with limited dynamic range and linearity issues (think Logitech G27). This preset employs the auto-adjustment functionality, which over time calibrates itself to ensures that you get to make use of the entire dynamic range of your FFB wheel.

This is what I assumed to be driving my G27.
Thanks for the detailed description of the presets.

 

[gianlucaP]

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