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...

 

[James Robertson]

With a bit of polishing in the next months this game will probably become the main choice for a big part of our community these next years.
.

My gut feeling says you are correct, its re-ignited my passion for sim racing.

 

[PietervE8]

We must all keep in mind that gaming is a personal thing, so is gaming titles. We would also prefer games that make us look good, therefore we are more predisposed with games that suit our driving style, and also our experience of competition driving. ( Aliens and hardcore simmers excluded here ).

We can also further subdivide racers according to the time they really have available for gaming, having to juggle their after work hours time with family, friends and other responsibilities at home. On the two extremes of this scale you have guys that can spend significant times of the day getting stuck into nitty gritties or the game. One the other end you get guys that maybe have an hour every second night of the week.... but all of us want a great time when we sit down to game - irrespective of our skill level and gaming preferences.

I'm a great fan of AC. rF2, R3e and Automobilista, but somehow PC2 appeals to me. For my driving style the handling feels more instinctive, and so far I really enjoy it.Works well with mt Thrustmaster steeing wheel.
My only gripe so far is the replay quality, it seems to be very stuttery.

Maybe we should all spend a bit of time to thank and congratulate all the developers that brings us these great titles. We all have a good time - even if it is collecting lots of cars in GT or Forza or hardcore sims - there is something for all of us. We can enjoy racing in the comforts of our home - and have no expenses when we run out of talent - maybe just a bruised ego !

And then a further compliment to the different racing clubs that try and give us a good online racing expereince - from the Freddy Noob's to the budding Senna's and Schumacher's ....

Enjoy the racing gaming - right now we are in in a very privileged situation.

 

[Deleted member 99238]

The fov of cockpit and bonnet view need to be adjusted per car... cockpit view is too close to the dashboard

Yes, it immediately strikes the eye, you have to manually adjust the cockpit view in each car. In PC1, the view from the cockpit was ideal.

 

[drift92]

Don't know if people knows it, but in game you have to set the world movement to 100% to disengage the camera from the horizon, otherwise in the ovals you will see just the banking moving around the car, not the car going over the banking.

Aha. You just save my day
I forgot how PC1 handled camera movement options, and it looks like PC2 is same.

 

[davidrd85]

I came across these excellent custom FFB settings from Jack Spade over at the official forum:
http://forum.projectcarsgame.com/showthread.php?51628-Jack-Spade-Custom-FFB-Files

 

[turbo86]

PC2 feels like a modded PC1. The cars are a little bit more stable, grip a little bit better, but they still go apeshit crazy out of control and drifty and wobbly for absolutely no reason and without warning. Isn't this how PC1 and NFS Shift worked?

I was just trying to complete my fist factory drive with Ginetta and i simply ragequit. The god damn thing started to wobble during fast cornering to the point that it almost flipped over. It's exactly the same issues i experienced in modded NFS Shift and PC1. No difference at all.

I couldn't complete my first career race because the car simply drifted all over the place with no reason. No sudden steering input, no heavy foot....still it drifter around almost every corner unless i used a heavily understeering setup, but even then it would lose it's mind.

Infinite number of updates will not be able to fix this terrible physics engine and i'm surprised the kept using it after the terrible PC1. Judging from the youtube reviews...kids liked PC1 and they like this one as well.

It's a huge shame though because the game has so many cool stuff like weather and day/nigh cycles, nice car selection and a rather engaging career.

Oh by the way, no it's not a proper simulation, it's a game...a simcade and so you CAN actually compare it to Forza or any other simcade. Hell Forza feels a lot better....

 

[Damage Inc]

That is really besides point, isn't it? By your logic, if all games have bad collision physics, it is ok to make a new game with bad collision physics?

I said it because it's never going to change. racing sims will always have simplified crash physics for two reasons:

1) hardware limitations.

2) Car manufacturers often block any idea of realistic damage crashes with their vehicles in computer games now

 

[gianlucaP]

-

 

[Damage Inc]

The Flatout series and Wreckfest.

Oh come on Andy, you know I meant out of AC, RF2, R3E, AMS and iR!!

 

[Damage Inc]

So have I and for me its wrong it is my go to track if available and its just not right visually the mod on AC is tonnes better.

Please stop the hyperbole and actually say where it's wrong. If someone who has also really driven round Donington says it's "alright" yet you say it's "laughable" how wrong it is and a Mod is "tonnes better". Facts speak louder than words.

 

[MarkR]

Exciting, heart-pounding fun is my overriding feeling after a couple of days play on both PC and Xbox One. It isn't perfect and there are many minor issues but none of them makes the game unusable. For me, pcars2 is a 9/10 game, best enjoyed with a group of like-minded and similarly skilled friends. After pcars1 I was very much in the doubters camp and expected more of the same, especially with the console version, but this is a much-improved experience.

Where pcars2 scores 10/10 is in VR. It is easily the best VR racing game in terms of both graphics and game performance, but I'd go even further than that and say it is currently the best VR game available. The cockpit graphics and scale are perfectly clear, it is just like sitting in the real cars. The draw distance and ability to see the track reference points is the best yet. Little things like how the internal camera and mirrors in the Acura GT3 get sun bleached at certain points on Le Mans is just stunning, trying to spot the flying LMP1 cars closing fast in the mirrors has never felt this real. Equally the way the Caterham 620R undulates over the surface at Knockhill, slithering through the apexes feels just right and I'm as discombobulated by a few laps in the pcars2 version as I am in the real car. VR wasn't supposed to be able to be this good yet, the clarity of the image and sheer range of real-world effects along with all the usual great depth and elevation perception has exceeded all my expectations.

The good:

+++ TX458 wheel feedback and effects are immediately good on both PC and Xbox One. I've had no problem at all getting the wheel to feel just right, on pcars I never found a setup I was happy with.

+++ Handling, car and track feedback. I feel able to learn the tracks just as I would for real, learning where the grip is especially on a drying track or as the track gets colder at night. Only AC had ever given me that real-world feeling before but this adds the day/night and weather cycles so goes one step further.

+++ The cars feel like the real cars. I've driven a handful of the pcars2 cars on real tracks and these cars feel like the real thing. Previously in pcars the road cars felt nothing like reality. Now they are incredibly close, the Megane 275 Trophy R, A45 AMG and Caterham 620R all feel right and have the real world characteristics of the car and my real world lap time abilities are pretty close to the in-game times too. I'm not claiming every car is spot on, I wouldn't know for many of them anyway.

+++ 4K game performance is stunning and stable.

++ Online stability and racing. So far this has been superb both on PC and Xbox One for our little group of friends. We've just been able to get on and race, none of the connection or lobby issues that dogged pcars. There is still some slowdown when people join and leave sessions but once the race begins it is stable. 3 fun days of just getting on and racing is a big improvement.

++ It's early days but the license system seems to have made this the best behaved public lobbies yet. Generally, people seem well behaved, yes occasionally a race start is still a bit messy but I've seen none of the absolute carnage that open lobbies from AC to Forza usually contain.

++ The weather deserves a special mention, Knockhill in Snow season, with heavy snow then a blizzard in Rallycross Mini's....looks just incredible and is way too much fun.

++ The penalty system seems to be working well online, minor track cuts penalised with brief slowdowns and time penalties if ignored and adding up to Drive Through penalties which also work.

The issues:

--- The AI, all said elsewhere so not repeating but I'll wait to play the career until it is patched.

-- Xbox One framerate is variable the One X will resolve this so again not a show stopper. It does mean for now Xbox one races are better left clear and dry, the weather really hits the framerate.

- Xbox One TX458 wheel suffers an occasional loss of all force feedback through the wheel (G920 seems unaffected). The oval tracks seem to be the worst but it also happened once at Sugo so there isn't a clear pattern.

- Being penalised for making contact with cars that are spinning or out of control feels a bit unfair but I accept the argument what else can be done.

 

[rw3]

So have I and for me its wrong it is my go to track if available and its just not right visually the mod on AC is tonnes better.

Last time I tried the mod on AC it was pretty poor, has it improved? Most accurate version I've found has been the iRacing version (predictable because it was laser-scanned) to the point that I got to the track and everything was exactly where I thought it would be, and I could very quickly get up to speed.

Now saying it's not right visually I don't quite get.. in what way? It's easy to say it's not right but really it's something that needs justifying with some specifics.

 

[Andy_J]

Oh come on Andy, you know I meant out of AC, RF2, R3E, AMS and iR!!

I know, just kidding with ya. But the Flatout series are simulations too.

Actually RF2 has brilliant damage physics. AMS is pretty good too.

But for me, F1 2016 by codemasters was damned fine too.

 

[CC]

I said it because it's never going to change. racing sims will always have simplified crash physics for two reasons:

1) hardware limitations.

2) Car manufacturers often block any idea of realistic damage crashes with their vehicles in computer games now

Main reasons for this as you say some manufacturers set strict limitations on a lot of things , some of them are not as strict , but to keep the same work flow across all cars they dim it down some , but obviously in a racing game we need something , but yes its minimal from what I have been told anyways

 

[Damage Inc]

I know, just kidding with ya. But the Flatout series are simulations too.

<shakes fist> "BUELLLLLLEEEEEERRRRRRR"!!!

Does flatout have real cars?

 

[gianlucaP]

-

 

[rw3]

I said it because it's never going to change. racing sims will always have simplified crash physics for two reasons:

1) hardware limitations.

2) Car manufacturers often block any idea of realistic damage crashes with their vehicles in computer games now

Of the two, part 1 is true, part 2 is not. Were it true that manufacturers put terms in the contracts that the cars can't be damaged we'd see no damage. But we do. It's just not very good damage. Further, what would manufacturers gain from bad damage vs good damage? Nope, it's a bit tin-foil hat I'm afraid. Part 1 is the reason. The kind of physics calculations required are simply beyond modern hardware.

 

[Andy_J]

<shakes fist> "BUELLLLLLEEEEEERRRRRRR"!!!

Does flatout have real cars?

Of course, look at this beauty. The RWD Road King Boxer. Pure badass.

 

[Damage Inc]

Of the two, part 1 is true, part 2 is not. Were it true that manufacturers put terms in the contracts that the cars can't be damaged we'd see no damage. But we do. It's just not very good damage. Further, what would manufacturers gain from bad damage vs good damage? Nope, it's a bit tin-foil hat I'm afraid. Part 1 is the reason. The kind of physics calculations required are simply beyond modern hardware.

I didn't say they blocked "damage" per se...I said they blocked "realistic damage". So what we have is cars can be damaged just not particularly realistic (unless it's a fictional car game and they go to town on it!). What if a game had real damage and a car flipped and it was clear the driver side had catastrophic damage that a person couldn't possibly survive...tell me what manufacturer would want that in a game with their product?

 

[Damage Inc]

Of course, look at this beauty. The RWD Road King Boxer. Pure badass.

SIMCADE!