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Project CARS 2 discussion thread (provisional release date: Septemberish 2017)

Mascot

Member
It looks like information about Project CARS 2 is officially starting to trickle out now (edit 6th Jan 2017: Ian Bell just confirmed that the official marketing for pCARS 2 will commence in "weeks not months. So as per our tweets, very soon now") so a dedicated thread is probably needed. Most new information is still tightly locked behind NDAs but I'll update this post with nuggets of information buried in the official SMS forums, with quotes where appropriate. Early impressions from WMD2 insiders seem to be overwhelmingly positive, with many reports agreeing that SMS are serious about addressing the various complaints levelled at the original game.

Edit: unofficial placeholder intro leaked: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MlOiFQy_qxI&feature=youtu.be

Edit: just the video, no analysis

This is a list (that will be constantly updated, so feel free to contribute) of what is currently known:

PRO RACING. ANYTIME. ANYWHERE.

Building upon the huge success of Project CARS being one of the highest-rated and fastest-selling racing games of this generation, Project CARS 2 continues to expand and dominate with...

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. 200+ cars from over 40 different vehicle classes including never-before-seen Concepts and Banned Race Cars

CO-OP CAREER - 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 Seasons, and Live Broadcast and Spectator functionality

YOUR HOME FOR RACING - Your own personal, customisable Test Track to tune and test your cars.

PROJECT CARS 2 is due for release on the following platforms...
PC, Playstation 4, Xbox One, Steam OS

http://www.wmdportal.com/projects/project-cars-2/

Provisional release date: Septemberish 2017

Expanded car manufacturer list: None of the famous brands are missing this time so assume Ferrari, Porsche, Lamborghini and most (if not all) other top marques are included.

New rendering system, new modules to the physics, drivetrain, differential and tyre modelling systems, FFB presets

Screenshots in the public domain (not necessarily official and probably outdated, thanks Fresquito):

post-2-0-16331800-1483553643-696x291.jpg
post-2-0-76877500-1483553659.jpg
post-2-0-80538300-1483553652.jpg
post-2-0-97003400-1483553767.jpg
post-2-0-66455200-1483553770.jpg
post-2-0-64930500-1483553630.jpg
post-2-0-01529200-1483553640.jpg
post-2-0-03040300-1483553656.jpg
post-2-0-17695800-1483553649.jpg
post-2-0-74494000-1483553635.jpg
post-2-0-75851300-1483553775.jpg
post-2-0-59097300-1483553773.jpg
post-2-0-22195700-1483553618.jpg
post-2-0-07754200-1483553778.jpg
post-2-0-04921500-1483553792.jpg
post-2-0-20723700-1483553786.jpg

http://simracingpaddock.com/project-cars/project-cars-2-screenshots-release-info/

Feel free to share personal impressions from WMD2 if you can, all within NDA boundaries of course.

Edit:

1481242620293.jpg


25510035310_16701e2794_b.jpg


1484529879164.jpg


1484530227541.jpg


1484529245926.jpg


Cheeky link to the GT Planet thread, which has a lot more info:

https://www.gtplanet.net/forum/threads/project-cars-2-general-discussion-thread.342814/
 

fresquito

Member
Like I said in the PC1 OT, I doubt these are official screenshots. Many are taken from very early builds (2015), are showing things that are not there anymore (the hideous clouds in the ice track shot) or are sporting old assets (PC1 trees).

These shots are not representative of how the game looks now. That much I can say. Sorry to burst your bubble so fast xD
 

23qwerty

Member
Wouldn't assume Porsche is in at the very least since EA has the license for it (I assume still anyway)

Does anyone aside from Forza sub-license Porsche?
 
Like I said in the PC1 OT, I doubt these are official screenshots. Many are taken from very early builds (2015), are showing things that are not there anymore (the hideous clouds in the ice track shot) or are sporting old assets (PC1 trees).

These shots are not representative of how the game looks now. That much I can say. Sorry to burst your bubble so fast xD

So is it better or worse than the screenshot? :)
 

Mascot

Member
Like I said in the PC1 OT, I doubt these are official screenshots. Many are taken from very early builds (2015), are showing things that are not there anymore (the hideous clouds in the ice track shot) or are sporting old assets (PC1 trees).

These shots are not representative of how the game looks now. That much I can say. Sorry to burst your bubble so fast xD

No bubbles burst here - it's terrific news that the environments look better than in these early screens.
 

Mascot

Member
Wouldn't assume Porsche is in at the very least since EA has the license for it (I assume still anyway)

Does anyone aside from Forza sub-license Porsche?

I'm pretty sure Ian Bell has confirmed Porsche in the official forums. I'll try to find a link.
 

danowat

Banned
I'll say it again, I am shocked that the hype machine hasn't officially started yet, considering the game is (supposedly) only 9 months away.

They've got some serious courting to do if they are going to try and match the sales of PC1, a heck of a lot of people got burnt by it.
 
Sounds promising.

Let's hope for less cheesy physics and properly good force feedback for wheels.

I never realized how outlandishly arcadey the first game was until I got a wheel. I moved on from the game and now play Assetto Corsa and other proper sims.
 

xrnzaaas

Gold Member
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

Ugh, not this crap again. :/
 

fresquito

Member
So is it better or worse than the screenshot? :)
Some of these screenshots are basically PC1 assets exported to PC2. Raw.. A ton of PC1 content is coming back for PC2, but all this PC1 content is being worked and adapted for the new engine.

Most recent shots are the jump with snow and the ice track shots. And still those are outdated. So, yeah, the game looks better than what you see here.

A heck a lot of people also got burnt by them instantaneously announcing the sequel, and meticulously crowdfunding it.
Oh, that's not true. PC2 is not crowdfunded. A small part of PC2 budget is crowdfunded and it's clear the objective was not to crowdfund the game, but allow access to whoever wanted to pay the high entry price. Announcing the sequel was naive on their side, but what would you have done had you wanted the community in? The sad truth is that the majority of game fans don't know shit about game development (me included back then).
 

danowat

Banned
Some of these screenshots are basically PC1 assets exported to PC2. Raw.. A ton of PC1 content is coming back for PC2, but all this PC1 content is being worked and adapted for the new engine.

Most recent shots are the jump with snow and the ice track shots. And still those are outdated. So, yeah, the game looks better than what you see here.

Best they pull their fingers out and get some official preview shots out then ;)

Probably yes. They just can't call them that. ;)

Uggghh, let's hope it's not an excuse to have shitty AI then.
 

Grassy

Member
A heck a lot of people also got burnt by them instantaneously announcing the sequel, and meticulously crowdfunding it.

I can understand some of the complaints about the game being buggy at launch and needing to be fixed, but SMS have been releasing updates all the way through to November 2016, so all the people thinking they were abandoning it were wrong. I'm not sure how anyone was 'burnt' by PC2 being announced when it was.

Probably yes. They just can't call them that. ;)

Maybe they can officially call them 'Drivertards' :p
 

LostDonkey

Member
I watched a video the other day before it got pulled from youtube and I have to say It looked absolutely phenomenal.

Like the single most visually impressive racing game I have ever seen.

Hopefully more will start to be uploaded.
 

Mascot

Member
I watched a video the other day before it got pulled from youtube and I have to say It looked absolutely phenomenal.

Like the single most visually impressive racing game I have ever seen.

Hopefully more will start to be uploaded.

Gameplay, replay or trailer? An WMD2 insider on the SMS forums mentioned being wowed by the pCARS 2 intro trailer recently.
 

Mascot

Member
Not sure. There were no engine noises just music over the top of footage from different angles.

Sounds like a trailer. There were plenty of user-made ones during PC1 development, but I do know an 'official' one was recently shown to insiders so it might have been that. Hopefully SMS will release it publicly soon.

Edit: ah, could be the intro movie for the new alpha build. A few bods are raving about it on the SMS boards.
 

Mascot

Member
Good news everybody - Ian Bell just confirmed that the official marketing for pCARS 2 will commence in "weeks not months. So as per our tweets, very soon now".

http://forum.projectcarsgame.com/showthread.php?49473-Project-CARS-2-What-we-are-99-certain-about&p=1318571&viewfull=1#post1318571

Re the (old, unofficial) photos I put in the first post above, he also goes on to say "The ancient screenies are killing me BTW. It looks so much better now with more to come until beta", confirming what Fresquito already told us yesterday.

Am excite. Been getting back into pCARS in my Fanatec cockpit recently after a long summer hiatus and I'd forgotten just how thrilling the experience can be. I have to keep reminding myself that Sony will likely block Fanatec support for pCARS 2 on PS4 but thankfully the CronusMAX now seems to have that fully covered.
 

LostDonkey

Member
Yes I think I'm going to get back into it in anticipation of the sequel.

It's one of the best racers around with a wheel setup. Great fun.

Going to be a painful wait to get my hands on number 2!
 

Avtomat

Member
The hype train has already started for me on this one but for some reason hardcore sim racing folks didn't like PCars and it kind of missed the simcade I like. Still having fun with it though
 

danowat

Banned
The hype train has already started for me on this one but for some reason hardcore sim racing folks didn't like PCars and it kind of missed the simcade I like. Still having fun with it though

There are plenty of good reasons why someone wouldn't like PCars, it took a number of patches before it was of serviceable condition, and even now there are a number of issues with it, namely iffy road car tyre physics, and multiplayer problems.

There hasn't been a better racing sim, in terms of the feeling of being in a real race, but that's not to say it doesn't have problems.

Hopefully PC2 will solve all these issues.
 

danowat

Banned
Its not drivatars guys, that paragraph is referring to online open track days like asset to corsa has.

Do you have that on good confidence?, the paragraph reads like that until....

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

It's the juxtaposition of the wordage between the "online track days" part and the "solo play" part.
 

Azzawon

Member
Only just remembered I had backed this a few weeks ago. Needless to say, my PC can barely run it. Looks very promising from what I've seen in the forums though. It's had a much needed UI overhaul and looks much cleaner.
 

fresquito

Member
Re the (old, unofficial) photos I put in the first post above, he also goes on to say "The ancient screenies are killing me BTW. It looks so much better now with more to come until beta", confirming what Fresquito already told us yesterday.
The screenies confirm themselves. Just look at the plates ;-)
 

Mascot

Member
There are plenty of good reasons why someone wouldn't like PCars, it took a number of patches before it was of serviceable condition, and even now there are a number of issues with it, namely iffy road car tyre physics, and multiplayer problems.

There hasn't been a better racing sim, in terms of the feeling of being in a real race, but that's not to say it doesn't have problems.

Hopefully PC2 will solve all these issues.

I think it's mostly down to the accessibility (or rather, lack of it). It wasn't in great shape at launch but after the main patches there is undoubtedly a fantastic experience buried deep within the code. But you do need the patience (and knowledge) to dig it out. A lot of players just didn't have the time or facility to do that.

PC2 not only needs to launch in a more complete, more stable state but also needs to be instantly accessible right out of the gate with much better joypad control, an intuitive and informative UI, presets for most of the key options, and easily-understandable parameters with in-depth explanations of how settings physically affect things.

Word from the wise is that most of these things ARE thankfully being addressed for PC2.

The screenies confirm themselves. Just look at the plates ;-)

Yeah, I did wonder about those dates.
 

GHG

Gold Member
Do you have that on good confidence?, the paragraph reads like that until....



It's the juxtaposition of the wordage between the "online track days" part and the "solo play" part.

All I'm at liberty to say is that there are no drivatars (or anything similar) and that it says "solo play" because you don't actually compete with anyone in that mode it's referring to.
 

fresquito

Member
Better controller playability must be in?
It definitely is. I've been playing with a x360 gamepad as of late (they are in the proccess of implementing the new FFB and playing with a wheel right now, and until they finally implement all the tech, needs serious tweaking, file management, etc.) and I'm not finding many problems to play with default settings. I'm not a gamepad player, so take it however you want. For reference, in PC1, the very few times I tried it, I could barelly run straight, lol
 

Mascot

Member
For reference, in PC1, the very few times I tried it, I could barelly run straight, lol

Ditto. I literally could not keep the car on the road. It's no hyperbole to say that the preset pad controls in pCARS were the worst I've ever encountered, and by quite some margin. This was a universal complaint so it baffles belief how they were ever passed as suitable for release. The bounce rate with this game must have been huge because of the awful controls. I personally know several people who abandoned the game for good within hours because they literally could not control the cars, and these were racing fans who had been looking forward to the game for years. Many, many sales must have been lost because of the pad controls.

For a long time I assumed that there must be some technical error like there was in NFS Shift (due to legacy code from that game, perhaps) but it appears that no, they were supposed to be that bad.

It's fantastic news that this has been properly addressed now, and a shame that PC1 can't be patched with these defaults.
 
So are VW in too? They had some issue earlier this year and left Forza, I assumed that was VW backing out of games rather than just Forza.
 

Mascot

Member
So are VW in too? They had some issue earlier this year and left Forza, I assumed that was VW backing out of games rather than just Forza.

Ian Bell's comment that None of the famous brands are missing this time is open to wide interpretation right now. It could mean anything, but I'm not expecting Forza-levels of manufacturers. I'd personally guess that it refers to the main motorsport marques, but maybe an insider could elaborate if NDAs allow.
 

fresquito

Member
I'm not confirming nor denying anything, but PC1 was mostly about motorsports and competition and PC2 is not different.
 
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