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

Mascot

Member
Interesting comment from Ian Bell on GTP about joypad steering deadzones in pCARS1.

Inside secret here... You are correct. A few months back we found a bug in the pad deadzone code that was always applying a 5% deadzone whether set or not. It was a legacy of early console mandated requirements that we'd hardcoded and forgotten about.

Thankfully we spotted it during the focused work on improving the pad controls and corrected it.

Deadzones now work as intended.

Experiencing Project CARS 2's Red Bull Ring via Controller

That would certainly explain one of my major complaints about pad control in the first game. Even with zero deadzone set, nothing would happen for 5% movement. So naturally, you over-compensate, it suddenly kicks in and before you know it you are fishtailing down the track tank-slapper style.
 

Patrick S.

Banned
On consoles, unlikely. Certainly not on PS4. A PS4 patch would mean losing native Fanatec support, and SMS said they wouldn't do this.

Could happen on the Bone I suppose. I still feel it's unlikely at this stage, but who knows. I'll ask the question in the GTP thread.

Appreciate it ;)
 
Recently purchased PC1 for ps4 and I think it's great. Really looking forward to see what happens for Ps4 Pro with PC2.

I hope they improve some things though.

I think it's great that you can save car setups to specific tracks, I can't seem to save multiple different car setups (other than 'putting' them to specific tracks) which is incredibly annoying (unless I'm doing something wrong).

I'd like more control over the sounds too (which are great). Let me reduce the sound of hitting things or increase the sound of tyre squeal whilst at the same time having the engine volume etc. still adjustable.

How about not losing controller settings if you switch from one set to another or let me save multiple sets opposed to selecting modes 1, 2 or 3 (its a bit confusing).

Give brief descriptions (in game) of what settings do what in terms of tuning and the other options.

Also give sound options/other options adjustable without having to leave the race/track too would be nice! (even if just on a test track).

Currently playing with a controller where I'm using Steering Assistance and (can't remember which one Traction or Stability) but I've stripped back all the other settings within the controller options such as deadzones etc and I can 'finally' drive any car with or without stock settings that STILL manages to be both exciting and realistic without tearing wondering how the hell I can stop a car from spinning out lol!

Looking to complete my racing set-up with bass transducers (Daytona and Aura?), a GIMEX for my G25 (or I may buy a new wheel T300 RS preferably or G29 for much cheaper) ready in time for PC2. Would love to have a Motion Rig but not available for console (unless I had a spare £3k!) so that aint happening!

So using PC1 as a little tinkering about game and then will buy PC2 as a start to get back into sim-racing. GTS has left me flat and I've decided it's time for a change from that franchise but hoping to go back into it if they produce a GT similar in design to previous iterations 'as long' as certain things are addressed that I personally want addressing. I know I might even have to wait till ps5 but that is ok as I'm confident PC2 will part fill the void.

One thing I would REALLY love though is that in PC2 they put the Nascar/Oval Tracks in like I was really hoping would be in PC1 but not there now for console :-(
 

danowat

Banned
Interesting comment from Ian Bell on GTP about joypad steering deadzones in pCARS1.



Experiencing Project CARS 2's Red Bull Ring via Controller

That would certainly explain one of my major complaints about pad control in the first game. Even with zero deadzone set, nothing would happen for 5% movement. So naturally, you over-compensate, it suddenly kicks in and before you know it you are fishtailing down the track tank-slapper style.

Lol, you couldn't make it up, months of telling them the controls are pants, and them saying, nah, they're fine, now during the hype period, they find a bug in the controls that were the reason they were terrible, and it's been fixed.

Perfect timing, cynical, moi?
 

fresquito

Member
Recently purchased PC1 for ps4 and I think it's great. Really looking forward to see what happens for Ps4 Pro with PC2.

I hope they improve some things though.

I think it's great that you can save car setups to specific tracks, I can't seem to save multiple different car setups (other than 'putting' them to specific tracks) which is incredibly annoying (unless I'm doing something wrong).

I'd like more control over the sounds too (which are great). Let me reduce the sound of hitting things or increase the sound of tyre squeal whilst at the same time having the engine volume etc. still adjustable.

How about not losing controller settings if you switch from one set to another or let me save multiple sets opposed to selecting modes 1, 2 or 3 (its a bit confusing).

Give brief descriptions (in game) of what settings do what in terms of tuning and the other options.

Also give sound options/other options adjustable without having to leave the race/track too would be nice! (even if just on a test track).

Currently playing with a controller where I'm using Steering Assistance and (can't remember which one Traction or Stability) but I've stripped back all the other settings within the controller options such as deadzones etc and I can 'finally' drive any car with or without stock settings that STILL manages to be both exciting and realistic without tearing wondering how the hell I can stop a car from spinning out lol!

Looking to complete my racing set-up with bass transducers (Daytona and Aura?), a GIMEX for my G25 (or I may buy a new wheel T300 RS preferably or G29 for much cheaper) ready in time for PC2. Would love to have a Motion Rig but not available for console (unless I had a spare £3k!) so that aint happening!

So using PC1 as a little tinkering about game and then will buy PC2 as a start to get back into sim-racing. GTS has left me flat and I've decided it's time for a change from that franchise but hoping to go back into it if they produce a GT similar in design to previous iterations 'as long' as certain things are addressed that I personally want addressing. I know I might even have to wait till ps5 but that is ok as I'm confident PC2 will part fill the void.

One thing I would REALLY love though is that in PC2 they put the Nascar/Oval Tracks in like I was really hoping would be in PC1 but not there now for console :-(
Most things you ask for will be present in PC2. I don't think there will be separated controllers saved, though. I specifically asked for this and was told maybe after release patch. I will try to push forward, but they have reached alpha, so it is unlikely they will add any new feature.

@danowat, I've been saying control pad was fine long before you saw anything from the game. So no, it hasn't been discovered now. There's a difference between being cautious and being paranoid.
 

Mascot

Member
Recently purchased PC1 for ps4 and I think it's great. Really looking forward to see what happens for Ps4 Pro with PC2.

I hope they improve some things though.

I think it's great that you can save car setups to specific tracks, I can't seem to save multiple different car setups (other than 'putting' them to specific tracks) which is incredibly annoying (unless I'm doing something wrong).

I'd like more control over the sounds too (which are great). Let me reduce the sound of hitting things or increase the sound of tyre squeal whilst at the same time having the engine volume etc. still adjustable.

How about not losing controller settings if you switch from one set to another or let me save multiple sets opposed to selecting modes 1, 2 or 3 (its a bit confusing).

Give brief descriptions (in game) of what settings do what in terms of tuning and the other options.

Also give sound options/other options adjustable without having to leave the race/track too would be nice! (even if just on a test track).

Currently playing with a controller where I'm using Steering Assistance and (can't remember which one Traction or Stability) but I've stripped back all the other settings within the controller options such as deadzones etc and I can 'finally' drive any car with or without stock settings that STILL manages to be both exciting and realistic without tearing wondering how the hell I can stop a car from spinning out lol!

Looking to complete my racing set-up with bass transducers (Daytona and Aura?), a GIMEX for my G25 (or I may buy a new wheel T300 RS preferably or G29 for much cheaper) ready in time for PC2. Would love to have a Motion Rig but not available for console (unless I had a spare £3k!) so that aint happening!

So using PC1 as a little tinkering about game and then will buy PC2 as a start to get back into sim-racing. GTS has left me flat and I've decided it's time for a change from that franchise but hoping to go back into it if they produce a GT similar in design to previous iterations 'as long' as certain things are addressed that I personally want addressing. I know I might even have to wait till ps5 but that is ok as I'm confident PC2 will part fill the void.

One thing I would REALLY love though is that in PC2 they put the Nascar/Oval Tracks in like I was really hoping would be in PC1 but not there now for console :-(

Rather than tackle them one-by-one, In think a lot (if not all) of your concerns have been addressed in the GTP Q&A thread. It's probably worth a trawl through - it's a gold mine of info about pCARS 1 and 2 directly from SMS staffers and the studio head.

https://www.gtplanet.net/forum/threads/q-a-with-ianbell-read-op-process-of-updating.353715/

I don't think the first post has been fully updated so the thread probably contains more info later on.
 

danowat

Banned
@danowat, I've been saying control pad was fine long before you saw anything from the game. So no, it hasn't been discovered now. There's a difference between being cautious and being paranoid.

I meant the developers saying the pad controls were fine in the first game, where now they aren't.

Paranoid?, nah, over cautious probably.

We're on either end of the SMS / PCars spectrum, and I don't think we'll ever see eye to eye where either are concerned.
 

Mascot

Member
I really hope more legacy code errors from previous SMS games aren't transferred to pCARS 2, giving similar weird results. At the very least I hope the code is examined in gynecological detail when oddities like the steering deadzone are reported. I guess they take a lot of time to find and identify.
 

danowat

Banned
I really hope more legacy code errors from previous SMS games aren't transferred to pCARS 2, giving similar weird results. At the very least I hope the code is examined in gynecological detail when oddities like the steering deadzone are reported. I guess they take a lot of time to find and identify.

PC1 had similar pad issues to Shift 2, which had similar issues to Shift.....etc etc......
 

fresquito

Member
I meant the developers saying the pad controls were fine in the first game, where now they aren't.

Paranoid?, nah, over cautious probably.

We're on either end of the SMS / PCars spectrum, and I don't think we'll ever see eye to eye where either are concerned.
I don't think we are on different spectrums. I have a very clear opinion on PC1 and, while it's overall positive (I guess true to most regulars here), I think I could make larger list of problems (many of them big problems) than anybody here . In the end, I'm running one of the most successful PC1 communities.

The difference is I can differentiate PC1 from PC2 because I can boot both whenever I want to. So I don't need to believe. I can see myself, and even though the game is not yet done, I can make a plausible projection of how things will be in the end.

PC2 is, right now, far better than PC1. It can only get better.
 

danowat

Banned
The difference is I can differentiate PC1 from PC2 because I can boot both whenever I want to. So I don't need to believe. I can see myself, and even though the game is not yet done, I can make a plausible projection of how things will be in the end.

Yeah, that's a big issue, console players, in lieu of a beta or demo, are going to either have to put the faith in the developers (big ask for a number of console players) that the issues that plagued the first game are fixed, or hold off until there are extensive reactions from people who've brought the game (aka the sensible option)
 
The difference is I can differentiate PC1 from PC2 because I can boot both whenever I want to. So I don't need to believe.
I appreciate that. The problem for me is that I have you saying one thing, and VVV saying another. And with all respect to you fresquito, you're always very, very positive whenever it comes to anything Project Cars related. If I'm looking for an unbiased opinion, I have to assume that VVV is probably the more reliable source versus a forum poster known for their deep, deep appreciation for a particular game developer.

That's why the rest of us are sceptical.
 

TJP

Member
Lol, you couldn't make it up, months of telling them the controls are pants, and them saying, nah, they're fine, now during the hype period, they find a bug in the controls that were the reason they were terrible, and it's been fixed.

Perfect timing, cynical, moi?
I'd believe SMS as their typo's are the stuff of legend
 

fresquito

Member
I appreciate that. The problem for me is that I have you saying one thing, and VVV saying another. And with all respect to you fresquito, you're always very, very positive whenever it comes to anything Project Cars related. If I'm looking for an unbiased opinion, I have to assume that VVV is probably the more reliable source versus a forum poster known for their deep, deep appreciation for a particular game developer.

That's why the rest of us are sceptical.
I can understand that, and I'm not going to pretend to say that's not the most logical approach. I will say, though, that I hardly see myself a SMS (haven't played any other game by them or their former studio) or even a PC enthusiast (was not for the community I built, I would have long forgotten about the game).

Back in PC1 it was hard because we could talk our mind and share anything, but there was this monetary reward that took all our credibility away. Now we will not have any return, but we can't share anything. So, yeah, not easy either.
So much less when there are so, so, so many WMD fanatics being more adamant about defending the game than the Dev themselves
 

_machine

Member
Back in PC1 it was hard because we could talk our mind and share anything, but there was this monetary reward that took all our credibility away. Now we will not have any return, but we can't share anything. So, yeah, not easy either.
So much less when there are so, so, so many WMD fanatics being more adamant about defending the game than the Dev themselves
Yeah, that was a definitely trade-off (though I personally didn't care about it so much, neither did I feel that it was such an issue over on GAF for myself), but I have to say that I miss the community we had going here when pCARS development was more open and we could share the development stuff. Like the time trial competitions, screenshots, sharing concerns and more.

I've still been reading the development forums daily and tried to participate in the WMD community, but I've realized that I was far more active here on GAF and enjoyed that much more. Of course, much of that also is because I bought a wheel right during the launch, which broke almost immediately (cheap second hand G25), and that pretty much burned me from racing games for quite a while. Now though, I've been enjoying a brand new G29 and I wish SMS would open the flood gates on at least posting some content about the game, since it's definitely a massive step up (but it will still always be tough competing against the other games with 10x development budgets).
 

fresquito

Member
Yeah, that was a definitely trade-off (though I personally didn't care about it so much, neither did I feel that it was such an issue over on GAF for myself), but I have to say that I miss the community we had going here when pCARS development was more open and we could share the development stuff. Like the time trial competitions, screenshots, sharing concerns and more.
Not a big issue here either. But sometimes I feel like I'm forced into a defensive position when that's not my intention.

Whenever I want to check something and don't feel like mounting the wheel, I go for the gamepad and sometimes I get hooked in the heat of the race. I'm not a pad player, I will take the wheel anyday, but I can enjoy playing with the pad when I'm just checking stuff on a new build. This never happened to me in PC1, because I thought the controls were terrible.

The thing is people that have known me all this time know where I'm coming from. But I understand most people don't and are like: Ah, right, I will believe a WMD head over the VVV guy...". It's not the end of the world and it's not a problem either. I mean, I'm not here to enlighten anybody or convince people of anything. I'm here to share what I can share about PC2. Sadly, as you mention, this is mostly dead because NDAs and all the new approach to "marketing". So it's basically me sharing some info and my own opinion.

Sadly enough, many at WMD have been always been overly positive and have denied the ebvious for unknown reasons. But hey, I'm part of WMD, so I'm supposed to be like that too!
 

Patrick S.

Banned
I played some pCARS 1 today, using my XBone controller instead of the X360 controller I always use. My lap times on Brands Hatch were immediately three seconds lower, and I easily managed to catch the car from spinning out a few times, which is something I really struggle with using the X360 controller. I thought that's kinda curious.
 

_machine

Member
Not a big issue here either. But sometimes I feel like I'm forced into a defensive position when that's not my intention.

Whenever I want to check something and don't feel like mounting the wheel, I go for the gamepad and sometimes I get hooked in the heat of the race. I'm not a pad player, I will take the wheel anyday, but I can enjoy playing with the pad when I'm just checking stuff on a new build. This never happened to me in PC1, because I thought the controls were terrible.
Yeah, I find that super common feeling too, but I have to say that despite enjoying the pad controls of GT6 more for example, I still have hundred+ hours of the first game with a pad default controls (though I never really contributed to that discussion, so hopefully I'm not to blame for people not liking them, which I do completely understand tho).

The thing is people that have known me all this time know where I'm coming from. But I understand most people don't and are like: Ah, right, I will believe a WMD head over the VVV guy...". It's not the end of the world and it's not a problem either. I mean, I'm not here to enlighten anybody or convince people of anything. I'm here to share what I can share about PC2. Sadly, as you mention, this is mostly dead because NDAs and all the new approach to "marketing". So it's basically me sharing some info and my own opinion.

Sadly enough, many at WMD have been always been overly positive and have denied the ebvious for unknown reasons. But hey, I'm part of WMD, so I'm supposed to be like that too!
Though nut for sure, I can imagine that development overhead of WMD must be a light-years smaller this time and more focused, but I also don't feel the same enthusiasm and content-sharing as with pCARS1. That can a bit worrying when the budget is higher and the market getting tougher (not just racing genre, but general AAA and sequel market). Most of all I'd like to see more of these games, since no game is going to be the be-it-all game.
 

Mascot

Member
Project CARS 2 preview at GamesBeat Summit 2017 video

Leaked a little early, but Ian Bell is fine with it.

Ian Bell on GTP said:
So it leaked out just before we got it out officially :) I'm fine with it being out BTW. I just wish it was the high res version first...

Edit: There is an excellent and very true story in this video BTW. He really loved everything about pCARS2 but the handling initially and, after some months of iteration and more tests, we got together with him, some of our physics team, Pirelli test engineers, McLaren engineers and we made a massive breakthrough right there, altering the tyre contact patch data live as the chap from Pirelli noticed that the contact patch wasn't shaping itself properly under some load conditions. That change gave us a huge leap forward in realism that we've applied to all similar tyres now.
 

Patrick S.

Banned
The more I see and hear of this game, the more I believe that it could become the best racing game we've ever seen. This is the one I've been waiting for.
 

Mascot

Member
The more I see and hear of this game, the more I believe that it could become the best racing game we've ever seen. This is the one I've been waiting for.

I'm trying to keep my expectations in check. I love Project CARS for giving me the authentic race weekend experience that's been perennially absent from FM and GT, but I'm not blind to its failings and frustrations. SMS really do seem to have identified and acknowledged almost everything that needed attention from the first game though, and seem hell-bent on correcting them, on top of adding a whole plethora of new features. If they do pull it off then we could be in for something really special.

If.
 

Mascot

Member
Interesting stuff below:

Ian Bell on GTP said:
Seeing as I like GT Planet so much I'll share with you a long post made by Ben Collins this week on our WMD forums. Ben started off initially quite critical of where we were at the start and has never held back on criticising our work as any of the thousands at WMD can attest. But his latest post really stands out for us as a team and I want to share it here first.

Enjoy:

”No news is good news".

With Project Cars that usually means the complaining phase is nearing an end and the physics chefs have their heads down in a sprint towards the finish line. We have all been quietly getting on with various testing regimes and it's been an incredibly exciting couple of months working with the Dev team. The fruits of the labour of love are pretty stunning.

Here's a break down of what we have been working on and why Project Cars 2 will be the ground breaking game we have all been hoping for.

With Project Cars 1 the core aim for many of us was for the Sim to have a lifelike, dynamic response just as you would expect of a real machine. The biggest challenge was getting the car to behave progressively at the limit so that you feel some front tyre slip on the way into the corner, and controllable oversteer on the way out.

We arrived at an amazing place in the end and could celebrate the addictive feeling of hustling a virtual version of everything from a Le Mans Protoype to a GT or ‘every day' supercar.

For me the areas I still wanted to explore most were weather effects, oval racing and loose surfaces. Combined, those areas offer up pretty much three times the workload of the original game!

The Core Experience

The fundamental handling in PCARS 2 is further enhanced. We recently discovered a breakthrough in the way the tyre was behaving in roll, and by tweaking the way the tyre changes shape and bites the tarmac we have bridged the progression from understeer to oversteer.

The handling is now seamless and far more responsive, meaning you can recover from small mistakes or slides using micro adjustments in speed in much more the way I'm used to in the real world. This makes the ”game" much more intuitive to drive, and more importantly it means that my lap times are becoming more competitive relative to the pesky Pro Sim Racers who have been destroying my lap times over the past five years.

Tommy Milner has also discovered that his real world ability as a Pro Racer for GM is paying dividends as a Sim racer with Project Cars 2. He surprised himself recently and put his progression down to the fact that new Sim is basically the same as his real Corvette GT racer.

What this shows is that Project Cars 2 is a BIG step change towards reality, and ultimately we hope that the Game will just be identical to real world driving. The gap now is very, very slight.

Drifting

The biggest challenge in Project Cars 1 was being able to control the cars when the rear broke loose. I lost count of how many times I virtually died by spinning at high speed and wrote about it on this Forum. We tamed the beast for PCARS 1, but when we pledged to ”do drifting" properly in Project Cars 2 I applauded loudly and then thought, ”how the hell do we pull it off."

Up until last month I was anticipating making a political U-turn or maybe a comment like ”what drifting..? Dunno what you're talking about." Because frankly it looked too damn hard to make it work.

2 weeks ago I finally got to sit down with AJ and Casey for a heavy Sim session. They had spent considerable amounts of time sifting through lots of different feedback and achieved ground breaking improvements with our in house drifting Lord, Vaughn Gittin Jr. But I still couldn't drift properly or do a donut, the kind of 1st world problems that wake me up in the night screaming!

We spent several hours screeching and spinning around Silverstone while the boys spoke in a different coding language and changed physical values in the games engine. We finally had a eureka moment.. I found myself drifting in 3rd gear and winding up the wheelspin in full opposite lock, trimming my progress with the foot brake and feeling the exact elation I get in the real world from pitching the car, and timing the transitions from one corner to the next.

Drifting is going to be a lot of fun on PCARS2 and I'm looking forward to making some awesome videos of tandem drifting around exotic locations with our fellow Mad People.

Rallycross

Sliding consistently is essential for Rallycross and we've been fortunate to have Mitchell Dejong from the series get on board and feedback on his world. We've made great strides since the first prototypes of the Rally X cars went onto the Steam Portal and when we launched this to the press in London recently it's where most people gravitated to.

As with drifting, all the real world controls behave as they should and even the hand brake is precisely modeled on the real thing. With WRX the cars are four-wheel drive, and when you pull the handbrake it automatically cuts drive to the rear axle, so that you can actually accelerate around the corner while pulling the handbrake to send you sideways. Astonishingly, it works perfectly on the Sim and bar a couple of tweaks to the landscapes I can't imagine how we can improve on it.

Ice

The ”working" group sent to Sweden at the start of the year really focused some minds on very slippery surfaces, and how we were making it TOO treacherous in game. One of the lads from Vesaro (who make the clever racing wheels) went out onto the ice track in a 500 BHP Mercedes with Lee Kirton of Bandai Namco in the passenger seat. He calmly chucked the car sideways and skated it around a lane of ice carved into the snow, then started linking slides from one corner to the next. Lee relaxed into his chair since, clearly, this kid had done this before. Actually, no, he hadn't - he had been practicing the ice track on the Sim for just a few days!! [​IMG]

Our ice was too frictionless by comparison to the real thing, so that's been fixed and the cars are now a lot more pitch sensitive. The key to driving on snow is putting weight on the tyres you want to grip. Braking shifts weight forward, generating grip in the front tyres and gives you additional turn in power. Now that this dynamic is working on the Sim, along with the drifting logic built into the physics, it's a lotta fun.

Live Weather!

So what..?! This isn't about Michael Fish telling you that it's raining, or a beautifully rendered but superficial graphic showing rain drops on the windscreen. This is about the hard core business of racing that separates the men from the boys.

Gilles Villeneuve famously lapped Watkins Glen up to 12 seconds a lap faster than the rest of the F1 field back in the 80's. People find that story hard to believe and so did I until I raced around Le Mans. I saw first hand how terrified some drivers were of racing in the rain, especially at night, and on several occasions saw drivers pit outside of their agreed window to throw the towel in.

Racing in the rain is something we rarely do, because any team manager with a brain won't let you risk the car unless there's no choice. As a result, drivers are poorly trained and poorly prepared for it.

In Project Cars 1 we established grip variations across different levels of rain, from light rain to a full on cyclone! We've tightened up the grip variation into something more realistic for Project Cars 2, and the conditions are now varied by a considerably more dangerous but real factor: standing water.

Puddles have done more for the sale of Nomex underpants than Vindaloo Curries have for padded loo roll. When you hit standing water at 100mph, or maybe 160mph, or higher – your back passage twitches faster than a badger's nose. If your reflexes don't do the right thing in that split second, then there's every chance of having a colossal accident.

For me, this is the most exciting and ground breaking area of Project Cars 2. Puddles can and will form organically just as they would on a real track when the heavens open. The resulting wheelspin and sudden slides will put even the most seasoned racer to the test as never before. The puddle depths are tied to the graphics, so you'll be scanning ahead for clues just as you would on a real track.

Indy Racing

As if there wasn't enough going on with the all the new licenses, tracks and landscapes – we're going Indy Racing too.

I had the privilege of racing Indy Lights with Scott Dixon as a team-mate in 1999 (millions of years ago!), and we drove the wheels of those things. To everyone's surprise who raced Indy Lights, the Indycars themselves handled a hell of a lot better but the Lights cars provided a great grounding, if a masochistic one.

The scale of the challenge for both drivers and games developers with Indy racing is obvious as soon as you look at the calendar. Tight and fast street courses, short ovals, medium sized ovals and high speed ovals as well as road courses.

Teams have to radically adjust the cars from symmetrical setups one week, to a staggered suspension and with varying levels of downforce. Myself and Scott found ourselves at Milwaukee (1-mile medium speedway with minimal banking) one weekend and spent every second moaning to the engineers about the cars being ‘undriveable.' They told us to man up and get on with it.

The cars were moving around a lot and every time you reached the apex bumps it was a miracle the car didn't spin. I think I crashed on lap 8, slapped the wall at about 130mph, and Scott joined me in the wall about 5 laps later.

Back at Indianapolis our engineer apologized over a plate of chicken wings and explained that the boys left the road course dampers on both cars by mistake, hence why the cars were moving around more than they should have. Oh how we laughed..

Handling wise Project Cars 2 has got these cars dialed and I'm loving driving them, especially at Long Beach and at high speed on the ovals. With that core foundation in place we can race wheel-to-wheel and with VR you can really experience the brutality of the street circuits and the nuances of speedways.

The next level will likely involve drafting and slipstreaming past other cars, but not in an arcade way, in the Project Cars way. That means taking the same careful approach we took with Live Weather to ensure that the aerodynamic world of Indy racing behaves correctly on the Sim.

I was surprised by how addictive I became to oval racing and the strategy of drafting someone lap after lap until you wear them down, or find a way to leapfrog further up the speed chain. Oval racing has mostly been misunderstood in Europe but maybe the Sim experience we are building will open up this world up to a new generation.

We'll keep tinkering all the way to launch but it can't come soon enough for me, I can't wait for Project Cars 2 to blow everyone's doors off!

Ben Collins

Physics & Handling Consultant

Project CARS 2 General Discussion Thread"]Project CARS 2 General Discussion Thread[/URL]
 

danowat

Banned
Interesting stuff below:

So they've made it easier, which is how it should be, as they say, the transition of grip to no grip, and back again, was way too binary in PC1, AC does it much better.

I hate the sim racing should be hard paradox.
 

Mascot

Member
So they've made it easier, which is how it should be, as they say, the transition of grip to no grip, and back again, was way too binary in PC1, AC does it much better.

I hate the sim racing should be hard paradox.

I think SMs have always subscribed to that same philosophy, it's just that the snap oversteer physics weren't quite on point in the first game.
 

fresquito

Member
So they've made it easier, which is how it should be, as they say, the transition of grip to no grip, and back again, was way too binary in PC1, AC does it much better.

I hate the sim racing should be hard paradox.
I've been thinking since the physics started to align, PC2 will be slammed by the hardcore community because it is too easy. Of course it is not too easy. Keeping the tail behind and being on the tarmac is relatively easy. Going fast? You'll need hands for that.
 

danowat

Banned
I've been thinking since the physics started to align, PC2 will be slammed by the hardcore community because it is too easy. Of course it is not too easy. Keeping the tail behind and being on the tarmac is relatively easy. Going fast? You'll need hands for that.

I'm sure they will, it's a subject that has been beaten to death for decades.
 

saladine1

Junior Member
The 'recent' tyre physics tweaks and adjustments, have yielded, imo, the best and most satisfying handling in the game to date.
The vintage and retro Lotus GP cars in particular, are so good to drive, it makes me smile every time I drive one. If you happen to watch any 50's 60's and 70's footage of the real world cars you would see them sliding and drifting around corners and this is exactly how it feels in the game. So satisfying!

At the moment, in terms of a general handling comparison, I'd say Assetto Corsa has that 'floaty' feel, almost disconnected in certain ways, while pCars has a more 'grounded' and more 'snappier' feel in regards to steering and tyres.

I LOVE AC, play it hours everyday, but pCars is certainly getting better and better with every build they release.
 

Mascot

Member
The 'recent' tyre physics tweaks and adjustments, have yielded, imo, the best and most satisfying handling in the game to date.
The vintage and retro Lotus GP cars in particular, are so good to drive, it makes me smile every time I drive one. If you happen to watch any 50's 60's and 70's footage of the real world cars you would see them sliding and drifting around corners and this is exactly how it feels in the game. So satisfying!

At the moment, in terms of a general handling comparison, I'd say Assetto Corsa has that 'floaty' feel, almost disconnected in certain ways, while pCars has a more 'grounded' and more 'snappier' feel in regards to steering and tyres.

I LOVE AC, play it hours everyday, but pCars is certainly getting better and better with every build they release.

Very good to hear - thanks Sal. How do the overall FFB changes feel? That was one area that always felt a bit unnatural to me in pCARS.
 

saladine1

Junior Member
They have a few pre sets to choose from to cater to personal feel. It's hard to judge at the moment because they keep updating and tweaking the FFB nearly every build but there is certainly a better FFB implementation than previous games, no doubt.
Having said that, Raceroom for me, has the best FFB and I tend to compare other games to it. At the moment, Raceroom is still king..
 

TJP

Member
Having said that, Raceroom for me, has the best FFB and I tend to compare other games to it. At the moment, Raceroom is still king..
That's a huge compliment given the struggle the S3 Devs had to get the FFB to work as intended.

Good to read how pcars 2 is shaping up as it'll be great if SMS manage to combine a great graphics engine with great physics and FFB. Fingers crossed SMS nail it.
 
At the moment, in terms of a general handling comparison, I'd say Assetto Corsa has that 'floaty' feel, almost disconnected in certain ways, while pCars has a more 'grounded' and more 'snappier' feel in regards to steering and tyres.

I think, I know what you mean, AC's FFB has a soft- and smoothness to it. It's very fitting for a production car with 900° steering lock and spring-rates for everyday road use. In a race car the reaction to bumps should have a power to them that AC's FFB is not fit to replicate.

What I don't understand then is, why you think R3E's FFB is so good, because in my opinion it's great at capturing the feel of a soft, modern-day slick in GT-style cars... and that's about it. It feels too much like "yep, it's a raceroom car". I also hate all those sliders for the FFB. I want FFB of the real-feel/pure-feel category and I don't want the tire loads scaled in unrealistic ways - if I set them all to the same level the FFB feels much less like a real car's steering wheel, to me this is saying that the FFB is not derived from a physics-calculation of the modeled suspension arms and that again is saying that R3E's FFB is not considerably more sophisticated as DiRT Rally's, but far behind the top tier physics sims. Probably even behind pCARS1, which had the right idea behind the FFB, but not the inertia, suspension and tire physics to make that feel really good (for me) and I'd prefer R3E's feel over pCARS1.


You have Automobilista, if I'm not mistaken, right?
Could you try this setting for the Formula Vintage in your RealFeelPlugin.ini
Code:
[F_Vin]
MaxForceAtSteeringRack=[u]785.000000[/u]
SteeringDamper=11500.000000
FFBMixerRealFeelPercent=100.000000
FrontGripEffect=0.000000
SmoothingLevel=[u]2[/u]
Kf=6000.000000
Ks=6.000000
A=1.000000
Kr=9.000000
Maybe even SmoothingLevel=1

and compare it to an older Lotus from pCARS2? I'm interested what you think about the feedback under braking and over bumps. Maybe mix in some AC comparisons, if you remember how the Lotus 49 feels in that.
 

saladine1

Junior Member
lol, that is just my opinion guys. Yes, there's quite a few options to adjust but that's why I like it. I tweak settings according to car and feedback from other drivers and end up with something that feels right and convincing to me.
In CARS, there's a similar thing happening. You have the defaults, as it stands now, and you have options to tweak and adjust. There's also pre sets that cater to what you want to feel such as a heavy steering at the expense of tyre/road feedback, a raw state version, an immersive version...etc
 

Mascot

Member
lol, that is just my opinion guys. Yes, there's quite a few options to adjust but that's why I like it. I tweak settings according to car and feedback from other drivers and end up with something that feels right and convincing to me.
In CARS, there's a similar thing happening. You have the defaults, as it stands now, and you have options to tweak and adjust. There's also pre sets that cater to what you want to feel such as a heavy steering at the expense of tyre/road feedback, a raw state version, an immersive version...etc

Sounds good to me: a series of presets with optional tweaking.
 

Mascot

Member
Played the GTS beta last night for the first time in a week, following yesterday's update. Man, I'd forgotten how much I hate the grind of unlocking cars. Having them all there from the start in pCARS was such a refreshing change after GT and Forza's playwalls.
 
Limited Edition:

limited_orig.png


The full Project CARS 2 game
The Project CARS 2 game will arrive in an exclusively designed, premium-packaged Steelbook™ case, the world’s most sought-after collectable packaging
A Project CARS 2 Sticker Sheet: Unique and stunning Project CARS, SMS-R, and Esports imagery and iconography
The exclusive Japanese Cars Pack. Revel in iconic JDM machinery with this added content that features four cars from iconic Japanese manufacturers Honda and Nissan:
Nissan’s infamous Group A R32 Skyline GT-R
Nissan’s sublime 280ZX GTX race car
The Euro-spec’ Honda Civic Type R, a modern day hot-hatch
Honda's 2&4 Concept Car—get a feel for the future with this 13,000rpm collaboration between automotive and motorcycle design that screams performance
This premium Limited Edition has the same RRP as the Standard Edition


Collector's Edition:

collectors_1_orig.png


Includes the full Project CARS 2 game in an exclusively designed, premium-packaged Steelbook™ case, the world’s most sought-after collectable packaging
A 1/43 scale diecast model car of the gorgeous McLaren 720S in one-off SMS-R Stealth Satin
The Project Cars 2 Art Book: A beautifully crafted book that takes you behind the scenes to reveal how the raw excitement of the racing world has been brought to life in the virtual realm. Featuring exclusive images taken throughout the development process, the 200-page book demonstrates the immense attention to detail that is the hallmark of the game, whilst showcasing the stunning new cars and true-to-life locations that make this the world’s premiere motorsports game
The Esport Live VIP Pass: Present this pass to any Slightly Mad Studios, or Bandai Namco staff member at Project CARS Esports live events anywhere in the world, and you will be treated to the full benefits that come from being a Project CARS VIP. Meet the team, jump to the front of the queue, or maybe even pick up some free swag!
A Project CARS 2 Sticker Sheet: Unique and stunning Project CARS, SMS-R, and Esports imagery and iconography
The exclusive Japanese Cars Pack. Revel in iconic JDM machinery with this added content that features four cars from iconic Japanese manufacturers Honda and Nissan:
Nissan’s infamous Group A R32 Skyline GT-R
Nissan’s sublime 280ZX GTX race car
The Euro-spec’ Honda Civic Type R, a modern day hot-hatch
Honda's 2&4 Concept Car—get a feel for the future with this 13,000rpm collaboration between automotive and motorcycle design that screams performance
The Season Pass: Project CARS 2 will be fully-supported post-launch with new, bold additional content featuring dozens of cars, as well as many tracks that will enhance and extend the overall experience. All these additional contents will be available to Season Pass holders the instant they are released at no charge
The Motorsport Pack*: Exclusively available to Season Pass holders, this exclusive, bonus pack of fan-favourite race cars includes:
The 1974 Jaguar E-Type V12, Group 44—beauty, speed, and an absolute motoring icon
The Panoz Esperante GTR-1—a ’90s GT stalwart
The Audi 1991 V8 DTM—a DTM legend with 460hp @ 9,500RPM
The 2016 Opel Astra TCR—a 300hp Touring Car monster
*This content is not available for purchase, and only available to Season Pass holders, and/or Collector’s, and/or Ultra Edition owners


Ultra Edition:

ultra_orig.png


Limited to only 1,000 copies
Includes the full Project CARS 2 game in an exclusively designed, premium-packaged Steelbook™ case, the world’s most sought-after collectable packaging
A 1/12 scale resin model car of the gorgeous McLaren 720S in one-off SMS-R Stealth Satin
The McLaren 720S Sketchbook: Take a unique journey through the development of this ground-breaking supercar. Exclusively created in partnership with the design team from McLaren, the book lifts the covers on the making of the 720S, including never-before-seen early sketches and models, clays and renders, and guides you all the way through to the final production of McLaren’s new supercar
The Project Cars 2 Art Book: A beautifully crafted book that takes you behind the scenes to reveal how the raw excitement of the racing world has been brought to life in the virtual realm. Featuring exclusive images taken throughout the development process, the 200-page book demonstrates the immense attention to detail that is the hallmark of the game, whilst showcasing the stunning new cars and true-to-life locations that make this the world’s premiere motorsports game
The Esport Live VIP Pass: Present this pass to any Slightly Mad Studios, or Bandai Namco staff member at Project CARS Esports live events anywhere in the world, and you will be treated to the full benefits that come from being a Project CARS VIP. Meet the team, jump to the front of the queue, or maybe even pick up some free swag!
An individually-numbered, embroidered Snapback cap
A stunning Project CARS 2 poster signed by the SMS team as well as the real-world drivers who make up Team SMS-R
A Project CARS 2 Sticker Sheet: Unique and stunning Project CARS, SMS-R, and Esports imagery and iconography
The exclusive Japanese Cars Pack. Revel in iconic JDM machinery with this added content that features four cars from iconic Japanese manufacturers Honda and Nissan:
Nissan’s infamous Group A R32 Skyline GT-R
Nissan’s sublime 280ZX GTX race car
The Euro-spec’ Honda Civic Type R, a modern day hot-hatch
Honda's 2&4 Concept Car—get a feel for the future with this 13,000rpm collaboration between automotive and motorcycle design that screams performance
The Season Pass: Project CARS 2 will be fully-supported post-launch with new, bold additional content featuring dozens of cars, as well as many tracks that will enhance and extend the overall experience. All these additional contents will be available to Season Pass holders the instant they are released at no charge
The Motorsport Pack*: Exclusively available to Season Pass holders, this exclusive, bonus pack of fan-favourite race cars includes:
The 1974 Jaguar E-Type V12, Group 44—beauty, speed, and an absolute motoring icon
The Panoz Esperante GTR-1—a ’90s GT stalwart
The Audi 1991 V8 DTM—a DTM legend with 460hp @ 9,500RPM
The 2016 Opel Astra TCR—a 300hp Touring Car monster
*This content is not available for purchase, and only available to Season Pass holders, and/or Collector’s, and/or Ultra Edition owners

http://www.projectcarsgame.com/preorder.html?lang=en

No prices known. The CE and UE are exclusive to Amazon.
 
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