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[Mascot]

Came across this a while ago via GTP which adds some flesh to the 'changing seasons' seen in the recent leaked intro:

"What can be expected from the simulated sequel?

Stephen Viljoen: There will be some significant changes. We'll be taking you to new surfaces through rally and ice racing and the various aspects that go into simulating the systems and how you get to the championship. We'll have a lot of new cars, even brands that we couldn't have before. Now that we're on the map, people recognize us. They're more willing to come to the table and agree on prices that we can actually afford to pay for some of these brands.

We'll have multiplayer enhancements and more support for VR. We'll be polishing features for more authentic experiences. For instance, with the first Project CARS we had the ability to do a 24-hour light-cycle simulation; now we will also be doing season simulations. You'll see snow in the winter or different leaf colors for autumn and it will dynamically change so you can set it to go through the seasons. It has such an impact on racing. For freezing temperatures on the racetrack, you want visual cues to know the effects it has on the car. Same with rainfall: It happens in various stages, so we'll now have it sunny in one part but there might be a rain cloud a few corners away. It will have realistic puddles and how they affect the handling of the car. And it won't be pre-generated art; it will be simulated to the scenes. The slope of the track will determine where the puddles fall. This is all in addition to it sounding and looking better."

https://www.engadget.com/2016/06/07/online-gaming-was-his-gateway-to-professional-racing/

 

[danowat]

Same with rainfall: It happens in various stages, so we'll now have it sunny in one part but there might be a rain cloud a few corners away.

Didn't Pcars already do that?.

Either way, that's a good thing to have, I remember riding round the Nurburgring one year and it was bone dry and sunny around half the track, and snowing round the other!

 

[Mascot]

Didn't Pcars already do that?.

Either way, that's a good thing to have, I remember riding round the Nurburgring one year and it was bone dry and sunny around half the track, and snowing round the other!

No, pCARS didn't do that, but I agree it'll be a brilliant addition in PC2. Mist in low-lying areas of the track? Localised showers? Snow melted in sunny areas? Yes please.

 

[danowat]

No, pCARS didn't do that, but I agree it'll be a brilliant addition in PC2. Mist in low-lying areas of the track? Localised showers? Snow melted in sunny areas? Yes please.

Must have just felt like it, I am sure I can remember races where it was wet and raining on one part of the track, and not on another, that said, it may have been down to the track drying quicker than it would in real life.

 

[fresquito]

No, it was not a feature in PC1, and I'm not 100% sure it is a feature in PC2 just yet. I know there have been discussions about it and plans to implement, but to my understanding it's not in as we speak. I may be wrong, though.

So take that part with a grain of salt. It is an old interview and what seems certain at different stages of development may come back and prove to be impossible some weeks later. Again, I could be wrong, as it's something I've not tested myself.

 

[Mascot]

No, it was not a feature in PC1, and I'm not 100% sure it is a feature in PC2 just yet. I know there have been discussions about it and plans to implement, but to my understanding it's not in as we speak. I may be wrong, though.

So take that part with a grain of salt. It is an old interview and what seems certain at different stages of development may come back and prove to be impossible some weeks later. Again, I could be wrong, as it's something I've not tested myself.

Bah! Spoilsport!

 

[fresquito]

Look on the bright side, everything else he said is already in 100% :-D

 

[Mascot]

Goddammit, somebody with a PS Pro who's in the PS4 firmware beta programme, please report how Boost Mode improves the framerate and tearing. I've seen one report that things are 'improved', but need details!

Edit: lookin' goooooood

 

[Mascot]

Nothing too exciting, but from twitter...

It's a countdown, apparently. Four days to go until... something.

 

[fresquito]

Can't see. So yeah, not really exciting xD

 

[Mascot]

Can't see. So yeah, not really exciting xD

Image rehosted. Better now?

Aurora borealis confirmed, I guess..!

 

[bombshell]

Nothing too exciting, but from twitter...

It's a countdown, apparently. Four days to go until... something.

Official trailer?

 

[Mascot]

Official trailer?

Seems likely. Ed Mas of SMS said early Feb.

 

[Mascot]

Second countdown teaser pic:

 

[endlessflood]

Second countdown teaser pic:

If I'm being honest, these are not particularly good pics.

 

[Mascot]

If I'm being honest, these are not particularly good pics.

No need to be polite - they're bloody awful!

If they're meant to be creating a buzz then they've failed miserably. Even if they are just countdown notices to something 'big' happening midweek, they could at least be interesting or enigmatic. I guess if the recent intro placeholder hadn't been leaked recently then these might be more intriguing. That video revealed a whole bunch of stuff that these pics are now retrospectively teasing, and it's unfortunately arse about face. We already know about snow, and ice racing, and rally.

Marketing departments must be driven bonkers when their strategies are derailed like this.

 

[danowat]

If they're meant to be creating a buzz then they've failed miserably.

I'll be honest, without you, there'd be no buzz!!!

 

[Mascot]

I'll be honest, without you, there'd be no buzz!!!

Ha ha..!

Believe.

 

[fresquito]

One shot of the snow is okay. Two make little sense.

That said, these are meant to be some kind of abstract teasers, as far as I know. Why they went with abstract approach over something more enticing, I don't know.

 

[VVV Mars VG]

To be fair, I think had there been no leaked footage or screenshots this approach would have worked perfectly fine. In the end, it makes no difference, the trailer will probably look pretty mind-blowing.

 

[TylerDurden4321]

Ha ha..!

Believe.

Mascot..? Did it occur to you that - after Assetto Corso seemingly had to take support for Fanatec wheels on PS4 out - your wheel might not work with pCARS 2?

 

[Mascot]

Mascot..? Did it occur to you that - after Assetto Corso seemingly had to take support for Fanatec wheels on PS4 out - your wheel might not work with pCARS 2?

I know it won't work, that's why I recently got a CronusMAX Plus. I'll be testing it on Assetto Corsa soon, but it emulates a Logitec G29, not a joypad. It apparently works wonderfully.

All future Playstation games can only support officially-licenced wheels, and current games have to have it patch locked IF a new patch is released. It's one reason SMS ceased PS4 patches, apparently. That and concentrating efforts on PC2.

 

[fresquito]

I know it won't work, that's why I recently got a CronusMAX Plus. I'll be testing it on Assetto Corsa soon, but it emulates a Logitec G29, not a joypad. It apparently works wonderfully.

All future Playstation games can only support officially-licenced wheels, and current games have to have it patch locked IF a new patch is released. It's one reason SMS ceased PS4 patches, apparently. That and concentrating efforts on PC2.

The main reason is the latter. The other big reason is that console companies are fucktards that like to charge companies for patching their games.

 

[TylerDurden4321]

I know it won't work, that's why I recently got a CronusMAX Plus. I'll be testing it on Assetto Corsa soon, but it emulates a Logitec G29, not a joypad. It apparently works wonderfully.

All future Playstation games can only support officially-licenced wheels, and current games have to have it patch locked IF a new patch is released. It's one reason SMS ceased PS4 patches, apparently. That and concentrating efforts on PC2.

Man, fucking Sony.
I know, it's the same with Xbox, but still "fuck Sony" for allowing it first and then taking it away (that MS allows all kinds of wheels in FH3 on PC with play anywhere is also a plus for MS there).

Could you try pCARS 1 with your wheel and then with the CronusMAX as a G29? I'd love to know how different it feels. Inside Sim Racing is working on a review of that thing as well, I think.

 

[Mascot]

Could you try pCARS 1 with your wheel and then with the CronusMAX as a G29? I'd love to know how different it feels. Inside Sim Racing is working on a review of that thing as well, I think.

Will do. I should have it in my hands by midweek.

 

[Nero18]

Ended up enjoying the first game quite a bit but still felt burnt having waited for it so long. Kinda worried about the rally as well, the first game already took on more than it could handle. Heres hoping though because not much else in the genre right now.

 

[Savoury69]

I tried my Fanatec CSR Elite on pCARS as a G29 via the Cronus and after setting up the FFB... it didn't really feel any different to a direct connection.

Assetto felt a bit 'sloppy', but I've no way of referencing that against a wheel with native support.

 

[TylerDurden4321]

I tried my Fanatec CSR Elite on pCARS as a G29 via the Cronus and after setting up the FFB... it didn't really feel any different to a direct connection.

Assetto felt a bit 'sloppy', but I've no way of referencing that against a wheel with native support.

Thanks. I very much prefer Assetto's feel over pCARS, but I could see "sloppy" as not inaccurate in the softer cars with lighter FFB due to low caster angles combined with AC's generally smoother FFB approach that doesn't let you feel the unevenness of the asphalt as much.
So..., that might be accurate in AC.

 

[Savoury69]

Yeah, I haven't really given much time to AC due to framerate issues and have only driven the entry level stuff so far. But... with Boost Mode on the Pro, and early indications being very positive towards a large performance increase, that will change very soon. Hopefully this afternoon soon!

 

[danowat]

Yeah, I haven't really given much time to AC due to framerate issues and have only driven the entry level stuff so far. But... with Boost Mode on the Pro, and early indications being very positive towards a large performance increase, that will change very soon. Hopefully this afternoon soon!

On the PS4?

 

[Savoury69]

Indeed, it's OK for hotlapping... racing, not so much.

 

[danowat]

Huh, odd, I've not noticed any framerate issues, maybe I'm just not that sensitive to them.

 

[Mascot]

Fuji Speedway confirmed.

 

[sourc3d]

Fuji Speedway confirmed.

Awesome, probably one of my favourite real world tracks from days gone by racing in GranTurismo4, easy to race, difficult to master with the combinations of fast and slow corners in succesion.

Will be a nice addition to pCars, wonder if we'll get any other Japanese tracks, perhaps something drifty.

 

[onemanasylum]

Will this get PSVR support? If it does I will get it day one.

 

[Mascot]

Last one. Ford Raptor.

Official trailer tomorrow?

 

[Mascot]

Ian Bell has been posting on GT Planet about pCARS 2

 

[danowat]

Which Ian is it? the succinct and friendly one?, or the bolshy and abrasive one?



Edit : ahhh, it's the first one, he must have a game he wants to sell, wonder how quickly that'll change after release

 

[Newlove]

I hope their career progression system is reviewed and reworked. There was little reward and no unlocks. It felt unrewarding to play and a bit of a grind.

 

[danowat]

I hope their career progression system is reviewed and reworked. There was little reward and no unlocks. It felt unrewarding to play and a bit of a grind.

That's how it should be, the career in PCars was perfectly fine, I hope they don't introduce XP, Cr or any other such gated BS.

 

[Mascot]

That's how it should be, the career in PCars was perfectly fine, I hope they don't introduce XP, Cr or any other such gated BS.

I don't think for one minute they will. Ian did comment about the new career in the GTP Q&A linked above.

 

[isamu]

I really hope they get Dundrod and the Isle of Mann. Two of the greatest tracks in the world.

 

[danowat]

I don't think for one minute they will. Ian did comment about the new career in the GTP Q&A linked above.

Albeit very briefly.

It's changed to be more interesting. More exciting. We have much more variation than before.

Interesting to see what they do with it, I know a lot of people didn't, but I really liked the career in PCars, it was a refreshing change.

 

[fresquito]

Interesting to see what they do with it, I know a lot of people didn't, but I really liked the career in PCars, it was a refreshing change.

The game was not rewarding because I loathe racing, but I love unlocking things. That's the message I get everytime I read comments like that.

 

[Mascot]

Some encouraging stuff in that Q&A. Wish I could remember my GTP login. I have a whole bunch of questions!

 

[danowat]

The game was not rewarding because I loathe racing, but I love unlocking things. That's the message I get everytime I read comments like that.

I do get where people are coming from, there should be some "game" in there, but not to the extent that the "game" is the main focus (like it is with Forza) and the actually driving comes second.

In games like Forza, you don't really care about the actual racing, you want to get to the front as quickly as possible and stay they, to get the XP and Cr to unlock more cars.

The reality of racing isn't like that, and in fact you can have a much more fun and interesting race without winning, and having mid pack battles, or course you still want to win though.

It requires a whole different mindset from what driving games have traditionally been about, people just need to realise that you can have a race, and not win, and still have had a good experience.

 

[Bobnob]

I hope the game is good, can we expect 1080/60 solid frames on scorpio? upscaled 4k?

 

[cooldawn]

At last, a laser-scanned the Nordschleife. The one in Project CARS is awful...easily the worst I've ever played, even compared to the PS2 Gran Turismo version.

I'm liking the inclusion of seasonal weather along with the obligatory real-time environmental cycles.

Kaz, take note.

 

[Mascot]

I do get where people are coming from, there should be some "game" in there, but not to the extent that the "game" is the main focus (like it is with Forza) and the actually driving comes second.

In games like Forza, you don't really care about the actual racing, you want to get to the front as quickly as possible and stay they, to get the XP and Cr to unlock more cars.

The reality of racing isn't like that, and in fact you can have a much more fun and interesting race without winning, and having mid pack battles, or course you still want to win though.

It requires a whole different mindset from what driving games have traditionally been about, people just need to realise that you can have a race, and not win, and still have had a good experience.

I totally agree. I'd been waiting over a decade for a (non-F1) game with the 'race weekend' structure of Project CARS, where competing is the most important thing, not necessarily the actual winning. It still baffles me that GT and FM haven't included something similar to get away from the ridiculous concept that if you aren't placing, you aren't progressing.

I posted this elsewhere but I'd urge anyone to give it a go. It won't be for everyone but if you have the availability, time and patience, and are willing to play the long game, then it's a greatly fulfilling way to play:

One thing I can heartily recommend (if you have the patience) is to start a career and run full-length practice, qualifying and race sessions - but do them on the actual days. So if it's Friday in the 'real world', you'll be practicing, then qualifying on the Saturday, then running the sprint and main races on the Sunday. You can obviously exit career between times and do other stuff in the game, but try to keep the discipline of using the correct days for the career.

The sense of anticipation builds between races, and if you stuff up in the main race after being in a good position (important - no cheating or restarts allowed!) you have to stew on it for a week before trying to claw back some ground. Similarly, if you nail a podium then you have a week before you can try to maintain the momentum. Running full practice and quali sessions makes the actual races incredibly tense, and because of the time invested, makes them actually mean something. It's amazing how intense the atmosphere is, especially towards the end of a long race.

The points system means that getting a DNF isn't necessarily the end of your season. Getting any points at all still feels like an achievement against tough opposition if you set AI correctly so you aren't just placing top three every race. I actually took great satisfaction finishing in the top ten at the end of the season.

Running career like this in the GT classes (where the AI is superb) and with full damage on (remember, no restarting - take the loss like a man and learn from it, even if you go out on the first corner) can be incredibly rewarding.

It really gets the butterflies going if you qualify in pole position then have a whole day of nervous anticipation before the actual race. Similarly if you cock up qualifying and are starting way down the grid, you have a whole day of regret to think about your mistakes and plan a way to rectify them in the race.

It does take discipline and you have to be totally honest with yourself but everyone should at least try it, even if it's only for one week. There's even a certain level of satisfaction in manning up and retiring from a race after one lap because of a bad crash, even if you qualified in pole. It makes the next race even more important. Doing the career this way will make you drive a lot more defensively, and make you choose your attacks with great care. I know a lot of people will struggle with this method, especially in this internet age of instant gratification and cheat-to-win, but give it a go. it's incredibly rewarding.

 

[kostacurtas]

GT Planet - Ian Bell Q&A:

Every new track we've added is laser scanned (or our new trick drone scanning method). We're also scanning some of the old tracks that weren't previously scanned. I don't have the list to hand but the Nordschleife is now fully scanned (as is the Nurburgring GP circuit).
Yes a drone based 'photo scanning' aerial photogrammetry system.

Q: So Ian while you're here can you confirm if this is true or not, did Co-op career mode miss the cut and won't be in pcars 2?

A: We're still working on multiplayer features. I have 10 full time dedicated multiplayer coding staff on the project now and we're working very hard to deliver all that we want to deliver. That delivery list is VERY long though and at some point very soon we have to stop new feature work and move to bug fixing and polish. So I can't say for sure yet sorry. Our main focus has been on improving the 'acuity' of the online experience; on dealing properly with griefing (wreckers) and dealing more efficiently with those suffering temporary connection issues.

Q: I am a huge fan of endurance racing and I really enjoyed how it was implemented in the game. Can we expect to see more multiclass WEC style races in Project Cars 2?

A: Yes

Q: Having covered GT3 racing so well in PC1, plus providing a stellar selection of 2000's LMP machinery, is there any chance of seeing 2000's GT racing get the same treatment in PC2?
GTR2 nostalgia sells (to me), and the idea of seeing the Viper, Lister Storm, Ferrari 550 and Saleen recreated on the current crop of consoles is doing things to my cerebrum just considering it!

A: I can't give specifics (man those car companies are strict these days!) but we have things that we didn't have before from your list that will make you happy.

Q: Have you guys nailed the oval racing? We already seen some pics of Daytona, texas and Indy. Are there more of them?

A: I can say that we have a little more in the bank there that you don't know of yet and we have been working for 14 months on perfecting oval AI behaviour... I say 'perfecting' but 'making it good enough' would probably be more accurate as nothing is ever perfect. We also have more US based circuits that we haven't announced yet that should please our fans from that region.

Q: will there be more Australian tracks in pCARS?

A: No, sorry.

Q: 1.) Will we see more Japanese cars in P CARS 2, such as the Nissan GT-R?
2.) Will we be able to make our own custom liveries on console?

A: Yes on 1. No on 2.

Q: Regarding PCARS2, are the minimum PC requirements much changed from PCARS1?

A: We have massively increased the detail on tracks in terms of using fully 3d trees, adding live track details, etc. So while the overhead is increased, we've also worked very hard to improve efficiency. On dual cards and on AMD kit in particular we are much faster than we were before. We're running at 90+% efficiency with crossfire and we've optimised other areas massively. We have more to do but a fair summation would be that you'll get more quality for less kit in pCARS2.

Q: With everything currently revolving around the addition of rallycross and the revised "Game Vision" bullet list for PCARS2 on the wmdportal.com website, can you tell us if the hillclimb and touge race disciplines have been pushed back?

A: Yes, we cut Touge and Hillclimb. They were part of the initial 'vision' but not the post 'pre-production' plans. They simply felt excessively niche and didn't appeal to a large swathe of the potential punters. So they're not on the radar at the moment. We've doubled down on the areas people enjoyed and added much more content there, in a big way.

Q: Is the release date still around "Septemberish" or has something happened that has pushed that back into a new month?

A: We're still full bore for 'Septemberish' but there's no way we're shipping this one before it's properly QA'd and sensibly bug free. So it's a case of 'when it's done'.

Q: Can you share some info about the FBB settings? Do you have to do this manually per car per track like in PCars1 or will it be a kind of auto adapt?

A: Yes. We have new physics and from that falls out new FFB. For this one we're shipping (as of now) 3 FFB preset options (we default 1 of course) that you can single click and get (hopefully!) the feel you prefer from the feedback. I'm biased but it's a huge step forward from the rocket science we had before. That rocket science is still hidden in sub menus and accessible for the more masochistic

Q: In career, will the format of the series be the same as it was in PC1 with multiple championships across the year or is it changed to be more like real life?

A: It's changed to be more interesting. More exciting. We have much more variation than before. Real life can be boring...

Q: Did you say if Suzuka will be licenced in pcars2?
All new real tracks (not fictional) will be licenced?

A: Yes. We really wanted to do the normal Suzuka but they are a little insane on pricing. Their problem. We are working on it.

Q: 1 Is pcars 2 going to have dedicated servers on console..
2 Has the steering wheel grinding bug been fixed..
3 has the pausing gone when your qualifying on multiplayer when someone joins or leaves...
4 has the bug been fixed where you hit some thing invisible

A: 1. Not on consoles. The work (and expense) required is insane and we're not EA but we have worked our peer to peer system massively to improve the experience.
2. It depends on which wheel but we've rewritten the FFB and I suspect you'll be very happy.
3. Join in progress is a substantial area of work for us over the last 6 months so I'll be very disappointed if it's not greatly improved.
4. We think so... There will always be edge cases and no sim in history is free of 'physics explosions' but we've worked very hard with our team and with our thousand of users at WMD on this area and I haven't seen it occur for many months now.

Q: What do you want to tell us about AI?
Did you rework it?

A: Yes we did. The main issue we saw with pCARS1 was that the AI were excessively eager to drive into you under braking and in corners. We've had coders full time on this for the last 2 years working on the 'AI personalities' to make them more human. We've also worked hard on the 'sticking issue' where when you contact an AI driver you seem to lose input and you merrily understeer off together. This should be fixed.

With AI you will never create a perfect scenario in all conditions. They are not human after all. But what we have created is what we feel is a set of AI personalities that approach humanity without the downsides that we coded before.

Q: Hi, Ian. Just wanted to know how the engine audio is doing in pCARS2?

A: We've completely changed our audio. We've moved to the fmod rev based system with custom plugins. Therefore we've had to recreate all of our base audio input for pCARS2. We have a wonderful team that are working overtime now to transform all of our extant audio to the new system. I think it sounds massively better for those cars that have been converted thus far. It's a case of polishing now. Those cars that are polished sound epic if I may say so

Q: I have a question regarding controller performance on console.
For Project CARS 2, will there be improvements in the "out of the box" settings for controllers, so that users won't have to dive deep into the advanced settings menus to get the most out of a controller?

A: We've massively reworked our pad input filters to try to pre-empt what the user wants to happen, in coordination with what actually happens in game. It's been rewritten from scratch and we've been influenced a lot by what our competitors do here.

What we want to happen is that we don't need to build in subtle understeer for controllability to allow the average person to enjoy the experience on a game pad. I personally have put away my wheel for pCARS2. I'm using a pad exclusively and I'm insisting that we retain the dynamics of the car but allow the player to control such things as sharp front end turn in and on the apex and on-throttle balance with full throttle oversteer and opposite lock controllability (if that makes sense)... That was our aim 2 year ago and I think we've achieved it. I think it's a very affirming experience for pad users now.

Q: Peer to peer will never work right on racing games every one who's connected to each other has got to have a good internet connection and this will never happen.. So p cars 2 is going to be a let down on consoles just like p cars 1

A: You're negating the influence of our new rebroadcasting code.

We are shipping a dedicated server setup for PC and we're using Sony and Microsoft systems for consoles.

Q: Since we've seen rallycross and other interesting looking locations. Can you take any vehicle on any track in PCars2? Or will it be locked like Dirt Rally, where you can only take out the Rallycross cars on the Rallycross tracks?

A: Yes, to some hilarious results occasionally.

Q: Big fan of PCARS1! We ran a league last year but some players with slower connections had lots of issues with AI and other players teleporting and colliding with them or scenery. Even when we were using a DS.
Will PCARS2 have any new netcode that will address this?

A: Yes. We've greatly improved the interpolation and we're working with distant player throttling code. We're also working with ghosting players who have a very bad connection, within limits, before they're removed.

Q: Great to see the Ferrari license in there, presumably Porsche is on the way and Lambo is clearly in there too (with a Blancpain race number no less).

A: Yes. We have all three.

You heard it here first.

Q: Do you guys think in put a Portuguese track (Portimão ,Estoril)in the game?

A: Yes You heard it here first again.

Q: I have a question regarding the release date, do you feel you're taking a risk releasing close to GTSport and FM7?, we all I'm sure want the game to do as best at it can, and PCARS is by no means inferior but both games have a huge marketing budget behind them.

A: While we respect the competition. I think they should be concerned about the risk of releasing close to pCARS2. We have a massive marketing budget also. But word of mouth based on early play is much more important and we are very confident there.