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Project Cars 2 Review thread

Hmm, I was going to purchase this day one. I was a massive fan of PCars despite its many flaws but with Forza 7 just around the corner I'm very hesitant to spend money on two racing games in basically a month. PCars 2 certainly isn't reviewing badly but the lack of polish is concerning, it was more forgivable with PCars because it was their first attempt at a serious racer.
 

ty_hot

Member
what a mess
and they just couldnt delay it because it obviously cant compete with GT and Forza.
I have PC1 on PS4, its a nice game, but at the same time its frustrating to play with controller.
 

Solal

Member
Sorry but tearing on a racer is a no go for me, they managed to pretty much patch it out on the first game, I'll wait to see what the patches bring for this one before purchasing.

Same here.

Tearing is a big NO for me. Unbearable. Went from "day one" to "wait and see".
 

Mascot

Member
Basically when it works (which is most of the time), it's fantastic but because of the amount of freedom on offer to the player there will be edge case scenarios (certain conditions and difficulty levels, paired with certain tracks/cars) that can produce unexpected results.

But of course, some people will refer back to the same handful of videos that display the latter in order to try and depict the whole game as broken.

Whatever, I put over 100 hours into it during the beta period and while it's not perfect, it's a fantastic racing game in all the areas that matter most to me. I look forward to another 100 hours and it being improved further.

This is bloody important. I'll admit I was a little miffed yesterday to read some of the review comments about bugs, glitches and anomalies, especially after being told the game was feature-complete earlier in the year and would be polished to a high sheen by release day. That might not have happened - yet - but the core game still sounds like it improves over pCARS 1 in all of the important areas, including the absolutely critical ones. And it'll continue to improve over the coming months.

So long as VR isn't compromised by immersion-breaking shadow flickers and flashing textures then I'll be good to go, but I can't help thinking that adding ice racing and rallycross has diluted resources when they are already spread pretty thinly across many different racing disciplines. I find myself nodding along to the PRC review and hoping that pCARS 4 is more tightly focused and honed. Either that or that GTR3 fulfils its promise.

My copy of the game is preordered but even if it wasn't I'd still be picking pCARS 2 up on release day with a pragmatic smile.
 

fresquito

Member
This is bloody important. I'll admit I was a little miffed yesterday to read some of the review comments about bugs, glitches and anomalies, especially after being told the game was feature-complete earlier in the year and would be polished to a high sheen by release day. That might not have happened - yet - but the core game still sounds like it improves over pCARS 1 in all of the important areas, including the absolutely critical ones. And it'll continue to improve over the coming months.
Next time give me more credit ;-)

Told you so many times the game will launch with inconsistencies.
 

danowat

Banned
These differences have just got to be down to the dynamic ToD / Weather?

downloadngum8.png
 

KdotIX

Member
Their PC graphics setting video for pCARS was fantastic as was this video.

Apparently a single GTX 1070 will run pCARS 2 at 60fps at max settings at 1440P without issue. Xbox One X should be incredible too.

That sounds promising, I wonder if it will be CPU limited though... I'm on a wise old overclocked i5 2500k @ 4.3GHz
 

TJP

Member
That sounds promising, I wonder if it will be CPU limited though... I'm on a wise old overclocked i5 2500k @ 4.3GHz
dsogaming.com are usually pretty solid with the performance tests along with the usualy websites.

I got my GTX1070 stats wrong. PC Gamer state " GTX 1070 can handle everything turned all the way up at 1600p"

They also stated: : "At the time of writing, Project Cars 2 freezes at launch with will-sapping regularity, and less frequently seems to change wheel configuration properties at will, so that horrendous understeer might pop in midway through an opening lap on fresh tires, or force feedback might disappear"

I hope this gets patched ASAP; it makes me wonder if the review builds were final release builds or an older version as QA testing should have stamped these out.
 

leng jai

Member
Sounds about as janky as the first one was at launch. What about weather performance? The rain absolutely tanked the frame rate on my 1070/6600k and it didn't even look good.
 

VVV Mars VG

Member
You'd think isrtv and teamvvv would've had their reviews ready to go. Those are the two I really car about with this game. Kind of bummed to hear the console versions are a big downgrade, but I'll be going 1X so that is only a temporary concern.

I would love to have content ready, but we've had a bottleneck with lots of racing releases together and a staff shortage, so I've been running VVV on my own for two months.

Filming my initial thoughts today, not a full review, that will take a month for Martin to finish.
 
I can't believe PRC work for SMS and are reviewing the game! Is this real life?
I really, really dislike that PRC guy, but honestly, had he not worked for SMS, his opinion had been the same, just formulated with a lot hyperbole, I think.
Btw. this happens in sim racing all the time. Inside Sim Racing tested Thrustmaster wheels during the time they were sponsored by them, this Simracing Girl channel with a ridiculous video-count / subscriber ratio has reviewed nothing but products of companies she worked for (except for the TS-PC racer maybe, not sure, not following that story really). Really ISR still do this all the time, John's current rig was a review and the manufacturer became a sponsor right after, Darin quit ISR after giving the Accuforce direct drive wheel a "most amazing thing ever, everything else is just a toy"-review to go work for... you catch my drift.
To be fair though, almost always ISR's reviews still seem genuine, that's why they don't get more shit over it, I think. Ever since DiRT 4 though, I'm wondering if they just don't do mostly negative reviews anymore... at all, just not reviewing the game, after going to preview events, 40 minute interviews, nothing.
 

Mascot

Member
I really, really dislike that PRC guy, but honestly, had he not worked for SMS, his opinion had been the same, just formulated with a lot hyperbole, I think.
Btw. this happens in sim racing all the time. Inside Sim Racing tested Thrustmaster wheels during the time they were sponsored by them, this Simracing Girl channel with a ridiculous video-count / subscriber ratio has reviewed nothing but products of companies she worked for (except for the TS-PC racer maybe, not sure, not following that story really). Really ISR still do this all the time, John's current rig was a review and the manufacturer became a sponsor right after, Darin quit ISR after giving the Accuforce direct drive wheel a "most amazing thing ever, everything else is just a toy"-review to go work for... you catch my drift.
To be fair though, almost always ISR's reviews still seem genuine, that's why they don't get more shit over it, I think. Ever since DiRT 4 though, I'm wondering if they just don't do mostly negative reviews anymore... at all, just not reviewing the game, after going to preview events, 40 minute interviews, nothing.
He's certainty abrasive but I've seen a lot of Austin's contributions on WMD2 and he definitely knows his stuff. I honestly believe he's fully objective about pCARS 2, certainly more so than some of the blinkered sychophants there who are like grovelling lap-dogs. Honestly, the way they defend absolutely anything is embarrassing, and actually harmful to the game. Luckily it's only a few. That's people, I guess.
 

danowat

Banned
He's certainty abrasive but I've seen a lot of Austin's contributions on WMD2 and he definitely knows his stuff. I honestly believe he's fully objective about pCARS 2, certainly more so than some of the blinkered sychophants there who are like grovelling lap-dogs. Honestly, the way they defend absolutely anything is embarrassing, and actually harmful to the game. Luckily it's only a few. That's people, I guess.

Are we talking about the same PRC?

edit : Ok, I've just read some of the review, so he isn't the completely negative bellend he once was, that doesn't change my opinion of what he writes, in fact it reinforces it.
 
this Simracing Girl channel with a ridiculous video-count / subscriber ratio has reviewed nothing but products of companies she worked for (except for the TS-PC racer maybe, not sure, not following that story really).
SimRacingGirl has not worked for any of these companies. She was sponsored by Vesaro, and continued to receive various pieces of hardware from Vesaro, Fanatec and Thrustmaster for review.
 
SimRacingGirl has not worked for any of these companies. She was sponsored by Vesaro, and continued to receive various pieces of hardware from Vesaro, Fanatec and Thrustmaster for review.
I think she worked for Fanatec on an Expo right before her channel got the first videos and immediately skyrocketed. Also... I can't believe she just got sent that $2000+ vesaro rig, without having made any PC sim racing videos before (console only before, I think??!).But we're off topic and I'm somewhat talking out of my ass, quoting comment sections from virtialR or bsim or whatever plus our beloved Austin, so I'd rather not lean further out of the window than necessary here.
 
I would love to have content ready, but we've had a bottleneck with lots of racing releases together and a staff shortage, so I've been running VVV on my own for two months.

Filming my initial thoughts today, not a full review, that will take a month for Martin to finish.

Yikes, well thanks for letting us know what's up. We're pretty pumped for your review.
 
I think she worked for Fanatec on an Expo right before her channel got the first videos and immediately skyrocketed. Also... I can't believe she just got sent that $2000+ vesaro rig, without having made any PC sim racing videos before (console only before, I think??!).But we're off topic and I'm somewhat talking out of my ass, quoting comment sections from virtialR or bsim or whatever plus our beloved Austin, so I'd rather not lean further out of the window than necessary here.
She never worked for Fanatec or Vesaro. Source: I worked (briefly) for Vesaro, I was there at the first meeting with her and Nevil.

I know it is hard to believe that a relative unknown sim racing personality would receive such a sponsorship, but that is literally what happened.
 

Falchion

Member
I felt burned by the first one playing on console with a controller so I'll probably wait and just try to grab this on sale later on.
 
She never worked for Fanatec or Vesaro. Source: I worked (briefly) for Vesaro, I was there at the first meeting with her and Nevil.

I know it is hard to believe that a relative unknown sim racing personality would receive such a sponsorship, but that is literally what happened.
Puts her in pretty different light for me, thanks. Somehow I remember a picture of her at a Fanatec booth wearing something official posted somewhere, but I'm too lazy to look that up, could really be the picture was used out of context to make false accusation out of envy and a general misogynistic mindset.
Not sure that you can be 100% sure, but everyone else's story is much more likely to be made up, so I'm just gonna trust you on this one.
 

VVV Mars VG

Member
In a short sentence (if possible)?

Putting it all together in the video, in context, it's going to be a frank discussion much like the podcasts where I just chat about what I've seen so far. Key focus will be on controller input and bugs besides an overall view of the game. Haven't tested online or esports stuff, will come back to that when its up and we've had the final day 1 patch.
 
Putting it all together in the video, in context, it's going to be a frank discussion much like the podcasts where I just chat about what I've seen so far. Key focus will be on controller input and bugs besides an overall view of the game. Haven't tested online or esports stuff, will come back to that when its up and we've had the final day 1 patch.

Hopefully you can give some context beyond the bugs. The issue that's happening is we have nothing but bug talk here, yet the review scores are in the Mid-80s, with places like IGN giving a 9.2. Clarity and context is what this thread needs (not saying you exist for these forums).
 

Bydobob

Member
Hmm, I was going to purchase this day one. I was a massive fan of PCars despite its many flaws but with Forza 7 just around the corner I'm very hesitant to spend money on two racing games in basically a month. PCars 2 certainly isn't reviewing badly but the lack of polish is concerning, it was more forgivable with PCars because it was their first attempt at a serious racer.

Pretty much where I sit. Not seeing a lot to get excited about over the first game, apart from better FFB. Huge car rosters and race types are a bit wasted on me, I tend to find a handful I like and try and master them. I'm also having a genuinely hard time noticing any visual improvements. What am I missing?
 

Mascot

Member
Did anyone catch today's looooong live Q&A with a tipsy Ian Bell and some Australian dude on YouTube? I had the day off so was listening to it relaxing in the garden after getting back from a MTB ride.

It was utterly fascinating. Ian came across as a really warm and intelligent guy, and a totally natural orator with a great speaking voice. He's led quite an interesting life. He gave some great insight into the history of the company, their dealings with EA, the development of both pCARS games and previous titles, the state of the industry, his pirating of films (!), and loads more. He was very frank and forthright throughout. He also plays a mean guitar..!

It was a live stream so I'm not sure how the link will now work or where it'll start, but here it is:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uS2OKUrbh-w

Edit: ah, just seen it was discussed in the other thread.
 
So are we thinking the launch patches will sort some of these bugs out? I'll be playing on Pro so the performance doesn't sound like it will be an issue. Most of Eurogamer's issues in their review seemed to be with bugs, but they're reviewing the game before a huge patch, no?
 
Did anyone catch today's looooong live Q&A with a tipsy Ian Bell and some Australian dude on YouTube? I had the day off so was listening to it relaxing in the garden after getting back from a MTB ride.

It was utterly fascinating. Ian came across as a really warm and intelligent guy, and a totally natural orator with a great speaking voice. He's led quite an interesting life. He gave some great insight into the history of the company, their dealings with EA, the development of both pCARS games and previous titles, the state of the industry, his pirating of films (!), and loads more. He was very frank and forthright throughout. He also plays a mean guitar..!
Thanks for the summary, I would have skipped it, but now I'm gonna watch it tomorrow on the side.
Seriously doubt he plays better than Stefano ;DD
 
So are we thinking the launch patches will sort some of these bugs out? I'll be playing on Pro so the performance doesn't sound like it will be an issue. Most of Eurogamer's issues in their review seemed to be with bugs, but they're reviewing the game before a huge patch, no?

I don't think there's agreement on this yet. That being said, it does seem like the bugs are repairable and happen under specific situations (track/car/AI level).
 

Mascot

Member
Thanks for the summary, I would have skipped it, but now I'm gonna watch it tomorrow on the side.
Seriously doubt he plays better than Stefano ;DD

It's well worth a watch for anyone with an interest in sim racing and/or pantomime villains of the industry. I think at least some of what he said might cause a few ripples...

Edit: sound is a bit dodgy and it starts halfway through on that link.
 
So are we thinking the launch patches will sort some of these bugs out? I'll be playing on Pro so the performance doesn't sound like it will be an issue. Most of Eurogamer's issues in their review seemed to be with bugs, but they're reviewing the game before a huge patch, no?
I get the impression that some can be improved but not fixed while others are par for the course depending upon the specific mix of track, cars and weather conditions. From what I've read or heard from Ian Bell, the head of Slightly Mad Studios, the flickering trees are a shadow draw-in issue and can't really be 'fixed'. AI is also 'very very hard' so not sure how much we can expect on that front either.

What really gets me is that these are the kinds of issues that open betas are meant to find and help squash. Did these bugs like the AI in Monaco (both driving in the wet and in smashing up on the first turn) and occasional framerate issues just not come up until now? Or were they noticed by the community of testers and just seen as not a priority to fix before launch?

I think its fair to see this game the way people see the big Bethesda RPGs - as a trade-off between polish and depth or dynamism. Not what I expected going in, but it makes sense considering just how much variety there is in cars, tracks and conditions. Still debating internally whether I value polish and consistency more than the ability to set up races under any conditions I can think of. Am torn, really, because that variety matters, but so does solid performance without tearing.
 
I get the impression that some can be improved but not fixed while others are par for the course depending upon the specific mix of track, cars and weather conditions. From what I've read or heard from Ian Bell, the head of Slightly Mad Studios, the flickering trees are a shadow draw-in issue and can't really be 'fixed'. AI is also 'very very hard' so not sure how much we can expect on that front either.

What really gets me is that these are the kinds of issues that open betas are meant to find and help squash. Did these bugs like the AI in Monaco (both driving in the wet and in smashing up on the first turn) and occasional framerate issues just not come up until now? Or were they noticed by the community of testers and just seen as not a priority to fix before launch?

I think its fair to see this game the way people see the big Bethesda RPGs - as a trade-off between polish and depth or dynamism. Not what I expected going in, but it makes sense considering just how much variety there is in cars, tracks and conditions. Still debating internally whether I value polish and consistency more than the ability to set up races under any conditions I can think of. Am torn, really, because that variety matters, but so does solid performance without tearing.

That's a good write-up of the issue.

I play on Xbox, so I'm stuck between this and F7. I despise the handling of the Forza series, and think the car list is fluff as only a few cars feel unique. I also hate driving on fake courses. It looks like I'll have to live with the bugs, but the positive reviews are leading me to believe that they don't impact the experience too much.
 
I get the impression that some can be improved but not fixed while others are par for the course depending upon the specific mix of track, cars and weather conditions. From what I've read or heard from Ian Bell, the head of Slightly Mad Studios, the flickering trees are a shadow draw-in issue and can't really be 'fixed'. AI is also 'very very hard' so not sure how much we can expect on that front either.

What really gets me is that these are the kinds of issues that open betas are meant to find and help squash. Did these bugs like the AI in Monaco (both driving in the wet and in smashing up on the first turn) and occasional framerate issues just not come up until now? Or were they noticed by the community of testers and just seen as not a priority to fix before launch?

I think its fair to see this game the way people see the big Bethesda RPGs - as a trade-off between polish and depth or dynamism. Not what I expected going in, but it makes sense considering just how much variety there is in cars, tracks and conditions. Still debating internally whether I value polish and consistency more than the ability to set up races under any conditions I can think of. Am torn, really, because that variety matters, but so does solid performance without tearing.

Good points. The other important consideration here is this game was almost certainly built on a fraction of the budget of GT and Forza, and I worry that waiting for a sale indirectly rewards what those games are doing - which in particular in GT's case I really am not a fan of - and punishes what these guys are trying to do, which is to build the diversity and strength of the SP experience (as you say at the cost of polish). Up front purchases is how these teams make most of their money and get to make the next game, and its particularly important given PC is still, in effect, an indie venture (which is pretty remarkable).
 
AI is also 'very very hard' so not sure how much we can expect on that front either.

Well, look at that gigantic jump Assetto Corsa's Ai made with the last patch. Only some small changes,still far from anything really sophisticated, but suddenly you can race with them and even do multi-class races without LMP cars stuck for multiple laps behind a GT3. If the community shows that this is what they want improved, SMS can do it. My fear is though that too many other major bugs will still be identified that will only leave something like two people working on the AI.
 
Good points. The other important consideration here is this game was almost certainly built on a fraction of the budget of GT and Forza, and I worry that waiting for a sale indirectly rewards what those games are doing - which in particular in GT's case I really am not a fan of - and punishes what these guys are trying to do, which is to build the diversity and strength of the SP experience (as you say at the cost of polish). Up front purchases is how these teams make most of their money and get to make the next game, and its particularly important given PC is still, in effect, an indie venture (which is pretty remarkable).

Great point.
 

borges

Banned
Good points. The other important consideration here is this game was almost certainly built on a fraction of the budget of GT and Forza, and I worry that waiting for a sale indirectly rewards what those games are doing - which in particular in GT's case I really am not a fan of - and punishes what these guys are trying to do, which is to build the diversity and strength of the SP experience (as you say at the cost of polish). Up front purchases is how these teams make most of their money and get to make the next game, and its particularly important given PC is still, in effect, an indie venture (which is pretty remarkable).

I understand your point, but nevertheless, Ill go for the game that I think its better. Cant weight on the equation the point you made.
 
ACG mentioned it in his review, and offered up a video to show it in action.

Ian Bell said (on the GTPlanet forums) that its impossible to have 3D trees in an environment with so many dynamic (non-baked) elements without the shadows drawing in at some point, and that there's no way to avoid it entirely considering their priorities.

He also said it was only limited to replays, which isn't the case, and that a patch is coming (or is here already?) that improves things.
 
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