Just had my first play on PCars2...PS4

[Pantheons]

Just had my first half hour on PCars2, im only using a controller, but I do like racing games.

There is A LOT of stuff in there. Almost don't know where to start.
Had a practice drive on my own, GT car round a street circuit, feels really responsive.
Had a race didn't end up completely last.

Ive not changed any settings, so its probably helping (aids) me a lot.

1. Is there a standard track and a standard car I can test how bad i am compared to other people?

2. Can you have ghost car on somewhere, so when doing a free drive, you see your best lap ghost?

3. Any suggestions on what i should do to start with?

 

[Sick Cylinder]

I normally suggest Ford Escort RS 1600 Road G as a starter car or Ginetta Junior - try them both at a track you know well - I would try them without aids - they are sufficiently low powered that things should happen slow enough that you can catch them. They are a great starting point.

Welcome to PC2!

 

[Pantheons]

I will try that thanks.
No aids at all, can i have a seat belt?
So just make a random race or start a career?

 

[Bloodytears]

Just had my first half hour on PCars2, im only using a controller, but I do like racing games.

1. Is there a standard track and a standard car I can test how bad i am compared to other people?

2. Can you have ghost car on somewhere, so when doing a free drive, you see your best lap ghost?

3. Any suggestions on what i should do to start with?

Yes, Nürburgring with GT1 class would be fine.

Jokes aside, try something touring, like group A. You can find your place in leaderboard in time trials, it is from where all record laps are shown, game doesn't save your laps from elsewhere. But a problem, you can load only top ghosts, and leaderboard locked on a class, rather than vehicles. In other words, there are top times for GT1, LMP1, Track Day A, and etc.

Start a career, there is an option to have short seasons, try them all, and find your favorites step by step.

 

[Wolfe]

I don't recommend starting a career until you've got things buttoned down, IMO. Custom races or practice sessions will do.

If you've got enough of a handle on the car to know what you'd expect or prefer from the analog stick steering, it might be better to adjust your controller settings sooner rather than later, so you don't have to re-adjust to your custom settings. My settings do well for some people, with or without personal adjustments.

Monza is a very popular track, and not a bad choice for getting started. Mojave is the game's original test track, which provides a variety of corners and situations to try. If you're testing lower-speed maneuvers, the kart tracks provide nonstop corners -- yes, you can drive a car on them. The trick is to select the kart to drive, select the track, and then change to a car (only in solo practice).

The slower Ginettas or Road G are good. I also like the vintage classes; Vintage GT B is a similar driving experience while picking up on pace and grip. Group 4 is really nice (A.K.A. the BMW M1 Procar if you have no DLC).

And welcome to GTPlanet!

 

[Bloodytears]

You need to complete BMW affinity to unlock M1 in custom races. At least it still locked to me.

 

[Mr Grumpy]

yes, you can drive a car on them. The trick is to select the kart to drive, select the track, and then change to a car

Same kind of trick enables you to have a thunderstorm (or any rain) on a snow covered (Xmas day) track.

Select a track that doesn't allow the snow season setting on Xmas day, then choose your rain settings, then change the track back to whatever track you want/know that has the snow season (but don't re-enter the weather settings) & there you have it, thunderstorms on a snow filled nurburgring.

Extra slippery

Wonder if it's possible to do the same trick regarding a non Ferrari at fiorano.

 

[Wolfe]

@Mr Grumpy -- That's a new one I didn't know.

You need to complete BMW affinity to unlock M1 in custom races. At least it still locked to me.

Really? Well, BMW would have been one of the first affinities I went for when I started.

 

[Mr Grumpy]

You need to complete BMW affinity to unlock M1 in custom races. At least it still locked to me.

Not the Group 4 pro car, I made a video with it over a year ago before even starting career.

 

[Bloodytears]

Not the Group 4 pro car, I made a video with it over a year ago before even starting career.

I didn't even knew there two, because it is unavailable in my BMW list, I found out this car in game only in a public gr.4 lobby.

 

[Morgoth_666]

I thought nothing was locked outside of career? Shows what I know. I'm sure I've seen the Procar and I haven't got any affinity with BMW in career. Don't have much affinity with them period, since i've mostly driven slowish cars and the BMW TC and GT4 are so awful.

 

[Mr Grumpy]

There's some confusion here, no car is locked. It's a fully open sandbox game, all cars are available in practice, custom session & online.

There might be restrictions in career, but I haven't got that far & only raced the Ginetta's, Jr upto GT3, a couple of Porsche's & an Aston Martin.

Apart from Ferrari's are the only manufacturer allowed at Pista di Fiorano, which is their test track so that's sort of understandable.

Unless you have accidentally set the default race series rules on but even that would restrict a lot of cars not just the M1.

 

[Wolfe]

I didn't even knew there two...

Yeah, BMW and their geniuses in charge of naming...

The front-engined 1M Coupe is okay in roadcar form and not great in Stanceworks form, IMO. Just one of the cars in PCARS2 that is not well sorted out, I think.

The original M1, appearing in Procar form, is a superb car to drive in this game. It's a favorite around this subforum. 👍

 

[Bloodytears]

Yes, I see now. Probably missunderstood it, because tried invitational gr.4 events, and had there only two cars 924 and 512 Ferrari.

Gr.4 probably one of few classes where I prefer not Porsche, and M1 is one of two only BMW that I really appreciate. Second one is M3 GTR.

 

[Pantheons]

I started a career with goKarts, didn't like that very much.

I was doing laguna street circuit in a GT car (cant remember which), private time trial thing. The record was 1:09 , my best was 1:20 lol
I assume that record was from any car in that class? So picking the best car in that class will give you the best chance for a best time?

Yeah the discarded lap time for going over the track edge a little are harsh, but if thats the rules....

I love the replays, it looks like a real race.

Keen to try monza (love that) and mojave (never heard of that one)

 

[Mr Grumpy]

Mojave.




There's a few other layouts aswell.

 

[Morgoth_666]

I started a career with goKarts, didn't like that very much.

I was doing laguna street circuit in a GT car (cant remember which), private time trial thing. The record was 1:09 , my best was 1:20 lol
I assume that record was from any car in that class? So picking the best car in that class will give you the best chance for a best time?

Yeah the discarded lap time for going over the track edge a little are harsh, but if thats the rules....

I love the replays, it looks like a real race.

Keen to try monza (love that) and mojave (never heard of that one)

Oops yep. That's a thing we all forgot to mention. Don't jump straight into the karts lol. They're okay once you get used to them but they are odd and take some practice... not really like driving much of anything else. Some people come to like them eventually, some people just consider them a chore.

If you want to get through them for career, you'll probably at least want to spend a few minutes practicing each track so you are fully ready when the career jumps you straight into the race. When you have pace you can usually go a good bit faster than the AI, but racing close to them can be quite difficult.

And the usual kart tips... try to brake as little as possible as it unsettles the karts and slows you down very fast, when you don't really need to slow down very much in those little things --- try to roll into the corners a bit and steer as smoothly as possible while getting back on the throttle as early as you can(can be a little tricky at first with a controller) --- do whatever you can to keep your RPM up so it doesn't bog down so much below I think 25mph or so --- and be very careful about which curbs you hit and how because they're as high as you car is. If you can focus on that you should be okay... until the rain hits. Then you just hang on and deal with it, hoping you have enough points in the other races.

 

[Pantheons]

lol yes that all sounds about right to me. TBH i have no interest in trying the karts anytime soon, too much other good stuff to do.

 

[Wolfe]

I assume that record was from any car in that class? So picking the best car in that class will give you the best chance for a best time?

Yep, leaderboards are limited to broad categories that are dominated by the fastest class in the category. SMS claimed they were told they couldn't divide it up any further on the server, as I understand it.

 

[Morgoth_666]

lol yes that all sounds about right to me. TBH i have no interest in trying the karts anytime soon, too much other good stuff to do.

That's one of the great things about PC2... no shortage of good stuff. Most of us never get to half of it lol.

 

[Pantheons]

Played a couple of hours now. Been on Monza, (thanks for the advise) , GT3, such good fun. Had fun in the rain, half way through a race, everyone else went in for wets, i didnt lol, tried to stay ahead as long as possible.

 

[gregc]

Yep, leaderboards are limited to broad categories that are dominated by the fastest class in the category. SMS claimed they were told they couldn't divide it up any further on the server, as I understand it.

My understanding is that Sony and Microsoft only allow third party devs a limited number of leaderboards for a game (or at least did at the time), not sure of the number but a couple of thousand is ringing a bell. Including DLC pCARS2 has 234 cars and 151 track layouts, which would mean 35334 leaderboards to cover every car/track combination.

/Offtopic...

 

[Chikane_GTR]

Mojave.




There's a few other layouts aswell.

To this day i'm still so mad that they didn't include the full version of mojave so much so that its still the only track in my 3 years with pcars 2 that i been to only once and that was back when the game came out.

 

[Morgoth_666]

To this day i'm still so mad that they didn't include the full version of mojave so much so that its still the only track in my 3 years with pcars 2 that i been to only once and that was back when the game came out.

I'm the same, except I only just started to play around with it right before quitting to move to PC2. Never really got to learn it. There were several different configurations that didn't get carried over as well as the full test track playground version.

 

[Wolfe]

Maybe PCARS3 opened up enough overhead to restore Mojave to how it was in PCARS1.

 

[Bloodytears]

That's one of the great things about PC2... no shortage of good stuff. Most of us never get to half of it lol.

Never drove on Mojave, for example.

 

[Pantheons]

ok my google drive video embed didnt work, so i'll try youtube instead....



me in trouble after not going in for wet tyres half way through a race, hilarious.