Project CARS 2 General Discussion Thread - Out Now on PS4/XB1/PC

[Masscot]

The career mode could offer more of a sense of progression, purpose, or personality but retain a seasonal motorsports format. I appreciate the inherent added depth of race weekends like @breyzipp mentioned, but when the big picture of it all is more or less meaningless and impersonal, there's limited motivation to dive that far into making every race count. Earning credits to buy cars isn't the only other direction to go; there could be accomplishments that mean more than checking off a box, or a career format that rewards time spent with any vehicle of your choice.

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 (and earning some abstract 'XP' or 'credits' while doing so), you aren't progressing.

I posted the following elsewhere but I'd urge anyone to give it a go. It takes dedication and won't be for everyone but if you have the availability, time and patience, and are willing to play the long game to reap benefits, 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.

 

[MroczMR]

@IanBell Are all new tracks for PCars 2 are real/licensed, or some of them are non licensed? I really liked your ideas of tracks. I hope there will be more road tracks, like cote'd'azur or California They are really great for warmup in street car

 

[05XR8]

Cleaned up OP and created separate threads for car/track lists.

Loving the new place. 👍

 

[The Owl]

Some have been trying to add me to their friends list over at steam, don't take me wrong i'm always up for a chat but i tend to avoid this so it does not disrupt my daily work.

Cool article by Redbull with some new info: https://www.redbull.com/au-en/project-cars-2-hands-on-preview-how-its-holding-up

 

[breyzipp]

I'd liked to have had an official Suzuka. But I'm not paying that sort of money for it.

I often wonder what sort of marketing angle they expect by pricing themselves out of the market. It makes zero sense to me. Surely if you have a product then you should embrace everyone who is pushing your product to a huge market.

Our Sakitto track rocks though

I honestly don't understand the cost for licensing these tracks. I mean if I was a track owner and a game developer contacted me to license my track into their game I'd let them do it for free, after all it would be free advertising for my track! The only thing I would prefer to do is to keep an eye on development and have a say there as well, the track would need to represented well enough and deliver a quality representation of the real thing.

This makes me wonder Ian, do ALL track owners ask a price to use their track? Or are some free of costs as well?

 

[jake2013guy]

I honestly don't understand the cost for licensing these tracks. I mean if I was a track owner and a game developer contacted me to license my track into their game I'd let them do it for free, after all it would be free advertising for my track! The only thing I would prefer to do is to keep an eye on development and have a say there as well, the track would need to represented well enough and deliver a quality representation of the real thing.

This makes me wonder Ian, do ALL track owners ask a price to use their track? Or are some free of costs as well?

Especially if I was a smaller track. However, everything comes at a cost and that's how it is and why we're not profitable track owners.

 

[MroczMR]

I honestly don't understand the cost for licensing these tracks. I mean if I was a track owner and a game developer contacted me to license my track into their game I'd let them do it for free, after all it would be free advertising for my track! The only thing I would prefer to do is to keep an eye on development and have a say there as well, the track would need to represented well enough and deliver a quality representation of the real thing.

This makes me wonder Ian, do ALL track owners ask a price to use their track? Or are some free of costs as well?

Yeah great questions. Similar things with cars. I always thought that cars in games, are great commercial for car manufacturers, but they are only making more problems

 

[breyzipp]

Especially if I was a smaller track. However, everything comes at a cost and that's how it is and why we're not profitable track owners.

Somehow I think this coin will flip over in the future. I remember a Dan greenwald interview (Turn 10 - Forza) where he said in the old days they almost had to beg a car brand to include their cars in the Forza series where as today the car brands come to them to ask them to put their cars in the game.

I can see the same thing happening with tracks, but maybe eSports and some big game names need to settle a couple years more.

Suppose Project CARS will be the next big thing in regards to eSports in Japan with millions of players, you bet those pesky Suzuka owners would want their track in it as well, especially if Fuji, Twin Ring Montejo, etc. are all there.

Maybe kind of a question of the chicken and the egg, who wants/needs who the most.

 

[breyzipp]

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 (and earning some abstract 'XP' or 'credits' while doing so), you aren't progressing.

I posted the following elsewhere but I'd urge anyone to give it a go. It takes dedication and won't be for everyone but if you have the availability, time and patience, and are willing to play the long game to reap benefits, 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.

Great post! I can imagine the immersion that comes with it. Every sim racing fan should print this out and hang it as a poster above their bed.

 

[jake2013guy]

Somehow I think this coin will flip over in the future. I remember a Dan greenwald interview (Turn 10 - Forza) where he said in the old days they almost had to beg a car brand to include their cars in the Forza series where as today the car brands come to them to ask them to put their cars in the game.

I can see the same thing happening with tracks, but maybe eSports and some big game names need to settle a couple years more.

Suppose Project CARS will be the next big thing in regards to eSports in Japan with millions of players, you bet those pesky Suzuka owners would want their track in it as well, especially if Fuji, Twin Ring Motegi, etc. are all there.

Maybe kind of a question of the chicken and the egg, who wants/needs who the most.

Interesting. However, we're speaking from the point of view of motorsport/game fans and don't know what actually happens in terms of licensing. In an ideal world, we'd have people like that who do these deals on the car company side who see those reasons but it's more likely people in suits trying to get as much money for the content as possible. The same reason why Porsche had an exclusive EA deal.

I'll give an example. Let's say they're trying to get the Jaguar F1 cars into the game. There are 5 modern ones between 2000 and 2004. At the very least, they've got to get the licensing for the cars themselves. Maybe even get the licensing of FOM themselves which is a bigger minefield than Porsche was and probably explains why the F1.08 wasn't included. As opposed to road cars, it's more of a minefield because the car company and the actual builders of the cars may not be the same.

 

[doblocruiser]

@The Owl

Thanks to you as well for answering so many questions concerning PCARS2:tup: Is there anything you can say concerning a photomode?

 

[drspeedy]

@IanBell quick question please , what happened to project cars 1 VRin ps4 ? are you still working on it ?
thank you

 

[Whitestar]

Mr. Bell, thank you very much for tipping your hat to this great community and answering questions here directly.

I just have one: Will you implement proper triple screen support, i.e. 3 screens rendered separately?

I know us 3 screen users are a minority. Would still be great to have this support though.

 

[psychoazubi]

Mr. Bell, thank you very much for tipping your hat to this great community and answering questions here directly.

I just have one: Will you implement proper triple screen support, i.e. 3 screens rendered separately?

I know us 3 screen users are a minority. Would still be great to have this support though.

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2...ficially-breaks-cover-will-support-12k-and-vr

 

[Whitestar]

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2...ficially-breaks-cover-will-support-12k-and-vr

I saw that article yes. Does it mean that those 3 screens will be separately rendered though, so that we can get a proper FOV without distortion?

 

[Dresden]

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 (and earning some abstract 'XP' or 'credits' while doing so), you aren't progressing.


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.

I guess the main reason that Forza does not use the pract/qual/race method is that there is just too many cars to have this sought of career mode. Forza is all about racing a large number of cars in a short period of time, upgrading them and the switching over to the next car you have bought or won. To get through 600 Forza cars you would need to play the game for 5 years and miss out of the next installment. Lol.

I do love that Pcars has a full simulation of a professional career and it works well with the different categories. The only thing that turned my off the career was the scripted weather. A custom championship mode is seriously needed to fully enjoy the offline part.

These days I use solo race more. I set up 2 hour practice, 45 min qualify and 15 lap race.

Unfortunately I cannot save after qualify and have to head straight into the race.

The advantage to using career is that you can save the game and let the moment build up.

 

[jake2013guy]

Quick question for @IanBell or @The Owl regarding solo races/career mode.

Has the random weather aspect been improved to allow for non-scripted weather in career mode or simply variable weather in races or is this still the case?

Seeing as you've updated many parts of the game from what we've seen, I would be surprised to see anything else but i'll cope.

 

[OooAhh Cantona]

Quick question for @IanBell or @The Owl regarding solo races/career mode.

Has the random weather aspect been improved to allow for non-scripted weather in career mode or simply variable weather in races or is this still the case?

Seeing as you've updated many parts of the game from what we've seen, I would be surprised to see anything else but i'll cope.

Or allow weather to be a customizable option per race (like AI difficulty and race length).

 

[jake2013guy]

Or allow weather to be a customizable option per race (like AI difficulty and race length).

Or both? I'd rather have a variable weather system like the F1 games than being able to customise the weather but the option would be great for a manual synchronisation with real weather for non-PC.

 

[Telstar]

Quick question for @IanBell or @The Owl regarding solo races/career mode.

Has the random weather aspect been improved to allow for non-scripted weather in career mode or simply variable weather in races or is this still the case?

Seeing as you've updated many parts of the game from what we've seen, I would be surprised to see anything else but i'll cope.

I second that. Increases the replay value of the game a lot.

Something else that recently came to my mind because it had been talked about during pCARS1: Will there be a mid-race save feature in pCARS2?

 

[NaRP]

No words about RX Championship. i think/hope it will be a future announcement.
RX Tracks : Done : Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, Hockenheimring
Others :
- PORTUGAL - Montalegre
- BELGIUM - Circuit Jules Tacheny
- GB - Lydden Hill
- NORWAY - hell
- SWEDEN - Holjes Motorstadion
- CANADA - Grand Prix de Trois-Rivieres
- FRANCE - Lohéac
- LATVIA - Bikernieki National Sports Base
- GERMANY - Estering
- SOUTH AFRICA - Killarney International Raceway

Ice Challenge:

Do you think about ice challenge called 'Andros trophee' (http://www.tropheeandros.com/ ?
personally, not very convinced that there is a public for that

 

[jake2013guy]

I second that. Increases the replay value of the game a lot.

Something else that recently came to my mind because it had been talked about during pCARS1: Will there be a mid-race save feature in pCARS2?

To be honest, that's the one thing preventing me from doing the endurance series. A mid race save feature would be brilliant for career mode endurance series. For example, if they added a championship like the crazy Creventic 24h Series.

 

[thuGG]

@IanBell @The Owl

Will wind be connected to driving physics? Will it affect the cars behaviour?

 

[jake2013guy]

@IanBell @The Owl

Will wind be connected to driving physics? Will it affect the cars behaviour?

I don't think they'd have added it otherwise. Looking for mistake excuses already?

 

[thuGG]

I don't think they'd have added it otherwise. Looking for mistake excuses already?

No, that was genuine question. Would be great to have a sim with complete weather simulation including wind.

 

[jake2013guy]

No, that was genuine question. Would be great to have a sim with complete weather simulation including wind.

I know. I just answered saying they wouldn't have done it if it didn't have a physical effect. And joked about a gust of wind.

 

[Masscot]

@IanBell @The Owl

Will wind be connected to driving physics? Will it affect the cars behaviour?

I definitely heard somewhere that cross-winds will be felt, but I imagine tail winds will slightly increase speed but reduce downforce, and head winds will slightly reduce speed and increase downforce. I'm just wondering if wind can be gusty, and change direction. I imagine it will.

Every race track has a wind sock so it's great that a developer has finally realised why.

 

[MroczMR]

@IanBell Can we expect to see more info about content etc. Before E3, or After?

 

[Bealdor]

@IanBell @The Owl

Will wind be connected to driving physics? Will it affect the cars behaviour?

It already did in PCARS 1.

 

[bramvanuytven]

@IanBell :
1 Can you make it possible to change our online race name , I made my playstation account years ago , but want something more original. :-)
2 If i set up an online race , can you expand the option public/private to public/private/friends (and friends of friends).
so friends who start later can find the race instead of 1 person has to invite everyone everytime over and over.
3 I only started 6 months ago with project cars en bougt the goty edition , so al the stuff for a good price , but can you make a deal , so people who start the new game , pay a little bit more en can get the DLC's for "free"?
It is cheaper to buy the whole game again then buy all the stuff one by one.
4 Karting Genk and Mariembourg in Belgium would be nice :-)
Best game/simulator so far for me! keep up the good work!