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

[Meltac]

Hey all, I recently got PC2 on PS4, but I'm struggling with finding some "good" controller setup. Been playing mainly GT7 in the past two years, so my experience and exceptions might be biased, but also games such as DriveClub, Grid Legends, WTC, V-Rally 4 and the NFS titles all seem to behave totally different from PC2, controller-wise. I even dunno where to start fiddling with the setup as the cars behave so weird. I tend to miss every single corner apex or even crash into the wall while cornering all the time (or going so slow through the corners that I lose every race).

Of course it's basically me doing something wrong and I'm aware of that. But it would help incredibly to have at least some "foolproof" beginner setup to start with, something which makes the game easy to control to get into it before refining the settings through the progress while becoming a better driver. Any hints?

 

[Beezer215]

If you type in and search "project cars 2 controller settings", numerous yootoob videos show up. It's not too hard to get going on controller but from what I remember the settings aren't ready to go by default.

 

[Meltac]

If you type in and search "project cars 2 controller settings", numerous yootoob videos show up. It's not too hard to get going on controller but from what I remember the settings aren't ready to go by default.

Thank you. I've tried several settings from various videos yesterday. However, after more than an hour I still didn't find a really well drivable setup.

Many posters note the importance of speed sensitivity. I've played a long time with this one, along with other settings in combination. If the speed sensitivity is set to 100 or near that value the car is as stable as possible, but still twitchy, while there's lot of understeering in corners. Lower values allow better cornering with less understeering but make the car very unstable on straights. Some steering deadzone and low steering sensitivity don't help here either. Neither does any controller damping setting.

So I'm still unable to get a setup where the car is stable on high speed straights while not understeering in corners. Is that maybe just the default behaviour in PC2? The AI cars often take corners very, very slowly, so it might just be the way to go, but I'm not sure.

 

[Mr Grumpy]

Thank you. I've tried several settings from various videos yesterday. However, after more than an hour I still didn't find a really well drivable setup.

Many posters note the importance of speed sensitivity. I've played a long time with this one, along with other settings in combination. If the speed sensitivity is set to 100 or near that value the car is as stable as possible, but still twitchy, while there's lot of understeering in corners. Lower values allow better cornering with less understeering but make the car very unstable on straights. Some steering deadzone and low steering sensitivity don't help here either. Neither does any controller damping setting.

So I'm still unable to get a setup where the car is stable on high speed straights while not understeering in corners. Is that maybe just the default behaviour in PC2? The AI cars often take corners very, very slowly, so it might just be the way to go, but I'm not sure.

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

Review of the latest (Oct/No last year) PopsRacingFFB files, while past ones have improved things, the latest ones are a significant game changer. Unfortunately, this will only help those on PC, no customer FFB files for console.

www.gtplanet.net

Click the link above....

A couple of added points, try to use authentic car settings in the realism options, ie if a car has tc/abs/sc in real life then it'll use them, personally I'll turn off stability control not matter what as it increases understeer.

What camera view do you use, cockpit, bonnet or 3rd person?

Also what cars are you driving mainly, road or race?

Turn off tyre wear & fuel consumption for now so you can concentrate on just having fun until you get used to it, however just because tyre wear is off you can still overheat them, if they get to hot then you're going to oversteer/understeer all over the place, try setting the track to cooler season like spring instead of summer & don't use soft slicks as they're only good for qualifying, turn off damage & mechanical damage as well.

The AI are terrible for a couple of laps until they sort themselves out, do rolling starts to help with AI first corner pile ups.

The higher the AI skill the faster they take corners (after the initial 1st lap shenanigans)

If you're under steering then your going to fast for the corner, maybe your smashing the brakes & unsettling the car, brake slightly earlier & smoother, release the brake trigger slowly, trail braking is needed in PC2 otherwise you'll end up facing the wrong way, smooth is key.

PC2 isn't like all the games you mentioned above, it doesn't hold your hand, it's brutal, raw & unrestricted but once you get the hang of it you can start to enjoy the immersion this sim brings.

This isn't a game made to go from last to first in 3 laps, or chase the rabbit, you'll probably make a lot of positions in a couple of laps until the AI sort themselves out then spend the rest of the race fighting for a couple of places & hopefully get in the top 10

Make no mistake, it's made for a wheel & pedals 1st, controller 2nd but still enjoyable.

 

[AttackDickie]

Thank you. I've tried several settings from various videos yesterday. However, after more than an hour I still didn't find a really well drivable setup.

Many posters note the importance of speed sensitivity. I've played a long time with this one, along with other settings in combination. If the speed sensitivity is set to 100 or near that value the car is as stable as possible, but still twitchy, while there's lot of understeering in corners. Lower values allow better cornering with less understeering but make the car very unstable on straights. Some steering deadzone and low steering sensitivity don't help here either. Neither does any controller damping setting.

So I'm still unable to get a setup where the car is stable on high speed straights while not understeering in corners. Is that maybe just the default behaviour in PC2? The AI cars often take corners very, very slowly, so it might just be the way to go, but I'm not sure.

I was gonna say yesterday, you're never gonna find a controller setup that suits every car imo. Can you drive the Ginetta Junior OK? If yes, then it's not really the controller settings but rather the car set ups. Which are easy to tune thanks to the engineer. I haven't played for a while, but I recall a lot of times it was just the cars oversteering or having the TC on and that causing me to spin out on kerbs. Worse case you could just use the stability aid.

 

[Mr Grumpy]

I was gonna say yesterday, you're never gonna find a controller setup that suits every car imo. Can you drive the Ginetta Junior OK? If yes, then it's not really the controller settings but rather the car set ups. Which are easy to tune thanks to the engineer. I haven't played for a while, but I recall a lot of times it was just the cars oversteering or having the TC on and that causing me to spin out on kerbs. Worse case you could just use the stability aid.

I personally find the LSD settings the biggest factor to curb pull in PC2, once slightly adjusted & setup correctly you can ride the curbs on & off throttle without spinning out.

But yeah like you say there's no one size fits all in PC2.

 

[Meltac]

Thanks for all your hints guys, I'll check them out - and keep practicing

EDIT:
By now I have primarily been trying with both GT3 and road cars from custom race menu. No fuel consumption or tire wear so far. I wanted to get controller settings "right" before starting a career or tuning cars.

Also I had chosen PC2 because I had read a couple of times that it would be kind of similar to GT7 - not harder. I've read that ACC would be harder than GT7 but not PC2 - obviously that assumption was wrong.

 

[kjb]

Both games are “harder” than GT7 but I think both games are enjoyable. When I started in PC2 I used the Ginetta G 5 a lot and other slower cars to get a handle on racing. I also did private testing on tracks I know well like Laguna Seca and LeMans. I also used the driving line for braking points. That helped a lot because I tried to drive like it was GT but it’s not. I hope that helps

 

[Meltac]

Click the link above....

A couple of added points, try to use authentic car settings in the realism options, ie if a car has tc/abs/sc in real life then it'll use them, personally I'll turn off stability control not matter what as it increases understeer.

What camera view do you use, cockpit, bonnet or 3rd person?

Also what cars are you driving mainly, road or race?

Thanks again, I've tried a couple of those settings and finally found a setup that feels good at least with race cars. Key in my case was lowering the speed sensivity to 80% instead of what some ppl mention near to 100% which causes too much understeering in my opinion. Road cars mostly seem to behave much less stable so I might need to increase that value on those.

I'm a hood addict, I need to use hood camera view in every game - if there's no hood, the game is deinstalled immediately

PC2 isn't like all the games you mentioned above, it doesn't hold your hand, it's brutal, raw & unrestricted but once you get the hang of it you can start to enjoy the immersion this sim brings.

This isn't a game made to go from last to first in 3 laps, or chase the rabbit, you'll probably make a lot of positions in a couple of laps until the AI sort themselves out then spend the rest of the race fighting for a couple of places & hopefully get in the top 10

Make no mistake, it's made for a wheel & pedals 1st, controller 2nd but still enjoyable.

Understood. Will consider that. Won't buy a wheel, though.

I was gonna say yesterday, you're never gonna find a controller setup that suits every car imo.

That is what I was afraid of. Too bad. Would be nice to switch between a number of custom configs easily instead of adjusting certain values to reflect the car's handling.

 

[Mr Grumpy]

Thanks again, I've tried a couple of those settings and finally found a setup that feels good at least with race cars. Key in my case was lowering the speed sensivity to 80% instead of what some ppl mention near to 100% which causes too much understeering in my opinion. Road cars mostly seem to behave much less stable so I might need to increase that value on those.

I'm a hood addict, I need to use hood camera view in every game - if there's no hood, the game is deinstalled immediately


Understood. Will consider that. Won't buy a wheel, though.

That is what I was afraid of. Too bad. Would be nice to switch between a number of custom configs easily instead of adjusting certain values to reflect the car's handling.

Yeah no worries mate, as I said all we can do is offer our own opinions to guide you towards a usable setup, everyone's going to have different preferences regarding controller settings & you'll find something that fits you.

I like a direct feel, some users on here use the controller damping or less sensitive steering, I used to have speed sensitivity at 75 when I first started playing but found myself scrubbing & overheating the front tyres in longer races causing bad understeer during the race, that's why I use a higher number now but tune the understeer out with car settings.

There will be some corners you just won't be able to take as quick as the AI because they use a basic tyre model compared to the user (that's why they're not affected by large rain puddles) but what you lose in one corner you can gain in others as they're crap on the brakes, slow & mid speed corners you'll catch em but high speed corners they seem to have better grip.

 

[imported_rik19]

Quest 3 pcvr project cars 2 is still amazing..check me here..

 

[Meltac]

Another question: Playing PC2 I get nausea / headache pretty quickly. Haven't had that effect in any other driving / racing game so far, only in certain shooters when FOV was set to high. I've tried adjusting several settings such as FOV, FOV change percentage, camera movements / effects, motion blur, brightness etc. Nothing really helped so far. I have the feeling that after all the camera still "jumps around" too much for my eyes and brain, but I'm not sure. Any ideas?

 

[r_outsider]

Another question: Playing PC2 I get nausea / headache pretty quickly. Haven't had that effect in any other driving / racing game so far, only in certain shooters when FOV was set to high. I've tried adjusting several settings such as FOV, FOV change percentage, camera movements / effects, motion blur, brightness etc. Nothing really helped so far. I have the feeling that after all the camera still "jumps around" too much for my eyes and brain, but I'm not sure. Any ideas?

You're playing on a PS4?

 

[Meltac]

You're playing on a PS4?

Yes, sorry haven't mentioned that. PS4 with Sony Bravia TV.

 

[r_outsider]

Okay, I'm on XBox (3 generations) and PC and use a monitor, but am really sensitive to some games. I usually have to turn off basically all the visual effects and I'm trying to remember the exact term in game, but performance mode allows it to hold a steadier FPS rate than the high visuals mode. On the higher end hardware (Series X and PC) I can turn back on some of the effects but I still stick with performance mode. Also, play around with the FOV a bit, most people run it way too wide I think. There's good online calculators that help.

Might be some TV settings that would help but that will be way different than my monitor. Hopefully more folks chime in here.

 

[Mr Grumpy]

If you don't already it might an idea to pop to the optician & get yourself a pair of specs, I don't need glasses at all to go about my daily business, (drive, work, read etc) but started getting headaches when watching tv. Turned out I have sensitive eyes (something to do with light level intake or some weird thing like that) so now I wear glasses just for viewing only which helps my eyes relax & now I don't get anymore headaches.

But like you it didn't happen all the time, I don't actually need to use them all the time but when I feel it coming on I put my glasses on.

Try not to game in complete darkness or when tired as this will be add to the strain.

 

[IfAndOr]

I have the feeling that after all the camera still "jumps around" too much for my eyes and brain, but I'm not sure..

I see you use hood view. Perhaps trying interior view might help in giving you a more grounded, stable environment.

If you do try interior, use the basic dash cam not the helmet view.
Helmet cam can certainly move around quite considerably. Particularly with "look to apex" enabled - especially so at its extreme settings.

For a standard PS4, as mentioned, performance mode is probably better. Turn off FOV motion/speed/change enhancement (without looking I can't remember what it's called - but it's the bottom few settings). That will stop the view surging backwards and forwards as you speedup and slowdown.

I can suffer from motion sickness in 1st person games but have never experienced it in PC2. Or any other racers to that matter.

 

[r_outsider]

It's migraines that get me, and the main culprit is flickering and an unsteady frame rate. Even at 30fps, I can deal with it, as long as it stays there. Super wide FOV's seem to affect me quire a bit as well, especially when you throw in some stuttering.

Most racing games I can get steady on the equipment I have now but PC1 & 2 back on the OG XB1 and my old PC was just too much. And ACC was too much even on my XSX, although I think they've since done some optimization to fix that.

 

[Meltac]

Many thanks guys for all your hints and comments, will try those recommendations!

Btw, where can I find that "performance mode" on PS4?

 

[Mr Grumpy]

Many thanks guys for all your hints and comments, will try those recommendations!

Btw, where can I find that "performance mode" on PS4?

It's only available for the XB1X & the PS4 Pro version I think. I could be wrong though as I've only ever played it on the 1X & now on the SX

On XB1X or SX you have 3 options, high gfx, high framerate or high resolution (sort of balanced option) this is the one I use as the framerate don't drop on the SX anyway but looks sharper & better than the high gfx setting.

 

[Jtheripper]

It's migraines that get me, and the main culprit is flickering and an unsteady frame rate. Even at 30fps, I can deal with it, as long as it stays there. Super wide FOV's seem to affect me quire a bit as well, especially when you throw in some stuttering.

Most racing games I can get steady on the equipment I have now but PC1 & 2 back on the OG XB1 and my old PC was just too much. And ACC was too much even on my XSX, although I think they've since done some optimization to fix that.

That's strange, on ps5 acc runs super smooth to me, and I'm pretty strict on having 60fps , no stutter, etc.
The helmet cam though, messed me up a lil at 1st, and i used regular cockpit driver pov until now.
It's mostly hard when you veer left right heavily one after the other, making the cockpit bank left right.
But, i tried it a lil longer and got used to it quickly, so immersive, makes you feel the jolts, bounced around, and g forces more, visually at least.

Doesn't to affect too much my times either, for now.

 

[r_outsider]

That's strange, on ps5 acc runs super smooth to me, and I'm pretty strict on having 60fps , no stutter, etc.
The helmet cam though, messed me up a lil at 1st, and i used regular cockpit driver pov until now.
It's mostly hard when you veer left right heavily one after the other, making the cockpit bank left right.
But, i tried it a lil longer and got used to it quickly, so immersive, makes you feel the jolts, bounced around, and g forces more, visually at least.

Doesn't to affect too much my times either, for now.

They did fix ACC eventually and it does run very well on both the PS5 and Xbox Series X, but that ship has sailed, I reinstalled to try it out again but uninstalled it the same day. When it first came out ACC ran like hot garbage on any console. Seriously the worst performing game I have ever played on a console.