This topic in any forum or thread has been moving at lightning speed, as if it had magic tires during a rainstorm...
It is taking me days to catch up... I am still trying to. But during this time I was able to ponder and reflect on what is happening and what you all have been discussing about.
Before I explain myself, please find here an article I think is really well written:
http://demo1garage.com/gaming/project-cars-3-this-is-not-a-simulation/
I apologized in advance for quoting posts from a few days ago, and things may have moved on already, but I still want to share and offer my point of view.
I will try my best to avoid repeating what has been said already, but again I want to share what I think is correct, or at least what would best help me to accept the situation:
Are you saying you consider yourself and us all here to have to same taste as the Forza fans?
Eww.. how dare you...
So whatever Forza fans are ok with, then I should be ok with?
I don't think it is a good analogy there...
And,
Although it may seem that SMS has gone backward but it's not correct either, at least from their point of view.
Clearly they have changed and the direction taken is slightly different. I suppose in fact that SMS have taken a fast forward approach, one that clearly has taken all of us by surprised, and SMS probably see themselves as being a leader on this...
Better or worse, we need to see more.
SMS is probably tired of not making enough money despite their effort to be the most affordable sim racer out there, therefore they have decided to scratch all that, and chase where the money is... NFS crowd, and the Crew type.
Is there really money there ?? I personally don't know
If they are trying to get the crowd from the Grid, that's big mistake, seeing how a financial failure that was.
This whole story about magically morphing tires is analogous to the switch from manual car to automatics in real life...
The bean counters saw how much more profitable it is to produce and to offer only automatics, and therefore screw the manual cars, instead it is more profitable to cater to the population who can't be bothered.
Let the manual fan become elitists and let them go elsewhere.
SMS clearly choose to give up and take the easy way out.
Clearly if EA is able to survive this long with the non realistic NFS, it pains me to say that they are doing something right despite me not supporting them... So SMS is now chasing that same crowd ..
But maybe deep down SMS isn't too crazy, they saw an opportunity to nest themselves right in the middle of NFS/The Crew and Forza/GT...
I personally don't play NFS because of that ridiculous car handling physics and fake dynamics, but if all that were fixed, with a PCars model underneath, I can see myself "having fun" that way, if I am totally honest with myself.... "Pitless fun" ...
Did I just coined a new term?
Pitless Racing Fun ?!
As someone I quoted below has said, you can race anything, even running, and motorsport can be of any type.
But when talking about cars, racing is motorsport and vice versa on most cases.
With the exception of Drift competition, which is not racing but is a motorsport.
You say that we need to see how successful PC3 will be before we can say whether they have move forward or backward, but I disagree....
Whether they succeed or failed has not doesn't say or qualify their directions.
It all depends on how many people like what they do.
They could be very successful for going backwards.
And that may exactly be what SMS want.
Monetary rewards and success without the headaches.
Who can blame them for earning a living, even if it is not an honorable one...
Chasing the NFS crowd seems to work for EA, surprisingly/unfortunately/thankfully (depending where you stand).
After much reflection on my part, what I think SMS did is:
They have given us the most ideal situation for racing for any given scenario or condition.
SMS has taken the best tidbits from all motorsport racing games out there and has removed all the annoyances of racing out.
The question they probably asked themselves is: what can we do to help people race nonstop, they way people do in NFS and The Crew and still get a decent simulation....
This way they can capture both the crowds from NFS, The Crew, Forza and GT.
SMS knew or suspect that we wouldn't necessarily leave either one of these titles, but that we would own multiple titles, like do: GT, PCars, F1....
PC3: the best all worlds, without any of the annoyances or inconveniences.
You gotta wrong... It's the other way around...
Your statement should read:
pCars is not only for racing fans, it is for motorsport fans...
I guess the Forza Motorsport title at makes sense after all..
As much as I disagree with the direction taken by SMS here and agree with what you say.... And as much as I hate to say it:
I somehow think maybe SMS isn't as dumb as they appears to be
It's clearly a wild bet they have...
It's sad for us to lose such a big aspect of racing, but not a big loss for Motorsport Fun Fans...
I think I am willing to give it a chance, but definitely it will not replace Gran Turismo as I was Secretly hoping for...
My allegiance to Kaz and PD remains for now.
While I agree with everything you say, upon further reflection, I believe the "promises" they have made to us for the first two Project Cars were mainly thrown out of the window in pursuit of money, and financial rewards.
But obviously they cannot come out and say it that way.
I suspect it wasn't easy for the SMS to continue on that path without more financial support that (my guess) Bandai was not willing to put out for .... Therefore the acquisition and take over by Cody.
As much as I hate Cody, but I think we all should be glad that SMS team is saved by Cody, although the future doesn't necessarily look as bright either from where we stand, because:
Knowing Codemasters, They won't let SMS do whatever SMS want.
There might be more financial support with Cody than from Bandai, but AT the same time, there will be less freedom with Codemasters than with Bandai....
One step forward and one step backwards.
From SMS's perspective, that may be their only choice for survival....
There probably
was some pressure from Bandai to succeed with the next PCars or die.
Certainly SMS had the data and knew they if they continue the same model (catering to us the racing sim crowd), it would mean and be their death, so they had to jump ship and compromise :
1) by providing an experience for a wider crowd
2) by willing to be acquired by CM, and postponing their demise to a later time.... Or not...
It's a bet for SMS,and together with them we all have to share the risks and the compromise made during these particular trial times...
The world is hanging on a thread as we speak due to the pandemic and social is unrest (rightfully so), but SMS's difficult situation has been for at least a year if not more than now already....
They have been on survival mode before we are now....
We all continue to hope that the upcoming PCars 3 will be what we racing sim fans have been waiting for, but i tell you, we may have unfortunately no choice like we have no choice in the death of the manual cars in real life... Sad to say....
The fact that SMS is now joined with Codemasters paints an even gloomier outlook for a proper follow up to PCaRS 2 in a shape of PCars 4 on the next gen in 2024...
As much as I want and you hope for....I highly doubt it, especially if PC3 becomes very successful, there is no way CM will want to deviate from the new pitless formula.
And if PC3 fails financially, then I fear SMS will be broken up and divided into the different CM conglomerate....
Sorry to paint such a gloomy outlook... That's me being optimistic, or rather my realistic point of view I should say...
Enjoy it while it last boys and girls...
GT will continue to be the best for us console Racing sim players, and I have no objection to it..
And
We will continue to demand more from whoever can provide it to us...
It's like meth.... We are not tied to a provider... Lol
Edit:
After saying all this, I still don't understand why they cant provide us pits as options... All that is already baked in...
Instead giving us magic carpets and tires....
Bait and switch?!