Project CARS 3 Launches to Mixed Reviews

[Donnced]

Indeed. This game cannot be reviewed from a sim perspective, so long as we ignore Ian's initial words of course.

Still, he was a PC1 backer. He had no initial disdain for SMS..., until he end up having, so his review and the review of many others from the sim community (90% of them hate SMS remember) shouldn't be taken as even accurate in what it comes as a dissapointment of a game.

Another story and where they are right is the subject about recycled content, which is full PC2 repacked with some more tracks and that would be all, with just the tunning extras and little more. That's where I think PC3 fails, and makes me wonder what the heck they have been doing for these long three years?

As you are Spanish, taak a look on this opinion, his first impressions were quite good, but after playing more he came to this questions, and I'm mostly ok with his reflection.

 

[MroczMR]

In regards to the “all the sim you could want” comment, I am scratching my head. They made a game for people who don’t want a sim. More power to them. But to try to also rope in the sim crowd is very unfortunate. Anyone who is into sims will probably have some reservations about this game. Yet people who don’t want a sim may have been scared off from reading that and just assumed this is another hardcore game where a wheel is a must.

Yeah that was totaly strange move by them. I don't understand why they tried to keep up with "simcrowd marketing" it is clearly not game for them. Unfortunately this only damaged their reputation and nobody will believe them now.

 

[wolf4263]

Project CARS 3 has been developed the casual racer who enjoys pick up and play racing. The hard core sim racing community are feeling betrayed that SMS have moved to a more profitable user base, which was to be expected. Also, it would not surprise me in the least if SMS dropped support for pCARS 3 after 12 months like they did with pCARS 2.

 

[MroczMR]

Project CARS 3 has been developed the casual racer who enjoys pick up and play racing. The hard core sim racing community are feeling betrayed that SMS have moved to a more profitable user base, which was to be expected. Also, it would not surprise me in the least if SMS dropped support for pCARS 3 after 12 months like they did with pCARS 2.

If it is more profitable we will see. For now game is getting worse reception than Pcars 2 so it can damage sell numbers.

 

[T0MMY3688]

Yeah that was totaly strange move by them. I don't understand why they tried to keep up with "simcrowd marketing" it is clearly not game for them. Unfortunately this only damaged their reputation and nobody will believe them now.

SMS still see it as a sim and Ian Bell own reason for it is GP Legend and many other sims never have tire wear as well:


And Ian got questioned about pit stops and tire wear for future games:

 

[Calmlity]

The title should be "Project Cars 3: The Arcade"

 

[oneloops]

As you are Spanish, taak a look on this opinion, his first impressions were quite good, but after playing more he came to this questions, and I'm mostly ok with his reflection.

His arguments are based in labeling again and only in the easy career mode.

People don't have to choose only between arcade or sim. I played the grid demo and had no fun at all, I was driving thinking in other things, the game didn't reward my focus, as it didn't matter for the result if I was sliding or crashing... no good sensations with good driving techniques neither.

I'm not sure but PC3 could keep my focus on driving well if it rewards clean lines and good driving techniques with good car reactions, good sensations and better laptimes.

And as I don't care too much about car setups, it could fit the way many people and I enjoy driving.

Project CARS 3 has been developed the casual racer who enjoys pick up and play racing. The hard core sim racing community are feeling betrayed that SMS have moved to a more profitable user base, which was to be expected. Also, it would not surprise me in the least if SMS dropped support for pCARS 3 after 12 months like they did with pCARS 2.

I've never agreeded the argument that a racing game have to be casual and not hardcore in order to get a "more profitable user base".

As easy as let turn off or on aids, open races and lobbys or with restrictions, daily race A with boost (as gt sport does), etc for keeping both kind of users and everyone in between.

Dirt4 and 2.0 have sim mode and arcade mode too, the user can choose.

The choose between arcade or sim is no sense to me when they can let custom everything and I hope there will be tyre wear, fuel consumption, etc in a patch because all can be compatible now.

 

[Chikane_GTR]

The title should be "Project Cars 3: The Arcade"

So original

 

[MroczMR]

SMS still see it as a sim and Ian Bell own reason for it is GP Legend and many other sims never have tire wear as well:


And Ian got questioned about pit stops and tire wear for future games:

This is why i think their PR is garbage. It is misleading. It clearly isn't sim title anymore.

 

[David Wright]

SMS still see it as a sim and Ian Bell own reason for it is GP Legend and many other sims never have tire wear as well:

Ian really is grasping at straws. GPL didn't have tyre wear because in 1967 the tyres lasted for the full length of the race and grip didn't drop off. GPL didn't have pitstops because F1 back in 1967 didn't have pitstops. But GPL does have a pitlane you drive down. It does have fuel use, tyre temperature, damage, practice and qualifying. It does a pretty good job of simulating the race series its supposed to simulate.

 

[T0MMY3688]

This is why i think their PR is garbage. It is misleading. It clearly isn't sim title anymore.

The PR is garbage but they believe pCARS 3 in this state is still a sim. I don't think any kind of good/smart PR could fix it when the team believes what is a sim is largely different to the community expectation.

 

[Rob192005]

So many mixed thoughts here,seems I'm going to have to see for myself if I like it or not..

 

[Johan]

Regarding that last review.

I honestly can't understand why people praise this kind of career mode.
The career mode PCARS 2 had wasn't perfect. It could be quite "depthless" and needed some work (to be fair, so did the game itself). But the kind of career mode PCARS 3 has is the kind we've been fed for so many years, it's the typical "get medals, win "championship", unlock next category". And it's not done the way the old great Gran Turismo games did it either. It's just so bland, uninspired and boring.
PCARS 2 gave us something no other game, apart from Codemasters' F1 games, has given us: a CAREER mode. Something that simulates a career of a driver in the world of Motorsport. Going from the lowest ranks to the highest, while participating in endless full seasons and actually contesting for championships season after season as if we were actually racing irl.

That may be just me, nonetheless, but everything PCARS 3 does is so uninspired, it's a game that is just "meh" all around.

TOCA Racedriver had the ”simulated” career mode You describe in 2002/2003.

It was good storytelling, but had one fundamental flaw. As a gamer You were locked in to a preset and non flexible progression.
Exciting the first time around, but after completion it got static as there were no more goals to meet.

The fact i felt the driving less inspiring than previous BTCC-based TOCA-games contributed to me losing interest in it. Seems Codemasters had a hard time developing driving physics for so many different types of racing vehicles, from entry level Open wheelers via supertrucks to top flight touring cars.

Physics aside that diversity in machinery was a strongpoint for the title, however, and the list of real world tracks was nothing short of impressive for it’s day.

So I feel a simulated real world career mode will not suffice. It might even be downright damaging.
If a game is to appear fresh and attractive enough to return to after completion it needs something else, that does not have such an obvious end.

But that is also a matter of preferens, of course.

 

[MroczMR]

TOCA Racedriver had the ”simulated” career mode You describe in 2002/2003.
It was good storytelling, but had one fundamental flaw. As a gamer You were locked to a set and non flexible progression.
Exiting the first time around, but after completion it got static as there were no more goals to meet.

The fact i felt the driving less inspiring than previous BTCC-based TOCA-games contributed to me losing interest in it. Seems Codemasters had a hard time developing driving physics for so many different types of racing vehicles, from entry level Open wheelers via supertrucks to top flight touring cars.

Physics aside that diversity in machinery was a strongpoint for the title, however, and the list of real world tracks was nothing short of impressive for it’s day.

This is why i think the first Racedriver GRID had one of the best career mode in racing games. It was smart way of connecting buying cars etc, with race driver type of progression. Having to start our own team with hiring teammates and signing up sponsors was great. If they expanded upon it, add car repairs and servicing your cars each race, leveling up your pit crew to make pitstops faster with less mistakes etc. it would fit Project Cars perfectly. I hope they will take this kind of route next time.

I would definately accept Project Cars 4 with this kind of career mode even with simplified physics.

 

[Scaff]

A six from IGN...



...they are not impressed by the shift in focus from the past two titles (which IGN rated highly) to what they describe as a non-essential title that is a mish-mash of ideas taken from other, better titles.

"Impossible to recommend to fans of Project CARS 2, Project CARS 3 is a total 180 for the series. It’s easy to pick up and play and the racing here is robust enough for some casual thrills and spills, but ultimately it cribs from so many other racing games that racing gamers probably already own that it’s simply inessential."

https://www.ign.com/articles/projec...RS 3 is a,sized racing and driving challenges.

 

[Matt Stephens]

A six from IGN...



...they are not impressed by the shift in focus from the past two titles (which IGN rated highly) to what they describe as a non-essential title that is a mish-mash of ideas taken from other, better titles.

Massive ouch! To be honest I thought IGN would be one of the reviewers that would chuck heaps of praise on the game and have easily given it something ridiculous like an 8.8-9 out of 10. Very surprised by that one. They even gave Grid 2019 a 8/10.

 

[MaccaUeno]

I was tempted to get this but the past few days seeing the graphical issues and now the confirmation of a couple of recent video reviews I think I'm out... money will be saved towards a PS5

A six from IGN...



...they are not impressed by the shift in focus from the past two titles (which IGN rated highly) to what they describe as a non-essential title that is a mish-mash of ideas taken from other, better titles.

"Impossible to recommend to fans of Project CARS 2, Project CARS 3 is a total 180 for the series. It’s easy to pick up and play and the racing here is robust enough for some casual thrills and spills, but ultimately it cribs from so many other racing games that racing gamers probably already own that it’s simply inessential."

https://www.ign.com/articles/project-cars-3-review#:~:text=Project CARS 3 is a,sized racing and driving challenges.

The expectation seemed to be the IGN would give it a high review but they just further cemented concerns,
To who ever does buy this, enjoy it and have fun

 

[NLxAROSA]

I bet a lot of reviews would be more positive if they just didn't name this 'Project CARS'. Been playing for the past few days and having a lot of fun with it, but it's just not a sequel to Project CARS 1 and 2. It just isn't. Not that that's bad, but they should have stuck a different name/label to it.

 

[AudiMan2011]

Massive ouch! To be honest I thought IGN would be one of the reviewers that would chuck heaps of praise on the game and have easily given it something ridiculous like an 8.8-9 out of 10. Very surprised by that one. They even gave Grid 2019 a 8/10.

IIRC Luke Reilly is a reviewer who actually knows what he's talking about when it comes to racing games at IGN.

 

[MroczMR]

Damn... IGN is known for being overly calm about their scores usually they give something like 8-9/10 and 6... is really alarming. Also i didn't expect bashing game for being too casual and hating messed car classes from them xD

 

[05XR8]

At this point, I don't feel like buying another almost has this and I can pretend to do that.

Don't think I'm buying an XBox Infinity or whatever the latest one is. Still waiting for the ACC GT4 DLC and Gran Turismo 7. After those, it'll be the BTCC game. I did want to support SMS by getting PC3, but I don't think that's going to be the case this time.

 

[Johan]

This is why i think the first Racedriver GRID had one of the best career mode in racing games. It was smart way of connecting buying cars etc, with race driver type of progression. Having to start our own team with hiring teammates and signing up sponsors was great. If they expanded upon it, add car repairs and servicing your cars each race, leveling up your pit crew to make pitstops faster with less mistakes etc. it would fit Project Cars perfectly. I hope they will take this kind of route next time.

I would definately accept Project Cars 4 with this kind of career mode even with simplified physics.

Indeed. If there is enough sense of 2-way interactivity creating a ”No Fate But What We Make” kind of story. That would be an achievement.

 

[MroczMR]

At this point, I don't feel like buying another almost has this and I can pretend to do that.

Don't think I'm buying an XBox Infinity or whatever the latest one is. Still waiting for the ACC GT4 DLC and Gran Turismo 7. After those, it'll be the BTCC game. I did want to support SMS by getting PC3, but I don't think that's going to be the case this time.

Lets hope next Codemasters project for SMS will be much better than this thing. For me it is Cash grab.

 

[fernandito]

I don't buy the recycled content stories on a majority of games. Of course most of it is going to come back, we had this argument with Dirt Rally, they arent going to waste time going back to remodel everything or give us a list of 200 totally different cars when the list thatvwas there and that PC3 has is very strong.

Tracks, yeah could have done with some more new ones and they've been stung with high license fees kn some that were in PC2, to the point it cannot be put to debate. But again, its a comprehensive list much like PC2 and the track additions will supposedly all be free.

Call me minion of the school of the single mindset, but they're absolutely right on that subject, and cannot be put to debate at all. Game's not worth sixty euros only because of that regardless one may like the new handling or not, let alone in case they're planning to launch tracks like Spa and Lemans and others of capital importance as paid dlc.

The Dirt example does not compute to excuse pc3 policy on this. Vanilla dirt rally stages were at least reworked or adapted to run under dr2 terrain wear system, and the weather conditions for such stages were also updated and expanded further after some updates such is the case of rain for Finland, not just wet surface.

And then they're also right ion what it comes to the graphics. I understand they wanted absolute stability for the console versions this time specially on weather conditions, which passed only by reducing graphical fidelity (and wattered down aspect of the simulation or their direct absence, let's be honest on this as well), but that doesn't mean you're going to be the laziest of the laziest in not optimizing the PC version with proper graphics, specially after three years of development, which got me amazed to say the least. Yeah gameplay is the important thing in the end, but those low fidelity graphics to run well on consoles are ashaming for the PC one. I mean what a straight forward port right?, yeah look that took us three years to develop... no

 

[paulpg87]

After ign review is a total no buy. Not even at 20€.
Wait for ACC gt4 pack on console.

 

[oneloops]

After ign review is a total no buy. Not even at 20€.
Wait for ACC gt4 pack on console.

I've just seen it and it's not so bad points in that review, his conclusion it's like "if you have Grid and PC2, you don't need PC3"... But many people didn't buy PC2 or Grid or both...

 

[David Wright]

PC3 is rising up the Steam sales charts - its now at #14. So no repeat of the Fast & Furious disaster. What I honestly do find surprising is PC2 (still at full price) is at #6. Normally you would not expect people to buy the old game 2 days before the new one arrives. I wonder if the reviews are having an effect.

 

[IfAndOr]

they are not impressed by the shift in focus from the past two titles (which IGN rated highly) to what they describe as a non-essential title that is a mish-mash of ideas taken from other, better titles.

That doesn't stop it being enjoyable, and right now I'm having a lot of fun with it.

 

[Scaff]

Am I not permitted to disagree with IGN's view?

I quoted the review for information, not because its a dogma I've chosen to follow!

 

[PSN:And-War]

Jimmy Broadbent confirmed my assumptions about this game. Hard pass for me.

yeap his review did it for me.