Project Cars 3 Sales [Discussion]

[FuriousDemon]

PC3 deserves the low sales it gets. On launch week people said it’s what GRID was supposed to be. Well after playing PC3 the past couple of weeks and a few hours today I played GRID right after I played PC3.

The following experience is on my Xbox One X.

GRID does have some big advantages over PC3:

1) Way (and I mean WAY) better graphics. My race in San Fransisco (GRID) looked gorgeous (I forgot how good the graphics are in GRID). Half an hour ago my race in Shanghai (PC3) looked liked a pixelated disaster on my 4K HDR TV.
2) Way (and I again mean WAY) better frame rate. I guess GRID runs at a solid 60 FPS while PC3 tries but fails to get 30 FPS?
3) Cars feel more weighted. In PC3 I swear if my driver turns his head and sneezes, the car slides off track in the opposite direction.

PC3 advantages over GRID:
1) More tracks
2) More cars

That’s basically it. If it’s not for the cars or tracks then GRID sure is the better game. But it all probably matters little since the Forza and GT giants eat both for breakfast.

Frame rate in pcars is not that bad though. It does get pretty close to 60 during the day and probably in the mid 40s at night. Not great, but 30 FPS it is not.

 

[MroczMR]

PC3 deserves the low sales it gets. On launch week people said it’s what GRID was supposed to be. Well after playing PC3 the past couple of weeks and a few hours today I played GRID right after I played PC3.

The following experience is on my Xbox One X.

GRID does have some big advantages over PC3:

1) Way (and I mean WAY) better graphics. My race in San Fransisco (GRID) looked gorgeous (I forgot how good the graphics are in GRID). Half an hour ago my race in Shanghai (PC3) looked liked a pixelated disaster on my 4K HDR TV.
2) Way (and I again mean WAY) better frame rate. I guess GRID runs at a solid 60 FPS while PC3 tries but fails to get 30 FPS?
3) Cars feel more weighted. In PC3 I swear if my driver turns his head and sneezes, the car slides off track in the opposite direction.

PC3 advantages over GRID:
1) More tracks
2) More cars

That’s basically it. If it’s not for the cars or tracks then GRID sure is the better game. But it all probably matters little since the Forza and GT giants eat both for breakfast.

I think GRID also have

Better AI
logical car classes
Better damage model (it actually affects performance)

 

[breyzipp]

I think GRID also have

Better AI
logical car classes
Better damage model (it actually affects performance)

Aah yes, PC3 has the most ramtastic AI I have ever seen in a racing game. I mean seriously, they should patent their AI code and sell it to the Wreckfest devs for Wreckfest 2.

I agree on all 3 points you mentioned.

Frame rate in pcars is not that bad though. It does get pretty close to 60 during the day and probably in the mid 40s at night. Not great, but 30 FPS it is not.

Sometimes it’s good but it does dip A LOT under stress situations On my Xbox One X (city street race + many cars on track + weather effects = recipe for massive frame drop spikes). And those drops sure feel like going below 30 FPS for a 1-2 seconds, but it’s very annoying and hinders the experience.

Their Madness engine simply sucks, very poorly optimised. Now that they are owned by Codemasters I sincerely hope their Madness engine is discontinued and they use the Codies engine.

 

[MroczMR]

Aah yes, PC3 has the most ramtastic AI I have ever seen in a racing game. I mean seriously, they should patent their AI code and sell it to the Wreckfest devs for Wreckfest 2.

I agree on all 3 points you mentioned.

This is why I personally think GRID is actually better than PCars 3. It maybe doesn't have that much of a content but it is much more polished game. Shame it did fail I still think there is huge potential in GRID franchise.

 

[FoRiZon]

I think GRID also have

Better AI
logical car classes
Better damage model (it actually affects performance)

GRID also have better car sounds overall.

Cant stand the Carrera GT that sounded like Huracan in PCars 3, lol.

 

[MroczMR]

Maybe if Codemasters would take SMS to help other Codemaster studio in another full blown GRID game it would be really decent game. I wish we will see great motorsport game which will be sim enough for sim races and accecible enough for newcomers and still retaining this Motorsport atmosphere from PCars 2.

 

[Scaff]

Their Madness engine simply sucks, very poorly optimised. Now that they are owned by Codemasters I sincerely hope their Madness engine is discontinued and they use the Codies engine.

I don't. The Madness engine is capable of performing well, AMR2 has it working excellently by all accounts and the Ego engine that Codies use has enough of its own issues.

 

[jake2013guy]

Having a general look at the Steam community page, it used to show about half the PCARS2 players and recently, it's dropped to a third of that number. Been a while since I've seen the PCARS3 number be above 1,000.

 

[Bloodytears]

I can't find a thread, but it was funny to see SMS started to answer all angry people asking for a patch, assuring them that it is on it way, and one random comment just blow me away: "7 people who play the game will surely enjoy it" or something very close to that.

 

[jake2013guy]

I can't find a thread, but it was funny to see SMS started to answer all angry people asking for a patch, assuring them that it is on it way, and one random comment just blow me away: "7 people who play the game will surely enjoy it" or something very close to that.

I've found a guy saying the patch is coming when all the photo contests are finished.

 

[PJTierney]

I've found a guy saying the patch is coming when all the photo contests are finished.

I mean it’s a commonly-known fact that the social media person is also the only person fixing a game

The amount of time I personally have been told to “fix the DiRT servers” is astounding.

If you let me near the server architecture people would never be able to play the game again, and I’d probably unknowingly break F1 too while I’m at it.

 

[Sam714]

Just seen someone ask about filling empty slots in private lobbies with AI like you could do in PC1&PC2 and most racing games and they just got rebuffed by the usual crew over there. The game doesn't have basic features like that, the whole thing feels like an upgraded mobile game

 

[PJTierney]

Just seen someone ask about filling empty slots in private lobbies with AI like you could do in PC1&PC2 and most racing games and they just got rebuffed by the usual crew over there. The game doesn't have basic features like that, the whole thing feels like an upgraded mobile game

Ironically, people were demanding that be removed from GRID since it was there at launch.

 

[Bloodytears]

Ironically, people were demanding that be removed from GRID since it was there at launch.

Logically PC2 have an on/off option. More ironical that CM meet SMS right at this dark times of PC3 and latest GRID.

 

[Morgoth_666]

Ironically, people were demanding that be removed from GRID since it was there at launch.

Was it not optional? If you're forced to fill the grid of course people would be annoyed by that. I know some people do complain about too many options confusing them, but I wouldn't think the option to add AI would be that offensive.

 

[PJTierney]

Was it not optional? If you're forced to fill the grid of course people would be annoyed by that. I know some people do complain about too many options confusing them, but I wouldn't think the option to add AI would be that offensive.

It wasn’t optional at launch.

Sadly, multiplayer population was never really there for GRID. I tried hosting races with my club and we had to drop it after a month due to lack of attendance.

 

[Morgoth_666]

It wasn’t optional at launch.

Sadly, multiplayer population was never really there for GRID. I tried hosting races with my club and we had to drop it after a month due to lack of attendance.

That would make sense then. Sometimes it's easy to make what seems like a common sense decision that would completely baffle an outside observer.

 

[MroczMR]

It wasn’t optional at launch.

Sadly, multiplayer population was never really there for GRID. I tried hosting races with my club and we had to drop it after a month due to lack of attendance.

To be honest GRID never was a multiplayer game in my opinion. I always preferred this GRID's AI races. I think this game has one of the best AI's on the market and i love race director with those "simulated" crashes it adds excitement to racing.

 

[PJTierney]

To be honest GRID never was a multiplayer game in my opinion. I always preferred this GRID's AI races. I think this game has one of the best AI's on the market and i love race director with those "simulated" crashes it adds excitement to racing.

I liked the on-track experience in GRID, it's just a shame the game was a bit light on content (and features).

 

[MroczMR]

I liked the on-track experience in GRID, it's just a shame the game was a bit light on content (and features).

Exactly. I hope Codies will continue on developing this franchise. Grid really need to come back in full glory. They really should play first one and take the best of it's career mode.

 

[Scaff]

Exactly. I hope Codies will continue on developing this franchise. Grid really need to come back in full glory. They really should play first one and take the best of it's career mode.

Lucky Switch owners got a remastered version of Grid Autosport, a title I still play the PS3 version of to this day.

 

[MroczMR]

Lucky Switch owners got a remastered version of Grid Autosport, a title I still play the PS3 version of to this day.

Apart of content. Which is really lacking in GRID 2019, i do prefer it than Autosport. I just love the car classes in this entry.

 

[lottalava]

How is that possible?

Driveclub isn't available for sale.

Presumably, it's new registrations to that website, which then counts all Trophies on that player's account a "new player" for each game.

If that's the case, it'd be like counting TrueAchievements stats as sales numbers, when that's not entirely accurate as not all Xbox players register for TA*.


*TrueAchievements only has about 550,000 users, whereas the Xbox playerbase (including Xbox 360 and OG Xbox) is at least 50-100 million.

People can still buy new copies of Driveclub at Amazon for example. I bought one last year.

At top selling from Steam, at least 100th you can't see PCARS 3.

 

[Scaff]

So I bought myself a gaming laptop, among other titles I’ve rebought PC2 for it, I have zero intention in doing the same for PC3.

 

[FrankieStail]

So I bought myself a gaming laptop, among other titles I’ve rebought PC2 for it, I have zero intention in doing the same for PC3.

And miss out on all that 200% better, non po faced sim goodness?!

 

[cholton]

So I bought myself a gaming laptop, among other titles I’ve rebought PC2 for it, I have zero intention in doing the same for PC3.

Same , just took delivery of my first in a long time gaming PC and bought PC2 again.
It looks absolutely stunning , Heres hoping PC3 is a blip and 4 resembles something akin to 1 and 2.

 

[lottalava]

PCARS 3 is a failure and SMS is felling it where hurts more, the pocket!

 

[David Wright]

Same , just took delivery of my first in a long time gaming PC and bought PC2 again.
It looks absolutely stunning , Heres hoping PC3 is a blip and 4 resembles something akin to 1 and 2.

While part of me agrees, I don't think they can go back. When you say PC3 is all the sim you want, and PC2 was po-faced and not fun, how do you sell a true sequel to PC1 and 2?

My hope is Ian and Nathan Bell resign and Codies put in new management who can put the talent at SMS to proper use, perhaps under the Codies banner and a new game name.

 

[lottalava]

To me, PCARS 3 fail with Driveclub fans and PCARS 2 fans at same time. They could create fantasy tracks like GT Sport does and put pitstop there at same time.

It just needed to improve the graphics, physics and FFB, but SMS choose to downgrade the game and make it a joke with cars that look like plastic and a terrible rain effect, just to start.

I don't know what to expect next from SMS, I don't believe they will make another game.

 

[wicken]

Sales were indeed terrible.
The game is on sale this weekend on PS Store - 28% off for the normal version and 30% off for the deluxe version.