Q&A with Slightly Mad Studios: Ian Bell [Read OP]

[notanexpert]

Just got dirt rally, and found i really enjoy gravel/loose surfaces quite a bit. Just thought it would be a really cool experience to have the nordschleife, but all covered in dirt. Sort of like a fictional track but based on the layout of Nord. Is it me, or would this not be a cool/relatively easy thing to implement given you have nordschleife and new track surfaces? @IanBell @The_American

 

[Ian Bell]

@IanBell @The_American are the physics devs looking to add multiple settings to the hybrid race cars similar to Kunos' Porsche 919 and Ferrari SF15-T? I absolutely love driving those cars in that game, but I'd prefer to see that level of detail in my favorite series.

I'm not sure what you mean by multiple settings sorry.

In terms of 'that level of detail' I can tell you that nothing is coming close to what we are working to deliver for pCARS2.

I believe they have the 24 hour LMP Porsche running on only sunny days, no weather with one fixed time of day and no 24 hour cycle.

 

[Ian Bell]

Just got dirt rally, and found i really enjoy gravel/loose surfaces quite a bit. Just thought it would be a really cool experience to have the nordschleife, but all covered in dirt. Sort of like a fictional track but based on the layout of Nord. Is it me, or would this not be a cool/relatively easy thing to implement given you have nordschleife and new track surfaces? @IanBell @The_American

I personally love DiRT Rally. One of my favourite games of the last few years. I've already personally congratulated the head at Codies on that work.

I think the purists would murder us if we did what you suggest... I agree it would be fun though

 

[TexasTyme214]

I'm not sure what you mean by multiple settings sorry.

In Assetto Corsa, you have multiple settings that control energy recovery during braking and energy delivery to wheels during acceleration. So on recovery, you can control how much energy the battery receives in a braking zone but it'll affect the balance of the car. On delivery, you have settings that vary in the amount of power going to the wheels, but you'll use up the allowed energy for the lap and what's in the battery. Some delivery settings control the amount of power in a particular gear, and the power will cut off at a certain speed depending on the setting.

Conversely, in PCARS 1, you don't have any control over how power is gained or used in the 4 LMP1 cars.

Here's a link explaining the Ferrari SF15-T controls in Assetto Corsa in further detail. The Porsche 919s in the game are similar. http://www.racedepartment.com/threads/assetto-corsa-ferrari-sf15-t-technical-guide.123938/

 

[seamaster gmt]

You can always set up a private lobby.

Thank you for your response. Usually we do race in a private lobby where this would not be a problem. However there are times when not as many of us are online so we open a public lobby to help fill out the field. In this case would an invite from the lobby host negate any kind of rating I have earned?

By the way, I think the rating system is one of the best ideas for PCars 2, I am all for it. I just want to get comfortable with the notion that I will still be able to race with friends that are much faster than me and maybe less prone to making mistakes on track in public lobbies.

 

[Theothermexic]

With the rating system, when you first start playing do you start at the very lowest rating? Or is there one or two lower than where you start where the wreckers end up?
Would it be possible for single player to have an effect on your rating? Such as the first X amount of races contributing to give you a starting point?

I apologise if this has already been asked, in the deluge of information I lost track of what's been announced and what's just Chinese whispers

 

[torque99]

@IanBell Do you get much sleep the nearer it gets to release or wake up thinking of improvements and dream of Pcars2. I noticed some of your answers are coming in the middle of the night (If you are in UK anyway) All of these great new features to be added will they fit all on one game dvd disc or will there be a day one patch?

 

[ojgt]

All of these great new features to be added will they fit all on one game dvd disc or will there be a day one patch?

Pretty much every game comes with a day one patch nowadays because the development of the game just goes on after they start producing the disks. Don't think it has much to do with the size limitations, if it was about that they could just put it to two dvds etc.

 

[Ian Bell]

In Assetto Corsa, you have multiple settings that control energy recovery during braking and energy delivery to wheels during acceleration. So on recovery, you can control how much energy the battery receives in a braking zone but it'll affect the balance of the car. On delivery, you have settings that vary in the amount of power going to the wheels, but you'll use up the allowed energy for the lap and what's in the battery. Some delivery settings control the amount of power in a particular gear, and the power will cut off at a certain speed depending on the setting.

Conversely, in PCARS 1, you don't have any control over how power is gained or used in the 4 LMP1 cars.

Here's a link explaining the Ferrari SF15-T controls in Assetto Corsa in further detail. The Porsche 919s in the game are similar. http://www.racedepartment.com/threads/assetto-corsa-ferrari-sf15-t-technical-guide.123938/

The real drivers told us that this is all automated. They don't interfere at all (that came directly from Rene Rast BTW, who races in the 24Hr of Le Mans).

EDIT, I'm talking rubbish, the drivers don't interfere but the engineer does set the strategy and my last second reading confirms we're working on exposing that to the player

 

[Ian Bell]

With the rating system, when you first start playing do you start at the very lowest rating? Or is there one or two lower than where you start where the wreckers end up?
Would it be possible for single player to have an effect on your rating? Such as the first X amount of races contributing to give you a starting point?

I apologise if this has already been asked, in the deluge of information I lost track of what's been announced and what's just Chinese whispers

As of now it's high middle and we work from there.

 

[Ian Bell]

@IanBell Do you get much sleep the nearer it gets to release or wake up thinking of improvements and dream of Pcars2. I noticed some of your answers are coming in the middle of the night (If you are in UK anyway) All of these great new features to be added will they fit all on one game dvd disc or will there be a day one patch?

I start losing sleep about 8 months before release. So I'm in the phase now

 

[fbetes]

The only feature people is missing is SAFETY CAR...

What about it, Ian Bell?

Thx

 

[Jason Wilko]

@IanBell @The_American
Will there be engine/fuel modes incorporated into the game? I do love on the first game how short shifting/ lifting and coasting actually saves a fair bit of fuel so I applaud that!

 

[MroczMR]

@IanBell I have one question not about Project Cars 2. Is there a game project, you dream of making? Maybe you want to made different genre of Game in the future? Or you want to stay in Race Sims development? Kazunori Yamaguchi once said, he would love to make RPG game in the future. How about you?

 

[torque99]

Thanks Ian, I hope it doesn't get too stressful!..Any general idea on the final size of the game you are aiming for as more than likely I will buy this digital, recently a few PS4 games have come in at 70-80gb with the MP with all these features will it be 50-80gb? I may need a new HDD by then or hope the option to add an external TB HDD patch gets confirmed on the PS4 Pro.

 

[LGee19]

Thanks Ian, I hope it doesn't get too stressful!..Any general idea on the final size of the game you are aiming for as more than likely I will buy this digital, recently a few PS4 games have come in at 70-80gb with the MP with all these features will it be 50-80gb? I may need a new HDD by then or hope the option to add an external TB HDD patch gets confirmed on the PS4 Pro.

Your in luck! The next PS4 software update supports external hardrives up to 8TB

 

[hotak]

I personally love DiRT Rally. One of my favourite games of the last few years. I've already personally congratulated the head at Codies on that work.

I think the purists would murder us if we did what you suggest... I agree it would be fun though

IIRC a dirty nords mod was available for GTR2 and it was lots of fun!
Would be great to have it in pCars2 too, even tho i imagine it wouldn't be so easy to license it

 

[avijan]

@IanBell

Open wheel racing (FA/F1) - will there be "working DRS zones" / limitations in DRS usage in FA/other open wheelers this time?

PSN - Is there any change in game chat functionality/performance? PSN party chat I know is limited to 8 players atm. (but with better audio quality - we need 16 player support Sony!) Often in a full lobby there is people not hearing each other for various reasons and There's often a lot of noise, echoing and other distortions in the chat sound in-game. That can be challenge sometimes in league racing. Wonder if 3rd party chat app support for PSN is considered?

Any change in car setup saving options? not that I've really missed it in Pcars. But could be nice to at least have a 2-slot save option (qual/race setup).

edit...

In Pcars when running forced "default car setups" force feedback settings would be reset to default pr. car also. This is a big annoyance and has kept us from running races with default setups. Will this be changed in PCars 2 so FF settings will be left as you define it to begin with no matter if "default setup" is enforced?

 

[DaHammas510]

@IanBell I have one question not about Project Cars 2. Is there a game project, you dream of making? Maybe you want to made different genre of Game in the future? Or you want to stay in Race Sims development? Kazunori Yamaguchi once said, he would love to make RPG game in the future. How about you?

My wishful thoughts hopes he says an Over G Fighters style Sim. The Fighter Jet version of Project Cars on PC, PS4, and Xbox one in VR (With Optional Flight stick and throttle controller package)

 

[MroczMR]

My wishful thoughts hopes he says an Over G Fighters style Sim. The Fighter Jet version of Project Cars on PC, PS4, and Xbox one in VR (With Optional Flight stick and throttle controller package)

OH GOD YES... Challenging Ace Combat by SMS xD

 

[Masscot]

PSN - Is there any change in game chat functionality/performance? PSN party chat I know is limited to 8 players atm. (but with better audio quality - we need 16 player support Sony!) Often in a full lobby there is people not hearing each other for various reasons and There's often a lot of noise, echoing and other distortions in the chat sound in-game. That can be challenge sometimes in league racing. Wonder if 3rd party chat app support for PSN is considered?

Oh God, yeah - I'd forgotten how terrible the standard voice chat quality is on PSN. We'd be in a private lobby of eight in party chat and everything would be fine, then more people would join and we'd have to leave the party. It was like hot acid being poured into your ears.

 

[avijan]

PSN Party chat is actually pretty good. It's the ingame chat that is "not so good" - we need sony to up the participant limit in party chat from 8 to 16 people. That, or some tricks from SMS to fix audio qual/performance in-game.

 

[retrozetro]

@IanBell
Will be the features of PC2 in PC and PS4 version the same ? Especially the Create your own championship mode. Sorry for my bad english...

 

[deedub777]

So many questions, mine got lost I guess, here it is again, appreciate a response (and apologies if I missed it elsewhere)

@IanBell
1. Can two (or more) drivers compete together as a team in online multiplayer. I mean when they aren't in the same location - aka driver change? (I think I saw a similar discussion but can't be sure

3. Will there be a Replay mode for online?

thanks.

 

[RacerDude08]

So many questions, mine got lost I guess, here it is again, appreciate a response (and apologies if I missed it elsewhere)

@IanBell
1. Can two (or more) drivers compete together as a team in online multiplayer. I mean when they aren't in the same location - aka driver change? (I think I saw a similar discussion but can't be sure

3. Will there be a Replay mode for online?

thanks.

Online Driver Swaps were confirmed. Not sure about Replays.

 

[jake2013guy]

Online Driver Swaps were confirmed. Not sure about Replays.

He said they would be in a post release patch though.

 

[RG DUNK]

Another verry importend and must have feature (focus on PC) for
professional E-Sport, League racing and Stream, are the automatic
Exchange on the fly of the custom Liveries/Custom Skins.

I hope SMS give us this elementary features for Teams and real
Sponsors on the Cars.

 

[breyzipp]

I'm not sure what you mean by multiple settings sorry.

In terms of 'that level of detail' I can tell you that nothing is coming close to what we are working to deliver for pCARS2.

I believe they have the 24 hour LMP Porsche running on only sunny days, no weather with one fixed time of day and no 24 hour cycle.

I think what he ment is that the 2015 Formula One Ferrari in Assetto comes with a lot of new features and buttons to be mapped. You can drive it on the electrical motor alone for example and see its battery deplete, kind of funny. The devs even wrote a several-page-long manual of what all the new controls/modes/settings do. Anyone has the link? Operating that car is a bit more than just throttle, brakes, shifting and brake balance.

It sure adds a lot of complexity and difficulty to that particular car. Very interesting.

 

[The_American]

We are exposing cockpit adjustable "mappings" for fuel usage, ABS and traction control systems. In pC1 we already exposed cockpit adjustable anti-roll bars front and rear.

 

[Raging Bull]

We are exposing cockpit adjustable "mappings" for fuel usage, ABS and traction control systems. In pC1 we already exposed cockpit adjustable anti-roll bars front and rear.

That is awesome news. I knew it was a good idea to get that button box. LOL