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

[The_American]

Will Bob the Crew Chief return in pCars 2?

My answer from the other thread: "We retained the services of Ben Collins as your Crew Chief. So he handles the strategy calls and "encouragement" lines (if you need that kinda stuff). I'm strictly business, calling out the cars next to you. Works pretty well in play."

 

[05XR8]

Wait wait wait!! Did I just read above that manual pit stops are in? No more Ai taking over when in the pit lane? I'll use a bit of my native 'slang' if that's in..

You bloody rippers! Can't wait to dump that clutch in the pits at Bathurst in a V8 supercar after wacking on some fresh boots and having a sip of the ol Victoria Bitter! #strooth
@IanBell @The Owl @The_American

I don't think any VASC Supercars made the cut. They're trying to steer clear of the "Class of One" cars.

 

[Jason Wilko]

I don't think any VASC Supercars made the cut. They're trying to steer clear of the "Class of One" cars.

Well hopefully they have got the Nissan or holden to go along with the Ford to make it a multi class field, but if not I'll redo my statement..

Can't wait until I dump that clutch in the pits pits at Bathurst in the Ford F-150 after wacking on some fresh boots and having a sip of the ol Victoria Bitter!

 

[cutmeamango]

Great question on eSports. We are and have been the only official racing eSport for over a year now with our last product. That's with ESL, Playstation Plus and many others. http://www.projectcarsesports.com/

Hence I was intrigued to hear that GT Sport will move sim racing into eSports....

Our eSport and league based features for pCARS2 are truly revolutionary.

To answer your question specifically, eSports is going to be huge and we're well ahead of the competition in this area. Good link here: http://www.bizreport.com/2017/02/global-esports-revenues-to-reach-15-billion-by-2020.html

Yeah, when Gran Turismo announced its FIA online championships in 2014, I was expecting the twilight for organized racing in console gaming at the molds of what iRacing had been setting up for some years, and from all the games released til now, pCARS was shyly perhaps (when compared to other sports games offerings in matchmaking/league features like FIFA/Madden, budget and estabilished market notwithstanding), the most equipped for eSports and general organized online racing.

But soon enough you had leagues running and then sponsors came. Now pCARS is well estabilished in it as you pointed, Gran Turismo Sport was formalized and Forza had its first two eSports seasons last year.

PCARS2 online features revealed so far are the sweetest cherries on top, really exciting times ahead.

And my question was exactly about that 15 billion pie, Darren Cox seems confident racing can have a large slice, and I hope you get your fair share by setting the next standard with pCARS2.

Once again, thank you for your responses and time, it really means a lot to me and those passionate about your craft.

 

[GAVRA1991]

Hey Ian Bell,
I liked the idea of add Long Beach i like street tracks, are you thinking about to other street circuits to add also less famous? Thx

 

[sems4arsenal]

Merhaba.

I answered you on Monday....thought we were cool bro?

Yeah didn't notice that you replied for odd reason, appreciate it fake Mike Skinner

 

[Eva]

Question for you Ian. I'm a massive IndyCar fan, and having been so for over half my life, when you announced the DW12 for Project CARS 1, it became a PS4 must buy for me. You said in an earlier response that most of the content in the first game was being retouched but remaining. Would the DW12 be included in that list? Thank you in advance for your response.

 

[Ian Bell]

Question for you Ian. I'm a massive IndyCar fan, and having been so for over half my life, when you announced the DW12 for Project CARS 1, it became a PS4 must buy for me. You said in an earlier response that most of the content in the first game was being retouched but remaining. Would the DW12 be included in that list? Thank you in advance for your response.

We have some announcements to come in this area is all I can say.

 

[girabyt3]

Thanks for the trolling yesterday @IanBell btw , but I still want to know at least...

Will you still let the PCARS community do some car liveries for PC2?? Some of them were really nice, more even, I'm still supporting my idea of an GTP livery designing challenge where the winner gets inmortalized in the game, since you and @The Owl love being here, Mr. Bell , and remember one current car ended up in PC1 due to similar reasons

 

[Masscot]

Those damn choppers are still there The audio has been completely rewritten so you should hear them.

Excellent news all round - there isn't a game on the planet that hasn't been enhanced by helicopters . I love the added authenticity they bring to the track but was always slightly annoyed at how quiet they are in pCARS.

Is there any chance that their presence could be given even more love, like:

• random flight patterns instead of the repetitive figure-of-eight they all follow, maybe changes in altitude too?
• better use in providing birds-eye TV broadcast replay camera angles (with appropriately louder rotor noise)?
• be shown taking off and landing around the track, or parked up with blades slowly rotating?

Any plans for more airborne stuff? Blimps, hot-air balloons etc?

 

[bleeder]

Excellent news all round - there isn't a game on the planet that hasn't been enhanced by helicopters . I love the added authenticity they bring to the track but was always slightly annoyed at how quiet they are in pCARS.

Is there any chance that their presence could be given even more love, like:

• random flight patterns instead of the repetitive figure-of-eight they all follow, maybe changes in altitude too?
• better use in providing birds-eye TV broadcast replay camera angles (with appropriately louder rotor noise)?
• be shown taking off and landing around the track, or parked up with blades slowly rotating?

Any plans for more airborne stuff? Blimps, hot-air balloons etc?

Might as well add Star Destroyers to that list too
Although licensing costs might be a little high for that.

 

[jonyvf]

At that point all the features and news for the game sound outstanding
I really hope the game gets polished and do not go out as the first.
My wish is that before the features we have a solid game.
And if it happens goodbye GT and similars.
Keep the good work and do not forget to informing us with news and content
Good bless SMS

 

[Masscot]

Might as well add Star Destroyers to that list too

Can't recall ever seeing a Star Destroyer at a track, but maybe I wasn't looking hard enough.

 

[05XR8]

Can't recall ever seeing a Star Destroyer at a track, but maybe I wasn't looking hard enough.

Close enough

 

[MroczMR]

@IanBell Is it possible to have "Custom grid" option on consoles? This is already possible on PC in Project Cars 1 via Mod tool. I didn't like that Project Cars Multi class option was mixing all GT Cars historic and modern, and there was no possibility to make LMP1, 2 and GTE cars grid. Custom Grid would be great to make interesting race settings like Brands vs races (Ferrari vs Mclaren for example) classic LeMans from 1998 or crazy option like: pass as many gokarts in Formula 1 car in one short lap Or are there technical problems to achieve this?

 

[rono_thomas]

@IanBell

A question for your teams aspirations.

The sound of PCars2 seems groundbreaking in what is available on a console right now, but as a team where do you want to end up, what goals do you want to achieve in the future that right now is not possible from either hard ware limitations or time constraints?

 

[avijan]

@IanBell

Thank you for answering my previous questions 👍

I have a couple more that could be interresting to hear more about:


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

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?

...

Forgot one!

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).

/avijan

 

[amazed]

Might as well add Star Destroyers to that list too
Although licensing costs might be a little high for that.

Surely the Millennium Falcon would be a *lot* easier....

 

[drspeedy]

@IanBell please quick question , how many opponents we can have in project cars 2 ? in pc1 in some tracks we could race against 45 other cars .
Thank you

 

[FS7]

@IanBell can we adjust controller/wheel settings & driving aids in any game mode through the pause menu? I really like PCars1 but having to leave the track and go back to the main menu just to make a few adjustments to settings is really annoying.

 

[The_American]

@IanBell Is it possible to have "Custom grid" option on consoles? This is already possible on PC in Project Cars 1 via Mod tool. I didn't like that Project Cars Multi class option was mixing all GT Cars historic and modern, and there was no possibility to make LMP1, 2 and GTE cars grid. Custom Grid would be great to make interesting race settings like Brands vs races (Ferrari vs Mclaren for example) classic LeMans from 1998 or crazy option like: pass as many gokarts in Formula 1 car in one short lap Or are there technical problems to achieve this?

Yes, you can pick the classes now. I've been doing WEC/IMSA style multi-class testing, works great. No mods needed.

 

[dolande]

Game developer talks candidly with fans about upcoming game

 

[The_American]

@IanBell can we adjust controller/wheel settings & driving aids in any game mode through the pause menu? I really like PCars1 but having to leave the track and go back to the main menu just to make a few adjustments to settings is really annoying.

Yeah, we're tired of backing out to the menus too. Most Options changes will not require leaving race anymore. Only some nerdy graphics still require quitting though.

 

[RacerDude08]

As an American NASCAR and INDYCAR fan, do I have a lot to be excited about this go around?

 

[MroczMR]

Yes, you can pick the classes now. I've been doing WEC/IMSA style multi-class testing, works great. No mods needed.

O MY GOD...

Game Of The Year for me

 

[Johnnypenso]

Just an FYI fellas. @TheKitten has updated the OP so that each day of Q&A now contains a brief summary. In order to avoid duplicating questions and making it harder for Ian and The_American to find non-repetitive questions, give the OP a brief glance to see if your question has been asked already.

Sample:

11th, February 2017
Topics: Interlagos announced from fan request on GTP, Brazilian Portuguese in game confirmed, general improvements, driver swaps, DLC frequency and pricing.

 

[crowhop]

Please go into detail on how the updated "Pit Stop Strategy" menu will work versus what is in the current game. Specifically how it will work for Online races. For Offline, you can Pause the game for days and take all the time you want, so it isn't truly pressing. Online, though, is another matter because you may only have 10 seconds to get it all done. And still, the game might glitch and not change your tires at all.

For me personally, the Pit Stop Strategy is the single, and only, aspect of the current game I do not enjoy. In fact, I abhor it. In my opinion, it is the only glaring blemish on an otherwise sublime game.

 

[RacerDude08]

Will stock cars (nascar) run restrictor plates at Daytona?

 

[jake2013guy]

Yes, you can pick the classes now. I've been doing WEC/IMSA style multi-class testing, works great. No mods needed.

*hype intensifies*

 

[mimaximax]

Hello Ian,

to further enhance the experience I intend to build a motion cockpit (3DOF seat-mover + VR) but the LiveTrack 3.0 and new grip limit behavior really got me hyped... so I thought about adding yaw as well for traction loss simulation. I heard it is quite pointless unless rallying though. Would you advise to stick with the inputs from the wheel or could yaw greatly take advantage of the new tech in pCARS2 ?

What you at SMS (drivers included) think about this ?

Cheers !