Slightly Mad Studios Confirms New Project CARS Title is In Development

[cpcdem]

Let me give you a practical example of how easy it is to miss something:

During pCARS1 DLC testing, I noticed something wrong with one of the upcoming cars. It was a graphics glitch, nothing in the slightest bit serious (let alone game breaking) but it would have been picked up within minutes by somebody, given the number of people who would have tried the car out. The reason it was hard to spot was because you had to be in a particular camera view, you had to be cornering at speed and it only occurred with 2 of the many liveries available for the car.

So now imagine how much work it takes to test every car, in every livery, in every camera view, whilst stationary, whilst accelerating, whilst braking, whilst cornering slowly and whilst cornering hard. That is an enormous amount of work, just to look for graphical glitches. Then you need to have more than one person repeat it, because almost certainly the first person will have missed something. And for good measure, you get another person to triple-check, because that's the only way to be sure.

That should give people pause for thought as to why some bugs invariably slip through the net. Oh I know somebody will no doubt argue "well, if the programmer did their job properly....." but that's hugely disrespectful to programmers the world over. None of them set out to get things wrong, they're all human, mistakes happen. Hopefully, those mistakes are picked up (as was the case in this example) but it is all too easy to miss them.

Oh and bugs are different to design choices, which seems to be the main focus of your post.

It is perfectly understandable having plenty graphical glitches, especially considering the huge content of the game. I also still see a lot of them, in various tracks mainly, but yeah, it's impossible to fix them all and as you said they are nowhere near game-breaking, just very minor inconveniences.

But having the game still doing pitstops with the opposite actions than assigned in your pit strategy, getting bus-like steering ratio with forced default setups, assists resetting themselves in the beginning of races, leaving you wondering why the car suddenly handles so strangely, chat messages disappearing, people not being able to "see" certain servers in the online browser, cars stuck for a long time in the pitbox, host migration problems, and so many other similar problems (mainly multiplayer related) are not so understandable IMO.

Most of those are either easily reproducible, or happen way too often to go unnoticed, and I think most of them are close to be considered "game breaking" problems, so I would think they'd take high priority and be fixed eventually. At least the majority of them...

Btw, my first post here, hello

 

[fernandito]

PC3 next promotion campaign with MrBell concert guitar live, best hits. I want to see him double drunk than the last time and way more aggressive towards doubters.

If he doesn't fall unconscious after the show because too much drinking then I'll get pissed and call him weakling. He needs to give everything he's got this time. At least an entire bottle of good whisky; attacking haters without mercy, and falling sleep in the end of the show after giving everything.

This or go home Mr.Bell. Lie to us plenty!

 

[jake2013guy]

PC3 next promotion campaign with MrBell concert guitar live, best hits. I want to see him double drunk than the last time and way more aggressive towards doubters.

If he doesn't fall unconscious after the show because too much drinking then I'll get pissed and call him weakling. He needs to give everything he's got this time. At least an entire bottle of good whisky; attacking haters without mercy, and falling sleep in the end of the show after giving everything.

This or go home Mr.Bell. Lie to us plenty!

Hahaha. This sounds like a combination of a terrible and an awesome idea.

 

[fernandito]

Once he's drunk, I mean very drunk everything will flow in pure awesomeness you'll see

 

[305Michael305]

not sure if serious

I find assetto corsa better.

 

[fernandito]

That is better

 

[jake2013guy]

I find assetto corsa better.

Can you explain how AC set the bar?

 

[Cluck]

Can you explain how AC set the bar?

 

[305Michael305]

I just feel it’s as good or better then project cars 2. For realism, track and tires feel with the steering wheel. I’m only playing the ones for Xbox. But I used to love forza Motorsport. But not after playing assetto corsa and project cars 2

To me it’s the cars handling and feel on assetto corsa vs project cars 2. Both are close but to me assetto is slightly better

 

[jake2013guy]

To me it’s the cars handling and feel on assetto corsa vs project cars 2. Both are close but to me assetto is slightly better

Fair enough. I just wondered. To me, the package of driving + everything else is much better.

 

[305Michael305]

In what? Assetto or project cars. Yes pc2 has more options. But still. In the end they both beat forza 7 by long long shot.

 

[jake2013guy]

In what? Assetto or project cars. Yes pc2 has more options. But still. In the end they both beat forza 7 by long long shot.

I was just comparing PCARS vs AC. I just didn't have the amount of fun I had in AC compared to PCARS.

 

[hasslemoff]

I enjoy PC2, you can just have a bit of fun.

 

[05XR8]

I've been on the PS4, since my 7 year old Bogarted my XB1, playing Minecraft. Just hope we get more TCR and GT4 cars. That's all I need for PC3. Oh yeah and a '69 Mustang, '70 Challenger & Javelin for Vintage GT.

 

[David Brooks]

Given the statement from Ian Bell that PC3 is going to blow anything else out of the water, combined with this snippet (below) from the update on ACC, I am very intrigued for what SMS come up with.

"Another major addition with today’s update is the inaugural version of the Broadcasting Software Development Kit. This will allow modders to work their magic and create overlays fit for livestreams. With ACC geared toward competitive racing, you can already picture where things may head. It’s sure to become a popular feature moving forward.

Players can access the Broadcasting SDK through an open source app. This gives them features such as:

• Live timing updates: cars, drivers, race numbers, teams, track data, categories, positions+pic, deltas, laptimes, splits, session information, etc.
• Track + condition live updates: temperatures, (rough) rain and wetness, cloud level
• Tracking: Focused car is updated live and can be set via API
• Camera control: Active camera is updated live and can be set via API
• HUD: Active HUD page is updated live and can be set via API (also note we have 2 new HUD pages for shared use, so you can e.g. cycle through “Blank”, “Timetable”, “Broadcasting”)
• Live replay: Instantly jump back to a certain point and show a replay just by time and duration, or use one of the events
• Networking: Applications are free to connect to multiple ACC clients, and clients will accept multiple connections from different controller applications. This should allow a flexible setup allowing multiple broadcasters across the world to collaborate and for example let one master application control what the audience and commentators see, so they will never again comment on something that isn’t even on the livestream"

(I bet someone misreads this and thinks the above is Project Cars)

To me, alot of what is mentioned there is what I thought the PC2 race director should have been.

 

[Ian Bell]

They better release the game in a properly finished this time. Some issues at release were ashaming, not to mention many weren't fixed in the end throught an entire year.

Release a finished game MrBell; make everybody happy so word spreads, and good sales will finally come. This is the primary thing PC3 is going to need above anything else.., to be released in a finshed status.

And then of course reduce categories by a wide margin; add even more tracks to the already overwhelming roster; remove rallycross please regardless how awesome its physics ended up being (this is a track racing game above all. I mean make your own rallycross or rally game with those aawesome physcics. It will be epic, but remove it from pc2 so there's more space for other stuff track racing wise), and for the love of the god make the online mode and reqrite code from the scratch, and make yourselves sure this time It is going to be good and not the joke pc1 and 2 online have been both.

Also SMS.., could you please for the love of the god open the pits already for club layouts and of course the Nords?, it is beyond me why you don't do this kind of basic stuff

No game is ever 'finished'... I go back to Manic Miner here. A couple of classic bugs. With massive scope comes massive effort to balance and resolve all edge case bugs. We really put the work in there.

I'll let you know that pCARS3 will be more 'focused'... More 'fun'... We went to insane lengths with variation in pCARS2 and with that comes infinite balancing issues. We've learned a lesson here and although we have no intention of reducing content, we know what we need to fix, where we made design decisions that were, let's call it, 'sub-optimal'... pCARS3 will be more of a spiritual successor to Shift, but with all of the sim goodness everyone appreciates... The key focus though is on fun and not biting off more than we can properly chew and digest.

Have a wonderful holiday season everyone. xx

 

[Sick Cylinder]

The key focus though is on fun and not biting off more than we can properly chew and digest.

That sounds good!

We've learned a lesson here and although we have no intention of reducing content ...

That also sounds good!

The classic content, both tracks and cars is what I enjoy most with my friends - so I'm hoping that SMS continue to build on that. That is definitely one of the important areas in which they can beat the competition.

Nice to hear from you @IanBell and best wishes for the New Year to all at GTPlanet and SMS.

 

[Dobermann92]

No game is ever 'finished'... I go back to Manic Miner here. A couple of classic bugs. With massive scope comes massive effort to balance and resolve all edge case bugs. We really put the work in there.

I'll let you know that pCARS3 will be more 'focused'... More 'fun'... We went to insane lengths with variation in pCARS2 and with that comes infinite balancing issues. We've learned a lesson here and although we have no intention of reducing content, we know what we need to fix, where we made design decisions that were, let's call it, 'sub-optimal'... pCARS3 will be more of a spiritual successor to Shift, but with all of the sim goodness everyone appreciates... The key focus though is on fun and not biting off more than we can properly chew and digest.

Have a wonderful holiday season everyone. xx

It is brave to call some of the bugs "edge case bugs". The crashing physics bug or puddles not really affecting AI cars or the online disconnects are happening constantly (even with good internet connection) and the online experience is one of the worst in sim racing. I like this game, I like the content you put out, it is a good game but you have to improve certain fundamental things for Project Cars 3. Also a custom grid tool would be appriciated

 

[FT-1]

pCARS3 will be more of a spiritual successor to Shift, but with all of the sim goodness everyone appreciates... The key focus though is on fun and not biting off more than we can properly chew and digest.

Have a wonderful holiday season everyone. xx

Circuit based racing games this generation seem to lack the more vibrant atmosphere games some older games had. Aside from the Shift series, Some I can name on the top of my head are Need For Speed ProStreet and the GRID games. Hearing the next title will be more like Shift sounds really promising! 👍

 

[G.T.Ace]

No game is ever 'finished'... I go back to Manic Miner here. A couple of classic bugs. With massive scope comes massive effort to balance and resolve all edge case bugs. We really put the work in there.

I'll let you know that pCARS3 will be more 'focused'... More 'fun'... We went to insane lengths with variation in pCARS2 and with that comes infinite balancing issues. We've learned a lesson here and although we have no intention of reducing content, we know what we need to fix, where we made design decisions that were, let's call it, 'sub-optimal'... pCARS3 will be more of a spiritual successor to Shift, but with all of the sim goodness everyone appreciates... The key focus though is on fun and not biting off more than we can properly chew and digest.

Have a wonderful holiday season everyone. xx

Just, for the love of glob, let us use the old dampening for gamepads from pCARS 1's dev-version, PLEASE!
Even pC2 doesn't feel as good as the early pC1 builds.

 

[fernandito]

No game is ever 'finished'... I go back to Manic Miner here. A couple of classic bugs. With massive scope comes massive effort to balance and resolve all edge case bugs. We really put the work in there.

I'll let you know that pCARS3 will be more 'focused'... More 'fun'... We went to insane lengths with variation in pCARS2 and with that comes infinite balancing issues. We've learned a lesson here and although we have no intention of reducing content, we know what we need to fix, where we made design decisions that were, let's call it, 'sub-optimal'... pCARS3 will be more of a spiritual successor to Shift, but with all of the sim goodness everyone appreciates... The key focus though is on fun and not biting off more than we can properly chew and digest.

Have a wonderful holiday season everyone. xx

Thanks for reply Mr.Bell.

One last thing,. Does this mean...

The key focus though is on fun and not biting off more than we can properly chew and digest.

...the tyre simulation level might be lesser in pc3 compared to that of pc2?, I mean the rest of your post before that final line doesn't lead to think that way. I want to think it means there will be the same or more content but focused on less car categories plus the removal of gravel racing (which is what most really want, because that increases the chances for a better online playtime), and all of that with at the very least the tyre complexity of pc2 combined with the livetrack engine, both still standing unrivalred to this point. However, that last line I might have find a little confusing.

Ok straight away. Given I understand that PC3 will have same or more content but focused on track racing and less categories, the does "more fun" mean that the tyre physics will be more simplistic?, or does"more fun" simply mean that we will have more content focused on the stuff we all want for project cars, in other words track racing only.

Happy new year everyone!

 

[Cluck]

^^^ Ian brings up the topic of it being a spiritual successor of sorts to the NFS:Shift games and those were, arguably, more "fun" in terms of gameplay than pCARS1 and 2 (I say arguably because people have a different definition of 'fun', allied to the fact that I haven't touched the career mode in pcars1/2). Take that type of gameplay and stick all the knowledge learned since those games re. tyres and physics and it could be a great recipe for success. I had an enormous amount of fun with Shift and Shift 2 and without those games, and the old NoGrip forum, I wouldn't have heard about Ian's "cunning plan", which birthed WMD and Project CARS.

Let's face it, driving sims are a small market. The drier, less accessible you make it, the less sales there will be and I'm sure that's fine if you're running a subscription model (ala iRacing) or you have a small dev team pushing out small amounts of content (ala Simbin, Reiza et al) but when you're trying to push out 40+ circuits, 200+ cars, you can't take either of those approaches and you certainly can't make the game unapproachable.

I can comfortably predict that Project CARS 3 will appeal to some people and won't appeal to others. The ones it doesn't appeal to will moan that it doesn't do (insert feature) and is missing (insert some other feature) from some other games. The ones it does appeal to will get a lot of enjoyment out of it and will invest hundreds of hours driving and enjoying themselves, they'll probably tell others how much fun they're having. The ones it doesn't appeal to will decry SMS as peddling arcade crap (as if producing an arcade game is some kind of sin) and will pronounce how their flawed game of choice is superior. The world will keep turning.

 

[CorvetteConquer]

A friend of mine were racing on Gran Turismo Sport last night, chatting on our mics about the simulation genre. Some conclusions:

1. Gran Turismo Sport is very forgiving, cementing its place as a true sim-cade. It is very friendly and accessible to a wide variety of gamers. While it improved its engine sounds greatly and added a livery editor, it feels like every Gran Turismo we've seen before. For some, that's the best thing ever. For others, it's too monotonous.

2. The original Project Cars is a brilliant game. Physics-wise, it was leaps above Gran Turismo/Forza, and in my friend's and mine opinion, is still the best console sim out there.

3. Project Cars 2 disappointed on multiple levels. The physics are confused and the game felt rushed. My friend says he really missed how easily the game would save car tunes and how the game would remember tunes specific to each circuit.

4. Project Cars 3 needs to take cues from its grandpa, the original. We trust ya'll. Ian, I trust you. I just wonder if a "Shift successor" will feel like Gran Turismo.

 

[Tidgney]

I'll let you know that pCARS3 will be more 'focused'... More 'fun'... We went to insane lengths with variation in pCARS2 and with that comes infinite balancing issues. We've learned a lesson here and although we have no intention of reducing content, we know what we need to fix, where we made design decisions that were, let's call it, 'sub-optimal'... pCARS3 will be more of a spiritual successor to Shift, but with all of the sim goodness everyone appreciates... The key focus though is on fun and not biting off more than we can properly chew and digest.

Have a wonderful holiday season everyone. xx

It's great to hear this (The fun bit)! I arrived at PCars1 late and I think PCars2 was well in development when I started so I understood why some stuff wasn't fixed, but I still had fun. I bought both collectors editions of PCars2 (PC & PS4) to support Project Cars/SMS as it gave me some life to virtual racing again when there was a year there wasn't much to do (Thanks for that as well, was really fun to compete in ESL and the major competitions). The major issue I always felt with PCars2 was that to much was trying to be simulated so the fun appeal got lost . Each time you entered a time trial lap it was different so you had to keep restarting to get the optimum setting etc. and then hope for the perfect lap. Air density was a big gripe with me as I have no idea how you could balance that in the game, I remember racing at Bathurst in the official GT3 league and because I was in the R8 which was N/A I literally couldn't pass anyone because turbo cars still had 100% power while I was effectively nuked , but then at land level we'd effectively be equal so at that point there's no point running an N/A car for the championship.

The biggest fun I see in any racing game is just the ease to pick up and play and have an absolutely varied grid of cars which are balanced. That's my perfect racer !

All the best with it though, if it's fun I'll definitely be buying again! Please keep Livetrack though, I think that is epic!

 

[gregc]

Thanks for reply Mr.Bell.

One last thing,. Does this mean...
...the tyre simulation level might be lesser in pc3 compared to that of pc2?, I mean the rest of your post before that final line doesn't lead to think that way. I want to think it means there will be the same or more content but focused on less car categories plus the removal of gravel racing (which is what most really want, because that increases the chances for a better online playtime), and all of that with at the very least the tyre complexity of pc2 combined with the livetrack engine, both still standing unrivalred to this point. However, that last line I might have find a little confusing.

Ok straight away. Given I understand that PC3 will have same or more content but focused on track racing and less categories, the does "more fun" mean that the tyre physics will be more simplistic?, or does"more fun" simply mean that we will have more content focused on the stuff we all want for project cars, in other words track racing only.

Happy new year everyone!

No. No, no, no. Rallycross is some of the most fun racing in the game and I would hate to see it removed. The only change I would like to see in that area is more content (specifically, a couple more classic RX cars to race with the Escort) and the ability to do a full RX race weekend (ie heats/semis/final) outside the career mode - offline for me, but also online for those who like folk

 

[Cluck]

See how difficult it is for SMS to win. One person wants rallycross, another wants it removed. I do wish people would realise that games are developed for a wide range of tastes and using arguments like "well, if you removed x, you could improve y" really doesn't help or solve anything. Removing x could reduce sales, ergo, leaving less potential revenue to even include y, let alone improve it.

 

[fernandito]

Let's face it, driving sims are a small market. The drier, less accessible you make it, the less sales there will be and I'm sure that's fine if you're running a subscription model (ala iRacing) or you have a small dev team pushing out small amounts of content (ala Simbin, Reiza et al) but when you're trying to push out 40+ circuits, 200+ cars, you can't take either of those approaches and you certainly can't make the game unapproachable.

Project Cars 2 hasn't "failed " because of being a complex simulator, let alone for featuring most content ever seen. It "failed" because fo the many issues it was released with, which frustrated many and thus bad critics raised exponentially (again like in pc1) on the internet, having a critical impact on the sales as we could have it no other way.

I'm sorry but can't buy your argument, and while I respect your opinion it seems pretty obvious to me that you're negating the reality as to why pc2 failed. And that..., that is not good at all.

Do SMS just want to jump the easy way for accessibility in an attempt to gather more public+increased sales?, just say it that way, you know. I for one am not criticizing them for that, but of course this is very bad news for me if true, which could also lead to one less sale, and if somebody thinks one less sale for my part is irrelevant and that is my problem only, then all I'll say is we will see about that, because I'm part of that market too, and might be not be that alone as some may think.

 

[Mr Grumpy]

Add more of everything, take away nothing, deliver a full polished package

 

[Cluck]

As for "alienating" some potential customers by making the game more accessible and fun, meh, they aren't going to be able to appeal to everybody and the sim world is full of dry, boring, soulless games already. It's not a crime to make a game fun.

 

[Joey D]

I found Project Cars 2 to be fairly boring and not all the fun, so it's good to hear the "fun-factor" will be looked at for Project Cars 3. I'll be interested to see how it turns out.