PC1 After a long play session yesterday...

Ryan Soucy · Mar 16, 2015

Dang, now I'm getting anxious for this to come out. I had started several careers with the open wheelers, but I decided to try the Clio Cup as my starting point. What brilliant racing. Normally I'm turned off by FWD cars, but I was so sucked in once qualifying started. I actually started the first weekend from the back to see how high I could climb up. I loved the double race format. Best of all was the weather. The cars are tricky in the wet, but not impossible. In Q at Snetterton, I was just about to finish my first fast lap when the rain started. I was pretty nervous that I wouldn't be able to bank a quick lap, but it took a couple minutes for the water to build up, and the next lap was tricky. Race 2 started in full rain, but eventually the rain let up (enough to kill the wipers), but the track was still slick. I'm 4 events in to the championship 2 points out of 1st. I know it doesn't matter where I finish because the next patch will delete my progress. That's the most frustrating part right now. I want to get some more serious time in the career mode, but what's the point - aside from one night of fun. I have a feeling I'll probably crawl inside this game when it comes out and reappear at the end of the summer.

As for bugs, there was a bug where I got 3 Battery failures in one pit stop, and a lockup when I tried to skip to the end of a session, and I drove through another car when the AI took over for autopit. I'm sure there are a ton of bugs like this to quash, now they've got over a month to work it out.

So putting aside the acrimony and controversy, what have been people's "oh frickin' WOW" moments.

SnappyDEe · Mar 18, 2015

1. They do make mistakes.
2. They usually respect your line. Remember, not all real drivers do that anyway.
3. Once you get by, well...you better build up a gap because they will try to overtake and usually do so respectfully. The only time I have had contact is when I don't remember to expect them to try an overtake. Most racing titles have AI that don't fight back. These guys will try to overtake once you get by.
4. The skill level on the AI is on a slider. right now I am at 90%+ difficulty on most but if I get faster I will crank it up for a better challenge.
5. They seem to go single file when it would be somewhat expected but they do run side by side and battle each other as well.

They are not perfect but they are definitely an advancement from the AI of the past. R3E's AI are pretty good too. Go to YouTube and search - SnappyDee AI behavior

It's a short clip I posted of GT4 cars at Spa. It's half a lap or so. I'm in the Ginetta. Watch how the Mustang and BMW behave. Let me know what you think.

Hope this helps.

Omer Said · Mar 18, 2015

SnappyDEe said:
Hope this helps.

Thank you very much for this detailed answer. It looks to be the best in the current market. Video was nice as well, not too passive, not too aggressive neither. They respected your moves properly.

Ryan Soucy · Mar 19, 2015

The thing with the AI for me is that I don't think about them when I'm driving. Its like a referee, if he does a good job, you're not talking about them after a match. They don't do anything too stupid and I haven't been taken out grotesquely. Snappy, I too don't like FWD cars by rule, but I was so engrossed in the Clio raceing that I didn't care. It is a very raceable car.
The other drivers are fair, in the formula rookie, I was tangling wheels a lot with AI, but I wasn't giving them much room, so I shouldn't have been closing the door on them. The only thing I see might be annoying is the consistency of the difficulty from series to series. A 90 in the Clios put me 1st-5th, but 95 in the F Rookies and I won easily. (I graduated to FGulf though and was mid-pack. Frustrating.)
I like the FG's, those are the type of cars I'd like to drive in real life. I personally like the Formula C more, but I like the open wheelers a lot.
One annoying carryover from Shift 2 is that cars tend to become glued together during contact. I think they do this intentionally so you don't drive like you can do in GT, where you can use other cars as a brake. Sometimes its overdone, but basically you shouldn't be barging your way through anyway. If you NEED to be 1st place that bad, turn down the difficulty...

SnappyDEe · Mar 19, 2015

@Ryan Soucy - Don't get me wrong, I really like the Clio's and many of the other FWD cars. It's just that I can't race FWD very well.

I'm glad they are in the game and I will make an effort to learn but I generally gravitate towards the RWD GT's. I watch F1 but I have never been a big "open wheel" racing fan. Well, pCars has changed that! I am really enjoying the Formula A through Formula C cars. I ran a 12 lap Formula B race in build 958 today, right before uploading B959, and ...WOW! My heart rate was elevated from start to finish. I had the AI set to 86 with no assists on at all. Best race I've ever had in any game. I recorded portions of it.

The FG1000 is absolutely brilliant! That car will make for some seriously fantastic club racing once the game hits the shelves. It's perfect for veteran and rookie drivers alike.

SnappyDEe · Mar 20, 2015

While we're at it. Does anyone know how to alter/tune the gear ratios? I can't seem to find how to do that.

Sicario Del Toro · Mar 20, 2015

SnappyDEe said:
While we're at it. Does anyone know how to alter/tune the gear ratios? I can't seem to find how to do that.

In car Setup menu ,you can fine tune the gears - under ( Gear Ratios or Final Gear ) but some car don't allow this .

SternLX · Mar 20, 2015

Andrej Svajger said:
No no, it's the third to last corner (full 90 degree turn) before the chichane that enters the finishing straight. That's where things happen when racing Clios.

Ooooooh! I see what you mean now. Actually I was mistaken on which lay out I ran. It was the Sprint layout. Nasty little off camber bump going into the chicane before the front strait. Getting into the chicane on the Sprint layout is much easier as it eliminates most of that nearly 90 degree right turn.
I'll screencap the 1st 2 laps and post'em up on my YT channel.

Edit: Ok, maybe I won't, forgot I deleted my entire Documents\Project CARS folder. hmm, guess I'll run the race again.

Ryan Soucy · Mar 20, 2015

SnappyDEe said:
While we're at it. Does anyone know how to alter/tune the gear ratios? I can't seem to find how to do that.

I can imagine something like the FG1000 might not have adjustable gears, its a spec-lite series. But I have definitely adjusted gears in the F Rookie and Ginetta Junior in the setup menu (probably the 4th out of 6 menu tabs) and felt an actual difference on track.