PC2 Have Your Say: Project CARS 2 Three Months On

[Paul Jeffrey]

Project CARS 2 released across PC and console platforms back on the 22nd September to mixed reviews, now three months and a couple of patches we want you to 'Have Your Say'...

The latest racing title from Slightly Mad Studios continues to divide opinion throughout the sim racing community, often mixing the sublime with the ridiculous in equal measure as it constantly strives to achieve the lofty ideals set forth by an aggressive pre release marketing campaign.

Shipping in a sub optimal state and having since been in receipt of a sizable updates, the question for today is:

How do you feel Project CARS 2 has progressed since release day, and what are your impressions of the game now?

Have fun, stay respectful and enjoy the weekend!

 

[apex11]

At his honestly has given us yet more insight into how these things work. So any pro driver who is affiliated with a car brand can't ever slag off a computer game pixelated version of that car.....
So the one's openly paid by the actual devs have NO chance of ever being anything other than yes men....

So if you don't already, always take these 'pro drivers' opinions with a massive pile of salt...

 

[davifernandeslima]

Really so you disagree that im happy with the game caz your not ? When you say “us” that means all of us ? Or do you have a mouse in your pocket .. if you said YOU were up set because the game did not deliver again fir YOU thats fine you have every right to your opinion but when you say “us” then it blankets the whole community.. and this is not about you at all I could have picked one of the toxic threads , there is one on every frikin page i just used yours sry .. ... this is exactly what im talking about the blind will always be blind i guess .. anyway cheers and enjoy the holidays!

yes, the 180º pad lock is for ALL OF US. not for me.
me and everybody here have the right to disagree with you...right?
excuse me, but you're complaining about toxic responses with a toxic response after your own toxic responses? now...thats like the inception movie...

 

[apex11]

It started back on PCars 1 and happened with AC.

It goes like this:

I have an issue with the game : WELL SHOULD OF GOT A PC
I am on PC and have an issue with the game : WELL SHOULD OF GOT A BETTER PC
I am using a pad and have an issue : SHOULD OF GOT A WHEEL

I have good PC and a good wheel but have a few issues : GO PLAY MARIO KART

 

[Ian Bell]

Does it also make him wrong?

Saying our Nordschleife isn't accurate is objectively wrong yes. It's to within 2 mm of the laser scanned point cloud.

We iterated on a polygon to point cloud differential analysis until it was nailed. Here is an early WIP.

 

[natedogg1867]

We iterated on a polygon to point cloud differential analysis until it was nailed. Here is an early WIP.

Out of curiosity...

Is there any reason those sorts of 'behind the scenes' pictures arent shared more often?

As a fan of sim racing, this is the sort of stuff the more involved fans love to see. The end product that appears in-game is one thing for players to look at and judge... but seeing all the work that goes on to create that product is very interesting.

Not to single Pcars out, as I find this fascinating with every game.

 

[Ian Bell]

But yet Pretend Race Cars blog during the time Austin was a paid SMS representative was slagging of your competion? RF2, AC, AMS, Forza, GT....he ripped into them not as an impartial blogger but being paid by SMS.
Yes you closed him down but some damage has been done and i for one pray that one if not all of those developers file a law suit.....
The CEO of Coca Cola could not openly be seen to pay a blogger and stick Coke stickers on a race car funded by Schwepps and then allow him to start slagging off Pepsi and Red Bull.....
Why can you not see that?

Which I was instrumental in closing down. I asked him to do so from the off but it wasn't an easy 'negotiation'. Now it's better for all of us.

 

[Michael Hornbuckle]

It would appear that creating/curating a sim racing (hate) blog pays handsomely these days; hopefully the domain name pretend race cars 2.0 is still available. I look forward to doing business with you soon.

 

[Ian Bell]

It would appear that creating/curating a sim racing (hate) blog pays handsomely these days; hopefully the domain name pretend race cars 2.0 is still available. I look forward to doing business with you soon.

You need to be able to write well though Michael.

 

[mr_belowski]

So for Nords, I understand that the source data from the point cloud was 2mm resolution, but what kind of *model* resolution are we talking here? Just curious

 

[apex11]

Which I was instrumental in closing down. I asked him to do so from the off but it wasn't an easy 'negotiation'. Now it's better for all of us.

Agreed. Although I liked his blog when he was totally impartial.

Anyway like i said on another post that probably didn't get spotted by you. I'm sure Ian you are a wonderful husband and Dad, any criticism I have around you and SMS and PCar franchise is purely in a gaming context.
It doesn't take long on your forum to find some pretty awful responses to very valid questions that YOUR customers have.
People like Gamer19 on here are rife over on your forums and Turn 10's and AC's. I don't think they help your brand.
Anyway. No worries.

 

[apex11]

You need to be able to write well though Michael.

(Please don't me you paid more than £10 to shut him down Ian...if you did, i think i retract what i said and HE actually played you...)

Austin certainly had a way with words:

" As the post-release drama continued to unfold, Ian Bell became increasingly agitated with the growing chorus of what he calls haters and trolls frequenting Project CARS message boards, voicing their displeasure with a game that even moderators admit shouldn't have been released in its current state."

"Rather than accept that Project CARS shipped with virtually no Quality Assurance testing, and the multi-platform racing simulator was loaded with a plethora of technical issues that were outright unacceptable for a major release in 2015, CEO Ian Bell and other individuals affiliated with Slightly Mad Studios ..."

"While the weekly patches failed to address the lengthy list of gamebreaking issues, head of studio Ian Bell personally took to various online message boards, including his own, to belittle customers who were clearly upset with the poor quality of the game.."

 

[Ian Bell]

Agreed. Although I liked his blog when he was totally impartial.

Anyway like i said on another post that probably didn't get spotted by you. I'm sure Ian you are a wonderful husband and Dad, any criticism I have around you and SMS and PCar franchise is purely in a gaming context.
It doesn't take long on your forum to find some pretty awful responses to very valid questions that YOUR customers have.
People like Gamer19 on here are rife over on your forums and Turn 10's and AC's. I don't think they help your brand.
Anyway. No worries.

Cheers. I would say you'd see the same or similar on any forum that actively engages with their audience as opposed to just spouting corporate platitudes from a look up list. We certainly don't get it right all the time but we 'try hard'. No one wants to alienate paying customers.

And yes, I'm much loved by friends and family and most people that spend any time with me. It's mostly 'big hearted, too kind, would do anything for you, and occasionally, 'an absolute c*nt'.

 

[Enthilzha]

I bought PC1 (and it's DLC) in one of the big Steam sales (I think I paid about £8 for it) and have had plenty of fun playing it. That being said, it is definitely the least used of all the major sims I have (AMS, AC, RF2, R3E, Dirt Rally etc) as it doesn't quite connect for me in the way those others do.

I haven't bought PC2, partly because of all the serious bugs and major issues with the game that have been widely reported (rightly or wrongly).

However, the main reason I haven't purchased it is that I have seen the way that your staff (and particularly, you Ian Bell) have treated many of your customers over a long period of time. Whilst I appreciate that there are always people on forums being unacceptably aggressive and rude (which does not excuse developers from doing likewise), I have seen plenty of threads where users have been perfectly polite and constructive in their criticisms, and yet been treated appallingly by SMS.

I used to work for the senior complaints department at the head office of a major UK department store, so I am very aware of what is good customer service and what is not. I know if I had treated customers the way you guys often do, I would very quickly have been out of a job (and rightly so).

I am not someone prone to overreacting, being either a fanboy or hater etc. I am a perfectly normal, reasonable guy yet I object on principal to doing business with a company (any company) that act like you guys do, regardless of how good your product may or may not be.

The simple fact is that your attitude not only makes it harder to get honest feedback and, thereby, improve your game, it also is costing you customers - customers such as me.

 

[apex11]

Cheers. I would say you'd see the same or similar on any forum that actively engages with their audience as opposed to just spouting corporate platitudes from a look up list. We certainly don't get it right all the time but we 'try hard'. No one wants to alienate paying customers.

And yes, I'm much loved by friends and family and most people that spend any time with me. It's mostly 'big hearted, too kind, would do anything for you, and occasionally, 'an absolute c*nt'.

You sound like me then....lol.

The bit about "spouting corporate platitudes" though.... isn't that what you are trying to make that pro driver do? By using the fact AMG pay him to race and you pay AMG to use their cars in your game?
I think Jan would of done no harm really had you just let it die off. He had an opinion and some would share it others not....
I don't know. You know best.

 

[apex11]

I think Ian has done well to come on here and in fact been a bit more humble than I've ever seen. Lets cut him some slack and let him get back to spending all that cash...unless he had to give it all to Austin...

 

[Dady Cairo]

I don't trust in Wookiees anymore....
DC

 

[ronniej]

It would appear that creating/curating a sim racing (hate) blog pays handsomely these days; hopefully the domain name pretend race cars 2.0 is still available. I look forward to doing business with you soon.

You need to be able to write well though Michael.

 

[ronniej]

Cheers. I would say you'd see the same or similar on any forum that actively engages with their audience as opposed to just spouting corporate platitudes from a look up list. We certainly don't get it right all the time but we 'try hard'. No one wants to alienate paying customers.

And yes, I'm much loved by friends and family and most people that spend any time with me. It's mostly 'big hearted, too kind, would do anything for you, and occasionally, 'an absolute c*nt'.

Good to see the developers come out and interact like this. Hopefully these racing sims keep progressing. Thx to all of em.

 

[MrRacer11]

Cheers. I would say you'd see the same or similar on any forum that actively engages with their audience as opposed to just spouting corporate platitudes from a look up list. We certainly don't get it right all the time but we 'try hard'. No one wants to alienate paying customers.

And yes, I'm much loved by friends and family and most people that spend any time with me. It's mostly 'big hearted, too kind, would do anything for you, and occasionally, 'an absolute c*nt'.

Hi Ian I have two questions for you regarding Project CARS 2. Is there a reason why in the Showroom when you can view the cars the option to open the doors bonnet or boot were not implemented? It would have been cool to look at the engines of the cars etc etc.

Also why were two of the skins for the Nissan Skyline GT-R R32 Group A removed? The Unisia Jecs and Castrol skins. Was it a licensing disagreement? I was just wondering.

Do you think in the future the possibility of that feature would be implemented into the game itself?

Thanks.

 

[Andy_J]

To @Ian Bell Do you plan any more big patches for Project Cars 2? It's a simple question. You see I think the game has promise and can be a lot better but needs some fixes, so can you say here that there are some fix patches coming that will please people and genuinely improve the game?
Cheers
Andy

ps I bet I don't get an answer.