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!

 

[tatadado]

I play from one mounth and for me is ok. I play to Ac scure is better for some points (FBB, Setting ) but I like to play to pc2 , is not maybe a complete sim but do you want have a relax fun is great.

 

[leseb64]

a good racing game but not a real simulation ... still marketing by SMS

 

[Si]

As a Hardcore AC fanboy, i thought I wouldn't like PC2. (Hated PC1)now although I only have raced a few classes I really enjoy what I have tried. I love the day/night and the weather.....it looks amazing and I find it very immersive in VR. it is what it is....for me a very enjoyable pickup and play racer.

 

[Falk Massmann]

I am enjoying it very much, the overall online-experience is quite good. Good fun when bugs are not happening. There are still a couple of bugs and some adjustments made last patch are quite annoying. Especially the penalty system is just too sensitive now and you don´t get any indication how long you have to go slower to get rid of it, that´s quite a painful experience and I am surprised nobody has mentioned that yet.

I gave up on the career since the AI is way to inconsistent between tracks or weather conditions. FFB is amazing on some cars and then it is sometimes lacking on other cars. Don´t know what it is but some cars feel very good and others feel kinda shitty.

Rain puddles are very annoying, I think it is overdone. It´s just like driving on ice and introduces way too much momentum in the steering.
Visuals are nice, but latest patch introduced a lot of flickering in the surrounding environment like trees and shadows. Don´t know what´s up with that but I hope it´s gonna get fixed soon.

I love the GT4 Porsche Cayman, if you´re looking for a car with good FFb and fun to drive I suggest this one.
The Nissan in Group C is also very enjoyable to drive in my oppinion.
Well, overall rating from me: it is a very fun racing experience and it is on a good level but needs further patching and development.

 

[Nunzio]

I like it, I have none of the issues of crashing that people say they have. It must be their setup. The FFB feels good and the handling is decent. AI are not that bad when on 100% or better. The eye candy is great.

 

[gamer19]

Seems like first half of this thread is full of haters and the other of fans.
Funny stuff.
I wonder who'll win.

 

[Falk Massmann]

Seems like first half of this thread is full of haters and the other of fans.
Funny stuff.
I wonder who'll win.

I am not posting to win a thread!!!
I was just giving my experience and oppinion. Maybe it helps some other people to have somewhat more fun or better experience with the game. I am not reacting to haters or people who want to make a product to look bad. It´s just a waste of time to argue with such people. It doesn´t matter to me, not making my experience better or worse.

 

[RufGTI]

I've got a bug multiple times that corrupted my game files so Steam told me to download the whole game again. The driving isn't that bad and the car variety is fine but if you own actual simulations and something like Forza 7 nobody needs Project CARS 2.

 

[Metalogic]

I was considering getting PC2 for the PS4 Pro that my work gave me as a gift recently, as I thought that the recent major patch fixed a lot of issues, but sounds like for console racing I might be better to stick with GT Sport, which I'm actually finding is a lot of fun (more so than Forza 7 on my PC), though obviously it's a different beast from, Raceroom, Automobilista, AC etc.

 

[Puduku]

Seems like first half of this thread is full of haters and the other of fans.
Funny stuff.
I wonder who'll win.

Or it s just people sharing their opinion... There's nothing to win or lose.
On topic my experience with the game is good. Never crashed. No major complaints, just some weaknesses that are easy to live with considering the game offers some stuff the other games I tried don't ( good graphics, weather, career, more immersion,..) The biggest weakness according to me is that it lacks some refinement when it comes to physics/FFB,.. What I mean by that is that I took every GT3 for a few laps back to back, and didn't get much variety in the way the cars feel. I did that in Assetto and most cars feel unique in AC. But can't have it all in one package yet.

 

[Haiden773]

I get tired of people saying, "The FFB is really great, once you figure it out." or "...once you understand it." It's like this open disclaimer to shutdown anyone that has an issue with it. Basically, saying, "it's not the sim, it's you." Despite the fact that so many people have the same issues, and that even some devs and fanboys have admitted it's inconsistent across cars. I guess the FFB thing comes down to play style. If you don't mind fiddling around with options every time you change cars and sometimes tracks, then PCars2 might work for you. If you want to set global FFB, and then just enjoy the game content with little more than gain adjustment for clipping, then don't waste your time. Personally, I don't want to waste time in a rabbit hole, tuning cars for FFB. I prefer to race. The only tuning I want to put extra time into is car setup.

The AI is terrible, which ruins the SP experience. They aren't crashing and track cutting anymore, like PCars1, but they dive bomb, which means you have to watch your rear view more than you should when going into a corner, and they snake around the track single file, which looks strange and breaks the immersion. MP is a joke, because high safety and skill servers are few and far between. Most cater to the lower safety ratings with bottom barrel skill requirements. Also, MP doesn't work for me for a quick session, because it usually takes me quite a bit of time to adjust to PCars2 handling. The disconnected feel makes it difficult to jump in and have a decent race, until I get used it.

For me, even with the adjustments, the FFB just feels 'meh'. And PCars1 was the same. I've never really understood it, because the graphics and features are great. And yes, when adjusted, the FFB isn't bad. It's not great--I prefer AMS, AC, rF2, R3E--but it's much improved over PCars1. Still, I've never been able to understand why the driving/racing experience leaves me so bored.

I read this the other day in an article, rating sims in VR, and thought it was the closest possible explanation I've heard that, if true, might explain why I feel so disconnected and bored with PCars2.

"The demanding renderer means that motion-to-photon latency (when holding 90fps) is likely to be the highest on this list, so depending on your sensitivity to such things, this may reduce immersion."

Again, I don't know if that's true. But lack of immersion is something I feel, and I've always found that strange, because, given the graphic quality, content, and features of the title, I'm surprised to find the driving/racing experience so... "meh".

 

[Midnight⠀]

Pro:
- a fine selection of racecars and tracks
- weather system is great and also it is a nice, that you can change season for each track
- complete day and night progression
- greatly improved car handling compared to the Pcars 1
- graphics settings are well detailed, you can fine tune it easily
- photo mode is a nice touch

Con:
- AI - regardless of the patches even rFactor 1 still beats it. first corner carnage fixed and in general it is improved compared to day 1 release, however it still lack consistency
- some annoying bugs including game performance issues, texture flickering etc.
- some admins unplesasant attitude - I guess I do not need to explain this one for anyone who visited the official forum

 

[apex11]

I think for me, when i only had my console PCars 1 was the best thing ever (got it week after release from GAME for £20), it felt like when i first played ToCA 1 and 2, proper UK tracks and proper race sessions.....loved PCars 1 on my xbox.
Thing is now i have a PC and i'm open to many more 'sims' PCars 2 was never going to get me as hooked as PCars 1.

I did learn to separate the devs and certainly Ian Bells attitude from the game a i enjoyed it. I enjoyed Shift 2 on my 360 and that was well underrated IMO...
Anyway I think a lot of the problems arise from SMS and there attitude and also the approach from the mods and fanboys on the games official forum.
But still PCars 2 at full price was not for me.

But for £26 i can forgive this game of many issues as for the most part it is a worthy addition.
But no way is it as bad as some say, but by the same token it is no where near even close to being as good as the most vocal fanboys are telling us.

My advise get all the sims available in sales where possible, and enjoy them all.
I do and no way would i not play a game because of some weird alligence to one game...no way..

 

[Butzemann]

I have deinstalled pc2.

 

[TylerDurden4321]

It's a totally ok game with some issues.

the biggest ones for me:
1. The ai is very uneven. In some corners they are insanely slow and in others inhumanly fast. (there are other ai issues, but this one annoys me the most).
2. The menus are eff'ed up. You have to save a setup with "save as" every time you change something or the game will forget it after some time-trial retries. If you stick to the "current day" option, the game thinks it's spring, not autumn, unless you pick a new date and select "current day" again.
3. If you do a practice session, the replay is 2 minutes max, but the game actually writes the whole replay and you can access it when you can end the session, which is after 1 hour of driving. That's right... either 2 minutes replay or 1 hour of driving, then you get to see it all. What?
4. In many cars a inner-front tire lock-up will lead to significantly MORE turn-in as if the game thinks the tire gets a giant burst of stopping power from the lock-up wanting to spin the car around the locking tire in the first second of the lock-up before giving in to a slide. I don't understand why not more people are talking about this physic error.

It's a bit disappointing that 3 months in the menu issues aren't solved. This game has gotten less after launch support than pCARS1 imo (in the first month the support was actually really fine). Probably because it didn't sell as well.

 

[aka2k]

Aged terribly. Looks and performs worse than the first game to be honest, but the physics aren't all that bad. Not every car at least, some are really fun.

 

[delpinsky]

well, how i put this:
1- if you want to play for real, with a rig, you'll still need the Spade files. = that's pretty embarassing, but hey...
2- if you play on a pad (any pad) all cars are locked in the Thumbstick rotation limit of 180º, not the car's original one. there is no option to solve this in or out of the game. So..... go drive a ferrari with only 180º full lock = thats PRETTY BAD (and all other titles knows how to solve this)

my 2 cents?
1 cent - dont even think you can have FUN (i don't mean being fast, consistent, etc. etc. just fun) with any pad.
2 cents - SMS is a weird developer with a hot temper, with weird felling games fill with weird car handling, and a weird fanbase who can't get along...

I bough both. refunded PC2 after a frustrating hour (half wheel, half pad) and hide PC1 from my library. literally, those titles only got me frustration. and their not on the cheap side of things, games and developer, really. so there's no excuse.

NEVER AGAIN, SMS. you SUCK. now come here and try deleting my post...aahahahahaha

I still don't have PC2, but reading your comment, it seems like an EASY thing to solve, your issues:

1 - Devs should have a thorough look at the lines Jack Spades changed to see if they can do even better.
2 - it sounds not so difficult the implementation of unlimited rotation
(Do you use the stick to rotate the steering wheel like a real wheel? Because when I use pad in racing games, I just use the horizontal movement of the stick, from left to right)

I though the main concerns were focused on AI and then on FFB.

And once again I repeat:
Let's create a Race Department official thread on their forum, so we bring to them effective feedback to work on and I guess many people would benefit from this.
My two cents.

When I'll get next payment from PC1, I guess I will give it a try. The more patches they make, the better.

 

[cr4wl3r0]

2nd time i've read that someone has apparently uninstalled other sims since playing PCars 2.
I find that, in a game context, very sad.... I have all the sims and have never ever felt the need to uninstall any of them, why the hell would i?
I play all the sims, some get more of my time but all give me something in return which is a good experience with my sim gaming rig.....
I frankly don't believe people are uninstalling perfectly good games....

HI,
It' s simply a matter of taste: I like to focus on one single sim in my spare time, but as I have written in the post IMHO nowadays many race-sims do offer a decent sim-racing experience, so we simmer should be quite happy and constructive....
Best regards

 

[Ole Andreasen]

I love Project Cars 2. I am not a hardcore simmer - and for me PC2 is just what the doctor ordered. Great fun and LOTS of content. But it´s one of the titles that could come with anything and people will still hate it in my opinion. A shame really, because it´s a very very enjoyable racing game, with a huge amount of feel-good experience included - again - in MY opinion.

 

[apex11]

Aged terribly. Looks and performs worse than the first game to be honest, but the physics aren't all that bad. Not every car at least, some are really fun.

The trees do look awful, relays have flickers and weird blur i can't get rid of, the Shift 2 DNA is present as with PCars 1.
Graphically if i dare say it i prefer the clean crisp look, there are sims out there that fit that bill.
The bells and whistles are good for some of the more dramatic weathers and times of day..but oddly it fails when it comes to a simple clear sunny day at 1pm. Its not just that that is a rather bland time day for shadows even in real life, but it just shows up all the flickers and blurs worse..and it looks like playing shift 2.

I also think Ian Bell is so full of BS its untrue, he has a strap line for everything with some big scientific sounding words in it....but anyone with any sense knows they are just shifting, pun intended, PCars 1 back to us pretty much same as how Codemasters and Turn 10 do....

But sod it. £26. Worth that for the Renault 3.5 (back to back testing its so similar to RF2 version...both a blast around Silverstone.
The other day I started hot lapping Silverstone GP on PCars 2 in the Renault 3.5 at 6am and drove till the fuel ran out enjoying the car and the change of time effects....
That was worth £26 right there...