PC1 Project Cars First Impressions Review

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Background

Got my start in GT1-2 then moved on to Forza 1-4. Spent a good 3 years or so doing two race series a week in Forza 4. Also raced GTR and Nascar PC sims years ago. Then made the jump to PC and iRacing. Been doing iRacing semi serious for about 18 months. with a few othes on the side for fun (Dirt rally etc)



Intro
well since the begining ive had a love/hate with iRacing. the lack of grip is so unrealistic and i hate the tip toe way you have to go around the tracks. the V6 tire model was a huge improvement in the right direction, but still has a way to go.
Ive been looking into Assetto Corsa(AC) and Project Cars(PC) the last 6 months and finally pulled the trigger on PC.
AC had the better car list, along with new car packs every few months. It also had the C7R which was HUGE for me. also had better ambient sounds like tranny wine etc. AC also had the bigger following. however PC had the visuals i was looking and richer sound tones in all the comparisons id watched.
Ive jotted down a few notes from my first few hours on PC.



General
One thing that worried me was PC was known to have poorer performance on AMD GPUs and in Windows 7. I have both. That held me off a few weeks, but ended up not being a problem for my setup(i7/8gb GPU).
I also liked the Rain/Night/Beauty of PC vs AC.
I set it up in Pro mode, no assists and 80% AI difficulty.
I dont care for the automated driving when you enter the pits.
Tons of options, and options for the options, you can customize everything in the game.
I found the driving a tad too easy, but also very satisfying. that being said i finished dead last in every single race. twice i got second to last.
Fast load times. Typically 6-7 seconds
Tracks not laser scanned. i did notice a few tiny differences in a couple tracks. were a straight would be a tiny bit shorter, or a corner slightly tighter. but 99% of the time i couldnt tell the difference.
Gearing seems really tall. 2nd gear would do 100mph in most cars. also a weird thing when stoped and trying to move in 1st or Reverse. the rpms would go straight to red line and the car would barely move. then after a couple times of this it would only do like super slow accelleration like a massive TCS system or something. but this only happened after a spin from a stop or something.
I have not go into tuning, or FFB tweaks or anything yet. basically driven as default.



One of the big things that drew me to PC is the Helmet view. WOW! turn all the HUD off and the Immersion is absolutly insane! The high pitched sounds are muffled just like wearing a real helmet, and the driver turns his head into the apex and also tilts his head into the corner too!(both with adjustable levels) also the focus blur is really cool. love this effect. It does make it a tad hard to tell how much steering input you have in the car/need at first, but you get the hang of it after a bit. worth it. I think you can also adjust how much head movement there is, bumps, speed etc.



And the video that single handedly got me so stoked about PC was this video. This is the **** i signed up for when i got into sim racing. Ive watched this many times and it gets me so amped. just awesome.



Physics
Id say it has a hair too much grip and a bit too easy at times. this changes weither your in a GT VS street car, but the Race cars are probly a tad too easy at times.
The Braking also is a bit too strong/easy most of the times as well. i found myself braking way too early most of the time, as the brakes were more effective than they probly should be. also even at the limits of threshold braking its uneventful. the car is not moving around trying to kill you like it should be at that limit, its just planted and calm.
There is kind of a lack of feel. there is no road feel on half the cars/tracks and this kinda leads to a lack of connectedness with the car at times.
For now im gonna rate the physics some where between a Forza/Turismo and Dirt Rally.



Cars
Most of them seemed too tough in crashes.
my first few combos i tried the game on:



I am very familiar with the RUF GT3 @ Laguna seca from iRacing so i wanted to try that combo first. Cornering Grip seemed almost unlimited at first compared to iRacing. but a rear engine RUF GT3 car should almost feel that way. im sure driving a real one wed say the same. Accell and braking had slightly less grip, than corning, but still a TON. I tried same car at Brands hatch and noticed less grip than Laguna. but still good.



Next up BMW 1 series street car @ Catalunya. definatly grip limited. unsteered and slide and lower performance like a street car should. seemed slow compared to the RUF of course, but had a good sense of speed at the same time.



BMW Z4 GT3 less grip than RUF, about right.

Then i went for the holy grail from above video. been waiting for this. BMW 320 Turbo Group 5 @ Nordschleife. Wow! orgasmic
biggrin.png
. had a huge sense of speed, but things didnt come at me too fast that you felt you could react or handle them. plenty of time to setup and take corner, but felt like you were flying too. first thought it had too much grip, but then i over cooked a few corners and it would understeer and go offtrack. I could really FEEL the turbo and power in the car. cool feeling. i later tried this combo again and while not quite as big of an impession as the first time it was still sweet.



Mustang Boss 302 @ Road Atlanta in the rain. Obviously lower grip in wet. noticable big time. upper RPM sounds need work. good FFB/road feel. Fun but lots of work/driving.



Ariel Atom V8 @ Monza. just right grip. had to slow and counter steer in corners on the street tires. had to be really carefull on the gas.



Ford MK @ Brands Hatch. Impossible to drive. looped every corner no matter how careful.



Mustang Cobra Trans Am Racer. Lively and a blast



Sauber C9 @ Catalunya. Awesome car! slow shifts though.



Force Feedback
Mostly just resistance
no road feel on most cars. some cars and tracks do have it though
the wheel moves appropriatly when you lock up the rears and slide, or let go and let the wheel self center at the exit of a drift.
you can feel the curbs and rumble strips when you drive over them.
no braking FFB
no traction FFB
seems like you almost have to go offtrack to get much FFB of any kind.



Sound
richer (deep tones) than AC, but lacks some of the smaller effects of AC such as tranny wine.
the Tire sounds at the edge of limit sound great and realistic. Over the limit the squeels are bad and cheesy.
Sounds change with view! chase cam has more exhaust note, helmet cam is muffled, etc. all different tones to each.
gravel sounds like maracas at times
Engine sounds sound a bit digital and cheesy at times, especially higher rpms.



AI
respectful
will go out of there way not to hit you, including going off course. for both passing, and if you wreck in front of them.



Weather
Rain and thunderstorms are awesome
wet track effects grip for sure
Great effects
colors and outside are grey and dull like real life outside cabin in rain. inside cabin still vibrant contrast. pretty real.



Graphics
no contest its pretty. all the lighting effects and little particles. damn nice visually.
love the focus blur on the helmet cam
im running with everything maxed out. no Frame rate issue. no clue what FR is but not glitchy at all. smooth. Im running a single 1080 monitor.
brake lights are too bright
the one thing that was set to low default, was the active grass or something like that. i tried this set to high and i had floating grass up at eye level and hgue bug. i have it just set to off now.
had a few lighting artifacts (windsheild reflections) that would get stuck on the screen when you first started on a few tracks, but go away as soon as a new reflection hits the windsheild.
the live marbles are badass. move and get kicked up when you drive over them. also the small ones even roll when the air of your car goes by them. awesome touch. same goes with leaves on tracks with trees.
smoke is very real. this is tough to do. it appears, drifts, and dissappears very realistically.



Online
only spent a few minutes online so far.
1st lobby i entered i got booted
2nd lobby my car appeared to have been dropped from an airplane. just tubbling way up in the air.
3rd lobby worked. appeared to be a practice or something. joined mid session.
lets you create your own lobby, as well as do private lobbys. choose your own cars/tracks/weather etc.
didnt appear to be many online only 2 lobbys with people in them.



Closing
Ill anxious to get more time to see if PC gets the thumbs up or down.
Curious how often new cars would come.
they appear to do updates every month even with PC2 coming. every 2-3 updates appear to have new cars/tracks.
also not sure if it will hold up long term as a sim ill run.
definatly enjoying it for now.
 
and i get this message from andy.
andy jackson:If you keep on giving me dislikes you idiot I will report each one to admin and they will give you a trip to simberia. I have already discussed this with admin. You are warned
 

Andy_J

I hate Race cheats ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)
Ahh I see. You lot are obsessed. Again @neuer31 you call me a liar and a troll and that is unwarranted and unproven. I should really report you for personal abuse that is not allowed here, but I really cannot be bothered with you. Seriously you have a big problem.

I'm out of this discussion now that I realise I have stalkers that must record every post and conversation. I am truly amazed at their obsession with me or anyone else who has decided that Pcars is not exactly as sim like as the others.
And @martinsalat, I know you are always watching my posts. You have an unhealthy obsession. I feel sorry for you. I bet you hated it when they got rid of the dislike icon eh? That was one of your favourite pastimes.

You lot are the most childish non members, non contributors here.:rolleyes:
If only you would contribute and join the Pcars race club, we could chat about Pcars on Teamspeak whilst racing together and I wonder if you'd be so abusive then? But I forget, you are only interested in creating arguments and calling out anyone who disagrees with your opinions on this fantastic but ultimately easier simcade style race game.
Cya on track one day hopefully.:thumbsup: But I won't hold my breath.
 
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Ahh I see. You lot are obsessed. Again @neuer31 you call me a liar and a troll and that is unwarranted and unproven. I should really report you for personal abuse that is not allowed here, but I really cannot be bothered with you. Seriously you have a big problem.

I'm out of this discussion now that I realise I have stalkers that must record every post and conversation. I am truly amazed at their obsession with me or anyone else who has decided that Pcars is not exactly as sim like as the others.
And @martinsalat, I know you are always watching my posts. You have an unhealthy obsession. I feel sorry for you. I bet you hated it when they got rid of the dislike icon eh? That was one of your favourite pastimes.

You lot are the most childish non members, non contributors here.:rolleyes:
If only you would contribute and join the Pcars race club, we could chat about Pcars on Teamspeak whilst racing together and I wonder if you'd be so abusive then? But I forget, you are only interested in creating arguments and calling out anyone who disagrees with your opinions on this fantastic but ultimately easier simcade style race game.
Cya on track one day hopefully.:thumbsup: But I won't hold my breath.
You want to keep calling this title a Simcade and people FTMP don't like that term it's a fudgy made up mess of a word. It is belittling in many people's opinion so that is why people respond to it in a negative way. There was another term that was tried to be introduced to the Sim Racing Community that is more acceptable and respectful called Realistic Racer which the Sim Race Community wanted nothing to do with. To me that says a lot about the sim racing community as a whole and where their priorities are. Seems it's more about stirring the pot with the different fan bases that exist then doing all they can to get along as a whole. Pretty sad indeed.
 
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well we can always avoid saying 'that word' :) I can fully agree with something like:
Racing simulator with physics based on real world, adapted to inferior input devices and limited ouput informations. it is just not that easy on tongue as 'simcade' .. :)

thing is that games like rF2 are not unrealisticly hard .. but we have very limited feeling of a car in our office chairs (or racing rigs) so with real world physics it seems to be harder (it is harder to drive in rF2 than in real world .. you don`t need to be real racer to realize that) .. and games like pC or R3E are helping players to overstep this lack of feel .. harder the car is to handle, more help you can feel .. from some point of view you can say that they`re doing it right and asking players to handle simulation as real as technically posible without providing equally realistic input and output is the wrong

Thing is that human brain can adapt pretty much to everything and with enough practice/adaption you can overcome that handicap .. and be just as fast (or almost as fast) in rF2 like in pC or R3E

Hopefully it is possible to get what I ment from that :)
 
well we can always avoid saying 'that word' :) I can fully agree with something like:
Racing simulator with physics based on real world, adapted to inferior input devices and limited ouput informations. it is just not that easy on tongue as 'simcade' .. :)

thing is that games like rF2 are not unrealisticly hard .. but we have very limited feeling of a car in our office chairs (or racing rigs) so with real world physics it seems to be harder (it is harder to drive in rF2 than in real world .. you don`t need to be real racer to realize that) .. and games like pC or R3E are helping players to overstep this lack of feel .. harder the car is to handle, more help you can feel .. from some point of view you can say that they`re doing it right and asking players to handle simulation as real as technically posible without providing equally realistic input and output is the wrong

Thing is that human brain can adapt pretty much to everything and with enough practice/adaption you can overcome that handicap .. and be just as fast (or almost as fast) in rF2 like in pC or R3E

Hopefully it is possible to get what I ment from that :)

Sorry my brain cannot adapt to the words Simcade or Fanboys. Anyway I do fine with the rF titles the thing that keeps me from playing more rF2 is that The Enduracers mod has not been released on it yet and the rF1 version of the mod is some of the best example of racing simulation software ever created. However I just DL'ed and installed F1 legends for GTR2 and IMO the pCARS Lotus 49 and the F1 legends Lotus 49 drive almost identical and no one is calling F1 legends simcade. I think a lot of people have it out for SMS TBH and thus creates a bias toward their work. No this does not apply to everyone who does not care for pCARS but still we know this to have some truth to it. :)
 
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Simcade is here to stay, especially as every new SMS title is simcade.
You guys need to face the fact that theres 1000s of sim racers who do consider simcade a valid term, you can't ban and silence them all, nor will you ever remove the appropriate simcade label.
 
D

Deleted member 113561

  • Deleted member 113561

Simcade is here to stay, especially as every new SMS title is simcade.
You guys need to face the fact that theres 1000s of sim racers who do consider simcade a valid term, you can't ban and silence them all, nor will you ever remove the appropriate simcade label.
Poor attempt of trolling - you cant do better?

Project CARS is 100% a Sim. Its not simcade.

________________________________

(it is harder to drive in rF2 than in real world .. you don`t need to be real racer to realize that)
You say with other words rFactor 2 has arcade elements. Because if its harder than real world, than its not simulating properly, with other words its no Sim in this aspect.
P.s. Youre contradicting yourself in the orginal quote
well we can always avoid saying 'that word' :) I can fully agree with something like:
Racing simulator with physics based on real world, adapted to inferior input devices and limited ouput informations. it is just not that easy on tongue as 'simcade' .. :)

thing is that games like rF2 are not unrealisticly hard .. but we have very limited feeling of a car in our office chairs (or racing rigs) so with real world physics it seems to be harder (it is harder to drive in rF2 than in real world .. you don`t need to be real racer to realize that) .. and games like pC or R3E are helping players to overstep this lack of feel .. harder the car is to handle, more help you can feel .. from some point of view you can say that they`re doing it right and asking players to handle simulation as real as technically posible without providing equally realistic input and output is the wrong

Thing is that human brain can adapt pretty much to everything and with enough practice/adaption you can overcome that handicap .. and be just as fast (or almost as fast) in rF2 like in pC or R3E

Hopefully it is possible to get what I ment from that :)
a lot.
 
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[/SPOILER] a lot.
no I`m not .. probably just another 'language barrier" misunderstanding on your side ... what I said is rF2 is simulating physics realistically and that is possibly making it harder to drive than real life as we are lacking like 80% of real life informations due to extremely limited output ...
 
D

Deleted member 113561

  • Deleted member 113561

no I`m not .. probably just another 'language barrier" misunderstanding on your side ... what I said is rF2 is simulating physics realistically and that is possibly making it harder to drive than real life as we are lacking like 80% of real life informations due to extremely limited output ...
I disagree
On the other side you dont have:
Fear, Heat, Pressure, the physical impact during race etc.
That makes racing at the simulator a lot easier

I also disgree about the 80% ... i would say its more like under 50%. Not calculated in that you can really compensate well for the missing bits as you said above:
...
Thing is that human brain can adapt pretty much to everything and with enough practice/adaption you can overcome that handicap
...
 
ok .. setting right amount of % would be impossible .. let say the bigger part is missing ..
And yes ..fear, heat .. is big part of it ... but I`m talking about physics .. mechanical part if you will .. you could you can add limited situational awardness, fact that car is never behaving the same way, track has never exactly the same condition, and much more .. but from physics point of view I believe (and also some real racers) it is harder in sim ...
 
D

Deleted member 113561

  • Deleted member 113561

Many people who drive and own cars disagree with you, ofc, whilst it's always been obvious, you're a heavy investor, so it's in your interest to LIE/EXAGGERATE for money's sake.
Thats just an assumtion. Further all big sales are already past so why would I continue? #faillogic

Your trollattempts are so bad! Common i know you can do better!

90%+ Agree that Project CARS is a simulation like rf2, iracing, AC etc.
I would say that less than 0.5% of the PCARS owners who tested it at least for 50h are convinced that it is simcade.
 
D

Deleted member 113561

  • Deleted member 113561

.. but from physics point of view I believe (and also some real racers) it is harder in sim ...
That would mean its unrealistic and so would not qualify as 100% sim - but it would still be a Sim as it aims to be 100% realistic and gets very close to it.
 
90%+ Agree that Project CARS is a simulation like rf2, iracing, AC etc.
have you tried to compare lets say Sauber C9 in AC and pC ? I was supprised how similiar it was and how easier it is to drive it in AC after recent patches (as it should be relatively easy to drive, that is good thing)... FFB suited me better in pCars but the grip, the braking, behaviour was almost the same .. yes pCars was little bit grippier and forgives you if you do stupid things you shouldn`t do but still both felt good ...I was seriously impressed by how pCars handle this car

Than I realize that I was comparing AC with optimal 100% track grip settings, 28C temperature, preheated tyres with blankets (80-90C) and in pCars I had 16C outside temperature, foggy weather, tyres according to telemetry were still at 52-54 C ...

I enjoyed both though ..
 
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no I`m not .. probably just another 'language barrier" misunderstanding on your side ... what I said is rF2 is simulating physics realistically and that is possibly making it harder to drive than real life as we are lacking like 80% of real life informations due to extremely limited output ...
TBH ISI develops it's software with real world in mind yes for sure the reason rF titles are harder then real life is because the experienced Sim Racer uses the software without assists which would be considered a raw state when ISI will flat out say to get a True to Life experience Real world Car Assists need to be used. So then you build a mind set that using the software without assists is reality and then call pCARS a Simcade. Too bad David I is not here in Florida I would show him what real racing is all about but he is too busy camped out in places where he is not wanted.
 
Wow, you'll stop at nothing to win on the internet.
No David truly you are ruining many people's enjoyment here with your ongoing trolling and disrespect of other community members. I truly believe you have some issues to work out for yourself because what you are doing is not considered good mental health.

Bottom line is you don't like the title or it's user base and have nothing good to say here in the related forum so that tells me your only goal is to cause grief for the pCARS fan base. I am sure there have been people who have kindly asked you to move on if not just for us but for yourself as well as you may end up a much happier person by doing so instead of feeding off negativity all of the time.
 
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No David truly you are ruining many people's enjoyment here with your ongoing trolling and disrespect of other community members. I truly believe you have some issues to work out for yourself because what you are doing is not considered good mental health.

Bottom line is you don't like the title or it's user base and have nothing good to say here in the related forum so that tells me your only goal is to cause grief for the pCARS fan base. I am sure there have been people who have kindly asked you to move on if not just for us but for yourself as well as you may end up a much happier person by doing so instead of feeding off negativity all of the time.

I'M NOT HERE TO BE CONTROLLED BY BIASED PCARS INVESTORS.
 
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