PC1 Project Cars mostly hype? Your opinions

[Azfalt Raser]

This thing has been hyped so much.
I swore I wouldn't buy another car game unless i tried a demo first. But like all the other sheep, I followed and purchased it.

Thus far it's been a massive disappointment
Played in: 4800x900 resolution
No driver's aids
Logitech driving force GT
DTM car at Spa
Default force feedback settings

*Little to no steering feel.- I don't feel like I'm driving on ice though.
*Arcade style driving (extremely forgiving) on the hardest settings.
*cockpit sides are stretched oblong
*BEAUTIFUL GRAPHICS overall though.
*audio left alot to be desired.

Are either tracks accurate?
I compared DTM cars in R3E at Hockeheim & pCars at Hockenheim.
pCars seemed more difficult due to the shadows cast on the track, light reflections... so I had difficulty picking up some brake markers, but the track itself seemed easier to drive (less turning in corners), no tire squealing, basically turn the steering wheel according to the video on the screen - like an arcade game.

The cars were worlds apart.
R3E: you felt the weight transfer, heard the tires scrubbing then squealing as they lost grip, felt/heard the oversteer, the understeer.
pCars: I just hear alot of wind noise. or what sounds like wind noise.
Drive too fast? no problem in pCars just slam on the brakes mid-corner.
Drive too fast in R3E, slide off the track - tires squealing & screeching the whole way, then dig yourself out of the gravel.

Right now, my impression is that pCars is a better version of Grid Autosport.
Somewhere between Arcade and Sim - leaning more towards arcade.

Admittedly, I have optmized R3E and I was only in pCars for about half an hour and need to change fov, force feedback, and audio settings.

What's your impression of pCars to other games?

 

[Fritz Anker]

However, this requires you to understand how the Fx, Fy, Fz and Mz parameters work in conjunction with the Steering Arm Angle parameter (all of these found in the CAR SETUP FFB tab, NOT in the controllers preferences).

Mz is the most important of the 4 values together with Spindle Arm Angle. What you do first is to make sure your Mz value is a lot higher than any of the others. This is a typical good starting place:


Fx = 80
Fy = 60 (or try even 50)
Fz = 60
Mz = 100

Make sure you bump up the Master Scale in the car to compensate for the now weakened forces (Fy is a hugely dominant force but isn't all that useful compared to Mz which is the twisting force and most relevant to slip angle).

Thanks for this. I read your posts prior but haven't had much a chance to tweak the FFB - so my opinion was just how it felt out-of-the-box so to speak. I will give these settings a chance and update my thoughts - but it does leave quite an opportunity for WMD to make the myriad of settings have a bit more clarity or best case, provide pre-made profiles depending upon controller set up and car.

 

[SwaggerJacker]

if steam could give refunds...

Assetto corsa and Raceroom will be the only 2 sims i would ask for my money back... Although i like to support these guys, i just dont think ive had my monies worth out of these.

Race 07 DLC etc, GSC. RF2 and pcars however i would gladly keep and play..

I love RaceRoom. I like AC. Both are brutal to play against the AI. Both are a blast to play online. I prefer RaceRoom to all the sims I have. PCars will have to grow on me. The FFB with my G27 is nothing short of amazing. I love the feel. Someone said the game has no "soul". I agree. It will get better, and I will enjoy the ride.

To each his own.

Swag

 

[Azfalt Raser]

The physics appear to be more relaxed than the sims" "but I would not call them arcade physics."

That pretty much says it all. ^^

As I stated before - I may soften my stance (on pCars) - It took me 30 minutes to get used to the physics and then I had a blast.

The graphical telemetry data on screen (Gas, brake, brake temp, tire loading/wear, g-force....) was F*****G awesome! I learned alot about my driving from that data. I'm terrible with my brakes.

For the hardcore sim'ers - it's a relaxed alternative to full sim racing.
1) be prepared to feel different physics (not worse or better just different) from what you're used too.
2) be prepared to spend some time in the menus setting up your ffb
Otherwise, save your money.

I did run into a problem though.
For the first half of my exploration, my Crossfire worked fine. Then, I looked around in the menus and when I went back to driving, my 2nd video card wouldn't work for pCars anymore.
BUM- MER! It went from playable to barely playable.

 

[Azfalt Raser]

simcades like intelligent Chelsea Fans dont exist.....

I don't know where Leeds is and I'm not a Tennis fan......but that is funny.

 

[Kristian Maynes]

I like the career, track list, graphics, night driving and the rain. What i dont like is the AI cutting the track if he is chasing you. I also dont like the FFB and the physics of the game. Its easier to drive same cars+tracks on pcars than ac.

but, i do enjoy playing pcars with ai.

 

[SnappyDEe]

pCars is my favorite.

 

[SnappyDEe]

I just bought myself a pCars hoodie.

 

[traind]

Full disclosure: I am a WMD member-- a lower tier one who only paid the price of the game to join. Although I have not played much in the last months and still have not fully experienced the full title in all its aspects, I thought I'd chime in from my early drives with the complete PC version of the game --- in reaction to some of the comments here.

Simulation or arcade? Well, it's pretty clear to me it is a simulation. This really has nothing in common to what most people call an arcade racer. pCars requires you to brake for turns, it has understeer and oversteer and you can lose it under throttle as well as braking. Is it a "hardcore" sim in the same vein as RF2? Not quite. It has many of the same features as RF2 but the core handling feel and physics do not come across as quite as challenging or sensitive as RF2. But the basics are all present in pCars. In the world of sims-- regarding handling difficulty-- it is closer to RRE or AC than it is to RF2 It does have a different feel and I think your individual mileage will vary. Of the modern PC sims...I like AC, RF2, GSC and iRacing. I am enjoying trying out how the cars ended up in pCars too. Do I think it handles better than those other titles? No. Is the feel good enough to be enjoyable? Of the cars I've tried so far... yes. But the feel of the cars seems to vary a little more in quality from car to car than a title like AC or iRacing. But driving the ones I have is still pretty fun and engaging.

Tracks. Most aren't laser-scanned and on some tracks that difference is quickly noticeable if you have driven a title like iRacing--- which by my estimation is the clear exemplar regarding track quality. Other tracks seem pretty close to the real life elevation changes, camber etc. So exact accuracy varies a bit from track to track-- some good-- some not so good. All I have tried look great though. Very detailed and full of life. They look so good that you probably won't notice the accuracy issues unless you have the track in iRacing or maybe AC (smaller scanned track count with overlap).

Graphics. Some people here have been disappointed, which is surprising. If you have a decently powerful PC I would think you'd be happy. My pc is getting a bit old at this point but I still think it looks great. If you crank details up fully though you will need some real power to run a full grid with decent frame rates. I think pCars is the best looking sim but for me it doesn't fully blow away iRacing or AC in the visuals department. It beats them in many areas of graphics but both of those titles remain very good looking to my eyes. But pCars has the 24 hour cycle and the lighting model is one thing it has over the other titles that really stands out graphically. That and track detail (graphical).

FFB. Lots of different opinions here in the community-- probably driven as much by hardware and settings as it is by expectations. I have a G25 and find the pCars FFB a little soft vs. AC but with some nice detail at the same time. There are a lot of adjustments to FFB that are available and I have not taken the time to explore too much yet. I do think the FFB is pretty good with the G25 at this point but I hope (and believe) it can get better still with tweaking. If you really like AC FFB this will take a bit of getting used to as it feels different. Maybe it is a bit more toward RF2's FFB on the spectrum but it does not have the same quality of RF2 FFB (which may be the best out there right now when dialed in). I will say that some cars feel better than others in pCars-- unfortunately it does not have the same consistency of FFB feel as does something like AC.

I have not seen the console versions of pCars but it makes sense that a PS4 user would give it a try as they have no simulation like this until GT7 comes out in 2018 (kidding... but it is polyphony digital after all...). Xbone users have Forza 5 (which is excellent in many ways for a game controller driven console sim) and Forza 6 which is coming up this year. So that is a more difficult choice than a PS4 user... unless you have the scratch to get both Forza 6 and pCars. I'm not sure what the reviews say about pCars and a controller but that might be the deciding point for a console owner.

As far as undecided pc owners.... well if you own a powerful pc and a wheel you may well have plenty of money to just pick it up to try it out. You'll probably like the graphics, enjoy the car and track selection and if you work at it a little the FFB will make the handling feel at worst serviceable--- at best pretty darn good-- depending on car choice and your own preferences. If you are hoping for a RF2 or iRacing replacement.... I think you'll be disappointed. If you are thinking more in the vein of RRE or Race On but with more tracks and cars... this may be right up your alley. If you are thinking of AC this could work too... but the FFB will take some getting used to compared to AC's approach and feel.

 

[David O'Reilly]

i love how "some" simracers think cars have to be difficult and slidey to be real.!

tell that to this bloke

 

[David O'Reilly]

I remember when I first tried a racing game - F1 2010 - and how disappointed I was initially; I thought I would never master even getting around a circuit without an off or facing the wrong way because of mis-handling the throttle. I was a noob, that goes without saying. I was still a noob, still learning with the next two versions of the game. Worse, each time a new version came out, I had to unlearn and re-learn. That was just one title.

My DVD copy of the PCars game arrives tomorrow and I fully expect to have to learn, to get to grips with setups and unlearn habits that might have been ok with my previous game, but not ok with this one. After becoming relatively competent with the F1 series, all assists off, I recognised it did what it said on the box. It is a racing game that gives you a sense of immersion in a career, in the set-up of the car, tyre strategy, pit stops, practise and qualifying etc; a game about Formula One. No matter how often I raced, every race was different.

I've tried RacePro, Grid and Forza games (of which RacePro was the best) but none of them really immersed me as much as the F1 games. (Test Driver Ferrari was peculiarly interesting but ultimately frustrating).

I will therefore continue to trust the F1 games, will buy F1 2015, but have been lured by the PCars ability to depict a career which starts with Go Karts. Will I gnash my teeth if a car doesn't feel just like a F1 taking a long-fast double apex turn? Well I have no idea what it really feels like or the fear which must accompany it in reality, so no. Everything is relative. It is a game.

I appreciate how you have been able to differentiate so clearly between the "driving simulation" aspect of a game (your like of Race Pro) and the other non simulation but highly enjoyable aspects such as career (may I add engineer, Co Op, Weather) which create so much immersion and pleasure.

 

[David Ignjatovic]

tell that to this bloke

There's a difference between difficulty and control ability, and some sims have failed to build with the controller (wheel in mind), namely iracing, iow, iracing might have epic on paper physics, but on track in can suck.

 

[Yapci]

tell that to this bloke

And this is why I love AC and the RUF. Identical handle.

PCARS seems early access still, have good features but ffb doesnt let us fell all about the physics (which I think are there, but can feel them right). Too buggy to be final product with 4 years of intensive testing by lot of members.

And graphics. Men you need a great pc to run this in medium-high.

 

[David O'Reilly]

And this is why I love AC and the RUF. Identical handle.

PCARS seems early access still, have good features but ffb doesnt let us fell all about the physics (which I think are there, but can feel them right). Too buggy to be final product with 4 years of intensive testing by lot of members.

And graphics. Men you need a great pc to run this in medium-high.

Yes a properly rendered 911 is a joy to behold and maybe a great benchmark test for a sim?
In RF2 for example there are 3 911 GT3s available. Only one has the handling modelled correctly. The other two fall down on either incorrect weight distribution or other problems which I wont hijack this thread with.

 

[David Wright]

tell that to this bloke

Damn - Shift physics were right after-all.

 

[bmanic]

It's also funny how people think Rene Rast has been paid by SMS. He wasn't and still is not paid a single dime (according to Rene himself!). The guy happened upon Project CARS by chance, while testing wheels for Fanatec.

He instantly fell in love with the game due to it NOT handling like AC and iRacing (the two he mentioned).. which he felt all were way too unrealistic in the way they handle. Unrealistic in what way? Simply way too difficult to control a car over the limit. In real life you CAN drift and slide quite comfortably without constantly spinning out (though I wouldn't call AC difficult.. on the contrary. Many of it's cars have way more grip than in Project CARS).

Another thing people keep missing: iRacing is going towards the type of handling of Project CARS and Assetto Corsa. Every single iteration of their new tire model has come closer and closer in handling. More and more progressive grip. It's slowly leaving it's ice racing roots behind. Why? Because that's how REAL CARS handle! Assetto Corsa is a lot more forgiving also then for instance netKar Pro was (which is one of the reasons some "hardcore wannabe racers" keep hating on it).

From a purely technical "what-it-does" stand point Project CARS is THE MOST sim of all the games out there at this point in time. It _simulates_ more things than any of the other games. It has dynamic weather, complex engine simulation (different turbo simulations, altitude over sea level affecting a myriad of things in the engines), complex throttle simulation (not just an on-off sliding scale but an actual simulation of the whole system!), complex tire model simulation with very complex heat and wear simulation (unfortunately some of it now disabled as it ate too much CPU cycles for release), complex chassis simulation (though here it is missing chassis flex which some of the competition is simulating), complex track conditions simulation.

So yeah.. no matter how you try to justify commenting it as a "simcade" just doesn't make sense. It is a 100% simulation, through and through.

Now you may not like HOW it is simulated. That's completely fair but that doesn't make it "simcade" from a purely technical stand point.

 

[David Wright]

IAnother thing people keep missing: iRacing is going towards the type of handling of Project CARS and Assetto Corsa. Every single iteration of their new tire model has come closer and closer in handling. More and more progressive grip. It's slowly leaving it's ice racing roots behind. Why? Because that's how REAL CARS handle! Assetto Corsa is a lot more forgiving also then for instance netKar Pro was (which is one of the reasons some "hardcore wannabe racers" keep hating on it).

I would suggest you can add rF2 to the list. When they updated the GT cars such as the Corvette and later the BT20 the feedback was the cars were more controllable and forgiving. When they added the contact patch model to the karts, again the feedback was that the cars felt more forgiving and intuitive to drive.

 

[David Ignjatovic]

People also want to pretend that the physics of the older simbin titles are low grade, when in fact they're still some of the best, the overall modelling of the full range of car behaviour is impressive, and let's not forget Stock Car Extreme which upped the anti on FFB without compromising physics.

Pcars was an obvious simcade game, some of us have been saying as much for yrs, but that's not to say it's not a good driving game, but it sounds like it needs a few patches{what else is new}.....but to pretend that pcars is next gen or even this gen physics is silly, unless you want to compare it against the worst aspects of iracing and rf2, speaking of which, why are those 2 always used as reference points, neither of them are the best at ffb and physics, certainly not over their full car list.

 

[Cote Dazur]

Full disclosure: I am a WMD member-- a lower tier one who only paid the price of the game to join. Although I have not played much in the last months and still have not fully experienced the full title in all its aspects, I thought I'd chime in from my early drives with the complete PC version of the game --- in reaction to some of the comments here.

Simulation or arcade? Well, it's pretty clear to me it is a simulation. This really has nothing in common to what most people call an arcade racer. pCars requires you to brake for turns, it has understeer and oversteer and you can lose it under throttle as well as braking. Is it a "hardcore" sim in the same vein as RF2? Not quite. It has many of the same features as RF2 but the core handling feel and physics do not come across as quite as challenging or sensitive as RF2. But the basics are all present in pCars. In the world of sims-- regarding handling difficulty-- it is closer to RRE or AC than it is to RF2 It does have a different feel and I think your individual mileage will vary. Of the modern PC sims...I like AC, RF2, GSC and iRacing. I am enjoying trying out how the cars ended up in pCars too. Do I think it handles better than those other titles? No. Is the feel good enough to be enjoyable? Of the cars I've tried so far... yes. But the feel of the cars seems to vary a little more in quality from car to car than a title like AC or iRacing. But driving the ones I have is still pretty fun and engaging.

Tracks. Most aren't laser-scanned and on some tracks that difference is quickly noticeable if you have driven a title like iRacing--- which by my estimation is the clear exemplar regarding track quality. Other tracks seem pretty close to the real life elevation changes, camber etc. So exact accuracy varies a bit from track to track-- some good-- some not so good. All I have tried look great though. Very detailed and full of life. They look so good that you probably won't notice the accuracy issues unless you have the track in iRacing or maybe AC (smaller scanned track count with overlap).

Graphics. Some people here have been disappointed, which is surprising. If you have a decently powerful PC I would think you'd be happy. My pc is getting a bit old at this point but I still think it looks great. If you crank details up fully though you will need some real power to run a full grid with decent frame rates. I think pCars is the best looking sim but for me it doesn't fully blow away iRacing or AC in the visuals department. It beats them in many areas of graphics but both of those titles remain very good looking to my eyes. But pCars has the 24 hour cycle and the lighting model is one thing it has over the other titles that really stands out graphically. That and track detail (graphical).

FFB. Lots of different opinions here in the community-- probably driven as much by hardware and settings as it is by expectations. I have a G25 and find the pCars FFB a little soft vs. AC but with some nice detail at the same time. There are a lot of adjustments to FFB that are available and I have not taken the time to explore too much yet. I do think the FFB is pretty good with the G25 at this point but I hope (and believe) it can get better still with tweaking. If you really like AC FFB this will take a bit of getting used to as it feels different. Maybe it is a bit more toward RF2's FFB on the spectrum but it does not have the same quality of RF2 FFB (which may be the best out there right now when dialed in). I will say that some cars feel better than others in pCars-- unfortunately it does not have the same consistency of FFB feel as does something like AC.

I have not seen the console versions of pCars but it makes sense that a PS4 user would give it a try as they have no simulation like this until GT7 comes out in 2018 (kidding... but it is polyphony digital after all...). Xbone users have Forza 5 (which is excellent in many ways for a game controller driven console sim) and Forza 6 which is coming up this year. So that is a more difficult choice than a PS4 user... unless you have the scratch to get both Forza 6 and pCars. I'm not sure what the reviews say about pCars and a controller but that might be the deciding point for a console owner.

As far as undecided pc owners.... well if you own a powerful pc and a wheel you may well have plenty of money to just pick it up to try it out. You'll probably like the graphics, enjoy the car and track selection and if you work at it a little the FFB will make the handling feel at worst serviceable--- at best pretty darn good-- depending on car choice and your own preferences. If you are hoping for a RF2 or iRacing replacement.... I think you'll be disappointed. If you are thinking more in the vein of RRE or Race On but with more tracks and cars... this may be right up your alley. If you are thinking of AC this could work too... but the FFB will take some getting used to compared to AC's approach and feel.

Thank you for your review, my experience of Pcars matches what you are saying almost perfectly.
Not up to the hype, but not that bad, different than the other SIM, but still a SIM. Most important and why it should be considered by every one is the fun factor.

 

[traind]

Another thing people keep missing: iRacing is going towards the type of handling of Project CARS and Assetto Corsa. Every single iteration of their new tire model has come closer and closer in handling. More and more progressive grip. It's slowly leaving it's ice racing roots behind. Why? Because that's how REAL CARS handle! Assetto Corsa is a lot more forgiving also then for instance netKar Pro was (which is one of the reasons some "hardcore wannabe racers" keep hating on it).

Now you may not like HOW it is simulated. That's completely fair but that doesn't make it "simcade" from a purely technical stand point.

I went back to iRacing late last year and I would say that, yes, it already has left it's ice racing roots behind. A big, big difference from 2-3 years ago in grip (particularly low speed). I can catch slides a decent amount of the time in iRacing now and I am not even remotely close to an alien.

I also agree with David Wright that RF2 is moving in that direction too-- which is a good thing imo. But many cars in RF2 are still significantly more challenging (regarding crossing the grip threshold) by a good margin compared to most other modern sims--- as far as I am concerned at least.

And your last point is right on... just because you don't like the taste of the wine you bought doesn't mean it isn't a bottle of wine

 

[Sean Kenney]

Since I have never driven the cars, I have no idea, but on some of the Pcars cars: DTM, GT3 I can come out of a relatively sharp corner with my wheel turned quite a bit and full throttle pedal to the metal(high RPMs) and not even slide. Sometimes it does, obviously, but sometimes I mess up the turn and think I am done and I keep on going fine.

To me that should easily spin me out with these type of cars, am I wrong?

TC is Off.

Maybe my differential settings.

This is not trying to knock Pcars....