PC1 Project CARS release delayed again

[Ryan Ogurek]

Slightly Mad Studios and Bandai Namco have once again delayed the release of the highly anticipated racing game, Project CARS - this time until April 2nd.

It may not be much of a delay but it comes after a previous delay which moved the release date back from late 2014 to March 2015, understandably causing some frustration and speculation on the reasons behind the delay.

SEE ALSO: Pre-Order Project Cars

SMS stated that the previous delay was done to avoid other major releases and to put on finishing touches. This time, Bandai Namco says, "The slight shift of the release date is due to final adjustments in the game that are required to provide fans with the best gaming experience they can have.

“Moving the release date was not an easy decision to make, as we know our fans are eager to get their hands-on on Project CARS”, said Ian Bell, Head of Studio at Slightly Mad Studios. “But we know that these extra days will allow us to provide the best game experience that our fans deserve. We assure you the wait will be worth it when the game does arrive early April”.

Personally, I've always been one to feel that quality is better than quantity, so for me the reasons for the delay are enough reason, though some may feel differently.

Share your thoughts with us!

For more on Project Cars make sure to check out the forum or share your latest photos and videos in our dedicated gallery.

 

[Keith Horner]

It isn't that great like you say. I've been playing the game since march of 2012. It improved a lot ever since, there's no question about it, but the handling still lacks a lot. It's much more arcade than Forza. And it would wish to be at least close to Gran Turismo series. Granted, it improved a lot over the years of development, but still, it's rough. Very rough. Some tracks still look bad like they were in beta - Willow Springs, for example. Some features I wouldn't touch at all for being so shamelessly undercooked that I can't be bothered to make use of - like the replays.

The problem with PCars is, some people think it's a holy thing. You can't even criticize it on the dev forums otherwise they threat to ban you and give you money back (saw that happening with someone else back in 2012). I don't see the game improving that much until the release, but let's hope, eh?

PCars might die for being extremely "Tryhard". They are trying so hard to be the best simcade, to dethrone both Forza and GT from consoles and to be the next hot thing for PCs that they forgot to be natural and have their own voice. Which is damn a shame, given the potential it truly have. They are like an anxious young actress with a lot of potential but she ends up overacting to the point of annoyance in her audition to never get the role. The sounds in the game are a clear example of that: all you want after a few laps is to turn the engine sounds down because how damn annoying they are.

Today you can have a preview of the pCARS physics engine!

In other words: don't get your hopes up too much, I had purchased the alpha version like 2.5-3 years ago and I can't say that the physics are any better now. Need for Speed stuff, to put it nicely.

I want whatever you guys are on. To say it is even remotely close to need for speed stuff is just crazy. That just takes away any credibility you may have and throws it out the window. The forza comparison and GT(the worst "sim" of them all) comparison is laughable also. To each their own i guess.

 

[Giorgos Martiou]

guys if you are waiting to play a racing game and be close to reality come again in 10 or 20 years.thats my opinion.all games have sth good and sth bad.maybe one title have better ffb from the other or fhysics but the truth is that is only games if you compare them with real driving.so i want a game to put me in the filoshophy and the feeling of a real race.a good proposal is the iracing if you have enough money.in other case untill now PC is my first choice.i would be glad if kunos surprise me but.....i was waiting for sth better from kunos.
So finally i am talking about how a title can make your heart bit faster.

 

[Michael Carver]

Well the delays have at least given me more time to save money to upgrade my system (that's the "half-full" side of it).....

 

[aka2k]

I want whatever you guys are on. To say it is even remotely close to need for speed stuff is just crazy. That just takes away any credibility you may have and throws it out the window. The forza comparison and GT(the worst "sim" of them all) comparison is laughable also. To each their own i guess.

Yes, to each their own. You should drive a real car before pointing out anything and look like a rabid fan. PCars is anything but right on the handling. It's a simcade, its trying to catch a broad audience on consoles and PCs. I don't blame the devs for aiming for a broad audience. But I actually despise them to pass this game as a full blown sim. Which it's not. GT is better. Play that game before saying anything as there is nothing laughable on the comparison. If it was a rFactor2, iRacing or AC comparison, I would agree to some point.

PCars is a screenshot simulator for now. It's pretty and slick on pics, but driving feels wrong everywhere. Shift 2 still feels much better with the Polish Tire mod. But whatever. We'll never agree on this.

 

[aka2k]

guys if you are waiting to play a racing game and be close to reality come again in 10 or 20 years.thats my opinion.all games have sth good and sth bad.maybe one title have better ffb from the other or fhysics but the truth is that is only games if you compare them with real driving.so i want a game to put me in the filoshophy and the feeling of a real race.a good proposal is the iracing if you have enough money.in other case untill now PC is my first choice.i would be glad if kunos surprise me but.....i was waiting for sth better from kunos.
So finally i am talking about how a title can make your heart bit faster.

Or try any of this: Assetto Corsa, iRacing, rFactor 2 or even Raceroom. All of these games have better physics. GFX is the only thing PCars have. And that flair is obvious to be the bait for the console players.

 

[Giorgos Martiou]

Or try any of this: Assetto Corsa, iRacing, rFactor 2 or even Raceroom. All of these games have better physics. GFX is the only thing PCars have. And that flair is obvious to be the bait for the console players.

i have played all the games my friend.im driving in real track you know.all games is just games.The developers of all games have put in your mind that the real driving is sth like the game that they made but its not like this believe me.all the games is just not real.
now if you are thinking that you can drive a race car because you are a good driver in asseto ,iracing ,rfactor bla bla bla or even in pc believe me you are totaly wrong.sim games is all about fun

 

[Michael Hornbuckle]

"The slight shift of the release date is due to final adjustments in the game that are required to provide fans with the best gaming experience they can have.

Or it could be because there are eight tracks (five of them very big name tracks) that they don't have a license for yet. They have to scramble to either get the license done or change up the track in game so it is only loosely based on the real world counterpart like what they did with Suzuka/Sakitto.

@Giorgos Martiou I can understand you thinking all sims are games if you drive a real racecar; some people just can't get immersed into a video game for some reason, just like there are plenty of Mensa qualified geniuses that can't 'get' a simple pun or joke, their brain just doesn't work that way. But I really don't think I need actual on track experience in a full blown racing car in order to understand how a BMW 1M on street tires should react under different driving scenarios. Anybody with a decent amount of 'hooning' experience in a street car can spend five minutes in the 1M in pcars and AC and know which one handles realistically and which one is complete fantasy land physics.

Pcars (physics wise) seems to slot in somewhere between Forza and R3E IMO. The grass, sand, and runoff areas have very nearly equal grip to the track surface and a wet track has 95% of the grip that it does in the dry.

 

[SwaggerJacker]

Pcars (physics wise) seems to slot in somewhere between Forza and R3E IMO. The grass, sand, and runoff areas have very nearly equal grip to the track surface and a wet track has 95% of the grip that it does in the dry.

Gonna have to disagree there. That is a very huge exagerration. I don't really care that others don't like it. But thanks for the input. Lets just try to keep it accurate; shall we?
I've only driven it for a day, but the rain soaked track is very slippery.

Swagg

 

[Michael Hornbuckle]

Did you drive it long enough to get the tires heated up? It's slippery when the tires are cold (just like in the dry). Once the tires are heated up you can drive the car just like you would in the dry.

It's funny, Marco said that rain is a low priority for AC because people will only use it once or twice and then decide that it is too hard; with pcars I only play it using the rain because it looks so much better and feels almost exactly like driving in the dry.

 

[Richard Eriksson]

Did you drive it long enough to get the tires heated up? It's slippery when the tires are cold (just like in the dry). Once the tires are heated up you can drive the car just like you would in the dry.

It's funny, Marco said that rain is a low priority for AC because people will only use it once or twice and then decide that it is too hard; with pcars I only play it using the rain because it looks so much better and feels almost exactly like driving in the dry.

Well, the rain in pCars is mostly there for graphical effect i think. For atmosphere, rather than accurate wet weather simulation. And it does look good.

In fact, that is the only part of the game where graphics are truly looking relly, really good. At least with the settings turned up. So it brings a lot of immersion, and a "wow"-effect the first times you see it in action on powerful hardware on a full grid of 20+ cars at 60 fps. Then it shines graphically (while the dry weather effects hide the bad texturing very poorly and is meh)...

Owners of anything less than GTX980 with some overclock need not apply for that party however

 

[Giorgos Martiou]

a critical question.how many of you have played the game the last week...

 

[Richard Eriksson]

a critical question.how many of you have played the game the last week...

I run it every update it gets, or rather that i get as a senior, so about each week.

And it's getting better as i said, but FAR from good enough. Handling still leaves a lot to desire, simulation wise. Visuals are still nowhere near the screenshots (photoshopped) in real life and needs optimization (especially if consoles are the target). Also my general "feel" is still not near "real" racing (i've raced multiple classes irl over the years), it feels more like a "game" and brings down my immersion feel... But it's a LOT better now than a year ago, that's for sure.

I will agree it's come a long way the past weeks. But the fact that it needs a lot more time and work to compete on the serious sim market is obvious. For being a good console racer and compete with Forza and GT it needs optimization and a lot of fixing to hit 60fps, but could very well succeed in that market.

My guess is it will be popular outside of our "niche" market, very popular, due to it's reputation of "next gen". But it will receive a lot of complaints for framerate troubles, technical bugs and related stuff in the beginning. All in all, a good AAA "game", run of the mill. And for release date... My guess is mid/late June, going by what i've seen in recent builds.

 

[Ryan Soucy]

I played it Monday or Tuesday, did a couple races in the Formula C car. I love doing the races because you have to be on top of your game in an open-wheeler. The AI are fair, but no pushovers, and you can't barge them out of the way. The wheel interlocking physics is spot on...

I am blown away by people that say its not realistic at all. It seems like an exaggeration for making a point. Some people can't give an opponent any credit in any respect, or it has to be backhanded, like "sure it runs 20+ cars 60fps, but you better have a good system". Must be a pure luck it runs well on my 3 year old PC with my single AMD card @ 2500x1400.

Also, what an insult saying this is only a screenshot generator. And a huge dose of irony too if they're an AC fan. Who knows what Kunos pushed back on their development roadmap (pit stops? weather? content?) so they could include the Showroom and "Photo Mode" in the replays and 14 filters...

 

[Mark Quigley]

Re : Wet weather grip.

Last time I tried it in the wet was Monday and there is significantly less grip in the wet than the dry, it's not slippy like a shower after a dry spell, it's slippy like it's been raining for days meaning there is more grip available to you than you would imagine. Clean track washed of grease and marbles.

Anyone got experience with wets then you will know you can have a surprising amount of grip when it's moist.

 

[Giorgos Martiou]

i dont have any experience in wet conditions boy ..........so i cant tell .
for many people who said that the game sucks and bla bla bla i just want to say some things.
first of all no one said that all the cars in the game is super.for example. for me exept the bac mono that i find it really nice the gt3 cars is pretty good and in every update they are giong better.but seriously tell me a sim title that all the cars is perfect.for example i like in asseto corsa the f40 very much but i dont like at all some others.
so pick the cars guys that you think is more realistic in every game.thats the golden rule for me.
secondly about the ffb that many people are screaming xaxax.
from my experience i seperate the ffb in 2 categories.
the FIRST is the clean ffb.what i mean with that.there is titles like iracing that didnt give you any fake ffb at your steering weel.
the SECOND is the ffb+.now what i mean with plus.some titles like asseto corsa gives you some extra ffb many times to feel some things which we cant feel it in our body when we race in our office.for example we never feel the bumbs in our steering whell in reality.asseto corsa give that to us.its not bad but its not real e?
so it depends from every player what he have in his mind about the feeling .
i think that PC is in the first category untill now.the ffb likes more to iracing than asseto corsa.
Look the overall in every game and play that which make feel you that you participate in a race.
Thats my opinion thanks a lot.

 

[RaceNut]

Want a good challenge in the wet? Try the GT40. Many of the cars won't build enough heat in the tires driving in the rain to drastically improve grip. The reduced heat rise in the rain is modeled too.

 

[Michael Carver]

<snip> Visuals are still nowhere near the screenshots (photoshopped) in real life and needs optimization (especially if consoles are the target). <snip>

I would gather from this that all of the replay videos posted are "photo-shopped" as well?! I find that hard to believe, unless the replays generated are "enhanced" by pCARS. This comment just begs for big blocks of salt for your other statements about the pCARS.

 

[RaceNut]

Ben (The Stig) Collins just gave a nicely detailed review of the various rain conditions in Pcars and suggestions for corresponding grip level improvements. Very interesting read (WMD Thread: Collated Feedback from Ben Collins).

Unfortunately, the green stuff (artificial turf / felt) is on the same mesh as the track so no way to change the grip level for that. I did spin when putting a couple tires on the grass mid-turn last night and some on WMD agree that further grip reduction is still needed.

 

[Keith Horner]

Yes, to each their own. You should drive a real car before pointing out anything and look like a rabid fan. PCars is anything but right on the handling. It's a simcade, its trying to catch a broad audience on consoles and PCs. I don't blame the devs for aiming for a broad audience. But I actually despise them to pass this game as a full blown sim. Which it's not. GT is better. Play that game before saying anything as there is nothing laughable on the comparison. If it was a rFactor2, iRacing or AC comparison, I would agree to some point.

PCars is a screenshot simulator for now. It's pretty and slick on pics, but driving feels wrong everywhere. Shift 2 still feels much better with the Polish Tire mod. But whatever. We'll never agree on this.

Just an fyi i've played gt. As a matter of fact i was a 2012 gt academy national finalist. Didn't make silverstone though. GT is the worst simulator of the bunch. Secrets to being fast in gt. Drive as deep as you can into a turn, induce oversteer and power out. Exactly what you wouldn't want to simulate on a real track. I think the real car argument is kinda lame on your side seeing as if you have driven one you weren't doing a very good job if that's what your definition of realistic is. As far as my credentials of real life, i've only karted off and on for about 7 years (TAG class Birel monza chasis with a rotax) and several HPD's (Bertelli Roos i may have spelt that wrong) at NJMP. What is it that seems wrong to you about the handling? Just curios as i'd like to know.

 

[Leynad777]

I know only this "free" version you find in the internet with a built from october. The car physics reminds me of Forza 4 and could happen, that Forza fans get disappointed about that, because the physics in Forza 5 and Horizon 2 are far better than in FM 4. I heard, it is much better now, but i don´t think that half a year can change so much. I would never even compare it with AC, R3E or GSCE, because this are simracing titles. And hopefully i´m wrong.