Could Project Cars 4 be on the way?

Could Project Cars 4 be on the way_.jpg
Ian Bell the former Slightly Mad Studios CEO has tweeted today “If PCars 4 is awesome it was all me. If it isn't. I left 6 months ago”

This is the first time Ian Bell who left Slightly Mad Studios 6 months ago has mentioned Project Cars 4 in over a year and yes it’s not much, but you could assume that he knows what’s going on with the PCars 4 project.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1508706106042097670

It’s been two years since Project Cars 3 came out, the third instalment in the Project Cars franchise didn’t go down well with fans of Project Cars. The first two Project Cars titles were hardcore sim racers and though they had their flaws (as do all sims in some way), there was a loyal following.

During the two years since Slightly Mad Studios released PCars 3, the studio was sold to Codemasters and then Codemasters was bought out by Electronic Arts.

Most fans of the franchise would agree that they don’t want another Project Cars 3, however it would be fascinating to see what the madness game engine is capable of on the latest generations of console.

Would you be excited for Project Cars 4?
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About author
Damian Reed
Damian Reed
PC geek, gamer, content creator, and passionate sim racer.
I live life a 1/4 mile at a time, it takes me ages to get anywhere!

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Comments

Richard Wilks
MadDriver11 said:
Pretty much all.. Significant parts of physics have been changed: from tires models to differential, to turbos simulation and we can go on and on. The FFB too which has been deeply reworked based on their experience with AMS1.
Sounds are almost completely different. A person coming from a completely different sim has been brought in to swap the remainder of PC2 stuff in that sense.
There are tracks that belong to Brazilian series that were not in PC2 and even those that were in PC2 have been done from scratch in the mesh.
UI is slowly changing skin (ICM is the last thing, but there were others) additional features like historical weather for the past 50 years has been added.
That is not to say it's all perfect and all that needs attention is done, but neglecting and bending reality just to broadcast fake news based only on personal sympathy for this or that sim isn't helping the sim community at large.
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I think you are stretching the truth a little bit there.

I haven't seen almost nothing done by reiza that couldn't be done by just tweaking parameters. Even the weather thing is a plugin that i believe already existed in the madness engine, it just needed to be activated.

Now sure, the cars might feel different to drive to some extent, but i dont think they are there rewritting massive parts of the madness engine just like you imply. I actually believe they have just been making content, and tweaking/changing parameters.
 
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Kevin Troschinski
Premium
delpinsky said:
Well, why not? You don't pay for it in advance, so if it's gonna suck, you won't buy it, but just in case it's gonna be a decent sim...cade, then many people will be happy to try it out. For me any sim or simcade is welcome. I was in the bandwagon of pCARS, in 2011, so I have nice memories of that experience, following a project since its very early days.
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You have to take my comment a bit sarcastic.
I bought every single Project Cars game, even every one was finally a dissapointment for me. So it´s more meant like "God beware myself to make this mistake for the 4th time" :)

But yes some people can still have fun with this brand.
 
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THK84
Pigsy said:
but if PC4 can fix the madness engines crash physics/graphics (I'm a BeamNg fan) amongst other things I'll take a look at it
Click to expand...

If they're going the arcade route anyway, I miss (1st three of) this game

Burnout_(video_game).jpg
 
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M
Richard Wilks said:
I think you are stretching the truth a little bit there.

I haven't seen almost nothing done by reiza that couldn't be done by just tweaking parameters. Even the weather thing is a plugin that i believe already existed in the madness engine, it just needed to be activated.

Now sure, the cars might feel different to drive to some extent, but i dont think they are there rewritting massive parts of the madness engine just like you imply. I actually believe they have just been making content, and tweaking/changing parameters.
Click to expand...
Well now we are all software developers weighing how difficult or how much work goes into this or that modification. That's funny...
So let's analyze...
FFB: it has been completely redone based on Reiza's AMS1 experience...
Sound: most of the tracks have been changed/redone by a person that goes by the name of ACFAN. Do they need to invent a new sound engine to qualify as proper developers or do we just want to downrate it to modding level?
Modifications to the way turbos and differential operate do qualify?
Frankly it's a waste of time to discuss such stuff because then we could say also that ACC using UE means they have just "tweaked some parameters", it's just a ridiculous conversation.
Depending on how each of us want to play it all developers can be transformed into modders since they don't create a new engine every time.
Reality is, today there are pretty much only two families of simracing engines: Madness and ISI (in various editions and modifications) plus Kunos own in-house physics which is attached to UE4 anyway.
Apart from Kunos with their own stuff, all of the current developers are not those who created their own engines (with iracing being a bit of a special animal).
Also I would object that Madness Engine is definitely the most advanced all included engine for simracing which is the reason Reiza chose it. What was lacking was proper tuning of those advanced models, not tearing them down, so why should they do that? Just to demonstrate to haters they are capable to do their stuff?
But again the point is really another: everyone can draw lines to define what a sim is and what a good developer is based on their favorite sim vs the one that disappointed them or they just hate.
This is the real point and this is why the simracing community is torn by these tribal wars of the sims
 
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L
I'm pretty happy about it. Unlike other sims that I bought in early access and suffered through a lot of disappointment, I have no urge to order this until sources I trust can confirm it is worth it.
 
Richard Wilks
MadDriver11 said:
Well now we are all software developers weighing how difficult or how much work goes into this or that modification. That's funny...
So let's analyze...
FFB: it has been completely redone based on Reiza's AMS1 experience...
Sound: most of the tracks have been changed/redone by a person that goes by the name of ACFAN. Do they need to invent a new sound engine to qualify as proper developers or do we just want to downrate it to modding level?
Modifications to the way turbos and differential operate do qualify?
Frankly it's a waste of time to discuss such stuff because then we could say also that ACC using UE means they have just "tweaked some parameters", it's just a ridiculous conversation.
Depending on how each of us want to play it all developers can be transformed into modders since they don't create a new engine every time.
Reality is, today there are pretty much only two families of simracing engines: Madness and ISI (in various editions and modifications) plus Kunos own in-house physics which is attached to UE4 anyway.
Apart from Kunos with their own stuff, all of the current developers are not those who created their own engines (with iracing being a bit of a special animal).
Also I would object that Madness Engine is definitely the most advanced all included engine for simracing which is the reason Reiza chose it. What was lacking was proper tuning of those advanced models, not tearing them down, so why should they do that? Just to demonstrate to haters they are capable to do their stuff?
But again the point is really another: everyone can draw lines to define what a sim is and what a good developer is based on their favorite sim vs the one that disappointed them or they just hate.
This is the real point and this is why the simracing community is torn by these tribal wars of the sims
Click to expand...
Boy, you are really out on a mission aren't you?

If you read my post again, you will notice i wasnt implying anything negative. Or that they are "lesser" than any other dev. Just that i believe they are still using the madness engine almost as is, code wise. Which is not a bad thing, because i said in a previous post that it is one of the best around.

So relax a bit.
 
M
I might be in the minority here but I loved PC3 the best out the whole series. I really don't care if a game is a true sim because I already have a dozen of those. What I really enjoyed about PC3 was the fact that it had a real single-player mode that was like a lite-version of Gran Turismo.... and since GT isn't on PC, I will take what I can get because I am not buying a console for one game.
 
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R.Man
RyokoMaruyama said:
But what's really different from AMS2 to PCARS2? In the same way of what's different between AMS1 and rFactor 1. Everything that's been touched upon has been sort of add-ons, but not true evolutions of the respective engines. Essentially they're 'roided' up mods, much like what you'd see with AC1 and Content Manager, but on a more professional (ideally) scale. Once you get down to it there's not really much new about AMS2 compared to PCARS2, down to even how the UX works. The physics changes are pretty much subjective.

Edit: To be fair to Reiza, the rF1 version of the engine is way more well known due to age and has been taken apart countless times, while SMS' Madness Engine has only been in Reiza's hands for third party apps.
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After 2 years of release AMS2 has some difficulty to separate itself from PC2. People can't stop to compare them especially the new users. We cannot talk about AMS2 without PC2 being mentioned at a certain progression of the discussion. May be what you said is the reason to that. AMS2 is a PC2 add-on in the same fashion as CM for AC. The difference is that Reiza create or recycle content but Ilja don't. Also Ilja is mainly a solo man and Reiza is a team. Basically both are "tweaking" the engine at a certain depht. Ilja has a more restricted access but he managed to completely replaced the interface , Reiza just modified the one from PC2. If we don't consider the content but only the "tweaking" Ilja is even bringing more innovations to AC than Reiza to PC2 via AMS2. You will rarely see people using CM+CSP going back to the Vanilla AC, inversely we see more and more people using AMS2 going back to PC2. That means that the one can substitute the other. One positive thing for both the vanilla sim, CM brought back more sales and interest to AC and AMS2 is bringing back more sales and interest to PC2.
 
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Aki Korhonen
all i want that EA no longer make any games because they only want profit. there is one racing game back in the days that was good and was ea game.F1 challenge 99-02.EA try to own the gaming industry and i hope that they failed. who even wants to play arcade racing games?and with gamepad lol
 
R
R.Man said:
After 2 years of release AMS2 has some difficulty to separate itself from PC2. People can't stop to compare them especially the new users. We cannot talk about AMS2 without PC2 being mentioned at a certain progression of the discussion. May be what you said is the reason to that. AMS2 is a PC2 add-on in the same fashion as CM for AC. The difference is that Reiza create or recycle content but Ilja don't. Also Ilja is mainly a solo man and Reiza is a team. Basically both are "tweaking" the engine at a certain depht. Ilja has a more restricted access but he managed to completely replaced the interface , Reiza just modified the one from PC2. If we don't consider the content but only the "tweaking" Ilja is even bringing more innovations to AC than Reiza to PC2 via AMS2. You will rarely see people using CM+CSP going back to the Vanilla AC, inversely we see more and more people using AMS2 going back to PC2. That means that the one can substitute the other. One positive thing for both the vanilla sim, CM brought back more sales and interest to AC and AMS2 is bringing back more sales and interest to PC2.
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Interesting, I'm really willing to see figures and correlations showing that AMS2 players go back to Pcars2... never heard of that.

I'm even not sure pcars2 fans play ams2, as one of pcars 2's main strengths is the unique cars and tracks selection, which can be enough if it includes what you like.

For me racing a gto, gt1 or prototype C car under rainy conditions at long beach is unmatched, or a rallycross race in snowy conditions at ra.ds hatch). No other sim can do that out of the box. This is unique and just 2 examples, and it justifies pcars2 is always installes on my HDD.

About ams2 and CM, your statements are quiet confusing. You state that ams2 is an add on (a dlc in modern terms) to pcars 2 but there's a tweaking of the engine as CM does. If it's an add on, it is just additional content, which indeed reiza is adding. But the engine tweaking is not an add on, it's a new game with new physics and features, better optimization and oh, new AI! So you compare CM to a whole new game with tons and unique content.

All of your agumentation is quiet confusing, just a bad attempt to bring a subject that has nothing to do there (CM) by bashing ams2 without real data to corroborate your view (trolling attempt in modern terms).

Getting back to ams2 being the real successor of pcars2, I partially agree, because it is ot onnpar in terms of content, although ams2 includes more and more famous "regular" content to appeal a broader audience. I personnally really like ams2 original content but I'm not representative of the large audience.
For me it is the pcars2 successor, but I understand it doesn't meet the expect1tions of all pcars2 fans. And as I stated, I go back to pcars2 for a good gto or gt1 race.
 
wolftree
R.Man said:
You will rarely see people using CM+CSP going back to the Vanilla AC, inversely we see more and more people using AMS2 going back to PC2. That means that the one can substitute the other. One positive thing for both the vanilla sim, CM brought back more sales and interest to AC and AMS2 is bringing back more sales and interest to PC2.
Click to expand...
While the Steam Charts players numbers for PC2 and AMS2 are negatively correlated, it should be pointed out that PC2 average monthly player numbers haven't hit 1000 since July 2020 (when AMS2 went to v1.0) and the current average monthly player numbers are the lowest they have ever been at <500. So while those players haven't all jumped to AMS2, there's certainly no evidence that AMS2 players are moving back to PC2 in any significant numbers either.
 
R.Man
wolftree said:
While the Steam Charts players numbers for PC2 and AMS2 are negatively correlated, it should be pointed out that PC2 average monthly player numbers haven't hit 1000 since July 2020 (when AMS2 went to v1.0) and the current average monthly player numbers are the lowest they have ever been at <500. So while those players haven't all jumped to AMS2, there's certainly no evidence that AMS2 players are moving back to PC2 in any significant numbers either.
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If you look at the charts for the 2 titles taking the past 9 months there is a tendency when AMS2 decreases , PC2 increases. There are some cases when AMS2 decrease, PC2 decreases too. If PC4 rumors get confirmed changes gonna be more pronounced. May be some people found in AMS2 the PC2 sequel the will never get as they thought PC4 never gonna happen. In general AMS2 fans don't like Youtube and youtube influencers (unless they praise AMS2) but in general there is a trend which shows that more an more people start to talk about PC2 again on youtube.
 
wolftree
R.Man said:
If you look at the charts for the 2 titles taking the past 9 months there is a tendency when AMS2 decreases , PC2 increases. There are some cases when AMS2 decrease, PC2 decreases too. If PC4 rumors get confirmed changes gonna be more pronounced. May be some people found in AMS2 the PC2 sequel the will never get as they thought PC4 never gonna happen. In general AMS2 fans don't like Youtube and youtube influencers (unless they praise AMS2) but in general there is a trend which shows that more an more people start to talk about PC2 again on youtube.
Click to expand...
That is what being negatively correlated means. PC2 player numbers right now are the lowest they have ever been. And I can't really find much YT hype around PC2 either, certainly less than around AMS2.
 
R.Man
wolftree said:
That is what being negatively correlated means. PC2 player numbers right now are the lowest they have ever been. And I can't really find much YT hype around PC2 either, certainly less than around AMS2.
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I mean negatively related in favor of PC2 but may be we have different ways to look at the charts
 
RA98
They should take the Endurance aspect of Pcars2 and make a game focus on it, WEC, IMSA and others endurance series, the dynamic weather and how easy it is to setup a endurance race make a really good starting point.
 
M
Richard Wilks said:
Boy, you are really out on a mission aren't you?

If you read my post again, you will notice i wasnt implying anything negative. Or that they are "lesser" than any other dev. Just that i believe they are still using the madness engine almost as is, code wise. Which is not a bad thing, because i said in a previous post that it is one of the best around.

So relax a bit.
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I'm fully relaxed. Just pointing out facts that are not supporting your theory which was casually (?) indeed suggesting they are lesser than other developers, and I quote:

"I haven't seen almost nothing done by reiza that couldn't be done by just tweaking parameters. Even the weather thing is a plugin that i believe already existed in the madness engine, it just needed to be activated."

No personal mission, just personal dislike of urban legends sold as universal truths ignoring reality. Why is that making you so upset and taking that so personally?
 
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T
Look at this. One mention of AMS2 and all the Reiza fanboys got triggered so much that they turned this into another "AMS2 is not PCars2" thread. Thanks for proving my point kids. Cheers.
 
Richard Wilks
MadDriver11 said:
I'm fully relaxed. Just pointing out facts that are not supporting your theory which was casually (?) indeed suggesting they are lesser than other developers, and I quote:

"I haven't seen almost nothing done by reiza that couldn't be done by just tweaking parameters. Even the weather thing is a plugin that i believe already existed in the madness engine, it just needed to be activated."

No personal mission, just personal dislike of urban legends sold as universal truths ignoring reality. Why is that making you so upset and taking that so personally?
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Yes, and i fully stand by what i said, even by what you quoted. Any perceived slight on them is in your head.

You are not part of Reiza, you never saw the code, so please, stop gate keeping and accept your opinion is as valid as mine.

And like i said, relax.
 

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