PC2 B2B Software Project CARS PRO Released

Paul Jeffrey · Jul 17, 2019

Exclusively for the business-to-business environment, Slightly Mad Studios have confirmed the release of Project CARS PRO.

Developed as a professional and events entertainment piece of software, based on the Project CARS 2 racing game, PCARS PRO has been "designed from the ground-up" to suit the needs of the ever growing location-based entertainment centres and events industry.

“We spent a lot of time listening and talking to our partners and clients before we built Project CARS Pro,” said Stephen Viljoen, COO at Slightly Mad Studios. “What we came away with was a keen sense of what they needed from a professional software product, and we went ahead and built Project CARS Pro around those exact needs.”

“Project CARS Pro is really a game-changer in the LBE space,” added Viljoen. “Aside from all the best-in-class technology and gameplay and content, the product will free venue operators from having to spend their time running the software and allow them to focus on what matters most—their customers. And as we know, satisfied customers is one of the key ingredients to successful LBE venues.”

Featuring many of the cars and tracks that make up the Project CARS game franchise, this new version will be exclusively available for business use rather than on home PC and consoles... so you will have to hang tight a little longer for the in-development Project CARS 3...

Project CARS PRO Features:

Extensive cars and tracks offer a wide and varied choice for operators and clients.
Best-in-class car handling, physics, and graphics.
Customizable content to suit all customer tastes, experience- and skill levels.
Manage session duration with ease.
Customizable settings for weather, seasons, driver assists, and time of day.
Convenient scale-up from a single pod solution to multiple pods.
LAN multiplayer for venues with multiple pod availability.
All major steering wheels supported, including direct drive.
Motion seat platforms support.
Triple-screen support.
Retail and commercial VR headset support: Oculus Rift, HTC Vive, Windows Mixed-Reality, OpenVR, and more.
Optional: ‘Command Station’ and events management software for tournaments.
Optional: Third-party apps support, venue management systems, telemetry software, cashless payments software, and more.
Optional: Custom UI branding and in-game trackside advertising.
Race weekend format.
Driver assists.
Race rules.
Weather, time-of-day, and all 4 seasons.
Standings and scoring.
And more…

Like what we do at RaceDepartment? Follow us on Social Media!

David Wright · Jul 21, 2019

Ian Navarro said:
Another question how this affects none racing drivers? Will we have any chance to get any PRO? because otherwise it does not have any sense to keep speaking about this.

It's not really aimed at racing drivers. Porsche originally contracted SMS to provide VR simulation software.

https://www.slightlymadstudios.com/pcarspro-porsche/

Having produced the software for Porsche, it looks like SMS are now making it available to other companies and businesses who provide sim racing experiences at public venues, location-based entertainment centres, and events.

So yes as news it has limited direct effect on most of us, but is arguably more relevant than the changes in management structure of an energy drinks company which was recently featured as "news" here at RD.

Miguel Batista · Jul 21, 2019

David Wright said:
It's not really aimed at racing drivers. Porsche originally contracted SMS to provide VR simulation software.

https://www.slightlymadstudios.com/pcarspro-porsche/

Having produced the software for Porsche, it looks like SMS are now making it available to other companies and businesses who provide sim racing experiences at public venues, location-based entertainment centres, and events.

So yes as news it has limited direct effect on most of us, but is arguably more relevant than the changes in management structure of an energy drinks company which was recently featured as "news" here at RD.

It is also relevant for it shows what improvements have been made since project cars 2 which we can expect in the next game. I would sure like to get a hands on experience or at least read a comparative review.

Paulo Ribeiro · Jul 21, 2019

Well... As long we don't need an i25 processor, and a NVidia GTXRTYZXYTR 5000000000 128 Ram and 128 4 slots of mem, I might give it a go.

Austin Ogonoski · Jul 22, 2019

I'm kind of shocked at the lack of basic reading comprehension a lot of people are exhibiting in the thread. People seem angry over this, but I'm not entirely sure why? I have some experience in this field and what SMS are doing is greatly appreciated. This is something I personally asked about years before it became a reality.

In Europe, the US, and Canada, we're seeing a rise in "sim cafes." Basically, some of the older gentlemen in our hobby rent out a small shop, build 10 identical sim cockpits, and then charge $20/hr for you to run laps in a sim (7.50 for 20 min). You can either run practice laps against the AI, compete in a localized leaderboard contest, or compete against friends since the machines are all connected by LAN. And of course this is all done while you can order drinks, sit on the sofa and watch television, etc. It may sound silly for those with rigs at home, but there are a lot of older folks who just do not have the time to build their own PC or configure everything. This fills a very nice niche.

I personally volunteered my time to help out with my local sim center when it was open, and officiatd their private league. The location used rFactor 2 and I was able to take a look at the back end of how this operation worked. The owner had to code a significant amount of his own stuff, just so he could run the thing from his front desk and present a sort-of streamlined experience for the customer. And even then it was not perfect and kind of frustrating.

He would have to manually select your car from his front desk, as well as the track/weather conditions, and manually click/drag vehicles into the right server. So like, when you picked a car, he literally gave you these quickly printed out sheets of paper with black & white pictures of the car on it, you'd tell him "I want to drive the Corvette C7", and then he'd sit at his PC for three minutes setting up a server for you. When you sat in one of the pods, you'd see the game boot rF2 up, the main menu flash for a second, the default race monitor screen appear, and then the game automatically place you into the car. It was very very janky & amateurish (through no fault of his own), and if the place was busy this ate up a significant amount of time.

On top of that, there is the issue of commercial licenses. Some sim centers get away with it by flying under the radar or being a small operation. But you can get in serious poo poo if you're caught charging $$$ for people to drive third party rFactor F1 mods, or any licensed series for that matter. Not just by the sanctioning body, but by the people who actually made the mods (remember IDT tracks talking about not for commercial use? this is what they're talking about). The center I was involved with used the base rF2 content as well as everything by URD (which at the time was a few GTE and prototype cars).

We couldn't just add Laguna Seca or Road America because that was extra $$$.

Project CARS Pro essentially solves this problem and streamlines the whole experience. The "overlord" has a front end he can use to quickly assign pods to a server and get people set up through a slick UI. On the client side, they can sit in a simulator pod and have a nice introduction UI where they can select their car, the assist settings, and all of that fun stuff. You also have access to the pCars2 library of content, which I think everyone agrees is extremely diverse and covers pretty much everything - NASCAR, F1, IndyCar, GT, Prototypes, Historic stuff, you name it, it's there.

That is the whole point of pCars Pro. If you want to open a sim cafe, you don't have to code everything yourself and have people select their cars by flipping through a binder of black & white screenshots.

Cote Dazur · Jul 22, 2019

Austin Ogonoski said:
I'm kind of shocked at the lack of basic reading comprehension a lot of people are exhibiting in the thread. People seem angry over this, but I'm not entirely sure why? I have some experience in this field and what SMS are doing is greatly appreciated. This is something I personally asked about years before it became a reality.

In Europe, the US, and Canada, we're seeing a rise in "sim cafes." Basically, some of the older gentlemen in our hobby rent out a small shop, build 10 identical sim cockpits, and then charge $20/hr for you to run laps in a sim (7.50 for 20 min). You can either run practice laps against the AI, compete in a localized leaderboard contest, or compete against friends since the machines are all connected by LAN. And of course this is all done while you can order drinks, sit on the sofa and watch television, etc. It may sound silly for those with rigs at home, but there are a lot of older folks who just do not have the time to build their own PC or configure everything. This fills a very nice niche.

I personally volunteered my time to help out with my local sim center when it was open, and officiatd their private league. The location used rFactor 2 and I was able to take a look at the back end of how this operation worked. The owner had to code a significant amount of his own stuff, just so he could run the thing from his front desk and present a sort-of streamlined experience for the customer. And even then it was not perfect and kind of frustrating.

He would have to manually select your car from his front desk, as well as the track/weather conditions, and manually click/drag vehicles into the right server. So like, when you picked a car, he literally gave you these quickly printed out sheets of paper with black & white pictures of the car on it, you'd tell him "I want to drive the Corvette C7", and then he'd sit at his PC for three minutes setting up a server for you. When you sat in one of the pods, you'd see the game boot rF2 up, the main menu flash for a second, the default race monitor screen appear, and then the game automatically place you into the car. It was very very janky & amateurish (through no fault of his own), and if the place was busy this ate up a significant amount of time.

On top of that, there is the issue of commercial licenses. Some sim centers get away with it by flying under the radar or being a small operation. But you can get in serious poo poo if you're caught charging $$$ for people to drive third party rFactor F1 mods, or any licensed series for that matter. Not just by the sanctioning body, but by the people who actually made the mods (remember IDT tracks talking about not for commercial use? this is what they're talking about). The center I was involved with used the base rF2 content as well as everything by URD (which at the time was a few GTE and prototype cars).

We couldn't just add Laguna Seca or Road America because that was extra $$$.

Project CARS Pro essentially solves this problem and streamlines the whole experience. The "overlord" has a front end he can use to quickly assign pods to a server and get people set up through a slick UI. On the client side, they can sit in a simulator pod and have a nice introduction UI where they can select their car, the assist settings, and all of that fun stuff. You also have access to the pCars2 library of content, which I think everyone agrees is extremely diverse and covers pretty much everything - NASCAR, F1, IndyCar, GT, Prototypes, Historic stuff, you name it, it's there.

That is the whole point of pCars Pro. If you want to open a sim cafe, you don't have to code everything yourself and have people select their cars by flipping through a binder of black & white screenshots.

Thank you, this makes perfect sense. I hope we will see more of the SIM cafe and that the price will come down as they get more popular and busy. It would be great to meet other SIM enthusiast to race with and chat. Their is one in Markham, but I find the pricing steep.

SlawekTX3 · Jul 22, 2019

Miguel Batista said:
How much are you paying for it?

The price varies depending on what you want. You must keep in mind that the game is completely persionalisable with the help of the SMS studio. It is indeed possible to display everywhere the name of a company and its logo for example. For my part, must be 1150.00 € which is a price quite reasonable for professional use. I can tell you that other software is more expensive

SlawekTX3 · Jul 22, 2019

Ian Navarro said:
Ok that's is great, already someone who can confirm at least it is a lot better than it was...but is it enough to claim it is the best out there? If the answer is yes, it'd be good to have a comparison. Taking in count the only icons you have on the screen are about Slightlymad Studios ptoducts I'd like to think that your opinion is not suggested nor influenced by the company. Is it like that?

Another question how this affects none racing drivers? Will we have any chance to get any PRO? because otherwise it does not have any sense to keep speaking about this.

Thanks for you answer, appreciate it!

I do not work for the SMS company. I am just a person who appreciates the software and who has the PRO version. I give you my feeling compared to pcars2, and I see that SMS is making good progress. By cons, it is useless to make comparisons with other games or software. Each product to its audience, and everyone has fun. Regarding the management of a PRO driver, it is quite possible to use the product in a simulator with a return telemetry.

Dirk B RM eSports · Jul 22, 2019

protonv5 said:
.
ACC has a bunch of bugs, yet almost no content.
.

.
You ever understood what ACC is about? Blancpain ---are there ringing a couple of bells between your ears?

Dirk B RM eSports · Jul 22, 2019

Paulo Ribeiro said:
NVidia GTXRTYZXYTR 5000000000 128 Ram and .

you will need FOUR of them

bloozmahn · Jul 22, 2019

i guess this is what they're doing instead of finishing their product. this is a useful tool though.

protonv5 · Jul 22, 2019

TOOLD said:
.
You ever understood what ACC is about? Blancpain ---are there ringing a couple of bells between your ears?

Yes Blancpain. So? I can paint a few Blancpain cars for AC and have Blancpain there as well.
Because that's exactly what ACC is. Some Blancpain cars.

thepharcyde · Jul 22, 2019

Austin Ogonoski said:
I'm kind of shocked at the lack of basic reading comprehension a lot of people are exhibiting in the thread. People seem angry over this, but I'm not entirely sure why? I have some experience in this field and what SMS are doing is greatly appreciated. This is something I personally asked about years before it became a reality.

In Europe, the US, and Canada, we're seeing a rise in "sim cafes." Basically, some of the older gentlemen in our hobby rent out a small shop, build 10 identical sim cockpits, and then charge $20/hr for you to run laps in a sim (7.50 for 20 min). You can either run practice laps against the AI, compete in a localized leaderboard contest, or compete against friends since the machines are all connected by LAN. And of course this is all done while you can order drinks, sit on the sofa and watch television, etc. It may sound silly for those with rigs at home, but there are a lot of older folks who just do not have the time to build their own PC or configure everything. This fills a very nice niche.

I personally volunteered my time to help out with my local sim center when it was open, and officiatd their private league. The location used rFactor 2 and I was able to take a look at the back end of how this operation worked. The owner had to code a significant amount of his own stuff, just so he could run the thing from his front desk and present a sort-of streamlined experience for the customer. And even then it was not perfect and kind of frustrating.

He would have to manually select your car from his front desk, as well as the track/weather conditions, and manually click/drag vehicles into the right server. So like, when you picked a car, he literally gave you these quickly printed out sheets of paper with black & white pictures of the car on it, you'd tell him "I want to drive the Corvette C7", and then he'd sit at his PC for three minutes setting up a server for you. When you sat in one of the pods, you'd see the game boot rF2 up, the main menu flash for a second, the default race monitor screen appear, and then the game automatically place you into the car. It was very very janky & amateurish (through no fault of his own), and if the place was busy this ate up a significant amount of time.

On top of that, there is the issue of commercial licenses. Some sim centers get away with it by flying under the radar or being a small operation. But you can get in serious poo poo if you're caught charging $$$ for people to drive third party rFactor F1 mods, or any licensed series for that matter. Not just by the sanctioning body, but by the people who actually made the mods (remember IDT tracks talking about not for commercial use? this is what they're talking about). The center I was involved with used the base rF2 content as well as everything by URD (which at the time was a few GTE and prototype cars).

We couldn't just add Laguna Seca or Road America because that was extra $$$.

Project CARS Pro essentially solves this problem and streamlines the whole experience. The "overlord" has a front end he can use to quickly assign pods to a server and get people set up through a slick UI. On the client side, they can sit in a simulator pod and have a nice introduction UI where they can select their car, the assist settings, and all of that fun stuff. You also have access to the pCars2 library of content, which I think everyone agrees is extremely diverse and covers pretty much everything - NASCAR, F1, IndyCar, GT, Prototypes, Historic stuff, you name it, it's there.

That is the whole point of pCars Pro. If you want to open a sim cafe, you don't have to code everything yourself and have people select their cars by flipping through a binder of black & white screenshots.