As you all know, this game is in development - it's not even feature locked and in testing, instead they are soliciting feedback much earlier in the process and allowing the interested public to voice their opinions on things. More than that, they are allowing gamers to put their money where their mouths are, with the opportunity to buy packages that grant increasing levels of access and sway. In return, if the game meets certain sales figures some package owners can expect a return, however they are doing their best not to advertise it as an investment opportunity.
This funding/development model has several interesting consequences. One is that the game is likely to develop in the direction that those involved want it to go in. That sounds like an obvious statement, but the detail of it is quite subtle yet profound. People are personally invested (be that money, or time) in the game and thus have an interest in making the game as much to their personal liking as possible. Again, human nature. But this also means there is an added incentive to try to shut down thoughts that might be contrary to their personal liking - even more than your typical forum exchange of ideas. Now the staff will obviously try to kerb that behaviour, but they can't be everywhere and it can be done in quite subtle ways, even by gamers given positions of authority on the forums.
From my so far limited experience, this isn't rampant, but it seems that there is a fairly core community that has in their mind the kind of game they want to have, and because of the way the project works, they will have their way. So (and the point of this ramble!) by assessing what that core community is like, you might be able to get a fair assessment of whether you will eventually like the game. And my opinion on that community? It's a fairly similar one to RD, definitely leaning towards the more hard core/realism track simulator than other communities/games that were originally targeted as competition for pCARS.
Another consequence is that because of the personal and financial contribution, almost all the current players have a reason to try and sell the game. This is absolutely not the primary reason for enabling such contribution, but it is as a consequence not dissimilar to getting the opinions on a game from a developer of the game. On the flipside from that cynicism, it also means there is much greater access to the game's development. It has also been countered by the invitation of free packs that Ian made here for example, and presumably elsewhere/to journalists etc. So my suggestion is not to write off comments, but to consider the position of the person making them and in some cases extract information from them in the same way you would from posts made by developers or publishers (and likewise make the most of their access as well).
On to the game itself, I spent some initial time with it on the X360 gamepad, then my G27 arrived and I tried to get that going as well. It's obviously too early for much in the way of meaningful impressions, but the out of the box X360 pad experience was surprisingly good - much better than expected and in many ways better than some finished games out there. It's not there for all cars yet, especially the faster/more twitchy ones, but it's doing well. The G27 has been more problematic, but I'm beginning to discover it's not really a plug and play device on any game. I've had great difficulty setting up correct force levels on practically every game I've tried, and encountered occasional bugs where button presses send the wheel crazy - re-plugging the USB cable usually fixes this and I don't see the problem for a while. Removing the logitech software removes the bugs, and presents a more consistent experience between games, though lacking in effects for some. pCARS could probably do with some optimisation for this un-profiler setup, but they wouldn't be alone if they didn't. (An aside: Is there an RD forum where I can get help with the G27?!!). From the forums, it seems a lot of activity is going on with tweaking FFB for wheels, and I'd say that's on of the more obvious areas they are focusing on testing and getting feedback (ho ho) on.
Physics.. kind of need my control setup to be sorted before I can accurately assess this. The types of cars feel very distinct with very different characteristics and driving styles. Braking is good and well communicated, turn in is mostly good. Lateral grip maybe needs a little tweaking, mainly in the communication of grip levels - downforce appears to be being simulated quite well. Accelerating traction needs a little work too. Obviously work in progress.
Graphics/artwork... again obviously work in progress. The lighting model is impressive in my view. Hate motion blur but it can be turned off
Performance (obv WIP)... No unexpected issues here for the point in development.
Erm.. think that's about it. Main impression I got is while the devs are quite open in which directions to go down, the (vocal/paying?) community are seeming to go down the dedicated realistic track racer route - kind of redoing their favourite games again IMHO, and not wanting the game to go down the GT/Forza route of car buying/upgrades etc.
This funding/development model has several interesting consequences. One is that the game is likely to develop in the direction that those involved want it to go in. That sounds like an obvious statement, but the detail of it is quite subtle yet profound. People are personally invested (be that money, or time) in the game and thus have an interest in making the game as much to their personal liking as possible. Again, human nature. But this also means there is an added incentive to try to shut down thoughts that might be contrary to their personal liking - even more than your typical forum exchange of ideas. Now the staff will obviously try to kerb that behaviour, but they can't be everywhere and it can be done in quite subtle ways, even by gamers given positions of authority on the forums.
From my so far limited experience, this isn't rampant, but it seems that there is a fairly core community that has in their mind the kind of game they want to have, and because of the way the project works, they will have their way. So (and the point of this ramble!) by assessing what that core community is like, you might be able to get a fair assessment of whether you will eventually like the game. And my opinion on that community? It's a fairly similar one to RD, definitely leaning towards the more hard core/realism track simulator than other communities/games that were originally targeted as competition for pCARS.
Another consequence is that because of the personal and financial contribution, almost all the current players have a reason to try and sell the game. This is absolutely not the primary reason for enabling such contribution, but it is as a consequence not dissimilar to getting the opinions on a game from a developer of the game. On the flipside from that cynicism, it also means there is much greater access to the game's development. It has also been countered by the invitation of free packs that Ian made here for example, and presumably elsewhere/to journalists etc. So my suggestion is not to write off comments, but to consider the position of the person making them and in some cases extract information from them in the same way you would from posts made by developers or publishers (and likewise make the most of their access as well).
On to the game itself, I spent some initial time with it on the X360 gamepad, then my G27 arrived and I tried to get that going as well. It's obviously too early for much in the way of meaningful impressions, but the out of the box X360 pad experience was surprisingly good - much better than expected and in many ways better than some finished games out there. It's not there for all cars yet, especially the faster/more twitchy ones, but it's doing well. The G27 has been more problematic, but I'm beginning to discover it's not really a plug and play device on any game. I've had great difficulty setting up correct force levels on practically every game I've tried, and encountered occasional bugs where button presses send the wheel crazy - re-plugging the USB cable usually fixes this and I don't see the problem for a while. Removing the logitech software removes the bugs, and presents a more consistent experience between games, though lacking in effects for some. pCARS could probably do with some optimisation for this un-profiler setup, but they wouldn't be alone if they didn't. (An aside: Is there an RD forum where I can get help with the G27?!!). From the forums, it seems a lot of activity is going on with tweaking FFB for wheels, and I'd say that's on of the more obvious areas they are focusing on testing and getting feedback (ho ho) on.
Physics.. kind of need my control setup to be sorted before I can accurately assess this. The types of cars feel very distinct with very different characteristics and driving styles. Braking is good and well communicated, turn in is mostly good. Lateral grip maybe needs a little tweaking, mainly in the communication of grip levels - downforce appears to be being simulated quite well. Accelerating traction needs a little work too. Obviously work in progress.
Graphics/artwork... again obviously work in progress. The lighting model is impressive in my view. Hate motion blur but it can be turned off
Performance (obv WIP)... No unexpected issues here for the point in development.
Erm.. think that's about it. Main impression I got is while the devs are quite open in which directions to go down, the (vocal/paying?) community are seeming to go down the dedicated realistic track racer route - kind of redoing their favourite games again IMHO, and not wanting the game to go down the GT/Forza route of car buying/upgrades etc.