PC1 pCars - to buy or not to buy?

[BlaringFiddle5]

I was convinced I was going to buy pCars, but then I saw this review:

Thoughts? Is the reviewer all wet? Reviewing an old version? Is he correct?

 

[Grega Zorc]

If some AI bugs is all he found, the game itself should be very good.

 

[Youssef Karam]

Well, I'd say to buy, for a game that's targeting both simracers as well as gamers, they have done it pretty well. The career section makes you feel as if you were really a racer and the physics are pretty decent in comparison to other games (of course, not better than AC, AC is certainly the best), I'd say its the best you can get from a combination of a game and a simulator.

 

[Ole Marius Myrvold]

My 2 cents, there is some credibility to the reviewer. There are some issues still with the release which SMS are addressing. So is it perfect day 1? Nope. Will it be perfect after the first patch? Nope.

SMS will be continuing to address issues as well as enhance the platform over the next 2 or more years.

I will say that the reviewer purposely picked the worst scenarios to publish. It is a deliberate smear tactic but the issues he points out do exist. The vintage racing right not is not the best. Doing what he did, throwing the AI up to 100 and jumping in vintage open wheelers is just going to cause frustration. The AI is very aggressive at 100 and does not care about situational awareness. That level of AI works well with tintops that can stand a little banging, but not with the open wheelers, especially the vintage ones which need more cornering room.

Yey! Modern games, release something that we know isn't bug-free. Money! Then take more money for DLC! Meh. (A general meeeh, for modern game dev. not SMS)

He's doing what I like to do, highlight what's 'wrong' with the game, then it will be up to the guys watching to see if you accept the bugs and issues. If you can, buy. If you can't, don't buy.
I don't care how good stuff are, if there are bugs, issues or game-features that's bollocks.
Automated pit? In a sim?!? Aaand with a crash out of the pit!? That is a very small, but game-breaking thing for me.

And doesn't the AI have 2 sliders? One for speed, and one for aggressive? Just one, and the higher it is put, the faster, and more crazy they drive? Isn't that... stupid?


For the question of the thread. Wait, see what... independed people say, not the major game-sites who usually give good ratings unless the game is awful. And not people who is invested in it.

 

[Kyle Pearson]

Automated pit? In a sim?!? Aaand with a crash out of the pit!? That is a very small, but game-breaking thing for me.

Yes, automated pit. It's not something that was or still is a pleaser among the WMD community. It was locked down when they started the pitstop character animations. The hope was and still is that it becomes an option once the pitstops are complete. However, even the WMD community has no real insight in this area.

And doesn't the AI have 2 sliders? One for speed, and one for aggressive? Just one, and the higher it is put, the faster, and more crazy they drive? Isn't that... stupid?

The AI has many attributes. Originally they were all exposed through the GUI but were removed when the AI was being re-written. At least at this time, there isn't a separate GUI setting for level and aggression. I do understand the logic as they don't necessarily want consumers spending more time configuring than playing.

 

[Ole Marius Myrvold]

Automated pit, that takes away quite a bit of the realism aspect.

And not having customization options have been there for years in many competing games, are not a top thing either. Especially not with the problems shown in the video. You kinda have to choose between cars all over the place, or cars driving slower. I don't really see the logic behind that, sorry.

Fair enough, if it was the WMD Community Choice. But I don't like either of those things.

 

[Kyle Pearson]

Fair enough, if it was the WMD Community Choice. But I don't like either of those things.

They weren't, but it's hard to explain how the process worked for those who weren't involved (i.e. not everything was up to a vote, if so, we'd still be waiting on 90% if things to be selected).

They are things that I'm not pleased with either, however all the other things that pCARS offers for me make those a little smaller (in my case).

 

[Ole Marius Myrvold]

Yup, we are all different! The auto-pit was pretty bad for me. And probably not a big deal for many others
Kinda like it's impossible to jumpstart in certain games as well... That's a big deal for me

 

[Lou Sytsma]

Just spent the better part of this weekend with the game - my first exposure - and have been very pleasantly surprised.

Presentation wise - this is easily the best looking racer I've played yet. Still dialing in settings for the driving experience so at this juncture PCars feels like it poised as an excellent midpoint between arcade and sim racers.

Playing the PC version with a i5 2500K, 4GB GTX970, and 8 GBs of RAM. Game runs at roughly 120 FPS on high settings.

My current rankings for physics and FFB are:
1) rFactor2
2) Stock Game Extreme - still the champ at single player/AI races.

Both are very nuanced and feel natural and analogue.

3) Asetto Corsa - satisfatory but too artificial for my tastes
4) PCars.

Still trying to get my head wrapped around some of the set up options - PCars uses different terms here - the most confusing is there is no steering lock. Instead they employ a steering ratio and so far as I found its impact seems marginal.

NB - tabbing in and out of the game can deaden the FFB severely. Apparently a legacy item from their Shift games.

Everything else is pretty good - multiplayer works well too.

Still need more road time but I've had some fun sessions and PCars has that magic quality where you get in the zone and go all zen piling up the laps and before you know it hours have flown by.

 

[Kyle Pearson]

Kinda like it's impossible to jumpstart in certain games as well... That's a big deal for me

I can confirm you can have penalties from jumped starts in pCARS.

 

[Kyle Pearson]

Still need more road time but I've had some fun sessions and PCars has that magic quality where you get in the zone and go all zen piling up the laps and before you know it hours have flown by.

IMO, this is the main bonus for pCARS.

 

[Martin Larsen]

I pre orded just to have game with a proper open wheel career mode, since will apperantly never get that from Codemasters...

 

[Stefan Mizzi]

Like all sims, pCars is not perfect, but it's definitely worth it and offers tons of fun. I certainly do enjoy it and looking forward to lots of online racing.

People are different of course and enjoy different things, so ideally you have to try it to judge yourself. Not sure if there will be a demo?!

 

[Patrick Moore]

If the review/preview in your post troubles you then I would recommend waiting until more proper REVIEWS of the full game are released. That way you can make a better call if pCARS is right for you.
good luck!

I was convinced I was going to buy pCars, but then I saw this review:

Thoughts? Is the reviewer all wet? Reviewing an old version? Is he correct?

 

[Ole Marius Myrvold]

People are different of course and enjoy different things, so ideally you have to try it to judge yourself. Not sure if there will be a demo?!

Demo? Are you crazy! That can potentially show flaws in the game, and that doesn't give money! (again - general gaming industry, not SMS-comment).

It's a gamble when you are unsure and have to buy it to find out.

 

[Ben Eastman]

Meh, personally will probably spend 70% of my time with the game in online modes, so most of those "bugs" are negligible to me. Forza AI is no better at times, although I'm sure the programming is very different since T10 uses that weird user input AI **** that I don't fully understand.

As for the pit thing, as long as the cars don't regularly bump into the wall coming out of the pits this has never bothered me, I would race @ Spa to soar over Eau Rouge @ 190MPH not to cruise down the pitlane at 63MPH. For sims with this option I always use that 20sec break wisely, for a drink, stretch of the fingers etc.

 

[Stefan Mizzi]

mod-edit: try a more decent example

 

[Thomas Wilen]

No triple screen support, really? What a dissapointment.

 

[Daniel Smissen]

If the review/preview in your post troubles you then I would recommend waiting until more proper REVIEWS of the full game are released. That way you can make a better call if pCARS is right for you.
good luck!

I do believe the embargo is tomorrow, so depending on where you live your going to get a day, 3 day or a week to have a good read of what people have to say about the final product

 

[Patrick Moore]

I do believe the embargo is tomorrow, so depending on where you live your going to get a day, 3 day or a week to have a good read of what people have to say about the final product

full disclosure: I have preordered the steam pcars version

Nice. Yes, it will be interesting to see all the reviews and player comments/reviews of the game that appear through the weekend.

What other sims do you play? Coming from more serious sims (iracing, ac, rf2) will definitely influence my impression of the game.

 

[William Wester]

full disclosure: I have preordered the steam pcars version

Nice. Yes, it will be interesting to see all the reviews and player comments/reviews of the game that appear through the weekend.

What other sims do you play? Coming from more serious sims (iracing, ac, rf2) will definitely influence my impression of the game.

I agree but it really comes down to if certain features make or break the decision to own/play. There are some things I like in rFactor2, AC, R3E, GSCE, etc. but each is lacking in some area - as is pCARS. As an example, I love racing the Celica GTO cars in rFactor2 but then switching to pCARS I can't believe how dated rFactor 2 looks graphically. And pCARS has a career mode that not any other "sim type" game has. I love the content and sounds of R3E but its still lacking some details (multiple setups per car/track, tire pressures, ...) As I've said before, no reason to focus on just one sim, each has advantages but ultimately its all based on a particular racer's preferences (online/offline, eye candy, career, racing rules, pit stops,...) so I can't say one is better than the other overall.