PC2 Project CARS 2 announced with crowdfunding options

[Alex Franchini]

Slightly Mad Studios has officially announced a sequel to Project Cars today as Project Cars 2 is now official, and the WMD crowdfunding campaign has gone live.

Apparently the first big difference with the first title is that PCars 2 will feature off-road racing, along with Touge and Hillclimb events.

The crowdfunding tool-packs, which you can see on the WMD page, start from 50 British pounds and go all the way to 10,000 pounds.

Here's the shortlist of the PCars 2 features:

• THE LARGEST TRACK ROSTER EVER – 50 unique locations and 200+ courses including ‘loose surface racing’ on dirt, gravel, mud, and snow. All will have dynamic time of day and weather allowing you to play anytime, anywhere

• THE WIDEST VARIETY OF MOTORSPORTS with 8 different disciplines now including Rallycross, Hillclimbs, and Touge. 200+ cars from over 40 different vehicle classes including never-before-seen Concepts and Banned Race Cars

• CO-OP CAREER – Play as the Teammate Driver, Spotter, Driver Swap, or Co-Pilot. More choices, more opportunities, more strategy, greater risks and greater rewards

• SEAMLESSLY CONNECTED – Socialize and compete via Online Track Days, have players from around the world take the place of AI-controlled drivers in your solo play, and get news updates on the Driver Network around you

• PRO ESPORTS RACING – Skill & Behavioural-based matchmaking, create your own Online Racing Leagues, and Live Broadcast and Spectator functionality

• YOUR HOME FOR RACING – Your own personal, customisable Test Track to tune and test your cars. Invite others to showcase your passion for racing and learn race craft and engineering with the Project CARS Academy

Update: First videos already out on YouTube
Update 2: Videos have been removed from YouTube

 

[David Wright]

The realities are SMS need to release another game in 2-3 years time or they will go bankrupt. In order to release a game in 2-3 years time they need to start work now. The only difference with SMS and other developers is because of the open development you get to see this. With most other developers you do not know when they start work on their next game.

I worked for Blimey during development of GTR2. Blimey started work on their next game at least 9 months BEFORE GTR2 was released. But this wasn't public so no one outside Blimey knew this.

I'm far more concerned about developers who are not working on their next title.

 

[Bram Hengeveld]

"You are confusing the roles of publisher and distributor.
A publisher funds the game development, hence he gets to influence the development. A distributor handles the distribution of the physical copies (hence the term), marketing etc.
BANDAI NAMCO is the distributor, not the publisher. They don’t have a say in development decisions whatsoever. Only the WMD members do " Source
​

In PCars a publisher was evil and in PCars2 a publisher is all of a sudden listed in the funding overview.

Project CARS was build from scratch with a total funding of 3.7 million and it's sequel Project CARS 2 based on the same game and assets needs 7 million.

Lets take the absolute bare minimum of 100 devs x E5000 per month = E500,000 per month without overhead. This game will be done in 14 months from now?

 

[SwaggerJacker]

Don't know why so many people are annoyed. They aren't abandoning the bug fixes for project CARS (1) or the DLC plans.

The games sounds amazing and the only reason this has been announced early is so they can get the crowdfunding up and running

Pcars 1 "sounded" amazing too. See where I'm going with this?

 

[SnappyDEe]

I'm confused because pCars 1 still has a lot of unresolved issues. SP bugs (AI performance in the wet) that render it unplayable.

MP connection/performance issues and lobby settings that are annoying.

Graphical issues.

And that's coming from me... I love the game. Fix the problems first SMS!

 

[SwaggerJacker]

I'm confused because pCars 1 still has a lot of unresolved issues. SP bugs (AI performance in the wet) that render it unplayable.

MP connection/performance issues and lobby settings that are annoying.

Graphical issues.

And that's coming from me... I love the game. Fix the problems first SMS!

Miss racing with you snappy! But I can't torture myself with this game at this time. Pick up Farming Simulator 2015 and we can race the tractors! Also some good rock crawling. LOL

 

[Golanv]

Ahh crap... not this again!?!

 

[Cote Dazur]

 

[Rob Every]

Here is a chance for you as fans to vote with your feet, pockets and keyboards.

If you really like the way the first game was developed then buy into this. Do not read any further.

I personally think this is bordering on insulting. You crowd fund and crowd QA test (for a fee would you believe) a game whilst making millions, you treat anyone who criticises it like a criminal, you delay release numerous times, you have multiple issues with legal hurdles, you release a DLC pack before you release a patch to fix the various issues.

Then the next week you are cap in hand to the same community again, probably leavign PCARS to rot while obviously releasing pre designed DLC packs every few months just to rake in a few more quid.

They have some front, they really do. I honestly think these people are some of the most ignorant, selfish and genuinely arrogant I have ever experienced in any business not just gaming.

In honesty, they are only doing what most gaming companies do, releasing a game every year. It will be exactly the same as the current game is, just like F1 series, just like WRC, just like Dirt, just like Gran Turismo. It will be a big patch every year, just like them. You cant blame WMD for trying this. You can blame them though for the way the whole thing this time was handled. And the lack of trust that might infer.

So, the choice is yours guys. If you are happy with that business model off you go. If you are not then keep your money.

 

[Chris Sykes]

"You are confusing the roles of publisher and distributor.
A publisher funds the game development, hence he gets to influence the development. A distributor handles the distribution of the physical copies (hence the term), marketing etc.
BANDAI NAMCO is the distributor, not the publisher. They don’t have a say in development decisions whatsoever. Only the WMD members do " Source
​

In PCars a publisher was evil and in PCars2 a publisher is all of a sudden listed in the funding overview.

View attachment 96898
Project CARS was build from scratch with a total funding of 3.7 million and it's sequel Project CARS 2 based on the same game and assets needs 7 million.

Lets take the absolute bare minimum of 100 devs x E5000 per month = E500,000 per month without overhead. This game will be done in 14 months from now?

Bram all that money and they still couldn't deliver it on time or with out major bugs on release date, so now they think double the budget and they can do better based on the same game and assets, they don't need 7 million for an add on to a game they've already made this is silly.

 

[F1Motorsport]

 

[SwaggerJacker]

Here is a chance for you as fans to vote with your feet, pockets and keyboards.

If you really like the way the first game was developed then buy into this. Do not read any further.

I personally think this is bordering on insulting. You crowd fund and crowd QA test (for a fee would you believe) a game whilst making millions, you treat anyone who criticises it like a criminal, you delay release numerous times, you have multiple issues with legal hurdles, you release a DLC pack before you release a patch to fix the various issues.

Then the next week you are cap in hand to the same community again, probably leavign PCARS to rot while obviously releasing pre designed DLC packs every few months just to rake in a few more quid.

They have some front, they really do. I honestly think these people are some of the most ignorant, selfish and genuinely arrogant I have ever experienced in any business not just gaming.

In honesty, they are only doing what most gaming companies do, releasing a game every year. It will be exactly the same as the current game is, just like F1 series, just like WRC, just like Dirt, just like Gran Turismo. It will be a big patch every year, just like them. You cant blame WMD for trying this. You can blame them though for the way the whole thing this time was handled. And the lack of trust that might infer.

So, the choice is yours guys. If you are happy with that business model off you go. If you are not then keep your money.

I pretty much agree. I would add that even the codies games worked. They may have been watered down and arcadish, simcadish...but they worked.

 

[Radu Oros]

Bram all that money and they still couldn't deliver it on time or with out major bugs on release date, so now they think double the budget and they can do better based on the same game and assets, they don't need 7 million for an add on to a game they've already made this is silly.

I think what they mostly need money for is to have more tracks and cars. Further developing the graphics, physics, and sounds engine won't take much of their funds. But the new content will.

 

[Sharjeel]

After releasing a gob of a game earlier this year, Completely Mad Studios in collaboration with World of Under Development has shamelessly announced the release of Rain Simulator 2 in 2017.The head of the studio Mr. Wookie, verified this in a separate statement adding that all their official forums are now open for begging. Begging will close once their coffers are full after which Mr. Wookie and his henchmen will head-off to Hawai and Vegas for an indefinite vacation. The flamboyant Mr. Wookie draws inspiration from Mr. Kim Jong-un and bans anyone who challenges him or his Rain Simulator on his home ground. Users of RS 1 do at times fly off the handle and accuse Mr. W of having simulated brilliant sun flares which have no place in a project that goes by the name of Rain Simulator.

Rain Simulator 1 although not officially moddable was used by low-end computer users as a GPU stress software. This was later revealed to be a free DLC by Mr. Wookie and his henchmen. The exact date for the release of Rain Simulator 2 has not been confirmed yet but Mr. W closed his official press statement saying that, "This time we will simulate snow, storms, hailstones, hurricanes, tornadoes and what not. The icing on the cake is that sun flares and Hurricane Sandy and Katrina will be available as free DLCs with RS 2."

 

[Bram Hengeveld]

they don't need 7 million for an add on to a game they've already made this is silly.

Not really. I personally think that 7 million is still way too low for a multi-platform game. Now that the "we are a small team" slogan is debunked and SMS themselves state that they have a central studio and on top of it at least 100 veteran staff working from home the total amount for 2 to 3 years of development should be a lot higher.

I never believed the total funds of 3.7 million for Pcars1 and the 7 million for Pcars2 sounds too low as well. 100 devs x 5000 euro a month x 3 years is at least 18 million if not more. And that's just development salary costs, not even talking about office rent, car and track licenses and other overhead.

So whats up with these numbers? Or do I completely fail at basic math?

 

[SwaggerJacker]

I think what they mostly need money for is to have more tracks and cars. Further developing the graphics, physics, and sounds engine won't take much of their funds. But the new content will.

I think they will re-do a lot of things they did wrong with PC1, coding wise. They have issued placebo patches which infers that the bugs can't be killed. I think a lot of code will have to be re-written. Certain aspects of a game cannot be fixed, because it will affect something else, usually a developer's engine. A lot to dump and restart from scratch. This will take money, and since they aren't very good at what they do (decision making, critical thinking) they will never have enough. The same people are making version two. Stupid is as stupid does. And in their case...stupid will.

Disclaimer:
I am not calling anyone at SMS/WMD stupid. It's their decisions, and actions that are stupid, or at least questionable. From development to customer interactions.

Swagg

 

[St3fan]

This does not feel like crowdfunding to me. It is pre-mature pre-order. Even Activision will not initiate pre-order for next year's Call of Duty less than 2 months after this year's COD release. IMHO this trend of making people pre-order waaaaay before reasonable amount of game development HAS to stop.

What I don't understand is that I'm pretty sure SMS know there will be overwhelming negative feeling towards this early pre-order decision in sim racing community. Why do they still do that?

 

[Richard Eriksson]

@Bram Hengeveld, my guess is 7 million is what they want from the playerbase but the rest is supplied by shadow investors with the sole interest of a quick return. Just like it was with pCars1...

I feel bad for some of the devs now however. This backlash is going to hurt and it is not their fault. A lot of talented guys worked on pCars and i feel that they where probably robbed on a lot. I also believe, as a WMD member from the start, that they wanted more of a sim platform but where more and more forced to build a AAA screenshot maker.

Their talent shows in many parts of the title, but i really believe management and investors shanked them. And they do it again with pCars2. I hope the serious sim guys abandon ship and head to better grounds.

If SMS and the shadow money counters want to be another screenshot PR race game producer like EA or Evolution then it would not be the place for these guys to be at.

And as for the "Every studio needs to release every 2 years" comment... Yes, but only IF they aim for the Hollywood like PR AAA here today, gone tomorrow titles and not for a software platform for serious users.

How long between NetKar and AC? Between rF1 and rF2? Between Race07 and the reboot of RRe under Sector3?

Or in other avenues of simulation, between IL2 and the follow up? Between ARMA2 and ARMA3?

Compare this to the time and effort between the different Assasins Creeds or Far Cry games. Or in driving, between the thousand versions of Need For Speed.

You see the difference?

But as a software developer i see the business sense. Compare the money made between the above groups of software.

 

[Ole Marius Myrvold]

@Bram Hengeveld, my guess is 7 million is what they want from the playerbase but the rest is supplied by shadow investors with the sole interest of a quick return. Just like it was with pCars1...

The Screenshot shows 7 mill, including investors and publisher.

 

[billymitchell]

Me not buying PCARS on Steam sale:

 

[LacSlyer]

This does not feel like crowdfunding to me. It is pre-mature pre-order. Even Activision will not initiate pre-order for next year's Call of Duty less than 2 months after this year's COD release. IMHO this trend of making people pre-order waaaaay before reasonable amount of game development HAS to stop.

What I don't understand is that I'm pretty sure SMS know there will be overwhelming negative feeling towards this early pre-order decision in sim racing community. Why do they still do that?

In my opinion this is actually a smart move on their behalf. pCARS was a massive success in sales and they're attempting to build off of that by having the crowdfunding start when people still have the game fresh in their minds. This makes sense because the vast majority of people who will play pCARS will stop playing it very soon, if they haven't already. The more casual player base doesn't tend to stay with a dedicated game for very long, and they're simply taking advantage of that.

I don't agree with them doing it, but in a way it's a smart move to get far more potential investors than they had with the original title. As well, from what I've noticed they don't seem to care at all what peoples' opinions of them are outside of their tight-knit group of supporters.