PC3 Project CARS 3 to Change Focus?

[Paul Jeffrey]

Slightly Mad Studios Head Ian Bell recently revealed PCARS 3 is in development, and now hints have been dropped that the direction of the title might change for the next release.

The Project CARS series of games have, up until this point, been heavily focussed on a wide selection or road and race cars from a wide variety of different disciplines of motorsport - giving players the opportunity to drive such varied machines as top tier open wheel cars, to stockcar, touring cars, GTs, historic and road going performance machines.

Although the scope of the previous two versions of the game are indeed admirable, some could argue that potentially Slightly Mad Studios looked to become a jack of all trades with their game content, and as a result became the master of none.

This appears to have been noted by the decision makers back at SMS, as Ian Bell once again took to the internet to drop a few hints about the next release - suggesting that maybe Slightly Mad Studios would look to return to their roots somewhat, and produce an experience more akin to the earlier Need for Speed Shift release of 2009.

“I’ll let you know that pCARS3 will be more ‘focused’… More ‘fun’…" said Bell over on the GT Plant forums. "We went to insane lengths with variation in pCARS2 and with that comes infinite balancing issues. We’ve learned a lesson here and although we have no intention of reducing content, we know what we need to fix, where we made design decisions that were, let’s call it, ‘sub-optimal’…​

“pCARS3 will be more of a spiritual successor to Shift, but with all of the sim goodness everyone appreciates… The key focus though is on fun and not biting off more than we can properly chew and digest.”
​

Ian Bell does refer to the desire to retain the "sim goodness" of PCARS 1 & 2, however the shift (ha ha) towards an experience more closely aligned to the Need for Speed series does suggest that the new title could take itself a little less seriously than has been the case in the past, and leads one to wonder if a more arcade slant is to be applied to the title than has been the case in the past.

With PCARS 1 & 2 failing to match the quality of other sim racing titles the likes of rFactor 2, Assetto Corsa, RaceRoom and AMS, and with new games from Reiza Studios and the Early Access Assetto Corsa Competizione from Kunos in the works, a move towards a more fun and light hearted experience is probably not a bad idea for PCARS and the new title - quite how the end result will pan out remains to be seen.

One thing is for sure, however SMS pitch the new title, it will be very interesting to hear and read what is said on the build up to release of what is surely going to be another very interesting piece of software from the prolific game studio.

Check out the Project CARS 3 sub forum here at RaceDepartment for more news, discussion and features on this sequel release to the hugely popular Project CARS franchise of games.

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[apex11]

Only read one comment and it was full of hate, pretty sure all the others are the same but I like project cars 2, looks good, loads of content, feels good on my ts-pc racer wheel, is it the most realistic feeling game? don't know, don't care...never driven a race car fast on a track.

Played a few of the other racing games and while they may be more "sim" like going by the comments on the web I just found them to either not look very good, have too little content or just not be fun...any way bring on the "Haha" and "Disagree" icons

And that folks is the general customer base. THAT is where the sales and the money is. Not rocket science...........
No point moaning about it, just don't bloody buy it if you don't want it and your not a customer like the above... simple.

I only got PCars 2 because the price tanked so much, don't play it that much but glad it is there.

My favorite go to 'sim' is AC, but that is the PC AC and using content manager and mods and shaders and custom shaders patch and custom pp filters, it is not really AC anymore..its better...so my best sim wasn't even created by a actual developer......it was created by people who love it.... go figure.....
People making stuff and counting beans will never give you what you want..... they will always find away to give you as much as they can by giving you as little as they can.....

 

[Jonny Austin]

I agree with other posters that we should welcome any racing games (ok maybe not the The Crew 2) whether they are hardcore sims or arcade or something between.I think the more serious online element of Gran Turismo Sport is driving some pretty healthy growth towards the simulation end of the market.Jimmy Broadbent's vids & live streams have doubled to 180,000 in the last year from a pretty low base.When I login to Iracing it seems to have jumped from 2,500 to 5000 users online since the F3,F3.5,new tracks & daylight/night change were introduced.These numbers are tiny compared to other non racing games but they are obviously enough to develop so many great racing games & sims.

 

[mantasisg]

iRacing must be making insane money, and yet doesn't even need to invest that much on improving, in fact they would be making a mistake if they would be pulling out cards if they grow even without that. They doesn't even need to lower prices....

 

[apex11]

I came across a stream by Jimmy the other day and people where donating him 30, 50,10,10 etc pounds, that was in 5 mins of me watching it...

What in Gods name are these people doing sat watching a person play a game for 4 hours let alone giving him money??
Its utter madness.... we may moan about games like PCars 2 but at least for £30 you get something..... £30 to watch Jimmy turn his FFB up to 100% and drive a pixelated car around a track?! Huh what?

I find myself praying for Pretend Race Cars to come back.......please Austin we need you...

 

[mantasisg]

it is not really AC anymore..its better...so my best sim wasn't even created by a actual developer......it was created by people who love it.... go figure.....

I think thats a bit too much credit for modders.

 

[Ryann]

What does it actually mean? I'm confused.

They want to keep the same content, not reduce it. They want to keep the simulation aspects. But at the same time, they want to avoid balancing issues because of big variety (a lot of cars/content) and big differences in handling between individual cars. How? If not via reducing car count or making the physics and car handling simpler and not trying to precisely simulate real-world physics and car properties?

Mr. Bell is a magician, in case of babbling nonsense, for sure!

 

[David Wright]

Lets imagine the scene in the SMS boardroom.

SMS Sales Director: Guys, steam sales figures up to June 2018 have been accidentally leaked. Lets look at the numbers for the "big" PC sim racing games.

Reiza have sold 49,000 copies of Automobilista (including those given to Game Stock Car Extreme owners).

In the 78 months rFactor2 has been on sale they've sold 75,000 copies. This is an underestimate as I'm sure some people did not transfer their non-steam copies to steam. For the sake of argument lets double it to 150,000.

In 57 months Assetto Corsa has sold 826,000 copies.

In the 34 months since the launch of PCARS1 we have sold 1.339,000 copies of PCARS1 & 2 on PC.

Ian Bell: We just can't compete with these "big" sim racing games. They are wiping the floor with us! What were we thinking? We have to get out of the sim market!

SMS Sales Director: It gets worse boss. Kunos are going to launch a new sim with day/night transitions, dynamic track, dynamic weather, lateral tyre flex, brake heating and cooling and brake heat affecting the tyres!

Ian Bell: You are right. We just can't compete even though we've had these features for years. and with ACCs 20 cars and 11 tracks there is just no room in the market for our sim with its 180 cars and 60 tracks. Lets get out of Dodge - the sim market is too competitive.

SMS Sales Director: But the biggest worry of all is that Reiza are bringing out a new game. I don't know if it will be the Ayrton Senna game or Reiza 17 or what engine it will use but I do know that given their previous titles have sold about !% of ours, we should be quaking in our boots.

Ian Bell: If I had any doubts about changing direction and competing directly with Turn10 and Polyphony, this news seals the deal.

 

[BrettSinclair1]

I suppose I will never understand the mind of the - vocal - sim racer:
Hours are spent on discussing minute physics details of cars none of us has driven or will ever drive, while obvious shortcomings like lack of pit stops, weather, time of day, realistic entry lists (!), ... are willfully ignored.
In my book, PCARS (2) was possibly the best overall racing sim since Simbin's GTR2.

 

[RobertR1]

Credit to them for going after a different audience they. You do have to take chances in business.

I don't think we need to be bitter about companies having a change in direction. If you enjoy Project Cars 1 and 2, you'll continue to do so, I'd imagine.

For someone less than 6 months into the sim racing world, I do feel that it's a fairly fragmented market with a small audience. You have AC and iracing primarily taking up people's playtime with rfactor2, AMS, Race Room, PCars taking up the rest of the time.

 

[mr Sw1tchblade]

Simulators dont have eyecandy graphics s. Well, at list not in early access. SLM studio will buy yacht someday because of this.

 

[BrettSinclair1]

Also, "a spiritual successor to Shift" hints at ANOTHER GT3 game in 2019

 

[protonv5]

iRacing must be making insane money, and yet doesn't even need to invest that much on improving, in fact they would be making a mistake if they would be pulling out cards if they grow even without that. They doesn't even need to lower prices....

iRacing spends tons of money on developing the game and it shows. Anyone that has subscribed to it and spent some time with it knows this. I love many sims and even arcade type racing games out there. I accept that iRacing simply has the most realistic handling model out there. It should as they have spent millions making it this way. Doesn't mean I won't enjoy other sims as well. But PCars…? What the heck is with that handling model? I often think they wrecked the handling on purpose as a way of Ian Bell getting back at everyone.

 

[roadyroad]

Ironically I dusted off Pcars 2 today having played with my new steering wheel for a week with my go to Sims.

I lasted all of 5 mins; it's shockingly terrible or I had the new wheel setup completely wrong.

With RRE, I just plugged in my wheel, loaded the default profile and away I went.

I'm gutted it's not as good as my other Sims as the content, eye candy (apart from the terrible AA) it really has a lot to offer.

So if anyone has any tips on how to setup a TS-PC, coming from a T300, please let me know.

Back on topic, I wish them well in their new venture maybe it will be third time lucky - allow modding and potentially will be on to a winner

On my ts pc racer I use:
gain 48
Volume 45 or more (depends of the car, you can adjust it in race)
Ton 90
Fx 65
With that I have a similar ffb than other sims

 

[roadyroad]

I think it would be nice if they were to leave aside Rallycross and Karting, and make even more tracks for the main disciplines.

I think this is exactly what they stated. It is what I understand. More focused content like shift (road races and less variety, i.e. less historical content) and retaining the sim aspect of project cars but more polished thanks to a the homogeneity of the content.

I'm not interested because on the contrary historic cars, dirt racing, karts, formula cars, gave all the appeal of pcars2, for my taste, but SMS has the figures, they know which of their cars are used. And the online lobby is already a good indication : gt3, gt4 or gt5, a few modern lmp races, clio cup and... That's it. From time to time an "exotic" category but nothing regular.

 

[roadyroad]

I'd be happy if the car's cornering physics would change!(The car would turn from the front wheel, not from the middle.)
In addition: Full FIA GT 2004 season (or 2003/2005)
and Retro Car Racing Series (similar to GT Legends)

A full GT1 grid (well I admit these are the special ones, almost lmps, not the slower 2003 ones) and a huge classic grid with gts and lmps are not sufficient? There is not less classic cars than gt legends in pcars2.

 

[roadyroad]

But they will still charge you 59.99 for it even with less content

Nothing states less content, just less content diversity

 

[BrunoBæ]

I accept that iRacing simply has the most realistic handling model out there. It should as they have spent millions making it this way.

If you by "handling model" mean tire model then you must be living in another world.
Even most of the RL racing drivers that is using iRacing for fun does admit that iRacings TM (and car behaviour) has nothing much to do with RL car behavour.

 

[AlexBfromG]

Project Cars 2 was really nice and all that until december 17, than the patches from hell commenced and every time we got tires working differently etc. Im not bothering with PC3, especially when it goes for a more SHIFT feel

 

[Dan Costa]

It is a bit weird the treatment Project Cars gets here at RD.You dont see it at places like GTPlanet & elsewhere.

I tried every sim in these short holidays.

Regarding Pcars2, I was surprised to find the same bugs that plagued online on launch day are still happening today. And now you know Pcars3 is being made. That studio is being run with a fraudulent mentality at best. Nothing new though, since that sudden AMD/NVIDIA performance debacle on Pcars1 it was obvious they were moneyhats.

Beautiful graphics and VR though.

 

[Germain Entete]

If they sincerely want to offer a new product, why not offer some kind of test Drive Unlimited, this time based on a real world location?
With all the weather/licenses features, they could produce something interesting to many people, for both arcade & open-minded hardcore simracers.