PC1 Sim Discussion Monday - PCARS 1

[Paul Jeffrey]

Monday morning blues? No worries, let's talk Project CARS 1!

Next up for the 'Sim Discussion Monday' feature of articles is the very first release from Slightly Mad Studios - Project CARS 1.

Now the intention of these articles is to talk about a particular sim with like minded individuals, discuss how to get the most from the game in terms of performance and satisfaction, share you wheel or game settings, discuss particular likes and dislikes and generally just chat about anything and everything related to the title.

I appreciate discussion about PCARS can often get a little... tasty, so I ask you to please don't get into a silly flame war or throw around trolling comments. We are (mostly) adults here, let us remember that before we type and keep up the generally good behaviour we display in the various comments sections throughout the site.

With Project CARS 2 on its way in a couple of weeks, this should be a nice opportunity to have a look back at the first game after the benefit of time and experience has helped shape our opinions.

Mondays boring? Nope, Mondays be like...

 

[F_B]

GFX nice, FFB fiddling a catastrophe (even with Jack Spade files it was mediocre at best). I’ll give PCars 2 a try and see what has been improved.

 

[mrbungle83]

Not engaging enough for me i clocked 98 hours near enough all because my local track (oulton park) is laser scanned, they did a beautiful job of some of the tracks but i couldn't feel connected to the cars.

 

[Muzzy]

Had high hopes with the game, but no matter how hard i tried, i couldn't set FFB to detect and catch slides.
On the other hand, it has the best Le Mans track to date (apart from iRacing).

 

[Kurupt CDN]

Hoping PC2 will be what PC1was supposed to be

 

[ears]

Project CARS "1"?!!

I had some online fun with it, there were usually a lot of people to race against. Most of the time it was fairly rough and tumble but if you know that when you go in,you get on fine.

I never really got much feedback from it on a G27 or T300. Whenever I'd played it and went back to Assetto Corsa 1 I always really appreciated the FFB I was getting in there, and even then Assetto Corsa 1's FFB was nothing like as detailed to me as say RR3 1 or rF2.

I'd read too much about its flaws to really engage with any kind of offline modes and don't think I ever touched them.

But they were strong early supporters of VR and probably the first racing game to support both the Oculus Rift 1 and the HTC Vive 1.

Maybe if I was playing sim racers more at the moment I'd be looking at the sequel and considering buying it, as it is, with stuff taking my time up outside of gaming as a whole, I'll sit on the periphery and watch with interest.

 

[Shad3R]

They did a great job at some tracks like LeMans, but other tracks like SPA, or Monza are a disaster.
The FFB, a storie everybody knows, for every car configuring things...... enough said.

Already preordered PCars 2 lets see now how it goes.

 

[Enagee]

Only thing i enjoyed was racing in a thunderstorm with VR....fun didnt last long cuz i had the biggest issue , wheel would randomly stop working with no fix ..tried my best to give it a chance but it just didnt work out.... Still as a Sim racer we have little will power and i pre ordered Pcars 2.

Next topic should be "Should Rating systems be a requirement for online racing"

 

[Deleted member 99238]

First of all it's game, then simulator. The most favorite in this game is Aston Martin, GT4 and British tracks, they are great.

 

[Phil Davies]

"Lets Talk Project Cars 1".
I'd rather not,99hrs of my life wasted that I'll never get back ,I think I spent about 90 of those hours trying to get good FFB .Never found it ,So I gave up and played the sims I enjoy .I'm glad for the people who did enjoy it,sadly I wasn't one of them.

 

[Damage Inc]

When set up correctly the FFB is as good as other sims (I use Jack Spades files), all it misses is the random "noise" that other sims have, feelings I do not get driving my real car so my personal jury is out on the realism of that or not. Brilliant game but definitely flawed in places, I think overall SMS bit off a bit too much to chew. But what it does well it does VERY well. Graphically the best, I particularly like the way tracks look used, dirty and scruffy, almost all the other sims everything looks too pristine. Weather graphically the best in any Sim to date and not too far away with physics. Liked the career mode, except for scripted weather (really didn't get that at all). Ai was inconsistent, really good on some tracks but not so good on others. Car avoidance generally good (but often veered too far and went off track (not so good)). SMS were so close, but the flaws let it down overall.

Heart would give it 8 out of 10, head drops it to 7.5. PC2 looks like it's fixed most of the major issues and flaws so really looking forward to the 22nd and recently gone back to PCars in preparation.

 

[Hoksu]

A mixed bag, lots of good and lots of bad. For me the reason I stopped playing it was the vehicle physics and FFB, just doesn't feel as good to drive as Assetto Corsa for example. PC2 could be a really good game if SMS learn from their mistakes and work on the weaknesses of the first game

 

[mrbungle83]

Project CARS "1"?!!

I had some online fun with it, there were usually a lot of people to race against. Most of the time it was fairly rough and tumble but if you know that when you go in,you get on fine.

I never really got much feedback from it on a G27 or T300. Whenever I'd played it and went back to Assetto Corsa 1 I always really appreciated the FFB I was getting in there, and even then Assetto Corsa 1's FFB was nothing like as detailed to me as say RR3 1 or rF2.

I'd read too much about its flaws to really engage with any kind of offline modes and don't think I ever touched them.

But they were strong early supporters of VR and probably the first racing game to support both the Oculus Rift 1 and the HTC Vive 1.

Maybe if I was playing sim racers more at the moment I'd be looking at the sequel and considering buying it, as it is, with stuff taking my time up outside of gaming as a whole, I'll sit on the periphery and watch with interest.

Project CARS "1"?!!

I had some online fun with it, there were usually a lot of people to race against. Most of the time it was fairly rough and tumble but if you know that when you go in,you get on fine.

I never really got much feedback from it on a G27 or T300. Whenever I'd played it and went back to Assetto Corsa 1 I always really appreciated the FFB I was getting in there, and even then Assetto Corsa 1's FFB was nothing like as detailed to me as say RR3 1 or rF2.

I'd read too much about its flaws to really engage with any kind of offline modes and don't think I ever touched them.

But they were strong early supporters of VR and probably the first racing game to support both the Oculus Rift 1 and the HTC Vive 1.

Maybe if I was playing sim racers more at the moment I'd be looking at the sequel and considering buying it, as it is, with stuff taking my time up outside of gaming as a whole, I'll sit on the periphery and watch with interest.

Are you going to put numbers after your childrens names too?

 

[Chobonator]

I always felt Shift 2 Unleashed had a decent base in the amount of things simulated, ambiance and speed, just horribly tuned and unfixable.

Project Cars shifted... ... ... the focus to a more realistic experience, but got almost everything wrong still. Even with the FFB mod by JC Spadon, most of the cars feel like a wet noodle. Just try the Aston Martin GT3, or NASCAR 90s or recent, the modern Renault cars, etc. You can't even tell what's going on half the time. The V8SC and Mustang Trans-Am are pretty badass though.

I like the circuit selection, with Ruapuna, Road America, Le Mans, Watkins Glen and cool stuff like that, but everything is flickering, from the shadows to the aliased edges, and even without pushing the settings, the performance is pretty uneven. There are gorgeous moments, but they're not the norm for me.

Proper multiclass is only coming with PC2, so that's going to be a plus over the weird MC mode of PC. I don't find the AI too bad overall, it has its problems like any other AI, but it's dynamic and fun.

Overall, I didn't get much out of it. I fiddle a bit, do a few races and that's enough. When I start playing Raceroom, I can't stop. And almost all the content works great, there's Sachsenring and Rahel Frey, sooo... A much better product at this point.

I really wish PC2 is closer to RR/RF2, connected and planted, because with Long Beach, Daytona, Knockhill, multiclass and a bunch of goodies, it could satisfy me for a bit and I don't want to be missing out. I'm still on the fence. I'll surely try it for 2 hours at the very least.

Project Cars was a big fat sadness, but it can be turned into something great with PC2. I hope they laser-scanned the fountain dolphins at Long Beach, nice backdrop to Corvette/911 battles in the streets.

 

[snyperal]

Are you going to put numbers after your childrens names too?

Assetto corsa 1?? That means assetto corsa 2 must be on the way!?

 

[kkdrummer]

Handling was horrible on Xbox, a bit better on PC, mas still not fun to drive for me. Weather and tracks were amazing, car list no so much. I am hoping PC2 will be what 1 should've been....fingers crossed.

 

[Craig Dunkley]

They just tried to do to much and sadly forgot about the basic's ..first and foremost one has to be at one with the car and sadly this game (yes I call it a game) was far from this. No matter how many bells and whistles it had, it was never going to be loved and played by anybody from the sim community.

Of course we all love the "bells and whistles" the more the better, but first and foremost its about driving the car, which they just forgot about.

 

[Damage Inc]

They just tried to do to much and sadly forgot about the basic's ..first and foremost one has to be at one with the car and sadly this game (yes I call it a game) was far from this. No matter how many bells and whistles it had, it was never going to be loved and played by anybody from the sim community.

Of course we all love the "bells and whistles" the more the better, but first and foremost its about driving the car, which they just forgot about.

wow, elitist comment of the year right there! Basically you're saying that anyone who liked Pcars is not part of the Sim community?.....

Basically I think the problem with the "community" is comments like yours. Stop speaking for other people.

 

[apex11]

Game changer, back when i didn't have a PC i played it on xbox one solid for like 450 hours in total.
Didn't like the fanboys who said even before patch one it was perfect!
Ermm, yeah loved it, you could sense shift 2's DNA in it which was no bad thing IMO.
Now i am a PC elitist! lol, and i've actually played RFactor 2 i can see that it is a pretty version of rfactor 2.
I will wait few weeks till after release and then most likely grab it.
I will avoid the official forum though same as i avoid the AC one.
I agree with PCars idea that racing cars aren't designed to drive like they are on ice and its a shame the usual folks will be calling it a simcade because you don't feel like you are on ice...

 

[PaulH]

Project Cars....the Sim we all love to hate, and boy did I hate it at launch....but

I have just passed 205hrs in PC, I bought the Game of the year edition upgrade in the Steam Summer Sale.
So why did I stick with it?
Because there is something in there that is bloody good, just takes a frickin long time to find it!

Let's get the bad stuff out first

FFB
oh dear, an absolute joke at launch, so many parameters it was mind boggling. Then Jack Spade came to the rescue and made the FFB playable/good. I am now using a hybrid of JS Tweaker files and some tracks are good, LeMans, Donington, Nords.
But some tracks no matter what I have tried still feel "dead", Silverstone, Spa, Road America to name a few.
Oh yeah, that silly visual cockpit wheel shake but you feel nothing, no idea what happened there.

Physics
Again some cars feel good a lot feel terrible, it takes a lot of time to find a car to enjoy, when it shouldn't. Front wheels just don't feel connected on a lot of tracks.

Multiclass
Absurd multiclass fields. I can run 55 cars at LeMans but it's just a mish mash of various classes that would never make sense in "real life".
The best multiclass I found at Lemans was to drive a LMP900, decent field then.

AI
While I have had some good races with the AI, they are generally inconsistent, too much grip in wet, drives on grass
like its tarmac, but they are better than Raceroom AI, that's how bad R3E AI have become.

Ok, some good stuff

Graphics & Lighting
WOW! looks bloody gorgeous, has the best lighting of any sim, graphically great almost life like sometimes, although I prefer Assetto Corsa.

Tracks
Really good choice of tracks, you have the usual suspects, but for me PC is my Le Mans Sim, great version and I have enjoyed hours on it

Weather
Well, the best weather but not much competition out there for that one. I like the light rain & spray, heavy storms with fork lightning is a bit OTT

Cars
An excellent choice of cars(with the GOTY edition), love the LMP900 class, all look great graphically.

So that sort it sums it up for me, and one tip I try to stick to is DO NOT drive another Sim before playing PC, it will end in tears

And for the love of god(Reiza) make sure all the Sims you are playing you have the right FOV, makes a huge bloody difference.
I reduced my FOV to 47(35" screen) from 67 in Project Cars and it made a huge difference.

Would love to see @Paul Jeffrey do an article on FOV in the future

FOV Calc
http://www.projectimmersion.com/fov/index.php