PC1 WOO!! Just bout pCars and all DLC on the Steam sale!

[Vaughn Stegeman]

WOO HOO!!!
Now that I just built a brand new machine, I'm FINALLY able to run the new crop of racing sims.
Seeing how pCars was on sale this weekend, I went ahead and purchased it plus ALL the DLC. Cheaper than the game alone usually is. WIN.
Still about 6 hrs before it finishes downloading tho LOL oh well
Anyhow, I'd let my membership lapse here, since previously "my game" was Race 07, and that's now dead here. Sad, but it happens.
NOW I quite look forward to joining y'all in some nice gentlemanly online racing ... after I play single player for awhile to get used to the game, and get my wheel dialed in. (running a Thrustmaster RGT, tho the clutch pedal is currently non-functional (need to open the pedal box and reconnect a few wires is all) .. but that's not all that important to me, since I dont' have an h-shifter)
I'm quite excited! .... I've been missing my online racing.
I'll be one of your back markers

 

[AMA_King]

I bought this last night @ $40 + old/new DLC & ran it for the first time this morning!
FREAKING EXXXXXXXXXXXXCELLEENT!!!!

Laguna is my fav track in any game so I ran that twice with 2 diff graphics setting...
Used the FORD MUSTANG Boss 302R1 w/ 19 opponents for 3 laps.

The game initially gave me default settings that looked smart & off I went!
I was getting 60-85-120 FPS - so I decided to just MAX everything & got 15 FPS!!!
Kinda' weird driving "underwater" feeling - but it sure was pretty!
I did not even run 33% of one lap... so now I'm playing w/ graphics settings.

Anyhoo, I will be fiddling with graphics today & drinking beer! Good times!

Here is my current rig: NZXT Source 210 Elite case, EVGA 1300W SuperNOVA G2 PSU, MSI Z97A Gaming& mobo, i7-4790K cpu, stock cooler, 16GB RAM DDR3xPC3-12800 GSKIL RipJawsX, (2) HIS R9 280 IceQ OC 3GB (my 1st SLI rig), (1) HGST 4TB 7.2K RPM HD, 47" Philips LCD TV 120hz (1920x1080), built in TV speakers, Playseat Race Chair, G27 Wheel & Pedals, MS 2000 KB, Logitech Mouse, WIN7-64

PS: I have Assetto, Dirt Rally, Dirt 2-3, WRC 3-4, GSE, RF2, RF1, GRID 1-2, SHIFT 1-2, F1-2010, all Race 07 add-ons, and many others, but in just 2 races (and some pre-purchase youtube videos) I will say this is one of the best games to come around in a long time!

 

[AMA_King]

WOO HOO!!! Now that I just built a brand new machine...

Specs?

 

[Vaughn Stegeman]

Specs?

Specs:
AMD FX-6300 Black edition (3.5 ghz, currently running @ 3.8 ghz)
MSI 970a G-43 Motherboard
16 gigs DDR3-1866 G.Skill RipjawsX (2x 8 gigs .. mobo can take 32)
Cooler Master 212 Hyper Evo CPU cooler (HUGE CPU cooler .. so big I won't be able to install the full 32 gigs RAM this mobo can take .. oh well)
Geforce GTX560 Ti (re-used my old graphics card)
22" Acer B236HL IPS LCD/LED monitor @1920x1080 (GREAT monitor!) .. (I have a 2nd monitor too, 19" Viewsonic CRT, but that's irrelevant to this game)
DIYPC Adventurer I8 case
Thrustmaster RGT wheel/pedals
Win 7 Pro 64-bit

I just woke up here, and am mid-coffee, so I haven't run the game yet. Very soon tho ... that will prolly take up most of my day LOL
Regarding rally games, I see you have several. I'd like to get a rally game, but am unsure which one. Got any recommendations there?
Lookin forward to racing online, once I get my Premium Membership sorted out.

Laguna Seca is also one of my fave tracks (and screw calling Mazda Raceway LOL)
Also, Nurburgring Nordschleiffe (but who DOESN'T love that track!), Spa Francorchamps, and my "home" track, Road America (being the ONLY road course in Wisconsin)
I'm also excited to drive some LMP cars. Race 07 nor GTR 2 have those. (I have those two and GT Legends -- but that's the only other race games I've got ... tho I tried RRRE in it's earlier days and didn't dig it all that much. Particularly not their constant "pay more and more and MORE" business model)

 

[Vaughn Stegeman]

OH!!!! Also, I'm using the free open source software Facetrack No-IR for head tracking. If you don't have a head-tracking setup, you might want to check this out. All you need is a webcam and three red LED lights clipped to a hat. ... I just used three white LED lights, and put some red plastic over them. Works GREAT (most of the time)
http://facetracknoir.sourceforge.net/home/default.htm

 

[AMA_King]

Dude, we are in same time zone (I am in Chicago) if you want to try online racing later I am open.

I think I found my graphics "sweet spot" for offline but might have to tone it down for online.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1hPKVIitOqbtdB1qM52l8wO5AR_eQcbOBa8xlGIJe7A4/edit?usp=sharing

RE: rally = your PC should be able to handle DIRT Rally @ pretty OK settings.

I'm sure you have STEAM, so just add all of the racing games that interest you to your wish list & buy them when they are on sale @ 50-66-75% off... Dirt / WRC / Shift / GRID series are fun if you like variety... however, the elite purists will insist that you need iRacing, Assetto Corsa, RF2, Game Stock Car Extreme (GSE) and select others...

All racing games are great - I love trophy trucks & buggies & off-road stuff, but not many other people do... so only you can know what you like & you can figure that out by trying them all or watching several different youtube videos of the game you are interested in by several different people.

 

[Vaughn Stegeman]

how do you display FPS in-game? I'm not seeing any setting for that.
i did a short "look see" before installing the software for my wheel ... it's runing nice and smooth with pretty high (but not maxed) gfx settings
LOVE my new computer

 

[AMA_King]

See FPS w/ free version of FRAPS:
http://www.fraps.com/download.php

 

[AMA_King]

FYI: steering is MUCH better @ 85% force feedback...
http://www.racedepartment.com/threads/project-cars-logitech-g25-g27-settings.104441/

 

[David Cordell]

how do you display FPS in-game? I'm not seeing any setting for that.
i did a short "look see" before installing the software for my wheel ... it's runing nice and smooth with pretty high (but not maxed) gfx settings
LOVE my new computer

Go into Steam then go to Steam Settings then In Game options and you will see an option for In Game FPS Counter.

 

[Vaughn Stegeman]

WOW!! I sssssSSSUUUUUCK at Kart racing LOL ... them little things a tricky and nimble
I really need to research the FFB settings and do some tweaking experiments. It's feelin a bit mushy, and I'm not getting much-if-any curb feel. Can feel the grip fairly well tho. Lots of different places in this game to adjust FFB, which seems a bit weird and will take some getting used to.
Thx for the FPS info. .. I didn't ever see it drop below 30, so that's nice

 

[HypoToad]

I bought it too and just tried it today.

I have a thing for car games and have Grand Prix 4, Toca Race Driver 1, 2 & 3, Grid, Grid2, Grid Autosport, F1 2010, F1 2013, F1 2014 as well as the PGR's and Forza's.

But I just went around Hockenheim in a BMW 3, and I am in love with this game, I play with headphones on and it's like I'm in a real car, it's by far the best car game I have owned.

I really like the way you can customize a race and set the difficulty, the first few times I beat the other cars easily but kept upping the difficulty and if I start mid field now I can just get to the lead on the final lap.

I was dubious that my PC could run it as its pretty basic, it only cost me $200usd but it handles it really well with the default settings:

i3 3220 3.3ghz
Win 7 Pro
8gb ram
HD 7770 OC
USB wireless dongle with Xbox 360 controller

It never ceases to amaze me that I can get frame rates well over 60 (over 100 on the F1 games) on most games.

 

[Ryan Soucy]

I've never seen such joyful posts at pCars here compared to all the vitriol. I'm not sure if these are real or sarcastic!!

If real, enjoy!! I know I do.

 

[Vaughn Stegeman]

I've never seen such joyful posts at pCars here compared to all the vitriol. I'm not sure if these are real or sarcastic!!

If real, enjoy!! I know I do.

Very real. I'm loving the game!! Played over 40 hrs since Saturday
Sure, there's a few bugs here and there, and some odd omissions .. but no game is perfect, eh
FINALLY got head-tracking working yesterday too, which is a great relief. Once you get used to head-tracking, it's hard to do without.
Still tweaking FFB settings tho ... but it's FAR better than it was at first. I'm using Jack Spade's FFB files (available via official pCars forums) they help TONS

 

[HypoToad]

It's tricky alright, I hate having my laps un-validated for just have a tire off the track, but I love the realism, cars are not meant to go around corners on rails and careful planning for each corner is a must. I played Grid for a bit after another session with Project Cars and the cars in Grid go round corners like their glued to the road which is not natural.

I'm driving a Ginetta G40 in career at the moment, sure their slow but racing side by side with another car is unreal, you just don't get the same "feeling" in the other games I play. You are really willing your car to go faster to get past and try and brake that split second later and hope like heck you can take the corner cleanly.

 

[Ryan Soucy]

I've played the game ever since early alpha and I JUST made a tweak to the FFB the other night that I really enjoy. It never ends with the tweaking. I used tweaker files early but not in a year or so. I might need to revisit, but I am almost there with the FFB.

 

[HypoToad]

Another thing I raced around Bathurst and the cars don't jump off the track like in the Grid games, for some reason when you go over the top of the mountain the car will become completely airborne over the crests and of course the AI cars stick like glue, I am sure real cars don't. It really does show how arcade style the other games are.

 

[AMA_King]

I've played the game ever since early alpha and I JUST made a tweak to the FFB the other night that I really enjoy. It never ends with the tweaking. I used tweaker files early but not in a year or so. I might need to revisit, but I am almost there with the FFB.

Please share more info... all I have done is turn FFB down to 82%

 

[Vaughn Stegeman]

Well ... I'd say start here : http://www.racedepartment.com/threa...ble-for-enhanced-feel-from-jack-spade.105453/
There's a TON of FFB options scattered here and there, and it's not really clear what they all do and how they all interact, so it certainly takes a good deal of mucking about to sort it all out. And a good deal of reading about what all those options do.
One thing tho, right off: It's best to leave the FFB strength in-game at 100%, and turn down the FFB strength in your wheel's profiler instead. ... and then there's other options in-game that can scale all those forces against each other. .. AND the Steering Gain setting, which scales up or down the overall effect of ALL the forces combined. Better to adjust Steering Gain in-game that in-game FFB strength.

 

[AMA_King]

Gee.. thx for the clarification...
~ yeah, yeah, I know, I know how it goes...