Project CARS 2

Soldato
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When they released the first game (Apr-15 I believe), they announce the sequel almost straight away (which upset some people despite FIFA and F1 games and their annual cycle being acceptable). At the time they offered everybody the opportunity to pre-buy into the WMD = World of Mass Development - Development forum and build access, it's where the Project C.A.R.S. name came from Community Assisted Racing Simulator) programme for the new game. Basically, we've had access since then (around 2.5 years now). I haven't played it much until the last few months to be honest as my PC couldn't cope with the sometimes inefficient early development code. The earliest builds were just a single area like a huge playing field with some elevation changes and a jump with stripes of different surfaces created so that they could work out the tech for grip transition and surface types. Amazing process to watch and I hope they do it again...it's been fascinating watching a game grow and to get to play it in various states of development. It will hammer your download cap if you have limits though as there is an almost daily build cycle.

There was also a press build issued by Bandai Namco based on a dev build from July, which is what a lot of these "preview" videos are being made using. It's actually a lot better now than it was then...I absolutely love it :)
Wait, so if I had access to builds of pcars I have access to builds of pcars 2?
 
Soldato
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Remember he's recording live at the same time usually, that's got to hit the FPS.



The physics has changed sorry, but in my opinion for the better, lateral grip and the ability to lean on the tyres and feel them flex is a big change. I run a 980Ti and I've noticed they have improved the code efficiency for VR in particular for PC2, if I run like for like combos I get much lower GPU usage (looking at afterburner graphs) running PC2 than I do with PC1. Have you got -skipcrowds in the steam startup properties and made sure detailed grass is off, they're big hits in PC1.

I lose access to PC2 for 2 weeks come Friday while they prepare for launch...I think there might some surprises even for the WMD guys in the final release. I've seen chat of secret backroom testing, there are lots of threads that start and then a mod changes it, locks the thread and leaves "nothing to see here" in the post...i'm really quite excited tbh love my racing games.

You are making me pre order this!

Ok what do you think for someone like me.

Loves the physics of something like Asseto Corsa, but its lack of polish with career modes and UI annoys me, no sense of progression at all.
Didnt like the physics of Pcars1
Loves the career modes and sense of progression on games like Forza Motorsport and F1 series even though they dont handle as well.
 
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Loves the career modes and sense of progression on games like Forza Motorsport and F1 series even though they dont handle as well.
that's a good point. Do we have any idea what career progress there is in PC2? I think I remember hearing something about all cars and tracks being unlocked from the start, which (if that's the case) how does that assist with any progression?

I've been quite interested with this, more so after getting my Rift... But, generally quite like the career unlock system of Forza (seem to remember really enjoying F3 or 4, over the more recent ones), instead of just having everything in front of you from day1.
 
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Wait, so if I had access to builds of pcars I have access to builds of pcars 2?

No, there was an option to buy in just after Project Cars 1 release, it was a separate purchase with no "returns" so nobody makes any money off PC2

You are making me pre order this!

Ok what do you think for someone like me.

Loves the physics of something like Asseto Corsa, but its lack of polish with career modes and UI annoys me, no sense of progression at all.
Didnt like the physics of Pcars1
Loves the career modes and sense of progression on games like Forza Motorsport and F1 series even though they dont handle as well.

i'm only offering my opinion I take no repsonsibility for your choice to pre-order or not. I know a lot of people were very unimpressed with the state of PC1 on release and I fully understand why they would wait (even though I'm pretty sure SMS won't let that happen again). I can't answer how much you'll like or dislike it, but I will say it's a huge improvement physics/handling wise, career is similar in some ways but slightly better. You follow a career path starting wherever you like and then get offers to move up, invitational events are now optional, you have to choose to do them. You basically gain a bit of rep with the team/manufacturer making the offer and increase your chances of a works drive being offered by doing well in them. you asked me what I think, and based on that list I think you'll like it, but don't hunt me down if you don't ok :) .

that's a good point. Do we have any idea what career progress there is in PC2? I think I remember hearing something about all cars and tracks being unlocked from the start, which (if that's the case) how does that assist with any progression?

I've been quite interested with this, more so after getting my Rift... But, generally quite like the career unlock system of Forza (seem to remember really enjoying F3 or 4, over the more recent ones), instead of just having everything in front of you from day1.

In custom race mode everything is unlocked and you can race anything so you can test freely pick up and play whatever you want to, in career it's very much dependent on your results and invitational performances...so depending on where you start out you will get offers to do other series...because there are lots of vehicle classes progression depends on what you choose to do next. I haven't got far through career mode in testing to flesh it out fully for you sorry. I started in Ginetta Juniors and got some invitationals from Ginetta then some Road and Historic invites which opened up different car/track/events for me to do. It's no cakewalk I'll tell you, I suppose if you turn the AI skill and aggression sliders right down it will get easier. I play on 100%skill (can increase to 110 or 120 can't remember off top of my head sry) and 50% aggression (0-100 range). You can do multiple careers as far as I know.
 
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Forgot to mention the Virtual Racing Licence, everyone starts with a U-Unclassified 1500 licence. If you race cleanly the U changes to an F-Fair. The points depend on your race performance, do well points increase, badly and they decrease. In theory this should help filter the crash kids and help you find clean online racing. Server hosts can set filters so that griefers with poor ratings can't access the race. I'm sure it will need some refinement but it's a good concept.
 
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It's cheap at cdkeys if you don't want a physical copy

Edit: Yeah Game version is limited edition and comes with steelbook and Japanese car pack...definitely a better deal than cdkeys...
 
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Gamermuscle and Jimmy Broadbent did a combined live stream last night and did some online racing...there was bit of reviewing amongst all the messing about
 
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I saw some of it. Seemed like the cars/ffb were a bit hit and miss.

The only one I saw them have any issue with was the IndyCar on the Ovals...made me laugh when Jimmy kept picking combos he already knew from previous videos and GM was just learning the tracks...GM seemed impressed on the whole, even though he admitted at one point that he is an AC fanboy lol...I didn't watch much of Jimmy's feed, I don't know why I find him so annoying, whether it's his voice or the fact he appears to wear an Alice Band in his hair all the time...I know this is irrational.

I really am starting to sound like my dad you know...
 
Soldato
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Jimmy 'my tongue is too big for my mouth' Broadbent :D

Going by the spreadsheet I posted in the other PC2 thread, where the guy rates the FFB on all the cars, it does seem that it's a bit pot luck.
Saying that, it's not like every official car in AC is perfect in that area.

Anyway, I guess I'll find out later.
 
Soldato
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It runs much better in VR than Pcars1.

Generally it's much better overall compared to Pcars1, which wouldn't be that hard really.

The 'world scale' option that's available when in-game should be in every sim that supports VR, and most non-sims too, to help with scaling issues.
 
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It runs very well for me. Not yet spent enough time with the racing itself (nor am I good enough at that really) to give a verdict on physics and car handling, AI do sometimes bump me off the track which is annoying. Definitely an improvement over PCars1.
 
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