Project Cars 2

Having some cracking races around Bathurst at 98% AI. I am running solid 2.07's but passing clean is very difficult!

I hope they have ironed out a lot of the bugs fro the first game in this, driving physics could be improved a bit too

Again my fear is they went too big. They SAY they spent a ton of work fixing the driving physics and the rammer issue in online play. But people push for more cars, more tracks, more rally etc.

TBH i'd just fix up the UI, which is a mess, the physics and the online play and am happy with cars and tracks, the game is so deep already. 

Well all the noise I have heard so far regading car physics/tyre models is positive, so I hope they are right.

Ice racing is something I don't really need, who knows maybe it will be fun. Rally X OK, should be good if done correctly. But as you say I would have been happy with a few more cars, tracks and improved physics (minus all bugs like sticky cars and invisible walls)

I don't have any bugs on PS4, but the UI and the settings saving menu are an absolute abortion. 

IGN gave it a 9.2/10, I don't always trust sites like this but it's looking good.

Edited by MikeV1987, 19 September 2017 - 21:28.

I am thinking this might actually be OK.

A keen detractor of WMD and PCARS1, from what I have seen from the press copies there are still a few issues with performance, but the VR looks very good.

In that version there was a huge dispensation between the feel of some cars over others, as if there were different QA teams working on different cars, an understandable issue that affects many racing games.

But I think the console market will clearly be happiest with the game, but also from what I have seen the PC version might be better, they need to be careful to make it not tooo simmy though as if you go to far it might alienate their core console customer market.

I still play the original game even though it has faults it is still fun and on xbox there isn't much to rival it.

I hope the tyre modelling has imporved and the few bugs that still plague pc1 have been removed.

Anyway, it is downloaded and ready to go on Friday!!!

Waiting quite excited to try this out. Review scores are quite high though I've heard about some funny bugs too (classic GP cars will pileup in Monaco start).

Talking about bugs, I've not got serious bugs in original Project Cars which developer wouldn't have fixed by time.

Occasional 3D collisions at various pitlanes and dry slicks working better on wet surface than wet tires with Lotus 98T comes to my minds.

The best way I can describe it is this/

I follow a quite funny guy on youtube who regularly uploads racing fail and win type vids.

And PCARS with sticky cars, cars floating, huge pileups, hitting imaginary walls in road appears regularly.

Most of the other stuff is things like The Crew, Forza Horizon, big games with landscapes that are not tested properly.

I think the bugs were left alone after a time, and that is poor, as they would be simply fixes, they just moved on.

Other games do not appear as much, and that says a lot to me.

I'm getting hyped, I pre-ordered this game since I will not be buying Forza 7. The GT3 class is sounding really good, it also happens to be my favorite in racing games. I'm expecting a ****-ton of bugs though.

The first game was a good base to work from even with all it's faults. They seemed to have properly grouped the race cars into their respective classes, it was a bit of a mess in the first game. Hopefully the frame rate drops are gone and the UI for setups is made better too.

Car list

Track list

Reviews

Edited by MikeV1987, 20 September 2017 - 16:06.

Other than a few minor gripes with graphics and bugs i'm loving it so far, the UI and the physics feel improved over the previous games in particular. Started with the Formula Rookie cars in career mode and they feel great with a wheel.

Graphics are good but not great, but I'm also on an old Xbox one. I'm sure the game looks and runs better on Playstation and PC.

One thing I love about Pcars is that they have a lot of tracks that I don't see in other console racers. Brno was among my favorite tracks in the first Pcars, now I tried Algarve for the first time and I absolutely love it. The in-game tuning tool is a really cool addition too. 

The last two Forza Motorsport games have been a let down for me and FM7 looks like more of the same except with a couple more gimmicks like "friction assist" that is blatantly OP off track and in wet conditions, and a loot system for driver apparel. This is the first FM game that I won't be buying, I was hoping for T10 to take FM down a more serious route but they seem more interested in making it more and more arcadey. I don't even know why they keep motorsport in the title anymore since the game is more about car culture and collecting cars, badges and now driver apparel while the actual motorsport side of it has been relatively the same for the past 10 years. Pcars just offers so much more, even Polyphony seen the error of their ways and are approaching GT in a different way.

Edited by MikeV1987, 22 September 2017 - 22:46.

Just did a near-full stint in the Indycar around Indianapolis. 24 laps of building up to speed. Such a satisfying sensation around lap 12-13 of the run when I was finally able to keep it pinned down all around the track. Basic setup, 218.553 mph fastest so far. Need to start playing with the gearing and the aero.

Gamebreaker bug: qualify on pole at Long Beach in the FFord/FRookie, 8-lap race, start from pole, get recorded instantly as nearly a full lap down to the guy who's actually in 2nd place... 

Gamebreaker bug: qualify on pole at Long Beach in the FFord/FRookie, 8-lap race, start from pole, get recorded instantly as nearly a full lap down to the guy who's actually in 2nd place... 

The same thing happened to me when I did my first FR race around Long Beach, led from pole and did two laps before I realized I was a lap down somehow. 

Edited by MikeV1987, 23 September 2017 - 16:07.

I'll try tomorrow morning to start a quick race in those cars in 2nd place and see whether the bug applies to the AI polesitter too. 

EDIT: At least running at Indy is starting to get satisfying, managed to simulate a quali run at 225.535 mph which would have put me 28th on the grid last year. 

After playing Forza 6 on the XB1 - I thought I'd try PC2 - in terms of graphics, it's a huge downgrade on that. That for me has kinda ruined the immersion - the physics are extremely strong - easier to react to progressive oversteer etc, but I can't get over how bad it looks compared to blasting around Monza on Forza 6. Not ecstatic, but I'm sure I'l get myself used to it. Good to see you can intimidate the AI - love that.

After playing Forza 6 on the XB1 - I thought I'd try PC2 - in terms of graphics, it's a huge downgrade on that. That for me has kinda ruined the immersion - the physics are extremely strong - easier to react to progressive oversteer etc, but I can't get over how bad it looks compared to blasting around Monza on Forza 6. Not ecstatic, but I'm sure I'l get myself used to it. Good to see you can intimidate the AI - love that.

To be honest messy, if you did not know PCARS was not going to feel that good, you could have easily done some research to find out.

It is always going to be a one size fits all type game. 

It tries to appeal to more than one market, but is really looking at consoles.

The thing I find staggering is the massive differences between the feel of cars I read about, some are top drawer, while others are pretty awful.

I have found this with some cars in AC too, more a default setup thing there though I think.

We already know 2 is a rehashed version of 1, so if you expected massive improvements in feel you knew it wasn't going to happen.  But I do think there seems to be an improvement. And things like VR are excellent on it, so you can see what market they are going for, people who played the old game but perhaps now have VR.  But even then, some of the VR stuff is hit and miss.

AI is still awful, and there are graphical issues as there always were.

But you take your pill.  What I find incredulous is that people would by the silly money versions WMD offered, proper fanboy stuff that was.

I think it was blind hope more than anything, that after ironing out the original they'd come up with something a lot better second time round. 

As a single player thing I think it's a bit of a step backwards in some ways. The AI is horribly badly tuned, whereas in the original, as I said, in some classes it was pretty good. I'm constantly running into the back of the AI in corners because they're so slow, but on the faster bits they just vanish. The Indycars seem particularly bad for this. Graphically it seems worse too. More pop up, more glitches, details taken out, less of a sheen - it looks quite rough in places. 

But it's going to be patched, hopefully. There is potential there, clearly. 

What a ****ing mess. Littered with bugs and serious, serious issues. Going to take months to sort this out, glad I decided to wait until Xmas. 

Just got this installed and having lot of fun. Setting heavy snow and then blizzard at Dubai and having 60'S Chevy Camaro without driving aids. Felt almost such fun than with real car.

Knackered due work so I will try this with wheel later.

On the forums i am seeing guys who were SERIOUSLY quick in PCARS1 complain that some cars are simply undriveable in a straight line. 

Said it before, the game is too big, too bold, tie down the loose ends. 

I have only driven two cars so far. Chevrolet Camaro 69' and Ford Mustang 66'. Tinkering with wheel setuos and trying oldskool tracks.

Taking old Spa with Camaro for 4 minutes and 14 seconds is cheering fun. Mustang took on same track 4 minutes 54 seconds.

I also tried quick race with same class and default difficulty (50%/50%?) at Imola with that same Camaro. I set fastest lap, but ****ed up second last corner on last lap of five from position 2 and rage quit.

Track limits are very tight and annoying. I'm considering to turn them off since even going over kerb seem to give penalty.

Not faced major bugs so far. When I went first time at old Hockenheim with Mustang and car didn't stop quite well with cold brakes on first chicane I smashed to barrier. Restarting event, got car fixed, but visual damage was still on (cracked windscreen and bent bonnet). I don't whine like Alfisti (sorry mate! ), so I keep clam and expect them to patch these quite soon.

So far I've happy I bought this. Lot of potential when they fine tune bugs off. As own rating: 9/10

General opinion seems to be it has way, way too many bugs and feels like a beta release, BUT the tyre model is massively impressive and once dialed in and if in a bug free event, the feel is sublime. 

I've been driving Project Cars 2 now for about a week.  Mostly GT3s, Group C and the Caterham.  Now I also own Assetto Corsa, rFactor 1 and 2 and iRacing and I have some track driving experience.  In all honesty Project Cars 2 is now my simulator of choice.

The FFB effects, physics, weather system and presentation the best of the lot IMHO.  AI is still weak though and pit strategies are clumsy.  The multiplayer code seems also well optimised.

Highly recommended.

Edited by karlth, 30 September 2017 - 22:56.

What machine are you playing on, that might make things easier to quantify.

If you are playing on PC I find it hard to understand!!!

I have only played a bit of multiplayer but it has not been a fun experience. Today I joined a race, did practice and Q with just the odd frame rate stutter here and there. Started the formation lap, I slow down for the cars ahead coming out of t1 at Watkins Glen and the guy behind crashes into the back of me and somehow I got a penalty for it.

Later on in the race i'm doing ok on the final few laps, i'm coming out of the exit of a corner on the left side of the track and suddenly the game completely freezes up for a second or so and then I suddenly find myself touching the grass on the right side of the track which instantly spins me out to last place. Turned off the xbox after that one. 

The thing is, this game is basically a patch of the last one in  giant scale, most modern games are really.

I have not seen much mention od huge bugs, but I do believe they made a real effort on the PC version to iron them out, and as usual probably the console versions are perhaps more buggy.

Strange as you would think writing a game for basically two consoles that are very similar and should have a fixed base to write for, should be easy...  You would think,

The words rush and deadline springs to mind

This game is brilliant when it works, which unfortunately if you want to play online on Xbox at the moment isn't very often. The handling/physcis are miles better than the first game, really are everything I had hoped for after 2 years playing PC1, and the track/car roster is massive. So hats off there. But until the Xbox/PS4 patch comes out it really is a lottery playing online. I spend more time some evenings trying to get into an online race than actually racing! Then having spent a good chunk of time building up my licence through winning and clean driving, to then be disconeected or punted off and losing all of those points and more is really frustrating.

So I resorted to private testing and setup work. But when the game doesn't always save your setups (another bug) there really isn't any point.

So ATM whilst the game has the potential to be brilliant, the bugs it currently has leave it being a bit of a lottery (on Xbox at least).

I bought F1 2017 to tied me over until this magic patch comes out, but after playing PC2 being limited to F1 really does show up here. If they could take the presentation/design of F1 2017 and merge it with PC2 we really would have a game on our hands! Some of the menu design etc. on PC2 has me pulling my hair out, it's awful.

Patch 2.0 is out on PS4 and PC, it will be on Xbox any time now. They are waiting on MS.

• Improved driving line assist.
• Various AI behavioural and race line improvements. 
• Multiple improvements and enhancements to multiplayer, and lobby handling.
• Improvements and enhancements to audio and sound effects.
• Improvements and enhancements to replays and replay cameras.
• USB keyboard support improved.
• Improvements, enhancements and fixes to Career flow.
• Enhancements to various cars’ handling and standard setup improvements.
• Tweaks and fixes to Achievement / Trophy unlock logic.
• Tweaks and fixes to setup UI and flow.
• Improved default assists for gamepad users.
• Fixes and improvements to headlights and brake lights.
• Fixes and improvements to ICM appearance and functionality.
• Improvements and enhancements to steering wheel support.
• Fixes and improvements to certain weather / tyre combinations.
• Optimisations to tracks across the game.
• Myriad render and performance tweaks and improvements.

Xbox patch still not out

Yeah I don't know what's taking so long, I'm not touching this game until it's out.

what a fcking mess. I called it, said they were too ambitious. 

We are waiting for Microsoft to apporve the patch, I hope it gets done today

So what are the FWD cars like? I only really used PCARS1 to get used to various tracks but I gave up as the FWD model was so appallingly bad and went back to RFactor. I've driven literally thousands of laps around Brands Indy in all sorts of FWD machinery and I've never felt a car handle so badly under trail braking.

All cars depend on what setup you have (obviously!) in PC2. What I am trying to say is, don't think you can take the default setup and it will handle as you expect, as some of the default setups are so monumentally bad it defies belief. However when you tune them they tend to be a good representatin (from my limited knowledge of it all). FWD i haven't really tried I must be honest, but what I have done seems OK.

The only FWD i've used in this series is the Clio Cup in Pcars 1, it was horrendous with it's default setup but a few tweaks to the diff and the rear tire pressure and the car became much easier to use. It's probably the same for this game.

Edited by MikeV1987, 13 October 2017 - 17:30.

Long Beach gamebreaking bug seems to be fixed, but I found another issue with the Falcon V8SC, even at 100% radiator opening the engine overheats at Bathurst within 5-6 laps; at default opening (75%) it blows up by the Cutting on the first flying lap...

So.. i bought into the hype and went on steam to get hold of Project Cars 2...

Did not buy the delux version though, but i guess i will hold on for future sales (steam christmas sale too soon?) to get the DLCs at a later stage if i really like this game/sim....

First thing i did was to browse the car list, and found the Ferrari 288GTO... love those "old" Ferraris, so i tried to pick a short track i know, to get some feel for the car. Then i went to options to set up the wheel and turn off all the "driving aids".

The first few laps i found that the car was swapping ends on me whenever i was near the brake pedal, so went into the settings and moved the brake balance a bit... still a bit tailhappy if you brake late, but far less sensitive at least. The car was pretty oldschool and fun to drive... 

Still a bit early to say much about the game though, but first impressions with the Ferrari 288gto is that is much more engaging to drive than the GTO in Assetto Corsa. From the 1 car sample i've had yet i must say it felt pretty good to drive (force feedback seemed to be quite good, and the respons of the car felt predictable... and i still crashed out a lot   ). The sounds are pretty ok and the GFX are more than nice enough for me (i prefer the clean gfx style of iRacing, and this is a bit similar but with a bit more bells and whistles), but i do need to find the setting for the motion blur.

Anyways, for some bad driving around the Red Bull Ring look no furter : 

When watching the shadowplay recording i see that i should find the setting for the "motion blur" and remove/reduce it as it looks a bit strange (at least i don't really like that "effect") 

Edited by mahelgel, 15 October 2017 - 17:58.

I challenge anyone to drive the 962c through the first chicanes at Imola using VR and a tuned FFB, look right at the airduct in the sidewindow and see the first sprinkles of rain and not say this is the most immersive simulator to date.

I have driven every single simulator on the PC from the ancient Indy 500 to Project Cars 2 and nothing comes close to this.