OFFICIAL Project CARS (Discussion)

[erixx]

Got my Fanatec wheel today. Cars, Assetto, Dirt, all are totally diferent and better now! Except Project Cars, that has a perfect setup customization, all the other needed that little "x360ce" xbox controller emulator to let my use the paddels as gas and brakes. (Not sure if I want/need true pedals)

 

[Delta6326]

From the WMD forums from people testing. We have a thread with nearly 1400 posts from way back complaining about AMD cards, multiple times requesting them to do something, clearly AMD did not care.
With 2x AMD 7970, i5 4670K
Win8 AVG number=74 Win8 w/win10 drvs= high 90s
Win10/win10 drv= 102~ish
Optimization from the WMD crew. As you can tell they have done as much as they can, it's all up to AMD.

 

[MxPhenom 216]

I backed this game years ago, glad to see it finally released. I have gone back over to space sims from racing sims. I have an XBox 360 controller..I too read that many feel this requires a wheel and pedals....good to see that some users like Frag are proving this isn't the case. I don't expect to go beyond Novice-level status yet anyways. Can't wait to fire this one up.

it doesn't require a wheel and pedals, its not all that realistic. Its just pretty.

 

[Frag_Maniac]

^I forgot to say too that the only adjustments I've made are turning general steering and speed sensitivity up and down per car type, which has to be done more often if you do all the random race challenge offers that pop up. The challenges are mostly disciplines other than the one you're engaged in, which from a career standpoint doesn't make much sense, but mixes up the gameplay and gives you a chance to see how other car types handle.

That said, there's been a few times where I was tempted to adjust the throttle sensitivity, since KBs can't feather the gas, but I resolved to focusing more on how I made my turns and where I applied gas, which was sufficient.

Right now I'm racing the rookie open wheel class, which so far is the easiest to handle. I still find it strange you actually have to fill out the personal profile info each time you start a new car class though. Seems there should just be an option to use the same info you have on other classes if they're going to require such a thing. Otherwise it's unnecessary tedium.

 

[erixx]

http://en.pcars.shoutwiki.com/wiki/Physics

quite an interesting reading...

BTW; I am blowing up many engines in last lap, anybody else? Must be autotransmission (keeps engine rev'ed up most of the time, but is racing after all and not endurance!)

 

[MxPhenom 216]

http://en.pcars.shoutwiki.com/wiki/Physics

quite an interesting reading...

BTW; I am blowing up many engines in last lap, anybody else? Must be autotransmission (keeps engine rev'ed up most of the time, but is racing after all and not endurance!)

why are you using auto transmission?

 

[erixx]

Same reason I like to snipe in BF: so I can drink beer with my other hand

Seriously, I like to play without getting stressed, and I am already buzy keeping my racing lines, maybe some day I will try it. I know I am losing MP races because of this, but i don't bother. The experience, like BF4 in its day, is just impressive and huge without stats and bs.

 

[MxPhenom 216]

The one thing that this game really fudged up, is not multi screen support. The should have been one of the first thing on the list during the initial stages.

 

[Frag_Maniac]

Another oddity, perhaps someone can explain, is the campaign starts out with a straightforward practice, qualify and race structure, leading you to believe you will always be able to earn your grid spot. You race the first race, then a rolling start for the second event, which can involve best lap time.

Your rolling start on the second event will generally be the same starting position you qualified for on the first event. A little ways into the campaign though, they'll start putting you in a last place starting position on your second event, even if you won pole position in qualifying and won the first race easily.

So needless to say, anything you measure yourself by initially, and plan to increase AI settings because of, are almost all for naught if they're only going to punish you for it by starting you at the back of the pack for no apparent reason. I know a lot of race games do this, but being more SIM-like, I didn't expect it from this one.

I had a LOT of frustration last night getting ahead of myself on a challenge offer racing the classic '72 Escort at Oulton Park. I got a bit impatient in qualifying and settled for a time I thought might at least get me mid grid placement. Instead I had to start from the back of the pack, because apparently once the AI tires and brakes warmed up, they put in better lap times than my then 7th place.

What ensued was a lot of annoying times with their over exaggeration of the Escort's handling, from everything to extreme brake distance, to severe understeer (even at max sensitivity), to snail paced acceleration. Worse yet the track is narrow and the AI tend to attack like it's a demolition derby if you make slight contact or swerve them off their line with no contact.

Let me clarify further on contact. I don't mind (and can manage even on KB) being patient to pick my gaps and brake plenty to wait for openings, but when you patiently do that, then see lots of AI in front of you swerving back and forth as you're trying to get around them, it starts getting silly, esp on a narrow track. This is another thing I didn't expect from a SIM-like game, AI apparently swerving in front of you to keep you from passing.

I finally won the event, but it was very stressful. It left me feeling that the campaign mode isn't very consistent in difficulty, or SIM-like in AI. Granted the game has great graphics and physics, but at times some of it's gameplay in the solo campaign feels no better than the average CodeMasters arcade game.

 

[WhiteNoise]

Fired this up last night. Pretty good graphics but ultimately doesn't touch GTR for realism. Doubt I will play this much.

 

[HD64G]

Fired this up last night. Pretty good graphics but ultimately doesn't touch GTR for realism. Doubt I will play this much.

When you mean GTR, I suppose you mean GTR2? I say this because GTR is rather primitive and not progressive in handling (had many sim substance in it though), but 2 is a great sim imo.

 

[Delta6326]

Well tried downloading 5 times at home keeps restating, took a old laptop with xp to my grandma's sadly she has faster internet than I do... I was dl'ing at home 128k at hers 1.7m much better. Installing it to my 2tb external HD so hopefully this works. From 36 hours to 2h30m...

 

[Frag_Maniac]

Really enjoying the game more now, but having some issues (read below). The GT5 and GT4 class are much more fun than I thought they'd be. Really love railing the Mustang around corners at tracks like the Dubai Autodrome. I'm really surprised at how easily it handles on KB. I seem to recall Shift 2 Unleashed's first GT class races by comparison were fairly hard to control on KB.

The Mustang was so surprisingly well mannered I actually decided to race it in cockpit view, something I rarely do on KB, and I never even adjusted any tuning. In fact the steering sensitivity is actually at 100 and 75 for steering and speed sensitivity, vs the default 50 steering and I think 30 or so for speed.

I'd thought I left it at 75 steering, but just checked and it's at 100. The result was I won by a far larger margin than usual. I'm on Novice for my first play through just to get used to the tracks and cars, but instead of my normal 5-15 second win, I won by over 40 seconds.

This had me so pumped I decided to finally do a practice lap at the 13 mile Nordschleife track, and I stayed in cockpit view. All was going pretty well, save for pushing one turn too hard and spinning out, but I finished the lap. So I go to watch the replay, and was really enjoying it. Nords replays look SO much better. Not just the natural scenery, but the fact that they mix it up between exterior view and in car views. It makes the track repays I've been seeing look plain.

This is where the problems began. At one point in the replay it just froze. I thought maybe it needed to buffer, so I waited a while. I could rewind it a bit and start it again, but it would always freeze at that spot. So I exited game and did some Googling. Turns out some have had the game freeze even while in races. Apparently it starts happening later in the campaign, maybe only on certain tracks, I don't know.

The interesting thing though is people have said the debug file says something about "replay out of memory". There have been a few suggestions like checking file cache and setting frames rendered ahead to 1 vs 2 or more, but some have said the problem lingers no matter what.

I'm also wondering if it's causing another intermitent problem I've been having in general lately regarding my mouse cursor. Every now and then the cursor will get stuck, then after a few seconds I hear a Windows error sound and it goes away. At first I thought it was a pack of several Windows updates I'd installed, but then I realized, Project CARS is the only game I started playing lately that has issues with the cursor often showing on screen.

I will see the mouse pointer show up during replays or the game menu, and yesterday I noticed the more I try to push it off the screen, the more likely that freeze and error sound will happen. This has been happening on and off elsewhere when I'm not playing Project CARS though too. It can happen sometimes in other games, or on the desktop or net.

Does anyone have any idea what is causing this and what can be done about it?

 

[WhiteNoise]

When you mean GTR, I suppose you mean GTR2? I say this because GTR is rather primitive and not progressive in handling (had many sim substance in it though), but 2 is a great sim imo.

Yes GTR 2

Years later I still find this to be one of the best race sims on the market.

 

[jboydgolfer]

it doesn't require a wheel and pedals, its not all that realistic. Its just pretty.

I also was let down by the "realism", I've been anticipating pc ' s for years,and IMO,it's a pretty game....which was hyped as realism partly by myself TO myself (admitedly),and by others on the web. Good game, but not great...the wait begins again.

 

[MxPhenom 216]

I also was let down by the "realism", I've been anticipating pc ' s for years,and IMO,it's a pretty game....which was hyped as realism partly by myself TO myself (admitedly),and by others on the web. Good game, but not great...the wait begins again.

Also the sound is done 100% Dolby. No actual real car sounds, which there should be for a game like this. Also in the rain, the edges of the corners of the track and on the outside of the exits, are painted, so there's no traction, but in this game you can do it no problem.

 

[1Kurgan1]

 

[erixx]

just did that track, nice bottelneck.

 

[newconroer]

I always know it's not a true simulator when developers put in the idiotic chase cam.



In regards to the vehicle lineup, there are some gems in there, and it's not as awfully boring as Assetto Corsas obvious Lotus sponsorship. However I am disappointed.
There's just so many cars I expected to see and yet they are absent. Is this some licensing issue?

Why do I have to keep going back to Shift 2 with UCP in order to get a nice variety of vehicles in a game?

Also the sound is done 100% Dolby. No actual real car sounds, which there should be for a game like this.

They also missed out on a key feature that was requested years ago, which was to give the option of positional audio. For instance, when you're in the cockpit the exhuast note is muffled. In order to hear it's natural sound acoustics you have to use an out of car camera view.
The idea was to let you set it so that you could pick which sound to go with which camera. E.g. external 'chase' cam sound, for when in the cockpit view.

Also in the rain, the edges of the corners of the track and on the outside of the exits, are painted, so there's no traction, but in this game you can do it no problem

True, though the AI has been nice to me so far. One thing that kills simulators is poor AI. When you're unable to have confidence in the drivers around you, it totally changes how you drive. You brake late to avoid being rearended. You take lines wide to avoid being spun out from behind. You brake early when following cars because AI vehicles suddenly stop at random times.

It just makes it very frustrating and a chore to play the games.


Why can't we get a game that mixes all of the legends ?

Geoff Crammond's Grand Prix IV
IndyCar 2
Shift 2 with UCP
Race 2007/Race On
GTR 2

Or why can't we get a consumer version of whatever simulator the Formula 1 drivers are using. It must be pretty good - otherwise why would they even bother?



There are some sparkling moments though, like a full grid in Spain GP, with Formula A cars, It's something straight out of the 2000s Schumacher era. The helmet cam view is impressive with the look to apex matching the head len perfectly. And the added noise insulation is actually welcome because of how sickly loud the cars are. The car also feels great too - especially with the modified force feedback file that's floating around.

Now if only the G27 braking system wasn't so crap..

 

[Delta6326]

17% increase downloading now.

http://support.amd.com/en-us/kb-articles/Pages/latest-catalyst-windows-beta.aspx#

 

[Delta6326]

Ok here it goes,
Old Drivers: 14.12 AMD Catalyst Omega Software
New Drivers: 15.5 AMD Catalyst Beta Drivers

Settings as follows
Event: Road America
Laps: 2
AI: 23
Grid Start: 15
Weather: Light Clouds
Time: 10:00, No Progression
Car: BMW Z4 GT3 #19
View: Cockpit Full HUD




<------ System Spec's

Spoiler: Event Setup

Event Setup

Weather

Race Info

Spoiler: Visual Setup

Visuals P1 Will be same across settings.

Visuals P2 Low

Visuals P2 Medium

Visuals P2 High

visuals P2 Ultra

Results:
Low
Old
LAG spike in Corner 2

New -5.1% Worse
Really choppy frametime

Medium
Old

New +37.7% Better
Feels much smoother

High
Old

New +11.5% Better
Felt smooth, smoother frametime graph

Ultra
Old Unplayable

New +466.6% Better
PLAYABLE! was able to put a lap time only 2sec. slower than the other settings.

Low just was never really smooth and Medium always best.
I plan on running Medium Settings and changing Shadows to Low.
Hope this was a helpful quick comparison.

 

[Frag_Maniac]

Good for P CARS, but I have to wonder what would happen playing other games on 15.5.

 

[erixx]

I really hope you AMD guys get the issues fixed soon. Last night I played PCARS multiplayer with 30 others on Le Mans long circuit, and it was a blast, i nearly ripped my wheel, chair and table apart hahaha, tremendous!

 

[newconroer]

Ok I take back what I said about the AI being good.
Why is it that developers keep putting out racing games where the AI does the opposite of what a human would do. They brake way early in areas where it's not needed and then hold speed through areas/corners where it would be impossible to do so. It completely throws your driving out of whack to the point where you start to make mistakes trying to compensate for the other cars.

15.4 didn't help performance much. As soon as other cars are in the mix, or you're near the pits, the frames take a dive.

 

[Frag_Maniac]

Ok I take back what I said about the AI being good.
Why is it that developers keep putting out racing games where the AI does the opposite of what a human would do. They brake way early in areas where it's not needed and then hold speed through areas/corners where it would be impossible to do so. It completely throws your driving out of whack to the point where you start to make mistakes trying to compensate for the other cars.

15.4 didn't help performance much. As soon as other cars are in the mix, or you're near the pits, the frames take a dive.

Yeah I noticed the AI are not exactly SIM-like in this game. I was wondering if the AI are just worse on the Novice setting I'm using though, which defaults to 30% AI level. What % is your AI set to? Besides braking way too soon on tighter turns, I can usually hold a gradual turn faster than they can, even with sloppy steering on a keyboard. There are places like you said though where they seem to rail and get grip, while your car slips at the same speed.

Other AI quirks I find annoying is they'll radically swerve back and forth in front of you. At first I thought it was just pass blocking, but they'll also do it when you're quite a ways back. They typically do it when a pack of cars in front of them is slowing for a turn. It's like the AI behind can't calculate where to position themsleves to try and pass, so they'll momentarily get stuck in a swerving back and forth state.

They'll also get too aggressive just for making a close pass without even contacting them. It's as if they ammassed all the personalities of banned racers to pattern this AI.

I take it you meant 15.5 instead of 15.4 though, since it's the only beta actually MADE for P CARS (and TW3)? I've yet to try 15.5, but with only 2-3 FPS increase reported for TW3 on a 7970, I'm not too inclined to try it. I get fairly good performance in P CARS on 14.12, and I don't want to risk other games having issues like bad flicker, since I'm playing The Evil Within as well currently, which is not exactly the most stable game.