Project CARS

[shaithis]

Anyone else picked this up yet?

I was on the verge of thinking it would be another Duke Nukem after all the delays but it is finally out and I am quite taken by it.

Graphics are really nice, the game has solo, career and online, the career mode is quite reminiscent of Gran Turismos with the FIFA manager style events calendar.

I only had an hour or so on it but managed a few cart races to start my career and then took an M3 GT out for a spin around Silverstone. Both vehicles felt pretty much the same as they did on Gran Turismo through my G25.

[kalniel]

Haven't played the release version, but played a late dev version and was not impressed by the controller handling, it really needs the finesse of a wheel.

I'm hopeful things will improve, but also be wary of user reviewers from backers who stand to gain financially from sales - I believe there is some legislation (or at least terms of use on most retailers) that means such should be declared, but no-one is bothering.

I think it's likely to hit its brief of being another PC hardcore racing sim like assetto corsa and so on. I'm still looking for a Forza/GT game on PC though.

[shaithis]

As a wheel user, I found assetto corsa to be dire. I never felt like I was driving, the feedback was poor and handling was poor. I kept going back to GT6 and those dated PS3 graphics just to get a driving fix that felt right.

So far PC has oozed GT but that may be a symptom of input device, I haven't played it (nor am I likely to) on a gamepad or kb/mouse.

[kalniel]

So far PC has oozed GT but that may be a symptom of input device, I haven't played it (nor am I likely to) on a gamepad or kb/mouse.

I'm more thinking in terms of gameplay - PCars is a typical PC sim - a smattering of career progression ala the GRID games, but there's no upgrading car components etc. like GT/Forza (or SMS's previous Shift games). There's pros and cons of each approach, I just have plenty of the pure racer type games and not enough of the car upgrading types.

[Hicks12]

Mine arrived in the post today, got demonstration to do shortly but after I will be playing it .

I played part of the dev release with the oculus rift and it was intense so I am hoping I can get my DK2 all hooked up to it

[jimborae]

Awaiting for it to arrive, this is the first physical PC game I've bought in years (steam mostly these days) so pretty excited and will be dusting off my G25 in preparation.

[Andy3536]

It's a good game, but you'd defenatly need a wheel.
I signed up to this a few years ago, but struggled playing early versions due to crashing and freezing. It was only really about 6 weeks ago i started playing after leaving it so long.
It's been good fun but there's a couple of gripes i have. The AI isn't as good as it should be. Often driving like your not there. I'm finding myself getting punted in the rear quarter alot. But if they are behind you, or another car, they're very timid about making a pass. This is bourne out in my endurance race i did in P2 class. The P1 cars disapeared into the distance and out of sight. A few laps later i caught them up, and passed them while they were tring to negotiate the GT cars.
I'm struggling with the difficulty too, there's a percentage multiplier for the AI. I'm constanly fiddling with it to try and get it right. Then you try a different car and the talent files seem quite different for each model and i have to fiddle again, and again, and again. (this might be me???? )
Other than that, this game is pretty good.
The amount of cars, championships and visuals should mean most racing fans have good fun with it. It just might not be plug and play.

[shaithis]

Just finished my second season, not a single (game!) crash yet and the only bugs I have seen have been purely cosmetic (getting messages about a 3-win streak after 2 wins).....I have also found a car that I believe hasn't been finished (was a Ford Focus in a special invite even. It had no force feedback and took almost a full turn of the wheel to get it to steer at all....almost un-drivable with the wheel )

The lack of upgrades is slightly annoying and the choice of cars isn't as great as I was expecting but neither really distracts from how good a racer this is.

[jimborae]

Just installing it now on my PC & will dig out my wheel tonight.

[jimborae]

Well it looks like I'm a bit screwed as I'm using an AMD card and apparently the drivers are not optimised at all for this game.

[jimborae]

Ha ha so just dusted off the old G25 and hooked it up. Done a few practice laps in various cars and so far I think it's really good been practising with 250 carts which are a real hoot and the Caterham Super Light. So far so good!