A New Dawn With ProjectCARS

by **IFCA Eries** Wed Oct 08, 2014 2:35 am

Project CARS is here, finally. You’ve all read about it and seen the many reviews I’ve posted from other sites by now so I don’t really have to go into all the well worn details of how the career mode works. Instead I want to get at the meat of the subject first. You know, the parts of the game that YOU the fan wants to get a feel for and grasp.

This is the first game where I think reviewing the reviewers is as important as reviewing the game itself. It’s quite obvious and even funny how most reviewers don’t get it. They don’t get the point that what they think is a more orthodox challenging racing game, is actually very distant from a modern racing simulator. Even Project CARS is not the pinnacle of racing sims understand, but is in fact above the level of a Forza or a Gran Turismo. That’s right, I said it, PCARS is better than Forza or Gran Turismo. Political Correctness won’t permit any of the other reviewers to come right out and say it, but I just did.

Many reviewers have also asked the wrong questions too, like, “where’s the broad mass appeal for this game?” This says a lot about their understanding, or misunderstanding of the genre and what the emphasis of PCARS is.

In a sense Project CARS is a revolt against mass appeal and broad attraction. It rebels against the mediocre moderates who love to be all things to all people. Project CARS is about one thing and one thing only, simulation racing, and all that it entails.

Like any innovator before it, whether in the virtual world (Gran Turismo 1 and FM1) or the real world (Tom Hoover’s 426 Hemi or Carol Shelby) PCARS has turned the sim racing genre on its roof by not complying with the broad masses and corporate politics, but by re-writing the book on what makes racing so dog gone fun in the first place.

As stated by Slightly Mad Studios many times, this is a sim for the racing fans, by the racing fans. It is a risky experiment with WMD, and if it goes well, will be a major trend going into the future for all video gaming entertainment as a new legend is born.

What makes PCARS so different right from the get go, is how it was heavily influenced by thousands of simulation racing fans who wanted something more than what they were getting with the same old console car games. They saw that the art of racing was no longer the priority, and how corporate dollars mandated a less intelligent broader appeal approach to their franchise racing games. Gradually over time fans saw their favorite car games drift away from the art and excitement of racing, and merge into other areas like, car soccer, painting, auctioning, photography, drifting, you name it, just about everything and anything apart from improved racing features. It was as though the suits in the corporate board rooms were either so unaware or disenchanted with racing, that they didn’t think there was anything left to add to what they already offered.

Of course if you have been around as long as I have, you probably know better. You probably know that for years the sim-racing community has been begging and screaming for a better suite of racing options to enhance the experience of what it is like to race. But with each new version, it was obvious no one in the console world was listening.

Corporate has its bottom line, and it’s built on dollars. And the creative dictator, uh, I mean director, has his own personal vision of what he thinks the game should be like too. So you have these two interested parties doing this dance that leaves out the fan, and the result is always less than what the people really want. Not that the effort and expertise isn’t good, or there, it certainly is, and they have strong sales to show for it. It’s just that through all that political two stepping, something gets lost in the negotiation. A little something that was the original reason for such a game in the first place, something called, ‘competitive racing.’ Duuuuh!

Enter Project CARS. It is a sim racing game that attempts to plug all the holes the others refuse to see, and it does a very good job of it. SMS (Slightly Mad Studios) saw that a great disservice was being managed by other racing simulators effectively insulting the intelligence of the sport of automotive racing and their wildly devoted fans. PCARS took on the challenge of introducing console gamers to if not the reality of racing, at least a good dose of what it is like. It is complex, fairly difficult to master, and very fun to try. The nuances of race craft have all been addressed in PCARS, and yet there is room for deeper improvements still.

What’s fascinating about PCARS is the way it has taken the best of both worlds and somehow merged them together to give the user a truly new and unique experience that defies repetitive boredom, and amps up the competitive juices.

With all the other racing games the emphasis is mostly on ease of playability, social inclusion, no winners or losers, limited control over the types of races, and a more user friendly non-competitive arcade-like experience. Not so with PCARS. It is the ‘in your face’ reverse mirror image of its competitors, leaning the opposite way towards a deeper and richer competitive environment. PCARS has at first glance the look of its shiny competitors on the surface, but that all changes once you get behind the wheel.

There is a natural-ness in the way the physics work for example, and yet, as soon as you start to push things, you realize that PCARS is going to challenge your skills in a big way. Throttle control is a very real necessity with real cars, and PCARS too. You begin to appreciate the difference between slamming the throttle down anywhere you like, and being forced to control your car with more judicious inputs.

Although not nearly the demanding drive that iRacing can be, PCARS does capture some of the same feeling that this simulation is for a more serious audience. With graphics as good or better than any, and physics that are not too punishing, PCARS has struck an amazing balance between boring arcade racers, and painfully lifeless simulators.

The tracks themselves are numerous, and highly detailed. With the weather system and day night cycle, a single track can take on a different look each and every time you arrive there. The layout of the tracks gives you the impression of a much larger world than you are used to. The tracks have a longer perspective to them, and sometimes a narrower view. This makes room on the track at a premium for passing, but still gives you the sense you are on a full size track at the same time.

Most noticeable, for I think the first time in any racing simulation ever, is the massive sense of elevation changes, something that has always been lacking in simulation racing. Kudos to Slightly Mad Studios for getting this more right than anyone! The result is a car that is highly affected by gravity, forcing it to literally come to grips with weight transfer loads that are very dynamic. It may be this one element alone that sets PCARS truly apart, because it is exactly the same with a real car on an undulating track. Going into a downhill braking zone, the car wants to squirm away ever so slightly. Hit a small rise on the track during braking, and the tires lose grip and instantly lock up. All of this up and down weight shifting means that you have to set the car up more into a turn or over an off camber hill with a healthy dose of respect. The suspension is getting a maximum work out, and there is only so much compression and rebound damping to cope with it. Over tax it, and you will be off the track wondering what just happened.

Like in a real car the demand of PCARS is the classic brake early, go in slow, and come out fast method. Anything else is just out of control trouble. The interaction and contact with other cars isn’t overly sensitive, meaning that you can bang a little bit before eating the weeds, making the racing close and exciting. There is no time penalty for cutting the track or putting wheels off the track, but there are warnings and black flags if you are caught. It’s this sort of “let’em race” attitude coupled to true racing rules that sucks you into the sensation that you are in an immersive racing situation with PCARS.

The car list in PCARS is rather modest and small by Forza and Gran Turismo standards, and even eccentric to a degree. This is a British simulation understand, and as such the cars tend to be those familiar to the Brits, just as Gran Turismo is a Japanese simulation and favors Japanese cars. But each car is massively different one to another, and in particular the sounds they make. The engine sounds and tire sounds are perhaps the best in the industry which is saying a lot. Both iRacing and Forza do the audio as well as any, but PCARS is a few exhaust notes ahead of them. The visceral vibration of the high quality sound PCARS makes is worth the purchase of the game alone, it’s that good.

With Forza and Gran Turismo you have hundreds of cars but only a relatively few places to race them by comparison to PCARS. PCARS has followed the iRacing model in this regard placing the emphasis on track locations or places to race rather than a huge car roster. What this does is multiply the number of car to track combinations and reduces being stuck at the same tracks all the time. It’s great to have gobs of cars, but only if you have places to race them with.

Like the cars, PCARS has picked a mostly Euro-centric track selection, no different to iRacing which has nearly every American track including every NASCAR oval. This means there are a lot of tracks people here in the States have never heard of let alone raced on. Because of this, many of the tracks are entirely new and fun to learn from an American viewpoint. The fact that all of the tracks and cars are immediately unlocked and free to sample makes good sense too.

In terms of direct comparisons to its rivals such as Forza and Gran Turismo, Project CARS has atmosphere and an ambiance the others don’t have as much of. Using Spa as the track and the Audi R18 as the test bed, the Forza version was much easier to drive, and had a somewhat artificially faster velocity on track than the PCARS version. Both cars sounded good, but the PCARS version had more sounds emanating from the car like brake squeal, and body bits brushing the tarmac. But more than this, even though it felt slower, the PCARS R18 was far more active and difficult to drive requiring a more realistic understanding of real-life physical limits. The Forza R18 was in fact too easy to drive and though initially satisfying, became almost boring very quickly. Not so with the PCARS Audi. It is a much tougher nut to crack and always tempted you to turn just one more lap in it.

Though not quite as difficult as an iRacing car to drive, the PCARS cars are closer to iRacing performance than Forza or Gran Turismo. But again, when it comes to atmosphere PCARS wins hands down. There is a rich blend of special effects that is on a new level. Project CARS draws you in to this other world like no other simulation. And though it may be true that iRacing has more accurate tracks, they seem not to capture the feeling or mood of those tracks like PCARS does.

With the coming patches and DLC you can expect PCARS to smooth out the bugs and improve the already excellent experience in the weeks to come. But don’t expect an auction house, a paint booth, or car soccer. Instead, expect to become a better racer as you experience authentic racing culture at the granular level. Project CARS Welcomes you to the new era in console simulation racing. Gentlemen, start your engines!

AAR GTDon

by **IFCA Eries** Wed Oct 08, 2014 2:45 am

SirKane2 wrote:Thanks Don. Keep us posted please. I probably wont be able to get the Xbox1/Pcars till Jan or Feb.

AAR GTDon wrote:Will do SirKane, I too haven't ordered anything just yet as I see the wheel prices have dropped a little, but soon, very soon. I pre-ordered PCARS to get the bonus cars though.

After my declaration to move the IFCA to PCARS, I was informed by an insider at T10 to expect a firm response. It seems T10 is well aware of more things happening in the sim-racing community than they used to be, and have more staffers to go around and talk to people. Not an unwise strategy I have to admit. I will let you guys know what they said to me soon too.

AAR GTDon wrote:I was contacted by someone at T10 off the record, and they started out by wanting to hear more about my concerns, and the concerns of the IFCA racing community for how to make Forza better. But as I began to explain I got the sense that they were not listening to change the game, but to change me!

They seemed very reasonable in rebutting my objections, and wanted me to understand why they didn’t do this or that to the game. They really didn’t like my narrative and characterizations about Forza, its history, or director Dan Greenawalt, and thought it mostly unfair and inaccurate.

I told them that they had some good points, but the fact that they are doing more to reach out to the racing community now than in the past, proves my point that racing was never a priority to them in the past. I told them that we welcome this new interest in what the racing community wants, but that their less than honest dealings and reveals in the past has soured the taste for Forza, and that it will take more than lip service to turn things around.

T10 will have to win us back with deeds, like when they fixed the body damage in pit stops in FM5. It was a simple fix, but one that was asked for years prior to FM5. It’s this kind of lazy and inattentive response to the racing community that earns them the lack of respect they say they should already have from us.

So do I see a renewed effort to cater to racers? Yes, but I wouldn’t refer to it as a “renewed effort” since no effort was really made in the first place in my opinion.

Do I appreciate the outreach? Sure. It’s a good move in the right direction.

Do I think it’s sincere and not just PR? Not at this time. All you have to do is watch the many interviews of Dan Greenawalt on the Net and you can see racing and racer issues are not a concern to him even now.

Dan confesses that he makes no distinction between those who prefer a more arcade game to those who prefer a more simulation game, because he says Forza is able to do both at the same time. To him there is no rational or relevant difference as far as Forza is concerned because it can be both he says. But you and I know this is not reality. If it were, then this discussion or debate would not exist. There is a difference from the hardcore sim-racer point of view, and just because you say there isn’t, doesn’t make it so.

FM5 does not come close to iRacing in terms of race craft and race culture. It’s not that we have ever asked for Forza to be the console version of an iRacing, we only wanted to have some of the basics in place that make racing, racing.

They seem to know that “car culture” is not enough by itself to build the game into the future. They know other sims like iRacing are strong and growing without any mention of, “car culture.” They see that other games like PCARS are filling the void or vacuum they have unknowingly left open. I think they see that there is something being slightly left out, something they haven’t been addressing, but they just haven’t put their finger on it yet.

PCARS is their wake up call, and it scares them I think. PCARS demonstrates that T10 have by comparison in no way listened to their fans as they should have. Only now are they beginning to feel the pressure to do so. They say it’s because the XboxOne is enabling them to listen, and make “agile” changes quickly and easily. While this is certainly true, I still can’t help having the feeling that their position is more of a “Johnny come lately” view, born out of market share vulnerabilities being exploited by other companies like Slightly Mad Studios.

Slightly Mad, creators of PCARS, base their existence on the very elements lacking in games like Forza. They are in a sense the inverse of T10 and Forza. And if your competition is successfully building off of everything you are not, I’d be a little worried too.

But credit to T10, they are starting to listen more to their fans, even if they had to be dragged kicking and screaming the whole way. Publically Dan Greenawalt welcomes other car games to the fold, and says it’s a good thing that helps to promote the genre and strengthen it. But I have to wonder how much of this attitude is just so much narcissistic PR. Do they really believe they are invulnerable to their competition? Do they really think their product is so much better than all the rest that they have nothing to fear? Do they really think that because they are backed by the big bucks of Micro$oft they can do no wrong? Hahaha, please, don’t pee on my leg, and then tell me it’s raining.

AAR GTDon wrote:a pre-view, one of the better ones actually

http://www.computerandvideogames.com/477738/previews/why-project-cars-already-feels-like-the-peoples-hardcore-racer/

Manuel CR wrote:
AAR GTDon wrote:T10 will have to win us back with deeds

100% agree!

Very nice Idea keeping the IFCA acronym.

I haven´t bought any console yet, and for sometime I really tought very seriously to buy the PS4 ...until now. I was expecting no pro-organization for P.Cars besides what I was gonna run with friends, but here is my answer. GTDon, you made me a believer again, Xbox One will be my next console.

I hope to get it as soon as the game releases.

About Forza, well... I love it, i turn many people as possible into that game, but T10 just fell asleep.

See you soon people!!!

AAR ABEnstein wrote:I'm glad this place will continue on with what I believe will be a great racing game!

Unfortunately, I cannot continue on, as I am retiring from online racing (not forever, hopefully - I'm only 16). I've had a fantastic 4 years with the IFCA and AAR, but I must now focus my time on other things, and it does not make sense for me to buy an Xbox One since I'm close to moving on to higher education.

I've had many great experiences in this hobby. I will remember the IFCA as a place where I could go race and have a fun and enjoyable time, no matter what kind of racing we were putting on. As for AAR, they are a great group of people that taught me most, if not everything, I know about driving on a racing game. I will remember the TORA Endurance races we've done together, where we would drive at crazy hours for a common goal: to compete with the best there is, while possessing the underdog mentality.

Thanks everyone for all the time you have dedicated to the IFCA, and best wishes for the future. For you, I agree that it is now the time to move on from the Forza world of racing to a new one, where you can start fresh.

So, Don, I really must give you back the admin privileges, as well as PM you the credentials for the IFCA Twitter and Facebook, should you desire to use them. If there is anything that I've used that you might need, let me know. Perhaps, though, even a new website/forum might be best to start the new era of the IFCA, or completely reset this forum. I never did get around to deleting all the unused accounts - they still give a false impression of the site.

I'll still have my Xbox 360 and FM4 for a long time after the transition is complete. I hope I'll be back to racing in a few years, but we'll see.

Sincerely,
Noah Stein - ABEnstein
#127

AAR GTDon wrote:You will be missed Abe, but I hope you can return soon.

My retirement from the Forza version of the IFCA is still in effect, but not for the new PCARS iteration of the site. I will revamp and cull the site with a new look, direction, and attitude, that will not be bound to T10 politics. The IFCA will be more mature, edgy, and irreverent. It will be serious and fun, and subordinate to no one.

This ain't your fathers IFCA. Lol

AAR GTDon wrote:
Manuel CR wrote:
AAR GTDon wrote:T10 will have to win us back with deeds

100% agree!

Very nice Idea keeping the IFCA acronym.

I haven´t bought any console yet, and for sometime I really tought very seriously to buy the PS4 ...until now. I was expecting no pro-organization for P.Cars besides what I was gonna run with friends, but here is my answer. GTDon, you made me a believer again, Xbox One will be my next console.

I hope to get it as soon as the game releases.

About Forza, well... I love it, i turn many people as possible into that game, but T10 just fell asleep.

See you soon people!!!

Right on, this will be a slow steady conversion so no worries.

GTDon

ZAR Eries wrote:So life continues on in what looks like an awesome sim.

This is the one I hung up my steering wheel wires for, At FM4, I basically buried the game and realized that it was the end.

Dan and Che and the whole team can only blame themselves.

Simple actually:
FM 1 - Great game we played it till the discs burnt through our black boxes
FM 2 - No T10 what have you done listen to us, this is what we want
FM 3 - Hello anyone there ...
FM 4 - I guess not, goodbye
FM 5 - HUH really they brought out a new one, interesting, now get away from the tv, let me finish my Kinect dancing

T10 did the industry a favor actually, they showed every other maker out there how exactly to alienate their fans and how to destroy a great title, well done T10, get your self a cookie.

Now I need to get the xbox one and CARS when it comes out.

Anyone know if the old Fanatec wheels works with the xbox one, or not?

AAR GTDon wrote:Proof that they are bull doodoo is in this interview when the other guys says they want pet peripherals they like too that aren't available yet like force feedback pedals, and that the 360 wasn't able to give us this. That's funny, for years my Fanatec elite pedals have force feedback on the brake. I call BULL doodoo! on them.

ZAR Eries wrote:So when you state Microsoft does this mean the XBOX one in it's entirety?

by **IFCA GTDon** Wed Oct 08, 2014 5:32 am

Thanks eries, appreciate the fix. So yeah, it appears that there is no hope for the Fanatec wheel user, and T10 says, "yeah sorry, we feel your pain, but there isn't a damn thing we are gonna do about it. Just go buy a Thrustmaster wheel."

by **IFCA GTDon** Sun May 17, 2015 9:47 am

Project CARS is here, finally. You’ve all read about it and seen the many reviews I’ve posted from other sites by now so I don’t really have to go into all the well worn details of how the career mode works. Instead I want to get at the meat of the subject first. You know, the parts of the game that YOU the fan wants to get a feel for and grasp.

This is the first game where I think reviewing the reviewers is as important as reviewing the game itself. It’s quite obvious and even funny how most reviewers don’t get it. They don’t get the point that what they think is a more orthodox challenging racing game, is actually very distant from a modern racing simulator. Even Project CARS is not the pinnacle of racing sims understand, but is in fact above the level of a Forza or a Gran Turismo. That’s right, I said it, PCARS is better than Forza or Gran Turismo. Political Correctness won’t permit any of the other reviewers to come right out and say it, but I just did.

Many reviewers have also asked the wrong questions too, like, “where’s the broad mass appeal for this game?” This says a lot about their understanding, or misunderstanding of the genre and what the emphasis of PCARS is.

In a sense Project CARS is a revolt against mass appeal and broad attraction. It rebels against the mediocre moderates who love to be all things to all people. Project CARS is about one thing and one thing only, simulation racing, and all that it entails.

Like any innovator before it, whether in the virtual world (Gran Turismo 1 and FM1) or the real world (Tom Hoover’s 426 Hemi or Carol Shelby) PCARS has turned the sim racing genre on its roof by not complying with the broad masses and corporate politics, but by re-writing the book on what makes racing so dog gone fun in the first place.

As stated by Slightly Mad Studios many times, this is a sim for the racing fans, by the racing fans. It is a risky experiment with WMD, and if it goes well, will be a major trend going into the future for all video gaming entertainment as a new legend is born.

What makes PCARS so different right from the get go, is how it was heavily influenced by thousands of simulation racing fans who wanted something more than what they were getting with the same old console car games. They saw that the art of racing was no longer the priority, and how corporate dollars mandated a less intelligent broader appeal approach to their franchise racing games. Gradually over time fans saw their favorite car games drift away from the art and excitement of racing, and merge into other areas like, car soccer, painting, auctioning, photography, drifting, you name it, just about everything and anything apart from improved racing features. It was as though the suits in the corporate board rooms were either so unaware or disenchanted with racing, that they didn’t think there was anything left to add to what they already offered.

Of course if you have been around as long as I have, you probably know better. You probably know that for years the sim-racing community has been begging and screaming for a better suite of racing options to enhance the experience of what it is like to race. But with each new version, it was obvious no one in the console world was listening.

Corporate has its bottom line, and it’s built on dollars. And the creative dictator, uh, I mean director, has his own personal vision of what he thinks the game should be like too. So you have these two interested parties doing this dance that leaves out the fan, and the result is always less than what the people really want. Not that the effort and expertise isn’t good, or there, it certainly is, and they have strong sales to show for it. It’s just that through all that political two stepping, something gets lost in the negotiation. A little something that was the original reason for such a game in the first place, something called, ‘competitive racing.’ Duuuuh!

Enter Project CARS. It is a sim racing game that attempts to plug all the holes the others refuse to see, and it does a very good job of it. SMS (Slightly Mad Studios) saw that a great disservice was being managed by other racing simulators effectively insulting the intelligence of the sport of automotive racing and their wildly devoted fans. PCARS took on the challenge of introducing console gamers to if not the reality of racing, at least a good dose of what it is like. It is complex, fairly difficult to master, and very fun to try. The nuances of race craft have all been addressed in PCARS, and yet there is room for deeper improvements still.

What’s fascinating about PCARS is the way it has taken the best of both worlds and somehow merged them together to give the user a truly new and unique experience that defies repetitive boredom, and amps up the competitive juices.

With all the other racing games the emphasis is mostly on ease of playability, social inclusion, no winners or losers, limited control over the types of races, and a more user friendly non-competitive arcade-like experience. Not so with PCARS. It is the ‘in your face’ reverse mirror image of its competitors, leaning the opposite way towards a deeper and richer competitive environment. PCARS has at first glance the look of its shiny competitors on the surface, but that all changes once you get behind the wheel.

There is a natural-ness in the way the physics work for example, and yet, as soon as you start to push things, you realize that PCARS is going to challenge your skills in a big way. Throttle control is a very real necessity with real cars, and PCARS too. You begin to appreciate the difference between slamming the throttle down anywhere you like, and being forced to control your car with more judicious inputs.

Although not nearly the demanding drive that iRacing can be, PCARS does capture some of the same feeling that this simulation is for a more serious audience. With graphics as good or better than any, and physics that are not too punishing, PCARS has struck an amazing balance between boring arcade racers, and painfully lifeless simulators.

The tracks themselves are numerous, and highly detailed. With the weather system and day night cycle, a single track can take on a different look each and every time you arrive there. The layout of the tracks gives you the impression of a much larger world than you are used to. The tracks have a longer perspective to them, and sometimes a narrower view. This makes room on the track at a premium for passing, but still gives you the sense you are on a full size track at the same time.

Most noticeable, for I think the first time in any racing simulation ever, is the massive sense of elevation changes, something that has always been lacking in simulation racing. Kudos to Slightly Mad Studios for getting this more right than anyone! The result is a car that is highly affected by gravity, forcing it to literally come to grips with weight transfer loads that are very dynamic. It may be this one element alone that sets PCARS truly apart, because it is exactly the same with a real car on an undulating track. Going into a downhill braking zone, the car wants to squirm away ever so slightly. Hit a small rise on the track during braking, and the tires lose grip and instantly lock up. All of this up and down weight shifting means that you have to set the car up more into a turn or over an off camber hill with a healthy dose of respect. The suspension is getting a maximum work out, and there is only so much compression and rebound damping to cope with it. Over tax it, and you will be off the track wondering what just happened.

Like in a real car the demand of PCARS is the classic brake early, go in slow, and come out fast method. Anything else is just out of control trouble. The interaction and contact with other cars isn’t overly sensitive, meaning that you can bang a little bit before eating the weeds, making the racing close and exciting. There is no time penalty for cutting the track or putting wheels off the track, but there are warnings and black flags if you are caught. It’s this sort of “let’em race” attitude coupled to true racing rules that sucks you into the sensation that you are in an immersive racing situation with PCARS.
The car list in PCARS is rather modest and small by Forza and Gran Turismo standards, and even eccentric to a degree. This is a British simulation understand, and as such the cars tend to be those familiar to the Brits, just as Gran Turismo is a Japanese simulation and favors Japanese cars. But each car is massively different one to another, and in particular the sounds they make. The engine sounds and tire sounds are perhaps the best in the industry which is saying a lot. Both iRacing and Forza do the audio as well as any, but PCARS is a few exhaust notes ahead of them. The visceral vibration of the high quality sound PCARS makes is worth the purchase of the game alone, it’s that good.

With Forza and Gran Turismo you have hundreds of cars but only a relatively few places to race them by comparison to PCARS. PCARS has followed the iRacing model in this regard placing the emphasis on track locations or places to race rather than a huge car roster.   What this does is multiply the number of car to track combinations and reduces being stuck at the same tracks all the time. It’s great to have gobs of cars, but only if you have places to race them with.

Like the cars, PCARS has picked a mostly Euro-centric track selection, no different to iRacing which has nearly every American track including every NASCAR oval. This means there are a lot of tracks people here in the States have never heard of let alone raced on. Because of this, many of the tracks are entirely new and fun to learn from an American viewpoint. The fact that all of the tracks and cars are immediately unlocked and free to sample makes good sense too.

In terms of direct comparisons to its rivals such as Forza and Gran Turismo, Project CARS has atmosphere and an ambiance the others don’t have as much of. Using Spa as the track and the Audi R18 as the test bed, the Forza version was much easier to drive, and had a somewhat artificially faster velocity on track than the PCARS version. Both cars sounded good, but the PCARS version had more sounds emanating from the car like brake squeal, and body bits brushing the tarmac. But more than this, even though it felt slower, the PCARS R18 was far more active and difficult to drive requiring a more realistic understanding of real-life physical limits. The Forza R18 was in fact too easy to drive and though initially satisfying, became almost boring very quickly. Not so with the PCARS Audi. It is a much tougher nut to crack and always tempted you to turn just one more lap in it.

Though not quite as difficult as an iRacing car to drive, the PCARS cars are closer to iRacing performance than Forza or Gran Turismo. But again, when it comes to atmosphere PCARS wins hands down. There is a rich blend of special effects that is on a new level. Project CARS draws you in to this other world like no other simulation. And though it may be true that iRacing has more accurate tracks, they seem not to capture the feeling or mood of those tracks like PCARS does.

With the coming patches and DLC you can expect PCARS to smooth out the bugs and improve the already excellent experience in the weeks to come. But don’t expect an auction house, a paint booth, or car soccer. Instead, expect to become a better racer as you experience authentic racing culture at the granular level. Project CARS Welcomes you to the new era in console simulation racing. Gentlemen, start your engines!

by Ax4x Nelly Sun May 17, 2015 10:38 am

I hope you don't mind Don, I shared this on the WMD reviews section.

After all the negativity from the Forza and Gran Turismo Fanboys this is just the sort of review the devs wanted to read Smile

Really glad your enjoying it buddy, see you on the track soon.

I really need to get this profile name changed sometime to Nelly D Racer Smile

by **IFCA GTDon** Sun May 17, 2015 10:40 am

BAR Nelly75 wrote:I hope you don't mind Don, I shared this on the WMD reviews section.

After all the negativity from the Forza and Gran Turismo Fanboys this is just the sort of review the devs wanted to read

Really glad your enjoying it buddy, see you on the track soon.

I really need to get this profile name changed sometime to Nelly D Racer

Not at all, please do. Post it everywhere, TORA etc.

by Ax4x Nelly Sun May 17, 2015 10:41 am

Nope not Tora them guys can't read Very Happy

by Guest Sun May 17, 2015 11:16 am

As usual, Don, your opinion on these matters speaks volumes. I respect and admire your passion for the sim-racing community. PCars seems to subtract all the busy garbage and plunge the race fan into the core of this SPORT! I am looking forward to the learning curve and feeling what it's really like!

by **IFCA GTDon** Sun May 17, 2015 3:09 pm

AAR CobraJet wrote:As usual, Don, your opinion on these matters speaks volumes. I respect and admire your passion for the sim-racing community. PCars seems to subtract all the busy garbage and plunge the race fan into the core of this SPORT! I am looking forward to the learning curve and feeling what it's really like!

Ah thanks Cobra. Yes, I am looking forward to competitively running PCARS as well. Have to get a wheel. Have to wait for the bugs to be gone too. But for now just getting familiar with all the bells and whistles with the controller. I figure we can step up to official racing in about a month or so.

by Guest Sun May 17, 2015 11:09 pm

Thanks a lot for this review. I was really excited about PCars for a while but had forgotten about it. After Forza 4 I didn't even buy an Xbone; I'm still pissed they dropped Fanatec support and I agree with the general sentiment about Forza going downhill (toward $ and mass appeal and away from what made it good). I tried iRacing, but the payment model (restricting cars/tracks despite monthly fee) wasn't my favorite thing, and it didn't really grab me.

I'm glad I kept my racing rig around and thanks to this post hitting my email I'm going to buy Project Cars. I expect I'm going to experience the virtual racing fun I did back when I was in active Forza racing groups.

by **IFCA GTDon** Mon May 18, 2015 1:37 am

Gregulator wrote:Thanks a lot for this review. I was really excited about PCars for a while but had forgotten about it. After Forza 4 I didn't even buy an Xbone; I'm still pissed they dropped Fanatec support and I agree with the general sentiment about Forza going downhill (toward $ and mass appeal and away from what made it good). I tried iRacing, but the payment model (restricting cars/tracks despite monthly fee) wasn't my favorite thing, and it didn't really grab me.

I'm glad I kept my racing rig around and thanks to this post hitting my email I'm going to buy Project Cars. I expect I'm going to experience the virtual racing fun I did back when I was in active Forza racing groups.

You're welcome. I think you and many people like you will richly enjoy the new way forward in sim racing. I know I will.

by **IFCA GTDon** Tue May 26, 2015 9:04 am

Here's another compare-off I did between the two rival games, and like the previous one I did a pattern is emerging for the differences.

Track: Laguna Seca

The Forza track is essentially the same as what it was in FM4 with some added animations, but it is a little off from the real track, whereas PCARS looks more like the iRacing version suggesting it was laser mapped too. In PCARS the track seems bigger and longer, but at certain places narrower because you don't dare put a wheel off on the dirt. The mood of the PCARS track is of course always change-able too with time of day and weather.

The cars: FM5 2013 F1 Lotus vs PCARS 2011 F1 "Formula A" (Ferrari?)

750hp vs 759hp
221tq vs 243tq
1422lbs vs 1410lbs
182mph vs 176mph on track
1:15.021 vs 1:12.485

different specs for different cars, but you can get a feel for the relative differences in the handling and both follow the pattern of each others game. The Forza car was actually fairly close to the PCARS version except in terms of sound quality. But the PCARS version felt like it did have more contact with the road surface still. Of the two cars, the PCARS F1 car was more satisfying to drive mainly due to the correct sounds. Both cars look great, but the nod has to go to the PCARS version especially during replays.

The cars: FM5 2014 Pagani Huayra vs PCARS 2014 Pagani Huayra

700hp vs 720hp
737tq vs 722hp
3153lbs vs 3152lbs
149mph vs 156mph on track
1:39.358 vs 1:34.237

Once again, slightly different specs for what should be identical cars, AND slightly different compared to the real car too!

The real car:
720hp
740tq
3200lbs

The FM5 Pagani bordered on being undriveable as the tires once again simply had zero lateral grip. It appears that with T10's graduated tire compounds they had to go too poor on the stock tires in order to allow for upgraded tires to not get too good. But the stock tires are just the worst. The handling is off too, as the car will not slide in a linear fashion, and wants to swap ends under braking. The speed is ferocious which only helps to overwhelm the poor tires. The car does one thing well proving that the Forza Laguna Seca isn't correct; as it hits the rise on the front straight it actually catches air and totally upsest the car! Not so with the PCARS Pagani, it predictably slides, stops and accelerates in the way a real car certainly does. It can be a little bit of a handful in straight line braking, but is supremely driveable compared to the Forza car. Both cars have equal engine sound quality, but the Forza car is constantly screeching its tires everywhere in an artificially annoying way. Both cars look gorgeous. The Forza car looks a little nicer on track and the PCARS version is a little nicer in replays and in the cockpit view.

Overall I have to award PCARS the solid winner over FM5, again.

by Guest Thu May 28, 2015 7:22 pm

Do you have your Fanatec working with the game.

by **IFCA GTDon** Thu May 28, 2015 7:25 pm

dc67 wrote:Do you have your Fanatec working with the game.

No, the fanatec wheel is not compatible with the X box one

by **IFCA GTDon** Fri May 29, 2015 12:24 am

The first update has really enhanced the controller's ability to control. The game has gotten a little smoother too, so now with greater control and smoother frame rate, things are a lot better. We are almost ready to begin thinking about league competitions again. This is going to be great.

by Guest Wed Jun 03, 2015 1:16 pm

The update really helped alot with the car control, this game is awesome now!

by **IFCA GTDon** Wed Jun 03, 2015 1:18 pm

Yes, I agree! And they say it will get better with the next patch coming soon.

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