I hate to blow out a candle you just lit with such enthusiasm, but I have to take back a lot of what I said about Project CARS.
My mopey post on April 1st was kind of an April Fools stunt. Mostly. P CARS does look like a great racer, and it may be the PC sim for gamers who don't like PC sims, but that remains to be seen. My main sigh point is the lack of street cars, which SMS were making noises about having quite a few early on in development. But looking at the site Apr 1, the "civilian" car list is rather lame. There is supposed to be some sort of mad system for them, from what I recall, and a livery editor for the cars, and that career a few people are sure will be outstanding, but I really have no clue how well any of that will work because details are so scarce. You know, what people complain about from PD.
Plus, on having no excuse for not including a sim-like racing structure in GT7 now, Kaz actually does have one, because a surprising number of people here don't like the idea. Just shooting from the hip on this, it seems like the ratio is about what it is against the Standard cars, at about a third. Still, that's something to consider, just as people insist that yanking all the Standard cars is too.
Now what I would like to see is something that would make everyone happy, and that's making that true sim-like Career Mode a separate GT Pro section, which is completely different from the usual Gran Turismo tradition of racing for cash and prize cars. In GT Pro Career, I propose a series of tiers, each one a racing season of increasing length as you move up the ladder, and reflecting the worlds of GT Academy and pro racing leagues as I posted previously. I would like to see the option to return to the beginning of every season as reigning champion, and as often as you like. I can see an economy of prize credits as well as sponsorships which you will use to buy into the next tier in the ladder, to acquire a racing car and possibly a racing team to keep it maintained. Each tier can begin with a series of those dreaded License Tests.
You begin with Karts, and if you're going to have Karts, the beginning is where you would use them. Have a brief "season" followed by a championship. I'd prefer that this be a flexible season, personally, as everyone (me) doesn't really dig them, but it can be longer for those who like Kart racing.
Next, something like a combo of America's SCCA club and GT Academy, in which you guy a sports car and mod it to the specs of the series and slap a livery on it. Go through a longer season to the championship. This is a level typified by cars such as the Miata, RX-7, 350Z, Mustang and the like.
Move up a tier to serious high performance cars, something like SCCA Pro where the cars have more power, and you can choose a path from the likes of the 300ZX, mid-powered BMWs and Supra to Vipers, Corvettes, Ferraris, RUFs and Lamborghinis.
Now you're ready to enter a professional racing league. Choose from World Rally, BTCC, WTCC, ALMS, DTM, FIA GT, Super GT, Formula GT and whatever else PD can come up with. Stick with that league at the end of the season as reigning champ, or hop to another league. This is where I would be quite happy with fantasy leagues, such as an Asia GT in which we could use cars such as the Spirra and Cizeta, which actually make great race cars, and something which all those Ferraris, Lamborghinis and other supercars can fit into.
Arcade and GT Mode should remain to give everyone their traditional sandbox racer they're familiar with, along with a well designed Online system and an Event Maker which can be used offline to make anything from a single event to a racing season, reflecting the tiers in GT Pro. This should make everyone and their crew chief happy.
. Not only did he say Kaz has no excuse (NO EXCUSE!!) for not creating a real racing simulator, he basically said that PCars is very similar to all of his posts over the last 8 years. In other words, PCars incorporates everything that @
