Finally deciding to talk with my wallet

Do you still trust SMS?


  • Total voters
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England
Newcastle
Flash_Mexxy
I hate to be a downer, but I'm a bit fed up with PC2.

I've played since day one and at first I was very impressed with the improvement from PC1, althougu a few legacy bugs remained there were massive updates that improved things further, with massive patch notes and seeming engagement from the devs.

However not all was as it seemed. Upon further play it became apparent that the game has been getting buggier with every patch, then the patch notes stopped, then the community engagement stopped, and THEN the much needed patches stopped. They became a rarity.

It has become obvious that the devs aren't supporting the game as it's needed, ESPECIALLY on consoles, and have no intention of listening to constructive feedback, as many have attempted.

It seems this is the norm now, to run away and give up if things don't go to plan, and from now on I'm outright never buying one of SMS' games new (or EA's for that matter). I've been let down so many times, and it is made even more 'gear grinding' by the fact this game had so much potential! All the ingredients are there, but the chef only knows how to use a microwave.

SMS' lack of support and engagement, lacklustre DLC and silence has lost them this customer, and probably more who just said screw it and don't care enough to post about it.

I'm open to polite discussion on this topic, or to elaborate further but I think we all know what I'm talking about. Just a gut feeling like we may have been played.

I won't allow myself to be fooled a third time, and if PC3 does happen, I certainly won't be a day one buyer, if at all.

Peace
 
I think community engagement will pick up for future releases now Rushy is part of their team. As for the issues with the game, it's not perfect and there are still problems but overall I still enjoy the game which is most important so I most likely will buy any sequel (if there is enough/interesting new content).
 
I think community engagement will pick up for future releases now Rushy is part of their team. As for the issues with the game, it's not perfect and there are still problems but overall I still enjoy the game which is most important so I most likely will buy any sequel (if there is enough/interesting new content).

Tbh I do still get enjoyment from it, but it's just this funny feeling that I just can't shake. SMS have been shady in the past, and it's creeping up again.

LikeI said there is a lot to like, but all the stuff to gel it together is lacking. I can't be the only one either, servers are steadily dying, something unusual for a long life game like a racing one, and the forums here seem to be inhabited by like the same 5 people (an exaggeration, no offence Jake, I know you'll see this eventually XP).

Lots of little things adding up.

*edit*
I don't know who Rushy is but I hope they can make a difference, though won't hold my breath
 
Tbh I do still get enjoyment from it, but it's just this funny feeling that I just can't shake. SMS have been shady in the past, and it's creeping up again.

LikeI said there is a lot to like, but all the stuff to gel it together is lacking. I can't be the only one either, servers are steadily dying, something unusual for a long life game like a racing one, and the forums here seem to be inhabited by like the same 5 people (an exaggeration, no offence Jake, I know you'll see this eventually XP).

Lots of little things adding up.

*edit*
I don't know who Rushy is but I hope they can make a difference, though won't hold my breath

This will explain who Rushy is and what he used to do.
https://www.gtplanet.net/former-onrush-director-paul-rustchynsky-joins-slightly-mad-studios/
 
The game certainly hasn't become bugier since release, it has improved. We've been getting updates fixing some issues, not all of them. They are supporting the game. However when it comes to pc2 there are certain things I'm wanting in the game before I purchase.
 
Hasn't been bugier? Well I have one example, the AI wont go faster than 270/280kmh under rain conditions. You see it at La Sarthe circuit.
(PS4 normal, dont know about other platforms)
 
I hate to be a downer, but I'm a bit fed up with PC2.

I've played since day one and at first I was very impressed with the improvement from PC1, althougu a few legacy bugs remained there were massive updates that improved things further, with massive patch notes and seeming engagement from the devs.

However not all was as it seemed. Upon further play it became apparent that the game has been getting buggier with every patch, then the patch notes stopped, then the community engagement stopped, and THEN the much needed patches stopped. They became a rarity.

It has become obvious that the devs aren't supporting the game as it's needed, ESPECIALLY on consoles, and have no intention of listening to constructive feedback, as many have attempted.

It seems this is the norm now, to run away and give up if things don't go to plan, and from now on I'm outright never buying one of SMS' games new (or EA's for that matter). I've been let down so many times, and it is made even more 'gear grinding' by the fact this game had so much potential! All the ingredients are there, but the chef only knows how to use a microwave.

SMS' lack of support and engagement, lacklustre DLC and silence has lost them this customer, and probably more who just said screw it and don't care enough to post about it.

I'm open to polite discussion on this topic, or to elaborate further but I think we all know what I'm talking about. Just a gut feeling like we may have been played.

I won't allow myself to be fooled a third time, and if PC3 does happen, I certainly won't be a day one buyer, if at all.

Peace
See ya, have a nice day!
 
I didn't buy P CARS 2 because of my bad experiences with P CARS 1. Once bitten, twice shy. And I agree with the OP that it's such a shame as the game has so much potential. As I've said time & time again, I have the utmost respect for the vision of SMS; the idea of a Community Assisted Racing Simulator & the fact that they set up their own crowd funding platform with WMD to get people involved is the kind of innovation that rightly garners respect & admiration (imho it's borderline genius).

However, the implementation is sorely lacking in several key areas which fundamentally undermines the overall experience for me personally. I'd like to see more emphasis on quality control (less bugs), more no-brainer common sense online features to facilitate clean racing in public lobbies (more options), & more humility in listening to fan feedback (less ban hammer mentality on the official forum).
 
Hasn't been bugier? Well I have one example, the AI wont go faster than 270/280kmh under rain conditions. You see it at La Sarthe circuit.
(PS4 normal, dont know about other platforms)
If that was a result of patching and updating the game I was unaware of that
 
Those wishing to decide with their wallet, Project Cars 2 is now 60% off on Steam until Friday. You can pick it up for a very cheap $24.99, good day.
 
I haven't really dived deep into the various modes outside of Private Testing, but it's my experience that each update has improved the title. Mostly in the first months after release (obviously) and less so with recent updates. I think this pattern is quite normal for most games.

It's not my impression that we've been left with an almost broken title if support ends here. I'm more dissatisfied with the way Kunos has officially abandoned AC on consoles because that game deserved more fixes.
 
I haven't really dived deep into the various modes outside of Private Testing, but it's my experience that each update has improved the title. Mostly in the first months after release (obviously) and less so with recent updates. I think this pattern is quite normal for most games.

It's not my impression that we've been left with an almost broken title if support ends here. I'm more dissatisfied with the way Kunos has officially abandoned AC on consoles because that game deserved more tracks.
Fixed that for ya ;)
 
I haven't really dived deep into the various modes outside of Private Testing, but it's my experience that each update has improved the title. Mostly in the first months after release (obviously) and less so with recent updates. I think this pattern is quite normal for most games.

It's not my impression that we've been left with an almost broken title if support ends here. I'm more dissatisfied with the way Kunos has officially abandoned AC on consoles because that game deserved more fixes.

I don't know if you're familiar with running online lobbies but it's often a nightmare. Blacks screens, stuck loading, resetting setups, glitching if host changes and more.
Online is where I get my fun and it has been a headache.

I think the single player is fairly solid if a bit hollow, online is where the real cracks begin to show.

VBR
I didn't buy P CARS 2 because of my bad experiences with P CARS 1. Once bitten, twice shy. And I agree with the OP that it's such a shame as the game has so much potential. As I've said time & time again, I have the utmost respect for the vision of SMS; the idea of a Community Assisted Racing Simulator & the fact that they set up their own crowd funding platform with WMD to get people involved is the kind of innovation that rightly garners respect & admiration (imho it's borderline genius).

However, the implementation is sorely lacking in several key areas which fundamentally undermines the overall experience for me personally. I'd like to see more emphasis on quality control (less bugs), more no-brainer common sense online features to facilitate clean racing in public lobbies (more options), & more humility in listening to fan feedback (less ban hammer mentality on the official forum).

I 100% agree with this


I appreciate the info. Though looking at the games he worked on, none of them appealed to me. I won't judge him just on that though. I do want Pcars to succeed but at this point I'm burned out.

Those wishing to decide with their wallet, Project Cars 2 is now 60% off on Steam until Friday. You can pick it up for a very cheap $24.99, good day.

*Rolls eyes* thanks for your input...
 
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I hate to be a downer, but I'm a bit fed up with PC2.

I've played since day one and at first I was very impressed with the improvement from PC1, althougu a few legacy bugs remained there were massive updates that improved things further, with massive patch notes and seeming engagement from the devs.

However not all was as it seemed. Upon further play it became apparent that the game has been getting buggier with every patch, then the patch notes stopped, then the community engagement stopped, and THEN the much needed patches stopped. They became a rarity.

It has become obvious that the devs aren't supporting the game as it's needed, ESPECIALLY on consoles, and have no intention of listening to constructive feedback, as many have attempted.

It seems this is the norm now, to run away and give up if things don't go to plan, and from now on I'm outright never buying one of SMS' games new (or EA's for that matter). I've been let down so many times, and it is made even more 'gear grinding' by the fact this game had so much potential! All the ingredients are there, but the chef only knows how to use a microwave.

SMS' lack of support and engagement, lacklustre DLC and silence has lost them this customer, and probably more who just said screw it and don't care enough to post about it.

I'm open to polite discussion on this topic, or to elaborate further but I think we all know what I'm talking about. Just a gut feeling like we may have been played.

I won't allow myself to be fooled a third time, and if PC3 does happen, I certainly won't be a day one buyer, if at all.

Peace
Ah. Another attention seeking thread instead of going away quietly. These are fun... These threads turn into the OP agreeing with everyone who agrees with them and refuting everyone who disagrees. Hopefully, that's different here but that's just how they seem to go for me.

I clearly have a different view.

The patch notes have been explained a billion times. Having smaller patch list allows them to get the patches out more quickly and a more even time.

We literally got a patch on Monday. Nothing official has been said that it's stopped. Are we expecting that to be the case, yes. But nothing is official.

Lacklustre DLC? We've had 4 packs with a lot of variety. What do you want? Every single pack to tailor to your tastes?

Buggier in every patch? Yeah...No. There was one patch which caused game crashes (at least for me) in December 2017 but that was fixed quickly.
 
I don't know if you're familiar with running online lobbies but it's often a nightmare. Blacks screens, stuck loading, resetting setups, glitching if host changes and more.
Online is where I get my fun and it has been a headache.

That's odd because I host online twice a week and don't have any trouble.

Lacklustre DLC.

What's lacklustre about it? Not all of it is to my taste, but some has been superb!

I suggest using the quote and edit functions as you may get unwanted comments from the mods with 5 posts in a row!
 
Here's other that talked to his wallet and is now proud to have spend the money on the game and season pass.

The game got a bad launch, it was to soon, but update after update the game came better and better.

Now after the updates and 4 expansion packs,each great on his manner.. I'm really happy with the game, for me simply the most complete sim on the market today on consoles.
And no game breaking issues and bugs for me.

Even the lobbies works better and without bugs.. Not like other popular first party game from Sony... That in 11 months did not even fix game breaking issues of the personalized online lobbies..

So yeah, I still trust SMS, they still listen to their users and I will go for their next game when they launch it.
 
Was never a fan of the way SMS engaged (or didn't) the community during PC1. Told myself I would vote with my wallet when PC2 rolled around. Before the release of PC2, their engagement was awesome! Being very vocal not only on their own board, but this one as well. They won back my confidence and I preordered.

I've been happy with the game, it fits the bill of what I want in a racer and is leaps above everything else on console. But I'm bummed out.

When the patch notes got smaller, and the community engagement became less, it was apparent that they may be moving on, and like Kunos, would leave us behind. If I recall the numbers of PS4 PC1 sales were good enough to encourage the development of PC2. But it seems the numbers SMS and Bandai were looking for with PC2 just were not there.

I trust them now, far more than I did after PC1, and I understand the business side of it. There is still a group of us that loves the game and will handily dish out some $$ for future updates. Sadly, I don't think that audience is great enough to warrant future development of PC2.
 
I've never written a full review/opinion on this game, so here we go.

For reference, I'm a controller user, standard PS4, deluxe edition with the pre-order bonuses. (from what I hear, that's the downright worst way to experience the game.)

These DLC packs that have been coming out have mostly been OK at best. The fun pack was pretty pointless in my opinion and I rarely use those cars. The Porsche expansion was fine. The Le Mans pack had good classic content but the modern LMP1 sounds were laughable and completely innacurate when it came out. The Ferrari pack has some good cars, but again the engine sounds for a lot of them are completely wrong (cough, cough 458). I really expected more pre-release quality assurance from the DLC in this game (mostly in regards to sound). I know we live in the age where anything and everything can be fixed over the air, but it’s still upsetting.

The online environment is the crux of this game in my opinion. Sure, there’s a lot more stuff to do but in comparison to GT Sport but content means nothing if it can’t hold my interest. Every populated lobby is GT3 after GT3 and as much as people complain about GT Sport’s rating system, I think it works a hell of a lot better than this game. (I.E. it actually sees use)

The good portions of this game are racing against the AI and the track selection. It’s much more interesting playing offline against the bots in this game than Assetto or GT Sport. However I’m not that kind of player, so I’m rarely playing this game offline. I prefer an aspect of unpredictability in racing, and that’s something that offline bots can’t handle just yet. For the offline racing I've done this console generation, PC2 takes the cake, however this generation just hasn't been an offline one for me.

I payed $120 for this game at launch, which I regret. When I pay that much I don’t want to see pit boxes floating in the sky during my race, please and thank you. The only reason I preordered was to grab those Day-1 DLCs. (Good job locking the Panoz GT1 behind a paywall on day one SMS.)

I remember before this came out, all the forums and comment sections were pushing the hype hard for this game. “GT is dead” they said. Then you had Ian Bell with his giant ego saying every other racing game in existence was playing “catch up”. Yeah, the game didn’t live up to that at all.

(not to mention Ian Bell lied about the state of the game in pre-release. on this forum no less: https://www.gtplanet.net/forum/thre...ow-on-ps4-xb1-pc.342814/page-21#post-11703576 )

So yeah, I’m on the fence because the game's almost there, it has the potential to be so much more, but there’s a bunch of problems I have that need to be dealt with first before they win me back over. However, I'm still willing to buy the next one, if they incorporate most of the changes I'm looking for.

TL;DR
PROS:
  • Good offline
  • Good selection of cars
  • Best selection of tracks
  • Good AI
  • Great sounds on base-game cars
  • True multi-class racing
  • Tolerable controller handling (it isn't atrocious anymore, have a sticker.)
  • Ferrari 488 GT3
CONS:
  • Glitches that should be fixed by now
  • Online as barren as the Mojave Desert
  • Bad car sounds from the DLC packs (458, all modern LMP1H cars, Carrera GT etc.)
  • Day 1 DLC, seriously?
  • Photo-mode still doesn't work half the time
  • Awful framerate under stressful situations
  • Screen tearing
  • Makes my PS4 heat up like the sun
  • No free update cars unlike every other racing game in recent memory (just take a page from PD and add all the missing cars from PC1 as free DLC)
  • No offline championships, even though AC has it and they literally already have a menu for it in online.
 
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I've never written a full review/opinion on this game, so here we go.

For reference, I'm a controller user, standard PS4, deluxe edition with the pre-order bonuses. (from what I hear, that's the downright worst way to experience the game.)

These DLC packs that have been coming out have mostly been OK at best. The fun pack was pretty pointless in my opinion and I rarely use those cars. The Porsche expansion was fine. The Le Mans pack had good classic content but the modern LMP1 sounds were laughable and completely innacurate when it came out. The Ferrari pack has some good cars, but again the engine sounds for a lot of them are completely wrong (cough, cough 458). I really expected more pre-release quality assurance from the DLC in this game (mostly in regards to sound). I know we live in the age where anything and everything can be fixed over the air, but it’s still upsetting.

The online environment is the crux of this game in my opinion. Sure, there’s a lot more stuff to do but in comparison to GT Sport but content means nothing if it can’t hold my interest. Every populated lobby is GT3 after GT3 and as much as people complain about GT Sport’s rating system, I think it works a hell of a lot better than this game. (I.E. it actually sees use)

The good portions of this game are racing against the AI and the track selection. It’s much more interesting playing offline against the bots in this game than Assetto or GT Sport. However I’m not that kind of player, so I’m rarely playing this game offline. I prefer an aspect of unpredictability in racing, and that’s something that offline bots can’t handle just yet. For the offline racing I've done this console generation, PC2 takes the cake, however this generation just hasn't been an offline one for me.

I payed $120 for this game at launch, which I regret. When I pay that much I don’t want to see pit boxes floating in the sky during my race, please and thank you. The only reason I preordered was to grab those Day-1 DLCs. (Good job locking the Panoz GT1 behind a paywall on day one SMS.)

I remember before this came out, all the forums and comment sections were pushing the hype hard for this game. “GT is dead” they said. Then you had Ian Bell with his giant ego saying every other racing game in existence was playing “catch up”. Yeah, the game didn’t live up to that at all.

(not to mention Ian Bell lied about the state of the game in pre-release. on this forum no less: https://www.gtplanet.net/forum/thre...ow-on-ps4-xb1-pc.342814/page-21#post-11703576 )

So yeah, I’m on the fence because the game's almost there, it has the potential to be so much more, but there’s a bunch of problems I have that need to be dealt with first before they win me back over. However, I'm still willing to buy the next one, if they incorporate most of the changes I'm looking for.

TL;DR
PROS:
  • Good offline
  • Good selection of cars
  • Best selection of tracks
  • Good AI
  • Great sounds on base-game cars
  • True multi-class racing
  • Tolerable controller handling (it isn't atrocious anymore, have a sticker.)
  • Ferrari 488 GT3
CONS:
  • Glitches that should be fixed by now
  • Online as barren as the Mojave Desert
  • Bad car sounds from the DLC packs (458, all modern LMP1H cars, Carrera GT etc.)
  • Day 1 DLC, seriously?
  • Photo-mode still doesn't work half the time
  • Awful framerate under stressful situations
  • Screen tearing
  • Makes my PS4 heat up like the sun
  • No free update cars unlike every other racing game in recent memory (just take a page from PD and add all the missing cars from PC1 as free DLC)
  • No offline championships, even though AC has it and they literally already have a menu for it in online.


Some different points of view ..

-Project Cars 2 received a car in 3 versions for free (Ferrari 488 Challenge).
And I prefer variety instead recycling cars from older games .. So good point to PC2 and Forza in that case in my opinion .

-GT Sport and assetto heats quite a lot more the PS4... At least in my case.

-didn't got any problems with phot mode sincerely..

-Rating and penalties are better and more difficult to raise than GTS, yes, PC2 don't have events with matchmaking, but for private racing leagues and esl esport racing the online is far away from a "barren Mojave desert"

The menu of championships in PC2 is to make on-line personalized custom championships..
Yes, don't have offline custom championships, but with the career mode and race weekend.. It don't really needs to.. And wasn't promised either.
In AC it got more sense having custom offline championships cause career mode is short and doesn't feature all cars and tracks in my opinion.


For the rest, yes Ian did lie about the pre launch state... But get it fixed trough support.
Sounds aren't perfect in some cars, but happens also to other games sincerely

See you around :cheers:
 
@MrWaflz55, just a quick 1 regarding the Panoz. It wasn't a day 1 purchase bonus, it was a season pass/deluxe edition bonus. Which you got whenever you bought it.

I got the Panoz when I upgraded to the deluxe edition about 6 months after launch for £30.

Unless you're being sarcastic, I can't tell :)
 
The assertion that SMS have "played us" is clearly designed to be provocative and I sincerely hope the OP doesn't really believe that. A company that "plays" its customers is one that takes money for a game and either never delivers that game or abandons it immediately upon release. Don't forget, all those people that paid for the Deluxe version, or the Season Pass separately, have received all the content that was promised in those packs. If SMS had taken us for a ride, they wouldn't have delivered a single one of them, let alone one 12 months later. For those not keeping up with things, the Le Mans and now the Ferrari packs have been VERY well received across the sim-racing world (hell, even Race Department members were largely positive about the Le Mans pack and it's not often you can say that :D)

I set up a 'fun night' lobby with our league last night, since we had no members wanting to join this week, and we ran through some of the new cars. You know what was great to hear? The laughter from people getting to grips with the FxxK (laughing in a good way), the delight from driving the 355 and 250 GT SWB and the repeated question "is 750hp too much power?" when driving the F12tdf. Some of these guys have been hit by some very annoying bugs over the last 12 months and become quite cynical towards the game but that went out of the window, they were all far too busy enjoying themselves to care about any of that. If that's how SMS goes about "playing us", then they can continue doing so for the next 100 years.

pCARS2 is still my go-to sim. Does it do everything I want? No, but it still does more than all of the others for what I want. None of the sims are perfect, in fact all of them are far from 'perfect' but we have the luxury of having many to choose from so that we can "pick our poison". Until such time as a sim comes along that truly "does it all", we're stuck in a world of compromise. Of course, on console it's a different story, there isn't the wealth of sims we have on PC.

Not aimed at the OP but what I, as a jaded, cynical, wrong-side of 40, gamer find bewildering is the lengths some people will go to, to shout down another game. It's a game, if you don't like it then put it down and play something else. Life is far too short to get angry about something you're doing to get away from the stresses of the world. For instance, I bought rFactor2 and have played it for a total of 2 or 3 hours, because I simply don't enjoy my time in it. Do I feel the need to go on every forum possible and moan about what I don't like? No, I just put it aside and play something else. By all means, post on the official forums the things you think are missing from the game but leave it at that one post - going on and on and on and on about the same thing just makes you "that nagging idiot" and will likely get your points ignored, no matter how good they are.


EDIT : For full disclosure, I do not work for SMS and have never been employed by them. I have received free gifts from them, for voluntary work that was "above and beyond the call of duty" during pCARS2 development but that's it. Oh and I've had dinner and got drunk (far too drunk :D) with a lot of the team and gone karting with a few of them. Just in case there are some that mistakenly think I work for them.
 
The assertion that SMS have "played us" is clearly designed to be provocative and I sincerely hope the OP doesn't really believe that. A company that "plays" its customers is one that takes money for a game and either never delivers that game or abandons it immediately upon release. Don't forget, all those people that paid for the Deluxe version, or the Season Pass separately, have received all the content that was promised in those packs. If SMS had taken us for a ride, they wouldn't have delivered a single one of them, let alone one 12 months later. For those not keeping up with things, the Le Mans and now the Ferrari packs have been VERY well received across the sim-racing world (hell, even Race Department members were largely positive about the Le Mans pack and it's not often you can say that :D)

I set up a 'fun night' lobby with our league last night, since we had no members wanting to join this week, and we ran through some of the new cars. You know what was great to hear? The laughter from people getting to grips with the FxxK (laughing in a good way), the delight from driving the 355 and 250 GT SWB and the repeated question "is 750hp too much power?" when driving the F12tdf. Some of these guys have been hit by some very annoying bugs over the last 12 months and become quite cynical towards the game but that went out of the window, they were all far too busy enjoying themselves to care about any of that. If that's how SMS goes about "playing us", then they can continue doing so for the next 100 years.

pCARS2 is still my go-to sim. Does it do everything I want? No, but it still does more than all of the others for what I want. None of the sims are perfect, in fact all of them are far from 'perfect' but we have the luxury of having many to choose from so that we can "pick our poison". Until such time as a sim comes along that truly "does it all", we're stuck in a world of compromise. Of course, on console it's a different story, there isn't the wealth of sims we have on PC.

Not aimed at the OP but what I, as a jaded, cynical, wrong-side of 40, gamer find bewildering is the lengths some people will go to, to shout down another game. It's a game, if you don't like it then put it down and play something else. Life is far too short to get angry about something you're doing to get away from the stresses of the world. For instance, I bought rFactor2 and have played it for a total of 2 or 3 hours, because I simply don't enjoy my time in it. Do I feel the need to go on every forum possible and moan about what I don't like? No, I just put it aside and play something else. By all means, post on the official forums the things you think are missing from the game but leave it at that one post - going on and on and on and on about the same thing just makes you "that nagging idiot" and will likely get your points ignored, no matter how good they are.


EDIT : For full disclosure, I do not work for SMS and have never been employed by them. I have received free gifts from them, for voluntary work that was "above and beyond the call of duty" during pCARS2 development but that's it. Oh and I've had dinner and got drunk (far too drunk :D) with a lot of the team and gone karting with a few of them. Just in case there are some that mistakenly think I work for them.

Great post
tenor_2.gif
 
Looking at the current result of his poll, I don't think he thinks it's going as well as he thought.

I don't want people to agree with me, I stated I was open to discussion, and thats exactly what I've been doing.

As for attention seeking... well I can't respond honestly to what I think of that statement here. Insulting tbh. Let alone talking like I'm not here. I mentioned you in the OP as a joke because I see you a lot here, now I wish I hadn't bothered.
 
It's a game, if you don't like it then put it down and play something else. Life is far too short to get angry about something you're doing to get away from the stresses of the world.

That is so true. I walked away from PCars 2 last December and the last 10 months of gaming have been the most stress free I have had in years. I realize, of course, that Cluck was not intending that people stop supporting Pcars, but I simply had to. The frustration was too much. The final straw for me was the lack of action to correct the very poor low-end sound coming through my television headphones. All the cars had no bottom end bass at all.

These days I spend my time playing Assetto Corsa and FM 6. The engine sounds in Assetto are just brutal when compared to Pcars on my Xbox machine and FM 6 has a very solid racer with more than enough cars to follow the whole history of motorsport, rather than just one corner.

I do not agree with everything the OP said, but I do understanding why he has taken the stance he has. I also can not help but wonder if PC gets far better support and quality control than console gaming...
 
Thank you to everybody who wanted to engage in an actual polite discussion. As oppose to certain peoples views my mind is not made up, I'm just a bit peeved with a lot of things. I made it clear that I thought the game had improved but some really niggly stuff is still there that are hampering my experience.

To all the reasonable folk here, thank you for the discussion and, peace.

I've never written a full review/opinion on this game, so here we go.

For reference, I'm a controller user, standard PS4, deluxe edition with the pre-order bonuses. (from what I hear, that's the downright worst way to experience the game.)

These DLC packs that have been coming out have mostly been OK at best. The fun pack was pretty pointless in my opinion and I rarely use those cars. The Porsche expansion was fine. The Le Mans pack had good classic content but the modern LMP1 sounds were laughable and completely innacurate when it came out. The Ferrari pack has some good cars, but again the engine sounds for a lot of them are completely wrong (cough, cough 458). I really expected more pre-release quality assurance from the DLC in this game (mostly in regards to sound). I know we live in the age where anything and everything can be fixed over the air, but it’s still upsetting.

The online environment is the crux of this game in my opinion. Sure, there’s a lot more stuff to do but in comparison to GT Sport but content means nothing if it can’t hold my interest. Every populated lobby is GT3 after GT3 and as much as people complain about GT Sport’s rating system, I think it works a hell of a lot better than this game. (I.E. it actually sees use)

The good portions of this game are racing against the AI and the track selection. It’s much more interesting playing offline against the bots in this game than Assetto or GT Sport. However I’m not that kind of player, so I’m rarely playing this game offline. I prefer an aspect of unpredictability in racing, and that’s something that offline bots can’t handle just yet. For the offline racing I've done this console generation, PC2 takes the cake, however this generation just hasn't been an offline one for me.

I payed $120 for this game at launch, which I regret. When I pay that much I don’t want to see pit boxes floating in the sky during my race, please and thank you. The only reason I preordered was to grab those Day-1 DLCs. (Good job locking the Panoz GT1 behind a paywall on day one SMS.)

I remember before this came out, all the forums and comment sections were pushing the hype hard for this game. “GT is dead” they said. Then you had Ian Bell with his giant ego saying every other racing game in existence was playing “catch up”. Yeah, the game didn’t live up to that at all.

(not to mention Ian Bell lied about the state of the game in pre-release. on this forum no less: https://www.gtplanet.net/forum/thre...ow-on-ps4-xb1-pc.342814/page-21#post-11703576 )

So yeah, I’m on the fence because the game's almost there, it has the potential to be so much more, but there’s a bunch of problems I have that need to be dealt with first before they win me back over. However, I'm still willing to buy the next one, if they incorporate most of the changes I'm looking for.

TL;DR
PROS:
  • Good offline
  • Good selection of cars
  • Best selection of tracks
  • Good AI
  • Great sounds on base-game cars
  • True multi-class racing
  • Tolerable controller handling (it isn't atrocious anymore, have a sticker.)
  • Ferrari 488 GT3
CONS:
  • Glitches that should be fixed by now
  • Online as barren as the Mojave Desert
  • Bad car sounds from the DLC packs (458, all modern LMP1H cars, Carrera GT etc.)
  • Day 1 DLC, seriously?
  • Photo-mode still doesn't work half the time
  • Awful framerate under stressful situations
  • Screen tearing
  • Makes my PS4 heat up like the sun
  • No free update cars unlike every other racing game in recent memory (just take a page from PD and add all the missing cars from PC1 as free DLC)
  • No offline championships, even though AC has it and they literally already have a menu for it in online.

Excellent points, I'm terrible at putting my points into words and just flail about. I also paid full price just for the Panoz (my fav car ever), I was on the hype train.
You've highlighted what I was attempting to say 100x better than what I did, and for that I thank you. Excellent review especially as you haven't done it before.
 
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That is so true. I walked away from PCars 2 last December and the last 10 months of gaming have been the most stress free I have had in years. I realize, of course, that Cluck was not intending that people stop supporting Pcars, but I simply had to. The frustration was too much.
I wasn't intending anything, if the game annoyed you that much then you took the right decision :).

Listen, I don't care what games people play, it's none of my business and I certainly don't have an agenda to try and get more anybody playing anything. Play a game, make up your own mind whether or not you like it and go from there, it's really that simple :). Anybody that tells you that you are wrong for enjoying (insert name of game) is themselves a fool, not you.
 
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