In Career maybe winning every race is not ideal

I've been doing a lot of practicing and qualifying until I get pole position and then do the race which I always win. I have the AI set at 70% because I can just barely beat them at that level.

I've been thinking maybe that's not the best way to play the game. When you're in pole and you're the fastest car you don't really get to race. There are no risky overtaking moves. You're not chasing down the guy in front of you lap after lap.

Maybe the best way to play the game is to set the AI level such that you qualify in the middle of the pack when you try your hardest. Then set the race to be as long as possible so you have time to actually move up in position without taking crazy risks.

Anyone else have any ideas of how to make the career more enjoyable?

 

This is how you should set it. I don't have PCars but on Race 07 I have the AI at 90% (95% they obliterate me) and I usually qualify in the top 8 (varies by track) and I can move up a few places if I'm at my best. This is probably the best way to play ANY racing sim.

 

It is definitely more fun when you have to fight through the pack and either lose or just barely manage a win.

When my brother and I were testing an issue we were adding 55 AI cars on Lemans and starting at the back of the pack AI at only 50% but also only two laps. Getting to the front in just two laps was quite a challenge and rarely happened. Even with 35 cars it required some careful and quick driving. One mishap and pretty much no chance.

Sometimes we were doing 4 laps which was much easier to get to the front even with a few minor mishaps but was still more fun than being in front the whole time.

In our case the real reason we were doing this was to keep as many cars in the frame as possible to try and reproduce and eliminate an issue that was occurring with frame rate drop, car slow down and speed up suddenly

 

I think you've answered your own question. Ramp up the AI and sweat for every point

 

What if you're an absolute noob, can't set a qualifying time because you keep invalidating laps, can obtain a top ten finish from the back of the grid in five laps, but don't have a hope in hell when you have mandatory pit stops? Clio in Career at 10%!

 

I see from your signature that you have a steering wheel. Have you got that set up properly?

There are many good tips in these forums if you have a poke about

 

Crank up the duration of the practice session and practice practice practice. Always remember that the tires start cold in both practice and qualifying so take it easy the first lap or two and focus on keeping the car on the track rather than trying to be fast. Speed will come.

 

Can anyone really definitively say what is the best way to enjoy this title? I would argue that they can not, because what is fun for one may not be for another. Perhaps some really enjoy qualifying on pole, leading every lap and winning, or maybe others like racing with the difficulty ramped well up and fighting for a hard won position regardless of whether that's a race win or not. Thankfully we don't live in a world where everyone finds enjoyment in exactly the same ways. Even more thankfully PCars provides options so that people can tailor their experience in such a way that they can enjoy it in the way that suits their personal preferences.

 

It's definitely an individual thing but both Forza and GT are so heavily biased towards winning (not winning = less money = smaller garage etc. ) that it takes a whole new mindset to forget about winning and to race for the joy of racing and to appreciate and even learn from losing. I think it's a good thing to encourage this approach and I've read from more than a few players so far that their best races have nothing to do with winning and everything to do with racing.

Being able to have multiple careers also means you can try several different approaches to the AI and be a front runner, mid-packer and a backmarker, depending on your skills and AI level.

 

I totally agree that a new approach in terms of mindset about winning could be encouraged & I do believe that once people try this different approach, they are likely to find more enjoyment. From my own experience, the best races I've had by far on Project Cars were ones where I did not win, or even came close to winning.

Your suggestion of having different careers with different levels of AI difficulty could be a fantastic way of encouraging players to try this different approach.

 

No they don't. The tyres on GT3 and LMP cars start warm in practice. Well they have been for me in career on PS4 anyway.

 

I too have had the AI at 70% and have over 60 hours in career mode.

I can qualify on some tracks up to 3 seconds a lap faster that the AI BUT in the race they can be 4 seconds a lap quicker than what they qualified at. We won't even mention how they are in the wet :-(

I have started another thread here named "The AI Cheats" https://www.gtplanet.net/forum/threads/the-ai-cheats.328936/ and for these reasons here I shall continue on the way I am until the AI gets 'tweaked' by SMS. There is just no point in trying to race them until then.

My enjoyment is learning the new tracks, learning how to tune the cars and trying to get a handle on how the FFB works in this game and of course slowly working my way through the PS4 trophies.

 

Do you have actual documented proof with lap time comparisons under the same weather conditions. In my testing they are around 0.5 sec to 1 sec faster in race than in quali. Never seen them that much faster in the race unless the quali was in rain and the race was in dry conditions.

Also, keep in mind there are bugs when you do "skip to end of session" and accelerate time in quali, so those may affect the results as well

 

Ok, I don't think I have had a GT3 out in practice mode as of yet nor an full on LMP. I did have an LMP3 out in practice and it most definitely started with cold tires as did the GT4 and GT5 and the road cars that i have tried.

Thus far every car I have driven was on cold tires in practice

 

It doesn't matter too much if the AI is cheating or not. The better sim racers here are able to beat the AI easily.

 

Using Jack Spade, but only got the wheel last week, and this is the first game I've used a wheel on.

Yep, increase practice looks like the way to go!

 

Good thing is because there are different bots getting into the results in each championship race, you can still end up as nr. 1 by consistent point finishes at the end of the season. So there's even less pressure to win every race.

 

No I did not document it. No I did not skip to end of session. Yes I am running on shortest time e.g 10min qual. 3 lap sprint race 5 lap endurance.

Where the above happened I was in career, at Spa, GT3 two race weekend, AI set to 70%. Being Spa 10min. sessions are only long enough to do a warm up and two timed laps so I did run full sessions. Four seconds on a 2:30 lap time is still quite large.

I easily won race one (3 laps). Race two was a 5 lapper with pit stop. I ran this twice. First time as I crossed the start/finish line following the excessively fast AI on lap four I was disqualified for not making a pit stop. So I re-ran the race and yes the AI did the same again and ran me down in 4 laps. didn't pit and went just as fast when the rain came down.

I have also told this in my thread "The AI Cheats" https://www.gtplanet.net/forum/threads/the-ai-cheats.328936/page-2#post-10729890

I should add, I was in the McLaren 12c GT3 and Spa is one of my favourite tracks from previous games.

 

No they can't. I refer you to my example at Spa.

 

I say it varies.

If you're looking for tight Qualifying close racing, hunting down opponents and close victories, then I suggest cranking the difficultly up.

If you want to have more of a casual drive with the racing atmosphere then I suggest either keeping it or lowering it.

If you want to get obliterated and lose everytime then bring it up to the highest .

 

No one can really say the best way to enjoy any game. Different people want different things from different games.

 

I decieded to a full Nascar race at Watkins Glen 90 laps,100% or ACE AI ,they were qualifying at 1:10 usually i run 1:09 but i choose not to qualify and start at the back

I finally took the lead just before my scheduled first pit stop ,getting through the first 10 or so AI Cars wasnt so difficult ,taking the next ten positions was about being paitent and using the slip stream on straight ,The slipstream is perfect just enough to notice your accelerating quicker without extending your top speed into fantasy land ,working my way through upto first place from this point was full of personal little duels ,sometimes having to wait for the slightest error or AI cars making contact with each other just to get past

At this point the game felt alive i was being tested to my full ability even though i have run this race many times ,knowing i can do a lap quicker than them made no point at this stage .Making my way through the field was about consistant fast laps with no mistakes and every posistion i took from 15 to 1 was hard earned stressfull but incredibly enjoyable .The sight of a Car in the top ten slipping into the pits instead of me having to battle past them around the 30 lap mark was sheer elation ,i genuinely cannot remember a driving game that made me feel like this or made me work so hard

Would certainly reccomend trying this

 

I think I'm in complete agreement with you.

I said this in another GT Planet thread but for years, all the racing games we've played have only rewarded getting on the podium (And in some cases, only winning) that we've become accustomed to the win being the goal to aim for.

With Project Cars, the satisfaction and career structure is set up in such a way that the reward is simply the racing and the driving. Nothing needs to be unlocked or acquired, it's just you against the track.

Before Project Cars, I maintained the best racing experience I had in a game was F1 2013 and Grid Autosport. Good AI or online players transforms any racing game and it made me realise that is where so much pleasure lies, learning a cars handling, battling for position and taking a genuine reward from qualifying 12 / 25 and then putting the car 9th place during the race.

Project Cars is so freaking good.

 

So, wait, you beat the AI on 100%, coming from the back of the pack?? That can't be possible, because some dude on the interwebs said good sim racers can't beat the AI.




I'm so confused.

 

Are AI doing 2:26 in dry conditions? Think with that car you can get into 2:15's so should be possible still to beat them, seems like they are increasing in difficulty setting in race.

 

I think he's the real Alien if he can beat the AI at 100% from last place.

I'm forced to dial it down from 100% because I'm qualifying near the bottom. lol

 

Nah, he'd create a thread and brag about it if he was.

 

I was like you with my AI on 70 and was running away from the pack...no fun. At the start of a season I put the AI on 80...and its way more fun. I don't win every race but I won the Championship (only by 10 points). It made the game more realistic. Like was said before in this thread, since you don't need to win "credits" to buy cars there isn't a reason to have to win EVERY race......give it a shot, you'll be glad you did

 

exactly and so well said!!! it is about the joy of racing, testing, experiencing, tuning and the challenge! NOT winning like the other titles!

 

This "dude" only said you can't beat them when they cheat. A very distinct difference you will find. I gave the example where I was forced to pit and they were not.

The other examples of AI cheating Are:

Corner cutting (generally not respecting track boundaries)
Dive bombing in corners and ramming
Overtaking on a straight while on the grass
No tyre wear (that I have seen)
Not slowing in the rain when on slicks
Not pitting for rain tyres
Ramming me at the start on a rolling start
Swerving in front of me when I am overtaking on a straight causing a collision
When I have spun ramming me head on and having me DSQed

Obviously most of these you can still beat them BUT being DSQed and the pit thing you aren't coming back from ;-)