PCARS first impressions!

  • Thread starter mister dog
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Got to play the game yesterday for a bit. My roommate got it and I gotta say, it felt great, despite the fact that he's only got a controller his PC. I only went for a few hot laps around the Nordschleife (I can spend hours doing that) and it felt, looked and sounded damn nice đź‘Ť Granted, his graphics cards is way better than mine (he's running a GTX970, I'm a lowly 680), but I'm excited to test the physics with my CSR wheel.
 
The first track and car I tried was the 12C GT3 at Imola. Felt great, especially under braking for Rivazza, which is a touch corner IMO. I could really feel the weight transfer of the car as it moved down the hill in the braking zone.
 
I was giggling to myself last night when I took the E30 touring car out around Donnington park at dusk. First lap in practice mode and I was tippy toeing due to cold tyres but on lap 2 I opened up the throttle and woooowwwwwwww!! The noise :bowdown:
 
First impressions at the moment are very positive.

Managed to squeeze in around 3hours last night, mainly raced the BMW Z4 GT3 around brands hatch and Bathurst. AI seems good to me, had them at about 70% which gave me a relatively good challenge, until I get use to the controls and feel for the game, I can then ramp it up and get some serious competition.

The graphics are truly amazing, seriously sometimes I loose what im doing and crash because im to busy looking at the awesome graphics lol. After a bit of a struggle to get rid of screen tearing and the fps drops, ive got my game on pc stable and runs good. Still need to sort out the brightness of the game but with a bit of fiddling ill overcome that issue in no time.

I have been playing with the 360 controller, I tuned off the FFB because when I had it on it was causing slight stutter, not sure why but it was, once it turned this off it ran smoother. The handling is fine in my opinion.

The car selection is very good, plenty of cars to keep me happy, also a lot of people seem to forget that many cars have numerous liveries, so that x1 BMW Z4 has many different variations, if you watch motor sport on tv you will find the majority of cars are the same but with different liveries and sponsors etc.

Whole in whole im very happy with project cars, it has delivered exactly what I wanted it to, in many ways it reminds me of GTR2, which is no bad thing as that was a fantastic racing game and project cars improves on it in every way.

Bad side – Wife thinks im daft for getting WAY to excited over a racing game, I just said “look woman its all about project cars rite now, you will have to wait your turn” as you can imagine that didn’t go down to well, but I was embraced in a fantastic race around SPA and all worked itself out lol
 
It's not easy with a gamepad, but you can get used to it. Sensitivity is quite good, so I don't have to make 100 touches for one longer corner, but can instead find the right angle on the L joystick to really make a clean turn. Not easy to master at all though, and each track and each corner must be in your memory to be able to drive through it perfectly.

Started career mode in the GT series, those little Renault Clios are quite fun aren't they haha. Really like it. Nice way to start, with a smaller, bit slower car, but very fun to drive. And each new track you go to is just such a great experience, its a nice feeling getting to know a new track, when to turn, when to slam the throtle, can't wait to rank up to higher tiers, will be taking it slow and step by step as I get used to the game.

In day 2 of playing PCars, I can say the wait was worth it.

And it seems I'll have to start saving up for a wheel, said to myself if the game is as good as it looks that I'll buy it, the game was true to its word, I'll be as well. But not yet, need to save up first and then build myself a rig to mount it on.

PCars FTW!
 
After just finishing the (super twitchy) 125cc kart season I decided to try the Ford Focus invitational in the rain. Brakes does hardly work at all, and there is something seriously wrong with the handling. It is nigh on impossible to change direction of the car. Extremly sluggish. I know it is harder to control a car in the rain, but this is ridiculus. I miss Gran Turismo...2016 can't come soon enough. Thinking of selling this ****** game.

Oh, and another problem I have with my Thrustmaster T300RS is after racing a calender dual race day, come next race day the steeringwheel jerks to the left and stops responing unless I unplug the darn thing and reinserts it in the USB port. WTF!

Strangely I do not have much problems outside of calender mode...
 
psychoazubi
? I think most impressions are from the PS4 version?
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No, PC. And after that, PS4. Hardly any X1 mentions.

Torg22
Im Xboxone with TX and think its pretty darn good so far, multiplayer looked a bit off but in general very impressed.
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Great. I wonder how it is on a controller.

Are you impressed with the visuals? Are the engine sounds at least on par with FM5? Physics must be brilliant I'm sure.
 
^^ I have absolutely nothing bad to say about the engine sounds at all for the cars ive used so far. The BMW E30 M3 sounds like Beethooven to my ears and the Porsche GT3 has the best gearbox whine ever.

Visual yes, looks very good in general. Physics seem spot on too although I must say ive been struggling with the Clio Cup car.. its quite a handful (not necessarily a bad thing).

Only negative is that ive heard its a bit of a bitch on controller but I think people are working on tweaking settings as we speak to iron out the problems. Seems to be some happier people in these forums today.
 
Sounds are a mix of things. Ambient sounds to loud but you can probably turn them down(will check and do that).

And then you have cars like the old Mercedes with sounds that look like a 90's or 2000's car. That is bad.
 
KamyKaze1098
Sounds are a mix of things. Ambient sounds to loud but you can probably turn them down(will check and do that).

And then you have cars like the old Mercedes with sounds that look like a 90's or 2000's car. That is bad.
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Yes you can adjust sounds separately in the audio menu but I don't see what you are talking about when you say "ambient sounds" ? I mostly hear the engine and the transmission whistle, more or less depending on the car.
I mostly used GT3, karts and prototypes so far, didn't try every car yet.

But I agree car sounds aren't all equal, but the ones I tried are generally more than convincing and sometime really close to the real ones (and others not so much).
 
Torg22
^^ I have absolutely nothing bad to say about the engine sounds at all for the cars ive used so far. The BMW E30 M3 sounds like Beethooven to my ears and the Porsche GT3 has the best gearbox whine ever.

Visual yes, looks very good in general. Physics seem spot on too although I must say ive been struggling with the Clio Cup car.. its quite a handful (not necessarily a bad thing).

Only negative is that ive heard its a bit of a bitch on controller but I think people are working on tweaking settings as we speak to iron out the problems. Seems to be some happier people in these forums today.
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It's nice to play a game that gets the gearbox whine right, though I would much prefer to have accurate shifting sounds as well as exhaust and engine notes that make your sound system sing and your soul dance with sheer joy.

KamyKaze1098
Sounds are a mix of things. Ambient sounds to loud but you can probably turn them down(will check and do that).

And then you have cars like the old Mercedes with sounds that look like a 90's or 2000's car. That is bad.
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All the videos I've seen of PCARS so far, there are a select few where the cars sound really good... and then there are those where you hear almost no sound between shifts, and the off-throttle and deceleration sounds are just very linear with no sense of inertia or meatiness.

I watched a Twitch video of someone driving around an R8 race car and I can best describe the visuals and audio as near-abysmal. Video quality seemed okay.

Not writing it off though. Will check out the full X1 review when it comes, but not too keen on taking a chance on it the way I did with FM5 and H2. I knew those 2 would not disappoint, and they didn't.

Anyway, I'll be checking out these forums regularly for more console impressions, particularly X1.

David Talle
Yes you can adjust sounds separately in the audio menu but I don't see what you are talking about when you say "ambient sounds" ? I only hear the engine and the transmission whistle, more or less depending on the car.
I mostly used GT3, karts and prototypes so far, didn't try every car yet.

But I agree car sounds aren't all equal, but the ones I tried are generally more than convincing and sometime really close to the real ones (and others not so much).
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A little bit of hit-n-miss finds its way in nearly every racing game I think.

Remember how uber-impressive some engine sounds are in FM5? On the other hand, the F5 SLS AMG sound is off, and the Lexus LFA sounds weak, compared to FM4 where they were both spot on.

I think we're still a few years away from engine sounds being recreated perfectly in a game, although FM6 just might set a benchmark.
 
David Talle
Yes you can adjust sounds separately in the audio menu but I don't see what you are talking about when you say "ambient sounds" ? I mostly hear the engine and the transmission whistle, more or less depending on the car.
I mostly used GT3, karts and prototypes so far, didn't try every car yet.

But I agree car sounds aren't all equal, but the ones I tried are generally more than convincing and sometime really close to the real ones (and others not so much).
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On headset you can hear the crowd almost non stop in default audio settings. Might not be the case with proper sound from columns, but my tv got broken so I'm stuck with an old 17" monitor for now + headset :(
 
About the audio, liked the use of the controller speaker. I'm new to having a PS4, and knew it was there, but I didn't know default volume was maximum... However once pit engineer had stopped shouting instructions at me (Lewis Hamilton, I know the feeling of being yelled at mid corner now!) I liked that voice came from there rather than the TV. Gave sounds a nice "layer" to them in that the engine comes from outside the helmet and the voice from within it.
 
Ok so I've played a few free practice sessions and I have a few opinions on the game at first glance.

1. The physics are great, period. I've don't some laps around Laguna as its one of the tracks I know best from the GT series. I lapped in the Renault Megane and the understeer and heavy handed nature or a road car really shines. I then switched to one of my favourite cars the Ginetta G40. It's a dream to drive and really too Leguna in its stride. I did notice one bug which I'll put in the appropriate thread.

2. I haven't see these amount of graphical glitches and anomalies since the PS1 and my PC gaming days.

3. Wheel (TM T300 RS) feels so good, I tried to calibrate it but to be honest it felt cruddy afterwards so I opted to leave it as default.

I'm playing with all driving aids off apart from Antilock breaks, but after a few runs I may even turn them off too. I need to turn off some more of the graphical effects as they just look cheap and nasty and detract from the racing/driving. SMS have done a stellar job with the car physics and to me that's all I really need, the other physics governing the track etc need some work (advertising bill boards flying through the air after you roll over them at 2mph!) and some other tiny bits but on the whole it's going to be a great lot of fun racing track days and full race days inc all the dressings.
 
crowhop
My first impression is joy. The visuals are excellent. I am seeing that my GTX 980 is massive overkill as people with far less seem to be experiencing the same beautiful game I am. If anything, the game looks too pretty, bordering on unrealistic. But isn't it grande.

It took a bit to get my DFGT set up correctly. It still doesn't have the FFB or response I'd like, but it is not really much different than what I experience in GT6, so it is fine. A new wheel is on the agenda anyway.

The helmet cam is the way to go. I'll tinker with the "sense of speed" settings to get it just right. The blur is a bit excessive by default, especially when there is a car close in front of you, but I do love that driving view with the Karts and Formula Rookie. Being able to fully adjust the "seat' with simple keyboard clicks to get it just right is perfect.

I'll have to tinker with the sound settings as all of the karts sound the same as mine and I cannot tell, by sound, when I need to shift.

Learning all of the new tracks is going to be challenging.
In the Kart career, just dumping me into a race with no prior experience driving a Kart in the game or driving that track in the game is quite annoying. I assumed there would at least be some practice time. I don't like having to Reset and do-over just to get some seat time.

Setting the AI Skill and difficulty to max is the way to go. I loved only being able to qualify 14th in the Formula Rookie race at Oulton Park. I have no idea how to drive that track. I have no idea how to drive that car. So it is perfectly fitting that after the 30 minute practice and qualifying I'd still be running 1:30s.

After my relatively short session last night I can say that this isn't a "game". It could be. One could easily turn the settings down and make everything winnable, but if you want a challenge, I think it is there to be had.
I am looking forward to the challenge.
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Did you launch the game through the Logitech Driver App?

When i first played the game i launched it normally with the Logitech Driver running in the background, there was minimal FFB.

I then relaunched through the app and it worked just fine. :cool:
 
KamyKaze1098
On headset you can hear the crowd almost non stop in default audio settings. Might not be the case with proper sound from columns, but my tv got broken so I'm stuck with an old 17" monitor for now + headset :(
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I used headphones too 90% of the time because not everyone is enjoying that loud noise 10h/day at home :D
I decreased engine and effect sounds to 60/70% because otherwise I couldn't hear the engineer in most cars.

There's a nice work on audio dynamic so if you hear the crowd it may depend on the car you're driving. For instance the GT3 McLaren is much more quiet than the RUF or the Aston Martin (turbocharger my ears would like to thank you :D).

(I'm on PS4 too BTW)
 
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Speedster911
It's nice to play a game that gets the gearbox whine right, though I would much prefer to have accurate shifting sounds as well as exhaust and engine notes that make your sound system sing and your soul dance with sheer joy.



All the videos I've seen of PCARS so far, there are a select few where the cars sound really good... and then there are those where you hear almost no sound between shifts, and the off-throttle and deceleration sounds are just very linear with no sense of inertia or meatiness.

I watched a Twitch video of someone driving around an R8 race car and I can best describe the visuals and audio as near-abysmal. Video quality seemed okay.

Not writing it off though. Will check out the full X1 review when it comes, but not too keen on taking a chance on it the way I did with FM5 and H2. I knew those 2 would not disappoint, and they didn't.

Anyway, I'll be checking out these forums regularly for more console impressions, particularly X1.



A little bit of hit-n-miss finds its way in nearly every racing game I think.

Remember how uber-impressive some engine sounds are in FM5? On the other hand, the F5 SLS AMG sound is off, and the Lexus LFA sounds weak, compared to FM4 where they were both spot on.

I think we're still a few years away from engine sounds being recreated perfectly in a game, although FM6 just might set a benchmark.
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If FH2 is your benchmark and you are a pad player and you are on the fence, I think you should steer well clear of this game. Just my honest opinion.
 
teo72
After just finishing the (super twitchy) 125cc kart season I decided to try the Ford Focus invitational in the rain. Brakes does hardly work at all, and there is something seriously wrong with the handling. It is nigh on impossible to change direction of the car. Extremly sluggish. I know it is harder to control a car in the rain, but this is ridiculus. I miss Gran Turismo...2016 can't come soon enough. Thinking of selling this ****** game.

Oh, and another problem I have with my Thrustmaster T300RS is after racing a calender dual race day, come next race day the steeringwheel jerks to the left and stops responing unless I unplug the darn thing and reinserts it in the USB port. WTF!

Strangely I do not have much problems outside of calender mode...
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Yeah i done that invitational as well, Was nigh on impossible to control the car or brake.
 
FuriousDemon
If FH2 is your benchmark and you are a pad player and you are on the fence, I think you should steer well clear of this game. Just my honest opinion.
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Read again please, I said I knew what to expect when going into FM5 (which can be pitted against PCARS in terms of physics) and FH2. With PCARS I'm not sure if I should rush out to get a copy.

Where does it say I'm using Horizon 2 as a benchmark?
 
Lord_Lucan
Did you launch the game through the Logitech Driver App?

When i first played the game i launched it normally with the Logitech Driver running in the background, there was minimal FFB.

I then relaunched through the app and it worked just fine. :cool:
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I did the first time. But later had to reboot the computer and played through. It was better, still not perfect. I did tinker with the settings last night. I either made it worse, or better. I don't know yet what the result is.

It is definitely more realistic for the Karts, anyway. More difficult, but much more in line what my experience driving a Kart. Very, very direct steering, no dead zone, no power steering. Any correction has to be done by the driver, the wheel will not automatically recenter itself. I still have very little feel of what is happening at the rear of the car, but I think I like how the front end feels. I'll continue tinkering.

The only concern is if I will have to make all of these changes with each individual car. Also, I don't want to get so lost in the myriad of settings that I don't actually play the game. Thus far, I've probably only spent 20 minutes just driving and enjoying the game. The rest of the time has been spent with trial and error settings testing.
 
I picked up the game today and have only spent 1½ hours with it on the PS4. It seems really great, but since my Logitech wheel is not supported, I have to use the controller.

And honestly, I don't like the way the controller works for this game. No doubt that most people buying the game have a wheel setup, but since the game is released on consoles as well, I expected it to be decent with a controller. I had to turn down the sensitivity of both steering and throttle to be able to have some kind of feeling with the car. At least now that I can control the car somewhat I'll be able to adapt to it, so I'm not all negative :)

The game isn't quite as good looking as the footage I've seen of the PC version, so I would probably guess that if you have the option to play it on PC with a wheel instead (I only own a laptop, sadly) you should do that.

AI seems very aggressive, but that shouldn't be too bad; it'll be like racing with real people who can actually make mistakes and hit you, unlike the Gran Turismo AI that is too scared of getting close to you.

Tire temperatures matter! The car is actually difficult to drive when tires are cold.

Overall, my first impression is good. I'm not going to say that this is the best racing game ever - because it probably isn't - but I'm pretty sure it's a good game and getting more quality racers for consoles is something I have wanted for a long time, especially after the GT6 disaster.
 
Ok a few more impressions from me (PS4 BTW)

Just finished my first race and this is the race day info:

  • Start Time: 10:00am
  • Weather: Set to random (it gave me a thunderstorm)
  • Circuit: Brans Hatch GP
  • Car: Ginetta G40 Junior
  • AI: 80% Same cars as me 15 of them
I set the race day to have two practice sessions at 10 minutes each and a warm up session and qualifying session also both at 10 minutes each and a 5 lap race which should (with my cruddy times) be about 10 minutes.

I left the game to suggest tyres and the like, and proceeded to have a lot of fun. Despite its quirky graphical ticks the game runs smooth as butter and didn't faulter at all. Despite my efforts I kept ranking towards the back as the AI must have huge gonads and super grippy rain tyres.

Overall I was grinning for the whole 50 minutes and loved the challenge. I've also used my PS4 Bluetooth headphones and the sounds is so much better than GT. I also enjoyed the weather, I felt it was very British and marched the car and circuit perfectly.

If your haven't settled in to a full race day yet I suggest you do as it's makes this game for me. I don't care if I can't get anywhere near the competition I just love having fun.
 
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Speedster911
Read again please, I said I knew what to expect when going into FM5 (which can be pitted against PCARS in terms of physics) and FH2. With PCARS I'm not sure if I should rush out to get a copy.

Where does it say I'm using Horizon 2 as a benchmark?
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Ok, sorry, misunderstood you then. Anyway, still, if you are unsure of what to do then wait. There plenty of info and videos and reports out there, so if it's not convincing either way, just hold off until something clicks for you.
 
I cant wait till I get this on Tuesday(ugh) But I heard that the ds controller is really sensitive. If this is true any suggestions on this? , thank you for any kind of answers:cheers::bowdown::bowdown::bowdown::bowdown:
 

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