Project CARS 2 PlayStation 4 Review

Releasing pc3 with less content and less features so its less buggy on release is not the way to go, this isn't Gran Turismo Sport where that's somehow acceptable.

However I do agree next time there should be a closed beta for the console versions of the game. Console players deserve as much support as those pc guys :P
 
However I do agree next time there should be a closed beta for the console versions of the game. Console players deserve as much support as those pc guys :P

Agreed. And it's kind of strange, because I'm sure they are selling a heck of a lot more games for consoles compared to PC. I would have though it would have been even more important to give the console versions the right support.
 
Agreed. And it's kind of strange, because I'm sure they are selling a heck of a lot more games for consoles compared to PC. I would have though it would have been even more important to give the console versions the right support.
DEFO! id put money on it PCars 1 on PS4 outselling the PC version by quite some margin. Also im i right in saying they put dedicated servers out for PC but dont bother for PS4 or Xbone?
 
Solid review SlipZtreM, good list of pros and cons in the article, I would probably have given it half a star extra in the content, physics and sound department and then you'd be looking at a 9/10.

I've bought the game for both the PS4 Pro (connected to a 65" 4K HDR TV) and XBox One (connected to the same TV albeit under different conditions :P) and play them both with the controllers. Here is my little take on the PS4 Pro version :

* The atmosphere and immersion of the game is phenomenal! I have already experienced some of the best singleplayer races I have ever experienced and that was just from the beginning of the career mode in Ginetta Junior and GT5. That is just the tip of the iceberg, the lowbie classes. All that immersion comes from a lot of things like the stunning visuals under certain daylight in HDR, the massively improved controller handling (except for the Ginetta GT4 Proving Groudn event, all cars I tried worked really good with a controller straight out of the box), the often incredible sound effects, very impressive weather effects like fog, rain and puddles, the authentic feeling of motorsport racing thanks to correct car classes, practice and qualifying weekends, the authentic feeling of the driver career mode and then all the "little" contributing things like formation laps, cooldown laps, manual pit stops, animated pit crew, the engineer that assists with setups, the motorsport presets for quick races, the slick menus and their superb music. Everything that should matter in a racing game is actually well represented in PCARS 2. And last but certainly not least, I'm having a LOT of fun with photomode in this game as well.

* There are aspects I haven't even touched like tuning and multiplayer or some serious time trials. Well manually tuning then because I have been using that engineer assistant and the fella has proven to be very useful. Before PCARS 2 little did I know that adjusting the rear anti-roll bars would help with the ability to corner, it's really great I'm learning a bit more of basic tuning this way. Multiplayer I will for sure give a try as well. I did play the 4 community events though and I had most fun with the Ligier at Algarve (my god I love that track!).

* However, not everything in this game is perfect out of the box. There are some little bugs left and right but nothing that is really game breaking for me. Maybe from the small bugs the one that annoyed me the most is my pit crew not always being visible even if I called them with the pit request earlier. I didn't experience any of this menu lag though, I do have the washed out intro video and cutscenes on my PS4 Pro as well (it works fine on my XBox though).

* There is one bug that is really hindering my singleplayer experience though to the point I have stopped playing career all together. That bug is the inconsistency of the AI difficulty in various weather conditions. Plus from reading the official forums there might be a bug with tires not heating up as much as they should which only augments the AI difficulty problem. On race 2/5 of my Ginetta GT5 race I had an incredable singleplayer experience (which you can read up here: http://forum.projectcarsgame.com/sh...h-buying-for&p=1362999&viewfull=1#post1362999). Unfortionately the race that followed that was impossible for me to win even with AI on already lower than normal difficulty setting. I refused to play career that way and stopped playing it for now. At the moment I'm focussing on quick races and time trials trying out a lot of different car/track combinations, like SlipZtreM said the combinations here are endless!

* I have also seem some issues with draw distances on the PS4 Pro and yes, photomode does have an issue with anti-aliasing. I'm sure these will be fixed in the near future.

* SMS has a very good reputation in fixing their games, just look at how PCARS 1 released and what the team has made from it with all the content updates, the GOTY edition is day and night difference to how the game released. So PCARS 2 for sure will head in the same way, the content in this game is completely blowing any possible competition out of the water if you ask me. Yes there are some bugs in the game right now but have some patience and these will be fixed with patches. And what will remain then is a true gem in the racing genre for many years to enjoy for those who appreciate immersion and authenticity in their game/sim.

* Maybe a small update on the XBox standard as well. The biggest difference for me is HDR. If you play any game with or without HDR, you will never want to go back to the version without HDR anymore. So I didn't play the XBox version that much apart from the community events. The resolution on the XBox is a bit lower, frame rates feel a bit slower and there are some occasional tearing effects. But still, it is very much playable even on an XBox One. Granted I have not really stress tested it with 31 AI cars on a big map with the worse weather conditions. If the performance would be too low, I'm sure that will be fixed with updates as well. But even on a standard XBox, this is IMO still the best racing game you can get for it, that is if you are into it for the racing itself and not for loot crates, driver costumes and whatnot.

* My plan is to keep playing it until November 7th on the PS4 Pro and then my X1X Scorpio Edition will arrive. I think I might as well wait with restarting my career until then, with just over a month to go, SMS will most likely have fixed the AI difficulty / tire heating problem so I can re-immerse myself into the career mode. Until that time I will keep doing the community events, test out all the cars I didn't try yet (180 cars is a LOT of they all have this amount of depth and character), do more quick races with motorsport presets, some time trials, some multiplayer, enough stuff to keep me occupied. Sidenote - the physics in this game are so good even with a controller it's the first time ever I'm interested to dig myself into tuning so that is something I will want to learn over the next month as well and the knowledge will help me in career later as well.
 
I'd say the game is a racing masterpiece on consoles.

Mechanical failures, career racing for teams, crash effects, the spotter, rolling starts, cool down lap.

All I see them missing is some proper podium animations. And co-op career mode(race for same team).
 
Great review, sums up my experiences quite accurately.

I was beyond pumped for this game, after the relative disappointment and frustration with GT5 and GT6.

I got home after work last Friday, popped the disc in, loaded up the Lotus Type 40 Ford at Classic Spa, and went for a lap. I honestly can't remember a single video game experience that I've had that put a bigger smile on my face. It was heaven!!

After trying a few more car and track combos, and falling even more in love, I told myself it was time to get serious. Got in the NISMO GTR GT3 at Algarve, and started to work on a base tune for online racing. After an hour of tweaking settings, I felt I was ready to start actually working on the tune. Compared to the year old it took me to get a comfortable setup in PC1 on the DS4, I was really impressed with the changes made to controller support.

When it came time to start working on the setup, I hit my first speed bump. Within 15 min of working on setups, I realized there was some pretty serious issues and inconsistancies with the way tunes were saving and loading. On top of that, the ergonomics of the UI started to grate at me from the word go.

I eventually gave up on setting up the car, figuring that there was clearly issues with setup saves, and decided to just jump online, do some default setup lobbies.

First lobby I join, I go gvt the loading screen to get yto the track, and I get to a screen that says Waiting, in a yellow box at the top. I waited for 5-10 minutes before eventually leaving. Over the course of Saturday and Sunday, I spent several hours trying to get into online lobbies, only to have either the same thing happen, or get disconnected when switching from quali to race. I also had several lockups and blue screens along the way.

I gave up on the online for now, figuring it would get fixed - this isn't the first game I've bought that had connectivity issues at release. I decided to try my luck with a single player career. I didn't do much single player in PC1, as I just couldn't get along with the AI.

Upon starting my career with Ginetta Jrs, I instantly noticed 2 things. There was an improvement in the AI, but there was some recurring issues, as well as some strange phenomenon. The first race I did at Snetterton 200, I instantly recognized the same line and speed issues that the AI has at T1 and T4. T1 they are slow as molasses, T4 they are unbelievably fast. it's like racing against a yo yo on a rubber band. As I progressed through the rest of Jrs and GT5, I came across other weird issues like tire temps, inconsistent pace in the wet, inconsistent pace from track to track or event to event, along with more tracks that had corners similar to Snetterton - Knockhill being another, fast at T3, slow at the chicane.

I posted some of my issues here, mostly the online ones, and got a response from @IanBell, saying things were being worked on. Cool, great to hear that. After life with PD, it's nice to actually hear a response.

I went to the official SMS forums, where I discovered many other people were having similar or exact same issues. I made several posts detailing my experiences, with the aim to give info to the devs in hopes that they can fix and improve some things.

What I found in more than one thread was rather snarky and arrogant comments from some moderators, very proud of the product they had sold, but not to keen on taking negative feedback, unless it was coated with sugar and sprinkles.

In one thread regarding the AI, one mode boasted about the phenomenal amount of work that went into the AI. I replied saying that he was either full of crap, or hadn't played the same game we are if he wasn't able to see the repeated issues that people were experiencing and explained. I promptly got a lifetime ban from their forums.

So now I don't really know what to do. Part of me wants to stay positive despite yet another letdown after GT5, GT6, PC1, and now PC2. Like I said, the core of this is great, and has massive potential, if it could work. Another part of me wants to return the game, but that doesn't really do much except screw over the store I bought it from, since they can't return it. I was thinking I could return it and then use my in-store credit to rebuy a used copy in 6-12 months when hopefully all the bugs are ironed out, along with a used copy of GT Sport. I do feel bad for anyone who spent a few thousand dollars on a complete rig for this, that has to be frustrating.

Overall, it's a diamond, but it's covered in a lot of turd right now.
 
I think the review was fair, though spent a bit much time focusing on noting all the good and bad bits and not how the game presents as an entire package/experience. As in "had best ever on track experience" but that doesn't count in the good/bad tally, if you get what I mean :P

I only hope two things for the inevitable GTS review in comparison: the same critical lenses is applied (affecting the score appropriately) and a PS4 Pro doesn't magically arrive for the review...

I must also say it really does look like we're going to be spoilt for quality racing choice and everyone should have something to suit their needs and fun by November :)
 
I would like for ian bell to tell everyone why would you release a game that is unfinished again but he will just say it is finished or say something silly they should call him nasa

Never a straight answer
 
I would like for ian bell to tell everyone why would you release a game that is unfinished again but he will just say it is finished or say something silly they should call him nasa

Never a straight answer
If you're not getting straight answers while most of the people in here are, maybe the problem is in your line of questioning. Just sayin...
 
If you're not getting straight answers while most of the people in here are, maybe the problem is in your line of questioning. Just sayin...
I aked when the first one was released why release a game that was full of bugs and got no straight reply just abuse of his mods on the forum and got banned.. hopefully I can get a refund because of the Sony vr support mess up
 
Releasing pc3 with less content and less features so its less buggy on release is not the way to go, this isn't Gran Turismo Sport where that's somehow acceptable.

However I do agree next time there should be a closed beta for the console versions of the game. Console players deserve as much support as those pc guys :P

It's an interesting question. They are a small team with a lower budget than the other two. What will players prefer, a focused smaller title with less bugs or the current states quo. I'm in the former camp.
 
It's an interesting question. They are a small team with a lower budget than the other two. What will players prefer, a focused smaller title with less bugs or the current states quo. I'm in the former camp.

I prefer content if the game get's it's bugs fixed. (Yes I know no game is without bugs, but the gamebreaking ones)


I aked when the first one was released why release a game that was full of bugs and got no straight reply just abuse of his mods on the forum and got banned.. hopefully I can get a refund because of the Sony vr support mess up

I disagree with a lot of forums because usally mods are very rude and struggle to he a moderator. So they choose whe' to put on the mod hat when it suits them. Have you ever googled how many stram mods are universally disliked bevause of exactly that?

Now having thise unpaid mods on the same level as Ian or the american is just plain wrong.

I have been in a discussion with Ian. He was very fair. Ok at first his respinse was a bit harsh (as was my post he was replying to due to a miscommunication) but after we understood each other we had a little discussion that was mutually respectfull.
 
It seems a fair review to me.
Those suggesting other games such as GTSport will receive more favourable reviews tells me those people don't spend enough time on the GT board.

I understand things may be all rosy on the PC side, but console users are struggling.
To be frank, there's very little of the game that isn't affected with issues.
And if you are reviewing the game, it must be done as it stands, not how we hope it will be after X amount of patches.

With some reservation my pre-order held, and I picked the game up on release.
My concern was always regarding lack of footage and details for consoles.
My impression was that the developers had little interest for the console version of the game.

And it's fair to say that my first experience wasn't great.
Now, it's not something that is going to set me on a posting rampage.
It's disappointing that this is the situation we are in.
And to add something negative, it's difficult to understand how such basic issues could possibly get through any decent QA process.

But saying that, I'll definitely hold onto the game because clearly behind all the issues there is a great game.
And I'm looking forward to sinking many hours into it.

But sadly, as it stands, the game is back in the case, as it seems pointless continuing in its current form.
 
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I aked when the first one was released why release a game that was full of bugs and got no straight reply just abuse of his mods on the forum and got banned.. hopefully I can get a refund because of the Sony vr support mess up

You would have been banned because your attitude sucked. Free speech doesn't mean speech has no consequences.

And besides, of course any game studio is going to be as positive as possible when their game is new, but Ian has been pretty honest about the first game and was honest about the second being not perfect too.

They likely released it with some bugs because as the newcomer it was critical they hit the market before the very well established competition.

But sadly, as it stands, the game is back in the case, as it seems pointless continuing in its current form.

I believe Ian mentioned in another thread that the next console patch is only a matter of days away, it also has heaps of fixes as I understand it.
 
I disagree with a lot of forums because usally mods are very rude and struggle to he a moderator. So they choose whe' to put on the mod hat when it suits them. Have you ever googled how many stram mods are universally disliked bevause of exactly that?

Now having thise unpaid mods on the same level as Ian or the american is just plain wrong.
Mr. Parks was a known troll there, nothing to do with inappropriate mod behavior. And now he's acting all surprised he's not getting any answers? :lol: But that's quite off-topic in here. ;)
 
You would have been banned because your attitude sucked. Free speech doesn't mean speech has no consequences.

And besides, of course any game studio is going to be as positive as possible when their game is new, but Ian has been pretty honest about the first game and was honest about the second being not perfect too.

They likely released it with some bugs because as the newcomer it was critical they hit the market before the very well established competition.



I believe Ian mentioned in another thread that the next console patch is only a matter of days away, it also has heaps of fixes as I understand it.
Yeh, spotted that.
I'm looking forward to it.

It must be said though, that we have already had a day one patch worth 13Gb.
So while it may seem I'm having a dig, I would hate to see how the game performed before that patch.
I guess I'm pointing to the QA again, but it's difficult to believe this game wasn't pushed out too early.
At least for consoles.
I understand the timing with regards to other games releasing soon, but it's hard to shake the feeling that, okay, release the PC version, but the console version requires more time.
I know that may hurt sales, but I would have thought they could do with shaking the Project Bugs tag.

Anyway, what's done is done.
Let's get beyond that and look forward.
I don't wish to harp on and open old wounds.

The game has great potential.
So let's hope the next patch really whittles down those major issues so we can all enjoy the game and what it has to offer, regardless of platform.
 
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Like the op said he complained in the project cars forum and the mods jump on your back they don't like any one saying any thing wrong about there buggy games
 
Like the op said he complained in the project cars forum and the mods jump on your back they don't like any one saying any thing wrong about there buggy games
What they don't like is mindless, generic ranting. Nobody does. It's unproductive and time consuming and all developers are busy people. I've never seen them fail to address specific complaints that are well explained, especially if video is included. Perhaps you should review your approach and focus on specific issues rather than aimless complaining. Taking the time to properly construct your posts with good grammar, punctuation, sentence structure, capitals, spelling etc. would also help.
 
This game in consoles is a mess
I love the game but why launch a game with so many bugs?
The game have more bugs then the first
I´m so sad.
I always defended and love the SMS work in Project Cars but launch a game with so many bugs?
Why?
 
Like the op said he complained in the project cars forum and the mods jump on your back they don't like any one saying any thing wrong about there buggy games

Please use proper grammar and punctuation. It's something you agreed to when joining the site.

Also, please do not drag issues from other sites here. If you have a problem elsewhere, deal with it elsewhere.
 
I agree with @lancia delta hf --- A few more months of optimization would go a long way.

I suppose that would forfeit the advantage of releasing before FM7 and GTS, as well as miss out on holiday sales though.
The real issue here is that after the slack the first game received, SMS really should have taken extra measure to minimize bugs on release this time around, especially ones that impact the overall experience. Even if that meant delaying it for a few months. And especially when this game is basically being marketed as the next best thing since sliced bread. Which is what got my nephew excited for it and is rather disappointed and frustrated by the whole experience ( Base PS4). With such a marketing campaign which is clearly meant to grab the attention of casuals/mainstream (which includes my nephew) then the product has to be fit for purpose on day 1, these type of gamers aren't like myself who can wait for a racing game to improve over the year.

@andyparks I can't see anything on PSN store regarding VR. You're up **** creek without a paddle on this one unfortunately.
 
The real issue here is that after the slack the first game received, SMS really should have taken extra measure to minimize bugs on release this time around, especially ones that impact the overall experience. Even if that meant delaying it for a few months. And especially when this game is basically being marketed as the next best thing since sliced bread. Which is what got my nephew excited for it and is rather disappointed and frustrated by the whole experience ( Base PS4). With such a marketing campaign which is clearly meant to grab the attention of casuals/mainstream (which includes my nephew) then the product has to be fit for purpose on day 1, these type of gamers aren't like myself who can wait for a racing game to improve over the year.

@andyparks I can't see anything on PSN store regarding VR. You're up **** creek without a paddle on this one unfortunately.

I can see where ypu are coming from.
Yet I wonder, coming from games like battlefield and such I remember way buggier releases. Games meznt to pretty much play online only in which online features where so bugged it was litterally unplayable due to connection issues.

How do we explai' the diffrence between the lack of impact it has compared to the impact you predict for this game?

Could this be due to the fact this is a niche market? Or could you be wrong?

Curious what gtp thinks of this
 
The real issue here is that after the slack the first game received, SMS really should have taken extra measure to minimize bugs on release this time around, especially ones that impact the overall experience. Even if that meant delaying it for a few months. And especially when this game is basically being marketed as the next best thing since sliced bread. Which is what got my nephew excited for it and is rather disappointed and frustrated by the whole experience ( Base PS4). With such a marketing campaign which is clearly meant to grab the attention of casuals/mainstream (which includes my nephew) then the product has to be fit for purpose on day 1, these type of gamers aren't like myself who can wait for a racing game to improve over the year.

@andyparks I can't see anything on PSN store regarding VR. You're up **** creek without a paddle on this one unfortunately.
I have a photo of it saying it on the ps store they changed it yesterday
 
What they don't like is mindless, generic ranting. Nobody does. It's unproductive and time consuming and all developers are busy people. I've never seen them fail to address specific complaints that are well explained, especially if video is included. Perhaps you should review your approach and focus on specific issues rather than aimless complaining. Taking the time to properly construct your posts with good grammar, punctuation, sentence structure, capitals, spelling etc. would also help.
This. Definitely this on any forum. I've seen many forum threads go this way and be successful in reaching a conclusion far more often than the ranty, mindless abuse some people think will get them anywhere.
 

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