Project CARS 3: General Discussion Thread - Out August 28th, 2020 on XB1/PS4/PC

  • Thread starter jake2013guy
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I never played much Project CARS3 but just booted up the game again out of curiosity/nostalgia.

I gave up playing the game halfway through career it seems with entire career sections still locked behind progression (Road A, Hypercar, GTA & GT Open are locked, I’m level 35 it seems). When going through my garage it seems I am missing more cars than I am owning cars as well. :P I did get all the DLC back in the days but I don’t seem to have any of those cars in my garage. Also all DLC career events are still untouched.

While eagerly waiting for FM-not-8 (already pre-ordered it) I can’t help but be a bit disappointed about it only having 20 locations. I just scrolled through the PC3 locations and counted no less than…. 56 (!!!) of them. 😲 Holy smokes! There are some absolutely favourites of mine like Portimao, Bahrain, Brno, Dubai Autodrome, Jerez, Oschersleben, Sportsland Sugo, Texas Motor Speedway, Zandvoort, Zhuhai & Zolder. Those are all mostly circuits I have memories from in PC 1, 2 or 3, maybe an F1 game or a GRID game. For the rest the big titles like FM & GT don’t include these tracks. Maybe I should pick up PC3 again at some point (don’t really have the time for it now unfortunately). I remember the game getting a lot of flack back in the days but you gotta admit for a console racing game it has the best track roster out there by a huge mile. Also some of the cars in it are really unique (some got recycled into GRID Legends).

is anyone still playing PC3 and enjoying it?
 
breyzipp
is anyone still playing PC3 and enjoying it?
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Yeah I dip in for the track roster its the best there is, the car AI is a let down (with the bunching) that's my only gripe. I usually just stay out of career and run custom races, I avoid the grind by hitting square in the car selection screen and access the full car roster (albeit they don't have upgrades). Its a shame the series is discontinued it was really evolving with each iteration.
 
PC3 has a lot of things going for it, but every time I try it again out of curiosity or whatever, I start disliking it more and more the longer I play it which is a shame.

The AI is horrific. Absolutely horrible. It’s a nice handling game and although it’s not a sim at this stage it’s a nice balance on controller especially and fun to drive. But any race with AI is just a nightmare because they just swarm around like you’re playing a complete fantasy arcade racer, ramming you from behind, going three wide through corners way faster than you can because they’re not governed by the same physics. Even on the easiest settings. Then they basically stop dead at any tight corner to let everybody concertina up, with you inevitably caught in the middle. There’s no way to turn off visual damage so you end up finishing every race without a front or rear wing if you’re driving a single seater.

This is what’s always wound me up about every SMS game, to be honest. They build something that’s 80-90% brilliant, then ruin it with some of the stupidest design decisions that just leave you wondering if they’re trolling you. I do still love PC2, but it’s a complicated relationship because there’s so many little things I dislike about it, coming at it with a sim head on. Their refusal to add custom championship/race options despite literally everybody on their community clamoring for it, for instance, like they did it on purpose to annoy people. Anyway, I digress. PC3 is utter trash for me, but so nearly isn’t.
 
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Completely agree in the weird behaviour of the AI, yet, when you make one make races you have at least some challenge, unlike GT7...
 
I'm playing it almost daily for the rival events. I really enjoy it tbh, I take the point about the AI into the first couple of corners, it's made worse depending on the tightness of the selected track. But once you get past this they even out. I counted 113 tracks, (counting the variations). I'm slowly making my way through the career, at C class atm but I know from the rivals mode there's some great cars in the higher classes so it will only get better. I think this game gets far too much flack, once you get over it not being the true follow up to PC2, it just becomes a brilliant racing game with the most amazing tracks. These games make me feel irritated at T10 for just 20 tracks but let's see what there like, the quality better be utterly outstanding for it to make any sense!!
 
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breyzipp
is anyone still playing PC3 and enjoying it?
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Yep, I still enjoy it for what it is. For just jumping in and having fun with custom races I find it's all the SIM I need. I have other games if I want to get more involved with the greater details.

In fact I had a few great touring car type races yesterday, GTC cars on British tracks. The AI tuned to give a slight bit of door rubbing action, quite realistic. When I've adjusted the levels I quite like the competitiveness of the AI, they certainly want to overtake you unlike in some other games. I'd think they are much improved from PC2 in fact. I rarely win but I see that as a good thing.

And yes, a huge amount of cars and tracks, many not often available in other titles.
 
breyzipp
is anyone still playing PC3 and enjoying it?
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Yes, just today I picked a custom race in Zandvoort, and then did some daily/weekly events, and some career races. I have stated this before, PC3 is my benchmark, on handling and controller feel, when FM comes out (certainly not in the graphics department, although the Series X does a commendable job in running it as smoothly as possible is 60 fps, also with little to no input lag).

It's rather sad that the game was completely abandoned by their developers. I wonder for how long the servers that run the daily/weekly events will go on...
 
Nacho Libre
Yes, just today I picked a custom race in Zandvoort, and then did some daily/weekly events, and some career races. I have stated this before, PC3 is my benchmark, on handling and controller feel, when FM comes out (certainly not in the graphics department, although the Series X does a commendable job in running it as smoothly as possible is 60 fps, also with little to no input lag).

It's rather sad that the game was completely abandoned by their developers. I wonder for how long the servers that run the daily/weekly events will go on...
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Controller feel maybe, but handling? I sincerely hope Forza Motorsport is a long way ahead of this in handling. It's a fun game but a handling benchmark it is not.
 
To me controller feeling and handling go hand in hand. In other words, the car I'm driving behaves like I expect it too, and it informs me of things like understeer/oversteer, late braking, trail braking, weight transfer, traction or lack thereof, etc.

I will never go near a racing car or have a racing experience, but I do want that a game gives me the illusion (and that's what games are) that I can handle such machine within the parameters that the game provides and have fun and not frustration with it. PC3 cars is a fun to play game that feels with more substance than a mere arcade experience and is way ahead on that regard from past FM games, and that's why it will be my benchmark.

Honestly, FM just has to feel this good and have a better presentation and longer life, which we know it will.
 
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Does anyone here have Project Cars 3 on Steam?
I need these two build.dat and pCARS3.exe files, from a small update that came out on 18 September 2023, if anyone can send it to me I would appreciate it, Thank you!
 
IfAndOr
Yep, I still enjoy it for what it is. For just jumping in and having fun with custom races I find it's all the SIM I need. I have other games if I want to get more involved with the greater details.

In fact I had a few great touring car type races yesterday, GTC cars on British tracks. The AI tuned to give a slight bit of door rubbing action, quite realistic. When I've adjusted the levels I quite like the competitiveness of the AI, they certainly want to overtake you unlike in some other games. I'd think they are much improved from PC2 in fact. I rarely win but I see that as a good thing.

And yes, a huge amount of cars and tracks, many not often available in other titles.
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I loved PC2. I started my simracing adventure on PS4 with this title aged 59, 3 years ago. Fond memories.

Does PC3 support the Logitech G Pro?
 
Supercededman
Does PC3 support the Logitech G Pro?
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Not directly, but it does support the Logi G923 which the G Pro emulates. So therefore you do get some of the benefits of Trueforce immersion when you've twiddled with the settings a little. Therefore It actually feels better than PC2 to me.
 
So, after completing my weekly chores in Forza Horizon 5 and finishing all currently available career races in Forza Motorsport, I’ve decided to play some outstanding championships in my Project Cars 3 career mode.

I’m literally blown away by how complete and good this game feels nowadays, especially after not playing it for a while. On ultra settings, the graphics on my PC are crisp and maintain over 100fps all the time and this is with addition of some Reshade mods (Project Cars 3 Care Package) so even more resource consuming.

I remember when the game was criticized after release for being rushed and half-baked. Who would have expected that it would give exactly the opposite impression after a few years? 🤔
 
Well, launched in the eve of the new generation of consoles, the game does feel rushed/half-baked specially on the graphics/presentation side of things and it was never optimized. The power of the Series X makes it run at 60 fps, but graphically is at best passable, and at worst Xbox 360 level. That being said, it is still a fun game, and with a better career IMO than what Forza Motorsport came up with ("Fall in love with your car", yeah right). I would get it on PC, but it seems it's never on sale, and Automobilista 2 exists anyways.
 
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Tbh, until FM came out I was playing it all the time on SX. Appreciate it for what it is, a great racing game with really good physics. I was making my way through the car mode and playing the daily/weekly/monthly challenges, a lot of fun. Need to go back to it. Perfect on a controller too.
 
I wasn't even upset about the physics. They are fine for a game. Just don't call it Project Cars 3, a successor to the series.
The biggest upset for me is the AI. They will gang rape you. They will go 4 wide for a whole lap forcing you to have to blast through them. The AI forces contact every chance it gets. This isn't Motor"sport". It isn't sport at all. It's the Project Cars Wreckfest game.
The game could be really good even today if they reworked the AI. The tracks are wonderful. The game looks and runs great on PC, like it should.
And get rid of that block busting crap in the career. lol
 
See I thought that after a sneaky update at the start of the year the AI became a lot better. I don't have a problem with it as such. It bunches up a little at the start but then once it gets spread out, I think it's fine.

And yes, the tracks are so good. Such variety and breadth. I think I counted around 130, incl all the variations. Still an amazing amount.
 
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Yes, exactly, during my races today was absolutely fine while set to medium aggression, sometimes even trying to avoid a contact 😳
 
Yeah, I've had some really good races against the AI in PC3. Unlike other games, they can be very competitive. It's very car, track and tweaking the settings dependant though. Shame it's not the same for every race, set and forget. Because that's what PC3 is good at, racing.
 
Was in PC3 last night and it seems that the aggression has been lowered. They behaved a bit better. It's still PC3 AI, they will slow down but yet blast past you defying the laws of physics and then slow down again but they are better. Obviously not AMS2 levels but usable. I did get pushed off in a corner in Tuscany and then the game forced MY car to slow down so that was neat but whatever. 😂
I didn't have time to do a longer race but I'll get back into PC3 a little bit when I can.

I was really surprised at how PC3 looks better than Forza Motorsport though.
 
The AI has always been my biggest gripe and I think Beezer you explained it perfectly, it pretty much rendered the game worthless for me because it was just so immersion breaking when you were constantly getting rammed from behind by three cars at every corner.

It did improve, unannounced, in a surprise patch that seemed to come long after I thought they'd given up on the game, so kudos for that. Still not perfect though - drive an Indycar and try to finish a ten lap race with your rear wing still attached - you just can't. But it did improve. It lets me race a proper licenced field of Formula E cars, which is where it still has a place on my HD. Can't do that anywhere else.
 
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I thought that with the Grid2019 DLC and then suddenly they just pulled both the game and the DLC, no warning, it's gone, delisted, no sale. 😭
 

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