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

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MagpieRacer
It’s disappointing to me I’m afraid. I regret the purchase.

First up I will say the graphics aren’t bad at all. It’s pretty much on a par with PCars 2 and actually reminds me a lot of how Forza 7 looks and feels. Very smooth even with lots going on and it’s definitely sharper and cleaner than PC2. I can’t find anywhere to turn off motion blur which is bad to the point of distraction for me. I turn it off in any game that lets me, plays havoc with my eyes. (Xbox One X, prioritise resolution)

I find the sounds worse, the balance is wrong and it doesn’t have the rawness of some racing games, inc PC2. But I thunk it’s an audio balancing issue more than dumbed down sounds.

It is definitely pad first, wheel second. It does feel fun on a pad, however there are some huge caveats. The game is heavy handed to the extreme. All assists off in the Formula B in Catalunya and its like a pro drift setup. That’s not to say it just slides all the time, the car has plenty of grip, but when it does break loose you don’t really need to do much as there is an assist working in the background to counter steer for you, which means you can hold crazy drifts for this type of car. And it can’t be turned off. There’s too much damping on the controller for me, loses a lot of the feel and with the counter steer assist it’s just lacking that connection that Forza and Gran Turismo give you. It doesn’t take much skill to play.

This plays into the physics feeling dumbed down for sure. With heavy handed assists, no damage, it becomes a bit of a bashing fest with bigger fields of cars. So any jam e to the driving physics is lost in the sense that it doesn’t really matter. It doesn’t feel like Grid, but you can play it like Grid. Just bash around. I think the underlying physics are there but they do take a backseat and don’t really matter. All the talk of dynamic driveline modelling, completely irrelevant.

Corner cutting penalties are absolutely crazy harsh. Running 11th out of 31, went wide on a turn, deemed to be a cut despite losing time and it slowed me down so much for so long I went to 31st, 3 seconds off the next car. Crazy.

Career mode will be a grind, you don’t get credits for races just for levelling up at certain points in the XP bar. So cash can be hard to come by. This wouldn’t be so bad if custom race had more options to have some fun races but it doesn’t and in the races I did I had some absolutely ludicrous fields of cars that, for me personally, ruin the enjoyment. 90% of my time would be spent in custom races to grind credits and have fun and it just isn’t there for me unfortunately.

Livery editor is solid, plenty of options, loads of real world decals and some nice looking fictional ones, lots of options with race numbers plates and license plates. Don’t have to buy wheels they are just all available in customisation.

There is tuning and car setups, but there’s 3 default setups and a 4th slot you have to buy with credits to effectively unlock the tuning. And it seems to be the same set of parameters regardless of car so there’s no ability to adjust turbo pressure in the Lotus 98t for example.

On the plus side, along with the graphics. There’s lots in career mode and the car and track list are excellent.

I will however be seeking a refund as it is just not worth the asking price for me. I’ll get some flack I’m sure but the heavy handed assists you can’t turn off, the atrocious grids you get in custom race which you’ll be doing a lot to try and grind XP and credits, the distractingly painful motion blur and the lack of fun I’ve had in custom racing, just simply don’t make it worth my hard earned cash. It’ll be fun at £25-£30.
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Great review.

I was afraid getting money was gonna be a grind fest but the fact that you only get money via level. :crazy:

I'm not surprise the physics are dumbed down since we all knew there were, i just hope my beloved gtr doesn't drive like 🤬 cause then i'm really gonna be mad.:mad:
 
MagpieRacer
It’s disappointing to me I’m afraid. I regret the purchase.

It is definitely pad first, wheel second. It does feel fun on a pad, however there are some huge caveats. The game is heavy handed to the extreme. All assists off in the Formula B in Catalunya and its like a pro drift setup. That’s not to say it just slides all the time, the car has plenty of grip, but when it does break loose you don’t really need to do much as there is an assist working in the background to counter steer for you, which means you can hold crazy drifts for this type of car. And it can’t be turned off. There’s too much damping on the controller for me, loses a lot of the feel and with the counter steer assist it’s just lacking that connection that Forza and Gran Turismo give you. It doesn’t take much skill to play.

This plays into the physics feeling dumbed down for sure. With heavy handed assists, no damage, it becomes a bit of a bashing fest with bigger fields of cars. So any jam e to the driving physics is lost in the sense that it doesn’t really matter. It doesn’t feel like Grid, but you can play it like Grid. Just bash around. I think the underlying physics are there but they do take a backseat and don’t really matter. All the talk of dynamic driveline modelling, completely irrelevant.

Corner cutting penalties are absolutely crazy harsh. Running 11th out of 31, went wide on a turn, deemed to be a cut despite losing time and it slowed me down so much for so long I went to 31st, 3 seconds off the next car. Crazy.
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Thank you @MagpieRacer for the in-depth review.
Are you meaning there is no way to turn off the controller damping?
So all controller settings available in PC2 (speed sensitivity, speed filter, deadzone, etc etc) are gone?
 
MagpieRacer
It’s disappointing to me I’m afraid. I regret the purchase.

First up I will say the graphics aren’t bad at all. It’s pretty much on a par with PCars 2 and actually reminds me a lot of how Forza 7 looks and feels. Very smooth even with lots going on and it’s definitely sharper and cleaner than PC2. I can’t find anywhere to turn off motion blur which is bad to the point of distraction for me. I turn it off in any game that lets me, plays havoc with my eyes. (Xbox One X, prioritise resolution)

I find the sounds worse, the balance is wrong and it doesn’t have the rawness of some racing games, inc PC2. But I thunk it’s an audio balancing issue more than dumbed down sounds.

It is definitely pad first, wheel second. It does feel fun on a pad, however there are some huge caveats. The game is heavy handed to the extreme. All assists off in the Formula B in Catalunya and its like a pro drift setup. That’s not to say it just slides all the time, the car has plenty of grip, but when it does break loose you don’t really need to do much as there is an assist working in the background to counter steer for you, which means you can hold crazy drifts for this type of car. And it can’t be turned off. There’s too much damping on the controller for me, loses a lot of the feel and with the counter steer assist it’s just lacking that connection that Forza and Gran Turismo give you. It doesn’t take much skill to play.

This plays into the physics feeling dumbed down for sure. With heavy handed assists, no damage, it becomes a bit of a bashing fest with bigger fields of cars. So any jam e to the driving physics is lost in the sense that it doesn’t really matter. It doesn’t feel like Grid, but you can play it like Grid. Just bash around. I think the underlying physics are there but they do take a backseat and don’t really matter. All the talk of dynamic driveline modelling, completely irrelevant.

Corner cutting penalties are absolutely crazy harsh. Running 11th out of 31, went wide on a turn, deemed to be a cut despite losing time and it slowed me down so much for so long I went to 31st, 3 seconds off the next car. Crazy.

Career mode will be a grind, you don’t get credits for races just for levelling up at certain points in the XP bar. So cash can be hard to come by. This wouldn’t be so bad if custom race had more options to have some fun races but it doesn’t and in the races I did I had some absolutely ludicrous fields of cars that, for me personally, ruin the enjoyment. 90% of my time would be spent in custom races to grind credits and have fun and it just isn’t there for me unfortunately.

Livery editor is solid, plenty of options, loads of real world decals and some nice looking fictional ones, lots of options with race numbers plates and license plates. Don’t have to buy wheels they are just all available in customisation.

There is tuning and car setups, but there’s 3 default setups and a 4th slot you have to buy with credits to effectively unlock the tuning. And it seems to be the same set of parameters regardless of car so there’s no ability to adjust turbo pressure in the Lotus 98t for example.

On the plus side, along with the graphics. There’s lots in career mode and the car and track list are excellent.

I will however be seeking a refund as it is just not worth the asking price for me. I’ll get some flack I’m sure but the heavy handed assists you can’t turn off, the atrocious grids you get in custom race which you’ll be doing a lot to try and grind XP and credits, the distractingly painful motion blur and the lack of fun I’ve had in custom racing, just simply don’t make it worth my hard earned cash. It’ll be fun at £25-£30.
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Thanks for the mini review! Motion blur and car classes are not something that matter a whole lot to me. But I am concerned about the wheel being dumbed down. I don't like that part at all. I'll keep reading and watching for more opinions.
Have you tried a private lobby yet? I'm quite curious about the options there
 
MagpieRacer
It doesn’t feel like Grid, but you can play it like Grid. Just bash around. I think the underlying physics are there but they do take a backseat and don’t really matter. All the talk of dynamic driveline modelling, completely irrelevant.
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This is the sort of nuance absent from most of the comments about the game being a dumbed down arcade-style racing game, or comparable to Grid specifically. 👍

I am not deterred because plenty of damping on the steering is how I like it, and I had been calling for SMS to implement more "intelligent" countersteer that better reflects how relatively easy it is to casually drift cars with realistic physics if you know what you're doing with a wheel (real or FFB). If racecars on slicks act too much like roadcars, well...that would be kind of an amusing parallel to one of Enthusia's weaknesses. Solid oversteer physics appropriate for roadcars is a higher priority for me.

I expect SMS to patch in an option to disable motion blur, because they worked bigger things than that into PCARS2 after its launch. I hope they're listening on that one (and how hard is it when it's an option on PC?).
 
Zeitoss
Thank you @MagpieRacer for the in-depth review.
Are you meaning there is no way to turn off the controller damping?
So all controller settings available in PC2 (speed sensitivity, speed filter, deadzone, etc etc) are gone?
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Correct. As far as I can see there are no controller options of this kind.

Uploaded a super quick video to show what I mean about the damping and counter assist. Some might like it but I found it felt a bit disconnected. Whenever you see the wheel going opposite lock, that's the game doing it, i don't mind it a little bit but it's too heavy handed for me personally. All adjustable assist are off except ABS.
 
@MagpieRacer -- That clip resembles PCARS2's Opposite Lock Help to me, to be honest. Maybe heavier. I could already tell from all the controller footage that something like it was part of the new formula. Not that it's a good thing that SMS has removed any choice of control options.

The question remaining is whether the physics allow more heroic drifting than should be possible for that car. Sounds like maybe yes?
 
Seems like Forza with better handling to me. At this point after two hours of play, I kinda like Project Cars 2 better.

Bloodytears
So, does anyone got to set up and tuning menu? Or it has disappeared? How it is even look like? Are upgrades expand set up menus, or it is presets without options?
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Very Forza like. Far fewer tuning options from the previous Pcars titles.
 
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@Scaff and @MagpieRacer (or anyone who has now already played a bit), from my understanding of these three days of videos, Project Cars 3 is right below Project Cars 2 and right above Forza/GTS, in terms of a balance between handling and physics.

I would be happy to buy this game, if turns out as a more accessible version of PC2, optimized for the controller, but still with the richness of physics behaviour as the original. I don't mind if is a bit dumbed down, but I am afraid this means losing all ''control feelings'' that PC2 (or other sims) provide when driving on the edge.

I would not be interested to buy another version of Forza or GTS, simply because if this is the case, I played already both of them extensively, and they are already really great on what they do (plus they are both still top notch on the visuals).

This is my dilemma. Your feedback is appreciated.

In the meanwhile, I post this extract (translated) from IGN Italy review, which completely matches my thoughts.

Review:
My biggest doubt, however, remains the quality of this transition to Slightly More Submissive races. Was it really necessary to apply an early 2000s racing title imprint so methodically? Wouldn't keeping mechanical damage, qualifying, tire management and fuel management (for those slightly longer events), even as a mere option, make the title even more universal? My feeling is that in trying to please everyone and become an excellent couch game, we have lost the opportunity to make the most of a driving model that, despite being simplified compared to the past, still manages to entertain a lot, when diverted towards simulation by deactivating aids and driving cars made for racing.

I have the same opinion, and my big question is why they didn't leave all this as optional at least.
 
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Zeitoss
...I have the same opinion, and my big question is why they didn't leave all this as optional at least.
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Yeah. Whatever has been gained in terms of refinements across the board, it would have been excellent to have it all with everything intact from PCARS2. What a groundbreaking game that would have been -- to have upgrades, the livery editor, refined analog stick steering, a GT/Forza-esque career mode (with a sliding scale for race length like PCARS2 and high-reward endurance racing), and refined physics, together with every detail and feature that PCARS2 had.

All the goodies paired with a much more hardcore experience than GT/Forza have ever provided, scalable from beginner-friendly to truly "all the sim you could want". Why SMS didn't consider that to be a winning formula, I have no idea.
 
Wolfe
Yeah. Whatever has been gained in terms of refinements across the board, it would have been excellent to have it all with everything intact from PCARS2. What a groundbreaking game that would have been -- to have upgrades, the livery editor, refined analog stick steering, a GT/Forza-esque career mode (with a sliding scale for race length like PCARS2 and high-reward endurance racing), and refined physics, together with every detail and feature that PCARS2 had.

All the goodies paired with a much more hardcore experience than GT/Forza have ever provided, scalable from beginner-friendly to truly "all the sim you could want". Why SMS didn't consider that to be a winning formula, I have no idea.
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I understand that for the Career Mode is either one way or the other, and makes sense.

But for the Practice / Custom Races was entirely possible to keep all this customization (as they had already the whole base from PC2), and taking all this out will result to be a very poor design decision, honestly.


Another extract from the IGN IT Review (a very well balanced review, I suggest everyone to have a reading to it):

Regardless of the type of game chosen, after 20 hours of driving I had the feeling that the change of design direction took place during the game development and, consequently, some elements have not been properly refined.
There is, in fact, a huge difference between Career, as single events organized for pure personal joy, and online competitions. For me, the Career is the least interesting part of the game, although I am aware that it will make all orphans of the Gran Turismo model happy. It's all right, it offers a slow progression, it allows you to drive many cars and the tuning is immediate and without particular complexity. All right, all measured, all immediately accessible, but also formally anachronistic.

(Cut)

As for me, I remain of the opinion that taking pieces from Driveclub, GRID and Gran Turismo and blending them with Project CARS 2 has made the overall identity of the game a little misleading, and there has not been time to make it truly unique within the exit date. The Project CARS 3 Career works, but it remains generic, linear, a series of races without a story, without a sense of storytelling that makes you feel alive and in control of your destiny, building the motivations. It is less anonymous than last GRID Career mode, of course, but it is nonetheless lacking in context, although the individual races and the challenges themselves are always enjoyable.


 
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Wolfe
@MagpieRacer -- That clip resembles PCARS2's Opposite Lock Help to me, to be honest. Maybe heavier. I could already tell from all the controller footage that something like it was part of the new formula. Not that it's a good thing that SMS has removed any choice of control options.

The question remaining is whether the physics allow more heroic drifting than should be possible for that car. Sounds like maybe yes?
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Yeah more or less, with PC2 it was an on/off option I belive, and this feels a lot stronger. If you imagine a centrepoint on the cars rotation, as soon as you start to exceed that centreline it starts to step in. Its not gamebreaking by any stretch but it is noticeable.

Motor City Hami
Seems like Forza with better handling to me. At this point after two hours of play, I kinda like Project Cars 2 better.
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I thinm its bang on par with Forza Motorsport. And thats not really a bad thing.

Driving - Forza Motorsport (plus the opposite lock assist)
Racing - Grid
Progression - Forza 4
Upgrading - Gran Turismo
Graphics - Forza 7/pCars 2

Motor City Hami
Very Forza like. Far fewer tuning options from the previous Pcars titles.
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I'd say there is fewer still than Forza. Theres enough to tweak a car to your style but not much more.
 
Zeitoss
In the meanwhile, I post this extract (translated) from IGN Italy review, which completely matches my thoughts.

Review:
My biggest doubt, however, remains the quality of this transition to Slightly More Submissive races. Was it really necessary to apply an early 2000s racing title imprint so methodically? Wouldn't keeping mechanical damage, qualifying, tire management and fuel management (for those slightly longer events), even as a mere option, make the title even more universal? My feeling is that in trying to please everyone and become an excellent couch game, we have lost the opportunity to make the most of a driving model that, despite being simplified compared to the past, still manages to entertain a lot, when diverted towards simulation by deactivating aids and driving cars made for racing.

I have the same opinion, and my big question is why they didn't leave all this as optional at least.
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Yeah that sums it up perfectly. The Slightly simpler Project Cars 2 with all it's motorsport glory would be the perfect option in my opinion. I hope SMS will take lesson from this. That even more casual targeted media like IGN criticize this game for leaving all this options in the dust.

My personal view is that... SMS by trying to make more accessible game they forgot about series identity and everything that was special about Project Cars was cut. They created totally generic racing game with no identity which is trying to be other racing games. It is Forza/Shift/Grid clone that is all and it will be forgotten.
 
MagpieRacer
Oh and tip for anyone playing. Don't skip the tutorial if you actually want to choose your first car. :dunce:

If you skip you just get given the GT86.
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Thank you MagpieRacer.

I heard that during the Career, you need to be careful on which car to invest your money, otherwise you may get stuck (or need more grinding than usual), so any tip is welcomed.

I would wait until Friday to decide whether to buy it or not, it also depends on ACC.

If they make the miracle to fix the frame rate on OneX with a patch, I might already have my racing game for the next months.
They said that the patch should go to submission process within today probably, fingers crossed.
 
Scaff
Review video is currently exporting, should be done and uploaded within the next two hours (1080p / 60fps takes so long)!
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on your Youtube channel hitting refresh
tenor.gif
 
MroczMR
I see most people who plays this right now are rather disappointed. Looks like community was right. I hope SMS will take lesson from this.
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Well, right or wrong is subjective to the viewer.

If SMS makes big sales out of this Project Cars 3, they will be right no matter what community says.

But definitely we can say that community was true in raising up all comments we have been raising in the past two months.
 
Zeitoss
Well, right or wrong is subjective to the viewer.

If SMS makes big sales out of this Project Cars 3, they will be right no matter what community says.

But definitely we can say that community was true in raising up all comments we have been raising in the past two months.
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Definately yes. But it will be harder for this game to reach big sales.

First of all scores on both Metacritic and Opencritic are much lower than PC2.
Second huge backlash on community sites both facebook and twitter.
Youtubers also have mixed feelings. Some are loving it some are hating it
Casuals are connecting PC series rather with simulations not forza like games, so without proper marketing they won't buy it, and marketing was bad really bad for this game
Sim players won't touch it probably, they already hating this entry.
Lots of casuals are buying with eyes. They like pretty nice graphics in racing games... this one doesn't look too good for casual audience.
And the last one, i think having your company name near such monstrosity like Fast And Furious Crossroads is damaging and lots of people will be put off by this.

So yeah... I think it will be miracle if it sells well.
 
Few other tidbits that have been requested:

Engineer can be turned off, authentic or always.
Cockpit wheel and driver can be turned off.
Track guide and indicators can be turned off.
There's performance and safety rating for online.
You can use the pre made liveries in career, i.e. the real world liveries for the car you've chosen.
Open wheelers and IndyCar career events are only in the challenges section. There is also a segment in invitationals called endurance.
 

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