Project CARS series hosting questions

[Pamellaaa]

Apologies if this is something that has been covered elsewhere I had a brief search but couldn't find a answer easily so I thought I would make a thread for it.

I understand that there are no upgrades as such in the game and that your setup options are limited to those the real life car would have but does the game have any mechanism that would allow balance of performance work to be done. Something like a ballast system would seem realistic for all cars and it wouldn't be unreasonable to think that power limiting would also be a realistic option, is this something the game currently has?

An example of where this could be used would be a road based touring car series, the Focus RS and the Megane RS would be ideal candidates for this but one or other of them would probably need some minor tweaking to ensure that they had equivalent performance levels.

I think I might have read somewhere that you cannot accelerate tyre wear usage at all, is this correct? has anyone posted a run down of what options will and won't be available to lobby hosts?

I am sure I will have further on this soon so will add them to this thread as and when they come up, if anyone else has any other questions on this sort of thing feel free to add them below.

 

[TheMinority]

but does the game have any mechanism that would allow balance of performance work to be done. Something like a ballast system would seem realistic for all cars and it wouldn't be unreasonable to think that power limiting would also be a realistic option, is this something the game currently has?

An example of where this could be used would be a road based touring car series, the Focus RS and the Megane RS would be ideal candidates for this but one or other of them would probably need some minor tweaking to ensure that they had equivalent performance levels.

What @DrJustice told me was "Not quite. This has been discussed at WMD though, and to that end some cars now have restrictors in the setup (those that would IRL?). I hope this will be made use of like you suggest. For now it would have to be a gentleman's agreement to run restricted cars in multiplayer."

 

[Pamellaaa]

What @DrJustice told me was "Not quite. This has been discussed at WMD though, and to that end some cars now have restrictors in the setup (those that would IRL?). I hope this will be made use of like you suggest. For now it would have to be a gentleman's agreement to run restricted cars in multiplayer."

So you can artificially restrict all cars to an arbitrary number or horsepower or weight, the gentlemens agreement thing wouldn't be too much of an issue for me, its more that the game does have a mechanism by which you can alter a cars overall performance. Without that creating online leagues is going to be fairly restricted.

 

[TheMinority]

So you can artificially restrict all cars to an arbitrary number or horsepower or weight, the gentlemens agreement thing wouldn't be too much of an issue for me, its more that the game does have a mechanism by which you can alter a cars overall performance. Without that creating online leagues is going to be fairly restricted.

Yeah, as a primary league racer myself (and the reason why Im getting the game) it will be quite restricted, We only have a month until we find out however.

 

[Pamellaaa]

Yeah, as a primary league racer myself (and the reason why Im getting the game) it will be quite restricted, We only have a month until we find out however.

Sounds like without this feature - in the road cars at least - we are going to be looking at a lot of one make series.

 

[DrJustice]

Edit: Reading the postings above I'm unsure if you caught that restrictors are available for some cars and can be used online(?)

Currently we have these wear and tear options in multiplayer:

* Damage: Off, Visual Only, Performance Impacting, Full Damage

* Mechanical failures: Yes, No

* Tyre wear: Off, Slow, Real, x2, x3, x4, x5, x6, x7

* Fuel usage: Off, Slow, Real

Related to restrictors, there was also talk of ballast on WMD, but that's not in the game (yet...). While on the subject of weight: you have weight jacker, longitudinal and lateral weight biasing in the setup for some cars.

 

[Pamellaaa]

Edit: Reading the postings above I'm unsure if you caught that restrictors are available for some cars and can be used online(?)

Currently we have these wear and tear options in multiplayer:

* Damage: Off, Visual Only, Preformance Impacting, Full Damage

* Mechanical failures: Yes, No

* Tyre wear: Off, Slow, Real, x2, x3, x4, x5, x6, x7

* Fuel usage: Off, Slow, Real

Related to restrictors, there was also talk of ballast on WMD, but that's not in the game (yet...). While on the subject of weight: you have weight jacker, longitudinal and lateral weight biasing in the setup for some cars.

Many thanks for that! I had mostly gathered that the restrictors existed but would love some more information about how this is done

Glad the accel options for tyre wear exist, that will be good. The racing league community on pCars is obviously going to be different from GT6 but it sounds like a lot of the core ideas from series will transfer quite nicely!

Ballast would be a nice addition as well but for me, as long as balance of performance can be achieved one way or another I will be happy, I like a series to have a couple of different cars available.

 

[DrJustice]

^ To use the restrictors, the driver must first create a setup for the car, on the engine page there's a slider with restrictor size in millimetres - adjust, save and drive. There are no numbers showing you the resulting power and torque (yet...) so you'd have to find the balanced settings by testing.

 

[Pamellaaa]

^ To use the restrictors, the driver must first create a setup for the car, on the engine age there's a slider with restrictor size in millimetres - adjust, save and drive. There are no numbers showing you the resulting power and torque (yet...) so you'd have to find the balanced settings by testing.

Makes sense, sounds realistic as well, many thanks for the info

 

[Pamellaaa]

@DrJustice, I think I am right in my understanding that you have said there is currently no way to see what - if any - restricter other drivers in a lobby are using, I assume the same goes for power level. Is the full extent of the information available to lobby hosts that car that each driver is using?

 

[DrJustice]

^ No, unfortunately there's no way of enforcing it. The finer points of multiclass racing may be expanded upon later, but the devs have to get the game out and take a breather soon...

 

[ozwheels]

I assume these questions are coming from a GT6 perspective? BoP is already set within classes in pCars unlike GT6 where you have to spec each car.

 

[Pamellaaa]

I assume these questions are coming from a GT6 perspective? BoP is already set within classes in pCars unlike GT6 where you have to spec each car.

Yeah I am thinking about how closely a GT6 series will translate over to pCars.

I know the classes are set but with everything about pCars seeming to be about realism I very much doubt that the road cars will be equal out of the box so any series based on them will need some form of balancing system available.

 

[ozwheels]

Yeah I am thinking about how closely a GT6 series will translate over to pCars.

I know the classes are set but with everything about pCars seeming to be about realism I very much doubt that the road cars will be equal out of the box so any series based on them will need some form of balancing system available.

Ah, I understand now. I thought you were talking about GT3 or some other race cars.

 

[Johnnypenso]

Yeah I am thinking about how closely a GT6 series will translate over to pCars.

I know the classes are set but with everything about pCars seeming to be about realism I very much doubt that the road cars will be equal out of the box so any series based on them will need some form of balancing system available.

Unless something changes, the road cars will either be balanced out of the box or it won't happen. Perhaps they'll throw in restrictor plates or ballast but it'll require a huge amount of personal testing to equalize the cars. I'd be thinking about one-make series if I were organizing, perhaps using more than one car throughout the series to mix things up, sort of a progression.

 

[scubieroo]

@DrJustice, I think I am right in my understanding that you have said there is currently no way to see what - if any - restricter other drivers in a lobby are using, I assume the same goes for power level. Is the full extent of the information available to lobby hosts that car that each driver is using?

it would be after the fact but couldn't you just check the hp figures for each car in the replay after the race to see if anyone cheated?

 

[Pamellaaa]

Unless something changes, the road cars will either be balanced out of the box or it won't happen. Perhaps they'll throw in restrictor plates or ballast but it'll require a huge amount of personal testing to equalize the cars. I'd be thinking about one-make series if I were organizing, perhaps using more than one car throughout the series to mix things up, sort of a progression.

The testing isn't too much of an issue, people have been doing that in GT6 anyway. As @DrJustice confirmed the presence of restrictor plate I can see that this will be achievable even if its slightly more involved than GT6. I can see that it is more realistic this way.

I can't imagine things are going to be balanced out of the box unless the cars are very very close IRL as as far as I can tell true to life performance is a huge part of the development of pCars, I suspect that the Focus and the Megane will be close in performance terms but its likely that one or other have them will need a minor adjustment to ensure parity over a series.

it would be after the fact but couldn't you just check the hp figures for each car in the replay after the race to see if anyone cheated?

Is this sort of information available in replays?

 

[DrJustice]

^ Please note that restrictors are only available on some cars - presumably where the RL car has it available. I.e. road cars and single-make/spec series cars do not have them. The GT class cars have restrictors and some older cars have them. Also surprisingly Zonda R... (I haven't checked all cars!)

I think your concerns regarding league racing are important, so I've passed these points on to WMD.

 

[Pamellaaa]

^ Please note that restrictors are only available on some cars - presumably where the RL car has it available. I.e. road cars and single-make/spec series cars do not have them. The GT class cars have restrictors and some older cars have them. Also surprisingly Zonda R... (I haven't checked all cars!)

I think your concerns regarding league racing are important, so I've passed these points on to WMD.

Ahh, I misunderstood earlier and assumed that they were available for all cars.

Without this feature being available for road cars multi-car series in road cars are going to be difficult or unbalanced, this is something that I personally enjoy and there are a number of series in GT6 that follow this format and generally prove popular, it would be nice to have something similar available in pCars.

Thank you for passing on my feedback, it is always nice to have someone "in the know" so to speak who is so publicly responsive and helpful.

 

[LPlates]

The championship I race in for GT6 has tried multi road car races and even with BHP, Weight or PP balancing its still nearly impossible to create a fair race.

If WMD can pull this off in the future then hats off, but I doubt truly fair multi class racing is possible. How do you account for driver style when balancing? I might be good in the RS but bad in the Megane so I couldn't tell if they were balanced.

 

[killerjimbag]

The championship I race in for GT6 has tried multi road car races and even with BHP, Weight or PP balancing its still nearly impossible to create a fair race.

If WMD can pull this off in the future then hats off, but I doubt truly fair multi class racing is possible. How do you account for driver style when balancing? I might be good in the RS but bad in the Megane so I couldn't tell if they were balanced.

That's why I used the Mustang Trans-Am cars to start off my first series. All cars are equal,different livery.
In the first couple of weeks,we'll see what happens.

 

[HEF51]

This is the reason why you don't see many race series with road cars. All real race series are all strict series with race built cars and rules.

I think its a ridiculous to expect them to balance road cars. This isn't GT or Forza.

 

[killerjimbag]

This is the reason why you don't see many race series with road cars. All real race series are all strict series with race built cars and rules.

I think its a ridiculous to expect them to balance road cars. This isn't GT or Forza.

I agree.

 

[Pamellaaa]

I think its a ridiculous to expect them to balance road cars. This isn't GT or Forza.

At no point have I asked them to balance the cars

I was simply asking if there was a system that exists that would allow me or others to do so if we wished to, a lot of people prefer road car based series.

 

[killerjimbag]

At no point have I asked them to balance the cars

I was simply asking if there was a system that exists that would allow me or others to do so if we wished to, a lot of people prefer road car based series.

Well,if you wait till release, you'll find out, this game seems to be based on real race cars,the last thing it needs is to be a reincarnation of GT.

 

[Pamellaaa]

Well,if you wait till release, you'll find out.

By that token this whole subforum for Project Cars should be shut down so that no-one else asks any questions and we all simply wait to find out.

this game seems to be based on real race cars,the last thing it needs is to be a reincarnation of GT.

I don't see how the cars being based on real cars would affect my question of whether or not there is a system on board that could be used to balance them, I don't see how it makes it a reincarnation of GT either if I am honest.

The question seems perfectly valid to me and I have had an answer thanks to @DrJustice that there currently isn't a system on road cars that will allow them to be balanced to each other.

 

[Doomstorm16]

OOOOH, you going to be hosting something pam?

 

[V8-Johnboy]

Unless something changes, the road cars will either be balanced out of the box or it won't happen. Perhaps they'll throw in restrictor plates or ballast but it'll require a huge amount of personal testing to equalize the cars. I'd be thinking about one-make series if I were organizing, perhaps using more than one car throughout the series to mix things up, sort of a progression.

Oh god here I/we go again.

 

[Pamellaaa]

OOOOH, you going to be hosting something pam?

Potentially, I will have a play around with the game for a few weeks while the PTCC finishes and then go from there!

 

[STALLIONO]

Only 3 weeks left to find out. I've Heard a few surprises coming our way!