Project Cars 2
One Year On
View attachment 946743
Driving Simulation 8
Despite the tribal nonsense on the internet the truth is that Project Cars 2 does have a solid physics engine, that does a lot very, very well. It is of course not without faults, but overall it manages to provide a realistic and competent driving simulation that recreates the feel of driving in a manner that demonstrates the great work the tyre model and overall physics engine brings to the table. Live Track 3.0 then takes that and adds another layer of goodness on top of it, ensuring that its not just the cars that are the star, but the way the tracks change and evolve are just as important.
Racing Simulation 6
While Project Cars 2 does offer a wide range of adjustability to the AI, and has moved on from the base laid in the original, the truth is that the AI is competent at its best moments, and downright odd at its worst. The key issue is around finding the right aggression balance, as too low and the nervousness was clear to see in the oddly twitchy wheel changes when cars are side by side, get it too high and it's now carnage. That it isn't consistent from car to car or track to track remains the biggest issue, find a good combination and its great, don't and its a mess.
Motorsport Simulation 8
While not attempting to mirror anyone motorsport discipline, what Project Cars 2 does, however, allow you to do is recreate just about any real-world series you want. You may need to do the hard work, but with options that many, many other titles miss out on, PC2 shows that it can be done. Just about the only thing missing is customer championships, had that been added it would be close to perfection in this regards. Even with this omission, PC2 remains the Sandpit for Motorsport fans.
Accessibility 6
While PC2 did make changes to the original to make it more accessible, it has to be said that it remains a difficult title for people to get into. The FFB and gamepad use still require a good among of tweaking to get right, enough to put off a lot of people. While steps were made in the right direction, such as the Race Engineer that will tweak set-ups based on your feedback and a range of default set-ups to use as a base, easy to implement options, such as tyre warmers for all cars were missing.
Content 8
Project Cars 2, even without the DLC content, offers one of the finest track line-ups of any racing title released, while the car list is, in my view, excellently balanced, offering a good range of vehicles, with little padding via cheap duplicates. Add in a large career mode and the sandpit options in both single and multiplayer and you have a volume of cars, tracks, time of day, weather, etc. that will keep most occupied for years.
Value 7
At launch the variety of tracks was varied and close to complete, however a good number of cars (around 20% of the final count) was locked into the DLC. Price-wise you are looking at what could be considered average prices for the base title and £25 for the season pass, however, a deluxe edition is available for £70 that contains everything and is a common sight in various sales.
Full Project Cars 2 Video Playlist Click to expand...