The little things

What are the small details which really make this game pop for you?

For me:

1. Keeping up with the tires and temps. As the weather changes, tire grip changes. Losing my tires at Brands Hatch because the temp dropped 20°F might have taken my crush on this game to another level.

2. Looking in the rear view at the car behind me and seeing the clag and buildup on its bumper. There are those moments when it is difficult to discern if it is real or not.

 

I take great fun from seeing all those developer/wmd member names, made up to be sponsors for the cars. And: There is a Deadmau5 logo somewhere in the game

 

I haven't owned a car for the last five years, and really miss driving, so when my partner came home and saw me playing PCars with a wheel and a big smile on my face he knew I'd got my mojo back!

 

Tuning. I've spent 20 hours on it so far and haven't come to grips with it yet. Every track is different and requires a different setup to get the best lap times and consistency. You can copy and paste between tracks and be ok, but to get the best out of the car you have to adjust for bumpiness, understeer, oversteer etc. I took a tune from one track to the Nords last night and literally bounced right off the track because the suspension was too hard

Bump starting. If you stall a car and are lucky enough to be on a small slope, you can roll down the slope and restart if you don't have a start button mapped - or just want to do it for fun

Monitoring tire temps has been mentioned but I have to add that it's quite a challenge tuning to keep them at the proper temps during a TT run and you can really feel the difference in grip when you have shunt and add 10C to them in a couple of seconds. Adds a sensational touch of realism and connection with the game.

​

 

The sun.

When driving towards the setting or rising sun, it can be properly blinding, just like in real life. Makes it near impossible to hit an apex unless you know the corner in question by heart. Which, in turn, might just ruin a race. I like the fact that SMS kept it that way instead of toning the sun down for better "playability"

 

I've been really busy this time around so I could only play like 3 hours (according to my steam account) but so far I like the facts of:

- no grinding
- available mechanical failures (blew mi kart engine 2 times so far)

 

I like the bits of debris that the car ahead flicks off the track at you

 

My favorite little thing is probably that all the dials are working, oil temp, water temp, turbo boost, everything.

That and the sponsor ad board on the left of Turn 2 at Hockenheim.

 

The super tiny physics details they added in to keep this game as realistic as possible. Tyre temps, fully working gauges, the mechanical damage. Just brilliant.

 

There are lots of things that pop for me. The in depth tuning options. The fine tuning options for FFB especially per car/track. The ability to change the steering ratios by car/track. The way it handles tires and brakes, engine temps, oil temps, mechanical failures and of course the way it feels when you are behind the wheel.

Over on the GT side of the forums people are always asking for the long endurance races back but to me they are totally pointless in GT. The only real endurance factor was can you keep driving that long. Either your car was capable of faster laps than the AI or it wasn't and you would win or loose based pretty much solely on that and your attention span.

In PCars on the other hand you can set it up for full damage, mechanical failures, real tire wear and fuel usage and if you run out of gas you don't get to limp around the track at 50mph, If you over drive the car, hit something, get hit, misjudge the weather, tire status and such then you could have the fastest car on the track and still loose the race. In other words endurance racing has a whole new meaning than what it did in GT and may actually be interesting though may be possible to drive for 20 hours and get a DNF.

I just wish there was a way to monitor the engine temps and such in all driving views. Desperately need that added to the hud options.

Oh did I mention that it has leaderboards separate board for each car and you can tune the car to your liking. Of course this should be in all racing games in some form or another.

 

I agree with the working dials and even clocks in cars....gives them even more inviduality. Love how cars such as the 320 Turbo doesnt have any luxuries and has wires sticking out inside ha!

The ever changing weather and the awesome lighting...reflections off AI wing mirrors far away...also distant brake lights/exhaust flames.

Clouds are moving aswell as you race...i noticed the sun had gone behind one when it had blinded me for laps before! The atmosphere of tracks is immense.

 

The squeaking brakes on the escort mk1.
Such attention to detail.

 

The kilometer counter doesn't work on the Ford Escort Mark 1

 

Pitting in 3rd place and having a jammed wheel nut which caused me to come out 7th actually made me smile.

 

How would I know? I always choose the Red Pig...

 

That's exactly what I was going to say! It sucked, but it was very cool and unexpected at the same time.

I also love the fans waving their flags in the grandstands.

I love the animated tv boards around some tracks.

I love that I have a spotter that talks to me, and with a proper British accent.

I love how the cars in front of me kick up klag from the track.

These little things make a big difference for me and really add to the immersion.

 

I thought i saw a black crow nesting on one of the overhead gantries on Brand Hatch - but it was a black flag waving hehe..

And those Crepusicular Rays!!

 

saw a close up of a photographer dude standing behind a fence with an SLR camera (I'd probably just crashed there lol) and they'd even drawn a little LCD screen with a Canon-esque menu on it. didn't expect that.

 

For me it's the real life braking... Can't take corners at 190mph!!... Good but not great AI...The stark differences between classes... The only thing suckin is the random AI names that change every race, I was hoping going offline would set some kind of default names for liveries but no dice...Hard to do your own custom season with different opponents every race...

 

When it rains and you can see the rain drops on your car, also the puddles on the track when it rains. They did a really nice job with that stuff.

 

The lighting on the track. At times it's just gorgeous especially when it's partially cloudy and the sun shines on different parts of the track.

 

This is just begging for a Randall Flagg reference!

 

The FFB is amazing! With pCARS, I have experienced some input from my wheel that I didn't know it was capable off.

I hate to be an elitist, but without a wheel (and a good one, not gears grindings Logitechs) you'll miss 90% of the game.

 

What are you feeling that you don't feel on a DFP?

 

Solid. It is remarkable the difference it makes when racing. Very noticeable when you have two races back to back, one with sun one without. I didn't realize how much of a hindrance it was to me.

 

This, including leaves, marbles etc.

You can even see the marbles being thrown off the tyres and blown around as cars drive past. Very noticeable in replay - turn 6 at Imola. Looks fantastic

 

A lot of things, but i don't have the time to tell all right now but...

Today i was watcing some old Top Gear's episodes on Netflix and Jeremy tested a "F1" Lotus that came with a hole crew and even Jean Alesi to teach him how to drive the car.

At first, Jeremy was going slow and the car was terrible, then Alesi talked to him that in order to the car go "easy and nice" you have to go fast!!
If you go slow,there won't be enough downforce and the slick tyres will rapidly drop its temperature and the car will loose grip. And that was ecxatly what happen to me today on Pcars with a Formula A... i was so happy to notice that.
And even some tips that Alesi gave, about making some corners with different gears worked in the game!!

And in a online race on Le Mans with a Formula A too, i used the DRS and KERS on the long straights and i let the wheel a little loose and the cars started to bounce and even with all my strenght the wheel didn't stop bouncing to side to side until i got into the breaks... that put a big smile on my face and some bad words of my mouth!!

And drive old GT touring cars and the Lotus 78 on the Nurb...

 

I love the 4 screen motec so I can choose what I want to monitor without having my screen covered in overlays.

 

I had a G27 for years. Played rFactor and GT5 and 6 on it and that grinding gears aren't as smooth as the feedback that you get on the belt driven Thrustmaster - and this is something that is valid for any racing game out there.

On Project CARS, with its much more advanced physics, smothness is key to this impressive feedback that the game provides. The T500 have a much more refined feel when the car brakes loose, or when there is some sudden change on road surface, grip, weight transfer on cornering and etc (I really don't believe that a G27 could give me that amazing feel of the car leaning on corners).

Maybe a Logitech wheel could be great on the PC version (I play pCARS on PS4). But, still, I couldn't change the progressive and smooth feel of the T500RS for any Logitech wheel avaiable. I couldn't go back.

 

I like the close racing I get when AI is set to 100%. I took pole in the BMW M1 Procar Spa invitational by 0.047 seconds. And during the race the second place car kept within 2 seconds of me. Although it was a shame that I went straight from Qualifying into the race and for some reason the race distance defaulted to only 6 laps, and I didn't realize until halfway through and I didn't want to quit. I would have enjoyed a longer race with this car and track combo.

I agree with wowbaggerBR. The T300 completely changed how driving games feel for me (or it could just be PCARS). The smoothness just makes it feel so much more real. I've used the G27 for like 5 years, and it's never felt this good. Although I can't try the G27 on PCARS (PS4), I don't think it could come close to the T300 in terms of feel. Before I got the T300 I was pretty convinced that it couldn't be that much better than the G27, but it is. If I could still use the G27, I'd probably think it was fine, and I'd still enjoy the game, but it wouldn't be the same level of immersion. The T300 being belt driven really feels like you can feel the tires scrubbing on the track surface; it is most pronounced when driving the karts.

But then again, other than the wheel base itself, everything else about the T300 is inferior to the G27. The wheel is rubbery plastic instead of leather, the pedals aren't quite as good (but not as bad as everyone makes them out to be), and it doesn't come with a shifter. All of those could be rectified, but I'd have to spend another ~$500 on top of an already ~$500 wheel, whereas the G27 cost ~$300 in total. Reliability on the T300 is also suspect although I personally haven't had any issues yet (I've only had it for like a week). The G27 is pretty bulletproof; I've never had any issues with mine whatsoever over the years.