RE: Project Cars: Preview

RE: Project Cars: Preview

Tuesday 14th October 2014

Project Cars: Preview

PH games head Nathan gets an early go with Project Cars - should we believe the hype?



A games launch is so much more than just half an hour on a PlayStation now. See Driveclub's day at Mercedes-Benz World and Gran Turismo taking over a town for the sixth iteration. For the Project Cars preview event at Brands Hatch the itinerary included a few laps in an E90 M3 with an instructor plus some solo time around the Indy circuit in an Audi powered Formula Brands single seater. Oh, and some time actually playing the game.

Living up to the 'most beautiful' claim here
Living up to the 'most beautiful' claim here
Developers Slightly Mad Studios have said Project Cars will be the "most authentic, beautiful, intense and technically-advanced racing game on the planet" when it comes out in November and is being made "by racers for racers."

As a console gamer, I have always been disappointed when games come out claiming to be the best sim ever (numerous Gran Turismo titles, for example) that don't actually deliver when you play them. There are lots of little things that just aren't right and this means that they don't feel that realistic. This game initially seems to have overcome that as so many little details have been paid attention too; you can see the oil temperature rising and the fuel level dropping from the cockpit view. When it's raining your visibility is affected with rain drops flowing up the visor and then back down again as you stop.

Car selection diverse and exciting
Car selection diverse and exciting
The cars are accurately recreated using laser scanning and the tracks have had their GPS coordinates logged meaning the weather is accurate according to the date you set. If the sun would be shining at a certain point on the circuit in real life, so it does in the game. The developers say that for them "realism is about handling and feeling, not difficulty." The game is designed to be enjoyable, which is great news if you're no Lewis Hamilton. The handling felt realistic and very manageable although I'm sure if all the assists were turned off then it would be more of a handful.

Project Cars is unique because it's the first game of it's kind to be funded and powered using crowdfunding. Essentially there are over 80,000 stakeholders including racing drivers such as Ben Collins and Oli Webb (who was with us at Brands Hatch). This kind of input makes for an improved gaming experience game says Slightly Mad, due to the broad skillset involved in making it a very realistic experience in every aspect.

Even as a preview it's damn impressive
Even as a preview it's damn impressive
The game will be playable at up to 12K (three times 4K screens mounted next to each other) and will be compatible with all manner of virtual reality add-ons so you can really immerse yourself in over 70 cars, more than 80 tracks and nine motorsport disciplines. You'll be able to play against your mates in the Driver Network Time Trials and download leaderboard ghost laps to compete against.

As a casual console gamer, Project Cars is shaping up well with its stunning visual appeal and playability. If you like the idea of a super realistic racing sim then this game fills that brief perfectly; it could change the way racing sims are made and for the better.

Project Cars is due to be released on PS4, XBox One and Windows on November 21. Steam OS and Wii U versions will follow next year.

BAC Mono on the game against real life video here.

Launch event video here.
 

 



   

 

 

 

Author
Discussion

Chris Y

Original Poster:

221 posts

187 months

Tuesday 14th October 2014
quotequote all
Is the sound on the first video from the game or real car?

RobGT81

5,227 posts

185 months

Tuesday 14th October 2014
quotequote all
Pistonheads said:
If you like the idea of a super realistic racing sim then this game fills that brief perfectly
Not really. Not really sure how you could tell if you had the assists turned on? Feels a lot more arcadey when compared to the usual suspects.

Aphex

2,160 posts

199 months

Tuesday 14th October 2014
quotequote all
Will look forward to giving this a go once released, been sinking hours into Assetto Corsa so would be nice to compare

DMN

2,983 posts

138 months

Tuesday 14th October 2014
quotequote all
I have an American friend on the Beta team, and he's telling me some very good things about this.

If it can be the realism of rFactor and have decent non-buggy driver swapping - this could be one of the best ever.

LittleEnus

3,218 posts

173 months

Tuesday 14th October 2014
quotequote all
The critical factor to this is going to be arcade vs sim. If it is too arcadey then my pre-order will be cancelled.

kowalski655

14,599 posts

142 months

Tuesday 14th October 2014
quotequote all
I am massively looking forward to this

PJDubyaM

49 posts

117 months

Tuesday 14th October 2014
quotequote all
I'm Lead Producer over at Slightly Mad Studios, and one of the people behind Project CARS. Not been there since the beginning, but proud to be working on it.

Any questions: fire away!

On the question of sim vs. arcade: yes there are lots of (switchable) assists. For the media events, we tend to turn a lot of them on, simply to make sure that the majority of players have a positive time (if you throw a regular gamer / journo into a full sim situation, the results ain't going to be pretty...). The physics system runs at 600Hz, and the team are rightly proud of what they've achieved.

RyanTank

2,850 posts

153 months

Tuesday 14th October 2014
quotequote all
I'm sold!! It has a zakspeed Capri and a bubble arched Mk1 escort cloud9

Now to work on the funding of an Xbox One to play it on biggrin

Wonder if they could be persuaded to chuck Pikes Peak into the game and a suitable rally element scratchchinthumbup

eybic

9,212 posts

173 months

Tuesday 14th October 2014
quotequote all
I don't think I can get over to everyone how good this game seems to be. I'm under absolutely no obligation to be a fan boy for it but I most definitely am.

Yes, maybe if you're a driving god that plays in proper simulators 7 days a week then it might not be for you but for me as a console gamer (although it looked beautiful on PC) this game played very well and I can't wait for the full version to be out. thumbup

Nathan

LittleEnus

3,218 posts

173 months

Tuesday 14th October 2014
quotequote all
PJDubyaM said:
I'm Lead Producer over at Slightly Mad Studios, and one of the people behind Project CARS. Not been there since the beginning, but proud to be working on it.

Any questions: fire away!

On the question of sim vs. arcade: yes there are lots of (switchable) assists. For the media events, we tend to turn a lot of them on, simply to make sure that the majority of players have a positive time (if you throw a regular gamer / journo into a full sim situation, the results ain't going to be pretty...). The physics system runs at 600Hz, and the team are rightly proud of what they've achieved.
Awesome, thanks for this. I'm past Codemasters and was there through TOCA/ Cm Rally/ GRID/ DIRT and F1 so know the pain you guys must have been going through to develop this.

A few questions;

1) Are the physics similar to Forza or GT? Forza 5 with the assists off is pretty good I feel and a good compromise.
2) Will you hit launch date? smile
3) Is there a list of cars anywhere?
4) The crucial one. Will there be smoke from the exhausts- I would love this and have seen evidence in some of the many vids I've watched.

Cheers- I'm always bigging this game up on twitter

Edited by LittleEnus on Wednesday 15th October 13:08

laam999

538 posts

168 months

Tuesday 14th October 2014
quotequote all
How is development with project morpheus compatability going? I heard there where problems maintaining a frame rate. Either way in excited

Ryvita

712 posts

209 months

Tuesday 14th October 2014
quotequote all
Will there be Oculus Rift support?

PJDubyaM

49 posts

117 months

Tuesday 14th October 2014
quotequote all
LittleEnus said:
Awesome, thanks for this. I'm past Codemasters and was there through TOCA/ Cm Rally/ GRID/ DIRT and F1 so know the pain you guys must have been going through to develop this.

A few questions;

1) Are the physics similar to Forza or GT? Forza 5 with the assists off is pretty good I feel and a good compromise.
2) Will you hit launch date? smile
3) Is there a list of cars anywhere?
4) The crucial one. Will there be smoke from the exhausts- I would love this and have seen evidence in some of the many vids I've watched.

Cheers- I'm always bigging this game up on twitter- @FelixBradshaw1
Thanks for the support!

1) Let's just say that we're very very happy with our physics. Our physics runs at 600Hz (faster than the competition!), and we're modelling things to a depth that makes my poor brain boggle. Stuff like modelling the airflow through engines. Our volumetric throttle code calculates power available at a given intake manifold pressure, and means that ambient air pressure due to height above sea level will have an effect on engine performance depending on the setup of a particular car. And where a car has a turbo, it's properly modelled (airflow, spin up, wastegate, blow-off valve) rather than just arbitrarily applying a multiplier to the number labelled 'speed'. And our tyre model is amazing, too.

2) Yep. Trying our bloody hardest, for sure!

3) I don't believe we've made that public yet – but check over at http://www.projectcarsgame.com/cars.html for the latest information. What we're doing (and this is supported by our unique single-player career mode) isn't the standard 'car-collection' game, with hundreds and hundreds of cars. Whilst we've got quite a few (launching with 70-80ish), what we're making sure of is that we've got the right cars for the story we want to tell. We don't have an in-game currency, and all our content is available from the first time you play the game (notwithstanding the Microsoft / Sony requirements to allow gameplay off a partial download). Our single-player mode is more about mirroring the way that actual racing drivers spend their time: choose from any of the available classes, jump in, do a season, stick with it, change it, it's up to you.

4) Yeah. And flames.

Edited by PJDubyaM on Tuesday 14th October 17:01

PJDubyaM

49 posts

117 months

Tuesday 14th October 2014
quotequote all
Ryvita said:
Will there be Oculus Rift support?
Already is! Our community over at WMD have been playing Oculus builds for months now. Plenty up on YouTube if you fancy a look!

ajprice

27,321 posts

195 months

Tuesday 14th October 2014
quotequote all
Is there any kind of paintshop in the console game, or a way of getting paints/skins into the game?

PJDubyaM

49 posts

117 months

Tuesday 14th October 2014
quotequote all
laam999 said:
How is development with project morpheus compatability going? I heard there where problems maintaining a frame rate. Either way in excited
Unfortunately, it's not something I can talk about much (non-disclosure agreements and all that), but we should be ready whenever Morpheus is ready.

kowalski655

14,599 posts

142 months

Tuesday 14th October 2014
quotequote all
Love the fact that there are loads of tracks,some im sure have not been in a game before. That was the disappointing thing with FM5.

laam999

538 posts

168 months

Tuesday 14th October 2014
quotequote all
PJDubyaM said:
Unfortunately, it's not something I can talk about much (non-disclosure agreements and all that), but we should be ready whenever Morpheus is ready.

Mini1275

11,098 posts

181 months

Tuesday 14th October 2014
quotequote all
PJDubyaM said:
I'm Lead Producer over at Slightly Mad Studios, and one of the people behind Project CARS. Not been there since the beginning, but proud to be working on it.

Any questions: fire away!

On the question of sim vs. arcade: yes there are lots of (switchable) assists. For the media events, we tend to turn a lot of them on, simply to make sure that the majority of players have a positive time (if you throw a regular gamer / journo into a full sim situation, the results ain't going to be pretty...). The physics system runs at 600Hz, and the team are rightly proud of what they've achieved.
Are there any updates on the game's incompatibility with Logitech wheels on the Playstation 4 version?.

The inability to be able to use one of the most popular wheels with a 'simulation' game is a major letdown for a large number of people.




The game looks and sounds great, though thumbup.



craste

1,222 posts

206 months

Tuesday 14th October 2014
quotequote all
PJDubyaM said:
I'm Lead Producer over at Slightly Mad Studios, and one of the people behind Project CARS. Not been there since the beginning, but proud to be working on it.

Any questions: fire away!

On the question of sim vs. arcade: yes there are lots of (switchable) assists. For the media events, we tend to turn a lot of them on, simply to make sure that the majority of players have a positive time (if you throw a regular gamer / journo into a full sim situation, the results ain't going to be pretty...). The physics system runs at 600Hz, and the team are rightly proud of what they've achieved.
I cannot wait for this game!

Couple of questions:

1.) Will there be any 1980's hot hatches available in the future like Escort RS Turbo, Renault 5 GT Turbo, MG Maestro Turbo, MG Metro, Peugeot 205 GTI, Vauxhall Astra GTE 16 Valve?


2) I have a PS4 and a PC - would you recommend buying a decent graphics card for the PC to play it on there or is the PS4 really good enough looking to not warrant playing it on PC (I aim to buy a nice wheel too for Christmas)

I would love to see a Sierra RS Sapphire Cosworth and the original 3 door whale tail in the game - would love to see them too as normal road cars not racing versions!

Cheers

Craig.