Project CARS 2 - The ‘ultimate driver journey’

[SharkyOB]

48 minutes ago, bradigor said:

 

Such a great game, both TOCA Touring Car Championship and TOCA 2 Touring Cars. They nailed the feeling of being in a race and the experience has never been bettered. Obviously mechanics, graphics, etc have all improved, but those games at that time were nigh on perfect for me. TOCA World Touring Cars was also very good, but lacked that 'something' I loved about the first two. 

 

I don't think I have ever agreed with a single paragraph of text more than I agree with this 

[Dudley]

2 hours ago, bradigor said:

TOCA World Touring Cars was also very good, but lacked that 'something' I loved about the first two. 

 

The something being mostly that it literally wasn't a "TOCA" game since it contained fictional opponents only.

[bradigor]

The Deluxe version of this is cheap on PSN at the moment. What are the thoughts on it? I'll likely never play it online, but is it worth £16 for the single player?

[Dudley]

Do you have a wheel?

[bradigor]

No

[Dudley]

Then you're going to find it difficult I would say.  More so than a Forza or GT.

[scoobysi]

On 20/12/2019 at 12:47, bradigor said:

The Deluxe version of this is cheap on PSN at the moment. What are the thoughts on it? I'll likely never play it online, but is it worth £16 for the single player?

It’s regularly in a sale, I’m often tempted then I remember PC1. So perhaps it depends what you thought of PC1, if you played that.

[Dudley]

With a wheel both Project CARS have felt more like being in a real race to me than anything else I've ever played, especially in VR.

 

But then I'm not fond of the "Driving on ice = simulation" model iRacing and its like seem to employ.

[Hardbattle]

I bought this for about £8 on steam yesterday, just to try the VR version on my Quest Link - holy hell, that’s impressive! Beautiful, smooth and handles really well.

[Dudley]

As the simulation obsessive it won't surprise you to know trying it out on someone else's Vive is what sold me a Vive.

 

Like I'm sat in the closed top Audi prototype thinking "These aren't really my hands and they're not really on that wheel, but it really fucking is."

[idiwa]

I bought this a few weeks ago on the cheap for the PS4. I never played the first one but heard very good things about it. My history is PGR, Forza and DriveClub. Since I bought it a few friends who were very much into Project Cars (1) have said 2 is a bit Meh and I've also been reading the thread for PC3 which seems to be getting slated.

 

Anyway, skip to the end - Is PC2 worth the effort to get into it or is it a bit shite using a pad? I've started a career and I hated the go karts, I really struggled with them. Now I'm in some sort of formula ford open wheel event and it seems a lot easier. I'm running no assists other than Auto gears.

 

 

[deerokus]

It's very tough on a pad for sure, but it's doable. Definitely designed around a wheel it seems though.

 

As far as I recall the go karts are just shite. 

[jonathanhoey]

It's certainly more difficult with a pad than it is with a wheel, but once you get used to it it's quite playable.

 

Start with slow cars and work up, is my advice. There's a 1600cc Ford Escort that is great fun. 

 

And remember you need to heat the tyres and brakes on your outlap. Every car feels like it's on ice when you start a session - you can't really just 'arrive and drive' in that sense. 

 

As for assists, I would turn on ABS, leave traction control off, and try to get used to manual gears (personally I would bind gas/brake to R2/L2, X to shift up and Square to shift down).

[idiwa]

13 hours ago, deerokus said:

As far as I recall the go karts are just shite. 

 

Good to know, cheers.

[idiwa]

12 hours ago, beenabadbunny said:

It's certainly more difficult with a pad than it is with a wheel, but once you get used to it it's quite playable.

 

Start with slow cars and work up, is my advice. There's a 1600cc Ford Escort that is great fun. 

 

And remember you need to heat the tyres and brakes on your outlap. Every car feels like it's on ice when you start a session - you can't really just 'arrive and drive' in that sense. 

 

As for assists, I would turn on ABS, leave traction control off, and try to get used to manual gears (personally I would bind gas/brake to R2/L2, X to shift up and Square to shift down).

 

Yeah normally I'd have it on manual gears but I was just trying to learn the circuits atm. I'm also running with the racing line on. Thanks for the tips on the tires/ breaks etc. So can you swerve and shit to heat up the tires? 

 

 

[jonathanhoey]

Yeah you can. The default HUD shows them in blue (cold) which will rise to green as they warm up. You'll see the pressure numbers rise as they warm up too. If you press D-pad left it will cycle through different HUD modes, one of which is a full HUD where you can see each corner in more detail including brake temps.

[Dudley]

Yes, the go karts in PC2 are proper shifter things that run on big tracks.

 

The go kart tracks in PC2 are designed for the kind of karts you could rock up to Daytona with no racing licence and just drive.

 

So they're horribly restrictive and the AI wasn't designed for the task.

 

It's easily the worst part of the game and it's unfortunate everyone plays it first.

[bradigor]

Right I found out this works on Steam Deck so decided to give it an install. Problem is it has been ages since I last played a sim 'properly' 

 

I am going in with manual gears, but I can remember if there is a golden rule for understanding which gear to use on which sort of corner. 

 

Also do I down shift during braking or wait until I have finished braking and as I turn in?

[wev]

Not played this but generally with manual gears I down shift as I'm braking, because then you can start upshifting as you accelerate through the corner.

 

I always remember a bit in Jackie Stewart's book, when talking about Francois Cever, they had been discussing what gear to take a particular corner in, Stewart said he would go for third as the lower revs gave him better grip, Cevert was downshifting to second and letting the back end come out.

 

So it's also dependent upon your driving style too.

[bradigor]

That makes sense. I also think I found my main issue. I started in the Ginetta Jnrs and was upshifting too fast and too high. 

 

Around Knockhill in the rain I was getting up to sixth gear and trying to corner in 3rd at the lowest. The other cars spent most of the time between third and second only very briefly getting to forth. 

 

Once I copied them I got better lap times

[Valver]

So as a rule of thumb, yes, bash down the gears quickly while braking.  If you select gears low enough, the engine has to speed up on each downshift and that "engine braking" effect will help the physical braking a bit too.  If you select too low a gear and hit really high revs then the engine cant keep the wheels spinning at the same road speed and that's when the rear will lose traction and you can spin - so there's a balance to be found for when to change.   But get it all done during the braking phase to be ready to accelerate as you reach the corner's apex.

 

The gear to be in at the end of braking will determined by the speed you feel you can take the corner's apex at. Pick a gear that has that speed have its revs right in its sweet spot (so say 4 to 5 thousand revs)s o the acceleration is at its best immediately.  If you're in 5th and the engine is at 1000 rpm then you'll be super slow chugging away from the corner.

 

In the wet, you need to select a gear that gives you good acceleration, but one that doesn't break traction.  So sometimes shifting up early in the rev range can avoid wheelspin if the power of the car is delivered in a hurry at the top of the rev range...   

 

But generally rev that engine until the lights on the dash fill up the meter (in car view) or the rev counter turns red on the HUD.  Then change up. 

[bradigor]

Much better session after some practice. Starting to get a feel for things and it plays lovely on the Deck

[SharkyOB]

3 hours ago, wev said:

 always remember a bit in Jackie Stewart's book, when talking about Francois Cever, they had been discussing what gear to take a particular corner in, Stewart said he would go for third as the lower revs gave him better grip, Cevert was downshifting to second and letting the back end come out.

 

Through the esses at Watkins Glen. Cevert was killed when he lost control going through those corners and Stewart suspected it was due to the instability caused by using the lower gear. They're really fast corners so I suspect it was fourth and third rather than third and second. 

 

You can drive those corners in PCars2 actually, they haven't changed since the 70s.

[wev]

1 minute ago, SharkyOB said:

 

Through the esses at Watkins Glen. Cevert was killed when he lost control going through those corners and Stewart suspected it was due to the instability caused by using the lower gear. They're really fast corners so I suspect it was fourth and third rather than third and second. 

 

You can drive those corners in PCars2 actually, they haven't changed since the 70s.

Yes, I left that bit out, about his death, horrible story. Couldn't remember the exact gearing though 

[SharkyOB]

20 minutes ago, wev said:

Yes, I left that bit out, about his death, horrible story. Couldn't remember the exact gearing though 

 

Yeah, horrendous. I'd have been a huge Cevert fan if he'd raced in a different period, he died five years before I was born though! 

[wev]

From what little I've seen and read about him I'm of a similar opinion, though he passed away 11 years before I was born. I find Stewart frustrating, but that he held Cevert in such high regard speaks volumes.

[Junker]

PS4 version Currently £3.83 in PSN sale.

Deluxe version £5.59.

[Junker]

Well jumping in after GT7 this looked sort of horrific, but bloody hell it’s good!

 The level of detail in the physics and force feedback through my wheel is kind of mind blowing. 
 Maybe I went in with low expectations so I need to play a bit more in a few different cars. 

[davadvice1]

@JunkerI've just had a wee session on this thanks for the heads up. You're correct it's good. I had played it on the xbox without a wheel and it was OK but season 2 was unplayable with a controller. 

 

I had a good race with a ginetta round oulton and now have my home race to do. The AI seemed OK and I was in a close fight as I'm still learning the track. 

 

Cheers 

[Corranga]

I tried it yesterday and it doesn’t like my wheel, continually pops up a controller disconnected message, I’ll try updating firmware, and also I just remembered there is a compatibility mode where the wheel supposedly appears to the console as if it’s an older one or something at some point. I think it still wants to download most of the game too..