PROJECT CARS 2 let me down

I was pretty surprised by my experience with this one...

Thanks for watching me rant and supporting the channel

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Music by me

Footage captured on Playstation 4, Playstation 5 and Xbox 360

Image references

[BruceLaw]

Track temperature has a massive effect on the tyre model in pcars... most cars default setups start on hard tyres, but if the track is cold the tyres won't work, and if it's too hot the soft tyres don't work.

Which is probably why you felt the inconsistency from race to race.

As someone else in the comments, Automobilista 2 is what pcars3 always should have been.

[LudwigBeefoven]

I have played all Project Cars versions on PC and I did not experience any tearing.

[RimasNOS]

IT IS NOT FULL SERIES. One game is missing. AUTOMOBILISTA 2 was originally developed as a successor of PC2, runs the same engine. And it is the game, what PC3 should have been! Better graphics, better physics, realistic handling. It is fantastic game, and still growing. Last year developers made a massive update to physics. It is superb to play with steering wheel.

[mrbrisket]

While I cannot speak for PC3 (I've never played it), I do admit that the handling in this game is a little bit out there. I played PC1 on Xbox One ages ago, and when I got my first gaming PC I played PC2 and finally bought a wheel. I think one of the reasons why a lot of people look so fondly in this game is the online community surrounding it. I joined a community who held multiple weekly races, as well as a commentary team who used to cast it on Twitch. Those are still some of my best gaming memories. I think, another reason people love it so much, is the fact that this was so accessible as a sim title, with plenty of content, a pretty solid career mode and online component. No one else really had that, Assetto Corsa felt great to drive but felt far less complete as a game (not counting mods here), iRacing was just far too expensive for most people and rFactor 2 felt like it was held together with duct tape. Project Cars 2 felt complete as a game, it had an atmosphere, it had a distinct personality, and a community that really made it great. I still can't believe they pulled this from sale.

[nailsarecruel]

First off, I play on PC through Steam. PC2 was similar to Shift 2 Unleashed in that while it offered many improvements upon the original, it didn't make the original title obsolete. I preferred PC1's career structure over PC2, and little details like tunnel reverb and seeing an open wheeler's tyres pick up grime after running off track.

Necessity is a hell of a thing because I don't have a wheel. I play on gamepad and while I'm damn sure I am not competitive against wheel players, I disagree the game is unplayable with a pad. I've managed to tame every boost monster with the exception of that legendary Lotus F1 car. Pretty sure I have the same praises as every Project Cars fan, but my main grip with PC2 is how the grip affecting conditions only affected you and not the AI cars. What I hold dear about Project Cars and NFS Shift is that Slightly Mad Studios genuinely gave a damn about the games, the dedication showed in many aspects of their racing games (Fast & Furious Crossroads doesn't count), which is why it was easy to forgive the flaws. As for PC3, that was behind the scenes greed, bullshit and vindictiveness that other YouTube channels have touched upon, so I won't. That has me conflicted about buying PC3 when the inevitable pre-delisting sale happens.

[RegularRiyaad]

" I must be missing something-- either in the settings or in my brain. "

Same, Sam.... Same.

[AmbientMike]

Not enough games let you hoon a rallycross car around a go-kart track!

[csongorduka]

I'm not a huge fan of simracers but this game really got me into it, all I need is a proper sim setup

[jacobsecor]

I'm really glad the algorithm served me this content. Funny, well thought out, generally entertaining. Well done, man!

[booletz]

I see what you mean about you feeling disconnected from the road going from controller to wheel a few years ago and I saw some of the performance issues you were talking about on ps4. However this game will be a classic for me because of the hundreds of hours racing my friend or the time racing with my uncle that has now made us a lot closer so in my eyes it’s pretty great and now it’s a time piece as after upgrading to a fanatec dd it’s no longer supported by pc2 on console

[JustMartha]

I used to play PC2 few times but recently I got my first steering wheel with Force Feedback and I got obsessed with this game. Visually I prefer first Project Cars, but besides visuals, I stick with PC2 but to improve experience I had to mess around cam settings to increase speed feeling.

[digitaldevil]

4:14 For anyone that has the same feels with slow problem, go to movement tab and change the "world movement" to 100/max. There should be fix your problem.

[jeremyodwyer]

Agree with you about this. I LOVED the original, played it for countless hours, mostly the Renault Clio, never even touched the career, just race weekends wherever I felt like racing.

I was so excited for PC2 and as soon as I launched it the first things I noticed were the washed out visuals and the screen tearing. It looked sharper, but worse.

Racing early morning or late evening when the sun is setting helps but even then there is that sort of lifelessness you talk about.

I love the choice of cars, and find I can drive a lot more of them compared to the original, but i've never got the same feeling as with the first one.

After watching your video I just redownloaded PC1 and it's just instantly better. The graphics are fuzzier but the driving is just more immediate and exciting.

Ps. I also tried messing with all the settings to try and get it to feel faster and one thing I found that you might not be aware of is that if you plug in a keyboard you can change the chase camera position on console. By pressing "CTRL + K", you enter a free cam mode. You can then use WASD keys for forward-back as well as up-down camera movement - and Q and E for left and right.

Anyway love the videos man.

Keep up the great work!

[collisioncoursemedia]

Having played PC2 on both console and PC I can definitely say it's a console thing, the game feels like it was made more for a wheel than a controller..that being said even on PC some of the cars do feel disconnected, a trait of the madness engine and the default setups, its something Reiza would develop and work on for Automobilista 2 (peak madness engine imo).

Also for your comments regarding the jump from 1 to 3, you were initially right, corporate greed and original devs/creators leaving the company left the game to be turned into this horrible shell of what it once was, which makes it all the more pleasing that AM2 has carried the spirit on and let it flourish.

[simonoregan]

Runs like dream in VR. Also just tried it for the first time recently. Some of the cars handling leave allot to be desired!

[Rockport]

Yes, just yes. Got PC2 because I wanted a better looking GTR2 substitute after years. Even tho Automobilista 2 does certain stuff better its still missing the great career mode and
the " western" content PC2 has. So I have both games on my PC and so far cant part with neither of them.
Not alot of modded content tho, but its better than a 150GB Assetto Corsa folder :)
Sense of speed is important its difficult to get in PC2, many racing games do this and you tend to overshoot every corner... #slowINfastOUT

[Raven_A]

It’s one of the best feeling sim games I’ve played on controller, the GTE and GTP cars are some of the best to drive.

[afdelta]

Lowkey tried pc1 again compared to pc2 and I gotta say I can get what you mean by "bitey" handling. The handling in the first game had a better angular momentum catch than pc2. Pc2 has a lot more understeer/slip on the tires compared to pc1. Also pc2 has less track bouncing, but in some cases thats a good thing how autistic the game likes to be.

[bjank]

WOW, you’ve said everything I thought when I played this game. I LOVE it when it works and is consistent

[dr]

If people think they could get in a crazy race car and fly around a track planted in reality are in for a surprise. PC2 makes me feel like I would on a race track trying to push a monster around and not crash. You should find it tough, and you should be exhausted after some laps.