Fresh off our interview with the Project CARS development crew, we still craved to know more of the game that is. Desperate for further insight into the nuances of Project CARS’ development and the transformation it has undergone in the past 4 years, we figured you would be too. Acting upon it, we approached a few original members of the WMD community that have been around since the game’s inception and have what is regarded as a “Senior Member” toolkit, or ‘status’ if you like. Of course, a few shied away from the prospect simply because there’s a line that has to be drawn when it comes to disclosing the happenings of the community. We respect that. Not wanting to taint anyone’s credibility, we opted to provide freedom of expression to those who did agree to speak about the game, rather than limiting the opportunity to a few questions. We did however have one simple request being that they stay completely true to their opinions, even if it didn’t seem to mollify those reading it. Read on then, as they provide a unique perspective of Project CARS’ current state of being.
TRISTAN WATKINS, SENIOR MEMBER
Intro
Before I give you my thoughts and feelings on Project CARS as a WMD member, I’ll just give you a bit of my background. I first played racing games on the PlayStation one with games such a the V-rally series and the Gran Turismo series. However I moved over to PCs more recently and now play games such as Richard Burns Rally, Assetto corsa and occasionally dabble with i-racing. My enjoyment of racing games also led me to study engineering, so i enjoy fiddling with the settings of cars within the games.
What makes Project cars different?
The key difference with Project CARS is the fact that this is a Simulation racing game that is coming out on console. I think that’s possibly why the game is turning so many heads and getting so much attention.
The way the game is being developed is very different from conventional crowd funding. as a result the WMD community is a great thing. I think it also shows how the early access/community backing should be done. The Community itself is probably the largest critic of the game. So many members looking at all the minute little details, means that the developers are constantly getting feedback. As well providing feedback the community has created and decided on vehicle liveries, as well as external applications. Other areas such as gamepad controls are constantly being worked on by community members; fiddling with the settings then suggesting ideas and commenting on other people setups. The constant dialogue provides so much more information to developers than they probably would normally have.
Adjustments!
Something in my experience console games is that the adjustment is often limited. The adjustments within project cars is almost all done on sliding scales rather than fixed options. This makes tailoring the Game to your play style tremendously easy. Alongside the game options The Car setup is more in depth than most other Racers on consoles. The ability to create asymmetrical setups between the 4 corners allows for greater tailoring to the player and the track. The settings all have appropriate units,which coming from GT is a nice feature as unit-less sliders annoyed me to no end.
Cars, tracks and single player.
Project cars is more like a Sim version of the Toca series than GT or Forza. The large track variation count combined with the many different disciplines means that the single player is probably more in-depth than any recent racing game. Many different disciplines will have national regional and then a worldwide series for example the GT class has a British GT series European GT series and then is Part of a worldwide endurance series. This for me provides a better sense of progression than upgrading a car and entering a new series in GT or Forza.
A streamlined single player Playthrough will easily take over 30 hours of gameplay though this may and will depend on how the player does the events. For instance; you could just do qualifying and races or you could take part in practices. The length of time taking to complete a race weekend will also depend on how long you make sessions last. This is controlled by a nice easy sliding scale on the calendar screen. Due to the way the career is laid out the type of car will change in a realistic way with low powered cars at the start of your career and prototypes at the peak of your career. I personally enjoy the low powered cars all the way up to LMP2. However I’m not a fan of the road cars.
Summary
For me project cars is possibly a game changer in Console racing games. We often see it being compared to Gran Turismo and quite rightly so. The game has racing at its core while the likes of GT and Forza have racing as a way to progress through the game and unlock new things. This is the fundamental difference. My hope is that this makes console racer developers stop and think about the quality of racing in their games. This isn’t new for PC as they have always had Sims that focus on quality not quantity. Unfortunately the same can’t be said for the consoles.
RATSNACKER, SENIOR MEMBER
The main reason I decided to become a team member for Project – Community Assisted Race Simulation (Project CARS), was based on seeing some really good videos of the same around the Internet. Honestly, I wanted to get an early look at things rather than really provide an input towards the direction the game/sim was heading. Being a racing fan for a very long time, it seemed an opportunity to see the next big thing before it arrived. What’s more, there was the promise of having your name permanently etched into the title in the form of having a driver named after yourself!
Initially.
In the early stages, the experience was less than rewarding. Mind you, this was very early in the development stages. The graphics on the car models were a standout feature from this early stage, although improvements are still being made. During the course of development, we’ve seen a steady flow of cars become available, under various disguises. Cars appeared under unofficial names, kind of similar to what you see in a GTA title, but unmistakable to an avid racing fan visually. Every surface gleamed, looking perfect. LMP1’s to Lotus Seven inspired kit cars gave us a wide variety of test subjects, all in very high detail.
Unfortunately I felt that this was the only good thing to report from the early builds. I seem to recall it taking me several hours to configure the settings and controls to a point where I could actually take to the track and drive. This is where the problems started. It occurred to me that behind all of the shine, the driving fell way short. My first impression was “This is NFS; SHIFT all over again”. Those of you who have had experience with the NFS: SHIFT duology on any kind of wheel will remember the frustrations; way too much wheel input, and vague steering to say the least. The early builds are always about finding major bugs, and each step after is refinement. So while finished-game quality cannot be expected, I honestly didn’t expect to see the exact same problems in relation to the player-connect with cars, as was well documented from those “other titles”. Taking this into consideration I would regularly try to work around the pre-alpha quirks and enjoy it for what I first intended- just a first look. But I was soon frustrated at having a great looking environment that was spoiled by poor controls and physics. “Simcade” was definitely the feel here. I decided to take a break from the sim and wait until things got a little more polished and approachable for someone with limited gaming time in general.
I Did Return Fortunately.
After maybe 6 months away, I came back for another look. The amount of content had increased quite a lot, and some major licenses had been agreed to; The “lookalike” cars now showed their actual real world names, as did some of the tracks. This has over time, led to a good mix of real world venues, and original content. This however, brings me to another gripe that I had then – tracks.
Now coming from iRacing as my major Sim, I’m used to laser scanned tracks to 1 mm accuracy. Project CARS (at the time) had non laser scanned tracks. So although they seemed pretty accurate, to the purist like myself it was an oversight. With the recent additions of UK based laser scanned venues however, that perspective of mine has now changed. I’ve always wondered why Donington Park rarely features in racing games, so it’s inclusion into Project CARS was greatly welcomed by me. It is a worth noting, Donington is a mere 20 minute drive from my house. Having grown up travelling to racing events around the UK from a young age, I was also deeply content by the laser scanned versions of Cadwell Park, Snetterton, Oulton Park and the mighty Brands Hatch which seems to have gained popularity since its inclusion in GT6!
Those of you who are from the console racing background will absolutely love the latest track list. It includes some of the ones you’ll expect to see from other titles, but also a great selection of ones you’ll be unfamiliar with so it won’t just feel like the same old races under a new title.
Why Project CARS’ initial shift in release date was a blessing.
The decision to delay it’s release was met with a lot of disappointment from those eagerly awaiting its arrival. Let me set something straight, it was NOT ready for release. Not even close. The AI was (and still is at the time of writing) terrible.
The steering input controls need to be more clear cut for those wanting to use a wheel (which I strongly recommend anyone serious about racing games to invest in). If you have a lot of time and patience to set up your gear (and I mean A LOT) then you may be able to tune the controls into something just fine. Though those of you wanting to just plug in and play are going to have a poor experience. I personally use a Fanatec Clubsport V2 base, coupled with a BMW GT or Formula rim and Clubsport pedals. These are officially supported, but still require a great deal of fine tuning to feel right. Hopefully, those opting for the console/gamepad experience will find the controls to be okay. I have no experience with controllers, but I do expect some driving aids may be required due to Project CARS aiming more towards the Simulation racer.
Those of you sticking to the PC version will want to make sure they have a fairly up to date system to replicate some of the effects you’ve undoubtedly seen on YouTube. I’m lucky enough to be playing in triple screen at high settings, and as development has progressed, things have become better optimized for what is quite a niche market. Those of you on lower end systems may find yourselves selling a kidney to chase the ultra graphical effects.
What Project CARS is to me today
Although it seems a lot of my opinions carry a negative edge, I want to stress that I am now optimistic about what is coming our way. The content, graphics and feel of the game has greatly improved over time. If you’re willing to put the time in, then you will be granted a fun and rewarding experience. There’s no doubt in my mind about recommending people to actually buy this having seen the progression made.
The latest build feels a lot more solid. The sense of one-ness with the track is far better than the early days of development and should be a lot easier to get going. Force feedback effects are very reliable and easy to read.
Despite the player starting in a sandbox with the fastest race cars available from Day 1, I highly recommend trying out some of the lower end motor sports classes!
Being from the UK, call me mad but a favourite car/track combo of mine is the Clio Cup car at Donington. Those of you familiar with the BTCC (British Touring Car Championship for those out-of-towners) will have undoubtedly seen how close and fun this series looks! With Project CARS you are going to feel like you are actually there! Don’t be fooled by the fact these cars are JUST front wheel drive hatchbacks. Setting these 220 BHP pocket rockets up in a field of 38, then hitting the track with real-time weather (yes it’s normally rain here, get over it), is far from what you’ll be expecting! You can make the race exactly suited to how you want, and really feel like you’re fighting for position out on the track. You’ll be forced to deal with cold tyres giving you less grip in the early laps, lift oversteer and plenty of on-throttle under-steer. I recommend setting the AI at around 80 on the slider to start with, and a random grid position to spice things up a bit. You’ll see the other drivers making moves as well as making mistakes. Don’t be tempted to make things easy, or you won’t enjoy the experience as intended. Feeling like you’ve earned a podium position and fought for it with all your might is what the game invokes, rather than adhering to the norm of letting players win for the cash prizes or progression stars. The experience is more focused on feeling like a racing driver rather than taking part in a grind for stats!
So far, there is a single player story which is well presented and offers the expected progression through the ranks for those feeling the need to work towards something. But stepping away and creating your own challenges is a nice treat and that’s where Project CARS really shines. You can race Karts around originally created tracks, open wheeled single seaters from classic Formula Ford style low aero cars (Formula Rookie), through the classes like GP2’s (Formula B) and Formula 1 (Formula A). Try out those Ginetta Juniors or step up to the Ginetta G55 GT4. Take on the lunacy of classic F1 cars of the past, like the iconic Lotus 49, 72D Cosworth, 78 Cosworth or Senna’s 98T Renault Turbo to name a few!
Each car is going to be a new challenge. There may not be the sheer numbers to chose from, but every one is individual in the way it sounds and behaves. Throw in the wealth of new tracks and total weather control (did I mention you can race at real time, with current real weather??), and you are going to be very busy indeed.
All in all, after the ups and downs during the development stages, I can’t wait to see what the community does here. Custom leagues are going to add longevity to the title for sure. Regardless of where the game has come from, one thing to be sure of, this is the next big racing game, with big ambitions from the start. I’m sure the already passionate community will continue to grow, and only get better after launch. Whatever your racing interests are, I’m sure there’s something within Project CARS that will turn a smile, and bring you together with like minded racers. I look forward to seeing you on track!
CHRISTIAAN van BEILEN, Senior Member
My name is Christiaan van Beilen and am also known as LogiForce in most online places. I’ve been a World of Mass Development member since October 20th 2011, which is 9 days since the opening of the World of Mass Development on October 11th 2011. My highest toolpack ranking is that of Senior.
Being a part of the WMD Community
Being such an early member I haven’t missed much from the entire experience. I saw World of Mass Development’s forum evolve from what seemed a chaotic gaming forum to a proper digital office of Slighty Mad Studios as rules were created and enforced along the way. Both us gamers and Slightly Mad Studios’ developers needed to get used to each other, and look at how it would be best to interact and communicate efficiently. At which point it was made clear that the gamers are both investers as much as colleagues, so we should give mutual respect and acknowledge that the developers were our bosses. Some people have had problems to adjust, but sometimes due to the informal setting of the digital office we also got in each others hair.
Of course there also was a big issue with language barriers, but also different countries and companies have different work ethics. So it could be even hard sometimes even though you follow the rules. I am one of the lucky ones that did not get a strike or even ban, but others sometimes did go to far in the eyes of those who enforce the rules.
With all of that said. If anyone would even join the World of Mass Development for any future project, maybe Project CARS 2, than I suggest that you act like an employee of Slightly Mad Studios at all times. More importantly it never hurts to think twice about your forum post before you post it. Also it is good to sometimes just take a break for a few weeks away from the development frustrations that can tend to accumulate over time.
All in all, I think the developers of Slightly Mad Studios were really awesome and understanding people. They are highly skilled, don’t mind some good humor at the appropriate times, but most of all they have been just great in interacting with everyone no matter how emotional we get. They were very patient and understanding in that we had to adjust to the new way of working as we did. So big praises there, even though not everyone could agree. Some left the project and some drove the developers to the point of having to take measures if their behavior was out of line with the set regulations. Sometimes its a result from frustrations, mutual misunderstanding or simply not seeing eye to eye to the point of escalation.
Everyone was treated as equal and in a fair way. For an office it’s quite an informal and tolerant one. So it was, for me, a pleasurable experience even though I also wasn’t the easiest one out there… if I may say so myself.
How I helped improve the Clutch and Throttle System
So what got me into the project at first? I think what attracted me to Project CARS is the graphics and seeing the drive shafts of that Leonus F68 (replaced by the Lotus 49 after the license was secured), and the fact that I could witness making a AAA-title from my favourite genre and even aiding in its creation by direct communication with the developers. Maybe the icing on the cake (with cherry on top) was seeing that Ben ‘The Stig‘ Collins had joined the project. I have to be honest about that one… it’s the Stig of all people! Being able to race him on our leaderboards in real life while testing and discussing car behavior with him and others. It was just something I felt would be cool to do. In hindsight it was far from being cool… joining the project just was priceless in itself.
I think the most valuable feedback I made has been mostly in the Physics section for the game. I made two huge threads about what I found wrong about the clutch behavior and throttle behavior. I think those are the areas where I made the most impact for the game with my input into the project, as these points of concern gained supports of fellow WMD members that also were of the opinion that improvements needing to be made in these areas. After which lots of discussion and testing followed, and even the creation of better ways of simulating these aspects.
That’s how it usually goes within the World of Mass Development. Either you make a thread and post an idea for improvements, to which people from WMD and SMS would enter in a discussion and it would either get nowhere or an idea for an improvement is born. Sometimes you also enter in a discussion and suddenly people would come up with an idea on what to improve where, and if it does show a good improvement it will be implemented.
This also means that saying “I don’t like it, fix it now” is not the way to go, and totally not wanted as it does not add any informational value for the developers. You need to be thorough in describing the problem you are facing and how it manifests itself, and maybe you could add a thought on where you think the improvements could be made.
As to what, for example, resulted from such discussions is that Project CARS now features a Volumetric Throttle System onto which a new Turbocharger System has also been designed. This means that before in Project CARS and other racing games the pedal would feel like you were controlling the engine RPM directly. Or at least have a fixed progression across the powerband of the engine. With the new system it will now simulate the result of what happens with the air accumulation as you would manipulate the throttle body of the engine with the throttle pedal. Meaning the system calculates in realtime the air pressure and amount of air going into the engine.
What this entails for car behaviour and feel in general is that the cars gained a lot more character and an individual learning curve. So from car to car you really get a whole different experience as each engine has a different powerband and different air intake. Which is something you would expect in real life as well, even when comparing a Ford Focus RS to a Renault Megane RS. In fact I am willing to say that this is one of the fundamentals that makes Project CARS feel so much more natural than everything out there, at least for myself.
Of course naturally aspirated cars were fine with just that single new system, but with the old Turbocharger System the simulation felt too much of an on/off kind of thing. So after some time the developers also ‘plugged in’ a new Turbo System into the Volumetric Throttle System to make use of the volumetric air intake calculations even more.
The new turbo system meant that, especially on the Lotus 98T and Ford Sierra RS500, the way the turbo spools up and air volume and pressure increases became far more gradual and natural. It still packed a punch as you’d expect of the crazy turbo cars of old, but you could now more instinctively prepare for it.
Of course these systems behave differently as air pressure changes upon elevation in the game. So if we would, for example, have a road like the Stelvio Pass in the game (which it is not) than a natural aspirated car would have decreasing power output as the car will end up having more problems getting air into the engine. Just like a human will be out of breath more quickly the higher he or she climbs a mountain.
There are more tiny details on how it influences car behaviour, but these two new systems really make up the core of what gives our cars their individual character. Satisfyingly so if I might add, as I remember how overjoyed the WMD members were with these changes.
The clutch is also something I kept bringing up to be improved. There are certain characteristics that make a manual clutch feel and behave like a manual clutch.
For example bumpstarting a car is possible now in Project CARS. This also means that engine compression will have a play. In 1st gear engine compression is too high for a bump start, but in too high gear you won’t have enough RPM to crank the engine and get it going again.
This also means that each engine will behave differently when you engage your clutch. Some will be easy to shift with, and some allow clutchless shifts while other engines do not.
In the end it just adds that extra bit of flavour that makes a manual H-pattern gearbox equiped car feel and act like one, instead of it being nothing more than an automatic box with a gradual clutch release and the ability to skip a gear whilst shifting.
My Name’s etched on an RUF CTR3 SMS-R!
What was the most surprising in my entire time working on Project CARS was probably that a WMD member, contacted me saying he was working on a GTplanet.com branded livery that is to be included in the game for the ‘RUF CTR3 SMS-R‘. He wanted to include the names of people that were both active community members on GTplanet and the World of Mass Development. He made all the names into sponsor logos, and made a couple for me to choose from with my last name. After I picked the one I liked he put four of these logos in prominent places on the car.
It really is a nice gesture for me as I put a lot of time in both sites and help where I can.
I took the snow out of Project CARS
Now as for a personal bad. There was a time when Slightly Mad Studios was making a track based on the Caucasus Mountains in the same way we have Azure Coast and Californian Highway as fictional tracks. The thing is that we got into a discussion about SNOW. I was the one that noticed they added snow on track and I had the standpoint that if there is snow in a simulation game it should also have impact on the handling. This went into such a heated discussion about SNOW and if or if not to add it that I basically was the reason for this track being pulled.
Ever since all the WMD members remember it as the SNOW incident. Although the track got transferred to World of Speed (another project by Slightly Mad Studios), so not all was lost.
If you were wondering why I and every WMD member will write snow in capital letters? As a result of this incident Ian Bell stated that it is decreed that the word ‘snow’ shall be capitalized from that time forward. Indeed, from that day forward this was the case. I guess it became one of the WMD legends that happened during development.
Project CARS Today and Tomorrow
I’m sure everyone will say… but where are the bad parts.
The bad is that not all cars are equally well finished, but most racing cars are great to drive. The road cars might need more work but even that’s being worked on.
The menu doesn’t always like for me to adjust all the values in the way i’d like to so in the setup menu. Plus the controller profiles need a big update before release, which they are working on as we speak. Even though there might seem to be a lot of things now that need attention, the game is in far better condition than it was before the holidays. I am very confident that we will put a great game onto the market, but I won’t be the fool and tell you to expect a flawless game. Every modern game that I know has become very complex in nature, and thus all of them also have their share of issues. This in racing or other genres.
The difference is that Slightly Mad Studios is the owner of their own IP and they are their own publisher. Which means that they can decide themselves for how long they wish to keep patching and updating a game, adding features and DLC… etc. This creative freedom and the fact that I’ve worked with these men and women for 3 years now, that gives me convidence to assure you guys that Slightly Mad Studios will give proper post-release support to the game. Beyond something a normal publisher would do. So it might be worth to put this game on your shelve at home to see how the game has evolved after some time, instead of just bringing it back if you are ‘done’ with it or for other reasons.
With all of that I think I was able to leave a satisfying trace within the game both visually with the livery and my name in the game and under the hood to an extend. Heck, I even was at the root of a legend to come into existance. What more could you want?
Sadly the great time I had with helping in developing this title is coming to a closure soon, but for me it was really a journey I would not have wanted to miss for a lifetime.
Apart from being involved in the game’s development I also learned so much about game development, car setup, car behavior, and so on. More importantly I found a better respect and understanding for why games are as expensive as they are, but also I got a bigger disrespect for piracy. Developers depend on the income of the games they make to be able to feed their families at home, but also to be able to create more content or improve a game for a longer period of time. If everyone would pirate their hard work than our already niche racing sim genre would become even more niche with less titles and professional created content to enjoy. It just harms the entire community around a game genre if that happens.
On that bombshell I hope a lot of people will be playing this Project CARS in March and that they will like the game. If there are dislikes than I at least hope they can see the effort and dedication that the WMD members and Slightly Mad Studios have put into this racing simulation game.
We don’t know what to say really, for fear of saying anymore may just lead to a Project CARS overdose.
From all that we’ve heard over the course of two articles, from the Development team to players like you and me, one can’t help but appreciate the immense amount love and passion that’s gone into developing this racing game for the generation. It may be a game changer, may be it wont. Either way, it will forever be the embodiment of how a portion of the gaming civilization came together to share their fervour for all things racing, and conjure an entirely sublime gaming experience.
We do hope you enjoyed our two-part Project CARS special feature as much as we enjoyed bringing it out to you. As always, we’ll keep bringing you the latest from the racing simulation’s endeavors. Till then, do share your thoughts and opinions with us in the comments below.