We receive an excessive amount of hate for how we choose to cover crowd-funded racing simulation Project CARS by Slightly Mad Studios, and I enjoy reading the comments as much as you do watching the and studio leaders attempt to bribe owners of other websites into silencing criticism. WordPress allows us to see exactly where our articles have been linked, and it’s pretty comical to see people get into wars when someone inevitably links an article from here on any number of different message boards that are about a thousand times more strict (seriously, we have two censored words here) and run rampant with favoritism.
A lot of times we get accused of having some sort of vendetta or agenda against Slightly Mad Studios, and that’s simply not true. In other articles we’ve posted third party submissions from people with their own experiences dealing with moderators silencing genuine issues being brought up, we shed light on the fact that moderators admitted the game shouldn’t have been released in its current state, we’ve pointed out how VirtualR was basically bought out to be a Project CARS advertisement blog, and we’ve done an extensive article on how a majority of the driving game community were turned into viral marketers when promises to get rich off of sim racing were made by a developer that hadn’t turned out anything good.
Despite claims that these we’re two rabid haters who have set out to destroy all driving games, , even saying in the description that:
I don’t particularly care for the person behind the site, I don’t care for the way he does things, the way it occasionally takes things totally out of context nor the way he says things 90% of the time, but… the article below is truth and a inspiration to this video. I was sent a link, asked to read it, so I did. And you know what? I absolutely feel the exact same on this, and that is why this video exists.
I would have loved to have a crafty reason to publish an article on Project CARS today that ties into the next few pictures, but unfortunately I don’t. All I can say is this: when we talk negatively about Project CARS, it’s not because we’re secret viral marketers for Kunos, it’s because a game with this many game-breaking glitches and bugs was forced on us as if it were going to be the next Forza or Gran Turismo, and we should all prepare our anuses (anii? is that a thing?) for our new totally not Shift 2 overlord. NASCAR Sprint Cup driver Alex Bowman can’t even figure it out:
Taken from the official forums, these are all the glitches and bugs Slightly Mad Studios have acknowledged are in the current version of Project CARS. As we have explained earlier, some of these have remained in the game for several years despite 80,000 WMD members beta testing the game day in and day out since 2012. Curious individuals can click on the name of the platform and explore the threads at their own pace.
Out of that huge list, what are my five “favorite” glitches?
- Car crashes into invisible obstacles. I’ve never seen another game where this happens. At random points during gameplay, whether it’s coming out of a corner or , your car will smash into something you can’t actually see and shoot up into the air without any warning. Unacceptable.
- Car suddenly downshifts multiple gears. Another bug I’ve never seen in any other racing game since I was old enough to work a computer in 1997. Without warning, your car will downshift, grenade the engine, and spin you out. Fanboys will pass this off as simulating a mechanical error in a real car.
- Tires explode after making a pitstop. For a game that prides itself in having long endurance races after they were phased out in Forza 4 for the casual audience, it’s embarrassing that running long races is now impossible in Project CARS.
- Cars are stacking on top of each other on the grid. This is pretty brutal even by NASCAR The Game standards…
- Watching a replay can crash the game and corrupt the save game file. I wasn’t aware something I take for granted in other ISI-powered sims like Game Stock Car Extreme would be off limits when racing sims hit the next generation of consoles.
Honorable mentions include:
- Player loses positions randomly. Having a working transponder is a thing of the past, apparently.
- Skill Level Filter doesn’t relate to anything. An entire menu function in the online component is entirely meaningless. Fantastic.
- Tires still visually missing after being changed in pitstop. I, for one, welcome the new fleet of hover cars into Project CARS.
- Desktop wallpaper removed after game crashes. I’m more intrigued by the technical aspects of how the application accomplishes this.
- “Simulate to End of Session” causes impossible AI laptimes. This has long been a problem with all ISI-powered games, and in my opinion the feature really should be removed to begin with.
Why do we take giant shits on Project CARS? Because this level of quality after four years in development and 80,000 beta testers is atrocious. But I guess it’s to be expected after any and all negativity is silenced during the beta phase.
PCARS at -40% on the Steam flash sales (until the morning) .. this is the right occasion to get it for cheapo if you didn’t purchased it yet! I don’t think it will be that low in the next months/year.
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Ok. I love this comment. You see this article “hating” on Project CARS, and you come here with a positive tone, like “hey, it would be a great time to try the game”. The great thing also, if you don’t like it, you can ask for a refund on Steam. Seems like a great opportunity to me.
Instead of having a flamewar in the comments section on every Project CARS’ article, why not turning it in something a bit more positive? Probabaly not what James want, but who cares? I’m getting tired of all the fighting and I’m probably not the only one.
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You don’t know this guy? He goes to every PCars article on this site and attempts to shill for the game in the comments section. I imagine he knows his efforts are mostly futile, but that doesn’t stop him apparently.
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Sorry, I didn’t read all the article, I just wanted to inform you that it was discounted on Steam, and at that price it would be a good occasion for those who didn’t purchased it yet.
It still at -40% for another 2 hours btw, so you still have time, it’s in the top sellers on Steam, so i think that it is doing fine, and my advice of purchasing it wasn’t that “bad” after all!
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I’ll get it when it’s 75-90% discount. The game is definitely not worth the full price. Beside, Shift 2 with PTMu mod is way better to play.
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This. I decided I will not bother with P.CARS until it is insanely cheap.
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Oh my god, have mercy, your comment stinks!
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I am at a point not where I might invest in a new console, and one of the current console bundles in my country offers Project CARS as a free inclusion for Xbox One. Given how excited I was for the game before its release, learning of the dozens of critical bugs and lack of features I take for granted in other racing games has made me wonder if this is worth playing at all.
I’ve done about 2000+ hours in Forza 4, 800+ in Gran Turismo 6 and an average of 30-40 in any other racing game I’ve played over the years, and right now I am thinking that if I get a console and Project CARS comes with it I’ll immediately trade it in.
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Why? Reading the official forums, I see pcars on PS4 especially is very enjoyable!
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You’re kidding right? The same official forum that’s linked in this article?
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What article? I mean the official project cars forum, the majority of the users there seems pretty happy with this simulator!
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Yeah, because the ones who aren’t happy get banned.
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Do you even read the articles before you post your dumb comments?
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Do you even read the comments before you post your dumb articles?
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Do you even comments the post before you articles your dumb read?
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Yeah ok shill
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Keep it up pretendracecars, you guys are pretty much the only ‘site’ that at least raises valid concerns about shit-quality racing games being pushed as ‘gold-quality’ these days.
I don’t even think DiRT Rally has this many issues, and it hasn’t been in development/testing for 4+ years, has CodeMasters surpassed SMS ?
Also, you see GTPlanet is now covering games that -aren’t- GT ?, fuckin’ sign of the apocalypse right there.
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Yeah, a far cry from where virtualR and kotaku are in terms of objectivity
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>Also, you see GTPlanet is now covering games that -aren’t- GT ?, fuckin’ sign of the apocalypse right there.
They’re giving in to the PCarsfags now: https://www.gtplanet.net/forum/threads/hello-request-for-project-cars-reaching-gold-status-to-be-put-on-news.326987/ [READ THE ENTIRE THREAD!]
P.S. J-List sponsorship on your car when, James? :P
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Haha, “it’s hard work” – when for quite some time all they did was cover irrelevant GT Academy stuff ?
Please…
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They’re covering GT Academy stuff because that’s the only thing keeping GT relevant. Even the Stockholm syndromers over there who defended GT5 have come around and are starting to admit that GT5 and 6 were not good games. Despite all its many, many, flaws PCars is a much better game than GT6. Sad but true.
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>saying PCars is a better game in a blog mainly hating PCars
Get wrecked.
(P.S. I sage all posts I comment here. And J-List ad/sponsorship when, James? :P)
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Better than GT6. That’s not a high bar to clear.
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>Car crashes into invisible obstacles. I’ve never seen another game where this happens.
Hang on… doesn’t that happen in iRacing too? Or used to anyway. Hidden mines under the track surface that will sometimes randomly send your champ car into the stratosphere.
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http://www.virtualr.net/project-cars-2-funding-now-open
BAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHA.
Outstanding.
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I agree, this game was very buggy at release and it shouldn’t have been released like that.
Since the last few patches I can live with the bugs that are left because none of them are taking away from the experience that you get when racing against AI in a Lotus 98T, Caterham classic or Mercedes190 E Evolution. Driving just feels so damn good in this game.
I guess some of you will never give PCars a(nother) chance, which is understandable, but I believe you are missing out on something pretty special.
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I had the torrented version of 1.3 for what it’s worth.
I have an AMD card so it ran horribly. Basically had to turn everything down so it looked like I was playing CART Precision Racing. No biggie, I guess that’s a feature or something. Never ran into FFB problems, never ran into gamebreaking glitches. Didn’t go looking for them, either.
I loved how both the RUF not997 and the Radical drove (not the LMP2 version, the slower one). Think I spent a whole night just running the Radical at the Ring. Then went to Donnington to race against the AI and won the race primarily cause they kept checking up in Turn 5 like crazy. So uh, that wasn’t cool.
Tried the 1990 Lumina and broke the real life track record at watkins glen, set in 2014 by Marcos Ambrose, a car with almost 1000hp and the most downforce ever produced by a NASCAR Stock Car – and pCars thinks a brick from the 90’s that’s down 400hp is faster. Jumped in the 1996 Mustang at Road America, car had a crazy amount of body roll for what’s supposed to be a stiff road racing car. Tried the MP4-12C GT3, and even though it’s alright, both AC and R3E do it better.
So aside from not looking as pretty as advertised, it doesn’t even drive as well as decade old sims. Sure a few cars in the lineup are good, but in other sims, EVERY car is good and you can drive whatever the hell you like and it’ll be awesome. Ok, so what’s the purpose of this game? What gap does it fill in an already crowded sim market? None.
AI was pathetically slow on 100%. Unfortunately that’s probably due to my skill, but even in NASCAR 2003 or rFactor I can crank up the AI to the point where I’m a backmarker. As I documented in the 1990 Lumina article, they were pathetically inept when driving anywhere near me.
User interface is shit. Wasn’t hard for me to figure out, but guys coming over from the console world must have crapped their pants.
Shift 2 Unleashed had a better car selection. No license bullshit where its nothing but ford/lotus/bmw, just a huge lineup of every major notable street car that you could customize, plus a full grid of GT1 and GT3 cars, plus some Ferrari DLC conversions, plus a GT Legends carpack, plus roadsters. Track list from GTR 2 plus a bunch of wild street circuits, plus historical tracks.
Graphics look about the same, drives about the same.
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