official Project CARS - Community Assisted Racing Simulator

[LeviathanPT]

Hi everyone,

I wish to share with you guys a game that until February i didn?t knew it existed and since then it conquered my heart and my devotion.

Project CARS as the name says is a Community Assisted Racing Simulator being developed by Slightly Mad Studios the developers behind the Need for Speed: Shift and Shift 2 but without EA backing them up this time. The developers have a long history in the racing simulator world having worked on some of the most fabulous games of the past years, GTL, GTR, Need for Speed Shift Series, PGR and many more and decided that this was the time to make something that would be the game to beat in the next years in every way, visuals, gameplay and quality.

What does Community Assisted Racing Simulator means?
For a long time unfortunately we have been used to be in the dark when there?s a game in development, we can?t comment, give opinions or receive a feedback from the developers about our ideas and thoughts on the game until it?s too late and the game is out and then they will give no support because the publisher wants them to make another bad quality game quickly.
With Project CARS it is different, they want you to participate, you are essential to the game development, your constructive ideas area welcomed, if you live near some important race tracks they may even ask for your help to get reference images, they care about your opinion. This is something that may seem a dream but it isn?t, the reason why is because the community is the one funding the game, we support the developers and in return they give us constant feedback about the game progress and show that our opinion matters.

How does the funding work?
They supply you with different options called Tool Perks, by supporting them they will give you something in return (free copy?s of the game when it comes out, your name ingame, exclusive cars and tracks) and in the meanwhile you can play the pre-alpha which is a in development version of the game that has weekly/monthly basis builds with new content and fixes.

What cars do they have?
Currently they have the following cars available:
 

Ariel Atom 300 Supercharged
Ariel Atom 500 V8
Ariel Atom Mugen
Asano LM11 TDX ? Audi R18 TDI
Asano X4 Touring - Audi A4 DTM '11
BAC Mono
Caper Monterey Stockcar - Generic 1990's NASCAR
Caterham SP/300.R
Caterham Seven Classic
Caterham Superlight R500
Formula A ? Formula 1
Formula B ? Grand Prix 2
Formula Rookie ? Formula Ford
GUMPERT Apollo S
Kart
Lotus 49 Cosworth
Lotus 78 Cosworth
Lotus 98T Renault Turbo
Pagani Huayra
Pagani Zonda R
Palmer Jaguar JP-LM
Racer L4-RS - Radical SR-3
Racer V8-RS - Radical SR-8
SuperKart 250cc

There are many others coming soon, currently they have almost ready to be released the 2012 BMW Z4 GT3 and the 1981 BMW Procar (pics below)





As you can see the detail put on the cars is big, every suspension will be independent and the each car will act in their own way, this is not arcade this is meant to be a racing simulator.

What about tracks ?

 

European Circuits
- Anhalt - Oschersleben
- Azure Circuit - Monaco
- Badenring - Hockenheim
- Belgian Forest Circuit - Spa Francorchamps
- Besos - Circuit de Catalunya
- Bologna - Imola
- Derby - Donington Park
- Eifelwald - Nordschleife
- Florence - Mugello
- Heusden - Zolder
- Loire 24 - Circuit de la Sarthe
- Loire National - Bugatti Circuit
- Milan - Monza
- Moravia - Brno
- Northampton - Silverstone

American Circuits

- California Raceway - Willow Springs
- Connecticut Hill GP - Watkins Glen
- Monterey - Laguna Seca
- Wisconsin Raceway - Road America

Asian Circuits

- Jin Ding - Zhuhai
- Sakitto - Suzuka

Oceania Circuits

- Bathurst - Mount Panorama

Historic Tracks

- Historic Badenring - Hockenheim (Pre 2002)
- Rouen Les Essarts
- Historic Milan - Monza (1967. GPL2.)

Oval Tracks

- Concord - Charlotte Motor Speedway **
- Delaware - Dover
- Harrison Pike Raceway - Indianapolis Speedway *
- Henrico - Richmond
- Memphis - Bristol
- Volusia - Daytona ***

Country Roads

- California Highway
- Azure Coast

Fictional Tracks

- Test Track

Planned/Confirmed Tracks

- Solitude Rennstrecke
- Brands Hatch
- Oulton Park
- Snetterton
- Cadwell Park
- Ruapuna Park
- Old Spa
- Milan Oval
- Macau

In-game Kart Tracks;

- Chesterfield
- Glencairn
- Summerton

Most of these tracks are still in development thus there can be some lack of visual quality under the right conditions but its being worked on at a fast pace.

What will it be the plan behind the game ?
The concept they have is the following:

ABOUT THE GAME...

PROJECT CARS represents THE ULTIMATE DRIVER JOURNEY...

FRANCHISE MODE allows you to carve out a personalized career starting in the Karting world and then progressing on to whichever motorsport specialization you prefer including Rally, Touring Cars, Open-Wheel, GT, Le Mans, and many more!

Play CO-OP with a friend as Driver/Co-Driver

FULL TEAM MANAGEMENT... Have a large number of friends? Create, manage, and compete together!

Experience the excitement of PIT STOPS like you've never seen before!

Revolutionary PIT-2-CAR RADIO gives you the strategic advantage

DYNAMIC Time Of Day & Localized Weather make every race unique and challenging

10+ GAME MODES covering every form of motorsport

CLOUD-BASED SOCIAL NETWORK allows you to connect with friends, compare times & scores, compete and challenge each other, and share content

USER-GENERATED CONTENT - Create your own liveries, decals, tuning setups, and even events! Then share them with the world - either for free, in-game credits or even real money!

PUSHING TO THE LIMITS - Advanced physics, lighting, and AI

PROJECT CARS is due for release on the following platforms...
Wii U PC PlayStation 3 Xbox 360

Gameplay wise i can say the game is very good, not perfect yet due to new tire model not being implemented yet but once it is the game will become one of the best currently in the market but it is progressing at a fast pace. Multiplayer is not available yet but it is expected to be in the next 2 months if nothing goes wrong.
I will end up this testimony with some screenshots taken ingame by the community for you guys to check out:






You can find more images in the gallerys at the main website

Panoramic/Interactive Shots by Sagedavid:
http://www.parispherique.com/panos/d...ianapolis.html
http://www.parispherique.com/panos/d...S_memphis.html
http://www.parispherique.com/panos/d...timelapse.html


Some videos for you guys to watch:

Project Cars: Project CARS ? WMD Portal
World of Mass Development Homepage:WMD Portal


Edit: i tried to search the forums before posting by several keywords and didnt find anything about this, but if theres is im sorry about it.

 

[Lingwo]

I've been interested in this game for a while now. Might be time for me to jump in.

Any game that lets you drive an Ariel Atom is good in my book. Not enough games include it.

Racing games are probably my favourite genre.

[Dotdot]

oooooh indeed.

Im a Forza nut but nothing Ive found on PC has been as good, this however could just tempt me

[LeviathanPT]

I am glad you guys are enjoying, if you have any questions just say so and ill help you the best i can. I just cant show how the physics are currently thats something that you can only feel while playing the pre.alpha.

[Astra.Xtreme]

That game looks pretty sick. DX11 really unleashes the graphic possibilities.

So is there a playable version of the game out there? And is there a release date they are shooting for? Their website doesn't seem to spread much insight on either of these things. Or maybe I just missed it.

[Cereal Bawks]

DX9 and DX11 look the same currently.

You get monthly and weekly builds, depending how much you want to plop down (10$ or 25$). That amount is being deducted from your final copy when it releases. There's also a 49$ tier, where you pay the whole game in advance. There's further tiers above to increase your share in the project, based on which the surplus after covering development and marketing costs is distributed (you might make a few bux from this).

Another thing, that should also be clear is that this game strives for realistic physics. Considering that practically every race driver trying simulations keeps jammering that there's never enough grip, PCARS actually listens to them. So if handling appears to be "too easy", it's because race drivers keep saying that sims are usually wrong. Just mentioning this, because there's raging flamewars on various sim forums about PCARS' idea of car handling.

[LeviathanPT]

Indeed theres some discussion about the physics but thats something that happens with most of the new games that try to get in the genre, everyone has an opinion of how physics should be and or are afraid of the change.

Im not saying the physics in the pre-alpha are perfect but they are being worked on and with the feedback from the community i am sure we can achieve a quality product in the end.

We have some old professional drivers working along with the developers in order to get everything straight and get the most out of the game.

[Astra.Xtreme]

DX9 and DX11 look the same currently.

Say what? The difference between DX9 and DX11 is massive. Crysis and BF3 are class examples of what DX11 is capable of, and that's just the beginning.

[LeviathanPT]

Currently theres just a few differences between both, mostly in terms of the HDR, Bloom, Blur effect. Later on they will add some cool effects like tesselation and so on. All the screenshots above are taken with DX 11.

You can check my own gallery in here https://www.dropbox.com/sh/9loe4f7errktern/rR3SyXvjVY/PCars%20Screenshots

[tsupersonic]

Looks awesome, but no Nurburgring?!

[LeviathanPT]

Currently they are finishing Nordschleife and once its done they will start working on it.

Edit: Took this shot just now to show you the current Nordschleife with some Nurburgring stuff already in place. :)

[Astra.Xtreme]

Also, thanks a ton for making Road America! That's definitely the best race track in all of America.

There's no better rush than going ~200mph on that massive front straightaway. :)

[LeviathanPT]

You have to thank the devs, im in no way related to them, just a fan ..but i can pass on the message :p

I can say that the California Highway is the most exciting track they got ingame at the moment in terms of originality. It looks amazing man.

[Cereal Bawks]

Say what? The difference between DX9 and DX11 is massive. Crysis and BF3 are class examples of what DX11 is capable of, and that's just the beginning.

There's a single set of content for both modes. What makes you think the DX11 mode looks better? Its only advantage are FXAA and SMAA right now. Otherwise the DX11 renderer's in development and behind the DX9 one.

[Astra.Xtreme]

There's a single set of content for both modes. What makes you think the DX11 mode looks better? Its only advantage are FXAA and SMAA right now. Otherwise the DX11 renderer's in development and behind the DX9 one.

Show me a DX9 game that looks anywhere near the shear quality of Crysis or BF3. Personally, I don't think there's anything that comes close.

[Cereal Bawks]

Same models, same textures, same shaders. Why would PCARS look better in DX11 than in DX9?!

[LeviathanPT]

No need to fight over this guys :p i understand what you mean.

Cereal Bawks is explaining that in Project Cars currently you see barely no difference at all between DX9 and DX11, the reason why is that the DX11 version isnt fully implement. The developers need to finish the tracks first (since they are the heavier content) to see what margin of fps they have to use dx11 effects like tesselation and so on. Doesnt mean the final content will be lacking quality in DX11 or some amazing visual effects.

That game looks pretty sick. DX11 really unleashes the graphic possibilities.

So is there a playable version of the game out there? And is there a release date they are shooting for? Their website doesn't seem to spread much insight on either of these things. Or maybe I just missed it.

There is a playable version currently available and it works like i explained in the main post, if you wish to help them raise funds by supporting them you get a chance of playing the current pre-alpha version of the game .

These are the Tool & Perks

Getting involved with Project CARS :

1. Register on the forums
   
2. Become a Project CARS Team Member
   
3. Download the latest build from the link at the top of the forum
   
4. Install it using the password in the Builds sub-forum
   

You should then be able to log in to the game with your forum details.

Got some feedback? Head over to the Project CARS forums to talk directly with the team!

Monthly/Weekly/Daily Builds, for those that dont know, are versions of the game, they usually release in a weekly basis for the Team Member+ a new version of the game with improvements and new content so you can play and give them feedback if you are enjoying or not, the Junior members will get these builds in a monthly basis.

[tsupersonic]

I have been waiting for a racing game! I'm becoming a member :D Now to choose what level of membership...Question, is there anywhere that shows you when/where the track days are. I'm kinda interested...

[tsupersonic]

Yeah, I bought in :) The world could use more racing games, rather than all these stupid ass multiplayer FPS'.

[Astra.Xtreme]

Same models, same textures, same shaders. Why would PCARS look better in DX11 than in DX9?!

The same reason why they chose DX11 over DX9. And you still haven't answered my previous question...

On topic: Count me in for the 25 Euro membership. This game looks like it has huge potential, so I'm all in to support it. :)

[Cereal Bawks]

If I draw a red polygon on the screen, it doesn't automagically become better looking because I'm using DX11 over DX9. There's a DX11 renderer in PCARS, which uses exactly the same assets as the DX9 one, as such it looks exactly the same, ignoring FXAA and SMAA.

[Astra.Xtreme]

No need to ignore FXAA and SMAA.

Add to the list:

Tessellation, multi-threading, directcompute, etc, the list goes on.

Fact is that DX11 utilizes the power of modern hardware whereas DX9 can not. 9 is the thing of the past hence why more and more games are moving away from it.

Yes a polygon is a polygon, but if you can draw and refresh millions of them in unison whereas dx9 can't keep up, then the true quality shows through.

Do a simple google search for DX11 vs DX9 and you'll find hundreds of examples that prove exactly what I've said. It's all about performance, and a performance bottleneck limits quality.

[Cereal Bawks]

Who gives a crap about other games. We're talking PCARS here, and it doesn't do anything out of the ordinary with DX11. It looks the same as in DX9 because it does exactly the same. Play the game first before you keep telling me the contrary.

[Astra.Xtreme]

Who gives a crap about other games. We're talking PCARS here, and it doesn't do anything out of the ordinary with DX11. It looks the same as in DX9 because it does exactly the same. Play the game first before you keep telling me the contrary.

Well if you don't want to learn the proper facts, then that's your issue.

And I have 3+ GB left on the rather slow download. I'll let you know my thoughts when it's done.

[Yusuf M. Veteran]

The potential for DX11 is great but it's up to the developer to use features like tesselation and compute shaders. Let's discuss the game and end this DX11 vs. DX9 debate.

I've been following Project CARS for many months and I'm always amazed by the quality of the screenshots. Back when Gran Turismo 5 was released for the PS3, I imagined what a racing simulator would look like if it was developed for PCs instead of consoles. As a PC gamer, my enjoyment of games like GT5 and Forza Motorsport 3 was tainted by low quality graphics. The games were fun but the graphics were not as good as I had hoped for.

I plan on buying it when it's released. For now, enjoying the fan-made screenshots and trailers is enough.