C.a.r.s.

[vobler]

I wanted to hear if anyone here has tried C.A.R.S., a racing sim that just went public (alpha not even beta). They plan to release in about 12 months time.

As far as I know is made by a community but mostly by people from Slightly Mad Studios and others. They have close to 7000 members at this time.
Their site is http://www.wmdportal.com/

The sim/game is made with parts from Shift 2 as also is using part of ISI's Gmotor2 Physics engine. Graphics are mostly from Shift2 with DX11 possibilities. Physics, Tiremodel and FFB are their own. (so they say :-))

They are now looking for "partners" to join them (for a fee) to help develop/test the sim.

Currently they have a single player up with (bad) AI and a few cars, like 2 radicals, 2 Audis (R18 and DTM) 4 older formula 1s and one newer formula car. Two real tracks, Watkins and Imola and one test track. They have also signed contracts to laser scan a few english tracks like BH, Oulton Park, Snetterton and ithink also Cadwell Park. A few more cars are in development like the Atom, Caterham etc. They plan to release a server.exe file so it might be usable for dMr.

The fee to become a Junior member is a onetime â,¬10. That gives you access to monthly builds. Add another â,¬15 and you will get weekly builds. As I understand this will give you the game when finished.

First if you don´t have a good machine (i7+good gfx card or similar) it will struggle with the top graphic levels. With tripple screens at 5000 something my PC grinds to a halt. They don't have LOD at the moment so this will get better in time. They are also planning tripple screen and TrackIR support.

They are testing different FFB systems now so if you try it and owns a G2x wheel, make sure you try the cars_FFB.exe too. Not only the one that is linked to by the installed shortcuts.

I think they have a big potential due to their development structure, and I think any sim junkie should join them, support them, and try to make it as good as possible.

[Seany]

I saw a single seater vid for this a week or two ago, looks quite impressive graphically.  I enjoy Rfactor (ISI), but I'm not sure if it's a good physics path for a new startup to be taking, it really does have some serious limitations compared to LFS.  And Shift 2, that is pure arcade racing is it not?  Still, this might be one to watch.

[Lameduck]

It appears to need too much grunt for my computer. Interesting You-Tube vid, looked as if it was racing on really narrow roads. Lets see how it goes

[sulky_uk]

looks very much like grand prix legends


might give it a go though

ps 1000 posts lameduck nice

[vobler]

A lot has chenged since my last report so I want to give a few impressions, but first I want to list the current content.

Tracks
In-game Modern Tracks
- Bathurst - Mount Panorama
- Bologna (Reverse)- Imola
- California Raceway - Willow Springs
- Belgian Forest Circuit - Spa Francorchamps
- Connecticut Hill GP (Short) (Reverse) - Watkins Glen
- Loire 24 - Circuit de la Sarthe (Le Mans)
- Northampton - Silverstone
- Badenring - Hockenheim (both new and old configs) +Nat and Short
- Rouen
- Road America (cant remember ingame name)
- Derby - Donington

In-game Fictional Tracks
- Test Track

Planned Future Tracks
- Solitude Rennstrecke
- Nordschleife
- Brands Hatch*
- Oulton Park*
- Snetterton*
- Cadwell Park*
- Old Spa
- Monaco
* to be laser scanned

In-game Kart Tracks;
- Chesterfield
- Glencairn (Reverse) -
- Glencairn West (Reverse)
- Glencairn East (Reverse)
- Summerton

Cars
In game
The following cars are included the latest build of Project CARS:
Ariel Atom 300 supercharged (beta1)
Ariel Atom Mugen (beta1)
Ariel Atom 500 V8 '11 (alpha1)
Asano LM11 TDX: "Audi R18 TDI" (beta2) (Lemans)
Asano X4 Touring (beta2) (DTM)
Caterham Superlight R500 (Beta1)
2011 Formula A (Alpha1) (F1 current?)
Formula B (beta2) (F2)
Gumpert Apollo S(Beta1) (GT/Street))
Kart (alpha1) 125cc shifter kart
Shifter Kart 250cc "SuperKart" (alpha1)
Leonus F68 Cromwell V8 (beta2) (Lotus F1 49?)
Leonus F77 Cromwell V8 (beta2) (Lotus F1?)
Leonus F86 Pirault Turbo (beta2)(F1 turbo)
Racer L4-RS (beta1) (Radical)
Racer V8-RS (beta1) (Radical V8)

WIP
The following cars are being developed by the pCARS team, but are not ready to be put into the builds yet:
2011 BAC Mono (WIP)
Caterham SP/300.R (WIP)
Caterham Classic (not started yet)
2011 Palmer Jaguar JP-LM (WIP) (Coming 16.03?)


Here is something I posted elsewhere this weekend:

This weeks build is great. A few new tracks too. Donington and Rouen is looking good so early in. LeMans and Silverstone is still not finished but they are getting there. Spa and Bathurst is nearly there. Road America is also very usable.

Whats more, I finally understand how they do their FFB so I can set it up as designed. They are manipulating the Spring forces so both " Allow game to change settings" and "Enable spring in FFB games" must be ticked. The FFB is a mix of spring and normal FFB forces and it gives a very solid feel with enough variations to understand what the tires/car is doing. One problem I found with this is that at least on my setup, the spring forces are set by the slider in the profiler, so if you set them to 100 and lower the FFB in game, the mix is getting wrong so the spring forces dominate. I had to change the spring settings a few times to get the right mix. When that happened it felt great! Very solid and easy to drive. Nice feel over curbs and when sliding. I spent hours last night just driving and getting the feel for the different cars.

Looking forward to the new cars that are coming next week....

------------------
I have spent many hours in this sim today, and is starting to like it. Here is some impressions:

The tracks may not be laser scanned (yet) and the tire model may be "old school" (i don´t know). But it sure is fun to drive. The AI is getting better and it is possible to have nice races against them now.

When I got the FFB sorted, it all fell in to place. What I think is best in this sim is the safe feel when driving. Very LFS´y. You don´t feel like "falling of" all the time like in iRacing. The "butt clenching factor" is just about zero. One can concentrate on lines and racing . The car is stable and close racing is easy. To go really fast takes an alien here too, but us normal guys will get som good racing out of it. If you go too fast in you can either get a small slide that looses you time or a complete spin that stops you. Too early on the power might spin the tires and give you a tank slapper or a stable drift depending on power and car. Most cars on default setup is balanced to give a slight understeer under power and a slight oversteer when you lift. Thats usually how I like it.
The steering wheel also wants to be used a lot so small adjustments is usually needed. Feel over curbs and bumps is great, not unlike NKPro. Small bumps is felt in the steering wheel very well, but not as severe as the Skippy in iRacing. The bumps feels like bumps and not potholes.
The sim seems to simulate all the normal things like fluid temps, pressure, Tire temps, pressure, brake temps (with glow) and much more. There is a "Time of day" system with dynamic lighting, light on the cars and around tracks. Even stars...
Some tracks have leafs blowing up when cars drive over it and some have small stones/rubber on track that sticks to your tires and makes noises when hitting inside the wheel well. There is of course smoke and dust. Not sure about tire marks.
The graphics is very very nice if your computer can handle it, but performance has increased a lot lately. I now run tripple screen in 4000 something x 800, without HDR, and all the fancy DX11 graphics and get about 60fps. I use shadows on low, reflection on low, medium detail on cars and track and 4xAA and FXAA Low. The game is usable down to about 30 fps. The sound is also great. All in all very nice. I feel a new LFS coming on...

They are planning a Dedicated server in Java that can run on Linux, Mac and Windows. There will be a Matchmaker server (Master server in LFS terms) that lists available servers.
I expect that when the multiplayer is functional I will start to race in this sim on a regular basis.

[vobler]

Lots of new stuff coming tonight. FFB improvements, Palmer Jaguar. 6-7 new tracks. Maybe new lighting system.

Here is some pictures from earlier builds.
http://www.wmdportal.com/projectnews/project-cars-community-gallery-12/

[Seany]

Impressive GFX in those shots.

[atomant]

Been playing CARS for a few months now and am loving it. The 68 Lotus is to die for. Gets better every week.

AAnt

[vobler]

Yes, and I love the the Atoms and the Radicals too. Build 179 is out now.
http://www.wmdportal.com/projectnews/take-a-country-drive-with-build-179/

Important features to know about:
- Time of day system with time acceleration.
- Dynamic weather system. Start in sunshine, let it change to overcast/misty and back.
- Dynamic track, with small stones, rubber marbles, leafs etc.
- Decent physics, Feels like NKP over curbs and off track.
- FFB is now without any canned effects (new as of last week so all cars not fine tuned yet.)
- Very solid (LFSy) feel to the handling/ffb of the car. Not on the edge as in iRacing. Very race-able.
- Performance is way better now than before in case you have heard complains of performance earlier (I run tripple screen with Q9550and HD5870)
- Multiplayer (with Dedicated Server in Java) is under development
- New members may not get in when funding is complete. May happen soon. (1-4 weeks)

[vobler]

Here is another gallery:
http://www.wmdportal.com/projectnews/project-cars-community-gallery-13/

[TeaLeaf]

Been following this thread/game as it looks like it has great potential, particularly as it will be issuing a server.exe file for the community.  I also love the development structure, great idea!


SENIOR MANAGER (25000 â,¬)|Can CREATE NEW project-specific forum threads, Can PM developers, GAIN a dedicated sub-forum, Can ATTEND meetings, Can play ALL builds, Can access Game Scripts|VIP treatment at Track Days, Receive a free copy of the released game, Get an opponent named after you (and have your face mapped onto that opponent optionally), Two in-game advertising boards for your use, Two custom car liveries created for you, Have your logo in-game as a pre-selectable car vinyl/decal, Access to exclusive car(s), Access to exclusive track(s), Discounted micro-transactions and further content
MANAGER (1000 â,¬)   |Can CREATE NEW project-specific forum threads, Can PM developers, Can ATTEND meetings, Can play BI-WEEKLY builds, Can access Game Scripts|Priority access at Track Days, Receive a free copy of the released game, Get an opponent named after you, One in-game advertising boards for your use, One custom car liveries created for you, Have your logo in-game as a pre-selectable car vinyl/decal, Access to exclusive car(s), Access to exclusive track(s), Discounted micro-transactions and further content
SENIOR (100 â,¬)   |Can CREATE NEW project-specific forum threads, Can WATCH meetings live, Can play WEEKLY builds|Can attend Track Days, Receive a free copy of the released game, Get an opponent named after you, Access to exclusive car(s), Access to exclusive track(s)
FULL MEMBER (45 â,¬)   |Can CREATE NEW project-specific forum threads, Can READ meeting minutes, Can play WEEKLY builds|Receive a free copy of the released game, Get an opponent named after you, Access to exclusive car(s)
TEAM MEMBER (25 â,¬)   |Can CREATE NEW project-specific forum threads, Can READ meeting minutes, Can play WEEKLY builds|Receive a â,¬25 discount towards the released game, Get an opponent named after you, Access to exclusive car(s)
JUNIOR (10 â,¬)   |Can REPLY to project-specific forum threads, Can READ meeting minutes, Can play MONTHLY builds|Receive a â,¬10 discount towards the released game

[vobler]

It is important to note that they have announced that there may be a change in company structure due to a possible full funding soon. If that happens they will not allow any new users until the game is released. No change for existing members.
The game was originally started development as a "Free to play" game where you could buy more content online, and with a first release in late 2012. This has been changed now (forum poll) and they are going to release the game as a finished product with a lot of content, and therefore the development time is now longer. As far as I know, they plan release in the beginning of 2013.

[vobler]

Nice video of the upcoming environment tweaking tool "Live Editing Suite"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=OQ1lzM1S740

[TeaLeaf]

Nice video of the upcoming environment tweaking tool "Live Editing Suite"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=OQ1lzM1S740

Looks good, but lol @ the moving front wheel!

[vobler]

More eyecandy showing some detail:
http://img35.imageshack.us/img35/5541/pcars2012032911142216.png
http://img15.imageshack.us/img15/8099/pcars2012032911190482.png
http://img12.imageshack.us/img12/5850/pcars2012032911300356.png
And yes, all parts are moving. (on cars that has reached that development stage)