The 2020 Steam Winter Sale is now live and you can find every discounted VR title right here. There are some seriously amazing deals this time with some games going as low as 90% off their usual price.
As per usual there are some other gimmicks associated with the sale beyond just cheap PC games. This time they’ve got bird stickers you can claim by participating, as well as avatar frames, profile backgrounds, and more. The first bird sticker is free.
Since there are so many discounted games and everyone’s tastes and preferences vary, especially when it comes to VR, just consider the items listed down below to be my own personal picks of what I think are great value in terms of the sale price vs quality of the game in my opinion.
There are plenty of other games in the sale worth checking out though. Regardless of which genre you prefer or which PC VR headset you have, I highly recommend looking through the full list of VR games discounted during the 2020 Steam Winter Sale and cross-check that with your Wishlist to see if anything is cheap that you’ve had your eye on for a while.
Let us know what you decide to pick up down in the comments below!
EA may soon own the publisher behind some of VR’s biggest racing games.
The videogames giant has bid $1.2 billion to acquire UK-based Codemasters. Codemasters specializes in driving games, including annual entries in an official F1 series and the Dirt franchise. In November 2019 Codemasters acquired Slightly Mad Studios, developer of VR-compatible racing series, Project Cars. The company also implemented VR support into both its Dirt Rally spin-off games.
Most recently, Slightly Mad put out Project Cars 3, which was published by Bandai Namco. We thought the game made a decent attempt at making the series more accessible to all.
EA’s offer reportedly outbids an offer of nearly $1 billion from Take-Two, owner of Grand Theft Auto maker, Rockstar Games. The offer will be decided on in a shareholder vote, with hopes for the acquisition to be completed next year.
EA Codemasters Deal: What Does It Mean For VR?
It’s difficult to predict what EA buying Codemasters could mean for either company’s future VR support. In October, EA published the VR-compatible Star Wars: Squadrons, which around 15% of people played with a VR headset. Perhaps these figures might be encouraging enough for the company to continue to pursue optional support in games that fit best. Certainly, Codemaster’s stable of racing series seems to fit the bill quite nicely.
Not to mention that EA itself owns two of the biggest racing series on the planet – Need for Speed and Burnout. In fact, Slightly Mad Studios itself developed two entries in the series years ago; could the team be reunited with the long-running franchise?
Which other Codemasters series do you hope to see get VR support in the future? Let us know in the comments below!
For today’s livestream we’re playing Project CARS 3 in VR using a racing wheel and pedal set! If you’re curious about how we livestream the way we do then look no further than this handy guide for general tips and this guide specific to our Oculus Quest setup.
Project CARS 3 released this month with full VR support on PC and if you’re curious what we thought, you can read our review already. Overall, it’s not a bad game, but is definitely stripped down in comparison to its predecessor. The benefit to that is that it’s now a more accessible and easy to get into game, which means I can actually complete races reliably without resorting to the absolute beginner difficulty settings.
Our Project CARS 3 livestream is planned to start at about 3:15 PM PT today and will last for around an hour or so, give or take, depending partially on how long my small toddler child decides to behave. We’ll be hitting just our YouTubeand I’ll be streaming from an Oculus Rift S with a Thrustmaster T300RS GT racing wheel. I’m flying solo on this one so I’ll pin chat behind me to check periodically.
Check out the Project CARS 3 VR livestream embedded right here or down below once live:
You can see lots of our past archived streams over in our YouTube playlist or even all livestreams here on UploadVR and various other gameplay highlights. There’s lots of good stuff there so make sure and subscribe to us on YouTube to stay up-to-date on gameplay videos, video reviews, live talk shows, interviews, and more original content!
And please let us know which games or discussions you want us to livestream next! We have lots of VR games in the queue that we would love to show off more completely. Let’s get ready to go!
I would not consider myself to be a racing game enthusiast or connoisseur of authentic car simulation games. As a result, when I heard that Project CARS 3 was aiming to be a more accessible entry in the series, complete with native VR support on PC, I was naturally quite intrigued.
To be clear though: I haveactually played and written about racing games before. Several years ago I wrote a detailed hands-on impression of Project CARS 2 and I even reviewed DriveClub VR on PSVR back when Sony’s headset first launched. But I’m absolutely not a racing sim enthusiast, even if I do dabble from time-to-time.
This is all important background information to take in because Slightly Mad Studios have designed and marketed Project CARS 3 not as the ultimate driving simulator that its predecessor was supposed to be, but as a racing game for anyone and everyone. That’s an important distinction.
Project CARS 3 makes a good first impression. After some introductory moments and menu toggling, I took off into the Career mode. The structure is reminiscent of DriveClub VR and other arcade-style racing games with event-based missions like time trials and races that each have a short list of objectives and challenges to complete. Luckily it’s more nuanced than just “Win the race” every time and instead includes things like tasking you with hitting top speed goals or mastering a certain number of tricky curves. These mini-challenges that are tracked mid-race have heavy DriveClub VR vibes and that’s a very good thing in my opinion.
Each challenge you complete awards you points and you spend those points to unlock higher tiers of missions. It’s all very basic and straight forward but the actual races themselves are so snappy and concise there’s good encouragement to replay stuff until you nail it.
During races you also earn cash that can be spent to upgrade your cars and purchase new cards. The interesting bit here is that if you invest enough in a specific vehicle, you can actually end up upgrading its class beyond where it started. I did this by accident early on with the first car I bought. I dumped a bunch of money into it trying to make it as badass as possible, only to realize it was now nearly two classes above where it started and could no longer be used for any of the races I’d actually unlocked in the Career. I ended up having to spend even more money downgrading and buying worse components to demote the stats and make it usable again.
At its core, it’s all a numbers game and it’s all about as streamlined as you could hope for. I didn’t have much trouble coming to grips with it all and series fans will immediately realize though just how far the push towards accessibility has gone. There are tons of small features missing that dramatically added to the depth and realism of Project CARS 2 such as tire wear and tear during races, the need for pit stops, and needing to monitor fuel consumption. All of that is gone here.
Admittedly, I’d be lying if I didn’t say the streamlining of features was a bit of a relief for me personally. I typically play these games with a light amount of assists left on for things like braking and I never learned how to drive a manual transmission in real-life so I don’t bother in games either; I’m an automatic kind of guy.
With those caveats listed, I absolutely had a lot of fun playing Project CARS 3. Hitting a curve just right and drifting around the edges as you let off the gas, pump the brake, then slam back on the pedal to accelerate through the turn is exhilarating — especially when using a racing wheel setup. But after every 2-3 minute thrill ride the reality sets in that you can see most everything there is to see here in just a few hours of time.
And in terms of VR support, a lot of the issues start and stops with the poor performance. There is noticeably bad pop-in on lots of textures outside the track such as spectators and trees, not to mention low quality distant shadows. I could be wrong, but I also don’t think it ever lasted more than a continuous minute on-end with 90 frames-per-second. I kept experiencing dips and hiccups. Early on I even had a race crash the game back to desktop every time I launched it in VR so I had to re-boot the game in non-VR to complete it.
Racing Edge: Using A Wheel Peripheral
The majority of this review was conducted using a racing wheel and pedal set, specifically the Thrustmaster T300RS GT. For comparison I tried out an Xbox One controller and keyboard/mouse, but both simply pale in comparison to using an actual wheel peripheral. Not only does it significantly add to immersion when wearing a VR headset, but I found that I had much more accurate control over my vehicle and could take sharp turns and hard corners much more effectively. That being said, controller support does still feel quite good. Avoid playing with a keyboard/mouse at all costs.
Project CARS 3 VR Final Impressions
Project CARS 3 is a commendable effort to craft a racing game that can be enjoyed by anyone from the most casual of gamers to the most hardcore of racing simulation fanatics. Ultimately though, I don’t think Slightly Mad Studios really succeeded. The end result is a game that’s inferior in virtually every way to Project CARS 2 in terms of authentic racing simulation and when compared to more arcade-style games like The Crew 2, Forza Horizon, GRID, or even DriveClub VR, rest in peace, Project Cars 3 struggles to keep up. By trying to create the racing game for everyone, the developers ended up making the racing game that’s not really targeted at anyone. But if you do lean more on the arcade side of the spectrum, you’re likely to find quite a lot to love here.
Project CARS 3 is available right now with VR support on PC. You can find the game on Steam starting at $59.99. Project CARS 3 can be played with or without a VR headset on PC using either keyboard/mouse, gamepad, or steering wheel controls. The majority of this review was conducted using an Oculus Rift S and a Thrustmaster T300RS GT wheel and pedals set.
The game is also available on PS4 and Xbox One without VR support. For more details on Project CARS 3 in general, check out the official website.
Personally, I’ve never been much of a racing game kind of guy. My few exceptions are for more sci-fi racers such as Wipeout and F-Zero, or even going as far as arcade racing games like Split/Second, Need for Speed, and Burnout, as well as full-on party games like Mario Kart. Other than, I typically stayed away.
Naturally, I reviewed DriveClub VR back when it launched with PSVR and actually had a good time. What I found is that through VR, I could enjoy genres that I’d otherwise overlook without a second glance. Racing games definitely qualified here and Project Cars 3 VR is certainly one of the slickest yet in that regard.
If you hadn’t heard, Project Cars 3 is a bit of a deviation for the long-running franchise. Instead of leaning heavily into its authentic simulation roots, this entry is more of a middle-ground to foster accessibility for newer racers like myself. For me, Project Cars 3 VR is packed full of good news, For diehard fans, probably not so much.
If you’re curious what Project Cars 3 VR looks like then look no further than the video embedded above. We’ll have a full review, livestreams, and likely more footage once we get to spend more time with the game.
In the meantime, enjoy! And let us know what you think down in the comments below!
Today Slightly Mad Studios announced that the latest entry in its popular sim franchise, Project Cars 3 will release on August 28th for Xbox One, PS4, and PC with support for PC VR headsets at launch.
We have not tried the game yet at UploadVR, but according to reports from people that have tried the game out pre-release note that it has a slightly more arcade feel to everything, meaning they may be partially toning down the focus on hyper-realism. For VR users, it’s unclear how this could impact the experience.
From what we’ve seen, the theme for Project Cars 3 seems to be focused on accessibility and streamlining things. There will be new tracks and new cars as most can expect, but there is also now a revamped career mode focused on progression giving the game something akin to a more traditional “campaign” structure.
According to the official website that the game has “12K and best-in-class VR support (on PC).” We don’t have a full list supported headsets yet, but you can likely expect a SteamVR release with support for all the major devices like Rift, Vive, and Index.
Slightly Mad Studios returns to the track this summer with Project Cars 3, and ‘best-in-class’ VR support comes with it on PC.
The UK-based studio confirmed the third entry in its popular racing simulation series earlier this week. This is the first Project Cars game since Codemasters acquired Slightly Mad in late 2019. Though VR support didn’t feature in the reveal trailer (seen below), the official website confirms that the game has “12K and best-in-class VR support (on PC).” Official headsets haven’t been confirmed, but expect a SteamVR release which support for a broad range at the very least.
Project Cars 3 VR Support Confirmed
The ‘on PC’ part is significant; the previous two Project Cars games both have fantastic VR support on PC, but the PS4 versions have sadly been lacking PSVR support. It looks like that will again be the case here.
The Project Cars series has always prided itself on delivering an authentic, meticulously-detailed racing sim with an exhaustive amount of options. Project Cars 3 looks like it will be no different; Slightly Mad is promising over 200 ‘elite-brand’ cars and over 140 tracks.
New to this iteration, though, is an improved career mode and overhauled handling. Indeed, in the trailer above you can see cars drifting around corners and, at one point, using contact to get an opponent to spin out of control. Slightly Mad says the game’s physics engine has been changed, but the game retains a focus on simulation.
This has caused some concern among sim racing fans, though the developer says there’s no need to worry. We’ll have to see how that pans out, though the game offers various assists to bring players of other skill levels in.
Project Cars 3 releases on PC, PS4 and Xbox One this summer. No news on a version for next-generation consoles just yet, though we’d certainly hope that the prospect of a PS5 version could finally bring PSVR support with it.
Project CARS 3, the upcoming sequel to the racing simulator franchise, is set to include VR support when it launches on PC this August.
Update (June 24th, 2020): Slightly Mad Studios has confirmed that Project CARS 3 will be releasing on all supported platforms on August 28th, 2020. The original article follows below:
Original Article (June 4th, 2020):The game, which was recently unveiled by Slightly Mad Studios, is set to include a bevy of new features in addition to 12K resolution and what it calls “best in class VR support” on PC.
The studio says it will include over 200 race and road cars, over 140 global tracks, customizable liveries, and car upgrades with ‘realistic’ performance parts. Tracks are said to include a 24-hour night and day cycle with all weather represented in addition to “enhanced” AI racers. A new career mode promises to be “deeply engaging.”
The Project Cars franchise has included VR support since the first in the series was released in 2015, which at the time was experimental but notably a step in the right direction for racing sim fans. Project Cars 2 (2017) improved upon it predecessor with, among other things, a better physics engine, putting in more firmly in the simulator side of things. It also included full SteamVR headset support for the modern era of consumer VR.
There’s no word yet on whether the studio is working on PSVR support as well for the PS4 version, or whether a possible PS5 version will offer it thanks to the upcoming console’s beefier specs, which is said to pack an 8-core AMD Zen CPU, AMD Navi GPU, custom SSD, 4K Blu-ray player.
Don’t have the PC to power Project Cars in VR? No worries; it’s on its way to VR arcades.
Slightly Mad Studios is bringing the B2B version of its popular racing series, Project Cars Pro, to location-based VR installations through SynthesisVR. Operators using Synthesis will be able to set up games either in VR or using multiple monitors.
Through Synthesis, you can set up LAN multiplayer games, manage sessions by laps, races or time and incorporate motion seat platforms and racing wheels. Pro features a huge number of cars and tracks seen throughout the series. It’s traditionally been used for more enterprise applications. Last year, for example, Slightly Mad used the platform paired with StarVR to introduce the new Porsche 911 Carrera S debut at The LA Autoshow.
SynthesisVR, meanwhile, offers a location-based entertainment operation package for VR arcades. It gives operators the chance to control the experiences seen in VR. Existing partners include Arizona Sunshine developer Vertigo Games. A standard plan starts at $25 though the company also just announced the release of a free version.
We think Project Cars and its sequel are two of the best racing games you can play in VR. In fact we put Project Cars 2 in such a list earlier this month. The series strikes a fun balance between simulation and accessibility and features some of the best visuals you’ll find in a VR game. On PC, the series supports Rift, Vive and Index. Sadly the PS4 versions of the games never got PSVR support.
A couple of days ago the CEO of Project CARS developer Slightly Mad Studios, suddenly announced on Twitter that the company was in the process of designing its own console called the Mad Box. Spouting some figures as well as proclaiming the powerful console would be VR capable, today has seen Ian Bell return to the social platform with further info as well as a couple of images.
So first up the images. Well as you can probably tell these are all computer renderings to give you an impression of what the Mad Box will supposedly look like. Even though it’s being touted as a console, the Mad Box looks more like a high-powered desktop PC, with liquid cooling.
Giving a few more details Bell notes that: “The Mad Box has a one press deployable carry handle, between the ‘m’s… It weighs very little and will talk to other Mad Boxes without cables…” going on to add: “Controller work is in progress. We have a great partner and will show it when it’s ready.”
If you’re somewhat sceptical about Slightly Mad Studios’ ‘Mad Box’ then join the queue. Not only is VRFocus taking all this sudden info with a heavy pinch of salt, but so are Twitter users themselves. When grilled that the concept sounded no better than a shady Kickstarter, Bell responded: “I’m not asking you for any money. A shady Kickstarter would start with that premise… You’re way off.” Going on to say: “We’ll ship a product and you can choose to buy it, or not. Any other issues I think are yours…”
While somewhat unorthodox Bell has certainly succeeded in grabbing both industry and gamers attention, whether they believe all the tweets or not. And just because its CES 2019 next week don’t expect to see anything at the event regarding Mad Box, as Bell claims the console is approximately 3.5 years away from release. That’s a long time for this industry, with new consoles from both Microsoft and Sony Interactive Entertainment (SIE) likely to have arrived by then.
VRFocus still isn’t 100 percent convinced about the Mad Box, going into the hardware market is a very risky business. As always, if more concrete information appears, VRFocus will let you know.
