Slightly Mad Studios has announced today that’s its next racing title, Project CARS 2 will be released on PlayStation 4, Xbox, and PC – with support for HTC Vive and Oculus Rift this Friday 22nd September.
The second installment in the motorsport racing simulation series, Project CARS2 will include 29 motorsport series featuring 180+ cars from dozens of elite manufacturers, and four full seasons of changing weather conditions across 140 tracks.
New features include all-new motorsports: IndyCar, Oval Racing and Rallycross, loose surface racing on ice, dirt and mud, and a 24-hour cycle featuring real-time atmospheric conditions and seasonal ambiance.
There are two pre-order options available for Project CARS 2 on Steam, the standard option is £44.99 GBP which includes the Japanese Cars Bonus Pack containing 4 racing machines from Nissan and Honda, plus unique racing liveries. While the Deluxe Edition for £69.98 comes with the Season Pass, and all bonus content including new cars, tracks, events, liveries.
VRFocus will continue its coverage of Slightly Mad Studios, reporting back with the latest VR announcements.
Upcoming virtual reality (VR) driving title Project Cars 2 will be released for HTC Vive and Oculus Rift later this year, and developer Slightly Mad Studios have released some new screenshots to whet the appetite of fans.
Less of a straight racing videogame than a realistic driving simulator, Project Cars 2 lets players experience what driving is like not just on smooth tarmac race tracks, but also on ice, dirt and mud with the addition of other modes such as rallycross and touring races all of which use realistic physics models to make the experience as close to reality as possible.
Over 180 cars will be available to unlock, coming from famous car brands and various different points in history, with famous vintage vehicles like the 1977 Lotus Cosworth Foruma One car, or the 1967 Ferrari 330 prototype. Modern supercars like the McLaren 720 S or Pagani Zonda are also available.
You can view the screenshots for Project Cars 2 below.
VRFocus will bring you further news on Project Cars 2 as it becomes available.
Für Besitzer einer Oculus Rift oder HTC Vive sah es bisher in punkto realistischer Rennspielen mau aus. Im Gegensatz zur PlayStation VR (PSVR), auf der das Gran Turismo-Franchise als VR-Titel erscheint, müssen PC-Spieler auf den Rennspaß verzichten. Doch dies soll sich zukünftig ändern, denn das Entwicklerstudio Slightly Mad Studios veröffentlichten auf der Gamescom 2017 einen Trailer zur Rennsimulation Project Cars 2. Der VR-Titel soll sowohl für PC sowie für Konsolen am 22. September 2017 erscheinen.
Project Cars 2 – Eine realistische Rennsimulation in VR
Der neue Trailer zeigt deutlich, worauf das VR-Rennspiel Wert legt: eine realistische Physik-Engine und großartige Grafik. Sowohl die Autos und Rennstrecken, wie auch die Wettereffekte sind wunderschön animiert. Beim Fahren auf Eis, Matsch oder nassen Straßen sorgt die Physik-Engine für ein möglichst realistisches Fahrgefühl. Zudem soll das Spiel mindestens mit dauerhaften 60 FPS laufen, verkündeten die Entwickler.
Die Rennsimulation Project Cars 2 von Slightly Mad Studios lässt Spieler ihre Fahrkünste auf äußerst realistischen Rennstrecken auf die Probe stellen. Dafür stehen bis zu 180 verschiedene Autos zur Auswahl. Jedes der unterschiedlichen Modelle besitzt seine eigenen Stärken und Schwächen, weshalb nicht nur das Können hinter dem Lenkrad für einen Rundensieg entscheidend ist. Und auch die Rennmodi variieren, denn man hat die Wahl zwischen einem Rallycross-, Endurance-, Touring- oder einem Formula-Modus. In jedem dieser Spielmodi muss man verschiedene Fahrkünste auf unterschiedlichen Strecken beweisen, wodurch für Abwechslung und Langzeitspaß gesorgt ist.
Doch nicht nur im Singleplayer kann man über die Fahrstrecken rauschen, sondern die Entwickler wollen auch einen kompetitiven Multiplayer-Modus integrieren. Im Online Championship-Modus sollen die Kontrahenten gegeneinander antreten können. Damit wäre der VR-Titel vielleicht zukünftig auch eSports-tauglich.
Ob der Nachfolgetitel Project Cars 2 die Schwächen seines Vorgängers ausbügeln kann, bleibt abzuwarten. Das erste Spiel der Reihe überzeugte ebenso mit starker Grafik, doch war es voll von Bugs und Glitches, die den Spielspaß schnell eindämmten.
PC virtual reality (VR) users who are looking enviously over at PlayStation VR and Gran Turismo Sport can rest easy with the release of the new trailer for Slightly Mad Studios’ own realistic driving simulator, Project Cars 2, which will be coming to HTC Vive and Oculus Rift later this year.
The trailer highlights some of the available cars and racing modes, with not just standard track races, but also rallycross, touring, endurance and Formula all available to try out. Over 180 cars are said to be in Project Cars 2. The developers have promised that driving on ice, mud and dirt will all be available, modelled as closely as possible on the real world.
A multiplayer option is also planned with the Online Championships mode. There is no word yet on if that will be available as cross-play to users on HTC Vive and Oculus Rift, however.
The original Project Cars was met with mixed reviews. Despite the quality of the graphics, it was afflicted with many devastating bugs and glitches. Fans are hoping that those problems can be avoided this time, and the trailer indicates that the experience will be a smooth, high quality one for VR users. Something backed up by the VRFocus preview of the title.
The trailer shows how chaotic racing can get in Project Cars 2, with multiple classes of cars crowding on the same track, such as a Renault Clio road car going head to head against a Ferrari supercar. Since performance is judged based on class, and not just race position, its possible to do that and still not lose horrifically.
The trailer is available to view below.
VRFocus will bring you further information on Project Cars 2 as it becomes available.
Much of Project Cars 2’s joy comes from the minute details and exhaustive options developer Slightly Mad Studios gives you. There’s an element of simulation meeting sandbox here. Yes, the game delivers realistic driving that requires a considered approach instead of simple arcade thrills, but where and what you drive is really up to you, as are finer factors like weather and course layout. Put simply, if you’ve ever dreamed of driving a certain car around a certain track, there’s a good chance that Project Cars 2 delivers on that dream.
But you probably already knew that, right?
When it comes to VR, what really matters isn’t those statistics and tactics, but the pure feeling you get from being behind the wheel. You want to really feel the force behind putting your foot down, biting your lip as you take a narrow gap on the path to victory, and being overwhelmed by the roar of the engine that propels you forwards. On this, the game delivers in spades; I’ve spent about an hour with it and I’m pretty confident in saying this is one of the slickest, most polished VR experiences you’ll find out there right now, especially in the racing genre. Graphically this is one of the clearest games I’ve seen inside my HTC Vive; cockpits are recreated with unwavering fidelity and accuracy, and the courses around you look just like they will without the headset on. It’s top of the range, simply put.
You know the core concept behind the game; get as much speed as possible whenever you can, but be ready to slam the brakes in time for a smooth corner, all while managing to maintain complete control. It’s a foundation we’ve experienced time and again since the release of the original Gran Turismo two decades ago, and the name of the game since has largely been refinement. Nothing was ever really broken with the original Project CARS, so there’s nothing really to be fixed.
Instead, Slightly Mad can focus on delivering complete and utter immersion to not just one driving experience, but to over 180 different kinds of experiences. Spanning everything from sports cars to Formula 1 racing, Project Cars 2’s ambition is to nail the look and feel of all aspects of the driving world. In one race with a lower-end class I weave around the track with little issue. When I apply the same amount of gas to a higher class, however, even the slightest touch of my analogue stick sends me hurtling off course.
In past games, it would have been enough for different weather conditions to simply mean your car might have less traction in rain or ice. In the search for added authenticity, though, Project CARS 2 goes into far greater detail; there are multiple options for even sunny weather in the quick race mode, all of which differ slightly in atmospheric conditions and can impact the way you drive. Then you can go out on practice laps to test out a car’s tuning, returning later not just to adjust your car but even the tactics used at pit stops that could shave seconds off of a lap time.
This is unapologetically for the hardcore racer, and there’s little here to suggest they’ll be getting anything other than a top class performance.
If there’s one thing I’d have really liked to have seen evolve for VR in this sequel, though, it’s UI. Sadly the menus are still virtual screens floating in front of you, presenting 2D information as if you were playing on a PC monitor. This is a game where menus are just as important gameplay, and it feels like Slightly Mad is missing out on a big opportunity here. VR is as much of a tool for driving games as it is a peripheral; it’d be great to see 3D map layouts, augmented car tuning that you could control with Touch controllers or Vive wands, and immerisve environments to really help you embody the driver that will take on a career. Given the proximity to launch we’re probably not going to get that this time.
The original Project CARS aimed to be a driving encyclopedia. The same is true of Project CARS 2, but it feels a little more confident in itself, or maybe it’s just that I’m that bit more confident it’ll pull it off. There’s nothing game-changingly new here, but the game does deeper in an effort to give you more authenticity than ever before. Don’t be surprised if this turns out to be VR’s best racing sim yet.
Project CARS 2 is due out on 22nd September 2017 for PC (with Rift and Vive support), PS4, and Xbox One; PSVR support is not guaranteed, but is planned. Check the official website for more details.
Racing videogames tend to come in two types, the outlandish arcade ones like Mario Kart, or the hyper realistic simulators such as Gran Turismo. Virtual reality (VR) fans have already had a taste of both, seeing titles like VR Karts, DiRT Rally and Project CARS launch come to Oculus Rift and HTC Vive. The latter, by Slightly Mad Studios, has seen a mixed response from players, with them either loving or hating the videogame – just look at the consumer reviews on Oculus’ Store – but that hasn’t deterred the studio as it’s still bringing the sequel to VR headsets, and from early play through’s it’s shaping up nicely.
Instantly noticeable when starting Project CARS 2, it’s not been made for VR. All the menu’s, wherever you are in the videogame, are a floating window – kind of like a VR cinema. It’s basically a reproduction of what you’d see on your PC monitor with the rest of the world blacked out. Whilst it works fine – there is a gaze pointer for quick highlighting – it’s certainly not got the impact you’d expect from such as highly polished title, although this is an early preview so it might be rectified for the final launch.
Moaning about the menu screens may seem trivial but with the amount of options Slightly Mad Studios has put into Project CARS 2 you’ll find yourself in them quite a bit, so some sort of background – a track, a garage, anything really – would actually help in grounding this racing world in VR instead of making it feel isolated.
When VR first came to the consumer market naysayers derided the technology because the experiences weren’t substantial. That’s very much changed and while Project CARS 2 isn’t solely VR, its going to be one of those videogames fans are going to spend hours and hours in. Single races, multiplayer races, a massive career mode, and that’s just for starters. The customisation options as you’d expect are as extensive as ever, it could take you 10-15 minutes to get into a race if you have a real OCD for fine tuning everything.
But really none of this matters if the racing is rubbish, and quite frankly it’s looking very good indeed. Racing in VR is just a perfect match, and once you’ve got the monotony of the menu’s out the way and are sat in that first race, it all comes together. Whether you’re sat in a Jaguar ZF or a Formula E car, Project CARS 2 is as gorgeous as you might imagine. The attention to detail means that for a VR player that sense of immersion is even greater, especially in the middle of a race and you’re checking where your opponents are in the mirrors.
Played on an Oculus Rift using an XBox One controller the handling didn’t feel vague or unresponsive. Being a simulator this is one of those videogames where you can’t just grab a car and thrash the competition, you have to know how to get the best out the vehicle because so much realism has been put in. On the other hand, one slight knock from an opponent and the cars did seem to instantly spin out, crashing straight into any nearby walls, gravel patches or creating a big pile up – which was quite fun.
Running on a just above minimum spec PC (i5-6600K, GTX 970), the driving experience was smooth and judder free, making for a really comfortable race – which should suit those who might be prone to the odd bit of VR nausea. Naturally, if you’ve got a good high-end rig that performance will be even nicer.
From this initial look, if you’re after a proper VR racing experience and the current crop doesn’t really tempt you then waiting for Slightly Mad Studios to release Project CARS 2 is looking to be a good bet. It’s certainly not an all round perfect VR racing experience, but there’s a lot more to like than dislike in its current form.
Project Cars 2 is gearing up for its September 22nd release date, promising to be one of the most fully featured racing simulations for VR headsets yet. Developer Slightly Mad Studios has sparred no detail in bringing a realistic driving experience to the Oculus Rift and HTC Vive, and that includes an exhaustive list of drivable cars, revealed today.
Below is every car you can expect to get behind the wheel of when the game launches on PC, Xbox One and PlayStation 4 in two months’ time. Over 180 vehicles are included across 35 fully licsensed and approved brands. The entire game is compatible with the Rift and Vive, so you can expect to check each of these out in VR.
We just got our first look at gameplay from the title running in VR and it’s impressive. Support for PSVR on PS4 is sadly still up in the air.
Virtual Reality (VR) has been used across many disciplines to train staff by placing them in simulations of real-life scenarios. Not only is this a cheaper and more efficient way of training staff, but it’s safer too. Nobody would know more about the dangers of racing than racing car driver Ben Collins. Ben Collins is well known for having been the Stig on British television series about motor vehicles, Top Gear. In this interview he tells VRFocus‘s Nina Salomons about upcoming Project Cars 2and how he was asked to come on board to give feedback in order to create the most realistic physics and handling of the cars.
He tells Nina how he used anything and everything to prepare for his Formula 3 races. The simulations he did of the race tracks are nothing compared to the realism VR can offer racers with Project Cars 2. He continues to describe how the physics and engine they’ve built is now more realistic than the electric cars today and how it is being used to train today’s racers. To find out more about the game watch the interview video below to find out more.
Rod Chong, COO of Slightly Mad Studios tells VRFocus‘s Nina Salomons what it was like making Project Cars 2. This high end driving simulator was showcased in Shoreditch, London where racing drivers, influencers, press as well as friends and family were allowed to attend. Nina tried out Project Cars 2 and gives VRFocus a little previous video here.
In this interview Chong tells VRFocus about the overwhelmingly positive feedback for the game, with over 170 cars and 60+ tracks, new weather conditions including new races such as Rally Cross racing. He goes on to explain the involvement of professional racers and how they’ve helped give feedback on the game. Currently Project CARS 2 has been confirmed for Oculus Rift and HTC Vive, there’s no word yet on a PlayStation VR version. The title is scheduled to launch in late 2017 for PlayStation 4, Xbox One and PC.
Project CARS 2, the sequel to the 2015 realistic racing sim, comes to Xbox One, PlayStation 4, and PC on September 22. Project CARS 2 features more tracks, more cars, and a dynamic weather system.