Wish I'd found this thread a long time ago, I only got on board at WMD in April 2012 so I missed the first 6 months. PCars shows a lot of promise, the following is an extract from this article;
http://www.teamvvv.com/en/news ... ped-rival-to-Forza-and-GT
Both NFS Shift games were criticised by the simulation racing community for poor car handling and controls. What have you changed in the approach to CARS to improve in these areas?
So with the Shift titles we were obviously moving iteratively towards a more 'sim' style title. Shift 1 was the introduction of circuit racing to the previously illegal action/arcade titles from previous years. Shift 2 then introduced the 'Superman versions' of road cars with GT3, GT1 and other forms of real motorsport with Drift, Drag, Time Attack, and Endurance. Each step of the way we were also adding more depth to the physics, handling, controls, options, and general realism whilst still maintaining that core experience of 'what it really feels like out on the track'.
Compared to existing sim racing titles at the time though we still had a number of steps to go in terms of audience expectation on what they believed were key differentiators between the Shift titles and what they were used to and we appreciated those and have taken them on board wholeheartedly for Project CARS.
The steering wheel input lag issues [with Shift] for example were major, so we spent a good deal of time at the start of Project CARS making sure the new system was perfect and that it wouldn't be tainting the feel of any other developments we were planning for the physics system. The force feedback system was redesigned from the ground up too. It now allows us the freedom to adjust the input of all tire, suspension and G-forces to control the effect that the player feels at the steering wheel and is all exposed per-car to the player so it can be tuned to their equipment and personal liking. This has been a huge step up from the broader approach used on the Shift games where a limited and fixed set of inputs were used and the only control dial the player had was for overall strength.
We're also overhauling the tire model which is fully dynamic. The Seta Tire Model really is a generation beyond the steady-state models used in the past and it has forced us to step up our game in other areas as well, ensuring that every aspect of each car - aerodynamics, suspension and so on works up to the potential of the tire model. The perfect tire model is no good if those other parts aren't all working in concert. As a generalization, the design of the Shift games required a huge amount of time balancing a large field of varied cars with multiple upgrade paths. For Project CARS, we are spending that time researching the details of each and every car to get the driving characteristics as correct as possible.
With a year to go before release and seeing the progress so far, I'm in! This game could be the first ever multi platform sim if they achieve on their ambitious plans.
