Project CARS 2 : 1 PC Sim Racer Dude's Opinion.

Quickie Text review below.
Good things :
Feature list is as good as it gets - weather, rain, hydroplaning, day night, seasons, snow, pit stops with animations...
Car list is badass for those of us who are more into race cars. There's like 15 GT3 cars...
Driving for the most part. Some cars are pretty good tbh.
Looks good, runs good.
Career mode gives something to SP mode.
Online system could - could - mean legit clean racing consistently for everyone.
LONG BEACH!
More rallycross content than a rally game. (lol)
VR. (it's implemented well and works, despite my complaints)
F Type SVR is the ultimate tire assassin.
Needs work things that could - should - get some work in future patches :
The AI. It needs a lot of work.
Penalty system. It needs a lot of work.
Some cars (Vintage cars) could do with some work.
Driving in the rain is super easy still but hydroplaning helps make it a experience besides just "95% grip racing."
Sounds are good, but a lot of cars don't even sound like the car they are replicating.
Class selection adding low drag cars to your race on a high drag circuit...
Racing rules / regulations.
FFB presets.
Sonoma won't turn green - the one track the whole season thing could have been awesome just stays brown. :(
Thing that dooms it :
AI is incredibly inconsistent from car to car, track to track and in varying weather.
Game's best features :
The gearbox shift sound from Project CARS 1 should be heard by no man ever again.
Being that one guy who is driving the ATS-V.R in an online race. She may not have the pace, but she's beautiful and you all should accept her for who she is.
Oh, and then winning. Something very satisfying about beating Ferraris, Audis, Lambos, Aston Martins, Porsches, BMWs - in a Cadillac.
Actual best feature :
Group C, GT1s, LMP900s, "like, all of the GT3s!!!!11!!11!1!!11!!!!", GTEs, IndyCars.... car list means business.
Should you buy it?
IDK, I kind of did a 43 minute video on that topic. I mean yea, this video is WAAY too long, but you clicked on it knowing full well it was a fking 43 minute long video so woe is me!
(Unless you really are ready for something else in driving games, wait for patches or a sale.)
Follow me like a stalker! (please dont actually stalk me... duh)
/ emptybox_007

[@ArmedStevos]

PC2 certainly has the "Jack of all trades, master of none" feel. However, unlike PC1 it is generally fun to play and doesn't feel like a waste of money.

[@bro_1337]

When it comes to the physics and how the cars feel, I think they have mastered that aspect of sim racing when compared to other sims. Also with weather/track progression, you'd have to consider pcars 2 as masters compared to other sims. AI and online mode does need work though.

[@harrygaylordrums]

Yeah, this is a very fun Sim!

[@fetB]

Gotta love the windscreen wipers, though. They create some sort of force field preventing new rain landing

[@formulajuan5762]

You realise it's only Yanks who call it a windshield, right? The rest of the English speaking world calls it a windscreen. Also, it is a screen, it allows light through, but not air/wind.

[@benandrewlaw1234]

@Furn333 shield would imply that it could stop a sword thrust. Front window would be more proper.

[@ThunderMS34]

@@formulajuan5762 Not Yanks Im from Ohio and call it windshield too

[@doublevendetta]

@@ThunderMS34 Yank=American in British/Aussie slang, bud.

[@nathantorresstanevil6958]

@@formulajuan5762 I always say Windscreen Wipers for the full name of the wipers but always say Windshield for the glass🤷‍♂️

[@billywave]

Expected bashing (after your displeasement with PC1) but this a great review. Fair and square. Just another reason why I love to watch your videos.

[@RetroGenetic]

That's one of the things I like about EB. No matter wht he've said before, once he tries something he gives is honest opinion.

[@no_fb]

It's on and off with AC. Last race I ran, yesterday, revealed the AI is still not willing to pass the player, even when I slowed down on the right or left edge of the circuit (in practice mode). It's better in the race phase, fortunately, but still too dependent on the racing line. They did improve it a lot, hopefully they'll continue to do so (while PCARS 2 is hopeless, we all know how SMS disregard those problems).

[@ryang1591]

After the headaches of getting my accuforce working I was skeptical of it all but wow. I took the ZO6 street car to Daytona road and set the weather up to go from clear to cloudy to rainy and back starting at 4 a.m. Just watching the sky go was amazing. Driving in the rain was hilarious and stupid fun. Lost the ass coming out of nascar 2 and spun the whole way down the backstretch to the chicane laughing like a hyena. Did that for 3 hours. I've never driven any sim for 3 hours straight. The weather and the sky transitions adds so much to the atmosphere I didn't know what was missing. I missed my Friday league I was having so much fun. Sorry rkrs.

[@shoutatthedevil189]

I just ordered an Accuforce, get it tomorrow and am Really looking forward to it. Going from a T500rs to it and Fanatec Inverted V3 pedals.

[@Flowermouth]

holy shit he's gone and done it

[@bobbymccourt6794]

IMO no one does these types of vids better. Thanks for the review and your opinions. I’ve been holding out but it looks like the wife is gonna have to deal with me buying another racing game/sim lol. And BTW, that drift session at the end, with a formula rim?! Badass!

[@Moonfaster]

It’s amazing to see how much better this game looks in the hands of someone like you. Superb review by the way!

[@cool4real82]

Wow! And drifting at the end. Starts the slow clap like in the movies 👏👏👏

[@seanmoreno16]

You mentioned never being able to get Sonomas vegetation to turn green by adjusting seasons. As someone who lives in the Bay Area I can tell you this actually reflects reality. I've never seen that track, or hills in Sonoma turn green.

[@ghost2031]

Thanks for the thorough and fair Opinion, expected a lot worse Review. I personally enjoy PC2 very much.

[@misterdog7]

Great review! It has its flaws but to me it became my go to sim just for the many combo's and the immersion of day/night/weather/ gravel/ snow. So much options to cater to what you feel like doing at any given moment, and a big improvement over PC1 in most areas. Hope it receives at least a years worth of patches and TLC to improve on what is not so good.

[@davidrd85]

Actually Ian Bell said it would receive about a years worth of patched in a interview he did with a KZbinr.

[@misterdog7]

Cool hope he keeps his word as they kinda bailed ship with PC1 after 6 months.

[@RetroGenetic]

And in many a chats he had with SpotTheOzzie's stream where he randomly jumps in to talk :D

[@salvageman2121]

hillbillieman a

[@celsoneto9596]

I did F1 in rally with jumps lol

[@thumpertorque_]

lol

[@eedds222]

F1 rallycross in PC2 is actually so fun

[@GrooveFederation]

43:12 the giggle of pleasure mixed in with a dash of cauldron stirring sinisterness :-) great video btw, you got real skillz

[@gollese]

Bought this game recently after i got my first "proper" wheel, it's so much fun and worth every penny!

[@Abgefahren789]

Soundbug @ 15:20 while talking about the sound :D

[@FKN1990]

Abgefahren! LOL bist auch hier 😂

[@XxCrazZyNo0oBxX]

cool dich hier zu finden! :)

[@Stubs66]

Empty Box, I was sure you mentioned your FFB settings somewhere but I can't find it ... do you have a time stamp? Be much appreciated! I have a V2.5)

[@doofusboy7054]

Abgefahren! Ironic.

[@MatzeKausB]

you did a really nice review. and my personal highlight was the drifting @the end. ;) good job, dude.

[@Bluesguy22]

Was just thinking about this sim as I just found out it about it (been iRacing for some time and had not looked elsewhere). I appreciate your review as I consider you to be honest and knowledgeable enough to know what you're talking about (I'm a subscriber to your channel). Thanks very much! You've saved me a lot of research time.

[@Shhteeve15]

Dude, thats the best PCars drifting I've ever seen. So awesome!

[@noobiix007]

Speaking of the license thingy, been doing something like 30 races, and in 20 of them I couldn't even get through the 1st corner, because of some idiot punting me not knowing what brakes are, or even starting from the back and getting caught in some huge pileup. It's extremely frustrating as my rating keep going down and down because of these guys paying 50 bucks for a game they don't even want to play the correct way, so that's one thing they defo need to get their hands on. Anyway, fair and proper review, good job on that.

[@riman8493]

Gotta say, given the snarky remarks in another video's comment section, I started watching this one, thinking to myself "Alright, here we go... let's see what kind of carnage awaits..." Now I find myself at the end of it, quite surprised! Mr Empty Box, I tip my hat to you for a very fair and serious review absent of all the negative, emotional colour I had come to fear you would apply. Imo the physics/handling and ffb are the primary concern in any racing game, as I am sure they are for many, and given the nature and severity (minor) of the few complaints you have in this area, I'd say PC2 is already a major success. I am _really_ pleased to see that even you - one of the most critical people in terms of handling/physics out there - are roping PC2 in with the rest of the "top of the line sims" in the market today (bar a few exceptions). I was quite surprised to hear the praise for the AI, mentioning that when it fires on all cylinders, it's actually quite good and competent - on par with some of the better sims, though still not on the level of rF2 and AMS, which I think is entirely fair. Fully agree that it's pretty bad, when the stars don't align. Personally, I have a bigger bone to pick with the penalty system than with the AI. It is supposedly fair, except in the obviously buggy situations, but I do feel it is too tight and unforgiving - to the point it does get in the way of the fun at times. What the penalty system is really missing is situational awareness - that human factor that is willing to forgive due to extenuating circumstances. Alas, it's just an algorithm and all it understands is 0s and 1s. Did you cross the track margin? Then you get penalized. Doesn't matter that you did so in order to avoid the otherwise unavoidable wreck that was unfolding in front of you. That's where a real steward would look away from the rule book and applaud you for avoiding the carnage. As you yourself say about the subject, it's quite tricky to implement something capable of not just enforcing the rules, but to interpret them as well. It's the same problem with the safety rating. 2 cars collide - whose fault was it? How do you determine that? Maybe the car in front broke a little early and caught the car behind off guard. But was that because the front driver was being cautious? Was it because he had a problem? Or was he brake-checking the dude behind him? Was he braking correctly and did he get taken out by the guy behind, because the latter is a moron that likes to wreck? Maybe the guy behind had a lag spike? Maybe he made an honest mistake in a high pressure situation while trying to claw extra time back in order to make a position or a qualifying time? Maybe he had malicious intent for emotional reason? How is a system to interpret intent on two (or more?) sides of an equation competently? Not even humans do that reliably =). It's tricky, indeed. I agree with most of your points, both good and bad, though I have no opinion on the vr bit, because I don't have a vr headset.I will mention two things, however: first, the grip in the wet appears a bit on the high side, but it is built on real telemetry data from actual tyres in the same conditions. Modern tyres are just... that good. Second, seasons _do_ matter. In autumn you tend to find foliage on the track here and there, which can make for extra slipperiness, but most importantly - track and ambient temperatures _matter_ a lot in terms of how hot you can get your tyres and therefore how the tyres perform. Fire up the same track in summer and you might find a track surface temperature of 53 celsius, which will absolutely _boil_ soft tyres and necessitate hard tyres, which will still be prone to overheating. Fire up that track in winter conditions and you might find a track temperature of 5-10 celsius, in which conditions the softs are actually preferable, because they don't melt here and are capable of delivering some pretty blistering times, while in the performance window. How hard it is to get the tyres up to temp and to keep them there depends largely on the atmospheric and track temps, which directly dictates how much control you have on your car and how much you can push it. Oh, and glad you like snow driving! =)

[@bobdole3560]

Great and fair review.Glad you gave it a chance. Let's hope the post game support is good and we can get some of the problem areas fixed!

[@13bj]

I was loving the sliding there at the end, but really a great review overall👍🏻

[@Hohice]

Thank you for your Review Box! You are the one person I wanted to hear from. I thought you would not be so I surprised to see it. Again thanks!

[@notinterested8452]

Awesome I was waiting for your take on this. I am going to get popcorn.

[@Xraid32]

It's negative reinforcement, when you punish. Positive when you reward...like a +1 you drove safely, mate. Love the humor at the end. "If you haven't figured out my opinion on this game by now...I CAN'T HELP YOU." Classic. Reminds me of the Project Cars 1 review, classic lines: "The AI in this game? It's frankly NOT GOOD." "So, did it live up to the hype? NOPE, NOT EVEN Close. k, BYE."

[@SeanMackYo]

I havent played this game, but I have watched a few videos... Just to add to the off sounds; the one issue (honestly its a deal breaker for me since i love the car) is the sound of the Porsche 991 911 GT3R. They got the sounds of that car so wrong it really annoys me especially since its my favorite GT3 car. Edit: Also... great review!

[@Daz555Daz]

It got soo much better through patches which made it even more sad when SMS abandoned the game so soon.

[@JonasRosenven]

Making a thorough review of a "game/sim" like this is a pretty major undertaking. I think you pulled it off. I pretty much HATED Project Cars1. I liked the graphics, the sounds, the weather effects, driving at night with the lights on and watching the sun rise and the tracks. The physics and the incredibly convuloted FFB settings and the outcome of even getting them right, which for me amounted to nothing, just ruined it all for me completely. Even though I'm probably not going to get this one, it's still nice to see that Project Cars2 is overall a better product. It looks closer to what I hoped to get when I got Project Cars1. Thanks for the review. Kind regards from Jonas in Denmark.

[@dct124]

My QUESTION to the OP. Have you driven a race car in the rain (light, moderate and heavy) to give an accurate comparison of how braking, cornering and putting power down feels in comparison to driving a race car on a track in the dry? Asking this b/c many reviews of all games I see except iRacing, I can't find people who have actually done real track days/real racing on tracks in different conditions to then come back to a video game and give a review which I think is good. My EXPERIENCE I've only been in 1 car accident in my life in the WET. I was on a highway after a heavy down pour traveling 45-50mph which was 15-20mph below the posted speed limit on what seemed to be general wet conditions that you'd see on any other rainy day. However the road had flooded in one area (while at night under a bridge-very dark). I went through the puddle at about 50mph and hydro planed into a guard rail. I was driving a BMW Z3 Roadster 5spd base model I4. The reason I couldn't recover was to avoid a collision with an SUV. Once on the grass, turning was non-existent. My COMPARISON I say that to say I've driven in far worse wet weather conditions on the public road in several different cars. I had a 3000GT where I was basically driving through a baby monsoon at about 80mph, 60ft to 80ft behind a Honda S2000 in the express lane on the same road. I did this on far worse tires than the BMW Z3. The Z3 tires were maybe 5 to 6mo old. The 3000GT tires were bought used. Now I say that to say my experience of in wet driving. On a light weight, short wheel base, rwd, car the amount of control was far less than a heavy weight, long wheel base, fwd car. In contrast to my driving experience in wet weather compared to my friends driving in wet weather is totally different. Dodge Challenger base model (stock) My friend was driving a Dodge Challenger rwd in the wet (moderate to heavy rain). He was driving at between 90 to 120mph for about 45min straight through traffic and we never hydro planed and he was able to consistently put down power without slipping or losing any traction. Corvette C7 Z51 (modified to over 600whp, headers, x-pipe and cat delete exhaust (super loud), custom carbon fiber aero kit with functional carbon hood, carbon rear diffuser and custom dual carbon rear wing (he did something else to it that I can't recall) In the rain 130mph to 150mph without issue of putting power down and braking, no issues.

[@Ruggo181]

I agree with most of the points you have raised, especially the wet weather handling. But I can't believe that you never touched on the damage model (or lack thereof). This in itself would go hand in hand in making the online experience a better place. But when I can ricochet of a wall at speed and my car still handles fine, or even in your own oval track footage, seeing the cars unrealistically fly in the air, that alone disqualifies this games attempt at being called a sim. And before anyone tries to raise that "manufacturers don't allow it", don't, it's a urban myth.

[@DustySticks]

Glad I'm not the only one who has those feelings about not having the ability to set the AI field

[@RACECAR]

Same. Its thankfully not like PC 1 where it you wanted to for instance do a multiclass race at Dubai to simulate the Dubai 24, you had to also share the track with classic cars as well as GT1 AND GT1X cars (both of which blow the GT3 cars in the weeds). However, its still somewhat annoying to know that even if you manage to select the proper classes to imitate a IMSA race for instance, you'll still get a Renault RS01 in the field.

[@DustySticks]

RACECAR hopefully someone can unpack the game files so the guy that made the custom grid tool for PC1 can make it for PC2 as well. That is probably our best hope at this point.

[@JHooley100]

Going back to your previous video on PC2 (the 'zero excitement' one) - has the game surpassed your expectations?

[@TacticalCardboard]

Sort of. I expected the physics to be reasonably good, I'm not really shocked there*. The AI is about what I expected... it's just sort of there and is in need of serious work. The penalty system and the bugs, precisely what was expected. But the whole package is better than I expected the end result to be of those parts. *I'm of the opinion the idea of console-ifying and putting rubber baby safety bumpers on things is actually counter productive to the quality of the game, and I think after PC1 they should have hopefully learned the lesson that you can't really win that route.

[@Minx5892]

Empty Box I've had PCARS 2 for a while and as a pad user I'm loving it. I have AC as well but on a pad, AC is just so rage inducing. Way too sensitive even on the lowest settings. Hoping to get in AORs GT3 league in the coming season, should be perfect, f1 2017 leagues on Sunday and then the GT3 league on another. What more could you ask!

[@Uhreg]

well this was unexpected :D i 100% agree with 90%of what you said. Imo the rx is million times better than on dirt4

[@Daz555Daz]

It's a good game and is getting better with patches and I am really enjoying it on PS4 for a change having really only played PC sims to date. . Nice honest review.

[@andyhello23]

Its a good enough sim, for most people. People whom may be professional gamers, or very serious at gaming, may find faults. But come on people, its about as good as anything out there for most people. First time i saw your vid, and i appreciate you understand your talking to a wide range of different people, whom will see this game in all sorts of ways. For me its a sim, but i have no real interest in gaming beyond an occasional hour here and there. This is the first time i have watched vids on these racing sims, and man do you people sound really into it. Nice too hear your comments, and to hear how you see a game like pc2.

[@ukarlu]

I bought it after watching this video & after i figured out to use low brake assist on single seaters (unless you want to lock wheels after bending a toe on the brake pedal......slightly) I'm enjoying the crap out of it tbh . Thanks Mr Box .

[@SingleRacerSVR]

Thankyou Empty Box. Now I already own the game, but I still enjoyed your breakdown, as I've been too sick with the flu, to test it all out properly. I have to say for me personally, the worst part of the game, is the horrible "tyre squeal" sound they chose. Talk about headache inducing. But the big key factor for this game, is that I think Assetto Corsa became what it is, due to getting FULL support, even 2-3 years down the track (pun intended). So the thing that will kill this game, if is PC2 only gets 3-5 patches, and then gets forgotten about after that, like so many other racing games before it?

[@TacticalCardboard]

It's tough to say what will happen in the future, as it relates to PC2's support, the inevitable PC3 and the way it was handled the first time around by SMS. I generally look at it as I know what to expect and I won't be surprised, but does that make PC2 better or worse as a game itself? You gotta take it in the here and the now and hope for the best, but plan for the worst. On the topic of AC - yes, it's been substantially improved over the years. But, would the inevitable AC2 perhaps be better by now given they could work on the title out of the "release" world? Think about it this way - what if they stopped work on AC at like 1.07 or whatever (say when they got the v10 tires on everything, like a year ago) and then went to work on AC2. By now they could be deep in progress of updating their engine so a day night cycle is possible, adding in rain and weather, perfecting the AI, reevaluating things that worked and didn't work in AC such as the booking system. That game - the one we all want - would in theory be closer than it may well be today. Yes this is a simplistic thought in that they many things would obviously carry over to the next game, but we also should understand rewriting the engine and changing out a lot of parts is asking for trouble and is a bit more than "a patch" type of job. Not to mention the inevitable time spent fixing bugs to the patches' patches...

[@harrygaylordrums]

I love the tyre squeal sound lol. Just me lol.

[@RubberStig]

Hey EB - great video - thanks for that - I'm sure it took a lot of effort. And for once .. I completely agree with you on just about everything you said (except VR about which I know zip .. for now). Can't believe you didn't mention the FOV options for every camera angle available - was hoping you'd clue me in on what you use - as it's usually pretty similar to what I use - at least it is in iRacing - and I find that very comfortable.

[@TacticalCardboard]

I use the same FoV for cockpit / helmet cam that I use for iRacing (and other sims that use the horizontal field of view) - 60 degrees. The others I've left at default as I don't use them.

[@RubberStig]

Thanks man. Appreciate it.

[@jimmyd1337]

Ehhhm the seasons have a massive influence. Sun posistions are different for one. So the Sun is super low in the winter. Another example Nurburgring, if you set ithe weather to snow in Summer the snow will not settle as the track temp is too high so its very similar to a wet track now change the date to december or november and the snow will actualy be on the track. Did a race on a CLEAR morning at 8 am on Nurbirgring in the winter and the track will actualy be frosty.

[@TacticalCardboard]

Yea, that's not really a huge deal. The sun being lower in the sky and the ToD differences in the end are more or less irrelevant cool things that don't make or break the gameplay. The bigger difference is the temps, which is hardly groundbreaking stuff.

[@71tonywhite]

Nice racing @ Bathurst in the rain. Very good review, comprehensive and informative. Penalties in game require working on, it's broken. I don't yet have VR, one day I will save up for that. I am getting a new 43" 4k monitor going from my 29" ultra wide. I hope the size will make a difference and provide more immersion. I am getting it for a productivity perspective though. On a side not for PC2, I know I'm not meant to drive on grass, it happens when learning, but the grass is unrealistically difficult to drive on. Very hard to get back onto the track. It is easier to drive on the ice than it is on the grass and that is with slicks on. lol stopping at the wrong pit booth, I did that the other day and turned on auto pit again. I may look at manual pit down the track again. Great video Thanks.

[@mattmattmatt131313]

For me, the real test for Project Cars 2 is yet to come! The game has a lot of content, some of it good, some of it bad, most of it a bit "meh". Now the real test comes, are they going to stick with it and improve the game in the following weeks/months/years, or are they just going to abandon it, like Pc1?? Assetto Corsa hasn't started life as the most polished product to begin with, but they have stuck with it and vastly improved the game/added content,...over the years. I guess only time will answer this one for us.

[@RobertMartino98]

Great review and I'm glad I'm hearing great/good reviews about this game

[@bmoney2011]

I've been playing it for a couple months now and maybe it's just because I'm a complete scrub at sim-racing but I enjoy the experience. Specifically, I think it's helping me become a better racer.

[@swagmasteryo9726]

Wow empty, I'm genuinely surprised you went ahead and did this. Part of me knows you got the game and tried it because you wanted to which I hope is always the staple of your decision making. On the other hand I can't help but think it was influenced by everything bashing you for not trying it. Either way I guess I'm happy because I always like to see your take on things.

[@TacticalCardboard]

I want to like games, despite what some people may think. I wouldn't have touched this game at this moment (I'd be waiting for patches) if it were just "me", but after hearing positive things from people I trust I decided that it's probably good enough to pick up and review for "everyone" else. Plus I can stick the flag in the ground and laugh at the people who think I will do everything I can to bash the game because I have some sort of irrational, nonsensical hatred of the game.

[@MixedRealitySimRacing]

The worst thing for me is the so called "laserscanned" Nordschleife, if you know it in real life you can only hate it in pcars2. But the rest is way better than I've expected and I enjoy playing it more and more. Hope they fix the Nordschleife and other tracks like Barcelona that seem more like a placeholder

[@RyanHellyer]

What is wrong with the Nordschleife in Project Cars 2?

[@adrianchannelle8651]

WHAT'S wrong with the track?

[@MixedRealitySimRacing]

Adrian Channelle It's wrong, none of the tarmac changes is there, the graffities are missing totally, the curbs are not round along the corner but edgy, snoopies Nordschleife mod for Assetto Corsa felt more authentic. Even some sections look wrong. I will make an in detail video soon

[@theeeMitchi]

People who ask what's wrong with the Nordschleife in pCARS 2 are exactly their target audience.

[@RyanHellyer]

I don't think so. I think their target are more likely to be the people who wouldn't notice the problems with the track even when playing it.

[@OhItsThat]

I'm so happy you were in a Group C car. These noob kids have no idea. The only cars I wanna drive.

[@daweitao2668]

Good review. A little surprised on the VR stuff as others have rated it pretty highly. I could see what you were talking about on that particular car though, wheel panel did look like a cardboard stick on. Good points on the rating system and I agree with your suggestion. Will be interesting to see how it all pans out.

[@MrTbone1975]

I have the same glitching on the HTC Vive, just as it loose tracking or reset tracking for a second

[@simdrive9778]

me too

[@watermelonhelmet6854]

Just wanted to pipe in and say I've put about 20 hours into PC2 playing on the Vive, and not had any tracking issues, and while I thought the colors were a little flatter than my monitor, it was nothing deal breaking.

[@HowlingCurve]

To enjoy playing the career mode I had to turn the AI up to max skill, 0 aggression and turn the penalties off (yes a year later and they're still broken). I'm using a g920 wheel, pedals and shifter (the cheap stuff lol) and the ffb seems to be okish when tweeked properly.

[@nathansaxonracing]

Once I got the FFB dialed it the game really came alive minus the pretty terrible ai. One thing I wish could change was when you put on randomized weather progression it will snow almost every time in an endurance race. This is fine once in a while but if I want an authentic experience I don't want snow at Daytona.

[@EGGUZMAN]

EB, About the your VR review/opinion. I agree! I feel the same way. Something is not right with the VR implementation in PC2. Like you said it's doable, but something is off with the graphics scaling somewhere and I am getting intermittent flashes which the dev's have already acknowledge. IMO Assetto Corsa and to a degree RF2's(VR Beta) look a little better. I hope they fix PC2's VR issues, other then that, the game is OK and fun I guess.

[@viktorianas]

FYI. SMS promised to work a lot on AI upcoming months. BTW guys...just think how difficult is to make proper AI for a such variety of cars, tracks and conditions, it is a nightmare for programmers!!!

[@chriss1595]

Great driftng at the end - what's the track & car? Did you edit the car setup? Btw, snow season (iced track) isn't available for all tracks like desert & seaside ones.

[@TacticalCardboard]

Jaguar F Type SVR, Circuit of the Americas West layout (may be named differently in game though, you'll spot it) Setup is the default that it gives you with a wheel, only changed to the street [Hard] tires and traction control turned off.

[@RWoody1995]

You know Empty Box is a good reviewer when he gives something a good review after previously being extremely skeptical (and rightly so) about it when some people would just ignore everything good and keep on bashing it ^_^

[@Pustul]

Yes! I am still on the fence about this game and I really wanted to know your opinion, thanks for making this video!

[@slowanddeliberate6893]

The Rating system for PC2 should help the quality of races at least somewhat, but without a Sporting Code like iRacing has, as well as people to enforce it, I doubt the races will ever be as clean as races on iRacing. It might get half way there, though, which is better than no clean races at all.

[@miller2635]

Fuck 43 mins. Better go get some tacos first. Never thought I would see you review this.

[@ANIMLFIRE]

PC2 has been my favorite racing game alongside F1 2019 but I want to talk my mind on what I would love to see in Project Cars 3 1) Keep LMP1 and LMP2 cars 2) Keep the Toyota GT One Cars 3) World of Outlaw Sprint Cars with the addition of atleast two dirt tracks (Eldora and Knoxville) 4) A Completely rebult from the ground up modern Formula One Car !!!!! 5) Keep the Formula Renault 3.5 cars which are amazing 6) Formula E cars and tracks such as Rome, Swizerland, Paris, and Saudi E-Prix's 7) Updated and more immersive Pitting and Safety Cars

[@andydeck2778]

They can’t build a modern f 1 car or else they will get copyrighted by f1 2019 that’s why only f1 2019 has modern f1 cars

[@cmbunit01]

Thanks for the overview. Looks like it'll be a good sale-price purchase after a few patches have come out.

[@LupusAries]

Was kind of thinking "Do I want to watch it?" as I rather enjoyed it, especially for the driving and the sounds, and expected you to take it apart and find any thing that went wrong. Given how much PCars 1 disappointed you. But you know it was your usual fair and square review, not stomping it, giving credit where credit is due, but also pointing out where work is needed. And not pulling then punch as to who shouldn't buy it (fans of Oval racing.) Might be a bit sad for you as you are a fan of oval racing and Indycar. But overall one could see that you thought the game/sim/whatever was fun, and that you enjoyed playing it. In the end your review style makes you more reliable than the printed press and especially the games press, it's your honest, informed and considered opinion. P.S. I agree mostly with you about Pcars 2, it's not perfect but one can see a definate improvement over Pcars 1.

[@mwdfinch76]

I turned off all the 'rays' and find it much crisper and more contrasted. Also, the pp filter. Switch it off and add more SS. I'm thinking it looks as good as or better as Assetto with regard to tracks, but the cars in Assetto are waaaaay better. Like you said, depth...

[@DonPatriko]

Really helpful video. After first PC, I've been really hesitating to get this. Thank you man! Btw. "Stop eating paste"?

[@TacticalCardboard]

Yes, Stop Eating Paste.

[@JonasRosenven]

Yes. We all should stop eating paste if we ever did such a thing. It's a term that holds up unless you are inside the International space station. That place would be an exeption. To clarify: kzbin.info/www/bejne/mJmqqpeonsmVe6M Pretty nice video showing why, by the way :)

[@martin9364]

There is heats in RX Mr. Empty box. You just have to choose RX preset in quick race and in career mode there is heats

[@magzire]

The Sim God has spoken, nice review.

[@RicardoGomezToro]

Thank you for your honest review. AI is extremely important to me because I hardly have the time to race online. RF2 is my go to sim, currently. Is it still your opinion that the AI is not a worthy opponent for a RF2 driver? I am usually around 98-105% AI strength in RF2.

[@TacticalCardboard]

I don't think the AI is all that close to rF2 level. Now, can you have fun with it? Sure. Does the feature set and car / track list offer things that rF2 doesn't? Yes. Will it replace rF2 for you? Probably not.

[@RicardoGomezToro]

Thank you for your input. For better or worse, I'm going to get it. It's on sale. I do also drive AC but I only enjoy it for the eye candy and hotlapping. I do not like the AI in AC too much. I've had a few good races but, for the most, bad. I'm content with RF2 even though it isn't perfect. The new GT3 cars are fantastic. The new tracks by Studio 397 are great. Every time I start to like AC a bit more than usual I find that there's something to the feel of RF2 that I like more. The Howston G4 and G6 are pure simming bliss.

[@RicardoGomezToro]

Thank you very much for your response. Being that Project Cars 2 was on sale I went ahead and got it. It took me since you posted this response, just about, to get the FFB where it's OK. The FFB was a major source of frustration until I did a bit of research and found a few workarounds. I get enough information through the wheel in order to turn consistent laps but I'm not loving the feel. Some of it seems canned and disconnected. After a bunch of laps I am able to acclimate and it isn't too much of an issue. The detailed cars and tracks, the fancy graphics, and great sound create an environment in which you can immerse yourself. In the last few days, I have found myself enjoying a race or two. The game is beautiful! The list of cars and tracks available are magnificent. The AI is good enough to have fun with but... umm... they hardly fight. They totally suck in the rain. The thing is that, once the green flag drops I hardly care what the cars and tracks look like and FFB and AI become the most important aspects of the simulation to me. I think PC2 has a lot of potential. I think, if the devs address a few issues, it can be very good.

[@quarteronline]

I have the v2.5 with the Forza hub on PC and I didn't change any ffb settings when I started the game and it runs perfectly!

[@GizmoMaltese]

The VR is amazing in this game. I'm not sure what you're talking about. Maybe it's because you set something to too lower than necessary. I'm using Oculus Rift i7 6700K and 1080ti ss 1.5 everything high/medium ...very few low ..some ultra. I'm still experimenting . I'm not losing tracking.

[@HypersonicWalkingspeed]

Hello, enjoyed the video! Could you please tell me which program you used to capture the gameplay and also which bitrate you use for KZbin? Really enjoying the crispness of your vids!

[@TacticalCardboard]

Gameplay captured with Action!, Nvidia NVENC w/ Ultra quality, recorded to 1920x1080 from 2560x1440. Rendered out from Premiere at 14 Mbps using the KZbin 1080 preset.

[@HypersonicWalkingspeed]

Empty Box thank you :)

[@dospaquetes]

I noticed you put the TONE slider at 75, no wonder the game feels like AC. I would encourage you to try a much lower setting (I use 5), it can make it feel a bit more like rf2, AMS, iRacing

[@TacticalCardboard]

I've tried mixes of just about everything including the tone at 10. This just results in a more consistent feel across the board in all of the cars for me while still giving me the information I need.

[@th3orist]

i love the way you review racing games. i particulary like that you dont give a "final opinion". i dont need a final opinion when i watch the whole review. i know more from watching the analysis of the different parts than i would know if you or someone else tells me "this game is a 7" or "8"... will you do also one for Forza Motorsport 7? would be very well appreciated if so.

[@TacticalCardboard]

Not likely, don't have any intentions of picking it up any time soon and it's not really a game in my wheel house... Forza for me is strictly sit back and chill, pokemon with cars. I have little to add over reviews from others doing just that.

[@th3orist]

Alright i see your point. For me it is like the Horizon Version for Simulators. If i take it for what it is, its a nice little game. Playing it with the wheel, its definitely improved over part 6. But actually i really really enjoy it with the Gamepad. Still: You always add your Empty Box flavor to the reviews, so i would not care if you kinda say not much more than others. You could consider it fan service :))). Cheers, have a nice day.

[@reptilexcq2]

I never have a problem with how realistic the interior of the car look in VR in PC1. I thought they looks pretty real actually.

[@GreatWhiteNorth82]

Most of the time Empty Box costs me money. This time he saved me money. Thanks, Bro!!

[@bro_1337]

Nice review empty box. I mostly agree with everything you said, although I haven't tried VR so I have no opinion on that.

[@RetroGenetic]

Did you only use the "helmet" view for the VR or also non helmet thing? As I have pretty much opposite reaction to game's VR, but again may be only personal taste.

[@TacticalCardboard]

I never use the helmet view, as it isn't really convincing to me. I really wish we could have the muffled audio without the helmet though, as that's a nice touch.

[@RetroGenetic]

Hmm, as the image you had fromr VR looked bit odd to what I am used to seeing I thought that was the cause. Ah well my bad.

[@japotak99]

Wrong pit stall at 35:00 lol

[@TacticalCardboard]

That's one thing I don't particularly care for but can't complain much about... There is an option to highlight your pit box, but it shouldn't be needed IMO. But without it, there's no real way of knowing which is YOUR pit box, which sucks.

[@jamiedh3036]

Hi, new to the channel, love your videos. I would take a small issue regarding the career. Signing for teams, receiving emails etc is cool. It offers an element of strategy, however, on Xbox, these are benign. There's no consequence to decision making, posting good/bad qually times or race results. Perhaps a small issue, or looking for perfection, but as it is the player is passive receiver just pushing buttons. Otherwise I'm really enjoying PC2

[@nosalis]

nice review! thanks btw. the AI slowness should have been addressed by the patch that just went out, and AI improvements overall are something that SMS is looking into, like you mentioned (weird racing lines, too slow at some corenrs ..etc) glad to see you have done the review, I was under impression you won't ever try it , glad I was wrong

[@michag798]

The good thing is that Ian Bell said on the forums that they are gonna keep updating the AI for the next 6 months. Still doesn't justify its current state though, but gonna appreciate the dedication.

[@Skirakzalus]

I would love to be able to switch out npc cars to my liking. And not just in a class, but with any car I so desire. This could create a lot of cool options for the singleplayer, and if you feel like they aren't giving you a decent challenge, you could just give them stronger cars.

[@yrtracingteam106]

When the pc version crashes, and that happens often, you lose like 30/40 points on your licence. My pc is high end and only in use for a few racing sims. And it doesnt crash in pcars1/AC/autoM/rf2/before in iracing ot also didnt. So, now your rating goes down so fast you cant join the lobby’s you want to join. And that..gets boring. Crash and lose so much points and win or finish p3 in a row, and gain zero points. Its frustrating. Further the game is oke..sort of. Thanks anyways. Great vid!

[@kitchendevil123]

as a long time user of iracing,i dont think there rating system is fare.if someone makes a mistake and crashes into me i still get penalized for it.hate that!.thanks for your input on p2.great vid

[@TacticalCardboard]

That's the only way to do such a system. It's impossible to determine fault accurately 100% of the time - this year's Singapore GP was a perfect real world example of that. Wrong place, wrong time, 3 guys who didn't do anything too wrong individually but collaborated together to wreck themselves - who's fault?

[@downnice95]

Project Cars 2 is not a perfect game, but the driving is good and I had a good time with it big imrpovement from the first

[@RetroGenetic]

Driving on snow is actually surprisingly close to reality, not 100% there by any means but very close. Coming from someone who deals with that big part of the year. I've been driving on ice/snow relatively fast butt never exceeding the 150Km/h so, there ends my experience with it.

[@TacticalCardboard]

It's okay - the overall speed you can carry is fine IMO, but it bugs me how quick the car will regain grip, like it's just too eager to straighten out. We get a fair amount of snow here where I live, so I've done a fair bit of driving in those conditions as well. :) Could just be the type of snow they've done though, as obviously a light coating, fluffy snow, deep snow, compacted snow - all different.

[@RetroGenetic]

Yep, fair point. I tended to end up in to drift from corner to corner in the few snow races I've done, again may be based on vehicle so need to do bit more experimenting on other ones as well.

[@mckseal]

I get those weird flickers in VR too, where it just jumps like it's losing tracking. I got those in Project Cars 1 too way back in the DK2 days! Hope it gets fixed.

[@RavenflashLP]

Thank you for this no BS review, tried it at a friends house, definitly a buy for me.

[@wedge_one]

ultimately I'd say that it's better to be a sim racer now than in 2015

[@yosharian]

You mentioned VR racing games but failed to specifically mention which games you think are rivals for this one? PC2 is the only decent racing game in VR that I am aware of so I'd love to hear which ones you think are better

[@TacticalCardboard]

Given the glitches with the tracking (a few other have as well apparently) and the flatness of the whole experience.... iRacing, R3E, Assetto Corsa. All are more immersive IMO. I mean yes, the VR works and you can use it and it's more or less "fine", but I prefer the others.

[@yosharian]

I have a pretty powerful rig with 1080TI, and I don't have a wheel, at least not at the moment. So I'd almost certainly be playing with an Xbox controller, I do have some pedals but they aren't analogue. I'm willing to spend cash to buy the game (R3E is F2P I think? that's off-putting). I'd like a good singleplayer experience, so some kind of career mode I guess. I grew up on the Gran Turismo games, I loved buying cheap cars, putting absurd turbos in them and winning races in order to get better cars, etc. I like a range of stuff, in other words I quite like rallying, stock cars, F1, etc. I also loved GT's license challenges but I guess it's not likely that that is in any of these games. Anyway, given all that, which out of those 3 would you recommend? Assetto Corsa seems to have the best graphics. That aside thanks for the response, and yeah I had similar thoughts about the textures. The game just seems so flat. I was comparing it to Forza 7 yesterday and it just seems so bland by comparison. Speaking of which, do you have a non-VR suggestion? I have a triple monitor setup, one 34" ultrawide flanked by two 24" standard widescreens.

[@jaek_898]

11:50 i live near sonoma. Most of the grass there is brown. It really doesnt get green often

[@swagmasteryo9726]

CarbonButtprint aren't a lot of the runoff areas sand/dirt too? A bunch of games just have green grass around the track and it all looks wrong.

[@jaek_898]

Swagmasteryo yes that area must have low ph soil. Its just uphill from a pat of the bay.

[@Case_]

It can still get pretty green, though: kzbin.info/www/bejne/qJXPnXR5rKdgis0

[@jaek_898]

Martin 'Case' Fiala during spring, yeah it does

[@no_fb]

Thanks a lot for sharing this! It confirms the expected disaster Project Cars promised to be. I had some hope when I saw some propaganda on how the physics would be great, but it's SMS after all, they had to botch quality in favour of unnecessary quantity. I'm perfectly happy with AC and R3E for the great cars, physics and sound, and rFactor2 is still the reference for AI and rules, plus it's actively evolving.

[@MrAeroHD]

Was waiting for this

[@JamesCoyle95]

Looks like the cars have waaayy too much grip to me. That Lotus is meant to be damn near undrivable yet you're racing it like a GT3 car. I want a pure sim with all the content of PCars but they get too caught up in making it accessible to the mass market.

[@Dekpk90]

I have assetto corsa and cannot really decide whether I should purchase PC2 or not...

[@kidsea13]

So, in wet weather against the AI it becomes Gilles Villeneuve simulator then?

[@aky19832001]

There are no SIM games. You don't game on SIM, you train on them. I spent some time in a 6 way motion race SIM that f1 drivers used to train with. The software was actually very identical to this race game called race 7 or something like that on steam that no one even seems to mention but it was almost indentical in envioment and grahpics. Or like Gtr. They have feed back input into the software that designed by engineers and it's believable different than anything I've set up and I've spent about 8k on my set up. From the 3psimexperiance level 3 to the wheel, shifter , pc and 3 tv set up. The pc alone cost me 2500 to build running two thx 1070 amp extreme on an i7k. And still the feed back isn't the same, the timing is off, the wheel feel artificial and the real world reaction that a car gives is lacking from what we have vs the real sim

[@letni9506]

News that matter People think they can drive this fast in real life after a good lap with a wheel and pedals. To me snaking at 50 mph and struggling to get round a bend at 40 isn't accurate. I find all car racing games harder to control at slower speeds than it is driving a real car. Plus how terrified would you actually be driving like this guy in reality lol. Wanging the wheel round like it's nothing when the reality would be smashing into a wall at 120mph. It's easy to have confidence when nothing is at stake.

[@russellstone1281]

If and only if you what to know how the CEO feels about us then you tube this " project cars 2 ceo weighs in on the A.I. " it's 2:20 long.

[@SackyX]

Good review as always! Sonoma is my local track and it is never ever green just fyi. :-)

[@TacticalCardboard]

Plenty of video evidence to indicate the contrary.

[@SackyX]

At times I guess. Most of the time it's dried out though it is in wine country and we just came out of a drought. I go there pretty regularly under a press pass for most of the races held there.

[@TacticalCardboard]

Yea, I get it - but my point is that it DOES happen, and it's one of the few tracks that can look incredibly different in the right conditions, so it'd really show off the system in a really awesome way.

[@SackyX]

I agree. I was wrong for stating "never". On a side note do you know of any way to take out the blurry focus effect in replay cameras? It really is annoying don't you think?

[@TacticalCardboard]

Sadly, I don't know how to get rid of the blur. I don't find it vusually annoying, but what does REALLY annoy me about it is the fact some of the longer shots absolutely destroy the framerate... the one coming up to Variante Alta at Imola for example, the frame rates just drop like a rock.

[@marioskoni5311]

Honest and informative review. I would like to listen to your view about the new features of rf2... espacially these shown in simexpo '17.

[@TacticalCardboard]

We'll get there when they are released.

[@bodyshotjake7475]

I wish this game had Asseto physics, sounds, track details and force feedback. This game has so much to offer in terms of “replay value”. The driving experience just completely wrecks that though.

[@DavyJonesSimRacing]

Maybe I'm missing something but any advice on which profile to replace the default for a T300? Or should I be trying all expect those labelled "DD"? The Files V1.1: 1. standard low comp 2. standard low comp DD 3. standard mid comp 4. standard high comp 5. alternative low comp 6. alternative low comp DD 7. alternative mid comp 8. alternative high comp

[@theshoey7477]

I tried standard low and liked it, but went to alt med and stayed there. Most cars feel ok, but I think they need per car settings for FFB. Heard that Jack updated again today (Sat)

[@DavyJonesSimRacing]

Thanks! I've bookmarked the page on the Pcars forums so will check that and Mike had some good tips in kzbin.info/www/bejne/iGaZZ4Vpn5Wgrsk