A new month has begun and with it comes some great news about Project CARS development that i believe you will enjoy.

Two new tracks were announced, Old Northampton (Historic Silverstone 75) and Fort Felix (fictitious). The last one looks just fabulous and has been the stage of some amazing screenshot sessions by the community as you can see below.


There have been also a lot of amazing new implementations in terms of physics and car behavior into the game that have changed the feeling and the way the cars respond greatly.

Penalty Systems (Ballast Weight): Is a weight ballast system for performance balancing of cars/players, particularly in MP but also for single player stuff as well, they will allow cars with different performance levels to compete with each other in a much more balanced way.

There will be 2 modes:
Manual - Ballast can be added to balance the performance of cars when setting up an event/championship for single and multiplayer modes by the event creator. Ballast weight can be added up to a maximum defined for each vehicle in 1kg steps.
Automatic - Additional weight will be added to a players vehicle, up to a pre-defined maximum, based on previous race results in a series/championship/group of races in either single or multiplayer mode. This weight penalty would not have an effect outside of the specific series where Success Ballast is set to be active.

Air Pressure and Altitude Based Air Temp Now its possible to generate air pressure (pa) and altitude base air temp based on altitude of the track. This will affect your car performance greatly depending on the track height which adds more realism into the game.

Volumetric Throttle System This is a new feature that calculates torque output using an approximated manifold pressure. Side effects include air restrictor effects, possible better metrics for sound system to use, fun engine response changes with the atmosphere among other things. One of the things it will also do is change the 'neutral' throttle position - where the engine is producing zero net torque - to be much lower in the pedal's travel. You'll have much better precision over the torque and the sensitivity curve will change naturally through the rpm range. A great side effect is that you get much more of a feel for the clutch bite point from standstill. Because you have a certain amount of air going in to the engine at idle and air is directly related to torque, as the clutch starts to bite and rpm drops the air available produces more torque.

Brake Mapping - This controls the level of engine braking and is a fairly abstract value. Think of it like a vacuum line connected to the throttle, so that it opens up more at high rpm to relieve some of the intake manifold vacuum (the major source of engine braking torque). All you really need to know is that 0=lots of engine braking and 10+=very little engine braking.

Restrictor Size - This changes the size of the restrictors/throttle bodies on the engine to control the amount of power produced. This will ultimately move out of the setup screen and become part of the event setup, only adjustable by the event administrator. For now it needs to be somewhere everyone can work with for testing. As a result it's possible to create a 600hp Asano X4, for example. Honor system will be required for multiplayer with these cars. Do play around with this on the cars that have it enabled. A particularly cool one is the Caper stock car which has a minimum restrictor size similar to what was used at restrictor plate tracks in 1990. You'll notice that not only does the power level reduce from 650 to 400hp, but it also moves down to a much lower rpm simulating the choking effect of the smaller air aperture. Cool stuff.

So as you can see, all these features will work together, gone is the time of the large 'deadzone' when you start to press the pedal; the engine starts producing positive torque very quickly now and you will have a much larger range for modulation.
Snappier throttle response at low rpm.  A car's peak power may vary a bit from track to track. This is because we now use ambient air pressure as part of the engine torque calculations, so things like elevation and weather will have an impact on engine performance.


A improved tire model was also included, its a non-race able version currently, that allows us to see how flat spotting will work in the future and so far the results have been great !

Amongst these changes there have been some new info about Project CARS moving to Steam in the near future allowing everyone to access all the great features that Steam allows:

For those unaware, here are some of the benefits of the Steamworks platform:
    Authentication
    Friends system
    Invitation system
    Achievements
    Matchmaking
    Ranking system
    Leaderboards
    Ghost storage for all players
    VOIP
    DLC packages
    Community portal
    Digital delivery and automatic updates

These are just some of the great features and benefits but there will be more.

That's all for now, here's some images and videos for you to check out, also be sure to join us at our Steam Group for the latest news and info about pCARS.

Hi everyone,

So after the turbulence created by the big news of last weeks there's usually a calm, at least this is what you would expect... but i must say the fun never ends with Project CARS, so lets dig into the new stuff!

As you read last week, Mercedes is now officially licensed and to celebrate the developers released the first export (read as early WIP) of the Mercedes SLS AMG GT3.



As you might notice, for a early export it looks already really good, sadly theres no cockpit images as its still lacking a lot of detail but that will come out eventually.

Besides the new vehicle theres also some pretty hot stuff, so hot we only heard about it today, Oculus Rift Dev Kit has just arrived at the Studios and the PC Render Coder is already fiddling with it, expect exciting news SMSoon!

The community has also been attacking strongly the API and have been developing some pretty amazing apps for everyone to use, you can find some videos through Youtube and there's already an Android version available for the public to test @ Google Play Store

To finish this up here's another amazing video by Jonz showcasing one of the biggest multiplayer events in Project CARS:


http://vimeo.com/65005909

Hope you guys have enjoyed the new info, have a great weekend!

Hi everyone, been a long time since i last posted. The main reason for this was the lack of any major news I could post for you guys to read, but now Im able to do so and you guys will just go nuts for sure.

Lets begin with the best one so far, the FSA issues are now[COLOR=#00FF00] solved[/COLOR]!
Thats right folks, they allowed SMS to keep on going with the World of Mass Development but with some small changes to the system for the future Projects in order to fulfill the regulations imposed by the FSA.
These changes will be known in the upcoming weeks when another announcement will be made and the announcement will be...

(Drums please!)

Project CARS goes to NEXT-GEN Consoles!

SMS is now an official developer for Playstation 4 and probably also to Durango (Xbox720) once it comes out, the development will be a side Project and will be known in the next weeks how you can participate in it.

 

As if this wasnt enough already more great news were shared with us by the Slightly Mad Team, Mercedes is now officially licensed and will include the following babies!

1952 300 SL W194
1971 300SEL 6.8 AMG 'Rote Sau'
1989 Sauber C9
1990 190E 2.5-16 Evolution 2 (DTM racing version)
1998 CLK-LM
2012 SLS AMG GT3
2012 C-Class Coupe DTM
2013 A45 AMG
2010 SLS AMG Coupé

Are you enjoying the news so far? Hope so, because it isnt over yet :D !

A major update in the physics department was also announced, coming this week with a improvement tread model called FlashTread will bring the following features:

* "grip" broken out into deformation, adhesive, viscous, tack, and tear models
* flash effect (temperature variance through the contact patch at asperity level)
* curing (race tires are not typically delivered fully cured)
* water, including hydroplaning (which happens organically)
* loose material model (for gravel, sand, dirt, etc)
* tread wear (and flat spots do just fall out)

(...)

And much, much more :) Its still not over guys!

The developers also announced a new Formula to compete in Project CARS, the Formula C. After last week release of the Formula Gulf 1000 they mentioned that there would be another formula to compete with and this week they shown us the first prototype of the new car to participate which looks amazing but due to its early WIP state Im not able to show it yet.

Theres also a new sun flare tech introduced recently that is able to produce some of the most amazing flares we have seen so far in a game, still in a early state they will change and adapt to the weather conditions and time of the day giving you a lot of variety in terms of visuals, they just look amazing and you can see that by yourselves in the 2 images below taken by our community members Kmax1 and Kelnor34.

We also celebrated recently 1000 members in our Steam Group, all the important news and events are posted there in a regular basis so if you want to know everything first hand be sure to check it out, its open for everyone to join and you can also talk with us in the Group Chat. Thats all for now, hope you all enjoyed these great news and see you soon!

Hey there everyone, this will be the last update of March so heres what happened recently in Project CARS.

The Project CARS - API (Application Programming Interface) was released, it allows the game to communicate with third party devices, giving programmers and hardware designers endless possibilities to make their product work with Project CARS.
The API feeds telemetry & other data to devices such as tachometers, motion simulators, buttkickers, shift lights and much more. Some members been working already in order to get this working with their smartphones and tablets and so far I must say some of their work has been quite impressive for such short time since the release of the API.

Last week Ive mentioned the two new vehicles coming to Project CARS, the Mustang Boss 302R & the Evo X FQ-400 both in their very wip states were in no shape back then to be shown but now we can give you a glimpse of these two new addition (beware there is still a lot of work to be done)



As a Easter Egg the developers added a small contest where the community members had to find some hidden eggs around the track and the hunt has been quite exciting so far, but it didnt quite achieve the happiness we had when we found a hidden track, based on the Old Spa Francorchamps that looks amazing so far even tho its still a early WIP.



Screenshots by PLM5 aka Chromatic9

There has been also some rumours about a mobile (Android, IOS) version, this is still not confirmed but if true it will mean Project Cars will add a new platform to the release.

To end up I will leave you all with an amazing new trailer by our community member Jonz, music by Project Cars Composer Dr. Stephen Baysted.
http://vimeo.com/62847073


Hope you all have enjoyed, the pCARS Community wishes you all a Happy Easter.

Hi again, not sure this time where to start with to be honest.. so much has happened recently.

There has been a huge optimization been made to the Madness Engine by the developer Martin Griffiths in order to give a better performance and to kill some annoying bugs that have been haunting us for quite some time.
Physics have been improved as well in many of the cars currently available and it has been a blast to drive some of them.

Andy Tudor, the Creative Director behind Project CARS did an interview recently for NowGamer where he spoke about the Wii U version and from what I see around the web it has caused a huge ruckus, I advise everyone interested into giving it a read.

The first cut of the SDK/API for Project CARS has also been released, this will allow many developers to create amazing apps to interact with Project CARS.
Theres also a lot of hints around the web about Project CARS and Oculus Rift support, recently Andy Tudor posted an intriguing sentence at his Twitter in response to a news post @ VirtualR.

We may or may not be looking forward to the @Oculus3D ;-) #VirtualR #WMDCars #SlightlyMadTeam

Two new cars coming soon to Project CARS, the 2012 Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution X FQ-400 & the Ford Racing Mustang BOSS 302R1, both in a very early stage of development are going to be introduced within the project in order to test their physics, so there wont be any pictures of it yet to be shown for now, further ahead when they are more complete in terms of visuals you will surely start seeing images/videos of them around the web.

To end this up and since there hasnt been any images to show I leave you with a new trailer by our Community member Plm5.

http://vimeo.com/62318166

You can also check the newest gallery @ the official website have fun!

Hey there folks, another update with some great news.
You read on my latest update that the RUF RGT-8 was announced and Ive shown you some pics that the developers shared with us, well now I can show you pics taken by myself ingame showing the car in its full glory, you can check them below.




Theres also some extra good news, out of nowhere the developers presented us with another BMW, this time the BMW M3 E92 GT4 and even tho its not a full detailed version like the RUF RGT-8 it still looks stunning, still in a early stage of development.




Both vehicles will be available in the next build coming out Friday!

Martin Griffiths, one of the Render Coders behind the Madness Engine also been working his butt off these past weeks with a huge amount of bug fixes and new features to increase the quality even further. If you think this game already looks good, the next incoming features will just blow your mind!

Thats all for now, hope you guys enjoyed!

Heres a more recent update on Project CARS, i will start by showing one of the Grid Girls that will be available ingame!
Beware those with heart condition or that recently took Viagra, what you are about to see may cause undesired effects!


This is one of the variations (work in progress), there are others planned with different outfits/faces.

Another thing that may cause some funny feelings down there is the recent car announcement, the RUF RGT-8.
You may think the announcement isnt that exciting, you already knew it was coming, but what if you could see some images of the car in-game? Oh yeah!!



Yes its not a Porsche we all know that, but it is a sexy beast and look at DAT ASS :cool:, even as a very early preview of the car it looks amazing and its hoped to come to a build in the next weeks.

Besides these 2 great news theres another one for all the French car lovers out there, the Pirault Mega RS, similar to a Renault Megane III RS Cup this baby has been brought in-game to give the Focus RS some hard time and I must say its a really nifty car to drive. Slower in the straights than the RS but when you get into a corner you will just be gaining so much it wont matter how fast the Focus RS goes! (unless you are in a oval!)

More images available here

The fog effect also got some work done recently with the addition of a mist effect that looks absolutely brilliant and turns the whole experience much more immersive, you can check them below.

Do you have the guts to try and drive in these conditions?

The physics was another department that also suffered some changes recently with the addition of the flexible tire carcasses, we are starting to notice deformation on the tires and a different reaction in terms of grip depending on the compound used, theres a lot of progress in this area with multiple tires currently available for different cars but not quite finished!  The feedback from the community and our resident consultants (Nicolas Hamilton and Ben Collins) has helped the developers to deliver a lot of fixes and improvements to turn this game into something that cant be explained any longer by just using words or images.

Another great addition was the introduction of a built-in Downsampling method, delivering the same quality as the former AA methods like MSAA4x and 8x but with a better performance, theres still some edges that need refinement but the developers are on the right track, you will notice in the next community (coming next week) gallery for sure the difference it makes.

Thats all for now, hope you guys have enjoyed this update!

Project CARS as the name says is a Community Assisted Racing Simulator being developed by Slightly Mad Studios the developers behind the Need for Speed: Shift and Shift 2 but without EA backing them up this time.

The developers have a long history in the racing simulator world having worked on some of the most fabulous games of the past years, GTL, GTR Series, Need for Speed Shift Series, PGR and many more, so they decided that this was the time to make something that would be the game to beat in the next years in every way, visuals, gameplay and quality.

 

What does Community Assisted Racing Simulator means?

 For a long time unfortunately we have been used to be in the dark when theres a game in development, we cant comment, give opinions or receive a feedback from the developers about our ideas and thoughts on the game until its too late and the game is out. And when we request for support or give our opinion, they will give none because the big company behind them wants them to make another bad quality game quickly and completly ignore the communities.

With Project CARS this is different, they want you to participate, you are essential to the game development, your constructive ideas are welcomed. For example, if you live near some important race tracks they may even ask for your help to get reference images or if you have a car that is ingame they may ask you for input on how it looks or feels in comparison with reality, they care about your opinion and your suggestions.

This is something that may seem a dream or exagerated but it isnt, there has been alot of changes made into the game that only happened because the community said so, members constantly test the game and give feedback in order to improve the game and the reason why this is possible it's because the community is the one funding the game, we support the developers and in return they give us constant feedback about the game progress and show that our opinion matters, we are the "big company" behind them and we are the final users!

 

What will it be the plan behind the game ?

The concept they have is the following:

PROJECT CARS represents THE ULTIMATE DRIVER JOURNEY...

FRANCHISE MODE allows you to carve out a personalized career starting in  the Karting world and then progressing on to whichever motorsport  specialization you prefer including Rally, Touring Cars, Open-Wheel, GT,  Le Mans, and many more!

Play CO-OP with a friend as Driver/Co-Driver

FULL TEAM MANAGEMENT... Have a large number of friends? Create, manage, and compete together!

Experience the excitement of PIT STOPS like you've never seen before!

Revolutionary PIT-2-CAR RADIO gives you the strategic advantage

DYNAMIC Time Of Day & Localized Weather make every race unique and challenging

10+ GAME MODES covering every form of motorsport

CLOUD-BASED SOCIAL NETWORK allows you to connect with friends, compare  times & scores, compete and challenge each other, and share content

USER-GENERATED CONTENT - Create your own liveries, decals, tuning  setups, and even events! Then share them with the world - either for  free, in-game credits or even real money!

PUSHING TO THE LIMITS - Advanced physics, lighting, and AI

PROJECT CARS is due for release on the following platforms...

Wii U // PC // PlayStation 3 // Xbox 360

Heres some screenshots to showcase the game (all taken ingame using the freecam)

You can find more images at the Project CARS Galleries that are posted in a weekly basis at the official page (link below)

Videos/Trailers: (made by the community)

Jonz Videos: http://vimeo.com/user8771969
Halcyon Videos: http://vimeo.com/user798235
plm5 Videos: http://vimeo.com/user11489620

Links:

Project Cars: http://www.wmdportal.com/projects/cars/

World of Mass Development: http://www.wmdportal.com