Project CARS Now Runs Great on Surface Pro 2!

A while back I did a video of Project CARS running on the Surface Pro 2, and it ran, but only barely, on on the least detailed track in the game. I always felt like I could get the game to run better... just wasn't in the mood to install such a large program on my tablet again... until now. :)

My first video this time around was on California Highway, at 1080p with 6 cars on the track, and it ran pretty good!I recorded this video with my iPhone.



Still, I wasn't fully satisfied. The frame rate seemed a little low, and from outside the car, the framerate dropped significantly. As I was making the above video, I remembered that running the game in 720p when I had my 560Ti greatly improved the performance, so why wouldn't that work now? Sadly, on the Surface Pro 2, it's not as simple as just dropping the resolution in game. The Surface tablets put a black border around the game when you do that. I looked online for a bit, and the best solution I found was to set the desktop resolution to 720p, and then launch the game at 720p. It's a bit of annoyance, but if you wanna play Project CARS on your tablet, it's worth it. You can also install beta drivers for the Intel HD card directly from Intel, but I didn't want to bother with that. Below is my first video on the Surface Pro 2 at 720p, with rain and lightning, running great. This video was also recorded with my iPhone 5S.



After this, I got ambitious. I asked myself, what if I plugged my Logitech G27 into the Surface Pro 2, and ran a full grid of cars? Would it work? A rather impractical question, as the whole point of the Surface Pro 2 is being mobile, something the G27 is not... but I still had to know. Setting things up so that you could see my G27 setup, and the Surface Pro 2 screen together wasn't easy, but I did it! The picture quality is terrible, and if you want to see whats going on in the race, you pretty much have to view in full screen, but for demonstration purposes, this video works pretty well. There were 43 cars on the track during this video, and the Surface Pro 2 handled it fantastically. No input lag, no FPS spikes, just a smooth, clean drive.


I was sad the game didn't run well enough to use FRAPS to record it... but wait, maybe it does? For my final Surface Pro 2 video, I decided to try recording a race with FRAPS, just to see how well it worked. The framerate does drop with FRAPS, but it's still manageable. For this race, the grid is full of 38 cars. The AI was turned to 25%, and the player's AI car was placed in the back of the pack, to overtake as many as possible. Again, the game runs awesome!



This will be my last video on the Surface Pro 2 for promotion of the game running on this platform... at least until the official release of the game. You may see more Surface Pro 2 video's of Project CARS popping up here and there though, as I'm traveling. I'll be in Miami for a week during Christmas break, so one or two might pop up then as well.

Hope you enjoyed this article as much as I did making it! I bought my Surface Pro 2 used from Amazon, you can find a link to it on the left, as well as a link to the G27 which I also bought there.

Automation Game - Your Automotive Engineering Simulator! - My Two Year Journey With The Development of This Game

I've been wanting to make a post about Automation for some time now. I'm not on the development team. Other than suggestions and my "Supercharged" funding of the game, I haven't really contributed much to it. This is simply the story of the journey I've had the privilege and opportunity to ride along with during the development of this rare gem of a game.

This is an innovative indy game that I discovered about 2 years ago, around Build 162, and immediately bought into! The game is still under under massive development, but is already offering supporters a huge amount of content to play with.

The game is being developed with what is essentially two betas. One, a closed beta that select supporters are occasionally invited into (for better or worse, I'm not a part of this group) and the open beta, which releases the most polished content updates to anyone who has pre-purchased the game.

Open beta updates, (other than major bug fixes) are slow, but consistent, and usually pretty significant. When I first supported the game, we only had a rough engine builder available to us. We could build I4 engines (which is available in the free demo) and V8's. The talk of the forums at the time was the impending turbo update. After what seemed like forever, it was finally released! And I made my first Automation YouTube video:



Four months after the release of the turbo's the initial body designer tool was made available. This was our first opportunity to flesh out a body for the engines we had so lovingly designed! This was when I created what went on to be my most popular Automation video yet, Building the Kard K-400.



This is when I started my fictional car company on the Automation forums, Kard Motor Works (or KMW). The company can be found at the link below:
http://automationgame.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=35&t=3257

I went on to design many more cars in the next few months, and published 4 more on YouTube, as well as some more engine designs. Then, approximately nine months from the release of build 1106, build 1323 was released. At this point, I cleared out my build thread, archived my old cars, and developed a new naming system for my model range. I was also able to go on to recreate one of my favorite cars ever, the BMW E30 325is! This car was recreated as accurately as possible with the tools available, and my skill at the time. I could do a better job now... and maybe sometime I will, but I'm still proud of this one. :)



I continued on to make many more cars, lots of them based on BMW design, and lots where I tried to develop my own design flair. About 4 months later, an update was released that added car design scenarios into the game, and I immediately started playing through all of them, and adding YouTube video's as I finished them. Also, the mid engined car platform became available! At first, it was a bit buggy, but after stabilization I was able to create some pretty neat mid engined vehicles, the pinnacle of which can be found below:



So, as you can see, it's been quite the journey! Build 162 was released in January, 2013, and now, as we are about to head into January 2015, the game has reached build 1418. Progress is moving along nicely. The business simulation module will be in place relatively soon, and for the next major update to the game, it will be released on Steam Early Access! This is one of the few early access games that I have no doubt will be finished. Though to be perfectly honest, I've already gotten my moneys worth out of it. Don't wait for it to be released on Steam when you can play it now though! The game is for sale on the official website, found below, and all pre-Steam supporters will get a Steam key after it's released there.

So check it out! There is no other game on the market that even remotely comes close to Automation. The last time a game like this was successfully created was in 1994 by Sierra, and was called Detroit. Although the game looks and feels ancient, I played it many times up until I discovered Automation. So glad to have found a worthy successor as the car company simulator!

http://www.automationgame.com/

Project CARS Build 859 - E30 M3 at California Highway with Actual Logitech G27 in Picture

I did a video similar to this for BeamNG.Drive, and is was pretty popular, so I decided to do the same thing for Project CARS. Not only do you have the standard driving view, but you can see me manipulating the wheel in real time on the second view. I recorded the second view with my iPhone 5S.



This video is a first attempt for me, picture-in-picture-in-picture! Not only do you have the standard driving view in the corner, but you can also see me manipulating the wheel in real time on the second view.

Project CARS Build 858 - Controlling Cars w/ Keyboard & Keyboard and Mouse

Someone on the Steam forums asked if this game had the ability to use the mouse for steering. I assumed so, but I didn't really know until now.

The answer is a resounding yes, the cars in the game can be controlled with the mouse! Though it's not easy, especially for me, I haven't tried to steer a car with a mouse since Need for Speed 3: Hot Pursuit in 1998. It took me about 10 practice laps to get around the track without spinning out. I used the Renault Clio RS Cup car because it's one of the easiest cars in the game, I highly doubt I could have achieved three clean laps with a Lotus 49.

Still though, if you're one of the few who still to play racing games with your mouse, then it is possible with this game. The only assists enabled are the ones that would be on the real-life counterpart of this car, plus auto-clutch, with manual shifting.



After making the keyboard/mouse video, I decided to make a video using just the keyboard for control. First, I must say, this is an utterly miserable way to play the game. You can get an XBox 360 controller w/ wireless PC receiver for $30-$60 brand new. While I recommend a good wheel (starting with the Logitech DFP) the X360 controller is the next best thing for the petrolhead on a budget. Personally, I am absolutely against using only the keyboard in this game... but there are some who insist on it, and, as someone who hasn't used the keyboard for steering in 10 years (Nascar Racing, 1994) I have proven that it is possible in Project CARS. The only assists I use are what would come on the real-life counterpart of this car, and auto-clutch with manual shifting.

Granted, it took me a few laps to get it right... and I highly doubt I could have done it with any of the RWD cars in the game, but as you can see, it clearly is possible. For those of you who are die-hard keyboard steering enthusiasts, I'm sure you would be better at it.

For the rest of you... at least use the mouse for steering, but for goodness sake, if you can't afford a real force feedback wheel, such as the DFP, or G27, the wired X360 controller costs less than half of what my mouse did.

BeamNG.Drive - '99 Crown Vic Police Cruiser at East Coast, USA - Logitech G27 Picture-in-Picture

This video was for a request on a Steam listing of this video:
http://youtu.be/bEA7rJuLwGQ

In this video I use the '99 Crown Vic mod to simulate responding to a police call on the map East Coast, USA.

I dubbed in a police siren, as well as police chatter from the game Need for Speed Most Wanted.

I also included a picture-in-picture view of myself manipulating the G27 to control the game.

Be sure to like the video, and subscribe!

Car List w/ All Car Showcases!

So, that thing I was working on with the showcases, I'm ready to reveal it! I have the main complete showcases video uploaded and also video's with all showcases from each of the manufacturers put together. I'm still going to publish all the single-car showcases as well for those what just want to see the showcase of a particular car, but for now you can check them all out here!




Here are the showcases broken up into individual manufacturers.

Stay Tuned!!

I've got a huge update on Project CARS showcases in the pipelines... stay tuned over the next couple of days to see what's coming! Nothing has been published yet, but watch my channel at:
https://www.youtube.com/user/Karrdeful/search?query=project+cars

To see new showcases as they are published.

Project CARS Stress Test - Running Full Fields w/ Full AI and Full Weather Effects

I wanted to run a stress test on the game to see how well it could handle the hardest settings all combined together. I must say, it did pretty good! The frame rate isn't idea, but it is playable, and the game still looks great. Check it out for yourself!

Computer Setup:

ASUS M5A99FX Pro R2 Motherboard

AMD FX-8150 Zambezi 8-Core 3.6 Ghz Processor

32GB G.SKILL Ripjaws Z DDR3 2300 RAM

Thermaltake 750W PSU

PNY GTX 770 OC2 4GB Video Card

MSI N560GTX-Ti 1GB Dedicated PhysX Card

Windows 8.1 64-bit OS

Project CARS - Graphics Level Comparison

In this video, I wanted to compare various graphics settings that people would commonly use to start optimizing the game for their PC. In the upper left hand corner, absolutely everything is turned off, or on minimum. Beside it to the right, I have turned on all the visual FX settings, but turned all the fidelity settings to medium. In the lower left hand corner, visual fidelity is on high, and on the bottom right corner, everything in the game is completely maxxed out. I used to play the game on this setting no problem, but recent patches have put a bit of a strain on my PC, so I switched to the settings you will find here:



Here I optimize my game settings so that I could get 60 FPS while running on ultra settings. Nearly everything is still on ultra, but I turned down my AA and texture mapping to get better FPS with minimal visual degradation. Lastly, I wanted to show a full screen video of everything either turned off, or at minimum settings, in the video below:


As you can see, the game actually still looks pretty good on minimum settings! This video is for all the nay-sayers that think the game can't run on less than an nVidia Titan, or that it will look terrible if everything isn't on ultra. Yes, I play the game on Ultra, and I love it, but if I could only play on minimum settings I'd still love it.


Computer Setup:
ASUS M5A99FX Pro R2 Motherboard
AMD FX-8150 Zambezi 8-Core 3.6 Ghz Processor
32GB G.SKILL Ripjaws Z DDR3 2300 RAM
Thermaltake 750W PSU
PNY GTX 770 OC2 4GB Video Card
MSI N560GTX-Ti 1GB Dedicated PhysX Card
Windows 8.1 64-bit OS

BeamNG.Drive - Logitech G27 Picture-in-Picture - Touring Small Island in the 4x4 Manual Pickup

I decided to blog about a different kind of driving game today, a rather unique game, with a funny name, BeamNG.drive! I see a lot of people asking about the Logitech G27 on the BeamNG forums, and how it works with this game, so I decided to show you first hand! I have a picture of my hands physically on the G27 as I drive around the island. I must say, it works great! As you can see at the beginning of the video, I'm in manual mode with automatic clutch. Since this video I figured out how to enable the clutch, and it makes it even better!

The steering ratio of the truck is quite large... but that's probably pretty accurate. The game handles INCREDIBLY well with the G27, faaaaaaar better than it does with my XBox 360 controller. I could never get a vehicle to go straight with the 360 controller, but with the G27 it's quite fun.

Anyone remember 1nsane, the old offroad game from Codemasters? With the G27, this game reminds me of that. I can't wait for them to further flesh out the game with missions and a campaign mode, it's gonna be awesome!

Assetto Corsa v1.0.4 - Running on a Surface Pro 2 Tablet!

In this video I wanted to show how well Assetto Corsa runs on the Surface Pro 2... and it runs pretty good! The power of this little tablet really is astounding.

The video was recorded with my iPhone 5s, so the sound and video quality isn't superb, but it's good enough for you to get the idea of what's going on.

As a side note, this is the first video I've created using the YouTube Video Editor (http://www.youtube.com/editor). It's not bad, for a basic editor. I was able to rotate the video, cut sections out, and put two video's together pretty seamlessly. It did take a while though, as a few of the steps required me to wait for YouTube to complete the step before I could move on. Overall though, I'd highly recommend it for someone who doesn't have commercial video editing software.

Project CARS - Zero Assists vs. All Assists - Side by Side Video Comparison

For this video I decided to compare no assists to all assists. Personally, I always drive with no assists, or real assists (with everything turned off) but decided I wanted to show people the difference between the two.

Many people seem to think Project CARS is an arcade game, or a simcade, but that's simply not the fact if you drive it as intended. Yes, the game does have a very dumbed down version of driving to make it accessible to everyone (I was actually quite surprised how easy the assists make everything) but when you turn them all off, it's a whole other ballgame.

I chose this track because I'm very familiar with it. I chose the car because I find the Caterhams to be the hardest cars in the game to drive with zero assists. If you brake too hard, you will wipe out, guaranteed. And that's exactly what I like to do... brake too hard at the last second. So it's quite a challenge without ABS. With all assists turned on, it might as well be a Civic Si. Driven by your grandmother.

So anyway, next time you think Project CARS doesn't look very realistic, just remember, not everyone drives with the pro settings. I'm no pro... but that's still how I choose to roll.

PS. The input monitor's were a nice touch, but they track the cars inputs, not the user inputs. So on the All Assists side, most of the time that it shows me modulating the gas or the brakes, I'm actually just holding the go pedal down to the floor. And of course, I'm never using the clutch, which the game shows. Kinda wish they only showed the user input, not the assists input.

Project CARS Delayed Until March

Well, I guess I should have read the WMD forums before making my post yesterday. Seems that Project CARS has been delayed again. This time until March 20th. So it's going to be an even better game now... in 5 months, instead of just one. Still might as well just pre-order and get it over with. ;)

https://twitter.com/projectcarsgame/status/523104472890101760

Don't Miss Out, Remember to Pre-Order Project CARS!

This is by far the best simulator ever made. Best graphics, best physics, best weather, best controls, best interface, you name it. There's a reason this game has been in development so long... it's to make it perfect. I became a backer quite a while ago, and I started actively participating in the development of the game around build 500, and it's been awesome to see the improvements made in the game. I recently uploaded a comparison of my first video of California Highway at Build 531, and currently at build 811. I remmeber when I used to think the game was amazing at build 531, but at build 811 it's so much better.

I can't recommend this game any more highly. This is the driving game I've always wished existed. I rememeber when night time driving was a huge deal, but this game has set the bar incredibly high with the fantastic weather options available. At the time of this review, not all the cars are finished, but the ones that are have impeccible physics and handling characteristics. Speaking of cars, the selection is fantastic. There are cars available all the way from a lowly 50cc kart to the 6800cc AMG Red Pig, and many cars even more powerful. Even better than the fantastic car list, is the remarkable track list! There are 44 tracks, with over 100 configurations, no game has ever beat that on release day!

But enough of my babbling... let the game speak for itself. You can find the complete car and track list at the bottom of these video's.













Complete Car List:


Complete Track List:



You can buy your own G27 from Amazon here:
http://amzn.to/1sfHy5v?

Purchase pCARS for PS4 or XBOne here:
http://amzn.to/1sMwUW8?

Project CARS - Complete Replay Camera Preview

In this video I thought it would be cool to do just a short lap, and show you all the replay cameras available. The drive was done during a thunderstorm to show how the different effects look in each view. As you can see, there is still a bug that doesn't show the windshield wipers during replays, and the instrument cluster lights aren't on when they should be, but this will be fixed before release.

The view order goes:
1. Drivers View
-- This is recorded while I'm driving, so its the view you get as the player of the game.

2. Interior View
--This view is from the center of the car, kind of looking over the drivers right shoulder.

3. Helmet View
--This is a favorite of many. It replicates the view from inside the helmet, , simulating the line of focus of the driver and looking towards the apex of corners.

4. Roof View
--A look from a roof mounted camera. A neat view not commonly seen on YouTube.

5. Chase View
--This is what most old-time racers are used to. This view one one of the most common views before cockpits were accurately rendered in the majority of racing games.

6. Spectator View
--This is my personal favorite for watching replays, primarily because I've already seen the inside of the car while driving, so I like to see the beauty of the car in motion after my race.

7. Front Bumper View
--This is the other most popular vintage racing view before cockpits were common. I think many people still use this view anyway.

8. Hood View
--This view is from a camera mounted on the hood of the car. Similar to front bumper camera, but higher, and with part of your view obstructed by the hood.

9. Cockpit (Drivers) View
--This is the same as the drivers view, only recorded from the replay. The next camera will be the drivers view (again) to show the differences between the actual driving view, and the replay view. The driving view has many more pieces of information on it, and the interior animations work properly.

10. Drivers View
--Again, this view is what the game looks like while I'm driving, it is not recorded form a replay, but while I'm actually turning my lap. I included this view again to show the contrast between the replay cockpit view, and the drivers cockpit view.

Racing is Life. Anything Before or After is Just Waiting

If you're a member of PKW Racing's Steam group, then you have seen this adage. This is for those of you that might wonder where that came from. I made this trailer from the movie, check it out!




Le Mans is one of the most accurate racing movies ever made. Historians say that this movie is an incredibly accurate portrayal of 24 Hours of Le Mans as it was at the time of filming. This movie was a pet project of McQueen’s, who was a serious racer himself, finishing 2nd in the 1970 12 Hours of Sebring. Mario Andretti beat him by only 23 second. Oh yeah, and McQueen’s left foot was in a cast at the time!

The Porsche 908/2 that McQueen campaigned in the 12 hours of Sebring was then entered into the 1970 24 Hours of Le Mans as a camera car for the movie. It actually finished 9th place overall, and 2nd place in the P3.0 class. Enzo Ferrari refused to provide the Ferrari 512’s used in the movie unless they won the race… you’ll have to see for yourself if he provided them or not. ;)

The 1970 24 Hours of Le Mans was significant not only because of this film, but also because it was the first race which used new pitwalls to protect the pit crews. It was also the first Le Mans ever where the drivers started the race inside the car, instead of using the drivers running start from previous years. McQueen had intended to drive in the 1970 24 Hours of Le Mans himself, but the backers to his film threatened to drop their support if he did, due to the inherent risks of the race. So, faced with the option of driving for 24 hours in the race, or an entire summer while filming the movie, he chose the movie.

Though Le Mans wasn’t successful in the box office, it has become a cult classic. The movie is like a car lovers wet dream. It’s not until 36 minutes into the movie that Steve McQueen speaks his first line. The movie isn’t about storyline, or plot, or sex, or violence. It’s about racing, pure and simple. The American audience didn’t understand this when it was released, but since then it has become a must-see for every serious gearhead. So check it out now!

Buy the Le Mans DVD Today!
http://amzn.to/1ndEp5Y

Project CARS Build 825 - SuperKart at Nordschleife - pCARS Glued to the Road? No Way!

This video is my official rebuttal to all the comments that vehicles in Project CARS are essentially glued to the road. Watch this video, and you will clearly see that they are not! Many times my little kart with no suspension was ready to fly off the road and into the dirt, or wall, or a tree....

Of course this is an extreme example, but sometimes extreme accusations require extreme responses to counter the prejudice.

Nobody said that Ayrton Senna or Michael Schumacher's driving was unrealistic because their cars stuck to the road. Granted, virtually nobody with pCARS is that good, but why is it, that when people who own Project CARS make tens if not hundreds of laps around a circuit to make a good looking video, you claim it's because the game is too easy, and assume it can't possibly have anything to do with the driver? This 9 minute video took me over an hour to make. I had to adjust my driving in several ways to get that kart around the track without wrecking. You don't see all the times I wrecked... you only see the final product. And in the case of this final product, I think it's a lot more apparent that it wasn't an easy ride, compared to cars with a full suspension where you can't tell what's going on underneath the drivers view.

It's Race Night, and I'm Ready!!

I got a new Logitech G27, so lets roll!! It dropped to $205 on Amazon, so I had to grab it, and good thing I did! It's already jumped back up to $229.99, which is still a great price, but I like mine better. Here's a video of unboxing the G27.

I had bought one before, but it was used (VERY used) and the calibrating gear in it was bad. I should have returned it, but I tried to fix it, and it didn't work out. Don't buy a used G27, unless you're personal friends with the person you buy it from. The wheels online are usually sold after the calibration wheel inside is broken, that's why they're cheat. The wheel works... but will lose calibration after anywhere from 2 hours to 2 minutes, depending on how bad it is.

I had been using my Driving Force Pro with my old G27 pedals, and it was good, but I really missed the clutch and shifter. I saw that these were down to $205 on Amazon, and decided to grab it! I'll be selling my modified DFP now, and the parts from my old wheel to help fund the new one.

As I said in the video, the price on these is VERY volatile. This is still one of the better prices I've seen it at though, so I'd still recommend jumping on it before they raise the price again! The price I see most often is $240 or higher.

You can buy your own G27 from Amazon here:
http://amzn.to/1sfHy5v

Assetto Corsa v0.22 vs Project CARS Build 818

Assetto Corsa and Project CARS are the two big dogs in racing simulation right now. For the most part, people strongly prefer one other, and few people meet in the middle. I prefer Project CARS, and these video's show a big part of the reason why. The graphics in pCARS are vastly superior to AC. The car also responds much better in pCARS, you have to deal with bumps in the track more realistically, and the cars handle much better. You really can't tell why pCARS is better just from the video's, but it's a start, so here you go!



I think this might be the first comparison between Assetto Corsa and Project CARS outside spectator cameras. It's not hard to see why this isn't as popular, of course the camera's are not identical in the two games, and it is very hard to synchronize the cars. Still, I think it's an important comparison, as it shows off the car models, and much more of the world. Both games have imperfections in the spectator mode, but again, it's clear to see the extra amount of effort put into Project CARS graphics.




Assetto Corsa isn't a bad game... especially if you want to modify it. Some of the mods, such as the Shelby Cobra, are absolutely fantastic. The graphics are good, and the game UI is incredibly modifiable.

But Project CARS, wow! There is no in-game support for mods at all, but the negatives end there. The cars handling is tuned to perfection, the graphics are cutting edge, it is absolutely the best looking racing game ever made.

I didn't show the weather component in this video, but you can find many videos I have uploaded of various weather settings, and they are fantastic. This option alone is a huge reason to own pCARS, even if you already have AC.

The online component is also turning out pretty good. Nothing groundbreaking... other than the fact that the game latency is amazing, even if you're playing with people all across the world. I play the game on the east coast, with people from California and the UK, and everyones latency is excellent.

Of course the primary concern of this video is the graphical and audio differences though, and the winner is clear, Assetto Corsa is nice, Project CARS is amazing. :)

The Next Event is Coming Up!

The next group event is coming upon us quickly! Officially, we will be playing RACE 07, unless everyone who comes has Project CARS, in which case we will be racing that, which is exactly what happened last week! Check out the highlights from some of our previous events to see what to expect!

Welcome to the PKW Racing Blog!

Welcome to the PKW Racing blog!

Here you will find information about all things related to cars, but especially simulation racing, particularly with Project CARS. PKW Racing is a group of dedicated racing fans, who are excited to play Project CARS both now during beta, and after its release. We play other games as well though, currently RACE 07 tournaments are open to everyone, as it is a cheap, and well rounded simulator from yesteryear, with countless track modifications and a great collection of classic cars.

In addition to PKW Racing information, there will also be information on other racing games, movies, actual events... anything car related that catches our attention! So hope you enjoy this blog, and join our group to run with us in game!

http://steamcommunity.com/groups/pkwracing