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Ladies and gentlemen, we just hit the AWESOME moment.

Is it an advanced version or an early version without any trees/objects?

Right now it’s just the road floating in nothingness, kind of like Monaco or Barthust were on their first release.

I haven’t seen any videos of it yet (looking forward to downloading tonight) but I think it will be a very bare version. A saw a description of how they’ve got good reference material but will need to check and double-check all camber and bumps throughout the course before really finalizing other things.

The EXTREMELY early version of Monaco released two weeks ago hasn’t stopped me from enjoying it any less, though. :)

Why SMS is developing new Nords? They can upgrade a solid version from Shift 2.

 They don’t have the rights from any asset of the Shift series.

Trying to download it now, probably going to take awhile.  I can’t wait to give the new track a try, it’s pretty cool seeing a track progress through different stages of development.  

It’s a first loft of the track. Which means just the road surface and barriers on either side.

hope they do sixties versions of monaco nords and silverstone Now that would be awsome

The Shift version of the mesh is gutted anyway. Hopefully this will be more akin to the Simbin version which included the entire landmass within the track.

If this is the most athentic version, I hope that also means they will include the multitude of paths and such along the side of the track, which are missing from the Simbin version. It certainly would make it feel more real and less “computer generated”.

Downloading now, I like the fact they have gone to a launcher/updater to make updating easy

So far at least, they don’t seem that interested in historical content,
sadly it seems more of a token gesture. At least, Rouen is horribly
inaccurate and far, far too wide (the back straight like a runway) and Monza seems too wide with loads of random wooden fences. That said,
these ones seem direct rips from the Shift 2 dlc (and the Test Drive: Ferrari) – i
would guess that the historic dlc falls under different rights so that
they can re-use it.

You could say that it’s work in progress but
these issues have been noted ages ago and i haven’t really seen anything
to state that they will work to improve them. I was hopeful when period
source footage was posted that they might work on it, but there wasn’t
even really any posts to acknowledge inaccuracies, and no real work to
correct this on the historic tracks appears to have been done since
their release.

I hope they will get around to it but so far my
impression is that historic tracks are a token gesture and accuracy is
seen as “good enough” rather than the kind of in-depth research you
would get from community made releases (the upcoming spa67 for GPL for
example).

In contrast, the historic tracks for rf2 really do seem
quite nicely made, with a lot of effort put into them, especially in
regards to feeling and historical accuracy. Compare pCars Monza to RF2 Monza for example.

 There are a lot of tracks which haven’t really been updated since including them in the game, not only historical ones.

As every week passes, so we seem to get more positive news from SMS. Eifelwald is, of course, the one many of us have waited for. The only minor disappointment is that this doesn’t appear to be a laser scanned track(?), which will definitely be a coup for the first developer that achieves that milestone. Nonetheless, the circuit modelling to date in PCars has been pretty impressive. Their version of Road America is superb, as one example. Spa is very good also and it will be interesting to see  how it updates in this week’s build. Already loads of fun to play around in, and providing we get some serious physics and AI tweaking down the road, this is going to be one of the best, and certainly the best looking, sims of all time.

Anyone else installed it and got no desktop icons or seperate DX11 version this time ?   Had to manually navigate to c:\program files(x86)WMD etc etc  to run the .exe

I cant tell for sure but I remember reading on the forums that historical versions of both Spa and Monaco where planned.

I believe I got the shortcut, but you can also start the game from the Launcher and choos dx11 version in the drop down menu and sign in straight there. I like that way :)

Pretty much no sims can afford to laser scan and develop the Nordschleife as it’s easily the most expensive to license and get laser scanned. The best we can do is use all the reference data and real world experience to hone it. I don’t enjoy a well made track any less because it’s not laser scanned. I DO enjoy more content due to saving money, though!

;)

The launcher has replaced them. As Jan says, you now just choose DX11 in the launcher.

It’ll also pass any command line parameters through to the game, so there’s no need for a direct shortcut to the game exe any more.

 I must be missing something.  I can see no launcher.

well at least it looks bumpy enough… but the corners… the angles, elevation and banking on many of them look so wrong, i don’t even know if that can be fixed without doing it all again from scratch.

if this is supposed to become the most authentic version they have a lot of work to do.

Love it! Now I have an excuse to drive pCARS exclusively (well, that and GSC2012). 

Of course, until the surroundings are rendered, it’s going to be the most surreal ‘ring experience there is.

 I see what you are saying. My concern mainly comes from the fact that when the issues with Rouen and Monza (historic) were pointed out in the forums, there was no real response or even acknowledgement of the issues from the developers.

A simple “we understand these concerns but don’t have time to look into it now” would have sufficed.
Lack of communication is the problem really, and with that, one can’t help but draw conclusions.

Hopefully something positive will happen though ! :)

What do you think is the best version of the track?

 Don’t let yourself fool by your eyes. All the trackside objects are missing which are a major factor in recognizing curves and elevations. I found it strange at first, too. But we have to wait until all objects are implemented.

Looks like GT5 will still have the best Norschleife

Got lots of people on the forum living near the nordschleife and driving there too.. shouldn’t be a problem getting it right :)

It’s an early build from gps data.. They’ll probably have to change every curve one by one from now.. 

Neither do I. I see a reference to it in the download page, but when I click on it I get a network error.

Edit: Never mind, it works now. You have to click on the large button to get it. 
the link is: http://download.wmdportal.com/wmd/pcars-patch/pCarsInstaller.exe

Ross Siggers asked – What do you think is the best version of the track?

A.

The one that is in Germany, lol

 Thanks Marco !

ISI laser scanned it for rFactor Pro, or at least they have a laser scanned version that they licensed from somewhere.
Unfortunately it’s too expensive to do it for a game.

They only seem to focus on a few tracks at a time. And it seems the historical tracks are behind tracks like Suzuka and Imola in terms of overall progress, in fact it seems they have hardly been touched since they were added, they were probably done ages ago for another project and were sitting in their asset library. 
So I’m sure they will get around to it.

You can’t expect the first draft to be perfect already, really.

ring 2007 2.2a by com8/team nordschleife for rfactor. it has 3 or 4 corners very wrong but the rest is pretty good. if you drive that a while you will feel very much at home at the real track.but of course markus is right. it depends very much on the angle and field of view how you perceive the track. but i’m pretty sure some corners like the one prior to bergwerk or kesselchen need to be worked on. other parts like the caroussel look very good though.i hope i can give it a try today, the patch downloader takes forever…

Just did a couple of laps. I wasn’t able to set any time because I found that in some parts of the track, the distance between the turn exit and the next turn is a lot shorter than what I am used to (Simbin version)  and invariably I got to the next turn way too hot and crashed against the barrier.

I don;t know if Simbin or pCARS has the correct measurements, but it would be nice if they both double checked or it’s going to be hard to go from one version to the other and keep up consistent lap times or just not crashing at all.

 It took me about 10 attempts to finally set a lap of 6:42:765 which is very slow. I quickly realized that I don’t know the track itself well at all. I thought I knew it well but without the buildings, landmarks and visual clues outside the track, I really get lost on the later portion of the track before the straight. I find myself slowing down to a virtual crawl before the last 15 turns before the straight because I don’t know which way to turn. I have probably driven this track (in sim racing) about 5 thousand laps but I get lost without the landmarks.

Download is faster if you use the Torrent. Then you just need to pop the file you downloaded in DocumentsCARSPatches and run the launcher.

Well, the same would apply for any real racer too. Landmarks are a very handy thing to have. Aim for the apex when you see a tree, start braking when you pass a post etc.

Even though we don’t stare at the scenery when setting a lap, our brains still take in the visual information.

GT5 is a bit of a mess as both a game and a sim, but the AMG Challenge at the Nordschleife is one of my very favourite sim experiences of all time. I really do think it’s the best and most enjoyable version of that track in any sim, even NKPro.

However if you could ignore all the silly stuff added to the track in Shift2, in the right car you could have a lot of satisfying fun there too. So there’s hope for the pCARS version.

The one annoying thing about thhe launcher is the need to type in your password every time, please make a tick box to remember it in the next release please!

 Just use the pCARS.exe and not the launcher

Finally. Nords is in.. Ive been lukewarm with CARS the last few months waiting for nords to finally make it. Great news!

I use the Pcars.exe you only need to use the launcher if there’s a new build available it will then download and install and install the said update at least thats the theory????????

My favorite track.  Hopefully they get the physics sorted soon and then I might be in ;)
They definitely have the content, and the eyecandy down, but that doesn’t mean anything to me until the physics are good.

Many people buy EA games and many people think Blizzard is the best game developer.
Better try it out yourself.

 Well, I wasted money on Shift, and I should have gone with my gut instinct, the videos looked arcadish and I wasted $ on it.  I still haven’t seen the level of physics on Pcars that I would like from the videos, and I have seen alot of video’s, so until I see some better ones I am holding off.  I am not just basing this off of what others say.  Physics imho come first, the rest makes it enjoyable and gives it longevity.

Shift looked arcade from the straight on, you couldn’t expect a NFS game to have realistic/sim-like physics. If you did, you were foolish/naive on doing so (no offense).

However, I agree that Shift games were a waste of cash not because they failed to be realistic, but because they failed to be fun. One of the worst AAA arcade racers i’ve ever played.

 Yea I had some time and money to blow at the time, and I thought it might have some redeeming qualities, which it didn’t.  Learned my lesson though.

The other project being, more than likely, ‘Gemini’. I presume the publishing agreement allows SMS to reuse its assets, which I would guess is where tracks like ‘Besos’ have come from.

Well bottom line the game is enjoyable to play while some may say arcade many others say simulation and as we all know there is more than 1 flavor of simulation and most of us have our favorite. No this may not be exactly like your favorite flavor of sim that’s preferential but believe me pCARS is a very well done piece of software that anyone can enjoy if they allow themselves to.

Well Targa Florio would be way more expensive to scan IMO.

OH GOD. The engine sound of Zonda R in this video is horrible. I hate it. This is why i don’t drive Zonda R in SHIFT 2. Please get rid of the whining sound!!!! I’m sick of hearing the noise!!!!

He is referring to there being an exclusive laser scan license, the only way to get scan data of the Ring is to buy it from the exclusive provider. Presumably for a very large sum.

 No landmarks and environment like you are used to. So of course there is a difference between driving the complete track or just following a simple track path.

Really I wish them the best, and I hope those changes do come, I don’t wish anyone bad.  It just seems if someone says its not sim enough that they get shut down quick and its defended, and I think many are afraid to say it honestly.  I would just like to see it head more in the sim direction, or maybe the “pro” mode where its full on sim no aids built in, and putting my opinion out there.  I hope its a hit, if so it means better stuff for us all.

All of the Zonda’s sounds are purely placeholders, SMS have some pretty good recordings they took of the car but the focus seems to be on the Huayra’s sounds first.

Is it just me but I’m getting frame rates round the 20-30 where as last build I’m around 40fps, any one else getting this or is it just the way I set up the graphics settings

the version in GT5 is horrible imo. some parts are so different from the real track that i dont even know where i am.

http://www.ps3attitude.com/new/2010/12/accurate-nurburgring-gt5/

Yeah, I agree.  The amazing thing is though that the devs of Shift 2 also stated that it was state of the art sim with realistic physics.  Time will tell.

What annoyed me the most was the Forza/GT5 bashing by some Shift 2 dev/producer near the game’s release. I remember one quote wich the dev said that GT5 had too many cars (wich is something I kinda agree on, especially regarding the unncessary standard vehicles) and that “Shift 2 will have the cars that matter”. 

Also, not sure if other guy or the same, said that the graphics from Forza/GT5 were “bland and dull”, something along those lines. For starters, I honestly prefer both games graphics (wich are good enough, especially GT5) over Shift 2 anyday, especially because Shift 2 runs terrible in consoles in comparison. And even so, for what they aimed Forza/GT succeeds and are actually fun games, unlike Shift 2.

 There are always aids build in like in most other sims. You can turn them off.

Can’t say how the final game will be, but at this stage looks like a pretty enjoyable physics model, I would have fun on this game (regardless of being sim/simcade/whatever). 

But Its hard to not be skpetical about SMS products.

the track is not even 5% complete and you already know that? damn, you must be a smart guy.