Project CARS – PC Patch 3.0 – Release Notes
LEADERBOARDS RESET
Please be aware that, as a result of the enhanced cut-track detection system included in Patch 3.0, all Time Trial leaderboards will be reset over the course of the next 12 hours. This is to clear out leaderboard times that were set under the old cut-track detection system where players could get away with driving off-track and gain time by doing so. The new system is far fairer and much more accurate. By resetting the leaderboards we remove all these 'contaminated' records and ensure that everyone has a fair shot at setting true and accurate Time Trial leaderboard entries.
New & Enhanced Feature Summary
* New – Friends Leaderboards – players can now toggle between viewing ‘ALL’ and ‘FRIENDS ONLY’ on the leaderboards screen.
* New – Multiplayer Spectate Mode – players can now choose to ‘Retire to Pit Box’ during a race, and then spectate the ongoing race.
* Enhanced MP vehicle grouping – online races now use real-world vehicle classes. This results in far better vehicle performance matching for online races.
* Enhanced Setup and Pit Strategy system – players are now provided with information regarding current and upcoming weather, remaining session duration, current track temperatures, and more.
* Enhanced HUD and Telemetry tyre info system – players can now see in real time which tyre compounds they are currently using, what each tyre’s pressure is, and how much each tyre is worn.
* Enhanced Cut Track detection system – the system used to detect cut tracks is now far more accurate and 'fair'.
* DLC Career Contract support – the game now supports the addition of career contracts for new DLC vehicles so that players can use applicable cars in their core career series.
* Enhanced Replay system – players can now access Photo Mode from within a replay, and can switch between cars during a replay.
* New – Force Feedback – implemented the ability via menu sliders for the user to manually tweak the menu spring strength, stationary / low speed spring strength, and overall steering gain.
* New – the Force Feedback Calibration screen now features a multiple force feedback profile selection system whereby the user can select a base FFB style that suits personal preference, and then tweak it further as desired.
* Enhanced Weather system – all vehicles are updated with new window rain effects, featuring dynamic rivulets, much more realistic looking water drops, and wiper blade trail effects.
Online
* New – Friends Leaderboards – players can now toggle between viewing ‘ALL’ and ‘FRIENDS ONLY’ on the leaderboards screen.
* New – Multiplayer Spectate Mode – players can now choose to ‘Retire to Pit Box’ during a race, and then spectate the ongoing race using the ‘Retire to pits’ and ‘Spectate’ options (note that this is currently only available on tracks that feature a pit lane).
* Enhanced vehicle grouping – online races now use real-world vehicle classes. This results in far better vehicle performance matching for online races.
* Implemented support for Leaderboards reset across all platforms.
* Added support for Multiplayer Quick Random to also join in-progress sessions
* Fixed an issue where the Drive button would remain permanently locked when joining an in-progress session.
* Fixed an issue where, when the player progressed from qualifying to the start of the race, the player’s car would sometimes begin moving without player, resulting in false jump-starts.
* Fixed an issue where using the ‘Amateur’ skill filter would at times not show any lobbies.
* Fixed the case where changing the time of day from daytime to night-time in a lobby failed to switch the skill level from NOVICE to AMATEUR.
Time Trial
* Fixed an issue where restarting a Time Trial session would not remove the ‘best of session’ ghost from before the restart.
* Force Time Trial weather on consoles to always be set to Light Cloud to match PC settings.
* Ghost split and lap times are now displayed on timings/pause screen.
* Updated the in-game timings board to provide a visible distinction between the ghosts and the player’s entries: all ghosts now have status set to ‘Ghost’, and the Session best ghost has DRIVER text set to ‘Session Best’
Pitting, Tuning, Setups, Strategy
* Enhanced Setup and Pit Strategy system:
- Players are now provided with information regarding current and upcoming weather, remaining session duration, and current track temperatures.
- In Setup, players can choose to apply different compounds to the front and rear sets. In Pit Strategy, players can now choose to change tyres symmetrically instead of configuring each wheel individually.
- The Setup and Pit Strategy screens will now display an estimation of how many laps the player can expect to run with the current fuel load, and updates in real time as the player adjusts the fuel slider.
- Players can now define pit strategies with less fuel than the initial fuel load. During a race, the fuel slider indicator will turn red to warn players when the strategy offers insufficient fuel for the remainder of the race.
* Enhanced HUD and Telemetry tyre info system:
- Players can now see in real time which tyre compounds they are currently using, what each tyre’s pressure is, and how much each tyre is worn. Each individual wheel’s tyre graphic will fade out from top to bottom to indicate the level of wear. The tyre temperature display on the HUD now uses a smooth colour gradient fade to more accurately indicate temperature changes and match the display on the Telemetry screen
* Fixed an issue where damaged headlights would not get repaired if the player had damage level set to ‘Visual Damage Only’.
* Fixed more cases where a vehicle’s default setup would not be correctly applied.
* Reworked the naming of several tyre compounds to make the names more indicative of their purpose, and to ensure that front and rear compound names match when set to the same compound.
* Restrict pit strategy tyre compound types to only those available for the current vehicle.
* Accessing Pit Strategy in single player during non-race sessions no longer pauses the game.
* Tweaks to AI pit logic to ensure they pit in proper mandatory window in races that feature a mandatory pitstop.
* Fixed an issue that at times caused a setup from one car to be applied to a different car.
* Ensure that the Default pitstop strategy is set to the Active one on each session start, to prevent issues with previously configured and now irrelevant strategies being active.
* Fixed an issue where, if you customized a setup that was automatically loaded from your saved setups, and then drive and return to pits, the customized setup would be lost and your setup will be reset to the previously saved setup.
* Fixed an issue in online races where the pit crew would ignore any changes made to the pit strategy once the player’s car was stationary in the pit box.
Physics & AI
* Improved AI rain speed realism when using treaded tyres in the wet.
* Fixed an issue where, if a player has steering assist on and fuel use set to real, when low on fuel, the steering assist will pull them into the pits as they go past
* Increase tyre wear for AI if driving wet tyres when track is drying or dry.
* Improved AI behaviour during crash recovery to further minimize the chances of AI cars getting stuck.
* Fixed an issue that would cause a car to leave the pits with no visible wheel attached after pitting to replace a lost wheel.
* Various tweaks and improvements to how AI responds to tyre wear in regards to pitting strategies.
* Fixed the issue with cold and current tyre pressure mismatches in pitstop strategy, as well as cold pressure not being correctly applied in the tyre system.
* Fixed an issue with the player vehicle rolling backwards after entering pre-race tuning.
* Fixed an issue where AI drivers would remain stuck in their pit boxes when using accelerated time.
Cut Track / Off Track System
* Enhanced Cut Track detection system – the system used to detect cut tracks is now far more accurate and 'fair'. Many tracks were reworked to address specific issues where the cut track detection was either too loose or too strict. Players will no longer receive warnings for driving off track in the grass and other surfaces when not actually gaining time by doing so. The new system provides for scalability in strictness across game modes, to match real life application. The rules enforcement gets progressively stricter from Free Practice to Race to Time Trial.
Career
* DLC Career Contract support – the game now supports the addition of career contracts for new DLC vehicles so that players can use applicable cars in their core career series.
* Added Career Contracts for core career sport DLC cars:
- GT3: Bentley Continental GT3
- LMP1: Audi R18 e-tron quattro
* Career Invitationals – corrected Russian translation in two Invitational unlock descriptions.
* Fixed an issue with pre-DLC save games not unlocking DLC career content.
Audio
* Fixed tyre skid sound when car is sitting against a kerb at zero speed.
* Tweaked the dirt surface sounds.
* Fixed an issue where there would sometimes be missing race audio in a subsequent race if there's an immediate quit at race start.