Let's design the ultimate racing simulation game

[John Hargreaves]

Ok, so it might or might not happen, but what if Mr Burns, CEO of EA says, "Right Smithers, we want to beat GT and Forza and have the ultimate racing game in our portfolio. Go away and make it so."
So EA have written a blank cheque and told us to go look at all the other games out there, and we are invited to submit our favourite details, large or small, into the design document.
Best driving physics is taken for granted, and we've already all got the things PC1-3 does well, so I'll get it started:

Weather from Microsoft Flight sim
Deformable barriers, realistic physics for cones and tyres (where it suits the track) from Wreckfest
Livery editor from Gran Turismo so you can make accurate replicas and share them
Busy pit lane and garage from F1 20XX
Detailed interactive cockpits as good as DCS World
Sounds better than ACC

Feel free to submit your favourite features from any game you choose. Please don't fill the thread with 'Meh I don't care about that' comments, go away and make your own 'Meh I don't care about that' thread

[Tank621]

Alright, let's have some fun

I'll take:

-The calendar-based career mode from Project Cars 1 (Full-length championships including invitational championships)

-Proper in-game economy system

-Have a proper team-building aspect to the game
-Trying to earn sponsorship deals
-Full team livery designer for cars
-Buying and Selling cars for your team
-Hiring and Firing teammates and engineers etc
-Partnerships with other teams (Say if I want to enter the Indy 500 but don't own an Indycar, I can approach Andretti for example and say 'you provide the car and expertise, we will provide the driver and sponsorship')

-Whole team system and economy should only be part of single-player and be completely optional, have a 'lite' career mode where all you are is a driver, and compete to get better contract options from better teams like in Project Cars 1

-Multiplayer should have custom lobbies
-and scheduled events but these will be in the form of a championship over a couple of months or so similar to iRacing

-Add short oval racing to lower steps of career ladder both European (Brisca maybe, but Hot Rods would be perfect) and American

Will probably think of more and add later (I know I thought of something and forgot it)

Basically I just want the most in depth career mode we've ever seen beyond anything else.

[Twinz]

I think scalability that doesn't break stuff or cause bugs would be a great foundation to build on.

The ability to pile-on with a lot of eye-candy will be great as long as people with lesser hardware get a useable "potato" mode as a starting point.

I know this is a touchy topic now, but I still think the idea of a hard-core sim with *selectable* arcade options could have the wider appeal SMS was going for with PC3. It probably has to be "baked in" early in the development process though.

I would like the starting point to be the most realistic driving experience attainable on normal hardware. If realism and hardware capabilities conflict too much, maybe use the latest consoles as the starting point and just don't offer it on older consoles. Or create a simplified spin-off for older consoles with a slightly different name to avoid confusion and more simplified realism. I know it's a big market to just pass by, and marketing the less-realistic version would be a minefield. But if older hardware is getting in the way of advancing realism, I hope SMS can find a way to work around the issue.

[Sum Dixon-Ear]

I know these are not from other games/franchises, but I'm posting a few features/improvements from Project CARS 3 that I would love to see retained in any future realease;

1) FFB and Fanatec rim/pedal haptics (brilliant in every vehicle without any adjusments needed)

2) Headphone audio mix (especially the distortion effects from kerbs etc)

3) Rivals mode (excellent addition which is really intense and helps improve driver skill)

4) Upgradable road cars

[BorisK]

- Official support of modding, and modding tools.
- more attention to the settings and options of real cars (for example, the ability to change traction control, ABS during a race)
- at least two levels of car settings (simple as "more speed" (remember rf1?) and advanced) and a _really_useful_ racing engineer
- the ability to change car settings during practice without returning to the garage, in the "pause" menu
- replay with common control (not only "fast, slow")

[John Hargreaves]

I know these are not from other games/franchises, but I'm posting a few features/improvements from Project CARS 3 that I would love to see retained in any future release;

Ooh yes, I like that idea, so that is officially allowed in the thread. Here's a couple more

I do like earning money after a race (rather than XP points actually)
I like the way you can restart a race in PC3 and then choose the AI difficulty rather than having to quit and reload.
I like how in PC2 you can scroll through a menu and drop off the bottom and it puts you back to the top, rolling scrolling, which was not kept in PC3
I miss the virtual mirror from PC2

[Sum Dixon-Ear]

Something I would love to see implemented;

Ability to use Fanatec's right side joystick (on console) for free look in cockpit view, as used in flight sims. This is only available for pad users with the left stick at the moment.

[Mahjik]

Monetary/Sponsor system. This would be used for career mode where crashes cost money. A big crash in practice could end the weekend if you don't have cash or spares to repair the car. Taking chances on that risky pass, could damage the car and cost repairs between race weekends.

Tire allotments for career mode. i.e. you can't just lock up and burn through tires like there is an unlimited supply for a race weekend.

[MDGourley]

All the above sound great

The Photo Mode in PC3 is great, but I would like to add the ability to use 'Solar Azimuth' and 'Solar Zenith' which Assetto Corsa has (last time I looked and used it), which can move the position of the Sun once a screen shot has been composed, so you can create different lighting in that one composed screen shot, even change to night time

The damage / demormation model of 'Wreckfest' / 'BeamNG' and the ability to 'Turn Off' for those who do not want it.

All the Cockpit Seat Movements...up / down / forward / back / pitch / FOV etc etc...PC2 was great in this area

[John Hargreaves]

Monetary/Sponsor system. This would be used for career mode where crashes cost money. A big crash in practice could end the weekend if you don't have cash or spares to repair the car. Taking chances on that risky pass, could damage the car and cost repairs between race weekends.

Tire allotments for career mode. i.e. you can't just lock up and burn through tires like there is an unlimited supply for a race weekend.

Some nice gameplay implications there, risk and reward.

Also, marshalls waving flags after the race and a guy with a chequered flag on the finish line, (ACC/GT Sport etc.)