The first OFFICIAL trailer has been released for Project CARS 2! The next step forward in Slightly Mad Studios’ racing series has shown off quite a few new details!

The trailer was actually first shown two weeks ago, at a Bandai Namco press event in San Francisco, which I was fortunate enough to attend, via CXC Simulations. The trailer, and some extra details, were brought to the attention of the attendees of the event, and it’s pretty cool what they have!

First off, I’ll talk about what they showed off in the trailer. While the leaked trailer and teaser screenshots focused on the weather elements of the game, this trailer looked to focus on more of the racing. We saw the Acura NSX GT3, which is a new addition to the series. We’ve also seen the focus on ice racing, with the Mercedes-Benz C63 AMG sliding around in winter conditions. One thing that is interesting, that we DON’T see, is the Mini Countryman, which was confirmed earlier as a Rally/Rallycross car.

Now, lets take a look at some of what WASN’T featured in the trailer!

As it has been clear in some previews, weather is a main focus, and SMS is looking to show how it can affect the track conditions. They have coined the term “LiveTrack 3.0” as their “Dynamic Track” simulation. They are claiming that LiveTrack is the most advanced weather/track simulation, and it will dynamically affect the conditions. When it’s raining, the water will pool, and actually flow towards the gutter. I tested this, and it actually works! If you stop your car over the gutter, the water will puddle around your tire too! If you drive off the track in the rain, you will also bring mud onto the track, so there’s that extra element too.

Project CARS 2 is also looking to greatly expand into the E-Sports segment. At their presentation, Slightly Mad Studios claimed that Project CARS is one of the top racing E-Sport titles available, especially in Europe. They said they are looking to have a lot of league functionality available IN the title, including the ability to form custom online championships.

Project CARS is confirmed to have over 170 cars and over 60 tracks to race on. One remarkable fact that Stephen Viljoan (Game Director at SMS) stated is that all of the new tracks in the game will be laser-scanned. I also talked a little with Stephen, and he also mentioned that they also went back and scanned a lot of the old tracks that were NOT laser-scanned. They mentioned that the Nurburgring Nordschleife is 100% laser-scanned now, which means we have another version of the track scanned to millimeter accuracy!

Ian Bell has mentioned on the GTPlanet Forums that PCARS 2 is also using a drone-based scanning method to scan some circuits, so it will be interesting to see how that compares to the more traditional scanning as well.

No release date was mentioned for Project CARS 2 at the event, with the “Late 2017″ window being stated. However, it sounds like we may be seeing Project CARS 2 around the Fall, maybe September.

There was a lot of good information at the event. What are your thoughts? Let us know!

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