Slightly Mad Studios today announced that Pirelli has joined the Project CARS franchise in a technical, promotional, and marketing partnership that brings both Pirelli’s motorsport and tire technology, as well as the North America’s GT-production premiere series, the Pirelli World Challenge, to Project CARS 2.
The Pirelli World Challenge will come with Project CARS 2’s release on September 22nd, bringing all the GT-class action from North America’s top GT car-based racing championship to the game.
Racing with Pirelli tires, the Pirelli World Challenge is North America’s premiere GT-production racing series that travels to numerous Project CARS 2-bound tracks such as Long Beach, Circuit Of The Americas, Road America, as well as Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca.
The Pirelli World Challenge will be playable in Project CARS 2’s in-game career mode featuring the actual GT3 cars along with their specific liveries.
The technical partnership with Pirelli tires deepens the authenticity that comes with Project CARS 2, gamescom’s Best Simulation Game winner for 2017. With Pirelli’s century-long involvement at the cutting-edge of motorsports and road-tire technology, the technical insights they have brought to the handling and feel of all 180-plus cars in Project CARS 2 has been enormous.
From carcass construction to tire-slip angle curves, from the way tires heat to the way they cut and wear through their rubber thermomechanics, Pirelli’s partnership with the Project CARS franchise means drivers will now get even closer to the real-world of motorsports.
“We have been working with Project CARS 2 for many months,” said Pirelli World Challenge President and CEO Greg Gill. “We believe that the opportunity for our Pirelli World Challenge fans to become fully immersed in their favorite cars and tracks experience will lead to new ventures that the fans and series can look forward to. We are excited for the introduction of the Project CARS2 game with our PWC cars in action.”
“Working alongside Slightly Mad Studios and seeing how their processes echo ours in many respects has been an interesting experience for us,” said Mario Isola, Pirelli Head of Car Racing. “Bringing our technical and sporting solutions to Project CARS 2 has been a unique challenge, and ensuring our tires in-game simulate our real-world tires was a key element in our technical relationship. Knowing Project CARS 2 drivers will feel the sporting technology that underpins Pirelli’s motorsport heritage is important to us.”
“Pirelli coming onboard during the development cycle of Project CARS 2 yielded instant results for us,” said Stephen Viljoen, Game Director on Project CARS2. “Comparing their data to ours using very similar processes meant we could get live comparisons, and could instantly see where our ‘in-game’ Pirelli tires were differing from the real tires. Matching their data to ours means we now have an incredibly accurate model of slip, grip, tear, heat, and dozens of other tire-related parameters, all of which will translate to even more authenticity for our drivers.”
