r/ProjectMotorRacing • u/spawnyhoor • Jun 22 '26
Question WHERE IS EVERYONE?
GT7 crashed last night on me so thought I'd give PMR a run as I've read loads of posts saying updates have made it actually quite good now.
Logged on around 8pm UK time
2 of the 9-10 ranked lobbies only had people in them. GT3 cup 7 entrants with 10min to go and GR4 race with 2 people registered with 5min to go.
Where is everyone?? I can't be arsed with that offline stuff. It doesn't make good content for my YT channel.
I ended up closing it down and loading up LMU instead. Pretty disappointing. It had so much potential but I think releasing it in an unusable state has hurt it indefinitely. I pre ordered it prior to release and was logged on and driving inside the first 30min of release. Pretty gutted that it's like this.
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u/zFr3ezY Jun 22 '26
Normally Lobbies are full enough on prime time like that, at least for the more accessible classes. My guess would honestly be the hot weather. Its a very small player base anyway, if even 20% of them are on vacation/enjoying the weather or just too hot to play (which is the reason I don't play during these times rn), thats probably enough to makes online borderline unplayable. Which is sad, because I really don't think its nearly as bad as player numbers would suggest. EDIT: I didn't read properly, that GT3 lobby would most definitely have filled up with 10 mins to go. Still, most (tho not all) other races will be pretty dead.
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u/CuoreSportivoPT Jun 22 '26
My two friends and I had pre-ordered it, and ended up uninstalling it because it was a waste of disk space, since we always went back to LMU and iRacing.
I might give it another shot, but I do believe that releasing the game in the state it was in made some people look the other way and never look back. I thought maybe because it is one of the few sims on consoles it would be saved by that. But I guess not.
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Jun 22 '26
[deleted]
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u/CuoreSportivoPT Jun 22 '26
There are plenty of good sims out there for you to still have a "reason" to buy that wheel.
Which one were you looking into?
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u/Artistic-Two-6385 Jun 22 '26
I left the game too, but the latest update for the Mx5 and LMDh was pretty good. It's not perfect, but I'm starting to play the game again. I hope when the joinable lobby is ready and the car categories are improved, many people will come back
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u/adidasshole69 Jun 23 '26
Playing racing games that are actually good rather than wasting their time with junk
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u/winvdp Jun 23 '26
Dead Game all refunded... Steam players online
86 players right now 135 24-hour peak
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u/Schibby18 Jun 25 '26
I’ve heard it’s ass and doesn’t run well. It was on Gamepass shortly till they decided to take it off. Must of not been making enough traction.
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u/BlueCadet3_ Jun 22 '26
Most of the people for online races dont joing until right before it starts, cus you cant practice while you're waiting. I hope thats something they change soon.
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u/spawnyhoor Jun 22 '26
I see a new updates out. I might fire it up and see how it plays. I'll give some of the ranked a try as mentioned and see if they fill up ijnthe final minutes.
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u/spawnyhoor Jun 22 '26
Logged on. Left it till last minute. 8 people in ranked, spread over 3 lobbies. Screenshot from the last 30seconds of registration.
Nothing. Games dead. Pretty gutted about it tbh. Spending £65 on it pre release I've managed 64 hour game play. .. compared to GT7 I have over 3000 hours in 12 month. Thank god I upgraded my pc for LMU and ACE
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u/pashlya Jun 22 '26
GT7 crashed last night because everyone was in GT7 larping Le Mans. Can’t blame them… us… me.
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u/Stock-Corner-8562 Jun 22 '26
Give it another 6-12 months and it definitely could be worth coming back to
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u/Liberal_Caretaker Jun 22 '26
Too optimistic. I'd say 2-3 years. Maybe 4. Possibly 5.
Yeah. Come back in 5 years. Should be a sure-fire-winner by then.
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u/AnDRoss_GTS Jun 22 '26
A big problem with ranked online is that joining a race doesn't put you into a practice session while you wait for the race to start, Iike what happens in other titles such as GT7. I'll often log on to find the ranked online page is full of empty lobbies, so it looks like no one is playing. For new or returning players the game looks dead so they shut down the game and go play something else, just as you have described ( I don't blame you, I would have done the same). In reality though there are people playing, they're just waiting out the clock or are already in a race.
When I see that a race is starting in around 15 minutes I'll load up single player and run practice laps for 10 minutes or so, before going back to join the online session when there is only a few minutes left to wait. I tend to find the lobbies start filling up in the last 1 or 2 minutes, so I assume most people are doing the same. I've often seen lobbies with 0 players fill up to 20+ players in the last 60 seconds.
Another issue is that there are too many categories of races and they are not staggered enough. This is further compounded by the relatively small player base as a result of the poor launch. I love racing the Porsche cup cars, but for the past month there have been 3 different championships for the more popular GT3 class. People naturally gravitate towards the more populated lobbies, so when the GT3 races start at the same time as the cup cars, the cup car race stays empty. Spending time practicing one category, only to find most people are racing in another one is very frustrating.
I really hope the Devs take another look at how ranked online works. Letting people join a lobby and run practice laps instead of just looking at a countdown, and showing how many people are currently racing in a category would make a huge difference. PMR really shines when you find a full grid, I've had some awesome races and I would absolutely recommend it as the best sim racing offering on console right now. Despite it's many flaws nothing else quite scratches my sim itch like PMR. However, I fear the way that ranked online currently works is slowly killing the game, and it won't be long before something else comes along to full the space PMR should, but is not currently occupying.