Project CARS 2 in its vanilla form already boasts an impressive lineup of cars from road cars to different disciplines of motorsport. But sometimes you simply just want more options, or it doesn't have your favourite car like this favourite of mine, the Nissan Nismo GTR-LM:



Hence why some people with big brain trying to figure out how to add more cars inside the game. These car mods already exists pretty much not too long after the game comes out because Project CARS 2 still use the Madness Engine that comes from the days of Need for Speed: Shift. While there are similarities between file structure in Shift all the way to PC2, it is still an entirely different beast inside with lots of elements added each game.

Mind you that Madness Engine in general is notoriously harder to mod than let's say Assetto Corsa and RFactor's engine, so there's less modders in general when compared to the two game. Which means, there's less car selection as well. Fear not, it's quite easy to install car mods inside the game!

This guide intends to provide the steps and preview on how to install Car Mods in Project CARS 2. In the Prerequisites section you could find what you need to download. I have included a written instruction, or you could jump the index and watch the video if you prefer so.

There are three things to download before installing Car Mods in Project CARS 2:

• Mod Enabler
  This is a program that is used to enable/apply your mod in game. There are many mod enablers available, but in this guide we will use Jonesoft's Generic Mod Enabler (JSGME) which you can find on Racedepartment here:
  JSGME[www.racedepartment.com]
  
  
• Bootfiles
  Bootfiles are collection of files inside a folder that are needed for the game to boot properly. Bootfiles for Project CARS 2 could be downloaded on Project Cars Modding Team Website. Clicking at the bootfiles icon on the page would lead you to the download link for the bootfiles
  BOOTFILES[kaosmods.weebly.com]
  
  
• The Cars!
  Obviously it's not a Car Mods without the cars itself :) Currently you can find Car Mods for Project CARS 2 in these places:
  
  KAOS Modding Team[kaosmods.weebly.com]
  
  
  Inmotion Revolution LMP Electric by Latapi of KAOS Modding Team
  
  Formed by RacerX, KAOS modding team is at the forefront of Project CARS 2 modding these days. KAOS mostly fielded their library with diverse motorsport related cars, but they do have collections of road cars to enjoy as well. Sometimes, they went chaotic (which is why they named it like that) and release quirky stuff like a cop car. Alongside their growing list of car mods, they also have Physics and Sound Enhancement that you can check out on their website.
  
  Project Cars Modding Team[projectcarsmoddingteam.weebly.com]
  
  
  Mazda RX-7 FC3S & Toyota AE86 GTS by Didouc of Project Cars Modding Team
  
  Created by JDougNY and GvSE, the Project Cars Modding Team is the pioneer of Project CARS modding scene from the very first Project CARS. Their mod cars mainly focused on road and tuned cars. Nowadays the team concentrated their efforts on bringing cars to AMS2 instead, but you can find their work on Project CARS 2 over their website.
  
  VRC Modding Team[vrc-modding-team.net]
  
  
  Pavey Longhood S based off Panoz LMP1 by VRC Modding Team
  
  Virtual Racing Cars is a household modding team in Assetto Corsa, providing high quality mod cars built from scratch. At the time of writing, they have 3 cars for Project CARS 2. You have to pay to get access to their mods, but their quality is exceptional.

Once you have everything set up, it's finally time to install the car mods! Here are the steps for a typical Car Mods in Project CARS 2:


On default the game should be in \SteamLibrary\steamapps\common\Project CARS 2







\SteamLibrary\steamapps\common\Project CARS 2\MODS

For this example, the cars involved will be the Alpina B6 GT3, Aussie Racing Camaro and Sprintrace Sprintcar.


Open the Readme section of your car, in this example the Alpina B6 GT3. Copy the "vehicles\alpina_b6_gt3.crd" line.

Now Open the folders again and now head over to the Bootfiles folders. Inside it, go to the vehicles folder (\SteamLibrary\steamapps\common\Project CARS 2\MODS\_Bootfiles for PC2 V7.0.0.0 (Activate After Cars)\vehicles). Scroll down until the bottom and you will find the vehiclelist.lst.



Now open the vehiclelist.lst using notepad and paste the lines you copied towards the vehiclelist.lst



This step is important for Project CARS 2 to add your Car Mods to its lists of cars. If you skip this step your car wouldn't appear as an option to choose in-game.

Don't forget to save the vehiclelist file, and it is recommended if you also make a backup of the original!


Again, similar the previous step, we need to copy another block of text inside the readme, but this time to the driveline file. Copy these lines

RECORD RWD_GT3_23 l_driveline
name "alp_b6_gt3"
contents RWD_MODERN_SEQUENTIAL
dl:minhz 3000

Now Open the folders again and now head over to the Bootfiles folders. Inside it, go to the driveline folder under the physics folder inside the Bootfiles (\SteamLibrary\steamapps\common\Project CARS 2\MODS\_Bootfiles for PC2 V7.0.0.0 (Activate After Cars)\physics\driveline).



Now Open the Driveline.rg using notepad and paste the lines.



This step is important for Project CARS 2 to register the drivetrain model that your car uses. Some special cars needs its drivetrain to be built to a new model like the Nissan GTR-LM which uses LMP1 but an FWD (which such model doesn't exist in game). Please refer to the readme section of your car regarding the lines that you should copy and paste because this might vary.

Another common error that might occur is if another mod uses similar identifier to record its driveline. On the Alpina B6 GT3 example, it uses RWD_GT3_23 as an identifier. if another mod uses RWD_GT3_23 as well, then the game would crash. The simple fix to this issue is to rename one of them with a different identifier, like RWD_GT3_23A.

Don't forget to save the Driveline file, and it is recommended if you also make a backup of the original!


Now head over and launch the JSGME.exe located on the \SteamLibrary\steamapps\common\Project CARS 2



You'll see that the car folders alongside the bootfiles should be present in the Available Mods section. Select whichever cars you want to activate in-game, by selecting the car name and press the > on JSGME. You can activate multiple cars, doing it one-by-one.



You might notice that these kinds of warning might appear, but it's safe to simply press yes. These are just JSGME warning you that some files had been altered by previous mods. Just say yes!



After all the car, you have to activate the bootfiles as well. IMPORTANT: activate the cars before the bootfiles otherwise your car won't register in game. If you forgot to activate bootfiles at all your car won't register too.

To deactivate any item one-by-one simply press the < option, and to deactivate all mods you can press the << option on JSGME


After everything is done, now it's time to close JSGME and time to check your car out in-game. Everything should be alright and you can now play Car Mods in Project CARS 2. Congratulations!

Look at this shiny new friends for the Ginetta GT5 available to select in-game:



And look at the Alpina just stopping by in Fuji!

Still confused about how to install the cars? Or simply just bored reading walls of text? Simply follow this video tutorial by PenguinActually on how to install Car Mods for Project CARS 2

A more comprehensive FAQ and answers regarding modding could be found within the FAQ Section on KAOS modding team website.[kaosmods.weebly.com]

- I couldn't find the car in game, the car doesn't load up or the game crashes when i select the car?
Are you sure you're doing it correctly and doesn't skip a step? You might've skipped something when installing the cars onto Project CARS 2. Please redo step 3-7 carefully, and i also listed possible errors that might occur, specifically on step 4 & 5 when copying over the lines to both the vehiclelist & driveline. If you think you did everything correctly but still those kind of things persists, then perhaps its best to contact the modder.

- Is it playable on multiplayer? or Career? and what about laptimes?
Provided everyone has the same mods, yes you could play multiplayer with these mods :) You can't use them on career or to break lap times though. You could technically score a lap time, but the server won't record any world record using mod cars.

- Some of these cars installation seems different and according to the readme I need another game to run my car?
Ohh you must've gotten your hands with those special case mods that require another game. You simply need to have that other game, and that doesn't mean you have to run that game alongside PC2 to play, it just checks the files if you have that other game. Just follow the instruction according to the readme. The video that i linked above has got you covered on what should you do if you are going to use such cars (Start at min 10:28).

- What about other mods in Project CARS 2?
Liveries are plentiful to find in Racedepartment[www.racedepartment.com], alongside countless shading packs and telemetry tools as well. You can find guides about FFB on both steam and Racedepartment too. I have also mentioned there are Sound and car Physics enhancement that you can find on the KAOS Modding Team website. At the time of writing there are no track mods present on Project CARS 2 and as for that AI who could blazes thru aquaplanes unlike us humans, nobody has an idea how to fix that too. yet.

Project CARS 2 is actually no longer in development, and you can't even buy them at the steam store for awhile now ever since they pulled the plug because of expired car licenses. That said, many people have the game, loves the game and still playing. It would be injustice to not knowing that there are still tons of excitement you could enjoy with these shiny new cars to explore.

This is my first guide and i hope it's helpful enough to get you introduced to the realms of Project CARS 2 modding. Feel free to leave something to discuss!

If you wanted to know more about this stuff, you could visit the Project CARS Modding Discord[discord.gg].