Project Motor Racing Update 1.5.0.3 Adds Radar System, Tweaks to AI, Penalty System and More

Following up on its most recent update, Straight4 Studios has released Project Motor Racing patch 1.5.0.3 today. The update introduces the Radar System and includes a round of improvements touching AI behavior, online features and updates to the penalty system and more.

The new Radar System helps improve awareness on track by showing where opponents are positioned around your car, making it easier to judge close racing situations. Like the rest of the HUD, it can be moved and adjusted using the HUD editor.

Track limits have also been reworked with improvements made to the penalty detection system across all circuits. Players will now receive clearer and quicker notifications when exceeding track limits or gaining an unfair advantage. Check out the full list of changes in the patch notes below.

NEW FEATURE

• Added a Radar System functionality that can be customised in the HUD.

FIXES & IMPROVEMENTS

CAMERA & VISUAL SETTINGS

• The Field of View (FOV) setting has been moved to the Preferences page.
• FOV is now split into two global options: External Camera FOV and Cockpit Camera FOV.
• The per-car cockpit FOV option has been removed.
• LOD draw distance tweaks to improve performance.
• Virtual Rearview Mirror can now be repositioned in the HUD editor.

CAREER & PROGRESSION

• Players can no longer purchase vehicles that do not have an associated championship.
• Fixed various labelling and UI issues in career screens.

ONLINE – SOCIAL

• Social racing now follows the same registration flow as Ranked: Register → Choose Vehicle → Registered.

ONLINE – CUSTOM LOBBIES

• Lobby settings can now be edited from within the lobby.
• Removed ping display from the custom lobby browser.
• Fixed an issue where the lobby countdown would not start when a ready player became host.
• Lobbies are marked as Private if Friends Only is enabled or a password is set.
• Fixed an issue where players getting stuck loading into track when another user fails to load or gets stuck.
• Added an in-game message to notify players when servers are undergoing maintenance.

AI IMPROVEMENTS

• Improved AI behaviour when racing close to the player to reduce lockups and fallback behaviour.
• Added new AI tweakers for in-lap and out-lap behaviour, allowing overtakes.
• AI now allows overtakes by default during practice and qualifying sessions.
• Increased default AI buffer sizes based on community feedback.
• Exposed AI debug options and text windows for modding support.

STABILITY & PERFORMANCE

• Added missing initialisation and improved overall code robustness.
• Vehicle actor updates to support threaded True2Track processing, improving stability.
• Fixed a rare crash where True2Track could fail randomly during a frame.
• Integrated vehicle test library fixes addressing NaN-related issues.
• Fixed multiple crashes caused by null pointer access across physics, audio, HTTP, and threading systems.
• Improved thread safety in True2Track, addressing crash reports on PS5.
• Fixed an issue in command queue processing that could cause unintended fall-through.
• Added missing thread safety in several systems to prevent rare crashes.
• Improved thread safety with a read/write lock pool for the culling grid.
• Multiple engine fixes and performance improvements.

AUDIO

• Removed excessive tarmac roll rumble to reduce high-speed audio fatigue.
• Rebalanced collision audio.
• General audio stability improvements.

UI & MENUS

• Increased text field sizes to prevent text clipping.
• Added a Settings button to the main menu.
• Fixed labelling issues in menus and essential screens.
• Added the controller slider UI for brake and accelerator sensitivity, dead zones, and related controls.

VEHICLES

• Porsche 962C: Fixed banner UV mapping.
• Audi R8 GT3 EVO II: Corrected dashboard RPM light intensity.
• Updated all driver models to use a separate helmet mesh to support helmet visibility toggling.

TRACKS & PENALTY DETECTION

• All new off track and penalty system.
• Updated pit layouts, grids, and track boundaries where required.
• Improved track splines to enhance off-track and penalty detection across all circuits.

ENVIRONMENT & ART OPTIMISATIONS

• Vegetation optimisations to improve performance across tracks.
• Fixed tree normal maps and bush placement on various tracks.
• Extensive visual and performance improvements to San Marino, including:
• Pit entry fixes and visual cleanup
• Material, lighting, and LOD improvements
• Collision wall and barrier adjustments
• General LOD, clipping, and visual popping improvements.

INPUT & MISCELLANEOUS

• Input system updates and fixes.
• Fixed issues with some Logitech peripherals.
• Pressure calculation fixes.
• General polish and clean-up across systems.