Recently bought an ultrawide monitor so I've moved the sim racing back from my main couch gaming setup to my desktop. Didn't have storage yet for all my racing games so I just installed PCARS1 because it's small (like 19GB compared to 40 for most of the rest).

Played PCARS1 a bit, and the racing is actually really engaging. I haven't really touched PCARS1 much since getting PCARS2, but I was frustrated with PCARS2 because the AI feels like it's just driving a hard racing line and doesn't react to conditions or your behavior. In PCARS1 they seem to react, move out of the way on blue flag conditions, defend, swerve on accidents, etc. Also, I notice the AI never seems to spin out or slide off track in PCARS2 unless the player intentionally causes it (by bumping or whatever), but in PCARS1 they'll sometimes overshoot the apex depending on other cars nearby, brake late because someone's tailing close, and so on, and will slide off track, lose control, etc. If feels much more alive and engaging.

Granted, the racing simulation in terms of physics, tires, etc. is definitely better in PCARS2, but somehow racing the AI isn't nearly as engaging, regardless of what difficulty/aggression is set.