The complete guide · 5 min read
The Complete Guide to Project CARS 2 Server Hosting
A practical guide for league organisers: why a hosted lobby still makes sense for a game no longer on sale, how to plan a grid, how race setup works on the dedicated server, and how to keep race nights running smoothly.
By Matthew Griffin, Owner, Gaming DeluxePublished · Updated
In this guide
- Why Leagues Still Host Project CARS 2
- Planning Your Grid Size
- How Race Setup Works on the Dedicated Server
- Running a League Season Step by Step
- Keeping the Racing Fair
- Fixing Common Connection Problems
- Hosted Server or Your Own PC?
- What to Compare Before You Rent a Project CARS 2 Server
- Project CARS 2 Server Glossary
- Project CARS 2 Server Help
Why Leagues Still Host Project CARS 2
Project CARS 2 arrived on 21 September 2017 with more than 180 road and race cars, loose surface racing on ice, dirt and mud, rallycross, IndyCar and oval events, and dynamic weather across a full 24-hour cycle. Many racing clubs built whole seasons around it, and some never moved on. The cars they know, the circuits they have learned and the setups they have refined are reasons enough to keep racing.
The game's place in the market has changed, though. Its last Steam patch, Update 1.7.1.1, came out in December 2018, and the Steam store page now states that Project CARS 2 is no longer available there. People who already own it keep it in their library, but the pool of new drivers is small. For a club, that makes a reliable home lobby more valuable, not less: the regulars know exactly where to find each other.
Hosting the dedicated server in a data centre also removes the usual problems of a player-hosted race. Nobody's home upload carries the whole field, the host's PC can be switched off, and the lobby is still there for Thursday practice.
Planning Your Grid Size
Slots set how many drivers can be in the server at once. Count your regulars on a normal night, then add room for reserves, a race director or a broadcaster. Patch 1.7.1.0 changed how the number of drivers is counted so that private broadcaster and director games work without assigning a broadcaster role.
| Your community | Suggested plan | Why |
|---|---|---|
| A group of friends or a one-make cup | 16 Slots | A full sprint grid at the lowest price |
| A weekly league with reserves | 20 Slots | Space for guests and the odd extra driver |
| A public lobby or championship | 24 Slots | More cars, 8GB RAM for long events |
| Special events and endurance races | 32 Slots | Our largest plan here, with 8GB RAM |
How Race Setup Works on the Dedicated Server
The biggest choice is who decides the race. The PC2 dedicated server can be configured to control the game setup, which means the track, vehicles, weather and session lengths come from the server and stay the same however many drivers come and go. Slightly Mad's patch 1.1.3.2 fixed a bug that made such servers unjoinable, so on the final version this mode is the one most leagues use.
The alternative is to let the lobby host choose the setup from inside the game. That suits casual open lobbies where the group decides together, but it makes a championship harder to run fairly, because the setup can change each time a different driver ends up as host.
- Track and layout: decide for each round and announce it a week ahead so drivers can practise.
- Vehicle class: one class for a sprint cup, several for a multiclass endurance race.
- Sessions: practice, qualifying and race lengths. Patch 1.4.0.0 fixed long sessions being cut to 140 minutes on dedicated servers.
- Weather: fixed or changing, plus the time of day and how fast it moves.
- Realism: damage, fuel and tyre wear, and which driving aids are allowed.
Running a League Season Step by Step
- Pick a plan that fits your normal turnout and a location near most of your drivers.
- Name the server and set a password in the config through the panel's File Manager.
- Decide on the realism rules and publish them with the calendar.
- Set up the first round's track, class and session lengths and restart the server.
- Run an open practice night and ask drivers to report ping and any join problems.
- Save a backup of the working config before race day.
- After each round, change the track for the next one, restart and back up again.
Patch 1.3 also added the Online Championship mode, which strings several rounds together inside the game. Some leagues use it; others prefer single races and keep their own standings in a spreadsheet. Both work on a hosted server.
Keeping the Racing Fair
A clean league depends more on rules than on software, but Project CARS 2 helps. The game tracks an online reputation for each driver, and a lobby can be restricted by reputation so that drivers with a record of crashes are kept out of public races. Patch 1.3 refined how kicks affect that score, and patch 1.5 adjusted it for drivers who retire with heavy damage.
For private league nights a password is simpler: only registered drivers get it. Combine that with a stewarding process, such as reviewing replays of reported incidents after the race, and the server becomes a place drivers trust.
Fixing Common Connection Problems
| Problem | Likely cause | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| A driver cannot join | Different game version | Ask them to let Steam finish updating to the final version |
| Lobby is not in the list | Server still starting or filtered out | Wait for the console to show the lobby, then clear the in-game browser filters |
| Password rejected | Typo or old password | Check the password in the config and share the current one again |
| Lag for some drivers | Server far from them | Compare pings with the test on this page and consider another location |
The panel's console and log are the quickest place to start. When a driver reports a problem, note the time, open the log and look for their name joining or leaving.
Hosted Server or Your Own PC?
Running the dedicated server at home is possible, but your PC must stay on, your router needs open ports, and your upload speed is shared with every driver on track. If your connection drops, so does the race.
A hosted server avoids that. It has a fixed address, filtered traffic and a fast processor, and it runs whether you are racing, travelling or asleep. For a league that meets every week, that reliability matters more than anything else.
What to Compare Before You Rent a Project CARS 2 Server
With a game this mature, the important differences between hosts are practical ones.
- Config file accessYou need the real server config to control the race setup, not a short web form.
- Ping to your driversTest from where your league races before you buy, especially for international grids.
- CPU clock speedA fast single core keeps timing and positions smooth with a full field.
- Flexible slot countsCheck you can grow the grid during a season without starting again.
- BackupsSaved configs let you rebuild a round's setup in seconds.
- No lock-inLook for monthly billing without setup fees or minimum terms.
Project CARS 2 Server Glossary
- Dedicated server
- A server program that hosts the lobby without anyone playing on that machine.
- Lobby
- The online session drivers join before practice, qualifying and the race.
- Multiclass
- A race with more than one class of car on track at the same time.
- Online Championship
- A game mode added in patch 1.3 that runs a championship across several rounds.
- Online reputation
- A score the game keeps for each driver, which lobbies can use to filter entrants.
- Slots
- The number of drivers the server allows at one time.
- Ping
- The round-trip time between a driver's PC and the server, in milliseconds.
- Broadcaster
- A role for running or broadcasting a race instead of driving in it; patch 1.7.1.0 improved private broadcaster and director games.
Project CARS 2 Server Help
Useful pages for setting up and running your server.
How this guide was made: researched from the Project CARS 2 Steam store page and Slightly Mad Studios' official patch notes on Steam, drafted with AI assistance, checked against our live order form for every plan, price and location, and reviewed by Matthew Griffin before publishing. Something out of date? Tell us.
Sources, checked October 22, 2026:
- Project CARS 2 on Steam (developer, publisher, release date, features, store status)
- Slightly Mad Studios, Project CARS 2 Update 1.7.1.1 (Steam news)
- Slightly Mad Studios, Project CARS 2 Update 1.7.1.0 (Steam news)
- Slightly Mad Studios, Project CARS 2 Update 1.4.0.0 (Steam news)
- Slightly Mad Studios, Project CARS 2 Patch 1.3.0.0 (Steam news)
- Slightly Mad Studios, Project CARS 2 Patch 1.1.3.2 and 1.1.2.0 (Steam news)
- Gaming Deluxe order form, Project Cars 2