Took a chanse and went for a team ownership (€25) and got the pre-alpha kit.
Have tinkered with it and it's starting to look decent now, for a pre-alpha that is.
Some really nice cars ,and and the graphics are beautiful.

Initally I had some steeringlag, but I'm dialling in the settings slowly but surely.

Here is a vid..not mine though.
Lenonus= Lotus...seems to be a way out of licens issues, until they have made agreements
Asano=Audi
Conneticut Hills GP= Watkins Glenn

When I first heard about this a few months ago I was quite interested and purchased an initial share in the project. Already SMS have released the first pre-alpha to members. I haven't had time to test it out yet but initial reaction form the members is overwhelmingly positive. Many are already calling it 'iracing with Shift graphics' and the potential to be the greatest sim ever. Probably a little early to be jumping to those kinds of conclusions but it's encouraging to have another sim in development.

Slightly Mad Studios have always had the potential to do something truly great once they escaped the shackles placed on them by EA. The project already has some direct involvement with respected members of the sim community so i'm very hopeful for the future. I'll report back with more info when i've had time to give the build a run.

For anyone who wants to get involved and have a say in the potential direction of the project there's lots of info over at VirtualR

http://www.virtualr.net/category/c-a-r-s/

Pretty impressed with it. Only gripe is some steering lag I can't sort out. I managed to get Shift2 totally lag free, but I don't recall how I did it. I know, for instance, I cannot have vsync enabled (which is a drag), and renderahead has to be zero, but maybe I'm forgetting something else.

Anyways, the graphics are amazing and the car list is just *CHOICE*, and I can't emphasize the "choice" part enough.

I am going to buy the 25 pound one tomorrow.

I'm considering it myself....just waiting to hear from SMS if the Toolpacks are upgradable, such as if I by a Team Member one can I upgrade to a Senior Team Member one later on and it not cost me the full price.

Are these team member status' a one time payment, or a subscription type?

Currently, a one-time purchase Pumbaa.

They're upgradeable. I bought the 10 euro "Junior Team Member" one and just looked and I can now buy the "Team Member" one for 15 euros. Which I probably will.

This is fascinating as much for their funding model as the sim itself. Also, without a doubt, when it is released as a final, this will be the most thoroughly beta tested sim of all time.

Thanks, Aero....that's what I was wondering right there...

I'm usually skeptical on this sort of thing, but this does seem interesting.
Apart from what's been said on settings and some steering lag, can anyone share some driving/physics-game engine impressions?
Euro conversion check: $13.64 for the Junior Team Member, and $34.11 for the Team Member.