When it comes to the gameplay styling of racing games, there are two ways it can go, arcade or simulation. Project CARS: GOTY Edition is no exception to this ruling. The developers, Slightly Mad Studios, have pushed the boundary in what racing games can achieve when it comes to simulation, and that’s exactly what Project CARS is, a glorious racing sim that is quick to punish you for that push too far. Project CARS has been created by petrol-heads aimed at petrol-heads and designed for them too. You’ll find no rocking music, just pure engine noise and tire screeching and no rewinds to stop you crashing into that car or barrier. It uses some of the world’s most famous tracks like Brands Hatch, Silverstone, and the recently added Nürburgring, and with the Project CARS: GOTY Edition‘s included DLC packs, it brings some of the most memorable and iconic cars into play that gives you the real feeling that you’re a true race car driver. Move along Lewis Hamilton, it’s my turn now.
Project CARS’ career mode is just as customizable as the game itself. You can start wherever you wish. Are you a self confessed veteran and feel like you can take on the best? Start off in the top league. Are you new to the game and want to ease yourself into it? Start with a go-kart and work your way up the ladder. It continues the philosophy of this whole game: customizing. Make your career how you want to play. There is no grinding cash to buy cars or leveling up to unlock things, your team provides you with your car and you go race, it’s simple. When you choose an event, you choose how long the event will take. Numerous laps or just a few, you decide. You can also change the difficulty to your liking, meaning if the AI is too tough, reduce it to suit you.
Slightly Mad Studios have done a exceptional job to cater to the different types of players. There are so many options to choose from that it becomes apparent from the get-go that this is a simulator through and through. From traction control, driving assists, stability control, steering assistance, braking assistance, ABS, and more, the list is truly astonishing. Project CARS broadcasts to numerous types of gamers, from those wanting a quick race around the Nürburgring with assists on, or for those true petrol-heads who turn everything off and want a realistic feel, practicing every corner until perfected and hitting their apex.
Slightly Mad Studios have pushed the boundaries to the max in Project CARS. The attention to detail is phenomenal. Not only does the game look stunning, it runs smooth with next to no hiccups. It’s evident the developers have gone to great lengths to achieve what they have here. Even when inside the cockpit of a sleek Mitsubishi Evo X, you can see every detail down to the double din stereo and the details on the revometer. Even the way rain splashes onto the windscreen, and the wipers move the rain away and so it sits on the side of your windscreen and trickles down, it’s all very real. Even audibly, the noise rain makes when it bounces on top of your car and the noise of Formula A cars as you shift through the gears, they pierce your ears and they personally made the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end. It even became apparent to me when I had just come off the track into a gravel pit and finally joined the track again, I could hear the noise of the stones bouncing from underneath my car. They have done great work on making the sound capture the essence of each car.
My only strife is that there aren’t many ‘everyday’ sports cars included. Some petrol-heads jump into racing sims to play their favorite cars. As for myself, being a huge Honda fan, I was hoping to find a cheeky NSX or at least a Type-R in the mix, but there wasn’t anything of the sort. There were the odd few normal cars, but the rest were mainly concept and open wheeled cars, which is a shame as everyone has their favorite car that they would love to thrash around a real track.
There is no denying Project CARS has set the bar really high for what a racing simulator should be. What hit me the most was the attention to detail they went to for the hardcore grease monkey. Down shift too quickly and you will blow your engine, put your foot down too quickly and you will be punished with a devastating spin out, hit the apex too much and you will soon find yourself pointing the other way. Such things as tire pressure, brake pressure, heat in the tires to perform better, g-forces, the heat in your brakes, it’s insane to even consider how much there is to take into account before we hit the starting line-up. You can even turn damage on for cosmetic purposes, mechanical, or both. Blown engines, blown gearboxes, faded brakes, tire wear, even fuel economy come into play. More fuel equals heavier car, heavier car equals slower car which results in needing to plan a pit strategy for tires and fuel, but all this detail also comes at a price.
Project CARS is a purebred simulator, and this is where it pays the price. I was using a Xbox 360 controller throughout my whole experience, and it wasn’t the most pleasant experience I’ve ever had. It was extremely twitchy at times and caused me to spin out more often than I would have liked. Also, the throttle response is hard to get right. When you need just a little response it’s far too hard to judge with a trigger, but a set of peddles and a gaming wheel would work wonders, so you may need to invest. There’s also the gear changing, if you’re a manual gears driver like me. It’s difficult to master with just a joy-pad, for the true experience you definitely need a wheel.
The graphics in Project CARS are striking. The stunning and lavish interiors of each car are amazing, and the shadows and reflections from mirrors and consoles are teeming with detail. These features coupled with the feel and sound of the cars give you the experience you’re looking for in a racing sim. It also sports support for VR. I don’t own a VR headset yet, but I can safely say that with a headset plus a racing chair and wheel set, you wouldn’t ever need to set foot on a real track.
Now for the differences the GOTY Edition brings:
- An additional 50+ cars (125 total)
- 4 tracks (35 unique locations, 100+ layouts total)
- 60+ community-created liveries
- 500+ features and improvements that have been added since launch
- The iconic Nurburgring Combined Nordschieife + GP circuit
- Two Project CARS exclusive vehicles from Pagani – the Zonda Revolucion and Huayra BC unveiled at this year’s Geneva Motor Show
Developer: Slightly Mad Studios
Publisher: Namco Bandai
Platforms: PS4, Xbox One, PC
Release Date: 6th May 2016