Project Cars Is Finally Here, But Does It Live Up To The Hype?

It’s been a long time coming, but it’s finally here. Following a number of delays, the crowdfunded racer is finally available in all good retailers, and some rubbish ones as well. But with so much hype in the build-up to its release, can Project Cars deliver the goods? And more importantly, can it prove a decent alternative to mainstream titles like Forza and Gran Turismo?

After getting to know the review code, we’ve put together a summary of the five aspects of the game that have influenced our opinion so far…

If you want super realistic handling, Project Cars isn’t for you. It errs on the side of ‘arcade’ without resorting to Need For Speed: Rivals levels of unrealistic cornering. I love it for the most part, however I’d prefer if there was more sensation of grip, as the cars feel somewhat floaty - perhaps this can be dialled out through improved steering wheel feedback; I’m still finding my ideal settings.

There are umpteen sliders that provide you with differing levels of assistance to aid realism, so even the most hardcore gamers will be able to find a challenge.

A little bump and grind

When I played a buggy preview code earlier this year, one of my biggest complaints related to crash physics. Back then, cars would jump about manically on impacts, and at one point a car flipped onto its roof in the space of half a second after a tap at the rear.

In the final code things are way better, but still far from perfect. Cars still have a tendency to jump and skip a little on impact, while grinding seems to cause opponents to slow and pull out of the battle immediately, rather than take you on into the next corner.

While we’re on the subject of AI, opponent cars have also seen huge improvements over that preview code, but again, they’re far from perfect. They’re much better at anticipating your moves, and will jump out of your way if they see you diving up the inside under braking (though sometimes they do this when you’re nowhere near). When things get a bit busy, though, they do seem a little too cautious, with the first lap feeling unnecessarily slow.

Still a little buggy in places

The guys behind Project Cars have been delaying the game to iron out a few bugs, but to be honest, they could’ve done with even more time. The thing that jumps out at me is entering the pitlane; when you cross an invisible line for the game to take control of your car, the transition is far from smooth, with the car seemingly yanked from where you had it to the pre-determined line through the pits.

There’s a similar effect, though only sometimes, when crossing the finish line. It looks like when you play a video online and the audio plays but the video is static, then suddenly it’ll fast forward the footage to catch up. Minor, but looks amateur.

We’ve all seen the videos and screenshots. This game is beautiful. The way the sun shines through the trees and the world reflects in puddles is just awesome.

The only negative aspect of this comes from when you have a huge grid. I know you PC master racers will point out this is largely down to my console peasantry, but when you have 25+ cars on a track the frame-rate drops and the textures lose their sheen. At the Le Mans circuit you can have 40+ cars… but you shouldn’t. I can’t help but feel that console versions of the game should have a lower limit for the number of cars on track.

That being said, in the vast majority of situations, it’s one of the best looking games I’ve ever played. It makes Forza and Gran Turismo’s latest offerings look a little lifeless.

I love the weather and time of day cycles in this game. They’re great fun to play with, and far from being a gimmick, they really add an extra depth to the racing. Picking your way through spray, finding your braking line in the fog, or dodging puddles left over from a thunderstorm after the clouds have cleared all require different approaches.

My only complaint here is that grip doesn’t feel a whole lot different whether you’re in the dry or wet. I’d quite like to have to feather the throttle more in a downpour…

The menus are a delight

Given how gorgeous the in-game graphics are, it’s perhaps no surprise that Project Cars probably has the most user-friendly, beautifully-designed menus of any racing game. They look pretty, are easy to read and intuitive to navigate. Most importantly, there is no loading time between menus; flicking back and forth is slicker than the tyres on a hardcore racer.

Conclusion: It's so nearly great, but it needs polishing

Perhaps it’s been a victim of its own hype, but I can’t help but feel mildly disappointed with Project Cars. It never really promised to be anything other than beautiful, and on that front it’s certainly delivered, but with all the promotion using real racing drivers, I was hoping for a slightly more sim-like experience.

The career mode looks vast and well thought out, though it’s incomplete in my review copy so I’ll revisit that in a couple of weeks, and with nobody to play before release I’ve avoided the online experience. Stay tuned for further updates.

The fact there are still a few bugs on release is just an aspect of modern gaming we’ve all had to get used to, but to be fair to the Project Cars team, they have waited as long as possible to make it run as smooth as possible. With a bit of TLC and patch-delivering DLC, this game will be brilliant. It hasn’t quite done enough to topple the big guns quite yet, but it’s a valiant effort and is genuinely great fun to play.

Thanks to everyone for posting what you’d like to know about Project Cars here. Feel free to jump in and ask more questions, and I’ll write a followup post answering you once I’ve had more time with the game!