Project CARS Reviews
Projects Cars brings to the table everything you expect when driving a car, the controls require a bit of learning first but once you get comfortable with your own style you can bring make some serious time on the track. The Career mode will likely be the mode that will suck up your time as you aim to climb the ranks of your chosen motorsport, the game effectively challenges the player to become a better driver without forcing them to do it at a crazy pace, this along with the visuals add together for some of the best virtual driving I’ve had in a long time.
Slightly Mad Studios have, in the year since release, tidied up Project CARS no end. There's still a few small niggles here and there, but overall this is now a title I will happily have adorning my shelf.
Fully patched with a fuller catalog of cars and even more circuits, there is little left to complain about. The racing is as good, as real and as uncompromising as it gets on the console and it is a truly exhilarating experience.
Project CARS delivers on its promise of a demanding racing experience that requires skill and knowledge in the automotive space.
It's difficult to give Project CARS a score. When it comes to the actual racing, the game gets top marks primarily because of how deep the handling model feels. It also does a fantastic job of giving the player every possible option to tailor his or her experience to their liking. However, everything outside of the racing, such as the career mode, is mere window dressing. The game certainly excels at its intended purpose, which is to be one of the most accurate racing games around, but I can't help but feel that the game is pretty bare-bones when it comes to the creature comforts that other games offer, even from the standpoint of catering to the most hardcore crowd.
Project Cars not only sets the standard for new gen racing games, it redefines them. From its authentic gameplay to the little quirks thrown in, it will keep you entertained for hours and hours on end. If you are new to the genre, it’s a great start. If you aren’t, it’s a great addition. So what are you waiting for?
When everything works and with the right control configuration, Project Cars is the strongest sim-style racer on console platforms, and the best all-rounder on PC. Less serious racers may find the career a bit of a slog, but if you prioritize quick thrills over authenticity and challenging racing, then Project Cars is not the game for you. Our only real gripe is that it's still a little buggy, with new issues creeping in with the 1.04 release. There's nothing wrong that the developers can't fix, and if they do they'll have a game that will still be a formidable contender when Forza 6 rolls onto the track.
The kind of shake-up that this genre badly needed
Spend some time with Project CARS and you'll be fed up with how unforgiving each turn is on your over-eager vehicle. Spend a little more and you'll grow to appreciate each unique, licensed hunk of steel as it groans under the stress of constantly alternating between accelerating and braking. But play any more and you'll start to feel slightly detached, barreling aimlessly between locations and race courses.
It alters the racing-car formula smartly in several areas, but the good ideas are often half-baked or hidden behind a load of cruft.
The small line-up of vehicles and non-existent unlockables really hurt the lasting appeal, though, and although newcomers can certainly get into it, there is the feeling that more could have been done to offer extra help for novices that aren't quite sure how to approach the game or what certain functions mean.
All in all, colour me surprisingly impressed by Project CARS.
The folks over at Slightly Mad Studios should be proud of what they have accomplished. Project CARS may not quite live up to the hype, but considering it has outdone its competition in some critical areas, it should be applauded. It may not be a perfect sim racer, but it's pretty damn near close, and for those willing to put in the time, can be incredibly rewarding.
With Project CARS, the simulator aspects are co-opted and somewhat compromised by a desire to simultaneously appeal to the arcade racer crowd - without actually being an arcade racer.
If you want to learn how to drive the vehicles you can't get ahold of in real life, this is for you. If you want a real racing experience this is for you. If you want to collect them all, or have a bit of fun, then you're better off waiting for Gran Turismo or getting an arcade racer instead. For the most realistic driving simulation available though, Project CARS is all you'll need.
Project Cars does so much right, but gets enough wrong to be excluded from the grand echelons of Forza and Gran Turismo.
But to enjoy that game, you have to forgive incomplete or poorly implemented features, and make your peace with the evil AI. They're small problems, in the scheme of things, and they don't spoil a great drive. But they're just enough to deny Project CARS what could have been a clean pole position.
Overall Project Cars is a good racing game with a few minor issues. If you are a sim racing fan I think you should pick this up and give it a try!
If Slightly Mad Studios wanted to prove they could build an engine to compete with the likes of Gran Turismo and Forza Motorsport, Project CARS is a definite success, with driving that feels as realistic as anything else out there. If they wanted to compete with the polish and robustness of those bigger titles, though, they've come up slightly short.
Project Cars is infatuated and enamored by cars, but only cars, not the modes or features to make them interesting.