Developer: Slightly Mad Studios
Publisher: Bandai Namco Entertainment
Platforms: PC, PlayStation 4, Xbox One
Tested on: PC
Project CARS Game of the Year Edition – Review
It’s been just over a year since Project CARS came into existence. It proved to be a fun racing experience for both veterans and new players, although it had a little bit of a learning curve to it. With the Project CARS Game of the Year Edition, we’re having another look at the game with all of the DLC unlocked and with some bonus content, but also with the numerous updates the team has been rolling out since the release.
Story
Because Project CARS aims to be a racing simulator, there isn’t really any story to be found. It’s not like arcade racing games such as Need for Speed or Burnout which try to feature some story from time to time, Project CARS just tries to be as realistic as possible without too much frills around it all. The game does feature a tutorial-style announcer which helps you from time to time, helping a little bit with immersion as everything is explained. There’s also a career mode which allows you to compete, and you’ll get personalized messages according to your progress and position in races.
Graphics
Graphics wise, Project CARS is one of the best racing games out there and can compete with big titles like DIRT or Forza. The graphics look extremely good and the settings have a lot of options to make it look better or worse depending on the machine it’s being played on. It features options like car detail, track detail, detailed grass, lens flare, screen dirt and more.
Sound
Project CARS also features excellent sound. The music fits perfectly with the rest of the game and it’s just extremely good in general. The races themselves don’t feature any music but everything else like the main menu and loading screens do. Sound effects are also spot on as every car has its own unique and detailed sound, making it feel and sound even more realistic.
Gameplay
In essence, Project CARS is a hardcore racing simulator that features a high level of realism. The game features loads of options to make it more realistic, first being the graphics and it even goes as far as to adjusting how far you look to the left or right when in first person view and looking around. There are some other options as well to improve authenticity like steering & braking assistance, stability control, traction control, tire wearing, fuel usage, mechanical failures and more. It even goes as far as changing the pit stop strategy, allowing you to determine how many fuel gets refilled and how the tires get changed, as well as changing the car tuning with loads of different options to be found there as well.
The fact that Project CARS tries to provide as much realism as possible is pretty clear by now, but it also does a fair job of introducing new players to the game. By default, the options are friendly enough to welcome new players with a driving line that shows you where to drive and when to brake. The AI level can also be adjusted to provide for more easy or difficult races.
Project CARS also has a couple of different game modes. First of all it has a career which features a couple of different tiers of difficulty and cars. You can go right up to the GT cars or start with Shifter Karts and work your way up. During the career, you’ll have to compete in championships, the main one being the one you signed up for at the start and there are also invitational championships that can be played. Each race usually features a practice race, qualifying race and then 2-3 more races. The practice and qualifier can be skipped if the player wishes to do so, only making him play the real races. Once the contract ends in your current tier, you can sign a new one with a tier higher than the current one. In total there are 8 tiers to choose from and there’s quite a lot of gameplay to go through when starting at the lowest one.
Another game mode is Solo, which is pretty much a quick solo race where you can set the conditions. The car, track, track conditions, weather conditions, race conditions and more can be chosen in order to make it as dynamic as possible. Another branch is online play, which features a server browser or a quick play. However, for some reason after joining online races for the first time, my controller stopped working during the races themselves entirely, even when going back to the career mode and persisting through a restart…
Furthermore there’s community events, time trial, leaderboards, practice modes, a garage where all of the cars can be looked at and more. The thing that separates the GOTY version from the base Project CARS game is that it includes all of the DLC packs and it also includes some extra content: 2 circuits in Germany and 2 cars from Pagani.
Story
All in all, Project CARS is a pretty good racing experience. The graphics, sounds and gameplay are pretty fun but there are still some bugs to be found here and there. Career mode is extremely fun to play and has loads of content to cruise through, as well as some fun other game modes. Some downsides are that the menu might not be that easy to navigate for some people and the AI which just follows one line and sticks to it like glue, not slowing down at all when being pushed into the grass or when slipping.
Project CARS Game of the Year Edition - Review,
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