Project CARS Review in Progress

I’ve put about a dozen hours into the PC version of Project CARS, the unfortunately named racing simulation developed by Slightly Mad Studios. In that time, I’ve zipped across the track in nimble little superkarts, barreled past my competition in bulky American muscle cars, and pushed hard down the straightaways in open wheel racers. I’ve got a lot more racing in front of me before I can deliver a verdict, but my current takeaway? Project CARS offers a challenging driving simulation across a wide variety of interesting racing experiences, but the trimming around that core experience is a little lackluster.

I’ve spent the majority of my time with Project CARS in the game’s career mode, leading my created driver through season after season as he climbs the rankings, signs new contracts, and takes on special invitational races. Like many other racing games, CARS’ career mode is split into multiple tiers, with each tier offering different racing styles to learn and conquer. The lowest tiers focus on kart racing, the mid tiers open up touring-class cars and some introductory open-wheel races, and the final tiers focus on high-end Fformula cars, endurance events like Le Mans, and some prototype vehicles.

But one thing that separates Project CARS from its competition is that these higher tiers aren’t something you have to work for across dozens of hours: they’re available right from the jump. I chose to make Virtual Me start at Tier 8 and work his way through a whole career, but I could just as easily have chosen to start at tier 1, with all the top class opportunities and vehicles available. CARS does offer you rewards for taking the long way in the form of special historic goals, accolades, and endorsements. But that’s it: There’s nothing like a traditional progression model in Project CARS.

And nothing (as far as I can tell) is locked behind those in-game achievements, either. From the moment you boot up the game, you’re able to run a Solo Race using whatever car you want, on whatever track suits you. No experience points. No licensing exams. This feels surprisingly experimental. While so many other racing games have been structured as carefully designed board games, Project CARS feels like an open toy box.

But this innovative, open-ended structure would mean nothing if playing with these toys wasn’t interesting or fun. Thankfully, it’s both. Driving well is difficult, but improvement never feels impossible, and the process of learning the ins and outs of a track is intrinsically satisfying. Project CARS has its wheels planted in the simulation genre, offering a complex physics model and tracking the wear-and-tear on your virtual car across the course of a race. But thanks to a wide range of options, CARS can also pivot from hardcore simulation to something slightly more accessible and lightweight if that’s what you’d like.

Each class of car feels substantially different from each of the others, and this transforms the tracks you’re racing on. The little karts can stop on a dime compared to the bulky tourers, but the latter are able to better recover from a poor turn or stray contact with an opponent. Racing a track at breakneck speeds in a top of the line formula car is a dangerous game involving small adjustments and careful control, but do the same race in a 1960s Lotus and you’ll need to make sweeping adjustments at much lower speeds or risk catastrophe.

And there’s no other way to say it: All this racing looks gorgeous. Great-looking racing games are hardly a rarity, but Project CARS still manages to wow. You can race any of the tracks at any hour of the day and in a range of weather conditions, and these combine in breathtaking ways. Morning fog sneaks across the German woods that surround the course. A light afternoon rain over England leaves every racer a little more cautious. And both weather and the time of day are dynamic, developing over the course of the race. That moment when the rain starts to come in is honestly terrifying. You’ve fought your way up to third place when a surprise thunderstorm streaks across the Sonoma Raceway, and now all you can see is water and asphalt and the red brake lights of the second place driver in the distance. It is fantastic to finally be made afraid in a game about cars going inhumanly fast.

Unfortunately, I’ve also hit a number of incredibly frustrating bugs throughout my play time. I’ve had dominating first place wins taken away from me as, suddenly and without warning, Project CARS becomes convinced that I’m in last, not first place. On the other end of the spectrum, I’ve had races in which the passive AI seems eager to lose, giving me a massive 10+ second lead on second place. And more than once, it’s been unclear if my wins have been correctly recorded by the career mode: I’ve come in first place across each section of a three-part event only to see the post-race headline read that I came in second. Hopefully I won’t run into more of these annoyances as I continue to play, because they can really ruin a good time.

I hope to have a full review ready in the next few days. But for now, know that Project CARS is first-and-foremost a solid racing sim. That said, there is much more for me to dive into before I know if Project CARS will have staying power or be just a nice weekend drive. On top of the decisions you make behind the wheel, Project CARS offers page after page of mechanical adjustments for you to ponder over and tinker with. I’ll need more time in the garage to fully wrap my head around all of them. I’ve also been unable to check out the online racing and community events, both of which are supposed to be core pillars of the Project CARS experience. And time will tell if the open-ended career mode remains captivating, or if (despite my better nature) I’ll wind up missing the endorphin rush that comes with unlocking content and filling up XP bars.