For racing simulator enthusiasts, the opportunity to digitally pilot their favorite dream machines in a new game is a prospect that is few and far between. A niche inhabited by Forza and Gran Turismo, Project Cars has the tall order of capturing attention away from these to racing sim giants. Thankfully, this new property from Slightly Mad Studios is more than up to the challenge.

Known for their previous work on the Need for Speed: Shift franchise and Test Drive: Ferrari Racing Legends, Slightly Mad Studios isn’t exactly a newcomer to the racing genre; and their experience shows in almost every facet of the game. Project Cars is not just a retread of what it got right in their previous games, but a whole new model that shows just much more they could improve on an already outstanding mantra for speed.
Project Cars game-play is more of what gamers have come to expect from this studio. The handling and feel of the cars is some of the best I have ever experienced in a video game. The cars behave very much as if they were their real life counter parts. Speeding down a fast straight creates a feeling of speed that makes the driver feel the excitement and danger that comes from traveling at such high velocity. Taking turns is an exercise in risk vs. reward. Take a turn to slow, and you’re likely to get passed from the games intelligent but not omnipotent AI. Take a turn to fast or lifting of the gas mid turn may yield dire consequences. While being punishing at times, the physics of the cars is always fair. Never once do you feel as if the game has cheated you.

Speaking of the cars and their physics, Project Cars yields a diverse roster of cars that run the gamut of road and race built machines alike. Depending on which you’re driving, the dynamics of each car changes even more depending on whether the car is FWD, RWD, or AWD. The roster of around 65 cars at launch, while not as big as the rosters from Forza or GT, is much more focused. A handful of road cars breaks up the mostly track focused machines that inhabit this racing sim. The reason for this is tied directly to how the career mode is structured.

The career mode in Project Cars gives one the freedom to drive and compete in the type of racing they enjoy most. As where other racing games tell you where to start and where to go throughout your entire career, Project Cars is more than happy to just let you drive in whatever class you enjoy. Like the idea of racing cars that look like the ones in your garage? Start your career in the Touring Class. Love the absurd handling and ludicrous speed that comes with racing formula cars? Begin your career in a formula series. None of the series are mutually exclusive; so no matter where you start, you will be afforded the opportunity to try other types of cars in different series.

Once you have decided on the type of racing you would like to participate in, you receive a contract offer to sign with a team. The team part is important, as no other racing game I have played made me feel like I was racing as a part of one. Project Cars does a fantastic job of making you feel like you are racing as a part of a greater whole. During races, your crew gives you vital feedback on your situation in a race. If they notice your opponent in front of you is slow on a particular corner, they will let you know and encourage you to overtake them. If they see that you are running out of time to move up in the standings during a race, they will encourage you to play it safe and bring the car home in one piece. It is uncanny how well the AI is at conveying vital information to you that can actually make the difference in a race. In one particular race, I was on the last lap and trailing right behind the leader. My pit advised me that he was slow on turn 6 and that this would be my shot at over taking him. Heading my pit’s advice, I decided to race a bit more recklessly and brake a little later in the corner than I usually would. My opponent braked early and I overtook him on the inside line. I would have never gambled like that if it was not for feeling emboldened by my team. Winning the race felt like a win for the team, not just for myself.

That kind of realism and attention to detail carries over to the presentation of the game. The graphics are up to next gen standards; and in some cases, surpasses what we have come to expect from this generation of consoles. Cars are beautifully modeled, complete with detailed recreations of all the cars interiors. The real world tracks found in this game are wonderfully recreated. In certain images, it’s hard to tell if you are looking at an image of the real thing or not. Weather effects add to the beauty of the day and night cycles found in the game. There is nothing like driving against the sun and have it blind you just as it does in real life, or the effect of rain falling from the sky and obscuring your view until you turn the wipers on. The pain staking recreations of these real world cars and locales is a sight to behold and adds to the overwhelming feeling that you are behind the wheel of something special.

The sound is another area Slightly Mad Studios have done a fantastic job in. The cars sound as different as the way many of them look. Tires squeal and burn aurally through your speaker when they are pushed to their limits. Engines roar as they should when being hammered to peak revs, and create an implosive burble sound as you downshift. The engines also sound different enough depending on which car they are in. There will never be confusion as to whether you are hearing a hypercar, a GT monster, or a formula rocket.

The game also has a robust online serving, allowing to race against people instead of just having AI rivals. There are time trials with leaderboards for every track to show you what some of the fastest times are in a particular make. You can also go online and have head to head races with other drivers. Or there is the weekend race mode, which allows the player to create custom events with rules of their choosing, and invite friends and strangers alike to compete against one another. No matter what you choose, online play is filed with enough customizability to keep to racing online for a while.

The customizability does not end there. Project Cars allows the player to create custom tuning load outs for each car. The game allows you to change your cars tire pressure, aerodynamics, suspension rebounding rates, etc. The different choices can be frankly staggering at times if you do not entirely understand motoring and how a car really works. Thankfully, you can choose to ignore these completely and still have success in the game.

However, this game is not all motoring nirvana. There is some polish that could have still gone into the game before launch. Sometimes your car will start in fourth gear at the beginning of a race, causing you the start. Graphical hiccups also cause replays to seem as if an amateur was given the camera and began zooming erratically. On the rare occasion, my car would spontaneously explode as if there was an invisible object in the way. Mercifully, these occasions are infrequent and don’t detract from the overall package Slightly Mad Studios has created here.

Taken in its entirety, Project Cars is a major accomplishment for a studio that has already proven itself more than capable in the racing genre. With its cocktail of beautiful graphics, reality-blending physics, and engaging career mode, Project Cars is a game not be missed by gearheads and sim-racing fans alike.