“…a fantastic investment if you want to get behind the wheel in your living room!”
Project Cars made waves when it first hit our screens. Whether you played it on console or PC, you were almost certainly sucked in by its impressive visuals and detailed simulation of motorsport. For me, the Game of the Year edition was my first opportunity to play the game properly, outside of heading to various events. I had already seen what the game was capable of in terms of immersion, but my real interest was in its innovation…
The Game of the Year edition includes all of the original game’s content, plus all of the additional content to date. That’s over 50 new cars, 4 new courses and several additional liveries and features to sweeten the deal. More importantly, it also includes some incredible new and exclusive content. Not only can you now drive the Nurburgring Combined Nordschieife and GP circuit, but you can do it in two Pagani legends; the Zonda Revolucion and the Huayra BC, straight out of the Geneva Motor Show. As you would expect, both cars make for an insane drive that you simply couldn’t experience the same way in real life. It is a huge collection for the avid motoring enthusiast to enjoy, and certainly appears to be a good deal on paper. At a reduced asking price against the original release on top of this, it is definitely the best time to pick up the game if you have been biding your time until now.
If you haven’t yet played Project Cars and still aren’t necessarily sold on the concept, you like me are probably keen to know what this game does differently to its competitors. With games like Forza and Gran Turismo having already dominated the track racing market for years now, is there really any need to buy into another racing franchise? To cut a long story short, I found the game’s basic model to be pretty much the same as these others…
What we have come to know as the key features of a modern racing game are all present in Project Cars. This includes things like the standard HUD layout with speed, gears, time, laps and so on, colour-coded on-track guide lines, and detailed tuning. In essence, all of this feels pretty identical to Forza in my opinion. This isn’t intrinsically bad, and in fact this is one of the best racing game setups going, but this clearly isn’t the place to be looking out for that unique selling point in Project Cars.
Project Cars’ visuals are one area in which it truly excels. When played at its best, on a high-end PC setup, the game is incredible to behold. Lighting and dynamic effects combine to create a marvellous back and foreground which is enough to make any gamer drool. Even on console, where such detail is not entirely possible, the game looks impeccable; at least equally as good as its competitors. On any system, the sound effects of the game, from the roaring engines to the finer environmental details, truly enhance the feeling of immersion, not to mention how awesome it makes the whole experience feel.
The other fantastic feature of the game which sets Project Cars aside from others is the actual content. The tracks and cars on offer are highly detailed, just as racing game fans would expect from a major AAA title. The cars are visually convincing, angry sounding and handle like the racing beasts that they are. The tracks are equally realistic and immersive, putting you at the heart of some of the world’s most famous locations for racing. Most importantly, some of the tracks and vehicles in the game are not available in others; an important consideration for any fan before making a purchase. Courses such as Donnington Park and the opportunity to drive numerous popular brands of car alongside the more obscure option to partake in activities such as karting give the game a wealth of unique features to appreciate. Some of this additional content has only been added to Project Cars in later DLC or the Game of the Year Edition too, increasing its value and pull factor even further.
It is worth noting that to get the very best experience out of Project Cars, it is well worth picking up one of the various driving controllers currently on the market. I had the chance to play the game at an event a few months back on Logitech’s Driving Force G29 setup, and it truly completed the package perfectly. Decent setups come at a high cost, but if you are a fan who is willing to invest, I highly recommend playing the game in this unbeatable way to get the most out of an already exceptional racing simulator.
The Game of the Year Edition of Project Cars is a must have for the racing game fan. More casual gamers with a basic interest in playing one racing game or another are best suited selecting their poison based on the varied content available between them though. If there is a certain car you want to drive or a particular track that you hope to experience, the best option is to examine what is on offer in each of the big name titles before you buy. If Project Cars is still the one for you in terms of content however, you certainly won’t be disappointed by the experience you receive. The game is highly immersive, gets the adrenaline pumping, and offers a wide and varied collection of content to enjoy. With plenty of scope to be played over and over again, Project Cars Game of the Year Edition is a fantastic investment if you want to get behind the wheel in your living room! If you can afford a full racing setup to go with it, the game would be very hard to beat.
You must be logged in to post a comment.