The state of the racing sim genre has really wavered in the past half decade. With the rise of the persistent open world and the successes of more arcade-style racers, the attention toward realistic simulation has waned, even in some of the industry’s biggest franchises. Nowhere was this clearer than with Project CARS, the now-defunct racing franchise that began as a hardcore driving simulation and showed signs of long-term viability with its stellar sequel, only to swerve into becoming an arcade racer for its third entry after multiple studio acquisitions and mounting industry pressure.
Though that franchise is seemingly dead, Project Motor Racing is here to fill the gap, a spiritual sequel to Project CARS 2 whose main influence is as thinly veiled as its title and whose development team is largely intact. This is a dedicated simulation that puts every emphasis on the distinct feel of each individual car, the in-depth modifications that can completely change how you drive, and the sights and sounds of the racetrack throughout race weekend.
It’s a gorgeous, visually and sonically striking game that offers even deeper car and race customization, which really hums when everything clicks. At the same time, though, its focus on so many small details leaves the broader experience feeling aimless, and at full price, it’s notably content-light at launch and relies heavily on the promise of future content updates and mods, feeling significantly scaled back from its spiritual predecessors.
“The Career mode, where much of the game’s training takes place before sending you into the world of ranked online play, is significantly scaled back.”
While arcade racers often leave the car fine-tuning and mid-race adjustments in the dust, Project Motor Racing opts to make them a focal point of the experience, and with the number and detail of options available, this is a game made for the most hardcore motor racing fans.
From your suspension profile to your tire compound, the drivers who optimize their car for the track and conditions are the ones who compete for the championship each weekend, and the new Hadron engine that powers the new handling system gives each car a vivid feel, whether you’re leading the pack at the end of a race or spinning out in practice. I mostly played on a gamepad, where keeping control of your vehicle while competing is at least manageable if a little unpredictable around tight turns, but this game shines on a wheel with phenomenal feedback and truly distinct handling for each car class.
What the detailed optionality comes at the expense of, though, is accessibility. While I hesitate to make direct mode comparisons to Project CARS 2 given the differences in budget and studio size, what’s disheartening in Project Motor Racing is the broad lack of tutorials or guidance.
It might make sense that a hardcore simulation is made for those familiar with these cars and tracks already, but unlike its predecessors, it’s going to feel overwhelming to those who don’t already know what they’re looking for. Aside from a brief introductory tutorial, there are almost no materials to help you learn about which tweaks will have what impact, nor are there recommendations for how to set up your car given track conditions or performance.
Additionally, the Career mode, where much of the game’s training takes place before sending you into the world of ranked online play, is significantly scaled back as well, ultimately landing as a series of individual grand prix weekends strung together loosely with its financial overhang. With a underwhelming career mode, its remarkable limitations in its off-track customization stand out even more.
When you begin, you can choose from an “Authentic” or “Classic” experience, with the only difference being the ability to restart races and the ability to change AI difficulty at the beginning of the Career. Your only real other choice is the sponsorship model, which dictates your income and ranges from the “Rolling Billboard” model that pays you the same amount each race regardless of performance to the “Champion” model that pays nothing unless you win the weekend.
“When the sights, sounds, and feels of a race all come together, Project Motor Racing is truly remarkable.”
Those choices are made before you start your first race, so even though you also need to purchase cars and pay entry fees for each race weekend, once you finalize your Career settings, there’s almost no other decision-making to be done afterward. Outside of the Career mode, too, the modes are particularly sparse, only offering quick play, online play, and a handful of time or endurance challenges that promise to have more created by the community. Every mode, from the ranked online to the career, is about funneling you to different forms of races or challenges, but I wish it had some more creativity about how it went about doing that.
Regardless, from that point forward, it’s all about the remarkable on-track experience, a continued strength for the team at Straight4 Studios. Whether you’re practicing, running a race, or spectating, this game looks and sounds absolutely stunning, as different car classes whiz by and tires screech across dynamically-paved tracks.
Each car is intricately recreated both in its performance and its design, and each track is nearly photorealistic to its real-life counterpart, dynamically changing with incredibly impressive weather and timing effects that can make races on the same track feel completely different. Even the music that plays on menus and during setup had me bobbing my head along with it surprised at how much I was consistently enjoying it.
When the sights, sounds, and feels of a race all come together, Project Motor Racing is truly remarkable, especially with higher car classes and at higher difficulties. With so many moving parts, though, it can unfortunately be daunting how much the game expects of you given how little guidance it provides.
Unless you’re in a match with custom rules, penalties are always on, and the only option to change the difficulty is to adjust the computer drivers’ intelligence level. With no ability to rewind, or in some cases to even restart a race, every turn, acceleration, and bump can spell the end for you and your run. Even the online matches, for example, require you to complete 8 laps at Lime Rock Park at just over a minute per lap to even gain access to the league, and that time is no joke.
“Shortcomings aside, Project Motor Racing is a promising start to righting the ship for the racing sim genre.”
Without a proper tutorial, or much in the way of recommendations for how to best prepare for a certain race, there’s an inherently unforgiving and aimless structure here that can cause a cycle of failure that might turn new players off before they get the hang of it, even if the payoff is usually worth it. At the same time, the game expects you to put in a significant amount of time and effort to learning its tracks and cars, but it doesn’t offer a heap of content.
With 18 tracks and 70 cars across 13 classes, the roster here is notably smaller than many other games in the genre, including the Project CARS games, even if what it has to offer is done very well. The track listing contains most of the common tracks you’d expect like the Nurburgring and Daytona, and the cars each legitimately feel unique from one another, though I am disappointed we didn’t get to see go-karts again. It’s clear, though, that with this amount of content and a full $70 price tag, this game is made for people who want to go as deep with their car customization and racing styles as possible to optimize their lap and racing times, almost to the point of feeling more like a training simulator for real-life drivers than a racing game at points.
Shortcomings aside, Project Motor Racing is a promising start to righting the ship for the racing sim genre. Experiencing how each individual car handles differently based on different setup tweaks, watching the weather change in real-time, and hitting a turn perfectly feel incredible with the new engine, even if the limited amount of content and guidance kneecaps the appeal to non-hardcore racers.
It’s an experience that can have you jumping from elation to frustration in a moment, for better and for worse. Regardless, if this is the beginning of a new racing sim franchise that can build and expand on this foundation in the same way as the ones that came before it, I’m excited about what the future holds for Project Motor Racing.
This game was reviewed on the PlayStation 5.
