Pump the Brakes

Electronic Arts, in an internal statement acquired by GamesIndustry.biz, has announced that it is ending the Project CARS racing franchise, effective immediately. This makes the final release in the simulation series the mobile title Project CARS GO, which launched on iOS and Android in 2021.

"Today we announced internally an update to our racing portfolio. Following an evaluation of the next Project CARS title and its longer-te??rm growth potential, we have made the decisi??on to stop further development and investment for the franchise," reads the statement. "Decisions like these are very hard, but allow us to prioritise our focus in areas where we believe we have the strongest opportunity to create experiences that fans will love."

"We?? are working with everyone impacted by this decision to place them into suitable roles across our EA Sports and racing portfolio, as well as other parts of EA, wherever we can. Our priority now is on providing as much support as possible to our people through this transition."

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=8BPzkjvV_Rk

The Project CARS IP became the property of EA following the purchase of Codemasters and its subsidiaries, (including CARS developer Slightly Mad Studios), in December 2020. At the time of purchase, Slightly Mad had somewhere in the region of 150 employees, and so here's to ho?ping that EA will ensure new roles for the studio's staf?f throughout its myriad other development and publishing wings.

There have been four Project CARS games in total, including Project CARS GO. Though the first two games received critical and fan acclaim, Project CARS 3 was less warmly recei?ved. Ea??rlier this year, it was announced that the first two titles were to be delisted from sale due to the expiration of in-game licenses, and it would seem that EA has decided that this particular racer has run its course.

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Project Canceled

Developer Slightly Mad Studios has announced that its 2015 prestige racing simulator Project CARS, along with its 2017 sequel, Project CARS 2, are to be delisted from sale on all formats this fall. Both ti??tles will then be rendered unpurchasable, though owners will still be able to redownload and play the games as they wish.

Speaking in a brief statement on Twitter, Slightly Mad Studios pointed to the expiration of various in-game licenses as the reason for the games' removal from sale. Certain vehicles, tracks, and other trademarks in both Project CARS releases are clearly reaching their end-of-terms, with publisher Codemasters not looking to renew the licen??ses for further years.

//twitter.com/projectcar??sgame/status/1561730018966904832?s=20&??t=Rm4FDNLqCjf4kPzzI5kaRA

"We will remove Project CARS from sale on October 3rd and Project CARS 2 on September 21st," wrote the studio. "We remain focused on making the best racing sim titles, and, as mentioned previously, we look forward t??o sharing more on the next Slightly Ma?d project when the time is right."

There is no mention of Project CARS 3 befalling the same fate, so no doubt the 2020 sequel is currently still well within its licensing rights, though it will no doubt be similarly delisted once its time is also up. In the meantime, Project CARS, Project CARS 2, and Project CARS 3 are all available now on PS4, PC, and Xbox One.

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It sure does look good though

If there is one genre that has been all but perfected for mobile gaming, it's the racing sim. Gameloft's Asphalt series has been killing it since it jumped to iOS in 2009, and?? even if its monetization systems get more aggressive with each release, the actual racing in those games is seco?nd to none in the mobile sphere. They're just legitimately fun and have created the perfect template for other racing games to mimic. ;

Project CARS GO, the recently released mobile spin-off of the Slightly Mad Studios racing seri?es, goes in a different direction. Its focus is not on how well you can control your car around the small selection of tracks you'll repeatedly race, but how well you can time your taps of the screen, kind of like a rhythm game that's not set to any music.

If you've played Forza Street, you'll have a good idea of how Project CARS GO works. You don't need to worry about steering or even pressing a gas pedal. You only need to watch the action on screen and tap or touch accordingly. At the start of each race, you'll tap the screen to rev up your engine. Once you get the green light, all you need to do is be aware of the three different arches you'll pass through. For the shift arch, you'll tap to shift to a higher gear. For the brake and gas arches, all you hold your finger to the screen and lift it accordingly. Project CARS GO also has some drag rac??es?? in the mix that add an extra instance of tappa tappa tapping your phone before a race.

That's it. That's the whole shebang because, truthfully, Project CARS GO doesn't really care about being a good racing game. I mean, you're really not even really racing the other cars on screen. They're just there for show. The only thing that matters is beating to clock to get a three??-star ranking for each race. The better you time your taps and touches, the better you'll do. Theoret?ically, at least, as you can have a perfect run and still fail to make even a two-star finish because you haven't souped-up your car enough.

That's where the real meat of Project CARS GO lies. Forget racing. This game is about collecting cars and tricking them out. And of course, that means loot boxes, multiple currencies, and tapping your way through a bunch of menus to upgrade your rides. You can raise the ranking of each car's top speed, acceleration, cornering, and shifting. For whatever fucking reason, there are timers attached to these elements you'll have to sit through for the upgrade to happ??en. Th?ere are also mods you can apply to your cars to help them perform better. You actually have to play for a bit before those are available and I can see people deleting this off their phones before even getting close to unlocking that feature.

To its credit, this is a beautiful game with strikingly rendered vehicles. But so is just about every other racing game on mobile these days, and some of those actually feel like racing games. I will say, while there is very little I find engaging about this game, the simplicity of it makes it an ideal app for when sitting on the toilet. So consider that your back-of-the-box quote: Project CARS GO is perfect for poop time.

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The best leaves in gaming history incoming

Late last week, Slightly Mad Studios CEO Ian Bell dropped a few tweets demonstrating his excitement for the company's upcoming road-ripper Project CARS 4?, which is currently in development?? for next-gen platforms.

In messages since deleted from the head h??oncho's social media ac??count, Bell focused on the incredible advancements in technology that will make the next iteration of Project CARS "the most realistic simulation ever made." Specifically, Bell spoke of the intricate details that? will go into creating a true-life atmosphere, including amazing shadow effects, bump-mapped tracks, 14-hour weather cycles, and even real-time leaves, that will whip around and even stick to the player's windscreen.

While this, of course, is no reflection on how Project CARS will actually play, it's a telling sign that Slightly Mad is going all-in on the technological capabilities of next-gen platforms, creating as close a photo-r??ealistic racing experience as is possible. While the release might still be some time away, hopefully fra?nchise fans will be given more screens and footage of this momentous project soon.

Project CA?RS 4 will be "the most realistic sim?ulation ever made" [PlanetGT]

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I walk, to be perfectly honest

Slightly Mad Studios has released another glossy new trailer for its upcoming driving simulator Project CARS 3, which launches on PS4, PC, an?d Xbox One on Augus??????????????????????????t 28.

The new trailer, titled "What Drives Y??ou," gives fans a look at some of the sleek and sexy roadsters available to take for 200 MPH burn around any one of the sequel's 140 global tracks. Whether you're all about speed, handling, drifting, or just looking like a massive wanker billionaire, you're sure to find the car of your dreams among the 200 models on offer. Engage in races and casual drives, and use credits won in-game to purchase customisation options for all of your vehicles and drivers.

Project CARS 3 will feature a deep career mode, online and community-based multiplayer modes, and fully scalable engine assists, allowing players to fine-tune the realism and control of their Project CARS experience. The PC edition will also include VR support and options for an eye-searing 12K resolution. If you're itching to get back out on the open road, Project CARS 3 is shaping up to be as close to? the real de??????????????????????????al as you can get.

Project CARS 3 launches August 28 on PS4, PC, and Xbox One.

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Get in, loser, we're going shopping

Bandai Namco has announced that the next entry in its driving simulation series, Project CARS 3, will launch August 28 on PS4, PC, and Xbox One. Th?e publisher has released a sleek new trailer for all ??you speed demons out there, which you can check out below.

Project CARS 3 sees developer Slightly Mad Studios dial-down on the "simulation" aspect - just a tad - to allow for a more accessible "arcade" experience. That isn't to that say series fans shouldn't expect the beautiful visual style and precise mechanics that the franchise is renowned for, but that players who find the complexities of "real-world" racing titles a little over-bearing will appreciate Project CARS 3's more streamlined approach to burning rubber.

Packed to capacity with customisation options, multiplayer challenges, and a deep career mode - not to mention the inclusion of over 140 circuits, immersive day-night cycles, realistic weather effects, and PC VR support - Project CARS 3 looks to deliver another gorgeous and satisfying road-ripper for those just itching to get bac??k out on the open road.

Project CARS 3 launches August 28, 2020, on PS4, PC, and?? Xbo??x One.

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It's quick off the starting line

With just a trailer and no more fanfare, Bandai Namco and Slightly Mad Studios have revealed Project CARS 3. There are no press rel??eases, no official news posts, no tweets -- only the trailer? that's embedded above.

Project CARS made its name as a crowdfunded hardcore racing sim for the masses, and this first look doesn't really convey that intent. In a lot of ways, it's more Need for Speed than Project CARS, what with all the neon-lit nighttime racing and all. Early on, an Acura driver tries to murder a Mercedes-Benz driver on the open road; as an Acura owner, I'm willing to look past a little attempted vehicular manslaughter. Regardless of your interpretation of the law, it's not very Project CARS.

We'll find out if the third try stays true to its roots or gets homogenized a la all those other arcade-like street racers. Project CARS 3 launches this summer, which can only be a couple months away at most. According to GamesRadar+, it's coming to PC (via Steam), PS4,??? and Xbox One.

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Crash and burn?

There's no sugarcoating this one: Fast & Furious: Crossroads looks flat-out awful. It feels like a million years ago that The Game Awards capped off with a reveal of a bad-looking Fast & Furious game. Maybe it was all a dream.? Nope, that happened and now we have further proof that this is probably going to be a lemon.

Developer Slightly Mad Studios (who's a part of the Codemasters family now) released a new Crossroads gameplay trailer today. It's an extremely linear car shooter, apparently. It kind of looks like Split/Second, but Split/Second was good and has the benefit of being 10 years old at this point. Fast & Furious: Crossroads doesn't strike me as something that'll be good or fun, and it also ha??s the burden of being evaluate?d by 2020's standards.

But don't take my word for it! Watch the trailer and see for yourself. It looks like a last-gen game with mobile mechanics. It feels like the best-case scenario is that Fast & Furious: Crossroads is so bad that it's fun to play -- like in the same way that The Room is fun to watch.

Slightly Mad and publisher Bandai Namco decided this one needs a bit more time in the shop. Although Crossroads was supposed to launch in May 2020, this trailer is accompanied by the announcement that th??e game is delayed until August 7. It's releasing on PC, PS4, and Xbox One.

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See you at the Crossroads

A couple years back, the Slightly Mad CEO spilled the beans on an exclusive deal his studio had to develop Fast and Furious ??games. Today, we get the first loo?k at that project.

Titled Fast and Furious: Crossroads, it's every bit the ridiculous over-the-top stunt driv?ing action you'd expect. Explosions,? sweet jumps, wanton destruction, and some gunshots for good measure.

Crack a Corona and check out the reveal trailer. Fast and Furious: Crossroads launches in Ma??y 2020 on PC, PS4, and Xbox One.

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This is all slightly mad

Slightly Mad Studios is a London-based developer of racing games, probably best known for Need for Speed: Shift and Project CARS. However, it's looking to make a name for itself outside of racing in ??the next couple years -- specifically, as a new console manufacturer.

Slightly Mad CEO and founder Ian Bell created a Twitter account today to reveal the studio's plans to enter the console market. Bell says the Slightly Mad console (dubbed The Mad Box) will be "the most powerful console ever built?." Its projected specifications, according to Bell, have?? it capable of 4K output and VR gaming at 120 frames per second. Bell also states that it'll include a full engine for free game development.

Bell gave more details to Variety, saying that The Mad Box is approximately three years out, that it'll be a standalone console that's compatible with most major VR headsets, and that it'll be comparable to a ??top-of-the-line PC two years from now. He also mentions that it'll be priced "competitive with upcoming console prices," presumably meaning th??e upcoming PlayStation 5 and the next Xbox (both of which we'll probably learn more about in 2019).

Don't expect Slightly Mad to go the crowdfunding route for this venture. Bell says "We have multiple investors already offering the required funding for us to see the product to completion, but it's still early days and we're looking at the best offers right now. All that we have approached are di?scussing standard partial ownership investment deals."

Even if the timeline is long on The Mad Box's release, Bell mentions that we should see more of it quite soon. Images of its early design concept should be released within four to six weeks. As for the elephant in the room, Bell responds to someone asking if this is another Ouya by saying "Absolutely not. Seriously."

@bell_sms [Twitter via Variety]

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When executives say too much

With the impending release of Project CARS 2, developer Slightly Mad Studios has firmly staked its claim in the simulation racing mark??et. It seems ready to branch out a bit though, as a recent quote from a company higher-up indicates that it's soon targeting the less-serious type of racer.

As Eurogamer reports (and somewhere in the above-embedded video that is more than seven hours long), Slightly Mad CEO Ian Bell drops some not-very-subtle hints that it has secured the right to make a Fast and the Furious game. Bell says ""Guess what the latest Need for Speed game is doing and have a think about which Hollywood film they're copying, and then I can tell you we have a six-year deal with that major Hollywood company that'll beat what Need for Speed is doing. For the next six years."

The very possibility of a long-term deal for Fast and the Furious games easily passes muster. It's such a bi-annual tour de force in the movie industry that it's kind of amazing that there isn't already a more high-profile video game tie-in (apart from the Forza Horizon standalone thing that released in 2015). Overdu?e or not, it's probably coming soon and we know that thanks to a CEO who said too much on a stream.

It sounds like Sli??ghtly Mad Studios is making a Fast & Furious game [Eurogamer]

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Watch the throne

Over the course of all the E3 appointments I've attended in my six years covering the show, I don't think I've ever heard someone place equal emphasis on their game and why it's better than the competition. Project CARS 2 creative director Andy Tudor did this. It was half sales pitch and half obnoxious truthering. After thinking about it fo?r a bit??, I can't say I blame him.

"The first truth is that we still have the largest track roster of any console racing game," Tudor started out. "And it is great that other games have only just added dynamic weather because we had that in Project CARS 1," he continued. There's no lapse between?? these statements; these sentences are literally said ??back-to-back.

The entire presentation is filled with this stuff. Area-specific conditions that cause cer??tain parts of the track to form puddles while other sections don't become as waterlogged. Tudor prefaces this with "Other games are just catching up to us [with dynamic weather]; we are continuing to innovate with localized weather." There's an anecdote about how developer Slightly Mad shut down Long Beach to fly drones over it so that it could make the track realistic to within 1 millimeter -- something that Tudor calls "above and beyond the competition."

It goes on. We're told that there's no need to go out and buy an off-road game because Project CARS 2 will have rally racing. We're told that "this isn't a Pokemon car collecting game" and that we can drive any vehicle right from the get-go. Sly jab after sly jab about why this game has the player's interests more in mind than any other racing game. "We are the most technologically advanced game out there," he?? says toward the end of the meeting.

When we turned the magnifying glass away from the competition and onto Project CARS 2, Tudor points to two major improvements ?that will make the sequel more accessible than its predecessor. Probably most important is that gamepad handling will be bet?ter right out of the box. Also, the menus are pared down to be less overwhelming to a casual player. All the depth and fine-tuning is still in there, but it's not cluttering things for the people who just want to get into a race that they can understand.

But, for all the comparisons to the competition, Tudor walks it back when we ask him how that mindset affects design. He insists that the likes of Forza and Gran Turismo don't influence the development of Project CARS. "No, we just purely get on with what we want to be doing because we don't necessarily know what the competition are doing. We have our spie??s? here and there, but we honestly do not know," he comments.

Tudor continues "We've been making racing games for a very long time, since 2000, and over t??hat time we've been constantly kind of nipping at the heels of the main competitors. Finally, we've gotten to the point where they're playing catch-up with us, with stuff we did in the first game. We're now going beyond that. We just concentrate on our own lane. We just do ex??actly what we want to do."

It's funny because staying in its own lane is the opposite of what Slightly Mad did in this meeting. But, I kind of get it. Project CARS isn't going to be a game that ever has a marketing budget the size of Forza. It could quietly be very good with each passing installment, only noticed by the relative few who care. It could live in the shadows of those first-party racing behemoths. Or it could make some noise and ra??ttle some cages, effectively shouting "actually, we're better than those guys."

That's what Tudor and Project CARS 2 did at E3. I don't know?? if it'll live up to those claims or not. I just know that it came out swinging, looking to sock anyon??e and everyone right in the mouth.

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Play nice

Could you get down with some rallycross? I could get down with ?some rallycross.

That's the latest focal point in the long promotional build up to Slightly Mad Studios' "late 2017" launch for Project CARS 2. The accompanying trailer shows cars like the Honda Civic Coupe, Ford Focus RS RX, and Mini Countryman RX tearing?? it up across dirt- and snow-covered tracks.

Speaking of, Bandai Namco says to expect "scanned real-world rallycross tracks including US-based DirtFish and Daytona, Lånkebanen in Norway, and the track where it all began half-a-century ago -- Lydden Hill in the UK." As I've said before, Project CARS intimidates me, but I do like this addition.

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Busy year for racing fans

Slightly Mad Studios and publisher Bandai Namco have re-revealed Project CARS 2 with a "late 2017" ??release in mind for PC, Pl?ayStation 4, and Xbox One. Notice anything different in this trailer?

Along with upwards of 60 tracks and 170 cars, the studio is bringing out expand?ed weather conditions for the racing sim sequel. Players will have to contend with snow and ice, as well as mud, and there will be new seasonal, dynamic weather effects to keep the place looking nice and pretty.

And for the folks who are way into Project CARS, the sequel will have VR support and can also handle a staggering 12K resolution by "linking three 4K PC monitors together to present a panoramic dri?ver's view." I wonder how much a rig like that would cost. I wonder, and I weep for my aging PC.

Lastly, it's worth mentioning that Project CARS 2 will have an Online C??hampionships mode in which you can make and ??join racing leagues, something Slightly Mad says fans have been requesting. I wouldn't know -- I'm too far out of my element with this style of racer -- but hey, I'm happy for ya.

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The tortoise and the 29 other tortoises

My time spent with Project CARS&n?bsp;was largely made up of staring at other cars' bumpers and rapidly-approaching barricades. This GIF has half of th?at in spades. Remember: Slow racing is safe racing.

Oh shit... Rush Hour in Monte Carlo -.-' [reddit]

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Did not finish

While Slightly Mad Studios' Project CARS has been zooming past one million sales on PC, ??PS4, and Xbox One, it won't get off the starting line on Wii U. That had been the murmured whisper around town, but the studio has now officially declared it.

Speaking with Nintendo Life, Slightly Mad head Ian Bell said "The official line is that we're awaiting an announcement from Nintendo on new hardware. As of now, [Project Cars] is simply too much for the Wii U."

That's not a surprising result given the last update we had was that the game was running around 23 frames per second on Nintendo's most recent console. As gorgeous as Project CARS was, even the three released platforms (especially consoles) struggled at times to keep pace when the game was at its most demanding -- usua?lly when rendering rain effects. 

For now, Slightly Mad will surely focus on the already-announced sequel and the crowdfunding efforts that accompany it. We don't know what Nintendo's timeline for its next machine looks like, so there's no telling if the next Project CARS will cross that finish line either. Nintendo fans might be best served to stop holding out hope for this franchise and go the "pleasantly surprised" route if a game ever ends up on one of the Mario maker's consoles.

Exclusive: Project CARS "Simply Too Much For Wii U", Developer Now Waiting On New Nint??endo Hardware [Nintendo Life]

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Slightly Mad promises continued support

It was only last month that I read Brett's review of Project CARS, and now Slightly Mad Studios is out there talking up a sequel for PC, PS4, Xbox One, and SteamOS. Only thing that's missing is a call for pre-orders but, worry not, there's once again the opportunity to help fund development.

Unsurprisingly, players are upset that the company would announce a follow-up when there's still work to be done on the current still-fairly-new game. For its part, Slightly Mad says there's "an existing schedule of on demand content already underway to continue providing Project CARS with f?resh new features, updates, and great things to play with throughout the year..."

Begin shifting resources to the sequel, sure, but maybe ke??ep the news to yourself for a while?.

Announcing Project CARS 2! [Project CARS]

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PS4 is leading platform

If video game sales were racing speeds, Slightly Mad Studios would be pleased with the lap times of Project CARS. After just a month since release, the hardcore-simulation racer has sped past one million sales. Not shabby at all?? for what amounts to a relatively niche title given how brutally unforgiving it i??s.

Not surprisingly, the majority of that audience is on PlayStation 4. Steam stats indicate just more than 165,000 players on PC. Ian Bell, head of Slightly Mad took to the Project CARS forums yesterday and said that there are about 250,000 Xbox One players. It can be inferred that the remaining 585,000 ??or so are playing on PS4.

In a post on the game's site, Bell talked about what reaching the milestone meant to Slightly Mad. "To now stand here having reached over a million players in such a short time really justifies the work both the team and the community have done over the years and solidifies Project CARS&rsqu??o; future as the multi-platform racing experience of choice for fans aro?und the world. And we’ll be talking more about that future very, very soon," he said.

The immediate future potentially holds a Wii U port, which was listed as a planned platform during the initial crowdfunding drive. However, the progress of those intentions may be up in the air, as Bell recently said that they're currently getting about 23 frames per second ?on Nintendo's console, and that getting it to 30 would require "a lot of hard work."

Project CARS Already Reaches One Million! [Project CARS]

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Dragging a bit

Project CARS is at the starting line raring to go, but before the green flag waves, some people would like to offer their analyses. We won't be one of the?m. The game's review embargo just lifted, but we'll be lagging behind the pack a bit.

The reason is that we're reviewing it on Xbox One, and our copy hasn't arrived in the mail yet. I'm somewhat to blame, as the publisher offered us PC code earlier, but I wasn't confident in my mid-range laptop's ability to do the game justic??e. So, we're playing it safe, even if that means getting the review out the door a few day?s later.

Project CARS releases globally on PC today. On PS4 and Xbox One, it releases in Europe and Australia tomorrow, in the UK on May 8, and in North America on May 12. If you're intent on rushing out to buy this one, as always, make sure you consult with a trusted source first -- whether that be another outlet, friend, YouTuber, or whatever. Just be smart (and patient) about what you do with your money, and we'll let you know our person?al thoughts as soon as we can.

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Hard charger

Project CARS is a game that revels in its inaccessibility. It was made specifically for people who have come to expect more from their realistic racing simulators. Developer Slightly Mad took that desire and ran with it. The studio made a game, but it also formed a clubhouse -- one that seems impenetrable at times unless you're a really, really dedicated racing genre purist.

That being said, Project CARS will mean very different things to very different subsets of people. Anyone who likes tweaking brake ducts, arm angles, and creating unique pit stop strategies will find its depth enamoring. Those who just want?? to beat other cars around a track will find tha??t maybe literally every other mainstream racing game offers the same thing with a fraction of the frustration.

Different speeds for different needs, I guess.

Project CARS (PC, PS4, Xbox One [reviewed])
Developers: Slightly Mad Studios
Publisher: Bandai Namco
Released: May 6, 2015 (PC), May 12 (PS4, Xbox One)
Price: $59.99

Even though Project CARS is difficult, it's all rather appropriate. I've never raced cars before, but I imagine it to be an unrelentingly tough gig. There are a dozen or so drivers that are all after the same checkered flag. Slightly Mad has done a fantastic job crafting a racing experience that reflects real-life competition. Whereas other games often feel like races take place around the player, Project CARS&??nbsp;feels like the player is one small part of the race.

However, in the heat of the moment, one could be forgiven if they don't agree with that. Project CARS' AI can be so aggressive at times that it seems as if the game is trying to pound the player into submission. Opponents will veer across the track to b?lock progress, and they'll occasionally send you skidding into the gravel trap.? Sure, it's an accurate portrayal of racing, but, man, that comes as no consolation at all when it dooms the entire race.

The AI isn't the only opponent in Project CARS; you're a constant threat to cause your own downfall. In the rare event that you break free from the pack, the most minute of miscalculated turns will send you straight to the back. One tire overstepping the bounds of the track will often send the car skidding off into a pile of tires, relegating you to an unimpressive finish. Also, this title doesn't play the rubberbanding game, so once the leaders have created separation, you're likely to stay off the podium. Again, frustrating, but that's what you signed up for when you booted up Project CARS.

All that annoyance isn't aided by the fact that Project CARS starts the career with the lowest levels of kart racing, w??hich just so happen to be the most uncontrollable vehicles in the game. It's almost like a trial by fire of sorts, a challenge from Slightly Mad that if you can command these unwieldy beasts, you're good enough to play this game. I was handily defeated so consistently during these races that I wondered if tweaking vehicle settings was an absolute necessity to success.

That's where Project CARS' commitment to being for hardcore simulation fans became actively detrimental. Before each race, the menu will implore the player to make alterations, but offers little in the wa??y of guidance as to what anything does. Those who know the ins and outs of cars may take great pleasure in adjusting camber angles and changing suspension heights, but the layman will be left wondering if they're actively at a disadvantage. Honestly, they probably are.

Regardless of where all those sliders end up, Slightly Mad has some great driving to offer. The cars all have an appropriate weight about them, only seeming floaty when they're the lightest of vehicles. Project CARS also mandates a nice degree ??of subtlety with the throttle and brake, often requiring barely touching the gas to optimally weave through a set of turns. The most appreciated facet of dri?ving is that most of the 70-some vehicles feel legitimately unique from one another, meaning that each takes some time behind the wheel before you can control it efficiently.

That learning curve won't be welcomed by everyone, however. A lot of nuance is needed, and it's difficult to master. This is especially true with a standard gamepad, which is how the majority of people will play Project CARS. These controllers are often too finicky, and will send the car careening further and more slapdash than the player intended. Those with proper racing wheels will surely have ?an easier time.

One aspect of Project CARS that never fails to impress is its aesthetic. Everything is stunningly gorgeous at all times, even when the ??sun blinds you as you're trying to corner. The scenery might be at its best during the rainfall, which looks fantastic, but adds another degree of difficulty as the slick roads definitely impact driving performance. Unfortunately, it also impacts game performance, as rainy weather acts as a kind of stress test, and it's where the frame rate dipped the most noticeably in the Xbox One version of the game.

For a title that touts itself as offering a staggering amount of control, Project CARS is ironically rather shallow. While all cars are unlocked right from th??e get-go, the player has no say in what they drive throughout the career. Once signed up for a new league in which to compete, the game decides what vehicle the races take place in.

Likewise, outside of the standard career progression, there just isn't much more to do in Project CARS. It basically boils down to the obligatory multiplayer, some community events, and some one-player quickmatches. The game doesn't give the player much incentive to keep playing, so that drive has to be internal. If it isn't, you might find yourself putting down Project CARS sooner than you'd think.

Actually, Project CARS' career is paced in such a way that it directly conflicts wit??h the desire to keep playing. Every race is preceded by a practice and qualifying round. Each of those lasts a minimum of ten minutes. You can probably afford to skip practice (easy, Allen Iverson), but qualifying is borderline mandatory. Bypassing it, or simulating to the end after a solid lap, means you run the very real risk of starting the race in last place. If that happens, it's unlikely that you'll finish first. The AI is just too?? good to let you overcome those odds. You were probably damned before you even began.

Admittedly, Project CARS isn't for everyone. In fact, it isn't for most people. It's niche, and it's for those who take their racing games seriously. It does most of?? what it sets out to do, and it does that very well. However, the broad appeal is lacking, as the long learning curve likely outweighs what most are willing to put up with. But, for those who put i?n the time and manage to take the checkered flag, this title has a supremely rewarding experience that most anyone can feel proud of, regardless of familiarity with cars.

The post Review: Project CARS appeared first on Destructoid.

Fingers crossed

Project Cars? will finally be released on May 7 in Europe and May 8 in the UK.? 

The racing game has suffered a lengthy string of delay?s since its original scheduled release last November, with pushbacks to Ma??rch, then April and, finally, May 2015.

Whilst there's still no word on when we'll see the Wii U version, publisher Ban??dai Namco has confirmed that "the new generation of driving simulator" will finally hit PC, PS4 and Xbox One next month.

Well, hopefully. 

The post Projects ?Cars finally releasing in Europe next m?onth appeared first on Destructoid.

Don't stare

Slightly Mad Studios has put out a new trailer for Project Cars?, a racing sim with graphics so good the studio felt it ne??cessary to include a little "All footage shown is taken from in-game" disclaimer. (I genuinely love it when trailers for average-looking games say that.)

Now, this is coming to a bunch of platforms in November -- Xbox One, PC, PlayStation 4, and Wii U -- so results are surely going to vary when it comes to visual fidelity. But that's not everything and from the sound of it, Project Cars has thing??s under control in the gameplay depa?rtment too.

Occasionally, I'll find the allure of racing sims too much to resist despite knowing full well what's about to happen next. I'll buy one anyway -- then it hits me. "Oh, right. I'm terrible at these games."

The post Is?? this real life? New Project Cars ??trailer looks the part appeared first on Destructoid.

From the makers of Need for Speed: Shift

World of Speed is a racing MMO that sets to accomplish a goal that no other racer has been truly successful with so far: making racers cooperate with each other. Slightly Mad Studios has 10 years in the racing game business under their belts, with games like the Need for Speed: Shift titles, Project CARS, and GTR2, but they say they're looking at other game genres for inspiration, including online first-person s?hooters.

Oh, and World of Speed is a free-to-play game.

World of Speed (PC)
Developer: Slightly Mad Studios
Publisher: My.Com
Release date: 2014
MSRP: Free-to-play

Creative director Andy Tudor was a driving force behind Need for Speed: Shift and Need for Speed Shift 2: Unleashed at London-based Slightly Mad Studios, and more recently has been working on the upcoming next-gen Project CARS there, but he and his team have also been quietly working on a massively multiplayer o??nline racing game for PC. Their hope was to create something that would be on par with home console racers,?? but with truly competitive online play, as well as continual content updates like you'd find in any good MMO.

The inspiration from other games has been applied to the competitive racing aspect of World of Speed to solve a couple of problems that all online racers seem to have. Tudor explained that crashing out on t??he first corner will usually put a racer out for the rest of the race, with no real chance to catch up. In these cases your only reward is usually car damage and bad lap times, and only ??those with podium finishes get rewarded.

So they applied what they learned from the Shift games to create Driver Score 2.0. The idea is to have "micro actions" in the game that will, once completed, let any racer earn points toward their progres??s, regardless of race position. Tudor explained that you may have wiped out and are now at the back of the pack, but you can still do things like drift or find shortcuts to earn points, and these actions can be chained to perform combos.

A badge system builds on this, giving the player smaller opportunities to win at something ??constantly. Badges are like achievements as they unlock as you continue to play. They range from basic tasks, like h??itting mileage landmarks, to what Tudor calls "fiendish things." The idea here is to get to a place where it feels like the game isn't instantly over from an early crash. "No more rage quits," Tudor joked.

Some inspiration from shooters helped solve another big racing problem. Tudor said that they found in the Need for Speed: Shift games that players rarely worked together, and that each player was really only out to win for themselves, with almost no communication taking place. In World of Speed, teammates and friends have to cooperate to achieve goals in mandatory events. Imagine a situation where tougher cars would protect a faster car that was out to get the best times, like a tank would protect another in a RPG. Other cars out to find shortcuts are kind of like rangers, and drafters are kind of like... well, I'm not sure. But you can kind of see what they're getting at. With no given examples in the presentation or hands-on session, this seems more like a good i??dea at this point.

World of Speed centers around team-based play to encourage cooperation. Race clubs fight for control of an in-game location against other clubs. The idea is to own a gi?ven track. If this is accomplished, every racer that races on that track will see your club name and logo. Owning that location unlocks a clubhouse, a fully 3D social area for members to hang out. They'll also be able to earn club-only game modes. One, called Territory Wars, has clubs going beyond their first owned location, working to recruit and organize other players to take more locations to achieve world domination.

These locations are based on real-world tracks and cities. I took a car around a few of these, inclu?ding a London city race and the famous Brands Hatch course. Beyond these, we know that Monaco, Moscow (in the snow!), and Laguna Seca are in the works, as well as many others. Both of the tracks I raced looked very nice, running on what I'm sure were some pretty high spec'd gaming PCs. For the London course in particular, the level of detail was extremely high. Tudor explained t??hat their design team lived in each location for weeks, gathering visual references to make each as authentic as possible.

To my eyes, with its high level of detail in both the tracks and the cars, World of Speed looks more like a racing sim than an arcade-style racer. The team members at Slightly Mad seemed surprised to hear me say this. I saw a touch of something that reminds me of Project Gotham Racing, but the overall look is cleaner and more realistic. Think Gran Turismo turned up a few notches. It looks nice, but I think it also looks a little stiff and maybe too tidy for something that is geared to be so app?roachable. But then again, the next-gen quality visuals will please any eye, so this could be less of an issue for others.

The look had me going in for my first hands-on expecting for World of Speed to feel like a racing sim. I think the game's feel is at odds with its looks. Slightly Mad stresses that they're still in a pre-alpha state, so it's hard to make a call this early, but World of Speed's feel is much more stiff and unforgiving than I first expected it would be. At this point, cornering feels stripped thin, a fry cry from the new console racers that hit the market a few months back. Braking feels downright off at this point, with stops feeling more like a constant slo?pe, and lacking any sense of weight or physics.

Between the rough steering and odd braking, getting around the track collision-free was quite a challenge, even for this seasoned racing game fan. I ate a lot of walls for the tighter turns, and found myself unintentionally smashing into both teammates and opponents in all races, trying the ga??me with both gamepad and steering wheel controls. I fared even worse with the keyboard racing controls.

Figuring that most of my peers seemed to be having similar issues in multiplayer sessions, our hands-on session looked more like a bumper cars match. An inordinate amount of on-track debris flying around made things even more frustrating. I only had a few uninterrupted opportunities to break away from the pack and get a feel for things. There's promise to be sure, but it was hard to get over how difficult of a time I was having with steering and braking. But, again, World of Speed is still really early.

One mode we tested had every team member working to earn the most experience points during the race. I liked that there were many ways to do this, from the standard podium p??lacement to overtaking, or finding shortcuts. There were plenty of opportunities for players to kind of divide up and fall into a position where they were most comfortable. Those that had a better feel for the engine could try to place, while others that wanted to be antagonistic could ram enemies into walls. Even drifting could be used to earn experience. It's too bad that the hand brake didn't seem to do anything in this play test.

We don't have a car list yet, but we were told to expect "all manner of cars," from your standard street cars to the top super cars, like Ferrari, Aston Marton, Lamborghini, high-end Mercedes Benz, and others. Players will house their cars in their own custom garage, and will be?? able to visit it at any time to enjoy their collection of eye candy.

Like an MMO from any other genre, Slightly Mad plans to update World of Speed often. New tracks and cars will regularly come down the line, as will new gamepl?ay modes. A quick t??ease during a presentation listed what looked to be dozens of these upcoming modes. My eye caught several: Cat and Mouse, Freeway Pursuit, Destruction Derby, Movie Cars, Dirt and Dune, Emergency Response, and more. From the names alone these all sound like a lot of fun.

Again, World of Speed will?? be a free-to-play PC download title, set to launch this year. Slightly Mad isn't saying much about how they'll handle the fine details when it comes to monetization, but it does sound like they're fully against a pay-to-win situation, and that car customization could be a focus for their plan.

World of Speed certainly looks great already, and I'm all for Slightly Mad's strong ideas that work toward encouraging cooperative play, but it's still way to early to make a call on the actual gameplay itself. I don't think that pulling it out will be a problem for the team behind so many quality racing games. If they can get this together, World of Speed sounds like it coul?d be a really good time for people who love cars and competition.

The post World of Speed: A free-to-play online racing MMO appeared first on Destructoid.