Review: Project CARS 2

From the start I could feel that Project CARS 2 was going to be difficult. I knew that what they were trying to do is translate a comprehensive and scientifically accurate (or close thereto) representation of real world racing. You could feel that in the remote and the way the car handled, it wasn’t just a difficulty level that made it hard to drive.

Here’s my take on Project CARS 2

So I started paying attention to action and reaction and to my surprise I started understanding the car more, the track, the conditions, the weather, and how it all translates differently to every car on every track. I realised that this game will be one of learning.

I dubbed this the “Dark Souls” of racing and wanted to learn more and master every car. I realised that a remote simply wasn’t encompassing the full experience, and if so, would there be more if I were to buy a racing wheel? So, I bought one and Man, did this game come alive. On a Decent mid ranged wheel (Logitech G920) I started playing around with gameplay settings, force feedback and weather conditions and now I am properly hooked.

Props to Slightly Mad. They did their best to translate the physics to a remote and I think people aren’t realising what I did and are finding it difficult. This is a game of learning and mastering and time spent in practice and experimentation will reward you with skill. This is what makes Project CARS 2 the most authentic racer. The experience. not the physics, not the true-to life representations of the tracks and the cars, not the multi-player and not the awesome campaign – but the experience: one of real world difficulty and learning to drive a supercar to its maximum threshold. Mastering a corner, a track you’re having problems with realising why different cars react different ways.

It is a real-world experience that is the best part of this game. Also props to the racing engineer system. If you don’t understand tuning then this is a great way to tune and learn at the same time. Super easy.

There are some issues, although not glaring. Along with some network instability when playing multi-player. The AI drivers sometimes just smack in to the back of you if you’re too slow off the launch. Some cars on some tracks are glitchy – making a few rain or ice races impossible. I have found that practicing the same map and going back in to the campaign race does reset this. And the race becomes playable. Rain kills control on some cars even at lower speeds.

All this aside. This is possibly the most I’ve ever been into a racer. Yes, the studio deserves your money. The game, and you, deserve patience in learning the game. Once you have that and you learn, you will respect Project CARS 2 and what Slightly Mad has done.

I am a long time racing fan. I’ve played numerous F1, GRID, NFS Shift, GT and Forza titles, this is the pinnacle of the racing genre for this decade. I’ll be impressed to see an improvement made on this. The issues I’ve mentioned above are simply balancing issues. And this will of course be patched with time.