Disclosure: the author was provided with a review code of this game by Bandai Namco Entertainment Europe

Publisher: Bandai Namco Entertainment
Developer: Slightly Mad Studios
Platform: PC (Review Platform) Playstation 4, Xbox One

Racing simulator, or arcade racer? Since the dawn of gaming it has been a question that has plagued the minds of the people who care about racing games. I have never been one of those people...until now?

It's true that racing simulators are often harder for the average gamer to get in to. More cumbersome handling, no powerslides, boost pads or arsenal of weapons and power-ups, all make it immediately less focused on pure fun for any who don't see shiny sports cars as the definition of cool. There's also less room for creative level design, because of course, the tracks need to be grounded in reality.

On the flip-side, Project Cars delivers some types of fun that would be very difficult to emulate in an arcade style racer. Gear changes are incredibly important as it affects your acceleration time. This is a really engaging & fun aspect as the player needs to be constantly mindful, even when breaking and turning, about what gear will be best to come out of that turn for the optimum burst of speed. You can also burn out your engine if you change gears incorrectly, which is pretty much an instant loss.

Elements like this are actually both a good and bad thing for the game. Incredible care needs to be taken while turning and accelerating at the same time to stop from spinning out of control. Take a slight bump to the front of your car and your steering might lose calibration. The game feels so difficult for beginners that I found myself pretty much unable to finish a single race to start out, let alone win. Every time one of these instant loss mistakes happen, it's probably a good idea just to re-start the race which becomes tedious. After that hurdle has been passed however, and you start to learn the layout of the tracks, completing one single lap without incurring any penalties or breaking your car is exhilarating.

While this game falls firmly in the racing simulator category, Project Cars is unique, in that it attempts to do something other racing simulators have not. It gives the player access to many different types of motorsport, instead of just one. Its self-described sandbox style means that you can access any of its cars and tracks whenever you wish, instead of having to build your skills and unlock everything. It is however, a good idea to start your driving career with Kart One, as the Kart races are the easiest by far in terms of handling. There are over 100 courses and over 100 cars in Project Cars. That's pretty impressive!

The career mode is set up to follow the rules of the actual motorsports you're competing in and your only hope of moving on to the more advanced motorsports is to win championships and impress other teams who might invite you to race for them in special events and eventually join them full-time in the next season. It's nice that you can simply start your career in any motorsport you choose and go from there. The career can get a little repetitive when playing for longer periods because every season you're basically playing the same tracks over and over. If you're the kind of person who likes to jump in for a couple of races at a time though, you can probably make it last.

Though the game is severely lacking in the visual customisation of cars (you only drive real cars with a seemingly random colour) the amount of tweaking of both the car handling and the gameplay elements is staggering. You can turn on guide arrows for tracks, brake and drive assist, and change the difficulty of the AI from 1 to 100%. There are also 3 main difficulty levels which control the use of gear changes and vehicle damage...because the fun in this game mainly comes from its difficulty, these things are probably recommended to be on though...

Other options include everything down to the air pressure of each individual tire and you can even formulate strategies for when your car needs to return to the pit for repair. It's a massive shame that there is no tutorial to speak of and no tooltips to explain just what effect these options have on the gameplay itself. As it stands, unless you know a lot about cars already, you're gonna be leaving those settings at default or risk totalling your car. The menus in general are not particularly well designed. There's too much visual pizzazz but not enough useful information about anything you're actually selecting.

Playing Project Cars online is a bit of a pain in the arse for this reason and a few others. There are almost too many options for people who want to get in to a quick game. You could choose the 'quick race' option but end up in a practice drive with one other person. Quite a pointless exercise. Once you find a race you actually like though, the online is completely functional and just as fun as the single player.

Graphically, Project Cars isn't quite "the most beautiful racing game on the planet" as its website claims. It looks a little too clean and could do with a touch more colour. It also sports some ugly graphical bugs like jagged white outlines on cars. The only time the graphics truly impress is either at sunset or during the rain. The raindrops on the windshields of cars looks fantastic. Either of these conditions will obscure your vision of the track though, so players will probably get annoyed more than anything.

The music, which only plays in the menus, is pretty lame. It's this awkward combination of grunge rock and classical, with hints of opera singing here and there. I understand what they were going for and it's completely reminiscent of the kind of music they have playing when you watch highlights of some sport or other on TV...but it's just cheese overload and I would have probably preferred a selection of licensed music over this. The sound design completely makes up for this though. Engine sounds are beautifully intense and also indicate timings for gear changes perfectly.

Project Cars has a lot going for it and stands to get even better with probable updates from Slightly Mad Studios. The game has also made its way on to the esports scene so I can't see the game fading away any time soon. It has VR support, goes up to 12k resolution and can make use of a whole load of driving themed peripherals. Despite its complete lack of help for new players, once you get to grips with the driving there's a lot of depth and strategy to every combination of car and track. Every turn needs to be handled with care and it's enough to make even someone who's not that fond of racing games pay attention.

(Disclosure: This article was originally created for Gamesnosh.com)