And, to make things more interesting, you’re placed in a division around similarly fast drivers, creating far closer competition. The latter sees you take part in daily, weekly and monthly car and track combos, trying to set the fastest time possible.
#Project cars 3 update 2021 driver
The iRacing inspired ‘Racing Licence’ of PC2 remains (a grade card of your driver skill and safety rating), yet it’s been complemented by new Scheduled Races (also borrowed from iRacing) and a Rivals time trial mode. Even so, initial impressions suggest it may well be the strongest part of the game. Revamped multiplayer with scheduled racesĪt this early stage soon after release, we’ve only had limited experience with Project Cars multiplayer. And yet, there was nothing – just an increased car performance rating. Going to add an aero package to the newly added Honda Civic Type R (which, oddly, is the previous gen FK2 that went out of production three years ago), I expected to see a big rear wing or front splitter. The end result gives you a greater feel of ownership and improves the ability to personalise (there’s also a basic car livery editor), yet it’s not a perfect system. The thinking being that you can take your humble road car and tune it up to the level of a full-on GT3 racer as you progress through the divisions. XP counters fill up left, right and centre after races, yet the attainable goals they create should satisfy those looking for a quick fix.Īnd talking of quick fixes, car upgrades have also been added and form a key part of your ‘ultimate driver journey’. As a concept, it treads the fine line between feeling fun and contrived. This can be done through placing well with higher difficulty settings (a la Forza Motorsport) and hitting objectives (complete 7 clean overtakes in one lap etc). Again, those looking to closely recreate the feel of, say, Formula 3 or GT4 seasons will be disappointed, as each ‘campaign’ is broken down into a number of shorter quick-fire races where the goal is to gain as much XP as possible. With over 200 cars and 120 track layouts from launch, there’s an admirable selection of content to rip through in PC3’s broad career mode. A neat idea and one that will surely become more commonplace on racing titles in the near future. Accessibility has also been improved with a new version of the ‘dynamic racing line’, that uses braking, apex and corner exit markers to gently guide you around the track. No longer are you desperately trying to find the sweet spot in the myriad of controller settings that PC3 (to its credit) still offers, it’s simply a case of loading up a race and nailing the throttle.
Gamepad usability has also taken a massive leap from previous titles, to the point where you may question whether it’s worth getting the wheel out at all. And, to its credit, the handling model (while no doubt a disappointment for PC1 and PC2 fans) continues to be better than what both Forza and Gran Turismo can offer. To judge a game purely against its predecessors, however, is a little short-sighted – especially when PC3 dares to bring the sim racer into such new territory.
The graphics appear to have taken a hit, too – not helped by a highly saturated colour pallet and a number of glitches that have been carried over from PC2. You can of course turn most of the features off, yet you’re then left with a similar experience to PC2, except with what feels like a watered-down physics model. Add this to the motion blur and jarring in-game music, and PC3 screams arcade racer out of the box.
Something also has to be said for the sheer amount of on-screen graphics, readouts and displays that the game defaults to during driving. Mechanical damage, a number of car tuning options and qualifying (at least in single player) have also been jettisoned.
Sure, a wet track can still dry out as the race progresses, but the tyres on your car will stay the same, morphing to whatever the conditions warrant. The excellent LiveTrack weather system remains, yet much of its appeal has been spoiled by the removal of pit stops, tyre wear and even different compounds. What should be roaring engines feel muted at best (and downright odd at worst), while other sound effects such as tyre squeal and impacts with other cars are cartoon-like. Cars are more forgiving and less individual in how they drive, with less nuance to fundamentals such as weight transfer and steering feel. Yet, somehow Project Cars 3 still feels noticeably different from its predecessors. Happily, SMS Studios insist that the underlying physics engine has been maintained.
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