It’s been talked about for a long time. But with a Project CARS 3 Announce Trailer and Summer release date revealed, we’ll soon all finally discover what Slightly Mad Studios have been working on.
The new sequel was confirmed to exist back in December 2018. And since then we’ve seen Slightly Mad Studios acquired by Codemasters in November 2019. And the Madness engine developed by Slightly Mad has been used for Automobilista 2 from Reiza Studios, which appeared on Steam Early Access at the end of March 2020.
And now we know Project CARS 3 will arrive in Summer 2020 for the PC, Xbox One and PlayStation 4.
Details from the official site states you’ll be able to race more than 200 ‘Elite-Brand’ race and road cars, and there will be more than 140 global tracks (presumably referring to layouts or including fictional creations).
So the Project CARS 3 car list is likely to be more high end supercars than entry-level hatchbacks.
Project CARS 3 will have a new career mode, aimed at being more engaging and allowing you to decide your own journey. Along with car customisation using realistic performance parts, car liveries, and driver personalisation.
It will also have a new tyre model for “convincing and fun handling”, a 24 hour, dynamic all-weather, and all-season system. And the PC version will have 12K and VR support. Also mentioned are new multiplayer and community modes, plus daily challenges, intense crash effects, authentic content, and enhanced AI.
The big news for console owners is that the controller handling should be massively improved. Which was one of the biggest flaws in the previous Project CARS games from my personal experience.
The Project Cars 3 Announce Trailer
All looks and sounds pretty good, but the trailer and discussion of assists and fun handling has worried some sim racing fans. Especially with the trailer showing cars bumping and not receiving damage.
The idea is to make Project CARS 3 more accessible to anyone new to sim racing, and to ease the transition from arcade titles. But Slightly Mad Studios are apparently going to try and do that whilst also retaining hardcore sim racing fans.
It’s an admirable aim. Going from a semi-serious game like Forza Motorsport or Gran Turismo Sport straight into editing files to get a racing wheel and DLC working on rFactor 2 is quite a jump, for example. So being able to cater to both audiences makes sense.
But it’s also a challenging one. The Forza franchise split into two titles, and still isn’t seen as accurate enough on the Motorsport side. And the Codemasters acquisition has inevitably led to comparisons with their recent release of GRID, which isn’t a hardcore racing sim.
And the idea of sim racing being a bit too elitist and off-putting, or serious challenges dissuading players has been something game developers have tried to tackle for decades. It’s something mentioned by the team working on Project Gotham Racing in the early 2000s, for example.
We’ll have to wait and see what the actual options and assists will be, and whether they can successfully accomodate new and experienced racers alike.
In the meantime, the Project CARS social media channel has released some images of the Chevrolet Corvette C8.R at Interlagos (also featured in the announce trailer), and the Acura NSX GT3. Plus there’s the Mercedes AMG GT3 and Acura NSX on a road course in the trailer.
And the trailer clip of Interlagos features a field of 32 cars, including what appear to be Audi R8 LMSs, Ford Mustang GT3s etc.
As you would expect, we’ll be sharing all the latest Project CARS 3 news, updates and more as the release date approaches. Along with all pre-order details, including special editions and pre-order bonuses.
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