Toonzone participated in a demo of Project CARS at the San Diego Comic-Con (SDCC2014). Project CARS is a racing sim game with extra emphasis on realism. Funding for the game was raised by the developer, Slightly Mad Studios, and the World of Mass Development community. While the funding period for the game has ended, WMD members who did contribute are able to play builds and directly provide feedback. Distribution for the crowd-sourced game is being handled by Bandai Namco.
In addition to making use of feedback from WMD members, the Slightly Mad Studios team is also working with racing pros such as former Top Gear “Stig” Ben Collins to further enhance the gaming experience. Project CARS is billed as a game created by the fans, for the fans.
Project CARS features over 70 licensed cars and 80 tracks. Some are licensed tracks that are direct recreations of real-world racing locations, others are designed by the team. Multiple motorsports are available including Touring, Supercars, Le Mans Prototypes and more. Single player mode will allow racers to set their own career path. They’ll be able to specialize in a single discipline or attempt to master them all.
During the demo, we raced on the Brands Hatch course with a controller. Brands Hatch is a digital recreation of the real-life track located in the county of Kent in the UK. The control scheme was easy enough to pick up. If you’re not a hardcore racing game fan, but are interested in Project CARS, we’re told that options exist within the game that allow players to tailor the difficulty to their play style. The graphics were very impressive. Plenty of attention to detail. Multiple camera angles are available. We were able to see active damage to the car as we raced. According to the developer, you’ll be able to feel the effects of tire degradation as you pile on the laps.
We found a Project CARS versus real-life video for the Brands Hatch course with an Ariel Atom racing the track. It’s definitely worth checking out. It speaks to the work that went into making the in-game track as realistic as current gaming technology will allow.
Project CARS is due out on the Xbox One, PS4 and PC this November. The Wii U and SteamOS versions will be available next year. The game will be Oculus Rift (PC) and Project Morpheus (PS4) compatible. For more information, visit the official website.
