It's finally time to get the wheels rolling again
Project Cars it was a pretty cool experiment, one of those games that tried to bring a bit of simulation into a genre gaming where arcade driving games prevailed.
After a first title that had aroused the interest of the public, and a sequel that had come as close as possible to the simulation, Bandai Namco has released the new Project Cars 3 for virtually all gaming platforms, that is PlayStation 4, Xbox One e PC.
Will this new title be able to keep the attention on the series high?
Goodbye simulation, welcome arcade
If there is one detail that immediately caught the eye of fans, it is the style of play. Unlike its predecessors, Project Cars 3 abandoned the driving simulator idea and instead embraced a more a-oriented experience arcade gameplay.
All this brings with it rather clear differences compared to other games, which modify it driving style adopted during the races and game strategies to be able to take home the victory on the podium.
While in classic driving simulators it is essential to learn how to better manage own resources, brake at the right moments, take the curves with the correct speed and learn to dose the speed so as not to look like low-flying missiles, in Project Cars 3 this is no longer the main focus.
Given the more arcade nature, we will often find ourselves taking advantage of things like the wall jumping to get back on the road after a too hasty curve, or to take advantage of an opponent's maneuver in a curve to "crash”Against him by rapidly reducing our speed and allowing us to perform challenging stretches of road at our best.
The physics is based on the engine Nvidia Physx, which returns not always optimal results once you get on board our racing car. It will not be strange, in fact, to find yourself off the road due to a speed even slightly higher than necessary, while the racing terrain does not return a feedback properly relevant to what it should.
Even the machines, for their part, sometimes seem too light. As evidence of this, we will often find ourselves in difficulties trying to carry out certain maneuvers at high speeds or during a car curb that will inevitably make us change direction with respect to the desired one.
All of this does not necessarily turn into one negative criticism to the driving model, but forces players to more style aggressive and less reasoned in certain circumstances, leaving out the possibility of dosing brakes and acceleration in a millimeter way for greater brutality at the wheel.
To put the icing on the cake you put theArtificial intelligence, which in Project Cars 3 often tends to put i spanner in the works to the player incorrectly, abruptly braking in corners or overtaking attempts and ramming the player in delicate moments that could result in the loss of one's position.
The same aggressive attitude does not occur, however, among the other AI-driven drivers, who instead continue their race as if nothing had happened. In the event that we manage to reach the head of the race (which is not exactly easy without adopting an aggressive driving style) we will have to pay particular attention not to commit not even a mistake, under penalty of almost instant achievement by the opponents.
To close the circle, there is practically no one penalty for damage to the car and not even visible feedback on the car. Crashing into an opponent, therefore, is practically a gesture due which carries with it almost no repercussions.
Hours and hours of content
But now enough talking about the defects, because while it is true that Project Cars 3 has abandoned realism in favor of the arcade, with some flaws rather annoying e difficult, it is also true that it brings with it a lot of interesting and extremely fun and varied content.
Between ben 211 cars featured in the game, including cars of the most famous brands such as Ferrari, Lamborghini, Bugatti, McLaren e Porsche we will certainly be able to find the car that best matches our taste and driving style.
And among all these beauties also great classics such as the historical one make their appearance Dallara di Formula E Bentley Speed 8 winner a Le Mans and the inimitable Lotus 98T led by a certain Ayrton Senna, one of the greatest drivers the motor racing world has ever known.
Also notable is the amount of runway on which to run that amounts to well 51, with some of them set in our Italy, and that between classic versions and tracks whose layout is modified for certain types of races reach a total of well 121.
The same variety seen in the slopes can also be found in the weather conditions. Running in the sun is nice, but taking on a race in torrential rain or at sunset makes it more exciting and fun, especially when you slip off the road because your eye has inadvertently moved to the corner of the screen to observe it. beautiful sunset behind the streets of Tuscany.
As if that weren't enough, all this is joined by one career mode long and well thought-out, consisting of several races to be tackled with cars of different types, classified by category (for example, we will start in the championship "Road E"And we will be able to reach the"Road A", then "GT-A"And"GT-Open"Much later).
Each race brings with it different goals to achieve, and the more goals we complete, the more races we unlock. Then there is no shortage events by invitation, multiplayer races online and much more.
Garage mode and on-road modifications
A further strong point of the production is certainly the possibility of personalize your car in many different areas.
Through the upgrades screen we will be able to get our hands on different parameters, such as your shape of urethane, the brakes body snorkel,fuel injection, engine, differential broadcast and much more.
On the one hand, in the long run these upgrades tend to flatten slightly the differences between the various cars of the same category. On the other hand, by learning to wisely dose the changes, we will be able to create thefinal car who can more easily keep up with our desires.
Once the structure of the car itself has been modified, we can also have fun customizing it, with a menu dedicated to styles complete with many possibilities.
Not just the livery, But also the builder logo personalized plate, the circles and your shape of urethane they can be modified at will. The only limit in this sense is ours imagination.
Graphics yes, graphics no
If there is one detail that most of all can make you turn your nose up, it is certainly the graphic sector. Compared to its predecessor, Project Cars 3 seems to have accomplished a leap backwards hardly negligible in the review.
The version tested is the one for Xbox One X, in practice the most powerful console on the market to date. Yet we will not find it difficult to notice any flatter textures than in the past, to some graphic artifacts quite impressive that arise in certain circumstances (such as rain) and more.
The choice of Slightly Mad Studios it seems taken to maintain a high framerate on console, which settles on 60 frames per second in most cases, but which shows the side to the gods micro-slackening in circumstances where environmental factors such as rain or mist intrude on the track.
Honorable mention, however, must be made for the photo mode. Project Cars 3 brings with it a really well done photo mode, which provides players with a quantity of settings that are not exaggerated but very versatile and capable of creating truly striking automotive panes.
Who has some practice of photography, therefore, will be able to decide thefocal aperture as well as the distance of focus compensation of the same focal length, different filters to apply (among which we include some filters dedicated to Sin City e Matrix very welcome), the possibility of inserting the grana or even a feint chromatic aberration (very suggestive).
In short, if you like to create racing scenes particularly interesting and dynamic, rest assured that in this game you will spend several hours looking for the most suggestive views.
Project Cars 3: yes or no?
At the end of it all, Project Cars 3 is a title worth spending the money on full price of the ticket?
Most likely, No.. The game is beautiful and rich in content, and will know how to tear you apart tens of hours of fun on the track between career modes and customization, artistic photos and races launched, but show the side to different problems which could be quite annoying to anyone who has been chewing on car racing for years.
Should you also find it with one more than minimal discount then you would have an interesting title in your hands, but don't force yourself to buy one steering wheel it's a pedal board for the game Slightly Mad Studios; a controller that's all it takes, the rest would be wasted.
