Quick Preview: Project CARS

Project CARS is an upcoming racing simulation developed by London-based studio Slightly Mad Studios through the World of Mass Development (WMD) platform, quoted as "A platform for games projects that are funded by the community". This encourages ideas from the game to be outsourced and developed by a community of people outside the studios. The result is a game created by racing sim fans, for racing sim fans.

As seen by the positioning map above, Project CARS is placed in the more realistic area of the racing game spectrum. It is a step more realistic than their last racing game (SHIFT 2) and aims to go head-to-head with some of the most realistic titles, such as iRacing. Project CARS will also be making its way onto current-gen consoles, ending the monopoly power games such as Gran Turismo and Forza Motorsport currently have on the Playstation and Xbox respectively. Let's take a look at what Slighty Mad Studios has to offer.

See the trailer here

Project CARS puts the player in the seat of a professional racing driver as they build their way up from entry-level motorsports to becoming an international racing legend. The game features a wide range of cars to help you reach that goal, including road cars, go-karts, track day machines, supercars, Le Mans Prototypes, Grand Tourers, Open Wheelers and more. In addition, there are new cars set to be added every month with the first one confirmed to be the Lykan Hypersport which famously made an appearance in Fast and Furious 7. There are 110 different courses in 30 environments to race on at launch. The list primarily consists of permanent road courses from around the world, but you will also find city circuits, karting tracks and point-to-point street locations.

Players can take part in career, solo or online events featuring full race weekends with practice sessions, qualifying and race day. Project CARS enables the player to tweak the setup of their car and co-ordinate pit strategies. Planning the race is therefore crucial for success. Other features the game includes are dynamic weather and virtual reality head-gear support, as well as realistic visual and mechanical damage, which you would want to avoid encountering so it doesn't hamper your race weekend. 

Having just gone gold, Project CARS is scheduled to be released in the UK on May 8th on the PC, Playstation 4 and Xbox One. This will come as a relief to fans as the game has been delayed a number of times and it is safe to assume the product is ready to hit the stores in the coming weeks.