Is PC3 good?

As some of you might recall, I teased on Instagram that a full review of Project Cars 3 (PC3) was coming. I’ve been playing PC3 for about a week now and like most racing games I approach them with the same basic criteria: Is it fun? What kinds of tracks does it have? and Is it “real enough” to be a competitive and exciting online experience?

Rewinding a bit, many people might not realize that the Project Cars franchise and it’s parent company Slightly Mad Studios was purchased and merged into the UK-based Codemasters game development studio who is famous for titles like DIRT, GRID and the F1 series of games. When the announcement was made in 2019 that Codemasters was going to absorb Project Cars into their portfolio I said to myself… wait, don’t they already have GRID? … along with 100 other questions. As months passed, and teasers of the game were released, my gut reaction became: maybe this will be a best of both worlds game?  With one heavy caveat: PLEASE keep the Madness Physics Engine and not the overused EGO engine found in the flagship Codemasters racing titles.

Now to be fair, I will probably draw some comparisons between PC3 and Forza Motorsports 7 (FM7), as well as PC3’s predecessor Project Cars 2 (PC2) and some other well known titles throughout this article. If you’re not familiar that’s OK, just a fair warning. In addition, I’ve included what I like to call “objection handling” questions that our internal group of hardcore gamers has thrown at PC3 recently.

Game Play Experience

The most important change to PC3 are the CONTROLS. For those of us that played the earlier version, you know that playing without a “racing rig” was near impossible. Codemasters has brought us a version of Project Cars that is finally useable on a console, with a controller. I am happy to report there were no wasted hours-upon-hours of tweaking to be able to make the cars and game playable. phew!

PC3 has taken a 180 from what we’re used to. Where PC2 had a small foot-hold in the “sim” space but was always being stack-ranked against games like iRacing, Assetto Corsa, etc with a constant verdict of “not as good as,”  it’s very apparent that PC3 is aimed at taking a bite out of the Forza “arcade-sim” community who are tired of the “same old game” since the launch of the XBOX One + FM5 in 2013.

“I was just watching a game play video and it looks like a mobile game; It looks like a downgrade from PC2”

If you’ve been watching video clips like the one above from Super GT (who is a well respected eSport racing driver) I could see where someone might think that. In his clip, you notice lots of “behind the car views” which to many of us is an unnatural way to play any racing game, unless it’s Mario Kart. This driving style hasn’t been cool since Sega’s arcade hit “Out Run“ in the ’80s-’90s. Playing from the hood/bumper or in-car is the preferred experience to add a proper level of realism. Anything played from behind the vehicle is going to look and feel like a mobile game, like Forza Street which is intended for a mobile audience. At the end of the day PC3 is a console game; and not a PC-port like PC2.

“I heard they got rid of tire wear”

You’re right… and they got rid of a lot more things too. But for everything that was taken away, you have to look at everything that was added in order to make the experience better. Codemasters has brought their menu system, which includes artistic/modern load screens and a loud color scheme. This means a concise UI but also a bright, vibrant and TV-ad like experience full of animations and cut-aways not unlike Forza Horizon (which Codemasters is involved with through their partnership in Playground Games). The music score of PC3 has changed from the dramatic symphonic operas of PC2 to a more upbeat euro background track (not unlike DIRT). They also removed the depth/layer of the menus, it now takes less clicks to get where you need to be… ON TRACK!  I will admit a “next race” button would be nice in career mode, instead of having to back out one level and select the next race.

Adding to the list, PC3 got rid of the annoying “tire temperature” feature which complicated races and many of us complained about. It took too long to get the tires warm and then it was a challenge to keep them there (depending on the car) during the race. Although tire temps will now start at “optimal”  they will continue to change during racing thereby effecting the overall performance and handling of the vehicle. By removing tire wear and fuel consumption means pit stops became obsolete, but there is method to the madness engine… by removing these “race management” capabilities, it means more track time and more consistent racing. In VRL terms: PARITY. And if that wasn’t enough, the gimmicky Rally and Karting disciplines from PC2 were also scrapped – no big loss there. 

The weather system in PC3 is still better than anything else out there especially the dynamic rain physics versus “avoid puddle left side 3/4s of the way down Silverstone front straight” … because its ALWAYS there. Water moves on the driving surface making the experience very unpredictable, hydroplaning possible, challenging and engaging all at the same time. Overall, PC3’s gameplay experience is much more polished than earlier versions. You can pop in/out of the game easily, and more importantly you won’t be frustrated and rage quit 10 minutes into play.

“From the videos I’ve watched, I am probably gonna pass on PC3. The physics just look jank”

Not to belabor the point, but the physics ARE improved over PC2 – but you’d have to have spent lots of time with PC2 to appreciate what has changed. As mentioned previously, my biggest concern going into PC3 was that Codemasters was going to gut PC2, keep the tracks and the cars and switch to the EGO engine from DIRT/GRID/F1. Thankfully, its still the madness engine, but it’s 1000x more user-friendly. Drifting is possible now with out dying in a firey-blaze or ridiculous rollover. Drafting actually works unlike the “Forza vacuum” and the cars are overall LESS “twitchy.” Street/sports cars are actually enjoyable to drive! … And the race engineer is GONE because modding/tuning cars is now an option NOT a requirement. The new “mod system” (below) is akin to that of other Codemasters titles, simple.

But there is a catch… PC3 (like PC2) is really designed for you to drive like you’re on a proper race track. If you’re smooth and drive the line, you’ll be fast. The game beats you back for driving like an idiot: cutting corners, being overly aggressive, etc results in the “penalty system” kicking in, potentially ruining your session. Again… #drivetheline

More tracks, More interesting cars…

PC3 doesn’t hold the title for “most cars” in a racing game. Does it really need 750 cars of which 25 are the ones you actually care about?  What PC3 does have is roughly 200 cars, many of which are historic race cars setting itself apart from the Forzas, Gran Tourismos and Need for Speeds in that regard. I would argue that PC3 has the largest catalog of “Race Cars” of any racing game out there. PC3 shored up their “street/sports” car entries by bringing in more vehicles (including EVs) to round out the roster. I really don’t see spec Pontiac Aztek being a necessity… but who knows? #DLC.

PC3’s Performance Index/Rating (PIR) or “PI,” as we have called it for ages, is better balanced than Forza. No turbo-charged V8 Buick Roadmasters competing against Golf GTI’s in B-SPEC. This makes the racing tighter and more competitive, especially online. It is nice to know that ALL DLC from PC2 (including tracks), ie: Audi, Porsche, Honda and other packs – is included in PC3 on Day 1. As an aside, racing online with Indy Cars on a “street circuit“ in Shanghai, was actually fun!  The cars were incredibly stable and it wasn’t full of crazy shifting and an exaggerated feeling of speed we’re used to with other games, the KERS was functional and useful, not just a silly “BOOST!” button.

The career tree is much more structured and moves along quickly. Moving up also means leveling up your avatar. There are now 7 driver tiers which basically relate to which cars you have access to (even in quick race). Repeating races to get more currency isn’t bad because “replay value” has been added to PC3 borrowing long forgotten ideas from older games like “corner mastery” and “race specific goals” which lead to in-game bonuses and XBOX achievements … remember when games like Forza 4 and Test Drive had this?

I did find that you will hit an impasse with Career mode around Driver Level-3. You will end up broke very quickly if you try to fill your garage with all the cars. You have to be strategic on which cars “to buy” vs “need to upgrade” to carry into the next tier of competition. The more races you run, the more “brand loyalty” you earn upwards of 25% off (maybe more) the price of upgrades. You can rerun races and get more XP, but you can only earn more $$ if you achieved something that you hadn’t in a previous attempt (a session goal, podium, etc). This means you might be forced to sell cars in order to move up.

Creating your own livery along with subtle customization like: license plates (think Need for Speed), and a huge catalog of wheel assortments is nice.

“I personally don’t like the tracks. I haven’t driven on any real tracks really except for Brands Hatch (that I recognize anyway)”

PC3 does excel when you consider that it includes over 120 different tracks which is huge compared to its competitors. Honestly, I’ll take more tracks and less cars – but better quality cars... PC3 offers you the ability to “level up” a car from street > track > race. Which hits close to home, if you’ve progressed in your real life racing career with the same car.

It’s true, you get a lot of road courses in the beginning of career mode, some of which are carried over and recognizable from earlier versions of GRID. PC3’s “road and city” courses are much better than Rio, Prague, Maple Valley, etc (if you’re familiar with Forza). Adding Interlagos is a nice touch, its a famous, fast, but very technical track. Although, I am still waiting for Mid-Ohio!

Some tracks that were exceptionally difficult or had issues in PC2 have been upgraded. For example: the Mojave “Boa” course now has better flow, Sugo and Bannochbrae (the big lake course) in Scotland have been tweaked to allow better passing zones. And for those that remember the “slippery transitions” at Catalunya – gone!  Another new track which is visually stunning is “Monument Canyon” (basically Castle Valley, Utah) but not the greatest to race on. Admittedly, the list of tracks is huge, and I haven’t explored them all (yet). #moretocome.

Multi-Player (Online) Experience

The AI drivers in PC3 are formidable and will give you a run for your money… but part of my criteria for judging racing games is the online experience. During my week with the game, I’ve spent some time racing online against real players. Overall, online play has been good and more stable than PC2. Out of 10 races, I won my first race at GP Catalunya – mostly because I drove the line while everyone else was doing the typical “shake & bake”, cutting corners and drifting. As for the rest of the races, I averaged 3rd place podiums and a 4th. Mostly because I had a slower car on larger tracks. It’s hard for a McLaren Senna to out run a Rimac or Lotus Evija in a straight line – but the competition was fierce nonetheless.

Multiplayer might not be “as good as” what we’ve come to expect from Forza. However, the lobby is simpler than PC2 and from a stability perspective it’s 100,000x better. A nice bonus for playing online – though you don’t earn $$ – you can still earn “discounts” and “loyalty” for cars you don’t own by completing sessions. Therefore, when you finally earn enough to have that McLaren Senna in your virtual garage, parts/upgrades are much cheaper!

The penalty system is automatic and doesn’t pull punches. You see “cheaters” getting nailed all the time. When the penalty system does kick in …it can be a bit jarring. Take a little too much curbing at the bus stop (T4) at the Glen… WHAM! … 2nd gear limit 60 mph for about 5 seconds. Many might be thinking… “great, you just created a road block or rolling chicane by doing this,”  – quite the opposite… the Devs thought ahead and while you’re being penalized you are immediately put into ghost mode thereby not interfering with the other racers giving them a chance to catch up or pass. PC3 also expanded the online “Reputation” and “Safety” ratings for drivers.  You get and  throughout the race, and at the end it updates your “racing license” and reputation letting other drivers know what you’re like to race with.

“Are they releasing PC on the new system (XBOX Series X)? I don’t want to buy another game for the XBOX One since the Series X will be coming out.”

When I received my physical copy of PC3, I was surprised to see the label at the top “for XBOX One and XBOX Series X”.  However, it is unclear if PC3 is designed to render the full 4k, etc. The Series X WILL have a BluRay drive, so for me that’s just an easy way to retest PC3 on the new console and not have to wait for the digital version to be made available. My hope is that its not just “backwards compatible” but a full 4k experience awaits me on the Series X. I have confirmed in my testing that PC3 is less bandwidth intensive than PC2 and therefore IS stream-able from XBOX to a Windows 10 PC/Laptop with no hiccups.

As for if/when you should buy PC3… that all depends on YOU. Amazon has recently price dropped PC3 to $49.99 and it includes the “Ignition pack” for free (which is merely some visual add-ons for your avatar and car). PC3 does offer a “Season Pass” for around $34.99 with no details yet on what that includes over the next few months.

“Wow – of the 3 Amazon reviews. 2 people said the graphics are terrible… Looks like an Xbox-360 game”

Full transparency – there are some bugs with the graphics – turning off “camera shake” takes care of most of them. But I can see where someone would complain, it makes things look weird when that camera option is enabled. I’ve also noted that the reflections on the hood, in hood view, are very pixelated… almost Super-Nintendo looking – but I’m pretty confident an upcoming patch will fix that.

I did experience another annoying but unimportant graphics glitch which I’ve only experienced (so far) with the Subaru BRZ. I’m carrying this car through career mode starting with the stock Subi-WRC-blue. Randomly the car color would change, usually to red at the start of a race. I figured, well… maybe I should explore the customization screens and repaint my car black and add some vinyls. It still randomly changes to red, and sometimes blue. But my decals and license plate stay in tact!

There is also a “blurry red border” almost like the “blood eyes” effect from DOOM that will edge the screen if you hit something, someone hits you, or if you over-rev the motor. It takes some getting used to. At first I was unsure how to correlate this “redness”  to what was going on in the race – but now it makes sense… visual warning. It’s not overly annoying, but it’s there … though I wish I could turn it off. The HUD is configurable which allowed me to remove a lot of the “mobile game” pop ups many people have criticized thus far (below) providing a more “Forza-like” experience.

“So what’s the verdict on PC3 – Is it worth it?”