Project Cars 2 review
Xbox Reviews

Project Cars 2 review

Let me start by saying that the first Project Cars from Slightly Mad Studios was an outstanding accomplishment, they put a new IP on the map and has some deserved racing fans that like the simulation genre.  It has some fierce competition with Forza and Gran Turismo but there is nothing as accurate and hardcore as Project Cars on consoles. 

THE GOOD

  • One of the biggest complains from the first Project Cars was the awkward and poor gamepad controls, this sequel is a MASSIVE improvement for controller handling. The feedback is satisfying, handling is more accurate and it is obvious that Slightly Mad Studios did a lot of effort in getting it right.
  • Cars and racing tracks, that’s all you need from a racing game, right? Almost 190 cars and an astonishing 63 tracks.(+ extra lay-outs) needless to say, you can play this game for a very long time.  each track has dynamic time and weather too, impressive!
  • (online) One thing I really adore about the online play from Project Cars 2 is the “back-to-old days” server browser. You have no matchmaking for playing games and believe me when I say that I actually love it. Now you can easily select what server you want to join and you have all the information before you start playing. 
  • The dynamic weather system outmatched the competition and is an incredible impressive feature. Pools of water make corners unpredictable and much harder, Project Cars 2 does it in a much more realistic way than for example Forza Motorsport 7. To be honest, the massive rain in Monaco is one of the most awesome things I have seen in a racing game, the famous tunnel from that track was literally overflowed with water.
  • Project Cars 2 career mode is full with content and a dream for car enthusiasts, 29 (Yes! twenty-nine) different Motorsports. Including Rallycross, prototypes, carting and more. This extensive mode is ridiculously time-consuming and will let gamers race for many years to come.

MIXED FEELINGS

  • The difficulty from Project Cars isn’t something you can miss, even when you lower the AI significantly you will have a hard time reaching the end with a good result. For starters, racing beginners or even long-time Forza drivers will have a long learning curve for controlling the cars, that isn’t bad but it’s difficult. So be sure to realise that Project Cars 2 isn’t your easy to go to racing experience, it will take time, dedication and skill to win in this challenging racing game. Multiple times I was racing a great race, to ruin it by one mistake, one little moment that my attention was off guard and I misjudged a corner, it is great that the game forces you to be on the edge of your seat, you don’t have a rewind function, but some endurance races are really, and I mean really hard. Again, this isn’t a bad thing! Just know what you’re up against.
  • Visually the game doesn’t look bad but it can be a little rough sometimes. Environments have a pretty strong texture pop-in (Xbox One X should solve that) and competition cars in the distance have a laughable low resolution. It especially falls flat compared with the beautiful Forza 7. I’m impressed by the amount of tracks but they all seem lifeless too, you don’t really believe that you are really driving your car around Nürburgring or any other track. Weather effects, the lighting engine and car models (up close) looks really impressive so not everything is bad.

THE BAD

  • One of the most annoying things that can happen is getting a false penalty. Just a while ago Verstappen got an inconsistent penalty in F1  that led to a lot of frustration. (October 2017) The same can happen in Project Cars 2, a message like this can pop up: “Go back into third place” you have a few seconds to do this or you get a massive penalty. When you cut a curve too much or aggressively hit another car. A lot of the times I received this warning without doing anything wrong though, it just isn’t fair and really frustrating.
  • (online) The game has been out for quite some time now and not much people are playing the game online. No need to worry though, because of the server browser you will always have a few full servers. The issue though, I had frequent disconnects and game crashes while trying to launch a game. I hear the same feedback from other gamers, sadly enough. 

Project Cars 2 is without a doubt the best racing simulation game that you can buy, be sure to understand that this game isn’t for most players… the skill necessary to enjoy this little gem is beyond the average player.

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