Project CARS 3 Launches to Mixed Reviews

This game is really good! My Discord voice to text to SMS Staff.

@SMS Staff, I've had to do time to do a small comparison. I don't really find the handling to be too far from a Project CARS 2. I personally think the handling is an improvement.

On the T300 I left tone at 50 like I did in Project CARS 2. I just adjusted strength.

To be honest whatever people want to call them magic tires or Harry Potter tires. I found it to be more natural. you're not trying to fight to keep the car on track but you can actually feel when you're starting to lose grip and you can regain it.

So, it might not be the sim that some people want but I'm going to enjoy it!
 
From Eurogamer " So is it a sim or isn’t it? After a couple of dozen hours with it, I’m not entirely sure myself"

What kind of review is this ? Seriously ?

And why a game can be considered only on one extreme (sim) or the other (arcade) ? (Like Jimmy Broadbent and many others pretend).

Sims are not a absolute statement, there are so many areas to simulate that no one is a 100% sim. By definition it's always be a relative state (even if the developper wants it to be a sim it has to be near perfect in every area... and if a game was 100% simulation that means it will be very long and tedious in many races).

You can analyse the value of simulation in every single area but not in global, that has no sense to me.

Labels are fake knowledge.
 
As soon as I saw the first reveal videos I was disappointed:yuck:. I knew right away I was going to pass.BTW just finished loading Pcars1I had removed it to make room for part 2 and other titles. When I got pcars1 I was on Ds4 pad so I was disappointed. Then I got wheel and tryed pcars2 and loved It. So reloaded It for yellow bird and arial atom and I'm like this is sick!! what an amazing title!
 
Last edited:
Inferno251
Do you guys think that the game's development was affected by the Codemasters' buyout? And if so, to what extent?
Click to expand...

I doubt Codemaster did anything to the direction of the game went but I guess the buyout might have force the game out earlier to complete whatever contract SMS signed with Bandai Namco before the buyout. Despite the studio is now owned by Codemaster, all the marketing and publishing for pCARS 3 seems to be done by Bandai Namco.
 
Seems like a streak of bad decisions over there at Codemasters, the F1 and Dirt games have been solid and well acclaimed, but all their side projects have gotten lukewarm reception. I see them trying to diversify their games output, but so far they haven't been too successful.
 
Regarding that last review.

I honestly can't understand why people praise this kind of career mode.
The career mode PCARS 2 had wasn't perfect. It could be quite "depthless" and needed some work (to be fair, so did the game itself). But the kind of career mode PCARS 3 has is the kind we've been fed for so many years, it's the typical "get medals, win "championship", unlock next category". And it's not done the way the old great Gran Turismo games did it either. It's just so bland, uninspired and boring.
PCARS 2 gave us something no other game, apart from Codemasters' F1 games, has given us: a CAREER mode. Something that simulates a career of a driver in the world of Motorsport. Going from the lowest ranks to the highest, while participating in endless full seasons and actually contesting for championships season after season as if we were actually racing irl.

That may be just me, nonetheless, but everything PCARS 3 does is so uninspired, it's a game that is just "meh" all around.
 
Last edited:
Just be glad it's at least a complete full priced game unlike GRID with more cars and tracks. I still don't expect it to hit bargain prices as soon as that game.
 
I haven't seen anything thing yet in a positive way that would make me want to get this game right now. It appears that it's heavily tilted towards the controller players. Maybe way down the line after a few patches they might come up with something I would like to try but definitely not now.

It shouldn't have been called Project Cars 3. It just doesn't look to me like it's got anything to do with the previous versions of those games that were both great. It does look to be a true successor to Shift 2, which I'll be honest about, I didn't like. I don't care anything about XP, upgrades, achievement markers, career, or any of that stuff. A lot of people say a game needs to give you a sense of progression or accomplishment, but that's just not me. Maybe it's my short attention span but I don't have a need or want of any of that stuff. I want my single player, offline, certain number of laps or time, against proper race classes not PIR numbers.

Heck I didn't even mind seeing pitstops and damage go away as I didn't use them. But then they took away most everything else that I did use. Oh well, Project Cars 2 is still awesome. Assetto Corsa Competizione is great and is just going to get better with the GT4 and British GT DLC's. F1 2020 is great too. So I'll have plenty to keep me busy while I wait to see if Project Cars 3 can get their act together and maybe fix this mess.
 
Ben's video doing the Indy 500 in Pcars 3 was more than enough for me to make my purchasing decision.

Started at the back on the hardest AI difficulty, and managed to finish first without a front or back wing...I mean how can this game be even considered remotely sim if damage has no influence on the car. Multiple AI cars also managed to keep up with the pack without back wings etc. I hope he had damage to visual only but still...the 20 lap race was just boring to watch without any factor or weather or wear and by the end you could hear Ben isn't that keen to spend a lot of time with the game.
 
R9NALD9
Ben's video doing the Indy 500 in Pcars 3 was more than enough for me to make my purchasing decision.

Started at the back on the hardest AI difficulty, and managed to finish first without a front or back wing...I mean how can this game be even considered remotely sim if damage has no influence on the car. Multiple AI cars also managed to keep up with the pack without back wings etc. I hope he had damage to visual only but still...the 20 lap race was just boring to watch without any factor or weather or wear and by the end you could hear Ben isn't that keen to spend a lot of time with the game.
Click to expand...

It definitely falls short of a pure simulation game. I can understand the disappointment among project cars supporters.

But there have been many popular racing games that try to blend sim racing with arcade. They don't have pit stops or more than cosmetic damage in many cases either.

I don't think its fair to call PC3 an arcade racing game. The handling is actually quite challenging with some or all of the assists off.
 
R9NALD9
Ben's video doing the Indy 500 in Pcars 3 was more than enough for me to make my purchasing decision.

Started at the back on the hardest AI difficulty, and managed to finish first without a front or back wing...I mean how can this game be even considered remotely sim if damage has no influence on the car. Multiple AI cars also managed to keep up with the pack without back wings etc. I hope he had damage to visual only but still...the 20 lap race was just boring to watch without any factor or weather or wear and by the end you could hear Ben isn't that keen to spend a lot of time with the game.
Click to expand...

I saw in a video that the damage is temporary, after some seconds the car is "repaired" even is the visual keeps "damaged".

Damage is not only visual, but temporary.

Jepadante
It definitely falls short of a pure simulation game. I can understand the disappointment among project cars supporters.

But there have been many popular racing games that try to blend sim racing with arcade. They don't have pit stops or more than cosmetic damage in many cases either.

I don't think its fair to call PC3 an arcade racing game. The handling is actually quite challenging with some or all of the assists off.
Click to expand...

The different points of view about handling and physics is disturbing me, some say that handling and physics are top notch and some that it is simplified or muted ... Maybe many of them have aids on ?
 
NekoPufferPPP
He loved PC2, at least the immersion aspect of it. He literally cries in the XJR-9 at Daytona in VR.

Every time he played PC2, he said he doesn't understand why he doesn't play it more often.

He even says in this very video at 0:35 - "There's no better game for immersion than Project CARS 2".


Being someone who has played a plethora of simulators, and has experience with them, I'd say his opinions are quite credible. He is right.
Click to expand...


Indeed in that race he does enjoy it. Curious how he says he should play it more but never does.

And even explains in multiple videos why he doesn't.
 
NotMrJoker
Regarding that last review.

I honestly can't understand why people praise this kind of career mode.
The career mode PCARS 2 had wasn't perfect. It could be quite "depthless" and needed some work (to be fair, so did the game itself). But the kind of career mode PCARS 3 has is the kind we've been fed for so many years, it's the typical "get medals, win "championship", unlock next category". And it's not done the way the old great Gran Turismo games did it either. It's just so bland, uninspired and boring.
PCARS 2 gave us something no other game, apart from Codemasters' F1 games, has given us: a CAREER mode. Something that simulates a career of a driver in the world of Motorsport. Going from the lowest ranks to the highest, while participating in endless full seasons and actually contesting for championships season after season as if we were actually racing irl.

That may be just me, nonetheless, but everything PCARS 3 does is so uninspired, it's a game that is just "meh" all around.
Click to expand...

Completely agree , I think if the career mode of PC2 was fettled it would of been great.
Enter GT3 in one of the lesser cars not nessarily win but finish where expected and receive invites to test for other teams showing consistency and pace on certain circuits with the more prestigious teams like AF Corsa being hard to get into.
Invites from teams competing in Le Man etc to drive the car in that race and so on.

PC2 does so much right but PC3 career seems so lazy , its gone back to everything I dislike in a racing game. It feels like its aimed at my 10 yr old nephews.
 
Not a fan of series but have owned all project cars games, and 3 is the most intrested one for me, car upgrades was the best thing could happen to get the more fun factor in my opinion, it gives road cars more use now, i am going to enjoy this one for sure
 
Well. Most reviewers I do respect are actually hating this game. To be honest I don't care about IGN reviews or Eurogamer (they are loving most of the bigger games unfortunately even those which end up being bad) but when I see Broadbent, Simracing604, RandomCallsign and similar person that are actually not liking it then is something wrong with the game in my opinion.
 
Quoted by @Jordan, nice :gtpflag:

Jepadante
I don't think its fair to call PC3 an arcade racing game. The handling is actually quite challenging with some or all of the assists off.
Click to expand...
Challenging doesn't equal accurate, the handling (as an extreme example) in the Ridge Racer series is challenging to get good at, doesn't make it accurate.


oneloops
The different points of view about handling and physics is disturbing me, some say that handling and physics are top notch and some that it is simplified or muted ... Maybe many of them have aids on ?
Click to expand...
I've run multiple cars with assists on and off (and every combination) and would put the handling between the likes of GT/FM and PC2/AC/ACC. It's more accurate than the likes of GT and FM, but it's lost the depth and nuance of past PC titles and the likes of AC and ACC.

That doesn't stop it being enjoyable, and right now I'm having a lot of fun with it.

MroczMR
Well. Most reviewers I do respect are actually hating this game. To be honest I don't care about IGN reviews or Eurogamer (they are loving most of the bigger games unfortunately even those which end up being bad) but when I see Broadbent, Simracing604, RandomCallsign and similar person that are actually not liking it then is something wrong with the game in my opinion.
Click to expand...
Sorry, but that doesn't mean something is wrong with it, what it means is it's not a title for them.

Doesn't like is quite a different thing to it being broken or wrong in some way.
 
It can't be that difficult to make a perfect RacingSim? Just take the graphics from Driveclub, the sound and physics from AssettoCorsa, the tracks, cars and setting options from ProjectCars 2 and the game design and multiplayer from GranTurismo 5. Just pick out, what every competitor does best and try to copy it. That would be the perfect Sim for me. But Project Cars 3 is a betrayal on the community and a big disappointment in almost every fashion. For me as a PS4 gamer PC2 almost perfect. SMS could have just gone from there. Fix all the bugs, add more cars and tracks and pimp the carrier mode. All that Arcade-stuff they could have put in as on option and just ask the player at the start of the game "Hey, what do you prefer? More Arcade or more Sim and single- or multiplayer" and set the tone of there. I think PC3 is the result of poor management decisions and bad project management. They just didn't know where to go with this game. So sad.
 
MagpieRacer
Having played PC3 for a good few hours now, I would take both his videos with a carton of salt. Massive agenda, he didn't like PC1 or PC2 and there are some clear and blatant inaccuracies in his impressions.
Click to expand...
Indeed. This game cannot be reviewed from a sim perspective, so long as we ignore Ian's initial words of course.

Still, he was a PC1 backer. He had no initial disdain for SMS..., until he end up having, so his review and the review of many others from the sim community (90% of them hate SMS remember) shouldn't be taken as even accurate in what it comes as a dissapointment of a game.

Another story and where they are right is the subject about recycled content, which is full PC2 repacked with some more tracks and that would be all, with just the tunning extras and little more. That's where I think PC3 fails, and makes me wonder what the heck they have been doing for these long three years?
 
fernandito
Another story and where they are right is the subject about recycled content, which is full PC2 repacked with some more tracks and that would be all, with just the tunning extras and little more. That's where I think PC3 fails, and makes me wonder what the heck they have been doing for these long three years?
Click to expand...

Less tracks actually. Yes they have added some new ones, but there are more which were cut from PC2.
 
fernandito
Indeed. This game cannot be reviewed from a sim perspective, so long as we ignore Ian's initial words of course.

Still, he was a PC1 backer. He had no initial disdain for SMS..., until he end up having, so his review and the review of many others from the sim community (90% of them hate SMS remember) shouldn't be taken as even accurate in what it comes as a dissapointment of a game.

Another story and where they are right is the subject about recycled content, which is full PC2 repacked with some more tracks and that would be all, with just the tunning extras and little more. That's where I think PC3 fails, and makes me wonder what the heck they have been doing for these long three years?
Click to expand...

I don't buy the recycled content stories on a majority of games. Of course most of it is going to come back, we had this argument with Dirt Rally, they arent going to waste time going back to remodel everything or give us a list of 200 totally different cars when the list thatvwas there and that PC3 has is very strong.

Tracks, yeah could have done with some more new ones and they've been stung with high license fees kn some that were in PC2. But again, its a comprehensive list much like PC2 and the track additions will supposedly all be free.
 
Project Cars 3 enters the room. A banner reads: Hot New Racing Game Release Party.

PC3: Whew boy I'm finally out! I can't wait to take the arcade race market by storm! People are really gonna remember this year's releases! What a year for racing games!

GRID and NFS Heat: Oh hi, so, we have some bad news...
 
David Wright
I would also add that not liking PC1 or 2 does not mean you won't like PC3. Indeed it may well increase your chances of liking PC3. The Eurogamer review is an example.
Click to expand...
I'm one of the latter.

Never really paid the first two games much interest (there was always a new Forza to look forward to), but with the change in direction and a lack of a new Forza this year I've been interested in playing this one.

I don't need a "hardcore super serious simulator", and for deep strategy I have F1 2020. :)
 
In regards to the “all the sim you could want” comment, I am scratching my head. They made a game for people who don’t want a sim. More power to them. But to try to also rope in the sim crowd is very unfortunate. Anyone who is into sims will probably have some reservations about this game. Yet people who don’t want a sim may have been scared off from reading that and just assumed this is another hardcore game where a wheel is a must.
 

Latest Posts

Back