With Project Motor Racing’s release on November 25 rapidly approaching, developer Straight4 Studios has shown off some of the first official gameplay footage via a three-minute direct capture video.
Posted to on the official Project Motor Racing YouTube channel, the video is an on-board look at a short portion of a race that features the Saleen S7R amid a field of GT and LMP machinery. The race takes place around the 3.957 km (2.459 mi), ten-turn Canadian Tire Motorsport Park — or “Mosport” — road course, while the AI has been set to its maximum difficulty to ensure the game is at its “most authentic setting”.
This video is a first chance to see just how the game engines mesh in motion, with the purpose-built Hadron physics engine running beneath GIANTS Software’s own titular game engine — famous for the Farming Simulator series — which provides the visuals.
Right from the start — where we also catch a first glimpse of the Chevrolet Corvette C5.R and what appears to be a Cadillac Northstar LMP — it’s likely that the audio will catch your attention. S4S promises that this video isn’t post-processed, and the sounds do appear to have some meat to them. We can hear feedback through gear changes, running over sausage curbs, chassis rattle, and even debris rolling across the Saleen’s undercarriage.
Powered by a 7.0-liter V8 sending 600hp to the rear wheels and clocking in at 1,150kg (2,535lb), you would expect the S7R to have bit of an attitude problem when pushed, and that certainly seems the case here. While certainly a rapid machine, it takes very little to upset the rear wheels but it’s kept under control as it finally overtakes the first Corvette C5.R on the inside of Turn 5’s Moss Corner.
Throughout the clip, the Saleen definitely looks like quite the handful around the Ontario-based racing venue with a lot of steering input needed to keep it on the circuit and pointing the right way. The AI does look to have the measure of the player, even if there is some pretty typical door-closing from the Corvette on the way through, and that Cadillac makes no forward progress at all in the two laps…
Visually the game seems pretty busy, with big chunks of rubber being flung up early on and what look like leaves blowing across the track mid-circuit. From what we can see of the car’s interior, it does look like you could reach out and touch it (let’s hope PlayStation 5 players will eventually get PS VR2 support).
However there’s also some flat textures on the infield and some issues with shadows, though we don’t really know the settings or device specification used for the video; we’ll definitely need some console footage in the near future too!
With a month and a bit left to go — Project Motor Racing releases on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series consoles, and PC on November 25 — it’s likely we’ll be seeing plenty more over the coming weeks, revealing more gameplay as well as cars and tracks that have yet to be announced.
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