The first Project Cars game was a hardcore racing simulator that could only be enjoyed by hardcore car enthusiasts and racing sim fans.
The game’s third iteration has chosen to go a slightly different route and make the game a lot more accessible to casual players.
In this post, we’ll take a look at what Project Cars 3 has to offer and whether it’s worth your money or not. We’ll also provide some alternatives that you can consider buying as well.
Project Cars 3
With over 211 cars to choose from, the third iteration of the Project Cars motor racing franchise has a lot of content to explore. Not only that, but it’s a lot more accessible to casual gamers who just want to have a fun time and detailed enough for hardcore racing sim fans.
Alternate #1
iRacing
iRacing is a subscription-based racing simulator with over 100 cars to choose from. With online races, dynamic tracks and highly detailed customization, this racing sim is a treat for racing fans all over the world. It also has a highly active community that you can constantly engage with.
Alternate #2
Assetto Corsa
Assetto Corsa came out in 2014 and it’s still relevant today as one of the best racing simulators currently available. Not only does it offer a wide level of detail when it comes to tuning, but it also has a massive and highly dedicated modding community.
Quick Summary of the Main Product
Hardcore racing fans may not like the direction that the third iteration of Project Cars has gone to. However, it’s a welcome addition by casual gamers that just want to have a fun time and experience dynamic racing with a myriad of different types of racing cars.
You still get the same fantastic dynamic weather that you did with previous iterations. Furthermore, even though the game has more forgiving racing physics, you still get the same level of detail when it comes to tuning options for your cars.
The game can be played regularly as well as in VR. Slightly Mad Studios has ensured that the game is well-optimized for a racing wheel, a VR headset as well as a regular gaming controller.
Features and Benefits
Career Mode
The career mode for Project Cars 3 is extremely fleshed out and rewards the player for their progress.
It’s split into 10 different classes with some being road while other being race classes.
The sense of progression is great as you go from a hobbyist to a racing icon.
Stunning Graphics by Slightly Mad Studios
The graphics in Project Cars 3 are incredibly pleasing with dynamic particle effects and realistic crashes.
Dynamic Race Track and Weather
The race track and the weather within Project Cars 3 changes as you race on the track, just as a real-life track would.
This adds a whole new level of immersion that you rarely see in most racing games.
Support for VR and Racing Wheel
As mentioned earlier, Project Cars 3 has optimized support for both VR headsets as well as racing rigs and steering wheels.
Factors to Consider Before you Decide to Buy Project Cars 3
Price
The price of Project Cars 3 is about what you would expect from any AAA title. That being said, we wish it was a little lower as most other racing sims aren’t quite as expensive.
User-Friendliness
Project Cars 3 is a lot more accessible to casual gamers than its predecessors. Hence, it’s a lot more forgiving when it comes to most aspects of driving compared to other racing sims.
Nausea and Motion Sickness
Within VR, you may experience some motion sickness initially as you may not be used to how the game moves. However, after some time, you’ll feel fine as your eyes adjust.
Advantages and Disadvantages
- Career mode
- Great customization options
- Numerous cars to choose from
- Magnificent sound design
- Visually stunning
- Relatively expensive
Social Proof
We wanted to see what others thought of Project Cars 3 which is why we checked out some user reviews on Steam.
Here’s what they had to say:
Similar to Project Cars 3 (Recommendations)
#1: Best Subscription-Based Alternative - iRacing Review
If Project Cars 3’s steep price and arcade-like style doesn’t suit you, then iRacing is definitely worth considering.
It’s a great racing sim with a subscription-based model. You can play it to test over 100 cars on the race track.
It boasts dynamic race tracks, online races and a ranking system that allows you to race others from all over the world and climb up the ranks.
Factors to Consider Before you Decide to Buy iRacing
Price: As mentioned above, iRacing has a subscription-based model that you pay monthly. It’s quite reasonable and definitely a worthy purchase if you want a high-quality racing simulator.
User-friendliness: The great thing about iRacing is that you can tune its settings to suit yourself. You can turn on automatic transmission, traction control, ABS and much more if you’d like.
However, if you’d like a more hardcore experience, then you can turn those off as well.
Nausea and motion sickness: You may have to deal with nausea initially as you struggle with winning races. However, once you get used to the environment and how your racing car moves, the feelings of nausea will subside.
- Dynamic tracks and weather
- Dynamic ranking system
- Online racing
- Great collection of cars
- Affordable
- Subscription-based model may not suit everyone
Best Subscription-Based Alternative
The best subscription-based alternative is iRacing. Unlike Project Cars 3, it’s more of a hardcore racing sim than an arcade-style racing game. This is something that would appeal to more hadcore racing fans.
#2: Best Hardcore Alternative - Assetto Corsa Review
Assetto Corsa came out in 2014 and to this day, it is hailed as one of the best racing sims in the market.
This is for good reason because Assetto Corsa has the most intricate and detailed car tuning system we’ve seen.
Furthermore, it has an incredibly active modding community that churns out incredible AAA-quality mods for it regularly.
Factors to Consider Before you Decide to Buy Assetto Corsa
Price: Since it’s fairly old, you can get Assetto Corsa for a stupidly cheap price. We definitely feel it’s a worthwhile purchase.
User-friendliness: You may find Assetto Corsa confusing if you don’t know too much about cars. However, for the car nuts out there, this racing sim has everything and more.
Nausea and motion sickness: When it comes to Assetto Corsa, the VR mod is not as polished. Hence, some users do experience motion sickness, especially in custom races. That being said, there are also many users that do not face any motion sickness issues.
- Realistic car sounds
- Realistic car physics
- Immersive graphics
- Numerous car packs and DLCs available
- Numerous mods to download and try out
- Great customization options
- May not be suitable for casual gamers
Best Hardcore Alternative
The best hardcore alternative is Assetto Corsa thanks to its realistic car physics, incredible tuning options and wide collection of cars to choose from.
Buyer’s Guide
Price
The price of the VR game or racing sim that you buy will depend a lot on what your budget is and how much you’re willing to spend.
Many racing sims are fairly cheap when it comes to the base game. However, they come with several paid DLCs that you may need in case you want to race with certain cars.
For example, Assetto Corsa has many games as part of its base game. However, it has a ton of paid DLCs that can add a lot more cars such as its JDM pack, Porsche pack and more.
Additionally, you also have a ton of paid mods that you can add to it as well.
This is the case with many other VR racing sims as well. Hence, you really have to take your budget into consideration when you are in the market to buy a racing sim to give you an immersive VR experience.
User-Friendliness
When it comes to racing sims, you really have to be careful when you pick them since many of them will depend on the level of detail that you want.
If you’re really into cars, then you may want something that’s extremely realistic and has a ton of tuning options available. Hardcore racing fans love a racing sim where you can spend hours just tuning your cars and coming up with new setups to race with.
On the other hand, if you just want to pick up your controller and enjoy a fun race in VR, then you may not want that level of detail.
Hence, you must really understand what you want out of your VR racing game.
Do you want a fleshed-out racing simulator or do you just want a fun racing game?
This is the question you must ask yourself and then, choose a VR racing game accordingly.
A hardcore racing sim may not be the right choice for you if you’re just a casual gamer who wants to have a fun time. On the other hand, it may be exactly what you want if you’re a car nut.
In the end, it’s all about assessing what your needs are.
Nausea and Motion Sickness
Some games work extremely well in VR whereas others are not so well-optimized.
All of the options in this post are games that were originally created as regular games. However, they also have a virtual reality component that you can take advantage of.
As you may expect, some developers have spent a lot more time and budget on the VR aspect of their games than others. Hence, some VR experiences may be a lot smoother than others.
Naturally, if a developer hasn’t spent time polishing their VR experience, it may feel odd and out-of-place. Due to this, you may feel nauseous when you play it. Of course, this would be an extremely unpleasant experience and something that you want to avoid at all costs.
To get an idea of whether or not a game’s VR experience is well-polished or not, you can check out online reviews for it. You can also check out gameplay footage online to get an idea of whether or not it would be right for you.
Wrapping Things Up
That’s it for our Project Cars 3 review.
In the end, we must say that if you’re looking for a hardcore racing sim, you might be disappointed. However, if you just want a fun, arcade-style experience, then Project Cars 3 is definitely worth trying out.
This is true for both the VR version as well as the regular version.
Let us know what you think in the comments below.
