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Project CARS has been in development for what feels like forever, and its route to market has been anything but orthodox - it was created with the assistance of an entire community which has provided valuable feedback at each stage of the game's evolution. Now it's finally here - after two high-profile delays - and the end result is every bit as striking and comprehensive as we'd hoped. In fact, it's such a detailed replication of driving that it could prove too hardcore for many casual players.

Project CARS is deadly serious about simulating motorsport - and not just a single discipline, either. You can race karts, road cars, Formula One racers, prototype vehicles and GT cars, with each one providing a different challenge. There are over 100 different circuits to throw these machines around, too, and these are rendered in stunning detail and licked by various amazing weather effects which look incredibly convincing.

A robust career mode allows you to tackle various race classes - which are ranked in tiers - and experience a wide range of different driving styles. Outside of the career, you can set-up races to the tiniest detail, including number of laps, weather, opponent intelligence and much more besides. There's also a online racing to consider, which offers an inexhaustible supply of fresh rivals to take on.

Visually, Project CARS is an absolutely treat. We reviewed the game on Xbox One and found performance to be fantastic; the frame rate was silky-smooth even with the screen packed with vehicles. Lighting effects are convincing and the cars themselves are rendered brilliantly; this is a handsome-looking racer, and easily on par with the best examples of the genre.

There are some niggles to speak of, but they're relatively minor. Your rivals can often display some bizarre behaviour on the track, not just in relation to your car but to other AI-controlled drivers. Some of the racing disciplines are more fleshed out than others, which means you're likely to favour them over some of arguably more exciting modes.

There's also the issue of realism, which might sound like a strange criticism; Project CARS simulates the sport to the extreme, and that means factoring in stuff like tyre degradation and totally random mechanical failures. It takes a special kind of player to find all of these hardships enjoyable, but when you do eventually conquer a testing race without any driving aids and despite many unplanned accidents, it's one of the best feelings in gaming.


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