3 Ways Project CARS 2 Could Trump Gran Turismo Sport

By Luke Reilly

Project CARS 2 and Gran Turismo Sport are two of 2017’s biggest racing games, and they’re both set to duke it out on track for the hearts and minds of driving die-hards at some stage this year.

It’s no secret the Slightly Mad Studios team are gunning for the big, mainstream first-party racing series like Gran Turismo and Forza Motorsport – it was part of their audacious original pitch to unwilling publishers in the first place – but the developer is pushing harder than ever for Project CARS 2.

With a long history of incredible commercial success behind it the Gran Turismo series remains very much the big wheel down at the cracker factory (in terms of racing games only the Need for Speed and Mario Kart series have shifted more copies) but it’s clear now Gran Turismo Sport will actually have less content and fewer features than Project CARS 2.

The question now, then, is can it keep up?

Vehicles and Tracks

Gran Turismo Sport is set to feature approximately 140 vehicles and 19 locations, with 27 possible layouts. This, however, was the content confirmed at the time of its first big gameplay reveal back in May last year. By July (during a presentation at China’s ACG 2016 conference) the number of locations had apparently been revised down to 15, though still with 27 layouts.

Following GT Sport’s subsequent delay from late 2016 to an undetermined point in 2017 it is possible, perhaps, that some of this information is out-of-date – but there’s been no chatter about any drastic increases in content at this stage.

A fraction over 90 of the 140 cars that will feature in GT Sport have either been officially announced or spotted in various screenshots. The mix so far is an assortment of popular and familiar roadgoing tuners and sports cars, some high-end supercars, a smattering of GT3 cars from 2011-2016, and some ageing LMP racers. Bolstering the final figure is a selection of fantasy cars, including a number of the series’ unique ‘Vision GT’ cars (cutting-edge, special models designed for the game by the manufacturers themselves) and a cluster of custom rally cars Polyphony Digital has built to represent a fictional, modern day ‘Group B’ class. None so far are models built prior to 2009.

Gran Turismo Sport’s “Group B” Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X.

Real tracks revealed for GT Sport so far include Brands Hatch, the Nürburgring Nordschleife, and Willow Springs. Polyphony has also unveiled a rally course, a fictional oval track, and a street circuit based on Tokyo’s expressways.

Project CARS 2 will feature over 170 cars and over 60 tracks. It’s been confirmed that most of the cars from the original game will return and, according to game director Stephen Viljoen, they’ll be joined by “most key manufacturers from Italy, from Germany, and from Japan, so our fleet of vehicles will be far more complete than what it was in Project CARS 1.” Ferrari, Lamborghini, Porsche, and Nissan are big brands joining the roster.

Project CARS 2’s garage features both contemporary and classic cars, plus open-wheelers (including licensed IndyCar racers). We can also expect a wider variety of cars within classes; good news considering some of the classes in the original were a bit sparse.

“Our GT3 field, for example, has been dramatically expanded,” says Viljoen. “We pushed really hard in multi-class races, and in single-class races, to flesh out the field.”

The addition of Nissan and the big three Euro brands will be a huge boost for GT3.

Project CARS 2’s 60 tracks include a large variety of licensed and unlicensed circuits. Like GT Sport, Brands Hatch, the Nürburgring Nordschleife, and Willow Springs are featured, and they’re joined by many, many more (like Laguna Seca, Bathurst, Imola, Daytona, Zolder, Oschersleben, Fuji, Long Beach, Oulton Park, Snetterton, Watkins Glen, Ruapuna Park, Hockenheimring, and others; seriously, the list goes on and on). That’s 60 tracks without counting variations, by the way. It’s the largest track selection for any racing game on console right now.

Dynamic Time-of-Day and Weather

It’s been confirmed previously that Gran Turismo Sport will not feature dynamic time-of-day effects or weather. Polyphony Digital opted for a static approach during races for framerate and image quality reasons but, according to studio boss Kazunori Yamauchi, we’ll “still be able to have night races, morning, races at dawn, dusk, and so on.”

Sunrise, sunset.

Like the original Project CARS, Project CARS 2 will feature dynamic time-of-day and weather effects, meaning day/night transitions can occur during endurance races and we’ll still be forced to react to the arrival of rain during events. Project CARS 2’s rain simulation will now saturate track surfaces gradually and run downhill to form pools in low-lying areas, which will impact handling severely.

Project CARS 2 will also simulate seasonal changes, meaning tracks will take on a different flavour depending on what time of year you tackle it. Vegetation will change in tint and tracks can go from baking under blazing summer sun to being dusted with snow. All tracks except the Mercedes Benz Ice Track facility can be visited at different points in the year (outside of winter the ice track is a literal lake).

The effect isn’t just aesthetic, though, as atmospheric pressure, ambient temperature and track temperature, weather, wind, and time of day all have “a direct influence over engine performance, aerodynamics, cooling from the radiator, brakes, and tyre behaviour.”

Box, box, box!

Project CARS 2’s tracks will also feature the ability for cars to spread loose material from off-track onto the racing surface, plus rubber pick up and a dynamic drying line (for when the rain stops and the asphalt under the racing line dries out first).

Career and Online

Gran Turismo Sport’s single-player offering has proven to be a real source of consternation for many GT fans because it’s not going to feature a traditional offline career mode in the vein of previous GT games. Outside of the game’s standard Arcade Mode, the core solo component of GT Sport is what Polyphony is dubbing Campaign Mode.

As per GT Sport’s reveal last year we know that Campaign Mode is a series of 117 events across four categories: ‘Beginner’s School’ (10 basic driving lessons), ‘Circuit Experience’ (35 subdivided race circuit challenges with commentary to help improve your lap times), ‘Mission Challenge’ (62 specific driving challenges in a range of cars), and ‘Racing Etiquette’ (10 lessons covering racing rules). As such GT Sport’s offline content sounds more like a training tool for the online section of the game, ‘Sports Mode’ (competitive and scheduled online racing that seems to have taken a few cues from the PC racing simulation service iRacing).

Gran Turismo Sport’s Campaign Mode.

In Project CARS the offline Career Mode was designed to emulate that of a real-world racing driver, progressing through championships and race events in a calendar structure inspired by real-world motorsport. That means full race weekends, with practice and qualifying sessions, and realistic finishing goals based on the expectations of the team you’re currently racing for.

A key element of the Project CARS career mode was the ability to begin your career whenever you wanted, in any of the game’s available motorsports, and proceed from there. Whether you want to move from grassroots level motorsport to the top tier, or you want to pick a championship and work at dominating it over multiple seasons, Project CARS will recognise and reward you. Slightly Mad Studios remains committed to this approach.

Project CARS 2 is also doubling down in esports in a big way with its new ‘Online Championships’, a feature Slightly Mad Studios says has been highly requested by online players, esports racing teams, and league organisers. Put simply, the mode will allow us to create and/or join multiple-round, league-format championships. The conditions, location, format, and duration of each race can be determined individually and scheduled over a chosen period, and the game will track the progress of all participating racers over the course of the championship. Replays can be saved for highlight reels and incident reviews, and the championship admin can apply penalties for the latter post-race (as well as alter upcoming rounds).

Project CARS 2’s Online Championships.

Both GT Sport and Project CARS 2 seem to be adopting similar approaches to online matchmaking. As described on the game’s official site, GT Sport will introduce “a sportsmanship point system evaluating online race behaviour, a player’s skill and behaviour will be judged in daily races, and players with the same level will be matched in a fair manner.” Project CARS 2 will see the debut of what Slightly Mad Studios has dubbed its “Competitive Racing Licence.” This will track how you race in Project CARS 2 and is made up of three elements: your racecraft (basically how professional you are, and it will be impacted when you’re involved in accidents, cut the track, and ignore rules or flags), your ranking (an Elo rating determined by your performances against other players), and finally an indicator of your seniority based on how long you’ve been playing.

So what are your thoughts? Do the extra features of Project CARS 2 put it on pole? Does Gran Turismo Sport seem a bit low on gas, or can Sony’s driving juggernaut defend its position?

Luke is Games Editor at IGN’s Sydney office. You can find him on Twitter @MrLukeReilly.