So you might think that I’m writing this review about three
years too late, and in some ways you’re very right. But if you’re like me
scratching out every last inch of use from your PS3 before upgrading to a PS4
& Project Cars (which lets face it is shaping up to be a very good game
indeed) then you’ll be perusing the PSN shop on a regular basis. And you’ll
have found out that that this game is for sale for less than a beer in
Melbourne, actually many things are for sale less than a beer in Melbourne, but
you get my drift.
So what to get? From a DLC point of view there’s two must
haves – the Legends pack (M1, old skyline, Alpha Sprint, etc) and the unlock
all cars (all $0) and races option. This way you get a plethora of cars and a
myriad of race scenarios to go play with. Not too much grind going on which is
good.
So to review the essential stuff…
Cars
The cars are excellent in the main. Lots of variety, and
only one sort of MX5 which is nice. They’re well modelled and all have
interiors. What’s more, just about all of them have visual upgrades, some are
minor in comparison to others – my current fave is the Camaro SS upgrade, it
takes an already nice looking car and puts it into some super touring spec or
other, very bad ass. I’ll cover the handling in racing down below, but each car
is fully tuneable depending on it’s level of tune, from shopper to GT3 spec in
many cases. You’ll have seen a Bentley GT3 car in the press, well, with a tune
you can have the same car in this game – great.
And of tuning, it’s possible just like GT6 (in fact worse
than) to tune a car too far and make it largely undriveable. Better though is
that removing the upgrades gives you the cash back, which is handy as it’s very
easy to run out of cash fast.
I did find that the racers, and in fact any car with
upgrades of note, needed to be tuned, without it they were terrible handling
cars to be honest.
Tracks
So. Many. Tracks.
Yes, many many tracks. But if you get this game please do
not ever attempt the Monaco rip-off. It’s so bad that it’s virtually
undriveable. I think more because it’s clearly sort of the same track, but all
the breaking distances are different. They’d have been better off making it
either the same, or very very different. I dread a career race at this circuit.
And they have Bathurst, but Bathurst isn’t the same as the
Bathurst that we know, well, it is, but the track widths are broader, making
for a faster run across the top. A casual players version then.
In fact the story above is repeated for many tracks. Brands
is different, but easy to learn the differences, and the others often have a
subtle difference. Not the end of the world, but don’t get this because you
want sim like accuracy in the tracks, unless all the others are wrong! (deep!).
Racing
And this is where the highs and lows really sit. The highs –
I’ve had some of the best club level racing I’ve ever had in this game. The
lows, I’ve experienced undriveable handling GT3 cars – to the point where I
can’t drive fast down a straight road the handling is so bad.
The AI has been slammed by many too. And I think I’ve
figured it out. Firstly, watch the replays, more often than not the accident is
your fault, the AI isn’t that bad really. But it’s compounded by sticky
collision detection. So, if you lean on a car on the outside when going into a
corner, you’ll stick to that car and be taken out to the gravel trap. This is
very frustrating to say the least. But I can see it happening now, so avoid
contact at all costs.
But, if you pick a race and tune a car, the AI cars will be
suitably tuned to race with you. This makes for the same race being completely
different based on the car you choose, and what’s more really no point in
pushing for the crazy performance rating. I think it’s stepped at 500, 1000,
1500, etc, but I could be wrong. Anyway, get a lower PP (it’s not PP but we
know that) car, take the weight off, put an aero pack on, stickier tyres and a
lightweight flywheel and you’ll be set for some great racing.
You’ll see from the replays below that I won my races with
ease. This wasn’t the case a couple of weeks ago – not getting punted off is
the key. If you can stay on there’ll be a place to pass. But get into the pack
and it’s going to be very hard to get to the front. Not impossible though.
Perhaps time to up my AI skill level a bit.
Replays
Camaro SS at some track or other!
Prizes for guessing the track. This race was just about
impossible with my initial Camaro tune. I had it super lightweight but no aero.
So then I added aero, it went over spec, so I added weight back on. And this
car has become a great race car. Not sure how it compares to the other cars,
but as you can see it out handled most of them.
This race is a career race that nets me $10k. Well worth it
for such a fun and quick race.
Porsche GT3 at Brands GP
Oh yes, Porsche is in this game, actually early on a GT2
Porsche was my go to fast car. It handled so well. In fact I’d say all the
Porsches handle well. It’s like they’ve made sure they race well.
Certainly in this race I did OK. The car isn’t tuned up at
all, it’s just slack AI that gets me to the front. As you can see though I do
have a reasonable race with another AI car. Great fun, but only worth $200 as
it’s a quick race – way too low.
E30 M3 at Donnington
(Note, poor show - apparently copyrighted music - for a game replay!)
I grew up watching races like this. Such a good car and such
a good track. For the $8 I spent on this game, this race (or rather a slightly
harder one!) is well worth the investment. I did tune the car, and perhaps I
need to take the tune back a notch – or better still, with a $0 car cost I can
just buy another one. Nice.
Summary
So should you get this game? If you want GT6 again, no. If you're mad about racing and like tuning at a 'club racer level' and are prepared to learn the slightly left of normal handling and general quirkiness of the game, certainly - it's a cheap game after all.
And some things I didn't write above... Great sounds, in-helmet view, no pits, 180.deg lock steering and a host of other different things make this a love/hate game. But it gets my attention at the moment over GT6, Grid Autosport, Ferrari Racing Legends and F1 2013 - all very much in the bargain bin, if not quite in the bin outright...
