Project Cars 3 is a people-pleaser of a racing sim. This shouldn't come as too much of a surprise given Slightly Mad Studios founder Ian Bell referred to the game as a 'spiritual successor' to Need for Speed: Shift, but it's still a shock when the career mode immediately lets you select a sporty road car to start off with rather than presenting you with a po-faced selection of realistic racing leagues. You choose one of three starter cars, either the nimble Toyota GT86, a balanced 1999 Mitsubishi Lancer, or a relatively muscly Honda Civic Type R, and immediately get to work in the first vehicle class of career mode. For the record, if you don't pick the 1999 Mitsubishi Lancer then you're a narc.
Progression is rapid, with each vehicle class containing several championships to beat, and each championship netting you XP and cash to spend on vehicle upgrades, new cars, and unlocking even more racing events. If you don't want to spend cash on unlocking new racing events then you can access them for free by completing racing challenges, which range from completing a set number of clean overtakes within the first sector of a lap, to mastering 75% of a given circuit's corners. You'll earn the majority of these without thinking about it, but occasionally you'll have to head back to a specific event to complete a challenge, sometimes spending upwards of an hour fine-tuning your setup and upgrades so your car is perfectly kitted for the event. If that's not your style then you can spend some of your winnings to circumvent the grind, but if you're anything like me then you splurged those winnings on a new turbocharger hours ago.
Occasionally, these challenges can feel exhausting, especially when trying to beat the fastest hot lap time with a snarling, hulking slab of potential like the Aston Martin DB11. On a dry track it might feel doable, but during a torrential downpour guiding the 600 horsepower brute around an apex feels like pushing a rhinoceros on ice skates. Just finding traction feels like an insurmountable challenge as the tyres spin hopelessly away from a corner, the rev counter threatening to break through the dashboard, and as soon as you find yourself picking up some pace it's time to gently - ever so gently - squeeze the brakes to avoid locking up and spinning out. But, when you finally nail the balancing act required to get the DB11's immense power onto the tarmac everything clicks into place and you find yourself feathering the throttle like you're keying Morse code.
RELATED LINKS:
Project Cars 3 reviews - our roundup of the critics
Project CARS 3 hands-on - a swing to accessibility at the cost of identity
Project Cars 3 release date confirmed - racers, start your engines (in August)