I’m always up for a new racing game with real-life cars and tracks, especially when it’s not something overly niche like motorcycles or trucks. Project Motor Racing comes from the studio known as Straight4, a phoenix studio of sorts, comprised of former members from Slightly Mad Studios, the makers of the now-defunct Project CARS series. Over the following years, the studio went from being a competent Need for Speed developer to the owner of its own racing IP, a team that went slightly mad enough to announce its own console (true story, look it up), and finally a subsidiary of EA… only for them to shut its doors. After a few years out of the spotlight, Straight4 is trying to bring ultra-competitive and realistic sim racing back with its enjoyable, but definitely not very accessible title. Let’s check it out.

I wouldn’t call Project Motor Racing’s car roster paultry, but it’s focused solely on racing-specific cars, not production models.

Project Motor Racing is the kind of game that knows exactly its core audience, how niche it is, and how punishing it might be for those outside of its target scope. Like Project CARS and rival franchise Assetto Corsa before it, this is a full-on racing simulator that eschews accessibility and casual content (as in, a lot of cars being added for collectability, not performance) in favor of a single kind of gameplay loop: racing weekends spread among a season, with a decent-but-limited amount of cars that cover most kinds of racing categories. You have access to rally classics, DTM staples, 90’s beasts you have probably played in the past in a Gran Turismo game, up until some of the most modern Le Mans prototypes ever built.

Create a new team, pick a car category, and start choosing which races to take part on in order to amass more cash, and consequently, acquire new cars. That’s pretty much it in a nutshell, but a racing weekend is a complex affair. Project Motor Racing is zero arcadey in its gameplay, expecting you to spend a good chunk of you time tinkering with your car’s settings (its tuning, suspension, drivability, tire set, and so on) before actually partaking… on the practice round. Only after that, you’ll be able to race on… the qualifying section. And only after that, comes the race proper.

If you’re not someone who would enjoy tinkering with car settings in a menu like this, then this game isn’t for you.

I think it’s not a surprise to anyone when I say that Project Motor Racing is not the easiest game of all time when it comes to learning how to play it. Forza, this ain’t it. And that’s okay. It’s insanely punishing if you don’t know how to properly adjust the car before a race, change gears and brake accordingly, and so on. That is not a particular point of criticism, mind you; the game isn’t trying to sell itself as an accessible and newcomer-friendly racer, so spinning out of the track if you don’t have traction control turned on will happen often if you’re not experienced with realistic racers. This is the kind of game that justifies the purchase of a steering wheel, but it doesn’t mean that you can’t enjoy it with a controller – it’s doable, but it takes some practice.

It’s not newcomer-friendly, but very rewarding once you get a hold of its controls and physics.

As for the rest, the game looks great, and runs smoothly. It’s obscenely loud when it comes to its engine noises, with not a lot else to offer in its sound department. It’s an explicit case of “know what you’re getting into before buying it”. The career mode is deep and enjoyable, but as previously mentioned, you can’t just race with ease, as there’s a lot of depth involved. So you’re going to play and enjoy Project Motor Racing if you’re looking for something pretty specific: a worthy competitor to physics-heavy racing simulators like Assetto Corsa. I just wish it had more day-one cars, but that’s the collecting obsessed in me talking. All in all, Project Motor Racing succeeds in what’s trying to offer, and won’t please anyone else besides its intended target audience. I can’t complain, it gets the job done in this regard.

Project Motor Racing is available now on PS5, Xbox Series S/X and PC.

Reviewed on PS5.

A copy of Project Motor Racing was provided by the publisher.