Top positive review
5.0 out of 5 starsFANTASTIC- Pure and better than GT6!
Reviewed in the United States on May 24, 2015
I was pleasantly surprised by this game! I have been a GT5 and 6 user for years, and recently also bought Drive Club. I usually use a T-300 Thrustmaster wheel with T-500 Pedals as my set up, but the T-300 pedals are ok to use. I confess to also using a controller on occasion in a recliner, which despite some claims by others, can be done well also with this game with the right settings, (mainly with driving sensitivity at 0 and some aids on with a controller). With my wheel, I prefer to drive without assists, (raw) for realism, but turning them on can really help if new at this. There are suggestions on-line as to settings which do help. So, I shall make a few comparisons and state my opinion about Project Cars.
This is not a game for everyone. The menu is a bit complicated, you can get confused at first, (it could use a better manual or guide) so it helps to take your time and just play around and you will figure it out. I watched a few you tube videos that also were helpful, such as how to set the level of other drivers in the game, (called A/I). Once you figure it out- you will have a blast!
Some complain about the "lack of cars" as compared to GT6. What they don't say is that all 70 or so cars are immediately available and free! This is really important, as my wife spent at least $ 150.00 for my birthday at the PlayStation Network just so I could get to drive a few of the "available nice cars in GT6". They are not there-you must earn "credits" and grind for days even if very good to get the good stuff-it was maddening. One car in GT6 could cost about $50 cash! So, you do not have 1200 cars, (many just duplicates and silly). At least in GT5 you could earn more credits, GT6 seems more interested in profits so I got annoyed though I did enjoy the game overall.
In Project cars, you have fantastic cars all up front and free, and all are "Premium" with great cockpit views and working gauges. They look far better than the cars in GT6. Further, the DRIVING PHYSICS are far better in Project Cars, with far better, more realistic handling.
In GT6 you do have some road feel, but I find despite others complaining that Project Cars is too hard that when I start to loose control of a car, in Project Cars I can actually recover it easier and react in a more realistic way, IF you catch it quick enough. You FEEL it breaking out and sense what the car is doing overall better than in GT6 or Drive Club. For me, it is almost easier and clearly more realistic as compared to GT6, where you can perhaps get around the track faster by adding silly racing soft tires or making a car artificially lighter, but when you reach the breaking point, you just cannot control it quite the way you can in Project Cars which feels more genuine. It is more reasonable, (I have not done a lot of real racing, but have messed around a bit with cars in the past and know what it should feel like). Project Cars feels very realistic. In GT6, you can build up your cars to the absurd point, such as adding motor staging and tires and make the car "go faster", but it is not realistic. They also end up hyped, overbuilt cars and far from racing regulation. Project cars keeps it real.
The handling is FAR better, and for some probably much harder, (such as in the rain), and each car actually feels like a different car, (like in real life). If you go too fast you loose control, no faking it here. I tried it with all assists on for curiosity, and instead of a totally fake feel, it actually applied the brakes and helped keep it on the road in ways that made sense, (you knew it was a cheat-but at least you knew what was going on and it was educational and refreshing, versus sticking to the road for no apparent reason). I have read other reviews of people complaining that they cannot drive well in Project Cars even with assists on. As an experiment, I asked my wife to drive a couple of the cars and she is not a racing game person and was reluctant to even try it. Being the devious husband that I am, I did not tell her I had set the game up on the "real" setting, (cheats off basically) and she had a go at it. She really liked it and drove the cars pretty well, especially for someone who has barely driven such games. Even myself at this point do keep the A/I turned down, (you can adjust it from 0 to 100%, and at 100% - good luck, as it is "full on". I will get there eventually, but it is great you can adjust it so much.
The cars inside and out look fantastic also. But perhaps the biggest difference is the SOUND! Oh my, they do sound good, and realistic. I found that on GT6-especially with a recent update, that with the cockpit view it sounded horrible-it got worse on many cars, and in general they sounded somewhat the same or just weak. Project Cars they sound like screaming cars racing down the road, and they each sound unique.
Courses: The tracks are great. However, there are I believe 6 coast drives, 3 in California, 3 in France, that are just spectacular. You get to drive and even race on an actual road rather than a track, which is very fun. You can also just casually test out ALL the FREE cars on day 1 on any track or road in the game-no forcing credits and/or levels-this is also great and a welcome change for me. The selection of cars is good, such as Karts all the way up to Formula levels. You will bond with a few for sure.
Overall: GT6 is good as to creating "levels" and direct goals of accumulating nice cars-with Project Cars you just get them. The motive/goal of Project Cars is to enjoy driving, you can do a career mode and get a reputation, (I am just starting this and doing the Karts for now while taking breaks and going Solo with the big beasts, such as Formula cars and other beauties). You can also race on-line. I have tried this, and while GT6 may be more organized and clearer as to getting into a match race, it looks bad, the graphics are bad, and the players seem much less mature and ram you off for fun. I have not done much on-line racing with GT6 for this reason. I have only briefly tried with Project Cars, and when I did get on-line, it was rewarding and fun, more professional and better overall.
The off-line solo racing has far better other drivers, (A/I)-it is far superior and makes for solo racing fun.
So, Drive Club does have very nice weather-but the driving is not very realistic. It's a fun game in it's own right, but I keep coming back to Project Cars for the realism, fantastic driving experience, sounds, the whole driving experience is just great. I also note the weather effects in Project Cars is very good, I don't really care if a few nearly invisible droplets at the outer edge of the windshield might look a tiny bit better in Drive Club if the driving is not good. Drive Club is a fun and somewhat arcade like game, (meaning the handling is not very realistic, GT6 is better on that front.
With Project Cars, the effects and overall views, (including multiple in-cockpit views which is a very welcome addition and adjustable moveable menu items inside the car itself) combined with absolutely fantastic handling and sound in my opinion just wipe up the competition on the PS4. I love it and find I am a bit addicted to it to be honest. You are there in this game!
Additionally, Project Cars is going to work with Sony's virtual reality headset Project Morpheus, (and for the PC the Oculous Rift) which will probably put it over the moon. I feel my heart pounding just thinking about that. It is true that GT6 will do 3D (not virtual reality-just the glasses) but I find I rarely use it as it is not that well tuned in each car and it gets a bit fatiguing- (though it is neat briefly).
I still think GT6 was/is a great game despite the broken promises it made, but Project Cars leaves it in the dust as to about everything, such as the look of the game, the sound of the cars, the visuals and cockpit views, and most importantly perhaps the overall authenticity of the driving experience. Yes, I have experienced a glitch here and there, some entertaining, it is being updated like nearly all games regularly, but it is about perfect and is wonderful. If you want an arcade game- skip this one, but if you want to race- BUY THIS GAME NOW!
