Project Cars 2 review: the real simulation

Project Cars 2 is an experience, a challenge and a milestone. In the first chapter, the potential of this British development studio was seen, but the real challenge of the guys at Slightly Mad Studios was to break down the walls that stood between the experience offered by a simulator and the technical limits related to physics.

In Project Cars 2 small things are not given weight, the video game is built around the desire to excel over others. No frills, no distractions, just a driver who has a desire for victory, adrenaline and a hunger for asphalt.



You will not find in your experience with this title movies in excess of wins or losses, you will not find multiple interactions that can slow the pace of the game. You will find a video game that always pushes on the accelerator. Via a race, under a qualification and go, go, until you reach the peak of your career. But even in that precise moment you will not be satisfied, because another category, another challenge and another massive dose of adrenaline will be waiting for you.

Project Cars 2 review: the real simulation

Project Cars 2: Your career will be without wasting time

La Project Cars 2 Career mode it will be no frills. Don't expect interlude cutscenes at every win, rivers of sparkling wine or your driver on the podium. If you win a race, your car will be depicted in a fleeting image that you will soon no longer calculate. An email from the team will congratulate you on the victory or a loud scolding from the engineer will make you understand that your result was not appreciated.

But don't think that lack of interaction is bad. You are a driver and you are there to compete, win, improve and work on your car. You can interact with your team in order to smooth every corner of your car, in order to adapt your car to your driving style. Stiffer springs to enter corners with more vehemence, a more stable set-up to stay glued to the asphalt. You will be able to shape your racing car in such a way that it responds perfectly to your driving style. Having said that, you will have understood for yourself that you do not need a "thank you" in the form of useless skits for every race won. Your thanks will be your satisfaction in having destroyed the opponents, brawl after brawl.



How many things can I do in this career mode! 

The experience offered by Project Cars 2 in its offline mode alone it would be worth the purchase of the videogame. Endless possibilities to become an expert driver for each category. You can start with Go-Karts, or with something more challenging. You can become a pilot of Formula Indie, of Rally or Super Car: the limit will only be your desire for success in a specific four-wheeled discipline.

As your career progresses, you will be able to establish yourself in just one category, or make a switch from one sector of auto racing to another. You can also create more drivers so you can change teams without affecting the progress in one or the other section.

By competing you will be noticed by observers and by doing so you will be able to participate in unique events dedicated to the single manufacturer, or to single types of cars. All of this is entirely optional, but it will be a great interlude in the long championships ahead. Not to mention that by competing for a particular team or brand of car you could be hired by it, and therefore become the spokesperson for Mercedes Benz, Lamborghini or one of the many other manufacturers present in Project Cars 2.

Project Cars 2 review: the real simulation

Project Cars 2, when the simulation is done artfully 

What is expected from a videogame dedicated to simulation is that each car gives a different feedback, that each curve is "designed" to make us live in the moment, and that nothing is ever taken for granted.


I spent many hours in the company of this video game, I tried many cars, many tracks, but above all I competed in different fields and categories. Thanks to all this I can assure you that we are facing one of the best simulation games currently on the market. Getting into medium-sized cars or cars designated for a specific purpose will give a deep and cohesive opening with the game. If you think you drive one Ford Fiesta rally gives the same same sensations as one Lamborghini Hurricane you are miles away from the reality of this video game.


Each track will have a moment to give the gas and one to learn how to make a mind map, with visual points that will signal you to take your foot off the accelerator. You can choose whether or not to use the available aids. ABS, stability control, or traction, or you may decide to use the real settings that will offer the same characteristics as "real" cars. Furthermore, there is the possibility to insert visual aids, such as the trajectory (very useful for learning the braking points and the trajectories of curves).

Does this Project Cars 2 necessarily need a steering wheel? 

If I had to describe this paragraph dedicated to peripherals with one word, that would be stratified. Without a doubt Project Cars 2 is at its best with a steering wheel (it seems natural to me). But the fact remains that the title in question is easily playable even "Pad in hand".


I myself awaiting the arrival of a steering wheel compatible with PlayStation I had to compromise, first with myself and then with the game, to use the Pad PS4.

Using the aids listed above, lowering the aggressiveness of the AI ​​and its skill on the track, the video game is easily enjoyable. It remains obvious that maximum fun and maximum identification is obtained with a steering wheel and a pedal board.

One flaw of the game (since we named it) is artificial intelligence. If you decide to leave out the online part to dedicate yourself body and soul to the single player challenges, get ready for an artificial intelligence that is not too charismatic. Even offering an excellent level of challenge (always adaptable to your skill) the artificial intelligence does not lack some small flaws.

For example, if you set their competence to the maximum the pilots will turn into ruthless machines, able to tackle a chicane without missing a single millimeter, without taking a curb and without having to lower the trend too much.


In short, reality goes to fry making room for the "virtual". Another flaw is that the cars driven by the game will look like "horses with blinders", if they are faster than you they will hit you mercilessly, and obviously the referee will blame you. Soon, in any case, you will understand how to deal with everything and you will no longer remember these flaws.

Project Cars 2 review: the real simulation

Project Cars 2 also has its say when it comes to technique 

In this Project Cars 2 review we praised its gameplay, its thick single and multiplayer part, but we haven't talked about its technical side yet.

The title of the English software house it has a much more than good frame rate even on consoles. The car models are also faithful in the shots inside the cockpit and even the details of the tires are excellent. But the thing that most amazed me are the climate changes e the effects of light. Driving on wet stretches of track, which a few kilometers away are sunny gives the player a sense of total immersion.

Climate changes such as snow, rain or mist are always well thought out. Seeing the windshield of your car make the track less visible is a spectacle that every enthusiast (and not) of the genre should not miss.

The physics of the cars are very accurate and if a track you know by heart no longer creates difficulties on the dry, beaten with wet asphalt will seem like an unknown route. The same goes for the various terrains, if you drive the same car on snow, gravel or asphalt the return will always be different and different.

Project Cars 2 review: the real simulation

Start your engines Project Cars 2 has arrived 

In conclusion Project Cars 2 is a great simulation video game. Which also has great scalability which makes it accessible even to newbies to the genre. This video game is beautiful to look at and even more to play, certainly not lacking in smudges and some small imperfections, but they are for the most part negligible and almost a hallmark of the game itself.

I would recommend it to all lovers or enthusiasts of the genre, but also to those who want to approach the genre and see what happens.

8.7 Rombante

Points in favor

  • Excellent level of simulation
  • Good scalability
  • Very long-lived

Points against

  • Artificial intelligence with some flaws
  • Little interaction in Career mode
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