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 I remember when Metropolis Street Racer was coming out for the Dreamcast, I was psyched. Good looking cars, drivers in cars, a points system for how well you drive… it (on paper) was everything I wanted in driving game. Needless to say it didn’t live up to expectations. When they changed the name to Project Gotham I thought I would give it another chance. WRONG! It in no way compared to Turismo, or even Sega GT. I wouldn’t even give the 2nd Project Gotham a chance. The game was dead to me, never to be taken seriously as a driving title.
When I bought my 360, I assure you that Project Gotham Racing 3 was not one of the games I picked up. A week later danzuke (aka NetPhantom) was done with the game, and I had nothing to play, so I asked to borrow it. I sat down, popped the game in the system and tried to convince myself that maybe they got it right this time.
The first hour I played the game, two things kept me playing; 720p and the in car view. I kept trying to play the game like it was a sim, because it’s kind of marketed that way, and it was frustrating. The cars stop way to easily. It’s like every car has racing brakes that have no heat limitations. The cars turn in sharply, but it didn’t feel natural. No reward for driving the best line, and I wasn’t getting any “kudos†for anything but drafting.
I sat there, amazed by the graphics, happy as hell that a driving game that wasn’t Colin Mcrae had an in car view, but just low on everything else. And as I sat there, piloting a $700,000 Ferrari Enzo around the streets of London, I came to a realization… fuck it. I decided that I was going to smash this car. The best way in racing sims (and life) to crash a car is to go nuts with the e-brake. And go nuts I did. To my surprise, the game was very responsive to this.
The second hour of my time with Project Gotham Racing 3 was spent getting stupid sideways on every track I could. Vegas especially. It got to the point that I could do entire laps as one long, continuous drift. Slip angles be damned.
Once I beat the game I came to a few conclusions.
1-) Every racing game needs to have an in car view from now on. It gives you the feel of driving the car. That, and being able to see each cars individual tach is great. Instead of looking to the side, or having a over-lay all the time, I just look down at the tach when I want to know where I’m at in the powerband. Just like I do with my real car. It doesn’t sound like much, but it adds a lot of feeling to a genre that needs it.
2-) The game doesn’t do “grip†driving well. Tokyo Xtreme Racer has this problem too. Games designed to drift don’t do sim driving well. Nowhere is this more apparent then on the Nurburgring. I drive the Nurburgring like any driver should. Get the fastest lap time possible. Drifting is the prettiest, but by far the slowest way to drive a car around a track. Add that in with a track that is designed for anything but drifting and cars that are programmed to do nothing but, and you should have really slow lap times. But you don’t, which brings me to…
3-) Unrealistic Nurburgring Nordscleife. Of all the tracks in the world, this is my favorite. I haven’t driven it yet, but I’ve seen enough video footage to get an idea of the track, and thanks to Turismo, I have the layout memorized. The track rendered in PG3 doesn’t have as many elevation changes, or unsettling bumps that make the track so hard. So not only is it easier to drive, but the game is sped up to give you a false sense of speed, so I can lap the course in the 7min 20sec range in a car that can only do it in 8min in real life. To most people that will be a good thing, but it really pisses me off.
4-) No modifications. Sorry, but I think I can make any car better. That’s right Ferrari, any car.
And finally,
5-) This game is just fun. Most driving sims are too intimidating for a lot of gamers. PG3 is so much fun, and so easy to pick up that my dad, a man who hasn’t played a driving game in over 10 years, or any video game since Mario 64, picked this game up, and couldn’t put it down for over a month. I’d highly recommend this game for all players looking for a quick game to keep them busy for a week or so.
7 out of 10
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