The last time we heard of Straight4 Studios, the new developer team from former Slightly Mad Studios veterans that made Project Cars, Need For Speed Shift and their sequels (plus GTR), they had a new game in the works.
But that project has now taken a new name and a new publisher last year, now called Project Motor Racing.
Project Motor Racing has been properly revealed with a new trailer, and the big news is that it is to be published by Giants Software, the folks that brought us the famed Farming Simulator series.
The trailer is narrated by 5-time Le Mans winner Derek Bell wax poetic of why racers go racing with footage of ex-The Stig Ben Collins, who serves as the “Official Test Driver” for Project Motor Racing, at the wheel of a racing sim testing the game out, spliced with gameplay footage.
Project Motor Racing looks like a proper racing game for race fans and sim racing enthusiasts, just looking at the car selection alone. These are all race cars. And some of the are deep cuts that will only make the most hardcore follower of sports car racing to stand up and point the screen. A Gillet Vertigo from the old N-GT class? A Panoz LMP?
It looks like Project Motor Racing is covering a wide span of eras of sports cars, from the 70’s and up to today. And for fans of modern cars, we got a good look of a Lamborghini Huracan GT3 as well as the modern top-class Hypercar, Lamborghini SC63. The 70+ car roster (including from manufacturers like Audi, Aston Martin, Lamborghini and) comes from 10 racing classes.
But rather than picking a smattering of cars from various eras (i.e. like Gran Turismo 7) or a focusing one particular racing series only (like Assetto Corsa Competizione), Project Motor Racing aims to get all the cars that are within their chosen 10 classes. No omissions outside of licensing issues. That’s why the Gillet is here. And they’re including the GT class of 2004/2005, the subject of GTR, this team’s first-ever game which is about to be 20 years old now. The Lister Storm is coming!
There’s also 27 track layouts, all with dynamic weather and a 24-hour day/night cycle.
And since it’s all about sports car, expect multi-class racing support up to 4 classes on track.
Project Motor Racing is built on a new physics built from the ground up (called Hadron), but the overall game runs on Giants’ own game engine. That’s the power of a 360 no-scoping tractor (and its massive sales from its massive fanbase) powering this sim racer.
If you’re a fan of racing games, this is a feast of a year with the release Assetto Corsa Evo, Tokyo Xtreme Racer, Wreckfest 2, Mario Kart World, the PS5 port of Forza Horizon 5, just to name a few of the many more releases this year.
Project Motor Racing is expected to release later this fall (Q3, September-November) on PS5, PC and Xbox Series X|S.