The main reason I am giving it a positive review is strictly because it was the first racing title to go VR, and there really is no going back after that. Yeah, there was and is a lot of annoying aspects to this VR implementation still, the UI isn’t great, the menu system doesn’t make much sense. But, it was the first true photo-realistic VR game and I loved it for that. It’s not shy about it’s demands, you need a 1070 to really experience it in all it’s glory (well, in VR)! The cars are lovingly detailed to an insane degree, I remember open wires being modelled in some of the cars for god’s sake! It’s genuinely one of the coolest ways to see these beasts. And the sheer novelty of just getting out of the car and walking around it and being able to study each section is awesome. At max graphics, the cars feel very real, even though the VR headsets might not be able to pull every detail of the texture. Only the mirrors break the illusion, they look really fake, but everything else looks great. Seriously, drive around in an open top convertible in Spa and you will feel fantastic.

The games in this sub-genre (Project Cars 2/GT/etc.) sit in a middling place between the virtual and real. And this is really where the problems with these games exist. Because if you read the sim fans talk about these games, you will see an almost fanatical devotion to the mechanics of the car. One forum post details how the developers weren’t able to replicate the exact time on a specific track because the car lost traction on a specific turn, so the developers went to the car manufacturer to get the exact algorithm that it used to move the wings/spoilers until they finally got it down. Talk about attention to detail! And you will see pages upon pages of discussion about tire modelling and why one sim is superior to another about various aspects of the physics around driving lol. And props to the Kunos team, I am sure they have managed to model more mechanics than I would have the patience for (except for collisions, which surely would be fun?).

So cool, we got some really detailed piece of machinery. But really, why in a track? The only reason people have tracks in the real world is because there are significant consequences to breaking the speed limit! If you get caught, it’s jail time, and even if you don’t, there are real consequences to ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ up at 200 mph! But this is a virtual world! There are no consequences at all to ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ up a couple of virtual lives! The reason they didn’t is exactly because of this insane devotion to the physics of the car can only be compared the car 1:1 in a track. You can track the performance down to the millisecond in those closed tracks. And there are indeed videos of people driving in reality and virtually… and it seems almost frame perfect.

But you just can’t get away from the fact that most track driving sucks, at least visually. The sheer superiority of driving in an open road with fantastical environments cannot be understated, especially when lacking the real physics (on your body) of cornering at the limits of the car. The virtual needs to be more alluring than the real exactly because of all the other factors it lacks. And even if we assume it is out of their budget, unfortunately, their actual tracks aren’t that impressive either. Look at a codemasters game vs. this and you can immediately see the lack of detail. In these games I usually try to find some tracks I enjoy driving in for the sheer pleasure of driving in gorgeous tracks, I just don’t get much pleasure out of setting lap times. There are only a few here, Spa being the easy stand out.

This is where I really wish it was a DRIVING game and not a racing game. Because I love cars, I can feel all the things that it’s missing. Where are the fantastic landscapes to drive through? Where is the sound of the insane rush of wind on a convertible? A car with a 1000 horse power is the sound of EXPLOSIONS in front of you driving you forward to an unfathomable speed, the shockwaves rumbling across your bones. The crackle of the engine and the exhaust. I do not feel this with most of the cars I have driven, although to be fair to AC, it does vary widely with cars.

To summarize, for sim fans, this is absolutely a solid simulation. Get one of those Fanatec wheels that can put out 50 lbs/ft of torque and you might even consider it good training for real driving. But as someone who is in it for the graphics and who really loves the DRIVING aspect of racing, I just want to feel like Bond driving an Aston Martin, there are quite a few things I wish it had. However, my experience was still positive just for the sheer enjoyment of VR and being one of the first games that really went balls to the walls in terms of the graphical fidelity of the cars in VR (check out those metallic reflection on the hood of the car, absolutely insane detail). It’s just a shame that we can’t get the advanced physics simulation of something like AC/PC into an open world like GTA.

PS: If you don't wanna bang around a game with crap UI, PC2 has a much more intuitive system. But it also has some trade offs. More to come in a PC2 review. Also, I wasn't really impressed by the career mode in these games. So make of that what you will.

The main reason I am giving it a positive review is strictly because it was the first racing title to go VR, and there really is no going back after that. Yeah, there was and is a lot of annoying aspects to this VR implementation still, the UI isn’t great, the menu system doesn’t make much sense. But, it was the first true photo-realistic VR game and I loved it for that. It’s not shy about it’s demands, you need a 1070 to really experience it in all it’s glory (well, in VR)! The cars are lovingly detailed to an insane degree, I remember open wires being modelled in some of the cars for god’s sake! It’s genuinely one of the coolest ways to see these beasts. And the sheer novelty of just getting out of the car and walking around it and being able to study each section is awesome. At max graphics, the cars feel very real, even though the VR headsets might not be able to pull every detail of the texture. Only the mirrors break the illusion, they look really fake, but everything else looks great. Seriously, drive around in an open top convertible in Spa and you will feel fantastic. The games in this sub-genre (Project Cars 2/GT/etc.) sit in a middling place between the virtual and real. And this is really where the problems with these games exist. Because if you read the sim fans talk about these games, you will see an almost fanatical devotion to the mechanics of the car. One forum post details how the developers weren’t able to replicate the exact time on a specific track because the car lost traction on a specific turn, so the developers went to the car manufacturer to get the exact algorithm that it used to move the wings/spoilers until they finally got it down. Talk about attention to detail! And you will see pages upon pages of discussion about tire modelling and why one sim is superior to another about various aspects of the physics around driving lol. And props to the Kunos team, I am sure they have managed to model more mechanics than I would have the patience for (except for collisions, which surely would be fun?). So cool, we got some really detailed piece of machinery. But really, why in a track? The only reason people have tracks in the real world is because there are significant consequences to breaking the speed limit! If you get caught, it’s jail time, and even if you don’t, there are real consequences to fucking up at 200 mph! But this is a virtual world! There are no consequences at all to fucking up a couple of virtual lives! The reason they didn’t is exactly because of this insane devotion to the physics of the car can only be compared the car 1:1 in a track. You can track the performance down to the millisecond in those closed tracks. And there are indeed videos of people driving in reality and virtually… and it seems almost frame perfect. But you just can’t get away from the fact that most track driving sucks, at least visually. The sheer superiority of driving in an open road with fantastical environments cannot be understated, especially when lacking the real physics (on your body) of cornering at the limits of the car. The virtual needs to be more alluring than the real exactly because of all the other factors it lacks. And even if we assume it is out of their budget, unfortunately, their actual tracks aren’t that impressive either. Look at a codemasters game vs. this and you can immediately see the lack of detail. In these games I usually try to find some tracks I enjoy driving in for the sheer pleasure of driving in gorgeous tracks, I just don’t get much pleasure out of setting lap times. There are only a few here, Spa being the easy stand out. This is where I really wish it was a DRIVING game and not a racing game. Because I love cars, I can feel all the things that it’s missing. Where are the fantastic landscapes to drive through? Where is the sound of the insane rush of wind on a convertible? A car with a 1000 horse power is the sound of EXPLOSIONS in front of you driving you forward to an unfathomable speed, the shockwaves rumbling across your bones. The crackle of the engine and the exhaust. I do not feel this with most of the cars I have driven, although to be fair to AC, it does vary widely with cars. To summarize, for sim fans, this is absolutely a solid simulation. Get one of those Fanatec wheels that can put out 50 lbs/ft of torque and you might even consider it good training for real driving. But as someone who is in it for the graphics and who really loves the DRIVING aspect of racing, I just want to feel like Bond driving an Aston Martin, there are quite a few things I wish it had. However, my experience was still positive just for the sheer enjoyment of VR and being one of the first games that really went balls to the walls in terms of the graphical fidelity of the cars in VR (check out those metallic reflection on the hood of the car, absolutely insane detail). It’s just a shame that we can’t get the advanced physics simulation of something like AC/PC into an open world like GTA. PS: If you don't wanna bang around a game with crap UI, PC2 has a much more intuitive system. But it also has some trade offs. More to come in a PC2 review. Also, I wasn't really impressed by the career mode in these games. So make of that what you will.