Project Gotham Racing 3

Life Begins at 170mph.
Review By BloodHell
The Project Gotham Racing series evolved from another Bizarre created racer called Metropolis Street Racer, which appeared on the Sega Dreamcast. Since then, the series has becomes something more than the average racer. In every iteration, players are given a selection of wicked cars and told to not only race, but do so in style. After the second game that arrived to favorable reviews and few sales, Bizarre must have thought the next series needed a kick in the pants. With the requirement that every featured car must have a top speed of at least one hundred and seventy miles an hour, PGR3 has certainly received that kick.

First things first – Project Gotham Racing is unlike any other racing franchise on the market. Unlike Forza or Gran Turismo, it doesn't strictly adhere to the laws of physics. And unlike Need for Speed or Midnight Club, it doesn't completely flaunt realism. Instead, it goes for a happy medium between the two and against all odds, it hits the mark perfectly. The laws of physics still apply, but there is a certain relaxed looseness to the whole thing. In practice, this means players are encouraged to race strategically (by finding the perfect racing line, braking early, and so on) but it allows things to keep moving along at a brisk pace and creates room for error.

The loose physics (and this case “loose” means forgiving and fun, not vague and unresponsive) do serve a certain purpose. Players are encouraged to drive with style, earning themselves Kudos. In reality, this is just a euphemism for driving like a maniac, because Kudos points are earned by powersliding around turns, getting airborne, drafting and a number of other techniques. While the actual effect of Kudos points is minimal (certain cars are unlocked by achieving a set amount of points) it does figure into a number of race types.

The career mode is nothing special, but it gets the job done. Basically, the entire career mode is organized in one linear line. At any given time, a few tournaments will be open and you'll race through them, winning money and Kudos. Upon completion of these events, another group of tournaments is unlocked. Overall, the career mode feels sort of aimless since all you're doing is winning races for cash to buy faster cars just for the sake of having them. It's a perfectly workable setup in any other racing game, but when you start out driving a high-performance exotic, there's really nowhere to go from there.

If the organization of the career mode is boring, the actual races more than make up for it. While most of them are the standard fare such as circuits, lap knockouts, time attack and the occasional sprint, there are plenty of unique race types. Some of the best include Time vs. Kudos, which gives you an extremely limited amount of time to cross the finish line, but allows you to stop the clock by earning Kudos points. Then there are the Cone Challenges, which task you with passing through a number of cone gates on a closed course and Speed Challenges, which require passing a camera at a certain speed, often after exiting a nasty corner.

What really makes PGR3 something special is its Virtual Garage. While this is a minor feature that has no effect on the gameplay, it manages to give the game its own personality. Unlike a sim-racer such as Forza, where picking out which car to race with consists of slogging through some menus and looking at numbers, PGR puts you into an actual garage where you can literally walk around and admire your collection. Over the course of the game you'll acquire numerous garages, each larger and more lavish than the last. It's also possible to move your cars from one garage to another, so if you want a garage dedicated to Ferraris or some other method of categorization, it can be done.

And what about the rides that will be filling those garages? I can safely say, there has never been a better car list than the one presented here. As I stated earlier the only real rule for a car to be included in the game was that it had to be capable of at least one hundred and seventy miles an hour. From there, the gates to sexy supercar heaven just swing wide open. Every notable model in the Ferrari and Lamborghini catalog is in the game, along with stuff from Ford, Aston Martin, RUF, Saleen, TVR and dozens of others, mainstream and not. The worst car you can actually buy in this game is the Chevrolet Corvette Z06. That should give you a clue about how awesome the car list is.

PGR3 was, without a doubt, the best looking launch game for the 360. In the years that have passed, it still stands as one of the prettiest racers on the console. The environments, from Tokyo to New York, all look great, with an impressive amount of detail that holds up even when barreling down a narrow street at well over two-hundred miles an hour. Slow down enough and you'll see that the spectators who line the streets are rendered in full 3D, which is a minor but impressive detail.

The real fixation of the graphics is right where it should be – on the cars. While on the track, it's easy to admire the attention that has gone into detailing these rides, and using the helmet camera to look around inside these high-priced rockets only furthers the immersion. However, it's not in either of these areas that one can really get a grasp on how much effort went into making this game beautiful. It is only when you step into the garage that the beauty of the game becomes evident. When you can walk around three hundred and sixty degrees to take it all in, it feels as if you can reach out and actually touch the sheet metal. If Gran Turismo qualifies as auto-erotica, then PGR is full-on hardcore pornography for the car enthusiast.

To sweeten the deal even further, this graphical beauty doesn't come at the cost of stability. The game runs at a silky smooth framerate regardless of how hard you push it. It can handle the speed and multiple onscreen vehicles without breaking a sweat. Good thing too, seeing as the slightest hesitation in this game could lead to a close encounter with the wall. The only real knock I can level against the game is its load times. Before every race, you'll have to sit through a lengthy load while the game gets everything together.

While the game might just be the prettiest racer ever released, it definitely has the best audio. The soundtrack is probably the best that has ever been assembled for a racer. Although there is a primary focus on electronica (some of the best around, I might add) there should be something to suit the tastes of most everybody. Alt rock, hip-hop, classical, Japanese Pop and Bhagra (a mix of classical Indian instruments and techno). Unfortunately, there seems to be some problems when it comes to getting what you want since the game arbitrarily skips over entire songlists and ends up playing the same few songs time and time again. To get what you want you've got to spend a good chunk of time actually searching for it, which is a hassle when you're trying to navigate chicanes and fend off aggressive opponents.

If, by some great misfortune, the music isn't to your tastes, there's always the inherent symphony of revving engines and squealing tires. In this game, it is especially satisfying seeing that most of these cars have massive amounts of horsepower and sound absolutely awesome when running full out. Getting the tires to squeal and shriek is no problem either, and it will never fail to generate a stupid grin while doing it.

So... Do you like fast cars? That's really the only question you should need to ask yourself. If the answer is anything remotely positive, PGR has what you're looking for. Sure, the career structure may be a turn off for some but that should hardly be a concern since the actual racing is so much fun.