The world is in outrage. Fire is falling from the heavens and loved ones are saying their last goodbyes. This is, of course, due to racing game developer Slightly Mad Studios announcing its sequel to the marmite-esque experience that is Project CARS barely a month after the original was released. Some users have claimed refunds on their game, either to buy into PCARS2 or sacrifice their first born to the binary gods. If you’re a racing fan yourself you may be considering getting the sequel for yourself, if you liked the first then you’ll like the second right? Nope.


Project CARS started with World of Mass Development (WMD), a community funding and feedback platform that the developers created when publishers wouldn’t take the risk on yet another racing game. It allowed (and still does allow) its users to give feedback, suggestions and reports directly to the developers of the game, as well as engage in conversation with them on topics ranging from game design to engine displacements and digression knees. It allowed for the creation of a no-nonsense racing sim that had none of the frills of its mainstream rivals, for better or worse. It is perhaps understandable that Slightly Mad Studios (SMS) is going to use this platform for their next project, which will introduce new locations, gameplay elements and mixed surface racing to the franchise, and use the feedback gained from the early builds to shape the game as it develops.


This is great. Seriously, truly, it’s an amazing thing to be part of. That is, until you play it. Build 000 of the game includes a few cars, a strip of track with different surfaces and a barebones practice mode that allows you to drive alone on that track. Make no mistake, this isn’t your standard ‘early access’ affair where a ton of content is backlogged and ready to go to provide you a near complete experience within 6 months of starting out. This will be hard, slow, frustrating game development at its core, and that’s assuming you even get involved. If you don’t then you’ll get a strip of tarmac that updates every day with slightly nicer textures and maybe an extra cone to sweeten the deal.

If you like gaming, don’t bother with Project CARS 2. It’s not a game yet. If you want to learn about game development and its processes however then there are few other ways to get such a detailed insight. Just be warned, their official forums will likely be a dystopian wasteland of ill-informed overentitled children for the first couple of months as the moderators weed out and exterminate the uninitiated. Gotta please the binary gods somehow right?