Project Motor Racing

The thematic presentation is actually quite marvelous! The tightly curated selection of track-going driving machines is indeed rich enough to provide a sense of variety, yet concise enough as to maintain a focused feel as opposed to the "hey, drive whatever you want" smorgasbord that perhaps leads many good car games to sorta just bleed into each other. So, then, what's the big problem here? The so-called "Giants" engine is, frankly, [i]horrendously inept[/i] for the pace of the game that Project Motor Racing attempts to be. It literally was built for a [i]farming simulator[/i] of all things! When the fastest thing going around was a tractor, it was fine because the engine didn't need to crunch numbers any faster than the leisurely same-said tractor had time to go. But when multi-facet cars with so many mechanics such as tire wear or seat belt tightness are into account, it lugs really badly. Seriously. Other games, such as the long-since delisted Project CARS, can easily boast full grids of 20 or even 30 or more cars with modest hardware [i]and[/i] hardly feel the effects on the CPU, but daring to include even just a middling [i]half-dozen[/i] cars on the track at once for PMR strains one's hardware even on the most bleeding edge of consoles -- they even have the number of opponents deliberately capped to a significantly lower amount for precisely this reason! And for what? Are the AI drivers a tad too [i]smart[/i]? Nah, they have Forza Drivatar Syndrome, they wouldn't even attempt to dodge an obvious IED on the road if they can help it. At least Forza limits the impact of inattentive battering rams by daring to have a physics engine that works even under pressure, but PMR, dear heaven -- what part of it actually [i]works[/i]? Applying just a [i]little[/i] too much gas while steering results in the entire car losing all grip and spinning around like a top, having an opponent's car scrape against yours results in the entire car losing all grip and spinning around like a top, and -- believe it or not -- driving over a curb, more often than not, results in one's car losing all grip and spinning around like a top because heaven forbid the slightest nuance between complete control and utter chaos is ever applied in a premier "sim" racer. Time will tell how much more of the tremendously overwrought Giants engine will have to be tuned and upgraded in order to make it the slightest bit competent for the game it was haphazardly grafted into, [i]if that happens at all[/i].