Project Gotham Racing

"Close but no cigar"

This game makes me want my $20 back. Yes the graphics are shiny. The Kudos point system opens up a world of stylish driving. However I just can't get into this games style. I don't feel the the subtle nuances of a racing experience, the burning chrome and chugging exhaust. There are a lot of objects in each track; lots of buildings and winding tracks. But Project Gotham Racing lacks important details instead compensating for a general blandness in visuals and gameplay by making everything shiny.
The car handling reminds me of 'Outrun'. The cars feel weightless, and zip around in a way which doesn't give the impression of momentum you'd expect travelling at high speeds.
The city environments lack obvious details I'd expect from a street racer like humans, flocks of birds, or anything that brings some life and personality into these tracks. The textures are all smooth and of course really shiny. They seem cookie cutter with lighting effects heavy handedly applied to cover up other sorts of shortcomings in detail. I'd say this game is far too shiny for its own good.

This game is bland city but it tries to be stylish. The music is presented as a spoof of your typical radio station. But the tunes sound dated and second rate to my ears. The scripted announcers are not nearly as fresh as those from a Grand Theft Auto game. That aspect of the game is just annoying. However that is far from the essence of this kind of game. In fact, I'd say the real shortcoming here is that the feel of racing is so far from stylish that instead I'd call it generic. Each car just feels that way. The physics engine here is awful and as I said you never really get a sense of momentum. You never truly feel as engaged when dead locked with another racer in a rush for first place as you do in Gran Turismo 3 or Sega GT 2002. It is kind of fun zipping around corners, slipping and sliding. I like that aspect of the cars controls. And doing that will earn you lots of kudos if you don't run into a wall. The cars feel is purposeful, I suspect. The controls aren't bad and you can definately enjoy playing this game, unless you have played racing games which are actually good due to intense and balanced competition, which is the hallmark of good A.I. and physics engines.

PGR's style is far from a Gran Turismo knock off, especially with non racing events, where you must earn kudos by avoiding obstacles(cones), and grinding around corners. There are also one on one races, and a few other styles of event available. This is more of an arcade racer trying to fit into a console world, but not totally succeeding, instead succumbing to ploys like ''kudos'' to compensate for races which feel flimsy and unballanced, and obstacle challenges which involved a lot of cones and not much else.
I wish they would have done something more with the Kudos, and the idea of stylish maneuvers, especially since to me dodging cones is rather mundane.
In whatever sequel they make I'd like to see them expand their horizons perhaps offering stunt like maneuvers, open road levels as a throwback to classic checkpoint racing, and more detailed handling for each car model. There are some nifty cars here ferarri's and BMW's etc. But they feel generic and are not customizable. The handling of these cars detracts from my enjoyment of this game. In a sequel I'd hope for some less vanilla tracks and assuming they keep the circular, but not literally circular(i.e. lots of tough turns), and closed in tracks, they should at least throw in a few innocent bystanders or flocks of pidgeons to run over. What good is an arcade style racer without those touches?

Reviewer's Score: 6/10, Originally Posted: 05/26/03, Updated 05/26/03