Project CARS (Community Assisted Racing Simulator) is a motorsport racing simulator video game developed by the British video game developer Slightly Mad Studios and distributed by Bandai Namco Games. It was released in May 2015 for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One, while the Linux version has been delayed to later in 2015. Project CARS was originally also due for release on the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, and Wii U but it was later announced that these versions had been cancelled.
The finished product is intended to represent a realistic driving simulation. In order to differentiate the game from the established industry leaders, Gran Turismo and Forza Motorsport, Slightly Mad Studios’ aim is a “sandbox” approach that allows the player to choose between a variety of different motorsports paths and grants immediate access to all included tracks and vehicles.[4] Project CARS portrays racing events spanning multiple days, progressing from shakedown and qualifying runs to the race itself, while changes in weather and lighting conditions are simulated dynamically.
Project CARS adopts an improved version of the Madness engine, which was the basis for the Need for Speed: Shift titles. More processing power available in modern computers allows for the introduction of a dynamic tire model named “SETA”, rather than the steady-state model based on lookup tables, as seen in previous generation simulations. To accommodate differing skill levels, Slightly Mad Studios offers gamers (with or without a digital wheel) various driver aids and input filtering methods.
There are 74 drivable cars, over 30 unique locations with at least 110 different courses, of which 23 are real, with the remainder being fictitious. For licensing reasons, some tracks are currently codenamed using their geographic location. In addition to real world racing circuits and fictional kart circuits, there are two fictional point-to-point roads inspired by Côte d’Azur and California Pacific Coast.
On 6 August 2014, Slightly Mad Studios revealed which circuits would be included in the final game.