Project CARS GO - Does It Deserve The Name? | Project Cars GO Review | Mobile Racing
Console games and mobile games are completely different beasts, but that hasn’t stopped some developers from trying to adapt one to the other. Today, we’re taking a look at Project CARS GO, the mobile adaptation of the Project CARS series.
Released in March 2021, PCGO is a relative newcomer to the mobile racing genre, but has a vast library of licensed cars and tracks from its console siblings. Featuring a one-touch control scheme, where you hold the screen to brake, release to accelerate, and tap to gearshift, it’s an easily accessible racing game for players wanting a quick and portable experience.
On paper, PCGO is probably one of the most accomplished racing games on mobile. Featuring over 50 cars, from a humble Toyota 86 to modern-day LMP1 machinery, it’s got a car list straight out of the latest console releases. The track list includes street sprints like Singapore and California Highway, and real world racetracks like Laguna Seca, Brands Hatch, and Monza. Let’s take a look at what PCGO gets right, and what it doesn’t get right.
Starting with the graphics. PCGO looks great at the higher settings, and the artstyle and shaders feel like they are from the latest console releases. You’ll notice I said ‘higher settings’. That’s because it has multiple performance settings and lets you tune your experience according to the capabilities of your device. It supports locking your framerate and also changing the level of detail in the environment and car models. While I tried the ‘insane’ setting for a bit, I got frequent crashes and had to decrease it to ‘high’. The graphics feel quite nice overall, and the UI and menus are a particular highlight. There are some generic NPCs too, who provide tutorials.
The main gameplay is a question of timing, where you have to tap, hold, or release the screen while passing through certain gates. It sells the illusion of racing well enough and the car sounds and music add to the feeling. The sense of speed is expressed quite well by the motion blur, FOV, and the width of the tracks. There are some odd choices of acceleration and braking points, however, which are immediately evident as soon as you look a little closer. While I’m not sure how much your inputs actually contribute to the overall time at the end, getting the timing right is quite satisfying, as races with faster cars have more gates and a shorter window to hit them in. The upgrade system is a lot more gradual than other similar games, and you can upgrade your starter car to a pretty good level. Most cars can either be bought through credits earned from doing events, or are exclusive to lootboxes. Speaking of lootboxes, the monetisation isn’t too aggressive in regards to competitiveness, but there are still a few intrusive microtransactions. Visual customisation is also present, with different paintjobs, patterns, and liveries.
The engine sounds and the music are quite solid, with most cars having distinct engines and the music serving to heighten the tension during each race.
The core gameplay loop is in the single player World Tour mode, which has a series of races that let you unlock more cars, features, and game modes, as you progress. The races ramp up in difficulty, forcing you to upgrade your cars to remain competitive. While it is possible to compensate for a slight lack of performance with some good timing, outdriving the car through skill is not possible due to the nature of the physics engine. One thing I noticed was that the car classes were quite oddly grouped, like a modern day Acura NSX and a 330 P4 in the same tier, and current Indycars being grouped with LMP1s. There were also occasional visual bugs like cars sliding laterally on grid starts, and odd braking and acceleration points for some corners.
There are some multiplayer modes unlocked through career progression, like Daily Tournaments and Time Trials. These let you try out different cars and compete for rewards online, which is quite fun.
Overall, Project CARS GO is a fun mobile game for fans of console racing, great for passing the time when you only have a mobile device. It doesn’t get many things wrong, but ultimately doesn’t hold the attention in the long run. 3.5/5.
The Alternative
Forza Street features similar controls to PCGO, but has much better presentation and feels better overall. It’s definitely worth a try just for the great presentation alone.