We’ve just been provided with our first glimpse of Project Gotham Racing 3 since E3.
And, mark my words if you like, after watching the trailer, I think you’ll agree with me that PGR3 will be THE killer app for the 360.
And, mark my words if you like, after watching the trailer, I think you’ll agree with me that PGR3 will be THE killer app for the 360.
Here’s what we know already. For starters, there will be no cardboard cut-out crowds, ala Gran Turismo 4. Instead, we’ll have fully 3-D, reactive, motion-captured spectators. And to give those masses somewhere to exist, Bizarre Creations has painstakingly recreated the scenery of the cities you’ll be racing in, using photographs of the actual locations. You’ve seen Jack’s thread, the pictures speak for themselves.
We also know the number of cars will be somewhere around 80, more than a tad short of PGR2’s extensive list of well over 100. The exact car list hasn’t been provided, but what is provided on Bizarre’s website gives the hint that they’ve cut many of the lower class cars, the Honda’s and the Mazda’s, in favor of drool-worthy supercars. And honestly, I’m disappointed. "Jesus Christ, why?" you’re thinking. "I play racers so I can lay rubber in exotics, not piddle about in my mom’s Civic."
And hey, don’t get me wrong, I’ll shake hands with the devil if it means a new F430 in return. But those econoboxes were good for one thing, and one thing only…
Weeding the men from the button mashers. I’ve always held that any average fucktard can floor it down a straight, but few can take corners with any sort of grace, much less any speed. Say you understeer a New York right-hander in a Pagani Zonda. Due to the Zonda’s 550 pony power plant, any speed loss is made up for with it’s brutal acceleration. Now botch that same corner in a Miata. You’ll be halfway to the next corner before you make up the speed you lost. The econoboxes, then, are the skill filters of the Project Gotham world: The guys who turn fast laps in slow cars are the ones that can massage 100% from their machines.
There’s also this new fangled GothamTV. Think of it as the ESPN ticker for the Project Gotham racing world. It’ll run full time, showing all kinds of information: If one of your friends wins the gold, if someone breaks a record, if some famous motherfucker is about to race, ect. Also via GTV is the ability to tune into any race and watch live – think spectator mode ala FPS. Now, if you get famous, you can have a crowd of 100 other racers watching you. Or if you just want to watch the competition do a couple laps before you join in. Either way, this is a spectacular idea; there’s an almost endless numbers of ways they can go with GTV.
Then there’s the detail work. Like the excruciating detail on the cars. Just look at them, for God’s sake: The perfect interiors, the head lamps, the engine bay on the F430, it’s all exquisite. I can’t gauge the sound too well from the shakycam video we’ve got, but it seems that Bizarre got it all right, from the throaty whine of the Ferrari to the low burble of the Saleen. Awesome.
