Project Gotham Racing 3 - Hands On Preview

Having become central to the Xbox both in terms of launching the original hardware and subsequently getting Xbox Live off the ground, Bizarre Creations Project Gotham Racing series has rightfully become the signature racing series for Microsoft.

With mixed opinions towards many Xbox 360 titles Bizarreâ??s latest title has taken a lot of the expectations surrounding Microsoftâ??s entry into the next-gen market; thankfully after finally getting our hands on the game it looks as though the Liverpool based developerâ??s shoulders are more then up to the strain.

Once again the demonstration was brief but provided us the chance to get our hands on some of the models to be featured within the final game including the Ferrari F40, F430, F50 and the Ford GT, taking place around the streets of London including an unbelievably accurate replication of Big Ben and Parliament. Although the demonstration failed to shed any further light on additional cities we do know that the likes of New York, Tokyo, Las Vegas and Nurburgring will feature within the game and possibly a few more.

Dating back to the series origins on the SEGA Dreamcast as Metropolis Street Racer, the Kudos racing system has become a fundamental aspect of the series promoting the need to drive stylishly as well as winning. The system has undergone many tweaks and tunes since its inception, removing many of the niggling frustrations and becoming more naturally embroiled into the actual racing experience. With PGR3 Bizarre Creations have taken this to the next level; resulting in a system that feels more naturally interwoven then before and offers a finer level of refinement when it comes to evaluating your performance on the track.

The number of parameters to gain Kudos has increased with new criteria such as â??Gutsy Brakingâ? joining the already established â??two wheelsâ?, â??airâ? and other such; whilst Bizarre have also increased the number of times that a certain action is evaluated such as a Powerslide now being rated based on its approach, the slide around the apex and the exit out of the corner. As a result Kudos looks likely to become a more intuitive addition to the racing experience that doesnâ??t feel as abstract as it once did.

Away from these improvements PGR3 is an unbelievably enjoyable game to get your hands upon. The handling seems to be slightly different to before, with a lighter experience then the somewhat heavy control of PGR2. Careful control is still needed to ensure the car doesnâ??t fishtail completely, although the more experienced PGR racer will use this to their advantage when it comes to racking up the kudos points.

Thereâ??s only so much you can say about PGR3 before mentioning the sublime visuals that top the driving experience. The level of detail featured in both the cars and tracks is on a different level to everything else, to give some indication of what to expect itâ??s worth remembering that the same number of polygons went into creating the Brooklyn bridge in PGR3 as the amount used to recreate the whole of New York in the original PGR! The cars themselves feature upwards of 80,000 polygons which can be fully appreciated in the internal view, with every aspect of a carâ??s inner workings fully featured such as working speedometers, individual levers and other such components. Itâ??s the inclusion of a fully AI driven crowd that puts the cherry on the cake, helping to lift it above the rest of the competition; thereâ??s just something satisfying about rolling around a corner on two wheels and checking out a crowd waving, taking photos and moving around independently.

If that wasnâ??t enough PGR3 also includes an awesome motion-blur effect that leaves everything else thatâ??s come before it sitting in its dust; quite honestly when this little baby is played from the internal view youâ??ve never seen a racing game quite like it. On the downside the heavily debated framerate does appear to be a tad on the slow side, although thankfully it never showed any sign of stuttering during the demonstration; if Bizarre Creations can speed this up a tad during the final few weeks of development then quite honestly nothing can touch this.

Having spun around the tracks of London more times then we probably should it was time to grill the Bizarre representative on the all-important online sections. PGR2 set Xbox Live on the map and for many has yet to be surpassed, and whilst he was less then forthcoming with specific details he did assure us that PGR3 will once again set the standards for online racers! What was seen at Xâ??05 provided the merest glimpse of what PGR3 has to offer; with the likes of GothamTV Bizarre Creations are significantly expanding upon its online foundations with the premise of letting gamers show off their skills and receiving live ticker-tape information on broken records and daily news.