Project Motor Racing is going to shake up the sim racing scene

Project Motor Racing has been exciting the sim racing community for a while ahead of its launch. Earlier in the year, Straight4 Studios and their team of hugely experienced racing game devs, none more so than CEO Ian Bell, shared the news that the game would be published by Giants Software – they of Farming Simulator success. While seemingly a bit of an odd couple at face value, the partnership has allowed S4 to really dig down and concentrate on producing the game they wanted to from the outset.

“No passes. No rentals. No subscriptions,” said Bell. “PMR gives you full online racing on day one, right out of the box — built for drivers who value clean, hard competition over complicated paywalls and qualification hurdles.” Next to a challenging “survival”-style single player career, multiplayer competitors can look forward to:

• Cross-Play Monthly Championships: With weekly track rotation and scheduled race times.
• 2 Leaderboards Modes: Chase real-world lap times in Factory Driver Challenges, and long-distance Endurance Hall Events to mimic legendary real-world races.
• Custom Lobbies “just like in the old days”: Host your own races, including cars, tracks, rules. No fees, no rentals, just fun.
• Social Races: 15-minute casual events perfect for newcomers, or a quick fix for veterans who enjoy diverse playlists with track rotations and trial combos.
• Ranked Racing: Structured championships with matchmaking, divisions, and per-class ranked grids

Assetto Corsa EVO, of course, launched into Early Access without multiplayer and struggled to add it in a working form even after a few patches.

The lack of subscriptions and server fees and the like is a shot across iRacing’s bows as well, meaning that if PMR can get the driving right, and I’m betting they certainly will, this could be a contender for best racing sim pretty quickly.

New partnerships have been tied in and announced at Tokyo game Show as well, with the folowing annoucnement:

“The sim welcomes new marque partners — Acura, Chevrolet, Mazda, Mercedes-AMG, Nissan, and Toyota — expanding a 70-car roster that stretches from the era-defining Mazda 787B (the first Japanese overall winner at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, 1991) to today’s thrilling GT3/GT4 contenders.

• Acura: 2022 Acura NSX GT3 Evo 22
• Chevrolet: 2023 Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R
• Mazda: 2017 Mazda MX-5 Spec, 1991 Mazda 787B
• Mercedes-AMG: 2020 Mercedes-AMG GT3
• Nissan: 2023 Nissan Z GT4
• Toyota: 2023 Toyota GR Supra GT4 Evo”

We will be keeping a close eye on Project Motore Racing ahead of its launch on 25th November this year.