Project Gotham Racing 3 (2005)

Project Gotham Racing 3 gets to make leaps ahead for the series in many ways thanks to being an Xbox 360 launch game. Unfortunately it also it also takes this series backwards, further sideways and is underdone but damn it is still fun.

The differences between this and the first two games are immediately noticeable. Project Gotham Racing 3 looks better and more detailed thanks to the jump in hardware. I have to give a special mention to the way cars sound too. Menus are a step up from the second game and it has a slick TV show style that I liked. I think for an early Xbox 360 game it’s got fairly good presentation all round and I still think it looks good in 2024.

Car handling feels a bit different again. It feels like there is now slightly more grip and a little less steering sensitivity. Cars feel like they have a good weight to them again and there is a good sense of speed. What this means is that you’ll probably find yourself on the grass on the Nürburgring a bit less than in the Project Gotham Racing 2 and smacking into less barriers than in the first Project Gotham Racing. It is a little easier but feels really fun to throw cars into a corner and slide around while almost kissing the barrier over and over again. I like the car handling in the first two games a bit more though as it feels like things have been nudged in a more arcadey direction for the third game. AI in the first two games was worth writing about but here the other cars on the track are just there, they exist. Online features take an even bigger place now with an online career and a greater emphasis on competing with others, watching replays and taking photos. (I should point out though that I am not engaging in any online features that require me to pay for Xbox Live in any of these games). The garage is back and now Geometry Wars 2 is playable alongside the first one. There are some nice additions too like a cockpit view and new events like drift and kudos vs time. Drift is sadly underwhelming but kudos vs time is cool and basically requires you to drive like an absolute hooligan so the clock doesn’t run out.

Most likely due to being a launch title though Project Gotham Racing 3 is really lacking. The choice of cars is just shocking, not that the cars on offer are bad, there just aren’t enough and worst of all is the lack of variety. There are not really any ‘everyday’ cars here which results in the game just throwing you into faster cars from the start. There is no starting out in slower cars and then building your way up. The whole game lacks progression in challenge and cars because you just buy whatever you can afford and use what you like but jumping straight into higher speeds could be seen as a positive too. You’ll find a lack of content in the career as well, which was a quick breeze to play through and there isn’t much single player content beyond that. The number of locations is severely cut back from Project Gotham Racing 2. Visual car damage is downgraded and weather is gone as well which can really be felt. It also doesn’t feel like there is a normal difficulty here. I had similar thoughts during Project Gotham Racing 2 as well but it is worse here. Medium and below is too easy, leaving hard to feel like the normal mode and I would recommend playing on this difficulty but it would be nice to have something that feels like a standard difficulty.

Project Gotham Racing 3 continues to move away from the original game and has a very different impression. It’s now a console racer with a career mode and events and tracks that feel like conventional motorsport experiences. Barriers with fences and advertisements line the tracks, with crowds gathered around taking pictures. You no longer get a little city preview clip before races. The radio is gone, it’s just music now and the Nürburgring returns again. Credits are added as the currency you use for buying cars and Kudos feel pushed to the side a little. This is not a street racer that could have fit right in at an arcade anymore and the originals personality is gone too.

There are some big complaints with Project Gotham Racing 3 but I went back and played through the career twice. I guess that’s one of the benefits of lacking content is that it can be more replayable. But I still would have been really happy bringing this home with a brand new Xbox 360 all those years ago. It’s just fun and with how cheap a physical copy is now I’d recommend throwing this one on and tearing through it.

7.5/10

The Geometry Wars games are such a great bonus to get with Project Gotham Racing 2, 3 and 4. It was around this time that this series got to break free from the garage and become stand alone games. Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved was a big success in the early days of Xbox Live Arcade and ended up getting a sequel a few years later. Geometry Wars also went on to escape Xbox completely with Geometry Wars: Galaxies releasing on the Wii and DS. Then even after Bizarre Creations closure some of the developers moved on as Lucid Games and kept Geometry Wars alive with one more title, Geometry Wars 3: Dimensions, which released on just about everything. The Geometry Wars games I’ve played so far have been fun and addictive; it’s one of those games that will make you go ‘just one more try.’ I’m absolutely adding the others I haven’t played to my wish list. Make sure you don’t miss these when playing the Project Gotham Racing series.