Project Cars 3

Project CARS 3 finds its groove when you stop treating it like a severe motorsport sim and start treating it as a garage-building racer. You begin with road cars, bank credits and XP through races and challenges, then put that money into new machines, upgrades, and liveries. That steady climb can be satisfying, especially if you like sticking with one favorite car and pushing it into higher classes.

Its friendlier career structure makes it easier to get moving than the earlier games, with adjustable assists and a broader mix of circuits and road courses. Repeated events and career requirements can wear down the momentum, though, and the online side is no longer available. For an offline car-collection campaign, it has enough progression to be worthwhile, but it does not always match the precision or personality implied by its name.

Retro Replay Review

Gameplay

The first hour makes a clear pitch: pick up a road car, race it, earn credits and XP, and start shaping a garage around what you enjoy driving. Project CARS 3 is less interested in forcing you through a rigid motorsport ladder than in letting you build momentum at your own pace. Buying cars, changing liveries, and investing in performance upgrades give each win a practical reward beyond a position on a results screen.

That structure recalls the gratifying ownership loop of the original Gran Turismo, even if the two games are not interchangeable as driving simulations. The strongest reason to stay is the chance to carry a car you like into higher classes rather than immediately abandoning it for the next prescribed step. Adjustable assists also let you tune the challenge toward something approachable instead of demanding one fixed level of expertise.

There is plenty of raw variety on paper, with more than 200 cars and more than 120 tracks across real circuits and road courses, plus weather and time-of-day changes. Still, progression can lose steam when events repeat or a career challenge becomes a gate you have to clear before moving on. If you enjoy setting personal goals around cars and upgrades, that friction is manageable. If you want every race to feel like a fresh, high-stakes occasion, it can become a chore.

Graphics

From the cockpit, the black dashboard and stitched steering wheel create a convincing enclosed view, though the interior framing also blocks part of the road. On a broad coastal highway, a low open-wheel roadster pulls alongside while a white coupe leads ahead, with blue ocean beyond the guardrail, hillside houses, green streetlights, and a clear sky. The cars stand out well, while distant buildings and trees look comparatively simple.

Story

There is no traditional plot to pull you through Project CARS 3. Its story is the one you make through your garage: starting in road cars, earning enough to improve them, and deciding which machines deserve more of your time and money.

That light framing suits the game’s more welcoming driver journey. You are not pushed to role-play a specific racer or follow a dramatic rivalry. Instead, the career gives your purchases and upgrades a reason to matter, turning a favorite car into a continuing project.

The downside is that the campaign’s motivation rises and falls with the events themselves. When the next challenge feels worthwhile, the climb has a nice rhythm. When requirements force repetition, there is no larger narrative hook to carry you through the dull stretch.

Overall Experience

Project CARS 3 is at its best as an offline racer for someone who likes earning a car, improving it, and seeing how far it can go. Its friendlier approach and upgrade-focused career make it easier to settle into than a strict simulation-first progression system, and the large car and track selection gives that journey room to breathe.

It also feels uneven. The core loop has real pull, but repeated events and career gates can turn an enjoyable garage project into box-checking. Your patience for that structure will matter more than the sheer size of the vehicle list.

Online modes have shut down, and the game was delisted, although existing owners can still download and play offline, as explained in Bandai Namco’s Project CARS 3 service notice. That makes this a narrower recommendation now: give it a chance if you already own it and want a solo progression racer with cars to nurture. It is much harder to recommend as a destination for competitive online racing.