MSN Autos Takes PGR 3 Out for a Spin"Editors, start your engines …" It’s not often the editors at MSN Autos get to test drive high-performance machinery from Ferrari, Porsche, and Lamborghini, so when the chance came up we jumped at the chance. Behind the wheel, we easily exceeded 100 mph during most of the drives, while causing considerable damage to several other very expensive cars in the process. Yet we never received a speeding ticket, we're not being sued by irate property owners, and we didn't burn a drop of fuel. Actually, we never got out of our chairs.
Just like the one in my garage. We were playing Project Gotham Racing® 3, or PGR 3 for short—the high-performance driving game from Microsoft on Xbox 360™. This game is so realistic it caused our heartbeats to go up and adrenaline to flow—we felt as if we'd been out thrashing $100,000-plus sports cars. Sure, it's not exactly like driving an exotic sports car at triple-digit speeds, but for most people it's about as close as they'll ever get to the real thing—real close. And there’s plenty of choice. You can take the wheel of more than 80 cars. Unlike the previous version, there are no lower life forms such as SUVs or MINI Coopers in PGR 3—every car is capable of hitting 170 mph. We started out racing in the "lowest" performance class, Class E, which includes the Lotus Esprit, Aston Martin DB9, and Lamborghini Countach. At the other end of the scale, in Class A, lurk exotics such as the Koenigsegg CCR, Mercedes-Benz CLK GTR and a TVR Ceberra Speed 12.
Get ready for the ride of your life. After a couple of sessions with PGR 3, we came away shocked and awed by the way developers managed to capture the different handling characteristics of each car, making each driving experience unique. Just because you can do well at a track in one car doesn't mean you can hop into any other car and do just as well. For example, we took a spin in a Ferrari F50 GT race car out on the Nurburgring Formula One track in Germany. This is a car that weighs less than 2,000 pounds and has more than 700 horsepower. Taking it for a spin was literally what happened—it was scary to drive, even in the virtual world. Afterward we tried a Lotus Elise GT on the same track. Even though the Elise has less grunt, on the first attempt we were turning laps 20 seconds faster than with the Ferrari. Since we've played the previous game (Project Gotham Racing® 2) at length, we were immediately struck by the leap in graphics quality in PGR 3, as well as the interactivity with the surroundings. As you drive down the track in Tokyo, flashbulbs go off from within the crowds as you pass by. If you crash into a guardrail, people jump out of the way.
All the cars are meticulously rendered. Interior views also impress. Materials and dashboards look realistic, and from the driver's seat a look left or right shows the view out the window with the rearview mirror. Unfortunately we couldn't use the rearview mirror on the Ferrari F430 we were driving—it had been smashed on a poorly negotiated turn early in the race. New Features Of course, Xbox Live® is a big part of this game. As with PGR 2, you can race against drivers from all over the world. However, with PGR 3 you can also tune into "Gotham TV" on Xbox Live and watch current races in real time. And you choose the camera views: See all the camera angles, or sit in the audience and watch the race "live." Project Gotham Racing 3 is one of the more popular games for Xbox 360. With more than 80 cars, multiple race tracks, and all the additional features of Xbox Live, what other driving experience even comes close? Article by Perry Stern, MSN Autos |
