Project CARS 3 was going to challenge Forza Horizon with “open-world elements”

Project CARS 3 was originally going to have “open-world elements”, according to Slightly Mad Studios Co-Founder and original CEO Ian Bell in an interview with Traxion.

Released in 2020, Project CARS 3 remains the most divisive entry in the series. Compared to its serious, simulation-focused predecessors, it was more akin to DriveClub, with accessible car handling, more vibrant visuals and an arcade-like XP system. It felt like a spin-off in the vein of Forza Horizon or DiRT Showdown, rather than a mainline sequel.

Initially, Project CARS 3 was intended to be a spiritual successor to Need for Speed Shift. However, in a series of now-deleted Tweets and GTPlanet forum posts, Bell assured fans that “fun would not be at the expense of a deep physics system” and the developer would “really go to town on sim goodness.”

However, it was clear that this vision for an authentic numbered sequel wasn’t going to be realised.

“We knew it wasn’t going to be what we wanted,” Bell tells Traxion. Instead, Slightly Mad Studios’ new vision for the third game was a “Forza Horizon simcade” called Project CARS Sideways.

“That name would have evoked the notion that you’re going off on a tangent, that you’re not doing the same sort of game i.e. Forza Horizon [compared to Forza Motorsport],” Bell told Traxion last year.

The comparisons to Forza Horizon don’t end there. “There were going to be open-world elements as well as circuits,” he adds.

“We were going to take the environments and extend the circuits. That’s easy. You’ve got all the art there. Our engine, the Madness Engine, worked very well for large open areas.”

Project CARS 3’s planned open-world elements sound like Assetto Corsa Evo’s upcoming free-roaming environment, where you can explore surrounding roads outside the racetracks.

Ultimately, these open-world elements were scrapped, as was the Project CARS Sideways name. “I was overruled because the investors said we need a ‘Project CARS 3’,” said Bell last year.

“They named it, against my wishes. The chaps who did it, they know who they are, I don’t blame them and we’re still good friends. But, they made a mistake.”

Project CARS 3’s development period was “absolute hell”

Project CARS 3 arrived during a hectic time for Slightly Mad Studios. At this point, the studio was also working on Fast & Furious Crossroads, a racing and movie hybrid based on the famous film franchise bearing the same name. It also launched Project CARS PRO, a streamlined version of Project CARS 2 for public sim-centres and events.

On top of that, Slightly Mad Studios was also acquired by Codemasters. With the relatively diminutive team juggling multiple projects alongside a studio acquisition, Bell looks back on this period as “absolute hell.”

“You try to ship one game on multiple platforms with a team of around 100 people or less, 75, 80 people. It’s a miracle. That’s absolutely miraculous,” he says.

“Get all three shipping at the same time. It’s a small miracle. Double that with two completely different games with the same-sized team shipping within a month of each other. No one’s done it in history.”

With simulation elements like pit stops and tyre wear removed, Project CARS 3 proved divisive. It failed to satisfy hardcore sim racers and casual players alike.

Project CARS 4 was set to redeem the franchise, with Bell touting it as the “most realistic simulation ever made” in a now-deleted Tweet.

In the meantime, Codemasters was acquired by Electronic Arts for an estimated $1.2 billion. With Project CARS 4’s development underway, Bell left Slightly Mad Studios.

“Whatever Project CARS 4 would have been, my remit, and it came just at a point where I had had enough and left…it was a hardcore sim,” says Bell. “It was going back to Project CARS 2 and moving it forward.”

EA later cancelled Project CARS 4, withdrawing investment for the series and delisting all three entries from sale.

Thankfully, Project CARS’ spirit will live on in Project Motor Racing, due to release this November. In development by former Slightly Mad staff at Straight 4, a new studio founded by Bell, it promises to be the game that Project Cars 3 arguably should have been, and Project Cars 4 might have been.

 Ultimately, we’ll never know what would have happened if Project CARS 3 had been released as Project CARS Sideways. But the series could have had a very different fate.

For more on Project CARS, check out our retrospective on the tumultuous series.