Project Gotham Racing 3

Excels at being both a brilliant showpiece of the power of Microsoft's new console as well as a thoroughly enjoyable racer.

An amazing visual treat and though the gameplay may feel a bit too similar to "Project Gotham Racing 2" in a number of ways, the overall experience can be summed up in two words: simply incredible.

The visuals and immersion [are] simplly amazing in this game. The graphics are incredibly impressive, something unmatched by any other game.

PGR3 stays close to the concept that made the first two a hit and gives us more online flavor with a major boost to the graphics and audio.

Amazing graphics and sound coupled with tight, addictive gameplay – not to mention a plethora of amazing dream roadsters to earn and collect – means hours upon hours of fun for the discerning gamer.

Project Gotham is still a series plugging away in a league of its own, but this time in every sense. Absolutely astounding.

Project Gotham 3 is the best overall racing game I've seen. Pretty much my final answer!

Saying this game looks nearly photorealistic is no understatement, as throughout most of the race, it could pass as just that.

Everything is gorgeous from the city streets to the cars themselves, it’s definitely eye candy (at least running at 1080i).

The gameplay mechanics, presentation, and available modes have all been supercharged, the graphics push the capabilities of the hardware without wavering, and the engine and exhaust noises are so glorious that you won’t even care about loading in your custom tracks.

The expertly tuned controls, the amazing graphics, addictive offline and online game modes, Gotham TV and top notch audio all add up to create one of the Xbox 360's top launch games.

From mind blowing graphics and lighting effects and the brilliant experience of speed. The enormous amount of vehicle choices and racing options. Music choices out the whazoo, and stellar sound effects.

For fans of the genre, it is the pinnacle of racing simulation.

The detail level is amazing, not just in the cars but in the cities and the crowds watching the races, I can talk about lighting (wait until you see your first night race!), textures, and the like, but it’s more effective if I simply ask: when was the last time you played a racing game in which you could see the instruments on the dashboard through the car’s rear window?

If you're a stickler for 100% completion those Platinum awards will keep you coming back for months, while less enthusiastic racing fans who don't want to race online will only get 50% of what PGR3 is offering.

The core game here is precisely the same as it was in "Project Gotham Racing 2" on the Xbox, but the addition of more Live functionality improves the game considerably. The graphics are utterly gorgeous, as well.

When you sit down to play PGR3, one of the first things you’ll notice is how absolutely gorgeous the game looks. The car models have an exquisite amount of detail in them. Every body panel seam, manufacturer emblem, and door handle are all wonderfully represented.

The lack of gameplay innovation in the series keeps it from soaring into the stratosphere, but for shear driving fun, Project Gotham Racing delivers.

Just about the most involving and exciting arcade-sim racing experience yet. Its amazing graphics and sound show off the true power of the Xbox 360. So is it perfect? Not quite. The one problem with PGR3 is the length of its single player Gotham Career.

From the stunning near photo-realistic visuals, to the innovative Gotham TV feature, PGR3 is everything you could ask for from a launch title.

The much vaunted Gotham TV is fun, but more welcome is being able to save your replays when playing with friends rather than watching strangers.

It has everything; superb gameplay, spectacular graphics, fantastic sound and to top it all off, the usual but addictive Xbox Live play.

It's not quite the untouchable dream game we were hoping for, but it's still the best Xbox 360 racer you can buy right now. [Official UK Xbox Magazine]

Racing fans are lucky this launch season. [Jan 2006, p.46]

It doesn’t reinvent the wheel by any means, but the tight controls and fantastic visuals combine to make this a game that you won’t want to miss out on.

An empowering, engrossing and downright gorgeous racer, Project Gotham Racer 3 is definitely among the best games to ever launch alongside a console. [Christmas 2005, p.124]

It’s a shining example of how the arcade-racing genre should be done, and it is an essential purchase for all gear heads with an Xbox360. In fact you probably already own it.

Longish load times aside, Project Gotham Racing 3 strikes an excellent balance between arcade and sim gameplay without alienating fans of either, and everyone - from Sunday drivers to Autobahn veterans - will find something to love here.

The dazzling looks, the sublime handling, plethora of online options and even the lengthy single player mode make for a game that can't be touched in its genre.

Eye-popping graphics, especially the in-car view. [Jan 2006, p.66]

For me, Project Gotham Racing 3 is the best of 360's launch titles; it grafts the series' appealing mix of sorta realistic (much more so than Ridge Racer) but still forgiving (much more so than Forza) handling to some of the most impressive graphics I've ever seen on a console.

PGR continues to dazzle us with an impressive array of top notch motors, solid gameplay and incredible and challenging online play.

A perfectly balanced arcade racer. It's lovingly crafted, exciting as all get-out, and looks like nothing you've ever played before.

To put it simply, PGR3 is a must-buy for any racing game fan. It is a little bit of a bummer given a lesser amount of cities and vehicles available, but the upgrades to the online and first person experiences more than makes up for it.

The game’s absolutely jaw-dropping dashboard camera view provides a level of racing immersion that hasn’t been matched by any other racing game I’ve ever played, and that combined with the stunning visuals does bring enough next-gen flair and innovation to the mix to separate it from any current racing title on the market.

The pick-up-and-play gameplay appeals to newcomers and veterans alike, with insane speeds and ample opportunities to pull of stylish moves, whereas the detail of the numerous cars and courses is just astounding.

From mind blowing graphics and lighting effects and the brilliant experience of speed, and the enormous amount of vehicle choices and racing options.

A good game with several hours of gameplay and a great way to show off your fancy HDTV.

My only gripe with this game is that it does not feel fast. You’re going two hundred miles/three hundred kilometers an hour, but it doesn’t feel as twitchy if-you-blink-you-will-crash fast as "Burnout Revenge."

It is the perfect blend of style, substance, visuals, and sound you will find on any system... but you will blow through the game very quickly, it is a bit on the easy side sometimes, and without HDTV you can’t truly experience it.

Sure, it would have been nice to see a little work on the on-rails AI or the same-old single-player, but as an online racer and a graphical showcase for Microsoft's new machine, PGR3 dazzles.

If you're looking for a deep racing Sim with a community of opponents ready to go 24 hours a day, this is your game. It's easy on the eyes and a blast to play.

PGR3 hasn’t moved from its niche, not at all – at its core, it’s still pure PGR, a savvy and standalone mixture of real form and hyper-real function – but it’s been transformed into a wondrous and rewarding beauty spot. [Christmas 2005, p.88]

The controls are handled nicely enough and the tracks are designed well enough. Too bad the Career mode is over a bit too quickly.

A must-buy for Xbox 360 owners who love -- and live -- to speed.

The amount of cars to buy and collect is staggering. PGR 3 proves that sequels can be better if time is taken and its done right.

It brings everything that was great about the first two iterations, while adding jaw-dropping graphics and even more Xbox Live goodness.

It’s the premier racing franchise on the console, one of the best graphical showcases there is, and one of the best online components you can find anywhere.

An online mode that provides an excellent racing experience.

PGR3 may not have changed the winning formula but it’s hard to fault a title that stays true to such a successful recipe.

With its unique blend of simulation and arcade physics, Project Gotham Racing 3 is a beautiful game that will be certainly be played for a long time.

It's still a lot of fun, but it doesn't quite have the same magic as its immediate predecessor.

A beautiful, fast-moving racer in a style Xbox gamers are all too familiar with. The game is gorgeous, deep in modes and challenges, and well balanced, even if it's nothing more than a minor leap in gameplay over its predecessor.

For pure style, speed, and immersion, grabbing a seat in any of PGR 3's intricately modeled high-speed rigs and tearing through the streets is what the next generation of gaming is all about.

PGR 2.5 would have been a more suitable name, since there is not that much new. The drop dead gorgeous graphics make the game a wet dream for sports car enthusiasts. Easy to handle, beautiful to look at. I can live with that. [Dec 2005]

Project Gotham Racing 3 isn’t as next-gen as the hardware you are playing it on, but it is nonetheless a solid and serious racing game and a definite improvement over "PGR2."

While the racing is certainly fun and online play works great, I still have to question whether this is truly what we'd consider a next-generation game.

A solid and fun, if not deep or terribly rewarding racer - one that ably promotes beauty over brains. [Jan 2006, p.140]

It shows what the console can do by looking absolutely gorgeous where some other games have failed miserably to do so.

Even if you’re not a die-hard racer you’ll find the game a lot of fun on line, finding the right group of racers to match your skills is pretty easy, and with the addition of the “Preferred” gamer to all XBL titles it makes playing with your favorite people easy without filling up your friends list.

Online, Project Gotham Racing 3 is practically an addiction.

Respected gameplay in nice new wrapping and ties it up with amazing online integration, which hints at things to come.

Gotham also sounds great. although I generally keep the soundtrack muted in the background in favor of Live chatter (when applicable) and the sounds of the race, which are as spectacular as ever.

An amazing launch title. It doesn’t feel like a launch title as we didn’t find any bugs and it doesn’t seem like any shortcuts were taken during development. It isn’t as much of an upgrade from Project Gotham Racing 2 as we’d hoped.

Despite Gotham's obliging nature, high-speed thrills and gorgeous graphical sheen, it's hard not to feel that we have seen its best tricks before.

It does have a sense of familiarity about it and the developers could have been a little more original and innovative but to deliver a game so complete, which such good graphics and so playable for launch was a feat in itself.

Looks stunning and plays beautifully. [Issue #2]

Is PGR 3 the best racing game ever? Not quite, but it sure stands out as the most visually captivating. Even if you aren't a racing fan, the game is worth a try, just to see the Xbox 360 flexing its muscle.

A painstakingly polished product that plays magnificently and has plenty of delicious eye candy to sweeten the deal. It's a racing game that has both beauty as well as the brains to match.

It's like playing "PGR2" on a system that can do it justice.

Aesthetic quibbles and longish load times aside, Project Gotham Racing 3 strikes an excellent balance between arcade and sim gameplay without alienating fans of either.

This is case of refinement; Bizarre has continued to add and streamline their iconic franchise making it the best PGR yet.

Online play is as hectic, though perhaps not as friendly, as the previous Xbox version.