Project CARS, or Community Assisted Racing Simulator, burst onto the scene and quickly captured the attention of racing game enthusiasts worldwide. From the moment screenshots showcasing its breathtaking visuals began circulating as early as 2012, the anticipation was palpable. Like its esteemed predecessors Gran Turismo and Forza Motorsport, Project CARS aimed to deliver an unparalleled level of realism in driving simulation. However, Slightly Mad Studios, the game’s developer, sought to carve its own niche by offering an open, accessible experience. Players are granted immediate access to all tracks and vehicles, empowering them to forge their own path through the diverse world of motorsports.
Unlike traditional game development funded by publishers, Project CARS took a unique route, relying on community funding and dedicated developers. During an extensive closed beta phase, contributors could purchase ‘Tool Packs,’ granting them access to various development aspects, including content creation, quality assurance, and marketing media. This community-driven approach fostered a sense of ownership and anticipation among players.
The visual fidelity of Project CARS is immediately striking. Built upon an enhanced version of the Madness engine, previously utilized in the Need for Speed: Shift series, the game is arguably the most visually stunning racing simulator to date. This graphical prowess, however, comes at a cost, demanding significant system resources to run optimally, especially at higher settings. This is where a reliable benchmark tool becomes essential.
The game’s system requirements reflect its graphical ambitions. Even for low graphics settings, Project CARS recommends at least a quad-core processor paired with a GeForce GTX 260 or Radeon HD 5770 graphics card. To truly experience Project CARS in all its visual glory, the developer suggests a more robust setup, including an Intel Core i7 or AMD FX-8350 processor. The recommendation of a Core i7 over a Core i5 raised eyebrows among hardware enthusiasts, hinting at potentially significant CPU demands. However, the suggested GPU specification remained somewhat vague, leaving many questions about real-world performance unanswered. This article aims to address those questions by providing a detailed Project CARS benchmark analysis.
Despite its lengthy early access period, Project CARS wasn’t without its launch day challenges. One prominent issue emerged: subpar performance on AMD GPUs. This lack of optimization for AMD Radeon graphics cards, a popular choice among PC gamers, became a major point of contention.
Adding fuel to the fire, Project CARS prominently featured Nvidia logos within the game itself. This led to initial backlash from gamers, with accusations directed at Slightly Mad Studios, alleging that they had been incentivized by Nvidia to intentionally hinder AMD hardware performance. Ian Bell, head of Slightly Mad Studios, responded to these claims, stating:
“We’ve provided AMD with 20 keys for game testing as they work on the driver side. But you only have to look at the lesser hardware in the consoles to see how optimized we are on AMD based chips”.
“We’re reaching out to AMD with all of our efforts. We’ve provided them 20 keys as I say. They were invited to work with us for years, looking through company mails the last I can see they (AMD) talked to us was October of last year”. He continued: “Categorically, NVIDIA have not paid us a penny. They have though been very forthcoming with support and co-marketing work at their instigation. We’ve had emails back and forth with them yesterday also. I reiterate that this is mainly a driver issue but we’ll obviously do anything we can from our side”.
The situation suggested that AMD might have been lagging in driver support at the time. Despite the anticipation surrounding their Omega drivers, official updates had been infrequent. The delay in releasing a finalized driver after the Grand Theft Auto V optimized Beta driver further highlighted this issue.
AMD acknowledged the performance issues and announced they were working on a driver fix for Project CARS. In the interim, benchmarks were conducted on current generation Radeon GPUs to assess the game’s performance out-of-the-box. Once AMD released an updated driver, further testing was planned across both current and previous generation GPUs.
To provide a comprehensive performance picture, the initial benchmark suite also included a full range of Nvidia GPUs, with CPU testing performed using the powerful GeForce GTX Titan X. This ensured a robust and up-to-date benchmark dataset, regardless of future driver updates.
Project CARS Benchmark Methodology
To accurately assess Project CARS performance, a rigorous and standardized testing methodology was employed. Utilizing the latest available AMD and Nvidia drivers, a comprehensive suite of nineteen DirectX 11 graphics cards, spanning various price points and performance tiers, were tested. To eliminate potential CPU bottlenecks that could skew high-end GPU results, the test rig was equipped with a high-performance Intel Core i7-5960X processor.
FRAPS, a popular benchmarking software, was used to record gameplay performance. The benchmark scene consisted of the first 60 seconds of a solo race at the Nürburgring track, in Sprint mode, driving a Formula A car against 20 AI-controlled opponents. To ensure consistency, the same conditions, track, and cars were used for each test run. Reported results are based on an average of three benchmark runs.
Project CARS benchmarks were conducted at three common gaming resolutions: 1920×1080 (1080p), 2560×1440 (1440p), and 3840×2160 (4K). The highest available visual quality settings were selected in-game to push the hardware to its limits, with FXAA anti-aliasing enabled. Furthermore, to evaluate performance under different rendering loads, testing was performed under both ‘clear’ and ‘rainy’ weather conditions. Rainy weather, with its added visual effects and increased rendering complexity, represented the more demanding scenario.
Project CARS Test System Specifications
The detailed specifications of the test system used for benchmarking Project CARS are as follows:
- Processor: Intel Core i7-5960X (3.00GHz) – High-end CPU to minimize CPU bottleneck during GPU testing for Project CARS benchmark.
- Memory: x4 4GB Kingston Predator DDR4-2400 (CAS 12-13-13-24) – 16GB of fast DDR4 memory to support high-performance gaming benchmarks for Project CARS.
- Motherboard: Asrock X99 Extreme6 (Intel X99) – High-end motherboard platform suitable for enthusiast-level CPU and GPU configurations for Project CARS testing.
- Power Supply: Silverstone Strider Series (700w) – Reliable 700W PSU to provide ample power for the test system components during demanding Project CARS benchmark runs.
- Storage: Crucial MX200 1TB (SATA 6Gb/s) – Fast 1TB SSD to ensure quick game loading and reduce potential storage bottlenecks in Project CARS benchmarks.
- AMD GPUs Tested:
- Gigabyte Radeon R9 290X (4096MB)
- Gigabyte Radeon R9 290 (4096MB)
- Gigabyte Radeon R9 285 (2048MB)
- Gigabyte Radeon R9 280X (3072MB)
- HIS Radeon R9 270X (2048MB)
- HIS Radeon R9 270 (2048MB)
- HIS Radeon R7 265 (2048MB)
- Nvidia GPUs Tested:
- Nvidia GeForce GTX Titan X (12288MB)
- Gigabyte GeForce GTX 980 (4096MB)
- Gigabyte GeForce GTX 970 (3584+512MB)
- Gigabyte GeForce GTX 960 (2048MB)
- Nvidia GeForce GTX Titan (6144MB)
- Gigabyte GeForce GTX 780 Ti (3072MB)
- Gigabyte GeForce GTX 780 (3072MB)
- Gigabyte GeForce GTX 770 (2048MB)
- Palit GeForce GTX 760 (2048MB)
- Gigabyte GeForce GTX 750 Ti (2048MB)
- Gainward GeForce GTX 680 (2048MB)
- Gainward GeForce GTX 660 Ti (2048MB)
- Gainward GeForce GTX 660 (2048MB)
- Operating System: Microsoft Windows 8.1 Pro 64-bit
- Nvidia Driver: GeForce 350.12 WHQL – Specific Nvidia driver version used for Project CARS benchmark to ensure consistent testing conditions.
- AMD Driver: Catalyst 15.4 Beta – Specific AMD driver version used for Project CARS benchmark, reflecting the latest available driver at the time of testing.
This detailed methodology and system specification provides a solid foundation for understanding the comprehensive Project CARS benchmark results and drawing informed conclusions about hardware performance in this visually demanding racing simulator.
