Currently, the Wii U doesn’t have any racing games available that come anywhere close to the type of hardcore racer that Gran Turismo fans love. There’s Fast and Furious: Showdown… and Need for Speed: Most Wanted… but that’s it. And neither of those are, technically speaking, “hardcore” racers.
Developer Slightly Mad Studios has seen the gap, and wants to fill it. They’re working on Project CARS, which—despite its somewhat confusing name to anyone who’s a fan of the Disney CARS properties—they believe will find an audience on the Wii U with open arms.
Andy Tudor, creative director of Slightly Mad Studios, said this to EDGE Magazine:
“You see the passion people have for Forza and Gran Turismo, and if you’re a publisher you wonder, ‘Are we really gonna cut into that audience?’ But we believe we can, especially on Wii U and PC, where there’s a space to fill.”
Their confidence may come from the fact that the game has been mostly funded by contributions from fans of these types of games—presently, there are 80,000 backers for the game, which means that Slightly Mad has plenty of audience already in place for the various game-making steps, like testing and getting the word out.
The “CARS” in Project CARS stands for Community Assisted Racing Simulator, and the game’s launch is expected in early 2014.
