Project CARS vs DriveClub Head To Head Weather Comparison

It goes without saying that DriveClub is perhaps the best looking racer available on the market. Although the game was marred by a poor launch and multiplayer stability issues, Evolution Studios slowly but surely worked their way up to deliver a visually stunning and a satisfying racing experience.

Slightly Mad Studios’ Project CARS has been under development for quite a long time. And it seems all that hard work has paid off with GamingBolt’s Kurtis Simpson terming the title as the racing experience of the generation in his review. There is surely some great gameplay to be found in Project CARS with its approach to realism in on track racing and a deep career mode, but how does it stack up against Evolution Studios’ DriveClub?

Please note that Project CARS looks fantastic as it is and already has a one up over DriveClub with its close to 60 frames per second experience.

One of the graphical features, besides the intricately designed cars and environments, was that DriveClub excelled in delivering a truly amazing weather experience. The game employed real world physics to each individual rain drop resulting into one of the most accurate simulation of rainwater that we have seen in video games. Of course, we understand that weather is only one aspect which makes a racing game but given that we did an early impressions earlier this year, comparing the weather in the two games, we feel obliged to deliver a final verdict regarding this topic.

Right off the bat, Project CARS features a far more detailed weather system in terms of options and settings compared to DriveClub. As you can see in the screenshots below, you can decide how dynamic the weather can be in terms of different slots. The game allows for 4 different weather slots at one time, giving you enough options should you want a highly dynamic weather in your races. There is also a weather progression option that decides how fast the weather will change. Just like in DriveClub, you can set the time you want to race and the speed at which the time will progress. In short, Project CARS gives you more control over the type of weather you want and when you want.

However, in terms of actual physics and how rain droplets react with the car’s movement, speed and force, DriveClub is still able to maintain its lead over Project CARS. DriveClub’s rain simulation is easily steps ahead of any racing game out there, let alone Project CARS.

Project CARS does not consider the vertical or horizontal force of the incoming wind neither does it considers the movement of the cars, resulting into static rain effects on the car’s windshield. This is even more apparent on the door’s windows where the effect on rain droplets is completely absent, resulting into a lack of horizontal water trail formation. In order to know more how how DriveClub uses real world rain physics to mimic its in game visuals, we recommend that you read this article.

In the end, we have to give props to Evolution Studios for delivering an authentic weather experience. But one should not forget that it’s the depth of gameplay that matters and it seems that Project CARS is head and shoulders above DriveClub in that regard.

Head to head video comparison between Project CARS and DriveClub.