Project Motor Racing brings GTO thunder, Daytona, and GPU-driven track tech

Old-school thunder meets new-school tech: Project Motor Racing finally shows its hand

This caught my attention for two reasons: Straight4 Studios is effectively the spiritual successor to the Project CARS crew, and they’re rolling into the Sim Racing Expo with something more tangible than buzzwords. Project Motor Racing (PMR) is playable in multiplayer on the show floor in Dortmund (Oct 17-19), it’s adding fan-favorite IMSA GTO and 964 Trophy classes, and it’s debuting a GPU-driven “True2Track” system promising evolving grip, puddles, and marbles. Daytona’s road course is in at launch, with a total of 18 locations and 28 scanned layouts. The question is whether this is a true return to form-or just a slick trailer with pre-order hooks.

Key takeaways

• IMSA GTO and 964 Trophy widen PMR’s era spread in a way most modern sims don’t dare.
• True2Track claims real-time grip evolution, puddles, and marbles-heavy rF2/ACC vibes, but GPU-first.
• Daytona road course boosts endurance credibility; 18 locations/28 layouts at launch is “quality over quantity.”
• Pre-order bonuses and a Year 1 bundle are already on the table-be cautious until we see netcode and physics.

Breaking down what’s new (and why it matters)

The headline additions feel tuned for people who love motorsport eras with character, not just BoP spreadsheets. IMSA GTO brings the Roush Mercury Cougar XR-7, Chevy Camaro Z28, Audi 90 quattro, and Mazda RX-7—cars that were as rowdy as they were fast, defined by torque, mechanical grip, and aero that made drivers sweat. The 964 Trophy class leans into pure driver feel with the 1990 Porsche Carrera Cup (964), the “original” Supercup platform that rewards weight transfer discipline and throttle finesse. Good choices if PMR’s physics actually let these cars dance instead of slide like hovercraft.

Prototype fans get a mixed-era sampler: the 2002 Cadillac Northstar LMP-02 and the 1989 Sauber C9 join modern machinery like the Acura ARX-06. The press material lists the 2023 Toyota GR010 Hybrid under LMDh, which is… not right—the GR010 is an LMH. Hopefully that’s a typo and not a hint that rulesets will be blurred for the sake of grid size. Accuracy matters when a sim is selling authenticity.

True2Track: promise vs. reality

We’ve seen permutations of “living tracks” before: rFactor 2’s rubbering line and marbles, ACC’s evolving temps and grip, Slightly Mad’s own LiveTrack 3.0. PMR’s pitch is familiar but ambitious: day/night transitions, puddle formation with drainage and drying lines, grip building on the racing line, and even overheated rubber going greasy in high temps. The kicker is the “primarily GPU-driven” bit, which theoretically frees CPU headroom for physics and AI while keeping load times down. If that reduces stutters in rain or dense grids, that’s a real win—tech that actually helps racing, not just screenshots.

Where this will live or die is subtlety. Marbles that actually punish off-line lunges and force real risk-reward decisions? Great. Puddles that form in consistent low points and drain logically, changing preferred lines lap-to-lap? Better. But if the whole surface flips between “on-rails” and “ice-rink” mid-stint, the community will bounce fast. The details—rate of evolution, tire model integration, wet-line physics—need to be nailed.

Multiplayer goes public—now show us the netcode

PMR is playable in multiplayer at the Expo with stage events like “Beat a Developer,” plus a special one-off featuring Ben Collins (yes, the former Stig) and Nürburgring mainstay Misha Charoudin, who’ll reveal the final car class. That’s a smart way to court sim racing’s grassroots, but the real test is everything they haven’t detailed yet: server tick rate, rollback or delay-based netcode, anti-cheat, matchmaking, ratings, safety systems, and whether there’s crossplay between PC and consoles. Without a robust online backbone, those marbles and puddles won’t matter.

Daytona in, 18 locations total—content strategy checks out (mostly)

Locking the Daytona road course for launch is a big statement. It’s the heartbeat of North American endurance racing and a perfect stress test for day-night and wet-dry transitions. The full launch slate sits at 18 global locations with 28 scanned layouts—laser scan fidelity over raw count. That puts PMR closer to ACC’s approach than Forza/GT’s “hundreds of tracks” buffet. I’m fine with that if the surfaces are deeply modeled and the car list supports meaningful series play, not just one-off hotlapping.

On the flip side, pre-orders come with a GTE Decade Pack and there’s a Year 1 bundle promising up to 30% savings. Day-one DLC framing always raises eyebrows. After Project CARS 3 steered the franchise off the sim path, Straight4 has to re-earn sim racers’ trust. My advice: skip pre-orders until we’ve seen physics deep-dives, tire behavior in changeable conditions, and hard details on online infrastructure.

Why GIANTS Software publishing PMR could matter

GIANTS showing up with Farming Simulator 25 and a Highlands Fishing side attraction isn’t just booth filler—it signals stable, experienced publishing behind PMR. GIANTS knows long-tail support, mod ecosystems, and yearly cadence without nuking communities. If that institutional muscle lets Straight4 double down on physics and competitive features instead of chasing monetization beats, we all win.

Project Motor Racing launches November 25, 2025 on PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X|S. If the True2Track tech holds up under full grids, and if the GTO and 964 classes feel as raw and rewarding as they should, PMR could finally give the sim crowd a fresh playground that isn’t locked to one series license.

TL;DR

PMR is showing real potential: IMSA GTO, 964 Trophy, Daytona, and a GPU-driven dynamic surface aimed at smarter, smoother racing. But between a mislabelled GR010 and early DLC pushes, trust will hinge on physics depth and online quality. Looks promising—now prove it on track.