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''Project Gotham Racing 3'' is a 2005 arcade-style
racing video game Racing games are a video game genre in which the player participates in a racing competition. They may be based on anything from real-world racing leagues to fantastical settings. They are distributed along a spectrum between more realistic raci ...
developed by
Bizarre Creations Bizarre Creations Limited was a British video game development studio based in Liverpool, best known for their racing video game, racing titles ''Metropolis Street Racer'' (Dreamcast) and the follow-up Project Gotham Racing, ''Project Gotham Rac ...
and published by
Microsoft Game Studios Xbox Game Studios (previously known as Microsoft Studios, Microsoft Game Studios, and Microsoft Games) is an American video game publisher based in Redmond, Washington. It was established in March 2000, spun out from an internal Games Group, fo ...
as the third entry of the ''
Project Gotham Racing ''Project Gotham Racing'' (''PGR'') is a series of racing video games published by Microsoft Studios, with four main titles all of which were developed by Bizarre Creations. It is the spiritual successor to Bizarre Creations' previous game ''Metr ...
'' series. It was released exclusively for the
Xbox 360 The Xbox 360 is a home video game console developed by Microsoft. As the successor to the Xbox (console), original Xbox, it is the second console in the Xbox#Consoles, Xbox series. It was officially unveiled on MTV on May 12, 2005, with detail ...
as a launch title in November 2005. The game was rated by ''
Official Xbox Magazine ''Official Xbox Magazine'' (''OXM'') was a British monthly video game magazine which started in November 2001 around the launch of the original Xbox. A preview issue was released at E3 2001, with another preview issue in November 2001. The maga ...
'' as Xbox 360 "Game of the Year" (2005), as well as "Best 1st Person (Not Shooter) of the Year", because of its realistic inside-car view. A sequel, ''
Project Gotham Racing 4 ''Project Gotham Racing 4'' is a 2007 racing video game developed by Bizarre Creations and published by Xbox Game Studios, Microsoft Game Studios. The fourth main title of the ''Project Gotham Racing'' series, it was released exclusively for the ...
'', was released in October 2007.


Gameplay

''Project Gotham Racing 3'' offers players four cities—
Las Vegas Las Vegas, colloquially referred to as Vegas, is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Nevada and the county seat of Clark County. The Las Vegas Valley metropolitan area is the largest within the greater Mojave Desert, and second-l ...
,
London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...
,
New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...
, and
Tokyo Tokyo, officially the Tokyo Metropolis, is the capital of Japan, capital and List of cities in Japan, most populous city in Japan. With a population of over 14 million in the city proper in 2023, it is List of largest cities, one of the most ...
—as well as the
Nürburgring The () is a 150,000-person capacity motorsports complex located in the town of Nürburg, Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It features a Grand Prix motor racing, Grand Prix race track built in 1984, and a long configuration, built in the 1920s ...
to race through. ''Project Gotham Racing 3'' features 80 licensed cars from over 30 manufacturers such as
Ferrari Ferrari S.p.A. (; ) is an Italian luxury sports car manufacturer based in Maranello. Founded in 1939 by Enzo Ferrari (1898–1988), the company built Auto Avio Costruzioni 815, its first car in 1940, adopted its current name in 1945, and be ...
,
Dodge Dodge is an American brand of automobiles and a division of Stellantis, based in Auburn Hills, Michigan. Dodge vehicles have historically included performance cars, and for much of its existence, Dodge was Chrysler's mid-priced brand above P ...
, and
Lamborghini Automobili Lamborghini S.p.A. ( , ), usually referred to as Lamborghini or colloquially Lambo, is an Italian manufacturer of luxury sports cars and SUVs based in Sant'Agata Bolognese. The company is owned by the Volkswagen Group through its su ...
. The polygons used to make up a car model increases in ''Project Gotham Racing 3'', to between 80,000 and 100,000. The increased polygon count allows for smoother, less jagged-shaped cars than in earlier games. Of the 80 cars in the game, 71 are unlocked and available for play at the start of a new game, while the remaining 9 (prototypes, one-offs, and concept) cars are left for the player to unlock. Sound quality is improved from the previous game, with Bizarre dedicating a sound team to record and implement car audio in the game using the Xbox 360's new audio capabilities. In a change from the previous two games, ''Project Gotham Racing 3'' emphasizes
supercar A supercar, also known as an exotic car, is a street-legal sports car with race track-like power, speed, and handling, plus a certain subjective ''cachet'' linked to pedigree and/or exclusivity. The term 'supercar' is frequently used for th ...
s and special models instead of generic production cars (cars with a top speed of over 170 mph). One of the starter cars is the
Acura NSX NSX may refer to: Stock exchanges * Namibian Stock Exchange (NSX) * National Stock Exchange (Jersey City, New Jersey), US (NSX) * National Stock Exchange of Australia (NSX) Other uses * Honda NSX The Honda NSX, marketed in North America as th ...
. Similar to its predecessors, each car in ''Project Gotham Racing 3'' is allocated to a specific class. There are five classes, A through E, the high performance cars being Class A, and the low performance cars in Class E. Kudos once again play an important part in ''Project Gotham''. Kudos points are given for stylish driving, for example drifting around a corner, drafting, or getting two or four wheels off the ground. When combos are linked up, the player is given a bonus for keeping them linked together, and this builds up to huge amounts if the combo is held for a substantial length of time. This bonus is, however, lost if the player crashes into any barriers, though the base Kudos (all but the combo bonus) are kept.


Multiplayer

''Project Gotham Racing 3'' allows multiplayer offline with up to two players on one Xbox 360 console or more players via
System Link System Link is a form of offline multiplayer gaming on the Xbox and Xbox 360 gaming console over a LAN (local area network). A network switch and standard straight-through Ethernet cables may be used to link multiple consoles together, or two cons ...
. ''Project Gotham Racing 3'' offers online integrated scoreboards for single player career events as well as
Time Trials In many racing sports, an athlete (or occasionally a team of athletes) will compete in a time trial (TT) against the clock to secure the fastest time. The format of a time trial can vary, but usually follow a format where each athlete or team set ...
and test track times. Gamers with
Xbox Live The Xbox network, formerly known and commonly referred to as Xbox Live, is an online multiplayer gaming and digital media delivery service created and operated by Microsoft Gaming for the Xbox brand. It was first made available to the origina ...
Gold are able to race with up to seven other competitors in races online. Online career (ranked) and playtime (unranked) are both offered as online multiplayer modes. Scoreboards also track standings for online career.


Geometry Wars

''Project Gotham Racing 3'', similar to ''
Project Gotham Racing 2 ''Project Gotham Racing 2'' is a 2003 arcade-style racing video game developed by Bizarre Creations and published by Xbox Game Studios, Microsoft Game Studios. It was released exclusively for the Xbox (console), Xbox in November 2003 as the succe ...
'', has a secret easter egg in the garage. If you walk in the garage, there are 2
arcade cabinet An arcade cabinet, also known as an arcade machine or a coin-op cabinet or coin-op machine, is the housing within which an arcade game's electronic hardware resides. Most cabinets designed since the mid-1980s conform to the Japanese Amusement Ma ...
's with the Demo versions of the games
Geometry Wars ''Geometry Wars'' is a series of top-down multi-directional shooter video games developed by Bizarre Creations, and, later, Lucid Games. Originally published by Microsoft Games Studios, the first title was included as a minigame in '' Project Got ...
and
Geometry Wars Retro Evolved ''Geometry Wars'' is a 2003 video game by Bizarre Creations. Initially a minigame in ''Project Gotham Racing 2'', an updated version, titled ''Retro Evolved'', was eventually released for the Xbox 360. That version, holds the record for the most ...
, which were available in the
Xbox Live Marketplace Xbox Games Store (formerly Xbox Live Marketplace) was a digital distribution platform previously used by Microsoft's Xbox 360 and formerly by the Xbox One. The service allowed users to download or purchase video games (including both Xbox Live Ar ...
.


DLC content

In 2006, several DLCs were released: *The entire
Cadillac V-Series The Cadillac V series (stylized as V-Series) is a line of high-performance vehicles tuned by the General Motors Performance division for the Cadillac division of General Motors. Models in the V series tend to vary from one generation to the other ...
was made available in May as free download content. *A speed pack was made available in April, with tournament access, new features, some fixes, and new cars. *A style pack was made available in July, featuring more cars and features.


Reception

''Project Gotham Racing 3'' received "generally favorable" reviews according to video game
review aggregator A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews and ratings of products and services, such as films, books, video games, music, software, hardware, or cars. This system then stores the reviews to be used for supporting a website where user ...
Metacritic Metacritic is an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...
. ''
USA Today ''USA Today'' (often stylized in all caps) is an American daily middle-market newspaper and news broadcasting company. Founded by Al Neuharth in 1980 and launched on September 14, 1982, the newspaper operates from Gannett's corporate headq ...
'' gave it a score of nine-and-a-half stars out of ten and said it "offers plenty of "oohs" and "aahs" with impressive graphics and sound. But luckily this game still plays very well too. And with a robust online package and plenty of racing options, it becomes a 360 must-have." ''
The Sydney Morning Herald ''The Sydney Morning Herald'' (''SMH'') is a daily Tabloid (newspaper format), tabloid newspaper published in Sydney, Australia, and owned by Nine Entertainment. Founded in 1831 as the ''Sydney Herald'', the ''Herald'' is the oldest continuous ...
'' gave it four stars out of five and said that "despite ''Gothams obliging nature, high-speed thrills and gorgeous graphical sheen, it's hard not to feel that we have seen its best tricks before." However, ''
Detroit Free Press The ''Detroit Free Press'' (commonly referred to as the ''Freep'') is a major daily newspaper in Detroit, Michigan, United States. It is the largest local newspaper owned by Gannett (the publisher of ''USA Today''), and is operated by the Detro ...
'' gave it a score of three stars out of four and stated that "online play is as hectic, though perhaps not as friendly, as the previous Xbox version." During the
9th Annual Interactive Achievement Awards The ''9th Annual Interactive Achievement Awards'' was the 9th edition of the Interactive Achievement Awards, an annual awards event that honored the best games in the video game industry during 2005. The awards were arranged by the Academy of Int ...
, ''Project Gotham Racing 3'' received nominations for " Racing Game of the Year" and " Outstanding Achievement in Online Gameplay". ''Project Gotham Racing 3'' received a "Platinum" sales award from the
Entertainment and Leisure Software Publishers Association The Association for UK Interactive Entertainment (Ukie) is a non-profit trade association for the video game industry in the United Kingdom (UK). Ukie was founded in 1989 as the European Leisure Software Publishers Association (ELSPA), then chang ...
(ELSPA), indicating sales of at least 300,000 copies in the United Kingdom.


References


External links

* {{Bizarre Creations 2005 video games Bizarre Creations games Esports games Microsoft games Multiplayer and single-player video games Multiplayer online games Project Gotham Racing Racing video games set in the United States Video games developed in the United Kingdom Video games scored by Tom Salta Video games set in the United Kingdom Video games set in Tokyo Xbox 360 games Xbox 360-only games