Another day, another excuse to pen some words about how good Project Gotham Racing 4 is! Well, we have a legitimate excuse anyway, as PGR4 has just ticked over the 15-year-old mark; the title released way back on October 2nd, 2007. Can you believe that?!
We can't either, but as the months and years pass us by, the Xbox 360 era is starting to feel increasingly 'retro', which is a bit of a scary thought. Anyway, enough about scary thoughts, let's talk positive ones; PGR4 is still an incredible racer to this very day!
Over the last couple of months, we've been dipping back into Bizarre Creations' tight closed-circuit racer, and have been having a ton of fun while doing so. Forza Horizon 5 just hasn't grabbed this writer in a way the series has in recent years, so that's been a good excuse to revisit some older Xbox racing games, this one in particular!
Of course, when going back to PGR4 there are things we miss about modern racing games. For instance, it takes some getting used to 30FPS input lag again, especially for a fast-paced racer like this one. We would have loved a backwards compatible FPS Boost effort here, but alas, we'll have to settle for the Xbox 360 version for the foreseeable!
Still, even with a few technical shortcomings this game remains so much fun to play in 2022. From the varied and dynamic city courses to the extensive vehicle list and the neatly constructed career mode, PGR4 is a lovely breath of fresh air in this day and age. It also helps that the game's driving physics, especially its impeccable handling model, hold up so well for a game of that era. You've probably heard it from us before but alas, we'd love for PGR to return in some fashion on modern platforms!
Anyway, we simply deemed this game worth another mention on its 15th birthday as we miss the series dearly. Happy birthday to you PGR4, you're still a coupe-load of fun in 2022!
Will you be playing some PGR4 to celebrate its anniversary? We bloody well hope so!
Comments 22
been saying i wish they give forza a break and come out with a PGR for the next racing game from MS... was and always will be my fav racing game....
Very special series, even since the MSR days on the Dreamcast. An experience head and shoulders above the competition. My favorite is still PGR3
3 and 4 are two of the best racers on Xbox. Absolutely loved them.
Are these playable on One/Series X?
PGR2 was my favourite Racer of the OG Xbox era - more so than Forza but the 3rd and 4th lost my interest. The 3rd was a step-up visually but felt a step back in the game-play loop by dropping generic/everyday cars and I hated the Bikes in 4 so I lost interest in 4 quite quickly.
PGR2 kept me coming back time and time again to try and get all the highest medals in every event. I probably had double the hours invested into PGR2 than I did for the other 3 games combined with PGR4 probably my least favourite of them...
Unbelievable that they never were made BC. I know there are licensing problems but isn’t it possible to renew them , add some or replace the soundtrack if the license is a problem and ask a small fee for the “update” to make game playable again for the coming years?
Sound like something that is possible to do because the digital version needs to be installed anyway. That way there maybe still is ( a little bit of ) money to be made from those old games. I would love to pay a small fee of a couple of euro’s to get those games playable again on the newer consoles.
PGR2 is one of the best racing games ever.
Needs to come to BC.
Easily my favourite racing series. PGR2 hooked me into the franchise and was my go to racer. Such a shame! Hopefully Microsoft reinvent the series as in all honesty, racing games in general are very similar!
@Stnkygrngo No the PGR series are not playable on One/Series X, it’s quite criminal really considering they were Microsoft’s flagship racing series at the time, much like Forza is nowadays. It should of been one of the games that got made BC.
@MaccaMUFC Likely licensing became difficult sadly. The whole racing genre has a bad record of preservation due to car, music & (motorsport) track licenses that are only signed for X years. Automobile companies in particular are sticklers for shorter licenses. So much has gone sadly.
@Sol76 isnt worth their investment, your talking thousands upon thousands to renew licenses for just Ferrari nevemind the others
it was reported somewhere way back in 2012 or 13 that a lamborgini license cost sony nearly 20k for just 1 of their cars to have damage done to it in game... the licenses are crazy they say everrything fom whether dmg can be shown on their car to how fast it will be to even banned colors and so on... the more prestige the car maker the more restrictions they want it seems from that article if i can find it i will....
I'm going to have the 360 and Kinect set up in my 'Music Room' at my new place, so this is on the list of games I'm going to jump back into.
Speaking of this, WHERE IS THE BACKWARDS COMPATIBILITY?
Seriously, at least give us some disc support if licensing is an issue.
This is the same way I felt about JSRF.
@Blessed_Koz
Oh wow , never thought it would be such a big investment for something like this. With the amount of brands it would add up to a rather big number to renew those licenses for the vehicles alone , the music not included. They would have to sell buttloads to break even. Such a shame
I think Microsoft believe that Horizon fills the PGR shaped hole, it doesn’t. FH5 showed that for now, Playground Games did everything they could with FH4.
They have the engine, and I am sure Playground could knock it out of the park with a PGR game. Time to rest Horizon for a couple of years, and make something more focused.
I can easily see playground games pulling off a stunning pgr5 or a blur 2 if those should ever come to fruition. You’re right on the money on every word, this is a fantastic game and it left a big void on the xbox ecosystem. Even though fh5 is great it’s a very different kind of beast when compared. I can see myself enjoying a simple closed circuit arcade racer like pgr now. Grid has done it well, but not well enough to fill the void. There’s definitely room for a new pgr.
PGR4 was good but felt kind of soul-less. PGR3 I think was the better game, with its London tracks - a masterpiece
PG4 has a Quebec City track. The best place on earth.
PGR2 was my most played X360 game.
Such a shame that making it BC would cost too much in licensing fees.
I wish all the PGR games were back compat. Great games
This article made me buy pgr 3 and 4 this weekend! At £5 for both on ebay it was a steal 😀
What happened to the team behind PGR?
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