''Project Gotham Racing'' (''PGR'') is a series of

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 ...

s published by

Microsoft 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 ...

, with four main titles all of which were 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 ...

. It is the spiritual successor to Bizarre Creations' previous game ''

Metropolis Street Racer ''Metropolis Street Racer'' (''MSR'') is a racing video game developed by Bizarre Creations and published by Sega exclusively for the Dreamcast. Initially intended as a launch title for the Dreamcast, its release in Europe was delayed until Nov ...

'', released by

Sega is a Japanese video game company and subsidiary of Sega Sammy Holdings headquartered in Tokyo. It produces several List of best-selling video game franchises, multi-million-selling game franchises for arcade game, arcades and video game cons ...

for the

Dreamcast The is the final home video game console manufactured by Sega. It was released in Japan on November 27, 1998, in North America on September 9, 1999 and in Europe on October 14, 1999. It was the first sixth-generation video game console, prec ...

in 2000. The ''PGR'' series was released on the

Xbox Xbox is a video gaming brand that consists of four main home video game console lines, as well as application software, applications (games), the streaming media, streaming service Xbox Cloud Gaming, and online services such as the Xbox networ ...

and

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 ...

, with spin-offs appearing on mobile phones.

Gameplay

The ''PGR'' series have a system called Kudos points. These are given for performing stunts with the vehicle (such as power sliding, overtaking another driver, two wheels, etc.). The longer the stunt is maintained, the more points the player receives. Colliding with the

guard rail Guard rails, guardrails, railings or protective guarding, in general, are a boundary feature and may be a means to prevent or deter access to dangerous or off-limits areas while allowing light and visibility in a greater way than a fence. Commo ...

s and other surroundings will cause the Kudos points from that stunt to be lost. ''PGR2'', ''PGR3'' and ''PGR4'' supported direct network gameplay via

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 ...

. The cover of each game in the ''Project Gotham Racing'' franchise has featured a

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 ...

car on it, going from the F50 (''PGR'') to the Enzo (''PGR2''), the F430 (''PGR3''), and the 599 GTB Fiorano (''PGR4''). The car manufacturer was even the main focus of a free mobile entry in the series, ''PGR: Ferrari Edition'' for the Zune HD, similar to that of

Porsche Dr. Ing. h.c. F. Porsche AG, usually shortened to Porsche (; see below), is a German automobile manufacturer specializing in luxury, high-performance sports cars, SUVs and sedans, headquartered in Stuttgart, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. Th ...

in '' Need for Speed: Porsche Unleashed''.

Titles and history

The first '' Project Gotham Racing'' was released as a launch title for Xbox on November 15, 2001. It became a success and led to more sequels, becoming Microsoft's flagship racing game franchise on Xbox. In December 2006, a mobile version was released for

J2ME Java Platform, Micro Edition or Java ME is a computing platform for development and deployment of porting, portable code for embedded system, embedded and mobile devices (micro-controllers, sensors, gateways, mobile phones, personal digita ...

mobile phones. Another mobile version, simply called ''Project Gotham Racing'' in 2007, was released for

Symbian Symbian is a discontinued mobile operating system (OS) and computing platform designed for smartphones. It was originally developed as a proprietary software OS for personal digital assistants in 1998 by the Symbian Ltd. consortium. Symbian OS ...

and

Windows Mobile Windows Mobile is a discontinued mobile operating system developed by Microsoft for smartphones and personal digital assistants (PDA). Designed to be the portable equivalent of the Windows desktop OS in the emerging Mobile device, mobile/port ...

devices. On November 11, 2009, ''Project Gotham Racing: Ferrari Edition'' was released for the Zune HD. The final main title, '' Project Gotham Racing 4'', was released around the time Bizarre Creations was acquired by

Activision Activision Publishing, Inc. is an American video game publisher based in Santa Monica, California. It serves as the publishing business for its parent company, Activision Blizzard, and consists of several subsidiary studios. Activision is one o ...

. Following this acquisition, in September 2007, Bizarre Creations announced that ''PGR4'' would be the last game produced for Microsoft, effectively leading to ''

Forza Motorsport ''Forza'' ( , ; Italian for "force" and "strength") is a racing video game series for Xbox consoles and Microsoft Windows published by Xbox Game Studios. The franchise has sold 16 million copies as of December 2016 and has garnered critical ac ...

'' replacing it as Xbox's flagship racing franchise. Bizarre developed ''PGR4s spiritual successor, '' Blur'', which was released on

PlayStation 3 The PlayStation 3 (PS3) is a home video game console developed and marketed by Sony Computer Entertainment (SCE). It is the successor to the PlayStation 2, and both are part of the PlayStation brand of consoles. The PS3 was first released on ...

and

Microsoft Windows Windows is a Product lining, product line of Proprietary software, proprietary graphical user interface, graphical operating systems developed and marketed by Microsoft. It is grouped into families and subfamilies that cater to particular sec ...

. before the studio was shuttered by Activision in 2011. The developers of ''

Forza Horizon ''Forza Horizon'' is a 2012 racing video game developed by Playground Games and published by Microsoft Studios for the Xbox 360 on 23 October 2012. The game is the first installment of the ''Forza'' series, having originally spin-off from Turn ...

'' originally intended to reboot the franchise; however, for unknown reasons, this proposal was reportedly turned down by Microsoft.

Reception

Every main ''Project Gotham Racing'' game was a critical success.

References

External links

* {{Xbox Game Studios Microsoft franchises Video game franchises Video game franchises introduced in 2000