Project CARS delayed into 2015 for more polish, less competition

Slightly Mad Studios' none-more-sexy racing sim Project CARS is going to be a few months late in arriving. The game was originally scheduled to come out in November but publisher Bandai Namco confirmed today that it won't actually hit the streets until March 2015. The delay will give the studio more time to polish the game and, more importantly, allow it to dodge the highly competitive holiday season.

In a pleasantly frank admission to Kickstarter backers that found its way to Reddit and then NowGamer, Development Director Andy Garton said the decision to delay the game was "primarily... because a couple of other big games have announced they are shipping around the same time as our planned first date."

"We know it might be a little hard to believe but this would have had a very significant impact on our initial sales (and the initial sales period is critical as that's when the majority occur)," Garton wrote. "It became immediately clear therefore that we'd need to move away from this release window."

Garton also said that while the studio could have made the planned November release, the game still needs work, and pushing it out for that date "wouldn't have resulted in the ultimate level of quality that we wanted." That sentiment was echoed in a follow-up press release from Bandai Namco confirming the delay. "The change in release date allows the game the greatest chance of success and visibility, and the opportunity to polish the game even further to the high standards that both ourselves and our community demand and expect," the publisher said.

Project CARS' new definitely-won't-skid-again launch date is March 20.