When a studio announces layoffs just days after launching a game, you are never quite sure whether to worry, sympathize, or start checking boxes on a bingo card of things that can go wrong. And in the case of Project Motor Racing, the situation looks more like a fully marked card than a well-planned roadmap.
Because yes, Straight For has laid off staff barely two weeks after release. Not even a month of breathing room. Just enough time for the game to come out, for players to see how far it fell short of what was promised, for a first patch to arrive that fixed half a dozen things while breaking another half, and immediately afterward, a brand-new round of cuts. If this were a movie, this would be the scene where the protagonist says: “Well, things didn’t go quite as expected.”
The Game Is Still Alive, Technically
The official messaging insists that Project Motor Racing will “continue,” that “updates are coming,” that “everything is under control.” Very good, fantastic. But when a studio needs to clarify that a project will continue to exist, something is definitely not working as intended.
The message between the lines is clear: they will keep updating the game, but with fewer hands. And we all know what happens when you shrink a team in the middle of a project that already launched on shaky legs. If they were struggling before, now they are going to be hobbling.
The situation would be entirely different if the game had launched finished, or at least in a state one could describe without resorting to polite euphemisms like “needs time” or “has potential.” But no. Here we are talking about a title that arrived well below what had been promised, with performance issues, glaring omissions, and content that felt like it was whispering to players: “I’ll be back, maybe.”
Numbers Don’t Lie, Even If Some Try to Argue With Them
While the studio talked about fantastic sales, about how it was selling “like hotcakes,” and how there were more players than in long-established titles, the real data painted a different picture. On Friday afternoon, a prime gaming window, there was one single ranked race with participation numbers that were almost endearing. And at the time of writing, the game sat at around 120 players worldwide on PC.
Are there consoles? Yes. Could there be more players there? Probably. But even multiplying that number generously still leads us to a pretty underwhelming total.
The contrast between what is said and what is seen is so large that you no longer know whether to laugh or cry. Laughing may be the healthier option, because at this point humor is one of the few tools left to cope with a situation like this.
A Roadmap That Lives Only in Theory
The famous roadmap, the document that was supposed to illuminate the game’s future like a flashlight in a tunnel, did not arrive when promised. And now the new promise is that we will see it “in the coming weeks.” At this point, that phrase has the same credibility as someone texting “five minutes away” while still stepping out of the shower.
Meanwhile, the second patch, allegedly arriving soon, promises improvements to handling and a handful of additional fixes. We shall see. The first patch did manage to improve a few things, presumably using old builds rescued from the bottom of a drawer. If they manage to repeat that feat, maybe the game will stabilize by June of 2038.
Leadership That Raises More Questions Than Confidence
The decisions coming from the person leading the project do little to inspire calm. Between public exaggerations, statements that contradict observable reality, and a near-acrobatic talent for deflecting blame, the growing feeling is that communication has become part of the problem.
When the individual in charge seems to inhabit an alternate universe where numbers obey personal desire rather than factual data, the community cannot help but wonder whether the real issue lies with the game or with the leadership. And the fact that layoffs were announced alongside messages trying to soften the blow while the ship continues to take on water does not help either.
What Happens Now?
The truth is that the situation is, as an old professor of mine used to say, “complicated, but with room for miracles.” If upcoming patches work, if the roadmap finally appears, if the reduced team manages to keep pace, maybe Project Motor Racing can be nudged closer to what was originally promised.
But today, the game sits in a state one could describe without exaggeration as desolate. Not due to a lack of intent, but due to a mix of poor planning, questionable communication, and inflated expectations that collapsed like an undercooked soufflé.
So here we are, following the saga, watching the drama unfold, and hoping that at some point the story shifts into a brighter chapter. For now, the only certainty is that the studio has lost staff, the game has lost players, and the trust of many is slipping away with them.
Still, one thing is true. The game is providing content. Just not the kind we expected. Whether this becomes a turning point or just another episode in a long series of missteps remains to be seen.
If you want to purchase PMR, there are several options, and you can buy them with a discount by clicking here:
- Project Motor Racing
- Project Motor Racing Year 1 Bundle
- Project Motor Racing Group 5 Revival Pack
- Project Motor Racing GTE Decade Pack
Happy Racing!
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