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0 Developed by Xocus and published by Joy Way. EXOcars allows you to compete against real players in single-player races as well as real-time multiplayer. It is available on the Meta Quest Store now for £15.99. Our main question though, does it give anything new to the VR racing genre?
Kiss Hug Cars
VR buggies, multiple tracks, leaderboards, customisation. Sounds promising right? Well, let’s dive into the gameplay a bit more and see what you think.
Gameplay
EXOcars has a very simple play loop. Select a track, and race as fast as you can to the finish line. Rinse and repeat. It sounds like this might be a very basic game, but fear not. Under the hood of this game is a detailed racing sim. Racing these buggies is a challenge, but drifting around corners and obstacles soon becomes second nature. And this is when your times will start to come down.
Controlling your buggies is done one of two ways. Either press the grip buttons and hold the steering wheel itself, or just use the thumbstick. There is a handbrake, but I didn’t use it at all, it just felt a little difficult to reach when driving. That’s pretty much all the controls available to you. There is a reset button, but you only would need to use that if you end up upside down, or when going over a cliff. Which as we’re all such great drivers here, we would never do, right?
Environments
There is a whole host of tracks available for you to race on, from stadiums to car parks. All are replayable at different times of day as well. If you dive into the single-player races you are pitted against ghost cars from real racers that are close to your skill level. Watch them closely as they might just give away their preferred racing lines. Allowing you to take that and improve on it, gaining valuable seconds towards the top of the leaderboards. Each environment in EXOcars has elements designed to make your life more difficult. Ramps are dotted around, as well as natural obstacles. So get those lines just right or you might end up upside down in a ditch.
Let’s Get Physic(s)al
EXOcars aims to push the boundaries of the Quest 3 hardware. With insane graphics and a frame rate more solid than some of the rocks in the game. Not only this but the game has real car physics, with suspension dynamics to swoon over. Meaning the way the track undulates is accurately reflected in the suspension. I sometimes got lost just watching the suspension bouncing up and down while racing around. Perhaps if I concentrated on the road I might be further up the leaderboard, but it’s just so mesmerising!
Graphics & Audio
As mentioned above, EXOcars pushed the hardware to the limits. The frame rate is solid and not at any point did I experience a frame drop. The environments are really nicely rendered, granted it doesn’t look like Gran Turismo, but then not many other games do. There is also something going on in the backgrounds of most of the tracks, so keep an eye out for those little animations.
The soundtrack is a banger. Some awesome heavy rock tunes to drive to. It definitely made me go faster, well that’s what I told myself anyway.
Longevity
With a whole host of tracks available from the green light, there is a lot to get stuck into. As well as the fact that the developers have already come out and given an indication of their post-launch content. Which is quite a lot! Add to that the tournaments that are going to be ran and the car tuning that is coming soon. You don’t need a mechanic to see the game has plenty of life in it.
EXOcars has the potential to be a racing game that we will play for a long time. I just hope that the community embraces the game and continues to push the limits of what’s possible on the tracks.
Final Thoughts
EXOcars aims high and so far so good on the delivery. The proof will be in the post-launch laps, with the community needing to embrace the game to drive it home. With stunning graphics and brilliant physics, the game really does deliver in pretty much all areas.
EXOcars receives the Thumb Culture Gold Award.
Disclaimer: A code was received to write this review.
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