Project CARS 3 Developer Blog - Vehicle Tuning & Upgrades

Upgrades effectively bolster our (already impressive) vehicle roster meaning players can move cars further up the classes, we can have much wider variety in the races, with a sort of “run-what-ya-brung” feel. You can take one of your favourite road cars and compete against the thoroughbred race cars if you want. That really fits not only into the whole ‘weekend warrior to racing legend’ component, but also subscribes to what it can be like in the real-world where, you can turn up at a local club race or track day in your tuned M3 and fight it out with the latest supercars.

The upgrades work using the underlying physics, so a suspension upgrade only affects the suspension components and setting ranges of the suspension. A weight reduction only reduces the weight, and maybe shifts the distribution of weight a little bit. A tyre upgrade only gives you better tyres. The engine upgrades add more power (at various points of the RPM range depending on the upgrade type). If you’re building a car with just engine power, but were already lacking grip, you’ll struggle even more. If you just put better tyres on a car, you won’t increase your top speed on straights, beyond getting a faster exit from the previous corner.