Hands-on with EXOcars on Quest 3: A fully-flegded VR racing game with decent graphics
EXOcars is a brand-new VR racing game for Meta Quest and PC VR. MIXED played it on a Quest 3.
EXOcars lets you safely get behind the wheel of an exoskeleton racing car reminiscent of the infernal machines from Mad Max. I'm not a big fan of racing games, but I wanted to get an impression of the experience and the graphics, especially since Meta Quest doesn't offer many racing games.
EXOcars has four game modes:
- A single player career mode where you automatically race against "ghosts" of other drivers of your skill level (asynchronous multiplayer). Here you can unlock new tracks, earn rewards and climb the leaderboards. There are no vehicle collisions in this mode.
- Multiplayer races with up to three friends or online players. Vehicle collisions can be turned on or off.
- A multiplayer battle mode: In this mode, you can collect weapons and power-ups, just like in Mario Kart, to get an edge over your opponents.
- A multiplayer tournament mode with supposedly real prizes. The first tournament will begin on November 28, 2024.
The racing cars are steered either with the controllers on a virtual steering wheel (which gets tiring after a while) or simply with the thumb stick. But let's get to my impressions.
Sophisticated physics
I tried the first five tracks in career mode for this article. The environments are varied: I drove through a canyon, a port area, a stadium, a coastal road and a forest, and these are by no means all the environments the game has to offer.
EXOCars is an arcade racer with sophisticated physics. Each environment is a new challenge because the surface can change. In my first attempts, I often crashed into the side of the road. Fortunately, you can immediately teleport yourself and your car back to the middle of the road at the touch of a button.
The driving experience is intense because there is not much metal around you, and you are driving close to the ground. Bumps, jumps and collisions are not only visible, but can also be felt thanks to well implemented haptic effects.
However, those who are sensitive to artificial locomotion should be careful. After a while, the wild ride made me feel nauseous, something that rarely happens to me. As a countermeasure, you can turn on a helmet and vignettes, but these are no guarantee against nausea.
Good graphics on Quest 3
The graphics are decent for standalone VR, with spacious environments, detailed vehicles and relatively little aliasing. I was particularly impressed with the stadium, which really shows off its scale and allows you to see groups of people in the stands. With the Quest Games Optimizer you can even squeeze a little resolution out of the VR game on Quest 3. Please note that the above trailer shows the PC VR version. Visually, the Quest 3 version is not on the same level.
After a while, the overly loud and aggressive heavy metal soundtrack began to annoy me. But that's a matter of taste, and fortunately, you can turn the music down or off completely, which I did.
The VR game is still in active development, as a recent roadmap shows. A tuning system, new car customization options, new biomes and tracks, and a new multiplayer mode are all planned.
EXOcars can be purchased on the Horizon Store for Quest 3S, 3, 2 and Pro and on Steam for PC VR headsets. The VR game will be released for Playstation VR 2 and Pico at a later date.
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