:format(webp)/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/46588204/project-cars-screenshot_1100.0.0.jpg)
Project CARS developer Slightly Mad Studios released the racing game just six and a half weeks ago, but the company is already looking toward the future with a crowdfunding campaign for Project CARS 2, the studio announced today.
Slightly Mad partially crowdfunded the original Project CARS through its World of Mass Development platform, not Kickstarter. The company raised nearly €2.26 million ($2.56 million) from backers while throwing in €1.5 million of its own money to reach an initial funding goal of €3.75 million.
This time around, Slightly Mad has set its sights slightly higher. The studio is starting with a contribution of £250,000 ($395,625) and seeking a target budget of £7 million ($11.08 million), which means the company must raise nearly $10.7 million to meet its goal. As of this writing, the World of Mass Development funding drive for Project CARS 2 has pulled in just over £40,000.
Project CARS was unveiled in October 2011, and Slightly Mad originally planned to launch the game in 2013. After a series of delays, Project CARS debuted in May 2015 on PlayStation 4, Windows PC and Xbox One. SteamOS and Wii U versions were scheduled to be released later this year, but studio head Ian Bell told Nintendo Life last month that the Wii U version may never come.
The comments on Slightly Mad's announcement post for Project CARS 2 are largely negative, with people complaining that the studio is discussing a sequel without having fixed notable bugs that still plague the first game. Slightly Mad did note that it has a slate of free updates planned "throughout the year" for Project CARS.
Slightly Mad published a list of planned features for Project CARS 2 alongside today's announcement. The list includes a cooperative career mode — a feature that Slightly Mad intended to include in the original Project CARS but later cut — as well as a larger group of tracks, new racing disciplines, a customizable test track and eSports features like broadcasting. Project CARS 2 is in development for PC.
