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Project Cars has had quite the tumultuous journey through development. The developers at Slightly Mad Studios have an obvious passion for the sport of racing, and they want to create the ultimate racing experience for fans. Sometimes, in the world of video game development, creating the best possible product means that developers need to make the tough decision to delay their game. That's happened to Project Cars multiple times.

It all started when the game began life as a crowdfunding superstar. After raising almost $5 million in funds, the developers sought out a distributor; Bandai Namco ultimately picked up the rights to publish Project Cars. With publisher backing, the developers had the flexibility to delay the game in order to make sure it met their lofty vision, and were offered the freedom to expand the scope of their highly ambitious racer.

Originally slated for release in 2014, Project Cars was pushed to March of this year. Around the same time, some major racing titles flopped, including Sony's DriveClub, which was basically broken at launch. For racing game fans, these underdelivering games made the wait for Project Cars much harder to endure.

As March drew near, the decision was made to delay the Project Cars yet again, this time by one month. At the last minute, Slightly Mad Studios decided to delay the game one final time in order to work out bugs and other small issues, pushing Project Cars to an undetermined point in May.

Now a guaranteed release date has been announced... for the EU region. The PC, PS4, and Xbox One version of Project Cars will be available in European markets on May 8th. For other regions, including North America, the release date is still currently "mid-May 2015."

That being said, one can make an educated guess as to when the game will launch in non-European regions. May 8th is a Friday, and while it is not unheard of for games to launch on Fridays, that's not usually not the case. For the most part, games in North America release on Tuesday. Project Cars has already gone gold (which means it's officially finished and at the manufacturer), so expect the North Amercian edition to arrive not long after the EU version hits store shelves.

Smart money would say that Project Cars will be available outside of Europe on Tuesday, May 12th, which is the first Tuesday after the planned EU launch. As May draws closer, expect an official announcement from Bandai Namco regarding the game's final release date.

In the midst of all these announcements and delays, Slightly Mad unveiled Project Cars' complete track list. Each track features multiple layouts, so Project Cars is shaping up to potentially meet fans' expectations. It's already one of the best-looking racing games ever produced, and it's packed with content. Hopefully, these delays helped Project Cars live up to what Slighty Mad Studios envisioned when it first used crowdfunding to start developing its dream project.

In the meantime, here are the tracks that players can look forward to racing on when the game releases in their region (including variations, these tracks add up to 110 total courses in the full game):

  • Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari
  • Autodromo Nazionale Monza
  • Azure Circuit
  • Azure Coast
  • Brands Hatch
  • Brno Circuit
  • Cadwell Park
  • California Highway
  • Circuit de la Sarthe
  • Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps
  • Circuit Zolder
  • Donington Park
  • Dubai Autodrome
  • Glencairn
  • Hockenheimring
  • Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca
  • Motosport Arena Oschersleben
  • Mount Panorama Circuit
  • Oulton Park
  • Road America
  • Silverstone Circuit
  • Snetterton Motor Racing Circuit
  • Sonoma Raceway
  • Watkins Glen International
  • Willow Springs International Motorsports Park

Project Cars will release on May 8th in European territories. In North America and Australia, the exact release date hasn't been nailed down quite yet, but the game should be available in the middle of May. When Project Cars comes out, the game will be available on PC, PS4, and Xbox One. It will also release on Steam and Wii U at an unknown point in 2015.

Sources: Twitter, Project Cars