Go back to 1938 and the Hockenheimring, that had just added the fearsome Ostkurve, was already the self-same track that would scare drivers for the next 6 decades. This wasn’t the ’Ring, and it posed a different question for drivers—how fast were they willing to go on a narrow track that would punish any mistake—driver or mechanical—with the most serious of consequences. The track is defined by two endless straights that head off into the enduring dusk of the Black Forest. The version of the classic layout that comes to Project CARS 3 is the pre-1992 one: over a minute of full throttle power, ludicrous speeds, hardly any protection, and the need—in downforce cars—to maximise top speed. That means once you get into the stadium section, you have a car that is unstable and dangerous. Speed eventually doomed the old circuit to history and, in 2002, a new circuit was designed by Hermann Tilke to replace it. It proved a winner, with plenty of overtaking spots, mostly centred around the old stadium section, and a severely chopped-off run into the forest.

The Green Hell. Built by thousands of men into the hills and dales and forests that edged off from the ancient and mysterious Schloß Nürburg castle, this is and will forever be the greatest track in the world. The original plan was for 4 tracks to be built, all connected, and the greatest of these was the Nordschleife that saw its first race in 1927. Twenty-five kilometres of twists and turns and crests that propelled cars into the air along with blind apexes, flat sweeps, eternal straights, and no barriers or safety—a track so vast that even in the 1980s they couldn’t work out how to get enough marshal posts to safeguard the drivers. For almost 100 years they’ve tried to make the Nordschleife safer including a massive upgrade in 1982 that saw the construction of the much smaller grand prix circuit first used in 1984. In the end, though, there is no greater challenge than the Nordschleife: learning the 20KM long track and its 73 (33 left, 40 right) turns is a massive undertaking … but that’s just the start of the challenge. To be quick here isn’t for everyone: only the truly great have ever come close to mastering the Nordschleife. Fangio, who won in 1957 and retired a couple of months after, said: “I believe that on that day in 1957 I finally managed to master it. It was as if I had screwed all the secrets out of it and got to know it once and for all {but} for two days I couldn’t sleep, still making those leaps in the dark on those curves where I had never before had the courage to push things so far.”

A new addition to German motorsports, having opened its doors in 1997 in former East Germany, Oschersleben is a super-modern track that plays host to numerous national race series including German touring cars as well as a wildly popular 8-Hour race. With 3 layouts, it can entertain both major motorsport series as well as local club racing. Built on what was extensive farmland, the track is flat, fast, billiard smooth, and very safe. The first turn is almost-always the scene of an opening lap carambolage as drivers try to funnel through and inevitably run out of room at the apex as they jostle over for the entry at turn 2. The McDonald’s Chicane, meanwhile, is a car breaker: the fastest line is over the kerbs, and the more kerb you take, the faster you are … until you try to steal too much and it all goes wrong with some generally spectacular and occasionally comedic results.

If you’re in the business of making the world’s best sports- and race-cars, you can either ask your customers to either fly around the globe to test them on the greatest tracks on earth, or you’re Porsche and combine the best turns from the best circuits into an FIA-certified track in your own backyard, where customers can take their new car for a spin right after picking it up from the factory. From the Bus Stop chicane at Spa to the Lesmo bends at Monza, from the Corkscrew out of Laguna Seca to the Karussel at the ’Ring, from Loews hairpin in Monaco to Sunset Bend at Sebring, Porsche’s test track has them all, and they’re ready to test you and your car like absolutely nowhere else. If you’re quick here, you can safely call yourself the complete driver.