When comparing The Lab vs Project CARS, the Slant community recommends The Lab for most people. In the question“What are the best HTC Vive games?” The Lab is ranked 5th while Project CARS is ranked 8th.
Specs
Ranked in these QuestionsQuestion Ranking
Pros
Pro Shows what the system is capable of doing
Pro Amazingly fun collection of mini games and experiences
The lab is a collection of a bunch of very fun mini games. You get to use a bow and arrow to defend your castle against waves of enemies, control a fighter drone in a classic arcade style shoot-em-up, repair a Aperture science robot, explore the secret shop from Dota and more. Although each game is simple, they are all very well executed and make fantastic use of VR mechanics.
Pro Nice VR games collection
Pro Perfect for showing your friends what the Vive can do
All the games and experiences are very easy to play and are simply an incredible introduction to the capabilities of VR.
Pro Free
It's free so there's no risk of wasting money in case it turns out you don't like it.
Pro Amusing writing
The Lab is a mini game collection created y Valve, who are know for a very specific witty sense of humor. That is not lost in The Lab whatsoever as the writing is cleverly funny, which makes a mini game collection game all that more enjoyable.
Pro Non game sections are really interesting
The user can stand on the top of an Icelandic mountain top and look around, there is no game to it, it is just an experience but one that is quite interesting as it is almost like actually being there.
Pro No VR sickness
Since the player and the character are stationary with the vehicle creating a frame of reference, much of the issues with motion sickness are avoided.
Pro Accessible to non sim players
While Project Cars is a hardcore racing sim, it still stays accessible for unfamiliar players through easy to understand design.
Pro Simple VR setup
The game auto-detects Oculus Rift, making setup a breeze.
Pro Finely tuned AI
Users can set what kind of AI they will be racing against each race, allowing you to make the game easier or harder if you wish.
Cons
Con More a proof of concept than a full fledged game
The mini games are quite short and will not provide a whole lot of entertainment. The purpose of this title is to showcase what room scale VR is capable of (which it does well), but when considered as a game for those interested in gaming it falls a bit short.
Con Horrible optimization for AMD
For those that use and AMD CPU or GPU the performance is way below optimal with AMD performance at about half of what Nvidia and Intel chips are seeing.
Con Menus don't work on Occulus
Users are unable to control the menu in Occulus as the menus do not show, some workarounds are to close one eye to see if you can see a menu or use a tool to broadcast the Occulus image to ones monitor. Either way this can be a frustrating experience and needs to be worked out.
Con Buggy gameplay
Even though the game is fully released and out of early access it is still filled with bugs and balancing issues. From strange physics to graphics that flicker, the game has the appearance of a rushed product that was not ready for release.
Con AI can vary wildly
Even though the player can preset the AI before a race, the AI can still behave in strange manners, some drivers being really aggressive while others too passive. It is a strange mix that can make for some uneven racing.