Sure, it was a single course (Brands Hatch) and car to drive on that course, but the Project CARS demo running at Bandai Namco’s recent NYC event floored me on a few fronts.

This super-popular initially thought headed for high-end PC-only racer is coming to next-gen consoles in November and (surprise!) is actually set for a Wii U appearance sometime in 2015. More on that later, as overhearing that news from Marketing Director Brian Hong hit me like a ton of bricks as someone was filming me play the demo for their website and I probably skidded off the track and hit something from the shock of that news…

Then again, if anyone can make their game run on anything they can get it running on, it’s London’s supremely talented Slightly Mad Studios, a team made up of veteran racing game programmers who’ve worked on games such as GTR, GT Legends, BMW M3 Challenge and Test Drive: Ferrari Racing Legends along with Need For Speed: Shift and Shift 2: Unleashed. That pedigree alone makes the game defy any skepticism about any of the console versions and although the demo was just that and not 100% representative of the final product, it was clear this one’s a game that’s going to turn plenty of heads when it rolls out in a few months.

Granted, some people won’t touch a realistic-looking racer at all and some others even think they’re pretty much all the same. The PC version has evolved into a serious contender as one of the (if not the) best-looking racing game to date, and there’s zero doubt about that. Of course, as soon as the console versions were announced, plenty of bile was spilled about them not being as good as the game would be on a high-maintenance PC that cost anywhere from a few hundred to a few thousand dollars more.

All I’ll say is the demo certainly looked spectacular running on the PlayStation 4 and everyone who stepped up to play had something good to say about the game. My own behind the wheel (okay, controller) time was fun, although the closest to winning the race I got was a lousy sixth place. The AI in the demo is pretty fierce and while you can push it around a bit, expect to NOT do any winning if you just play bumper cars around the tracks.

According to the official site, the final game will feature “a dynamic time of day and weather system, full pit stops, packed online play, deep tuning, over 40 unique race locations, and a next-gen graphics and physics engine.” The visual power on display is extremely impressive, with a few inside the car viewpoints that really add to the sense of speed and realism. While you can look around with the right analog stick, looking around inside the car allows you to see your knees, AI cars passing you when you’re looking at your knees and wrecking into another car or a pile of tires on the grass you’re supposed to stay off of. oops.

While most of the attention will be on the other three versions, it’s the Wii U build of the game that has me wanting to play this. The system has been called “underpowered” by too many naysayers who just look at specs (or don’t look at them at all and judge Nintendo as only a company that makes Mario-style games), but I’m betting Slightly Mad has some surprises up their very talented sleeves. I want to be there when this particular version ships, as I’m betting it’s a retail disc that’s going to blow the doors of any racer on the console.

There hasn’t been a marquee licensed first-party racer on a Nintendo console in too many years, so third party developers have been taking up the slack. Criterion’s Need For Speed U has been up to this point, the best racer on the system, but it’s more a “family arcade” experience with easy to get rides and plenty of goofy GamePad features that make it a “Wii” bit too easy. I’d say Project CARS will be the game that shows Nintendo’s underrated console is indeed a “next-gen” system after all, but I’ll hold off on the hyperbole until I get some actual race time with it. It’s your move Slighty Mad and Bandai Namco – I can’t wait to be knocked back off my feet (again)…