Project Gotham Racing differs from most racing games in that winning a race does not necessarily mean the player advances to the next round; instead advancement in Project Gotham Racing requires both driving fast enough to meet the challenge set, and scoring enough Kudos points to advance. Kudos points are gained through the player's driving skills, such as power sliding around a corner at speed, or overtaking non-player characters in the race. There are four world cities realistically recreated; San Francisco, London and Tokyo all return from Metropolis Street Racer, along with the newly introduced New York City. The game feature 12 radio stations, 5 of which are based on real-life stations (HOT 97, Live 105, Capital 95.8, Xfm London 104.9 and InterFM).