The PlayStation 4 exclusive racing game Driveclub looks impressive in screenshots and videos, but developer Evolution Studios claims that it also features some of the best audio in the industry.

“We did initially look and see if we could buy samples in, and approached manufacturers,” Audio Manager Alan McDermott said in an interview with the PlayStation Blog. “But it just wasn’t good enough for us to do what we wanted to do.”

Instead of buying samples, McDermott and his team spent two and a half years traveling the world to make their own audio recordings of all the cars in the game. “We’ve been chasing these cars around the world,” he says. “There aren’t that many Pagani Huayras available. They don’t just send them out on a whim. It’s in Japan on a Wednesday, it’ll be in Italy on Saturday… we chased them. We’ve gone all out.”

Each recording used at least 16 mics in each car and in some cases up to 27. “A lot of the time with simulation car games, the developer will record a set of samples and then that’s it,” he said. “They use those samples for both internal and external sounds. We didn’t do that. We recorded bespoke samples for everything – exhaust, engine, cockpit.”

McDermott said that he’s “fairly confident” Evolution Studios now possesses the most high fidelity recordings of these cars in existence, and that BMW and Mercedes even asked for these recordings to replace their own.

Driveclub launches October 7. A free “feature-complete” PlayStation Plus version will also be available at launch for PlayStation Plus subscribers ($50/year). For more on Driveclub, be sure to read GameSpot Editor Shaun McInnis’ explanation of What Exactly is Driveclub?