WeView: Driveclub

Do you love driving? What about clubs? If the answer to both of those questions is “Yes” then this might just be the WeView for you.

Yes, we’re turning our attention to Driveclub this week. Sure, the promised PlayStation Plus edition still hasn’t appeared, and may not for a while, but hopefully some of you went out and spent your money on the full edition of the game.

Before we get to your views on the game though, it’s time to hear what Tef thought of the game when he reviewed it back in October. The headline for him was the game’s visual presentation, where he was impressed by the way each of the game’s locations was “stunningly created and minutely detailed”. For example, the fact that the game features “the actual plant life that you’d see on a trip” to the various locations in game is particularly worthy of note, as is the way “Flags blow in the wind, flocks of birds burst out from trees, confetti gently floats down to the ground and balloons are let loose into the sky.”

The look of the cars is, of course, just as important as environment, and it seems safe to say that Evolution haven’t skimped in this area, with Tef relating that they “look as accurate and true to life as can be”. He also praised the sound of the game’s vehicles, saying it “sets a new bar for the recreation of a car’s sound”.

He was also impressed with the game’s challenge system, particularly the simplicity with which challenges can be shared. However, he did wish that the system would let him “take the customisation of my challenge even further,” saying that he’d like to “be able to pick the exact Face Offs that feature, choose whether it’s my own score that features in them, set if it’s a time, time and race position together or score to beat and more”.

He was also somewhat frustrated by the lack of customisation in the game’s multiplayer races, particularly the lack of private lobbies. This missing element perhaps contributed to his frustration at the way that other drivers “felt the need to try and push you into walls” on particularly tricky corners, saying that moves like this can “be infuriating when racing against people you don’t know.”

Despite these minor let downs, Tef did score the game at 8/10 and had this to say in conclusion:

As you finish the Tour and start to take on more and more challenges, Driveclub starts to show its true colours. It may be difficult for some to adapt to in an age where racers sprawl across open worlds featuring hundreds of cars and tons of tracks, but this is a game with a very singular focus. The overarching goals soon start to peel away, and you’re left with the purity of competing against the times and records of friends and rivals, the stunning scenery and the joy of driving cars absolutely on the limit.

The question is, do you agree with Tef’s view of the game? Did you love Driveclub, or was it a let down for you? Did it live up to the extreme hype it seemed to receive, or was it underwhelming when you finally got your hands on it?

If you feel like sharing your thoughts on the game all you need to do is drop us a comment below, and we might even include you in Monday’s Verdict article. Remember to include a rating for the game from the Buy It, Sale It, Plus It, Avoid It scale.

42 Comments

  1. Other than the server issues I have really enjoyed Driveclub, fun handling, great sense of speed, challenging events at times and that weather….

    I do hate drifitng though, how can you drift with assists on?! Bah….

    It is going to get harder and harder to review games you know, Driveclub is a very different beast from launch and there is still more to come, the private lobbies and replay functions are still to be added and I know my multiplayer racing will increase once they are available.

  2. I was enjoying it for a little while but it’s just too dark which makes it next to impossible for me to race. There are about 4 races on the tour that take place in daylight, the rest are at twilight or night time and I can’t stand the darkness. It’s just too dark and I don’t get why everyone keeps saying how stunning it looks when all I can see is dreary darkness. I don’t have this issue with any other game so it’s doubtful it’s my TV. Anyway I’d say wait for the plus version of it ever releases to see if you have the same problem. Plus it.

    • I know you don’t experience this in other games, but is it possible your PS4 is set to output full-range RGB and your TV only supports limited? This would be an explanation for why the tracks seem overly dark, as I cant say I’ve noticed this myself and I’m prone to being easily wound-up by such things.

    • I honestly can’t recall that many dark events while i’ve been playing but my suggestion would be to play away the single events until you get to know the track layouts better. You can set the time of day (12 noon) and timelapse (x1) and clear weather so those would probably be the best settings to go for.

  3. Pretty graphics and great audio but bland gameplay and a major lack of modes/features. It can be fun in short bursts however so I’d recommend picking it up in a decent sale.

  4. A definate ‘buy it’ from me. I have a club with 4 mates which dows help to get every last bit of enjoyment out of the game. Awesome gameplay, stunning graphics and plenty of content being added every few weeks. Private lobbies on the cards, should have been there from the start though. Other than a lack of private lobbies my only criticism is that there are drift events in parts of each tour. I dislike drift events in any racing game with a passion. If in doubt about this game, check out some of the cockpit view videos on YouTube.

    • I use the cockpit view, but the one without the wheel, just the windscreen. The way the light reflects through the dirt on the glass and the effects of the rain is ridiculously realistic. Looks amazing.

    • I also favour cockpit view most of the time – i just wish you could force others to use that view when you set a challenge! :)

  5. Buy It!

    This is still my favourite PS4 game. Graphics, car handling, the tracks and races themselves are all great.

    I picked it up on day 1 and I’m still playing. For £20 it’s a steal!
    We’re currently setting weekly time trial challenges between ourselves at work as a few of us have it… The competition is getting fierce! ;)

  6. I’ve spent more time with the game than I thought I would given the poor first month or so after release. It really is a significantly different experience now compared to launch, even setting aside the additional tour events, weather, cars and numerous gameplay tweaks, simply being online and not feeling as though the game is consistently broken makes a huge difference.

    This might be because I miss the days when racing games were just that – pick a race, pick a car, and go. I can’t really engage with or enjoy open-world racing games, I feel like I’m being provided with an open-world in order for the developer to create the illusion of extensive content, and forced to navigate through it to artificially create longevity. Driveclub manages to achieve this, for me, simply by being enjoyable and by including a great variety of tracks that are accessible in a pick-up-and-play manner.

    My real gripe though, and the one thing that hasn’t really been fixed, is the processional AI drivers. I’d much prefer to see the AI acting a little crazy and less predictable. They essentially just roll around on the racing line and hardly ever crash or deviate, which is a shame.

    Love it though and have had a great time with it. Buy it (it’s so cheap already).

  7. It does look incredibly good, especially since that big weather update. And there’s quite a lot of game there too.

    And then at some point you suddenly get addicted to it. You can spend hours doing many, many races just to do all those “drive X miles in manufacturer Y cars” things and level up more. Or just trying stupid things like racing in Norway, in the dark, with maximum weather. Or even using the photo mode to try and hunt down as many rainbows as possible.

    My vote is “Buy it, and buy the season pass while you’re at it”. Although be prepared for some massive failures if you jump straight into the DLC tours.

  8. A good driving game that could have been great. Let down by a monumental mess at launch, missing features and some very suspect AI. Whilst I have had a lot of fun with it I have experienced frustration in equal measure. Whilst it is a very different beast now from what it was at launch, the reality is that GT6 is a vastly superior game on older technology. Sale it. I’d have said plus it, but I honestly cannot see the Plus version ever seeing the light of day.

  9. No car tuning ( you pick your car based on four options )
    A.I. Cars are set to bullshit mode even on amateur
    Graphics are good but the game gets repetitive to soon
    If your after a car game and can’t wait for project cars then rent first just to be sure

    • What are the four options when selecting a car?
      What do you mean when you say that the AI cars are set to bullshit?

      • Every race I won was less than a second the a.i. Should start off easy then gradually get harder as as you get better at the game but for me the slightest mistake and it punished me you can’t pull out a lead and feel comfortable and the penalties are a nightmare aswell you get hit you get punished most of the time, you cut a corner to much to avoid hitting another car you get punished
        And the four options are the bars that they have for each car ie speed,handling,drifting and I can’t remember the last one but there should at least be tuning options
        For me i felt know matter what car I choose they all felt the same.

  10. Despite a terrible launch and some continuing issues, I have to say it’s a “Buy it” from me.

    As everyone has already said, it’s very visually impressive. A lot of effort has clearly gone into making both the cars and tracks feel right, with the the environment changing and reacting whilst not proving to be distracting. The clubs, levels, accolades and challenges are all well implemented and work well to add to the game without overshadowing the events themselves. The menus are all nicely put together and I haven’t ever found myself wondering where to find an option, setting or race.

    It’s because of this that some of the more unpolished areas of the game feel so disappointing. The game still has many small glitches and bugs that can really frustrate (accolades and achievements not unlocking correctly being amongst the silliest as these should have been easily testable). The game has crashed for me on a number of occasions, not a significant number but enough to be an issue. Bizarrely, after all of the effort that has been made to make the game look good the damage on the cars looks like it was added at the very last minute and can sometimes look like scratches have just been stuck on the top of the paint.

    Despite all this I can recommend the game, the core mechanics are solid and a lot of fun. Just a shame that the game lacked finish despite the extra time that has been taken in development.

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