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.
cam_manutd
Driveclub is a streamlined arcade racer-not a sim. But the way the game is presented gives us the impression that it is a sim a’la GT. It is a good game at this point after the horrendous issues it had and it still has some now mainly server issues regarding its asynchronous multiplayer.
Graphically the game is nice not amazing and the multiplayer aspect is really cool. But the lack of car tuning options, direct multiplayer racing and the gameplay is a bit off sometimes. The handling of cars can be inconsistent.
It does have potential to grow and I can see myself putting a lot of time in despite its issues. It does have an addictive nature. I recommend players to sale it as its fairly cheap now and the support for the game is getting much better.
Scythegpd
Not being the biggest fan of racing games I decided to try the PSN version … oh no wait, I didn’t!
Still, you can get it at a good price now so if you do like racing games I’d say may as well buy it considering how cheap it is now.
rSp8
Buy it, especially given how much it can currently be picked up for. One of my favourite PS4 games, and the season pass is easily the best DLC purchase I’ve ever made.
bennibop
Buy it, personally I believe its the best game to come out on any current gen console. Evolution just keeping adding content and features month after moth and believe a lot of developers could learn from them (other than the initial server issues.) Driveclub is the only game in my collection I go back to daily.
Kennykazey
Prepare for critique:
I love Gran Turismo and Forza Motorsport, and I love arcadey racers like Hot Pursuit, Horizon and Mario Kart. I’m having a hard time adjusting to DriveClub. It’s somewhere in between, closer to the sim-side, but there’s something a little “off” about the way it feels in my opinion.
I think the AI are stupidly annoying, and I don’t like how the menus are filled with championships you haven’t bought yet. Makes it look like a mobile game.
You keep unlocking cars you can’t use, and the soundtrack is rubbish.
I also don’t like the day-night cycle when doing time trials, as it effectively changes the difficulty as time goes on.
Then there’s the stupid animation of entering the car before a load-screen, which feels like unnecessary padding and an extra click before you get race.
However, scoreboard chasing against your friends list is addictive enough, and offers a good sense of accomplishment when you do well.
It’s not a bad game, but it is a bit shallow and I wouldn’t pay full price and feel like I got my moneys worth. Keep in mind you’ll need to buy some DLC to flesh it out.
Sale It, because you’re better off waiting for The Last Guardian than a decent Plus edition.
colmshan1990
I’m really bad at driving games and detest being forced into co-op so I avoid that as much as possible.
I should not like this game.
But I love it. Great handling, stunning vibrant graphics, the weather is amazing to play in even if it can make the game even harder.
I’m crap at this, and I avoid the club part. But for just racing down the tracks, marvelling at the graphics and having fun, this game is fantastic. The best racer on PS4 (out of just two admittedly, although the NfS Shift handling of Project Cars means DriveClub is likely to remain the best racer) and one I know I’ll keep coming back to. Just for fun, and a real sense of speed and danger behind the wheel.
Buy It
Forrest_01
When you say that it is the best racer on PS4 out of two, which two were you referring to? I presume the two you have mentioned later in the same bracketed text & therefore mean sim-type racers?
As there is also NFS Rivals & The Crew on PS4. Which are quite obviously not sim-type racers.
colmshan1990
I honestly forgot about The Crew. That beta was rather forgettable for me.
The best of three then. Drive Club isn’t a sim racer either mind you- the AI is definitely too aggressive for that, at times it almost feels like Burnout with the amount of shunts I receive.
Forrest_01
Yeah, I don’t think that the PS4 has seen a proper sim racer as yet (was quite careful to say ‘sim-type’ so as to not get up anyone’s noses!). Probably won’t until GT6 or 7 I guess? Which is fine by me if I am honest as I can’t stand all that faffing about with tuning & all that gubbins.
I have The Crew & small annoyances aside (such as always online so couldn’t play when PSN was down, If your save becomes corrupted you have to get in touch with Ubi rather than just deleting a save file, annoying woman telling you to do things every 5 mins etc), it’s not a bad game once you get into the main flow of the story/racing. As with a lot of things at the moment though, it’s better with friends.
Tomhlord
It’s the best racing game out there and for one very simply reason. The handling. The cars feel connected, like they are actually touching the road and have a real weight to them. The Hot Hatches break traction progressively and the Hyper Cars snap your neck and require patience.
It’s all about feeling, and it’s the only console game I’ve ever played that ‘gets’ that, other than Gran Turismo. Only this looks and sounds much better than GT to boot.
minerwilly
Buy it , I highly doubt I’ll ever uninstall it from my PS4 HDD . Originally I believed it was a dud after Eurogamer’s 6\10 but through TSAs review and the word of mouth which gradually grew and grew that this game was indeed amazing. It took over the mantle of BF4 as a game that it was cool to bash (but was in fact amazing) It seems that 1886 as a PS4 exclusive is the next to get the bashing it probably doesn’t deserve.
Easily the most impressive and addictive game I’ve played this gen and will definitely be getting any future sequel.
Pitcher-T
This was a perfect bargain bin game for me. I bought this for £20 recently and luckily pretty much all the infamous server issues had been ironed out (a few disconnects here and there).
I’m so glad I sprung for the full edition though, rather than waiting for the PS+ version, as it’s an extremely accomplished, fun racing game. It’s got a good ‘dip in and out’ feel to it that blends perfectly with the fact that I purchased the digital edition.
Continuous updates (free and also paid) are a bonus to an already good game and are extremely welcomed. As Teflon mentioned in the review, there are a relatively small number of tracks on offer here compared to other games of the genre.
But the mechanics of the driving are superb. My experiences of racing games has tended to be Gran Turismos and when I played the arcade style to this game it was a refreshing change to the grind for cash that is GT. Sure it doesn’t have as much customisation, (which I believe has been slightly alleviated recently in the latest update) but for a fun immediate racing game with a decent challenge mode you can’t go wrong in my opinion.
The fact that you’re always pushing forward and leveling up regardless of the result of a racing is encouraging too. This is a casual racing game for a bit of fun. Racing simulator this is not.
Even though it doesn’t have much content via tracks this an extremely fun racing game. It does tend to feel a bit unfinished which is helped by the free updates, but it’s going to take a lot more to rectify that issue.
Sale it
TSBonyman
Driveclub has restored my faith in racing games. Give me tightly crafted tracks over open-world short-cuts, give me the engine roar over any misguided “popular” music tracks, give me solitary silence over any banal or shouty commentary, and give me straight-to-the-action presentation over the drudgery of having to wait because the game wants to load some “cool” pre-race media that i then have to click past to get the actual race to begin loading.
Did i mention the visuals? I hardly need to becasue you won’t find better anywhere else.
Those visuals, especially the lighting are what lends it such immersion – it always feels like i am racing in real world locations. So much so that my Share button has been working overtime as i stop to gawp at the beautiful landscapes, again the lighting allowing for a variety of lovely vistas depending on time of day and weather.
The handling for me is spot on – i’ve never driven most of the cars in real life so i can’t say how authentic it is but – i found it nicely accessible to begin with and then found that i was able to improve with experience so that i could shave a few seconds off previous attempts, and i also noticed a definite difference in handling across many of the cars which keeps the game fresh for me.
I’m still playing it months later – which is something i can’t say about any other game this gen, excluding Minecraft.
I’m 3/4 way through the main tour, but i’ve never been stuck for something to do in the game even when my tour progress was temporarily held up.
BUY IT.
JR.
^ this.