Driveclub

Developer - Evolution Studios

Publisher - Sony

Genre - Racing

Platform - PS4 exclusive

Release Date - October 7th, 2014

 

Every console and platform needs a racing game by default. Even non racing "fans" like to play racing games and the physics are analyzed in them perhaps more than any other type of game. Ever since Driveclub was delayed, we've heard all about how it is the best LOOKING racing game ever made. How the PS4's power will blow anything you've ever SEEN out of the water. It's a Forza Killer (please, don't make me laugh). It is, however, the victim of its own marketing ploy by focusing only on graphics and no gameplay videos pre release. By every means necessary, marketing nowadays is focusing on framerate, graphics and resolution while gameplay falls by the wayside. It's the old adage of "If I scream louder than you than I have to be right and you have to be wrong". This is Driveclub. All the graphics hype (albeit deserved b/c it' looks beautiful) is pretty much all we saw pre release and therefore all many have focused on. In doing so, it takes away from the lack of overall cars, no tuning available for cars, incomplete options that were initially promised for launch but delayed and just plain old simple, bland background music. But hey, it LOOKS great, right?

I was surprised at first to see that the background music in a game is turned off initially, but that's exactly how it's setup in Driveclub. The menu of Driveclub seems more like a loading screen with how quiet it is and this continues into the game. The roar of the engines and tires screaching is nice and all, but the lack of depth of audio in Driveclub takes away from the gameplay. At many points in Driveclub, as is in any racing game, there really isn't any noise. Unless you're peeling out around a corner or skidding into a drift there is hardly any noise. It's the background music that makes it fun, just like the old school arcade racing games where you can change the radio station. Turn it off and the excitement lasts all of two minutes, maybe. Even with the graphical prowess in Driveclub, the lack of any good audio retracted from the gameplay experience. This was not good as the game presents little in that area to begin with, especially compared to other racers **cough, cough Forza cough, cough**

Yes, graphically Driveclub is one of the best looking racing games I've ever seen. The detail is unbelievable and every car is meticulous down to every curve. I was fully expecting to see the full game blended with this type of detail but was disappointed to say the least when we saw the total opposite. This is 2014, gamers notice things. One track takes place in Scotland with the quintessential castles in the background that LOOK amazing. Even with how good they LOOK, they FEEL boring. With all the other aspects of Driveclub tied into it, the graphics take a hit as good as they are. That's saying something when a game has the best graphics of any racer, yet they feel much worse due to other parts of the game being at such a technical disadvantage. 

Part of racing games that everyone loves is fine tuning your ride in order to beat the competition. Just like in pretty much every racer, you can add in turbo, better tires, suspensions, engines etc. Good like finding these in Driveclub. You know why, because they aren't there. Simply unlock a car and race. Oh, you won? Here's another car. Go race. Rinse and repeat. For the life of me I don't understand how you can have a racing game without tuning your race cars as they go hand in hand. At first I thought it was just me. I asked some of my close friends that are racing fans and they echoed my opinion, stating it was extremely frustrating. 

As any racing game, you have the proverbial line down the screen showing you the best possible route for your vehicle. Unfortunately for you, the computer racers take this is Gospel and refuse to back off of it, even if you ARE ON IT. At many frustrating points throughout Driveclub, I felt as if I was playing GTA V as the computer racers make ridiculous moves completely unwarranted based on the situation. I was rammed so many times unnecessarily by a computer racer just so he could get onto that line I lost count. It would send me crashing into another car or into the wall for no reason. With such raw power and AI possibilities that Driveclub has, it is in very poor taste that there is no imagination to the computer racers. Why not have them try and drift you and pass? Why not try and have them make their own moves? It's not a simulation when every computer racer simply lines up in a straight line and refuses to move. Baaaahhhh, look at the sheep. Follow the leader.

As far as the physics of your own car go, they are spot on. From needing to maintain the proper speed going into a turn to drifting you get just what you would expect in a new, current generation racer and I had no qualms with it. The insane penalties you get hit with make absolutely zero sense, however. When you go off the road a little or don't do something just right, Driveclub penalizes you by maxing your top speed for a few seconds. This means that if these zombie minded computer racers knock you off while trying to stay on that line or an online player nudges you to gain advantage, You. Are. Screwed. With the top speed capped, you are held back by a penalty that is blatantly not allowing you to catch up to another racer, which is downright annoying when you could easily catch up to and pass them if not for the penalty. The frustration is penalty enough considering your cars slows down, takes forever to catch up anyway without a speed cap and you  inevitably lose a spot or two in the rankings for the race. Other than the simple races, there isn't that much to do in Driveclub either. The highly touted clubs are ok but plain at best. You can join one with a few friends to make a custom club paint job for your cars and see if other clubs can beat your time, but that's about it. There are no social features to speak of and, in comparing itself via its own marketing to Forza Horizon 2, it's not even close and led itself to the grave. Comparing the two, Driveclub sees 55 tracks and 50 cars that you can't tune to Forza Horizon 2's over 150 tracks, 200 cars on launch that you can actually, you know, supe up as well as grow in number with car packs. Not to mention that the first car pack for Forza Horizon 2 came out today, the same day as Driveclub itself.

There are a few other things you can do Driveclub like mini game races. These allow you to challenge other racers and friends to try and beat your time on a given track or see who can drift the longest without crashing around a certain bend, but that's about it. Other than graphics, it does frustrate me to say that there isn't much more to Driveclub than meets the eye. Yes, it's a gorgeous looking game. Yes, the graphics are better than pretty much any other racer out there. But that's just the cars. The rest of the game including tracks, backgrounds, lighting and shading are all just ok. That is only one aspect to the game though as mentioned. Overall, the superb graphics take a huge hit with the lack of audio and overall depth of available race options that are out there.  As good as I wanted it to be, Driveclub disappoints with its lack of variety. It would be a stand out racing game would it be for last generation hardware. As far as current generation goes, it does just enough to make the grade and needs to be graded on a curve to get up to average. Buy it if you like, as I'm sure many will based on the pre launch marketing alone. Just be wary and understand what you see.  Take emotion out of it when you play the game and you'll see that as much as you WANT it to be good because of all we've heard, it's just a basic game with really nice looking cars.