Driveclub Review - Better Late Than Never

Driveclub had a particularly difficult road to release. Originally planned as a PlayStation 4 launch title, the game was delayed many times and eventually released in October 2014, almost a full year later.

One would expect that to translate in a smooth release, but unfortunately the opposite turned out to be true: Driveclub had one of the most problematic launches in 2014, with many players completely unable to connect to online services for the first ten days or so. That’s not the worse of it, though, as the ongoing issues forced Sony and Evolution Studios to bring down indefinitely the companion app - which was supposed to let you send and receive challenges everywhere in real time - and even the much advertised PS + Edition.

Still, even though the word of mouth about Driveclub was quite bad during October and November, Evolution kept working steadily on resolving the connection issues. The underlying game was quite good, thanks to a striking balance between arcade and simulation in vehicle handling; winning a race in Driveclub is never easy, even while playing against the AI.

The game requires deep knowledge of its tracks (which are excellently designed, by the way) to achieve success, not to mention that you’ll need to choose a car which matches your driving style - some are extremely powerful but difficult to handle, others are the opposte and so on.

 

I’ve read some critiques on the AI system, but personally I’ve never witnessed any rubber banding (the phenomenon often found in racing games where AI driven vehicles become significantly slower while ahead of the player and significantly faster while behind the player) and overall, while not a total standout, the AI provides a decent challenge without breaking the rules.

A legitimate criticism however is that of single player as a whole. Driveclub was always meant to be primarily an online racing game and as such, the developer focused on that part; consequently, the Tour mode lacks depth when compared to the likes of Gran Turismo or Forza Motorsport, not to mention that the car roster is significantly smaller. Of course, this proved to be a far bigger issue while online was basically unplayable in the first weeks after launch.

Finally, after a couple months of slow, but sure connection improvements, Evolution succeeded in confining matchmaking errors to seldom occurrences. Leaderboards and challenges are accessible at long last, making competition a lot more fierce within the community; unfortunately the developer isn’t confident enough yet to activate the companion app for smartphones & tablets and the PS+ Edition, which should deliver the whole package as originally promised.

However, the game is back in the spotlight mainly for the introduction of the highly anticipated dynamic weather system, and righteously so. Driveclub’s graphics was already fantastic (with the exception of some minor aliasing issues) thanks to its great lighting, but the rain, snow and thunderstorms now elevate the game almost to a photorealistic level - indeed, it’s quite hard to tell whether you’re looking at a real picture or a Driveclub screenshot when someone shares a snapshot of the game taken via the Photo Mode.

It’s not just a matter of aesthetics, though. When the weather changes, so does the car handling and you’ll have to adjust quickly within a race if you want to stand a chance at winning. Overall, weather adds a fair amount of variation to both graphics and gameplay.

Another highlight of Driveclub is certainly the audio, which is incredibly accurate in both car engines and even weather noises. Not everyone will probably notice, but I bet that a few audiophiles are going to be quite happy about it.

The biggest gripe I have with the game by far is the complete absence of any damage repercussion for your car. While the car looks damaged, with all kinds of accurate scratches on its body, it will keep working just as nicely as it had before you smashed it into a wall at 250 KM/h. This has severe consequences especially while playing online, as racing turns out to be too similar to driving bumper cars; there are short penalties for colliding with other cars, but they aren’t nearly enough to stop people smashing into you to get ahead. If only damage modeling was factored in the game, then this could never happen and players would be forced into clean driving not just to win, but even to get to the finish.

 

In terms of car customization, Driveclub allows for a fair amount of aesthetic changes, although of course you cannot tweak or improve the car itself in any way; then again, Evolution never promised such things for Driveclub.