Infographic Comparison of Full Driveclub edition and PS+ Free Edition
-Todd
Eurogamer is not impressed, for many reasons: DriveClub review | Eurogamer.net
Spying a generous dusting of loose gravel on the apex, the 1000hz portion of your lizard brain that’s dedicated to driving cars fast instinctively decides to drop two wheels on the dirt. At the very least it’ll straighten the line through the bend and, if you’re really lucky, you can even use some drag to help rotate the car for a swift exit.
Except you don’t get your swift exit, because a giant, invisible hand has pinched the car’s spoiler betwixt thumb and forefinger. You’re dimly aware of a repetitive chiming sound as the speedo tumbles to 45mph. The DriveClub fun police have arrived, and this is their siren.
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You’ll note that I’ve barely mentioned the experience of actually playing DriveClub yet, beyond those infuriating, horsepower-hobbling penalties. That’s because the racing itself is adequately entertaining but ultimately forgettable. In the interests of accessibility, on a DualShock 4 the handling quirks of the cars are largely smoothed out by the responsive-yet-chuckable physics model. It’s not until you reach the hypercars that individual characteristics - usually a tendency towards lethal snap oversteer, at those speeds - are brought into relief.
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The problem with DriveClub is that it’s just competent. You’ll drive some fast cars in some arresting environments. You might even have fun, in between getting clobbered with penalties. But there’s no romance to it. No passion. What there is, however, is the lingering sense that the gaps were supposed to be filled by the much-touted social features - the fires were to be stoked by human rivalry. Sadly, beyond those bite-sized Face Off challenges, which are essentially side missions, there’s nothing particularly engaging or new here.
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The reviewer mentions earlier that he does enjoy the social side of it though. Even if it doesn’t seem to bring a whole lot to the table.
Wendelius
Daniel Bloodworth, a reviewer I respect when it comes to racing games, gives the game a 8.6 over at GameTrailers.
73 on Metatcritic from 38 reviews, looking like an average racer.
Driveclub is not for people who want to drive off the track with impunity! I find it tell that the Eurogamer reviewer considers this “fun police”. To some of us, having to drive well is “fun”. I wish there were more fun police in, say, Forza Horizon 2, where driving well is a strictly optional setting.
-TomSo does anyone know when the “lite” version will be released? I figured it’d be with the full game but I only see the retail version on the store and both PS Plus games are already live.
I don’t know but the comments section on the PS Blog Store-update post is filled with people asking the same question.
-Todd
I’m big on racing sims like Grand Turismo and Forza and while I know Driveclub is more arcadey, I’m wondering how much? I like the idea of a game that encourages you to drive well and I’m wondering if Driveclub has the physics to match that, or is it more akin to Need for Speed?
Wow sounds like the launch is struggling, is anyone here actually playing?
single player works fine.
The physics are there. I would compare it to a more lively version of Grid or a grippier version of Shift. The actual driving is far better than either of those.
The eurogamer review makes it sound like the fun police show up when you are off the track by a few millimeters, that is not the case. You have to severely cut a corner or ram the living shit out of a another car before you get the speed lock penalty.
Cool. I actually couldn’t care less about the “fun” police and it actually appeals to me that the game wants you to actually drive clean. I don’t generally like power slide games as you hurtle around a corner at 200mph, but rather games were actually braking and driving a racing line are the fastest way around a corner.
I actually thought Forza Horizon did a nice job of giving you an arcade racer with some real weight and physics to the cars. It wasn’t as technical as Gran Turismo, but it was enough so that it felt more like driving and less like Mario Cart with licensed cars than a Need for Speed and it’s ilk.
Still no word from Sony about the PS Plus Edition’s delay, not even a quick acknowledgement of the situation. Considering how they marketed so heavily that it would be available at launch with the full version, I’m a bit annoyed. My potential Driveclub money is in danger of being earmarked for some other coming release.
So anybody know what’s going on with the server infrastructure? I’ve played 3 times today at various hours and the servers haven’t been up once. Hard to get a feeling for a social game that doesn’t have the social yet.
Ah, I thought it was just me. I haven’t been able to get online either. :( Launches, man…
-Tom
I waited for the game to unlock at 1:00 am last night. In the spirit of this forum I played till about 2:45 am. Unfortunately the servers weren’t up during that time. Hoping to be able to join our Driveposse today.
- Dirk
Last year an early version of Driveclub was showcased at the Eurogamer Expo just ahead of the PS4 launch and it was a pretty rough looking thing at the time and the handling felt very stiff and a bit ‘off’. This year however, the game looked fantastic and it handled very nicely in that, after a lap or two, I felt competent at dropping my revs, slamming on the brakes and pulling the handbrake round corners – it felt great.
The Crew was also there last year and this year and my opinion hasn’t really shifted much on that: the cars don’t look or feel like they’re connected to the ground and never once did I feel like I ‘got’ the handling of the vehicles, I was either understeering or oversteering and screwing up all the time.
Project Cars felt as good as Driveclub, if not better, but was only showing off Silverstone so it didn’t really have the romance of The Crew’s open landmass and Driveclub’s varied locales. One thing I did dig in Project Cars was the sped up lapsing of day/night so the first lap takes place at dawn and while you race it ticks over to dusk with the sun setting and the lights coming on round the course on the last lap. Very cool and surprisingly subtle.
Anyway! Driveclub! I don’t own a PS4 so I haven’t much more to say on it but if Evolution could do a Driveclub: Pacific Rift, I’m putty in their hands. Putty.
Apologies for the rampant use of ‘feel’ there. Driving is all about teh feelz.
I can’t link or quote it well on my phone from work, but read the Giant Bomb review of the game before making any decisions. They specifically call out the car handling in a few ways.
It doesn’t sound like this will be that game for you merry. At least judging from the Giant Bomb review.
Strangely Jeff at Giant Bomb hated the handling, but the handling is one of the few things singled out as good in the pretty negative GameSpot review.
Seems like the game is going for a “soft sim” feel and it doesn’t sit well with everyone. Luckily once they release the PS Plus version is out people will be able to test it out for themselves.
Yeah, I think I’m gonna need to wait for the 'lite" version to try it for myself. Sounds like the handling is in a quirky in between spot that some people like and others don’t.