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Review: Driveclub

Racing titles always end up being showcased on new consoles to demonstrate the power of their hardware. Driveclub is one of the games that Sony is using to show what the PlayStation 4 is capable of, and its visuals are absolutely gorgeous. But the distraction of all the pretty just isn’t enough in this case and what you end up with is a fairly average racing game.

The main focus of Driveclub is to create a club where you and up to five other players can compete against other clubs in a series of events and challenges.  Each race will have you completing a number of objectives: placing in the top 3 against A.I. racers, performing a lap below a set amount of time or winning a faceoff against another online racer as examples. As you race and complete these objectives you’ll earn experience which unlocks various cars or other rewards, like paint jobs for your ride.

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My problems with Driveclub aren’t necessarily with the driving aspect of the game. That part is okay; the controls of the cars have a good feel to them and when things are going smoothly I was having fun. My issues are with all of the bits surrounding the driving which start to leak in and ruin the experience. For instance, the artificial intelligence (AI) of the racing opponents is terribly frustrating. They will generally stick to a racing line so it doesn’t matter if you are also driving on that line or next to it you’re bound to have a car ram you from behind or side swipe you as they attempt to move positions.  The AI cars don’t seem to have any awareness of your car on the track, which is annoying because you need to be fully aware of them. The game punishes players for things that you shouldn’t really be doing while racing, for example driving off the track and slightly cutting through a corner or hitting into other cars to slow down your speed.  But for the AI these rules don’t apply; it seems perfectly fine for them to pull a pit maneuver while going around a corner without any consequences.

The rewards system for unlocks in Driveclub is quite bland and boring; there really isn’t much you’ll get from each level as you progress through its ranking system. The cars are the main unlock you’ll want to keep an eye on, but there isn’t any easy was to look at the specifications of each car. It’s not exactly easy to compare one car to another and see which might be better. Each stat on the car is just a bar graphic that lists its top speed, acceleration, handling and drifting. But there aren’t any solid numbers to show specifics, it’s just how much of a bar meter is filled up.

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The online component of Driveclub is where this game is supposed to shine, but it doesn’t. Instead, it feels like a social network where everyone is yelling at you to race against them and there’s no coherence to it. You’re always receiving notifications in the game that a club has challenged your club to a certain race event. You go in and have a look only to find that in that challenge there is 100 other clubs that have been invited along. You then go down your list of notifications and there are 50 other challenges you’ve received. The bit where I thought it was getting out of control was when I began receiving messages in my PlayStation notification bar while I wasn’t playing the game, letting me know about challenges I was receiving for Driveclub. No thank you.

Visually the game is very impressive. The tracks are beautifully crafted and the details on cars are outstanding. Driveclub has a dynamic weather system which can subtly or drastically change the look of the track depending on what the game decides to throw your way. This adds another layer of style to the courses that would generally always look the same every time you compete on them. Typically in racing games I have the camera viewing outside and behind the top of the car, but moving the camera into the cockpit of the car and racing shows just how remarkable this game looks in action. It’s truly one of the best looking racing titles available.

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It’s not its appearance that lets Driveclub down, it’s the racing and all bits in between. The handling of the cars feels solid but the racing aspect is overshadowed by the frustrating A.I. opponents. Its main draw is supposed to be playing the game while online – but this is far too annoying as you get flooded with notifications. Ultimately there are games out there that have done a much better job with asynchronous multiplayer like Need For Speed’s Autolog system. When you sit down and play Driveclub you can see that it had potential, but it still feels like its missing too many components. In the end Driveclub is an incredible looking driving game, but it’s not a good racing game.

 

Driveclub

The good

  • Gorgeous looking visuals.
  • Cars handle well.

The bad

  • Terrible AI opponents.
  • Club system is messy.
  • Basic racing options.
  • Bland rewards for leveling.

Want to know more about our scoring scale?


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About the author

Luke Lawrie

Writing and producing content about video games for over a decade. Host of Australia's longest running video game podcast The GAP found at TheGAPodcast.com. Find me on Twitter at @lukelawrie