Review
Played on: PlayStation 4Released: 2014
I realised it was time to purchase Driveclub. The racing game that Sony planned on giving away on PS4's launch, but delays and a broken release earned the game a bad reputation. Based around online play and constant updates from other players on their records, ghost times etc., features that simply did'nt work properly at launch. It deservedly received a lot of average reviews.
Fans that stuck with the game from the initial problems seemed to bless a weather update that apparently fixed everything. Does adding weather and fixing bugs fix the average impression though? I caved in recently and finally bought it to find out.
Driveclub's install is a strange one, I went for the digital version on the PlayStation store, the actual game is about 3GB, it then adds a 7,5GB patch, bringing the total to a 10,5GB. Fine by me. However, after starting the game and winning about five races I'm abruptly halted in my progress: the rest of the game needs downloading! What the hell?!
It actually needs to download most of the tracks and cars after it's launched and the downloads don't appear on the actual PS4 menus. So, I simply had to leave the download through a night to get all the files downloaded. It gives me flashbacks to the downright insane and obnoxious patching that Gran Turismo 5 had. Thankfully, the next day, it was finished and ready to play.
Putting the strange install aside, how is the actual racing? The game clearly lies in the semi-realism category. Somewhat like a Project Gotham Racing, Forza Horizon, GRID or a less arcade styled Need For Speed. Although PGR and Forza Horizon leave far more solid impressions of end product quality than Driveclub.
I found the road races in Driveclub to be very satisfying, however, it's simple A.I. ruins the experience and dampens my enthusiasm. Consistently, it drives at alarmingly high speeds, with no regard to braking safely into corners. I really dislike it when I have to sacrifice sensible driving to driving damn right reckless to have any change of keeping up.
The races on more traditional racing tracks feel really bad as a result, winning them feels like a hit and miss on how completely insane you dare to drive at high speeds. Hardcore players will say: learn each track by heart, but I prefer mastering the car handling before just learning quick ways to push the car past corners in unrealistic manners.
It feels like a downer when I have to take corners at almost full speed, simply to avoid being passed by half of the A.I. cars, because I gently braked a little. It feels even more of a disappointment when Driveclub actually controls precisely when slowing down and taking a turn in a safer manner than what the A.I. wants me to.
I found the lack of a difficulty setting in the main tour mode lacking as such, it would have helped with the problem for my instance. The main tour of the game gives you at least a variety of types of races, from cups, single races, time trails and even drifting events. The latter felt a bit iffy, considering the car physics, but they help the variation of the game. The your mode could easily have been beefed up with something more than a check box grid, and I dislike that progress is based on how many stars I earn in each race.
Driveclub looks amazing, there's no doubt about it. There's something it really does well with the large scenery it depicts alongside road sides. It gives a sense of large scale and changes the clouds, day cycle, weather and lighting around this. Speeding down huge valleys looks incredible and very real at times.
The close up detail is less attractive, varying in quality. Driveclub likes to build it's tracks around the way it depicts it's large scale tracks, and as such the graphics look great for what it's trying to accomplish. The added weather update needs mentioning too, I've never seen so well implemented rain or snow effects in a racer before. The way the water gets thrown around on the windscreen and pushed away by the windscreen wipers and the shiny cover it gives to the tarmac, is just breathtaking!
If comparisons to it's release rival Forza Horizon 2, are to be made: FH2 looks sharper and less blurry, somehow more smooth visually, even through both are 30 fps, and looks more vibrant in it's colours. Driveclub, on the other hand, comes across as more real to the eyes. When speeding down a part of the road that lets you see for miles, you're less concentrated on the smaller details. Both games take benefit for what they want to accomplish with their respective and impressive graphical engines.
I do feel that FH2 is a more impressive graphical package, especially considering it's a free-roaming world and indeed has all the rain, day and night cycles too. As for the actual campaign, I really feel that FH2 just has a better structure and general racing variation. Driveclub's tour grid looks like a lacklustre effort in comparison to FH2's festival touring and large number of events based on a far broader spectre of racing cars and types.
So, should you be buying Driveclub? If you own a PS4 and like racer, well it's a no-brainer: buy it. I get that it may sound like I'm quite disappointed here, and it's mainly the A.I. ruining the show and to a degree the rather unimaginative main mode, but it's not like it's a bad game. It's just that it could have been a so much better experience with a longer development time.
If checkbox structure and aggressive A.I. doesn't bother you, I would recommend buying the git together with the season pass. There's a ton of extra content and great value for money to be found in the vast amount of DLC it unlocks.
If you're still on the fence about buying a PlayStation 4 or a Xbox One for racing games however, well, then I would by far recommend the Xbox One. As a semi-realism racer, Forza Horizon 2 is a much better package and on Xbox One you even have Forza Motorsport 5 to play around with as well. AND the forthcoming Forza Motorsport 6 later this year, and that's not even counting multiplatform racers like Project CARS!
Your racing cravings will be fed well this year if you choose the Xbox One in other words. Don't get me wrong, Driveclub is a good racer, but it doesn't warrant a console purchase alone, and as the way it stands now for racing fans: PS4 just isn't the best choice.
It feels like a downer when I have to take corners at almost full speed, simply to avoid being passed by half of the A.I. cars, because I gently braked a little. It feels even more of a disappointment when Driveclub actually controls precisely when slowing down and taking a turn in a safer manner than what the A.I. wants me to.
I found the lack of a difficulty setting in the main tour mode lacking as such, it would have helped with the problem for my instance. The main tour of the game gives you at least a variety of types of races, from cups, single races, time trails and even drifting events. The latter felt a bit iffy, considering the car physics, but they help the variation of the game. The your mode could easily have been beefed up with something more than a check box grid, and I dislike that progress is based on how many stars I earn in each race.
Driveclub looks amazing, there's no doubt about it. There's something it really does well with the large scenery it depicts alongside road sides. It gives a sense of large scale and changes the clouds, day cycle, weather and lighting around this. Speeding down huge valleys looks incredible and very real at times.
The close up detail is less attractive, varying in quality. Driveclub likes to build it's tracks around the way it depicts it's large scale tracks, and as such the graphics look great for what it's trying to accomplish. The added weather update needs mentioning too, I've never seen so well implemented rain or snow effects in a racer before. The way the water gets thrown around on the windscreen and pushed away by the windscreen wipers and the shiny cover it gives to the tarmac, is just breathtaking!
If comparisons to it's release rival Forza Horizon 2, are to be made: FH2 looks sharper and less blurry, somehow more smooth visually, even through both are 30 fps, and looks more vibrant in it's colours. Driveclub, on the other hand, comes across as more real to the eyes. When speeding down a part of the road that lets you see for miles, you're less concentrated on the smaller details. Both games take benefit for what they want to accomplish with their respective and impressive graphical engines.
I do feel that FH2 is a more impressive graphical package, especially considering it's a free-roaming world and indeed has all the rain, day and night cycles too. As for the actual campaign, I really feel that FH2 just has a better structure and general racing variation. Driveclub's tour grid looks like a lacklustre effort in comparison to FH2's festival touring and large number of events based on a far broader spectre of racing cars and types.
So, should you be buying Driveclub? If you own a PS4 and like racer, well it's a no-brainer: buy it. I get that it may sound like I'm quite disappointed here, and it's mainly the A.I. ruining the show and to a degree the rather unimaginative main mode, but it's not like it's a bad game. It's just that it could have been a so much better experience with a longer development time.
If checkbox structure and aggressive A.I. doesn't bother you, I would recommend buying the git together with the season pass. There's a ton of extra content and great value for money to be found in the vast amount of DLC it unlocks.
If you're still on the fence about buying a PlayStation 4 or a Xbox One for racing games however, well, then I would by far recommend the Xbox One. As a semi-realism racer, Forza Horizon 2 is a much better package and on Xbox One you even have Forza Motorsport 5 to play around with as well. AND the forthcoming Forza Motorsport 6 later this year, and that's not even counting multiplatform racers like Project CARS!
Your racing cravings will be fed well this year if you choose the Xbox One in other words. Don't get me wrong, Driveclub is a good racer, but it doesn't warrant a console purchase alone, and as the way it stands now for racing fans: PS4 just isn't the best choice.
