E3 2014 - DriveClub Hands On

DriveClub is a strange game for me, the more I heard about the problems it was having and the delays the more I just thought, ignore it, it’s not worth my time. How wrong I was.

By now the concept behind DriveClub should be something you are familiar with and getting the chance to spend some time with it at E3 I can tell you that gameplay wise, the game works. So being that the core part to this game is driving you may wonder how it feels and I can report that the handling of the cars feels excellent.

Now you need to know that this game is not Gran Turismo level of realism but it’s not arcade style either it sits in that sweet spot that exists between the two camps. You won’t be able to take your car around a corner at 200 miles an hour but you will be able to kick it into a drift with ease. It works so well that I found myself drifting around almost every corner that I could, most of the time it was successful and other times not so much.

Much of the core of DriveClub is based around the challenges that you take part in during your races, these are quite simple at first glance, average speed or perfect lines. But look a little closer and there is more to each of them. The variety in the speed challenges was something I did not know about, in fact I thought it was just max top speed, but including something as simple as the average speed adds a little more to it. The top speed challenge is just that, hit the highest speed you can as you pass the challenge end point, simple enough right. The average speed is different; you have to match the challenge speed, so if it’s an average speed of 106.7 through a section and you go through at full speed you will fail at it. These challenges are fun ways of adding more to races than just attempting to win.

Of course winning is important as it is a racing game, but building you rep and skill as a racer is just as crucial. One other aspect that I thought was impressive about the game was the level of detail not just in the cars but in the environments. I placed the camera inside the car to see how nice the inside was, and I noticed the reflection of the mountains on the hood of the car, something I did not think to look for but once I did see it I had to take a second look.

This game does look amazing and its small details like the reflection that helps. In fact this would be one of the best looking racing games I have ever seen. The cars themselves are impressive but the level of detail when you start to damage the car is also cool. Using the guard rail to slingshot around a turn may help you out in the race, but your car will show the signs of it.

Now with a game such as DriveClub and the sense of importance it is placing on the clubs themselves, only time will tell how it performed but from the small sample that I played I know people are going to love it.