A Weekend With DriveClub PlayStation Plus Edition

On June 25th, 2015 Sony made good on one of their first promises made to PlayStation Plus subscribers during their E3 2013 Press Conference. The DriveClub PlayStation Plus Edition was announced as a means to soften the blow of the now required Plus subscriptions in order to utilize PlayStation Network features for online multiplayer on the PlayStation 4. Unfortunately for Sony, DriveClub fell prey to delays, a common symptom of new console launches and something that was particularly noticeable when looking at the PS4's diminutive catalogue of games in the weeks after its launch in November of 2013. DriveClub would not see its release until the following October and would be released in a much compromised state. The game's highly-praised weather-effects that had been on display at press events in the past were absent and the social aspects of DriveClub that had been the crux of much of the developer's messaging surrounding the game were by almost all accounts a complete disaster, mired in network issues. These problems resulted in Sony's announcement that the PS Plus version of DriveClub was to be put on indefinite hold until Evolution Studios, DriveClub's developer, had resolved the issues with the game.

Now, a little over eight-months after the game's largely unappreciated release, the PlayStation Plus Edition of DriveClub has been made available. The game begins with players being sat in the seat of a Mercedes-Benz AMG GT S and thrust into a two-lap race in one of the games primarily rock and ice Norwegian settings. The game's visuals are quite striking, with the same apparent attention to visual detail in the modelling of the car's interior cockpit and exterior bodywork that one would expect to see from Forza and Gran Turismo. Playing with a DualShock 4 controller instead of a racing-wheel often leads to finicky controls when it comes to racing games of this stripe and the aggressive nature of the AI drivers who share the track with you can be frustrating as you attempt to adapt to how DriveClub, well, drives. Throughout many of the races in DriveClub the environment is dictated by an accelerated clock, where transitions from dusk to night or dawn to day unfold over the course of a relatively short race. The rapid change in time often comes with a rapid change in weather as well, and by the second lap of that opening race the snow begins coming down and melting upon the windshield of the car. With this change in weather the car's wipers activate, and if you remain in the in-car perspective the game defaults to, you are treated to an impressive simulation of water moving across the windshield as it is swept by the wipers.

Upon completing your initial race the game drops you to its home-screen, where DriveClub's features are broken-out in a tile format, similar to the menus seen in much of the EA Sports games of the current era. The game's primary racing mode, "Tour," is limited in the PS Plus Edition, with the, "Startline," collection of the events as the only ones available in the free version. Here you compete in a variety of racing events that are much the standard for the genre, time trial challenges, drift challenges, sprint races and a few championship series are available for you to compete in, with more unlocked as you earn stars by completing objectives presented in the individual events. While the number of events in the Startline Tour is limited, it does serve as a nice sampler as to what is available in the full-version of the game as well as giving players a look at what is available in many of the DLC tour packs that have been released over the past eight months.

For those who want to play in online races there are a decent number of online events available in the PS Plus Edition as well. The multiplayer events menu presents the player with a number of online races, with those available in the PlayStation Plus Edition denoted with a yellow banner. It's a simple interface, with events beginning at set times shown from the menu, making it easy to get in a race without needing other drivers to ready-up. My experience with the one online race I participated in was positive, opponent cars moved smoothly, without any stuttering that I've seen in past racing games where connection speeds with other players made for a less than enjoyable race.

As you complete races and move through the progression in DriveClub, the PS Plus Edition does remind you frequently that you are playing the PlayStation Plus Edition of the game and that not all rewards earned by increasing your driver level are available to you. Over my weekend with the game I reached Driver Level 10, and of all the cars I had unlocked at that point, I could only choose from four if I wanted to compete in single-event races or online races outside of the game's Tour mode. This is not a great concern as the Startline tour allows you to use cars reserved for the full-game and some from the DLC tour packs. It is worth noting that it was not possible to buy DriveClub digitally as a PlayStation Plus subscriber since the game's release, and if you so choose you can upgrade the PS Plus Edition to the full game for $24.99.

DriveClub is a mostly stripped-down racer when compared to its contemporaries, but it makes for a simple experience that I found enjoyable. The lack of car-tuning options that is sacrasanct to most fans of the Forza and Gran Turismo series, creates a more level playing field and prevents you from messing up a perfectly fine car because you screwed up the toe-angle of your wheels and set your gears too long in the transmission. DriveClub isn't concerned with any of that, the game wants you to choose a fancy car from its list of highly exotic makes and models and get to racing. This is where the game succeeds, and if you want a simple, yet challenging racing game the value of the PlayStation Plus Edition of DriveClub has some easily justifiable fun in store for you.

Thanks for your overview!

I've heard that that game has been improved a lot since release and am looking forward to trying it for myself.

Still, a pity it does not feature any car tuning. I did enjoy that in Forza.

I've been enjoying this game quite alot actually. I felt the PS+ version was enough of a chunk to really get a feel for what they're going for, and like you said, it's primarily focused on racing and that's pretty refreshing coming from the GT series. Don't get me wrong, I love tuning cars and customizing the crap out of them, but, Driveclub just feels right for the amount of "thought" commitment I'm willing to put into a racing game right now and the upgrade is well worth $25.

I hope you decide to upgrade. I played about 12 hours non-stop today and can't wait to get back in there tomorrow.

I'm surprised you were able to get a whole weekend out of that PSN edition. I think I experienced everything it had to offer within an hour and I wasn't really impressed or hooked enough to go back.

I think the PS+ edition offers quite a bit for a free game. A decent selection of tracks and cars in the Single Event option, access to additional cars and tracks in the Tour option, and a capable multiplayer option, without it asking you to upgrade all the time. And being able to unlock the full game for $25 is a fair price as well. Physical copies are still much more expensive at the moment.

I'm pretty impressed by it.

I picked up the PS+ Edition when it first, accidentally went up, and I've been loving it ever since. The feel of the cars is sublime, and the lack of padding bullshit creates a laser focus on the actual driving aspects of the game, which is why I think it got panned by a lot of non-racing fans.

It may be that you missed the bulk of the content. The menu doesn't lay out very clearly what is and isn't available to you. I find it hard to believe you went through the entire Startline Tour, raced on every India track, and unlocked the majority of free cars "within an hour."

Regardless, I really hope this PS+ Edition gets more people to check out this game. It's certainly not for everybody, but if you "get it" then you really "get it."

@berserker976: That very well may be. From what I saw I did some drift events and some race events, both against AI and against the clock on the limited amount of tracks they have to offer. Every car I unlocked was only available for the full version. The driving felt simultaneously awkward and at odds with itself. Maybe if I gave it several more hours it would start to feel better but at first blush I didn't feel compelled to devote more time to it. In other quasi-realistic racers you can tell that once you get a handle on things the racing has the potential to be great. In Driveclub it just felt like I would have to get used to it's strange sense of grip and that would be it.

I thought the weather changing was a nice touch and some of the dynamic challenges are neat but apart from that I dunno, the game felt like a huge bummer. Some people may like it and thats awesome. I personally saw this as a rather barebones racer with it's own unique take on realism. The fact that it took them this long to release what is basically a demo of the full game is still completely baffling. Regardless of the actual quality of Driveclub itself this whole situation has been a PR disaster for Sony.

I played 10 minutes of it and promptly deleted it from my hdd. I don't know if the handling is just really crappy, or maybe I don't like racing games.

I don't think anyone is going to argue with that. I just think it's a real bummer that by and large, people don't seem willing to move on and actually try to appreciate the game itself. I'm not saying I don't understand why that is, I just think it's really unfortunate.

On a tangential note, I still can't quite believe that Jeff's review has survived for so long with provably untrue and misleading content.

@berserker976: crapping score happen when you ship broken games. that's the problem publishers have ( if they even care about what reviews say) to ether ship a game that's broken and take the initial or blow and patch it as time goes on and hope that enough of th word of mouth prompts more sales or delay the whole game.

I played like 3 races and so far I don't hate the driving model. Not sure I love it either, but so far it seems to strike a decent balance between arcadey and simmy. It's no ModNation Racers though.

@berserker976: Thats the biggest irony I think. This whole debacle is centered around a pretty average racing game. From what I played I wouldn't say Driveclub is an offensively bad game, but I wouldn't say it's especially great either. It certainly isn't groundbreaking in any way. Had they not made a huge deal about the free version and given it so much attention this is a release that would have come and gone without much notice.

As it is they got a lot of bad publicity over a game that quite frankly isn't worth the discussion.

I love Driveclub. I quite enjoy its handling model and the old-school approach to events and progression. I've really enjoyed racing against the AI, and kind of think it has some of the more fun AI I've raced against. As someone who has kind of only ever played the game as a single player game the online issues were never something that actually bothered me (obviously they were disastrous, though) and so I've really enjoyed the game since launch. I don't think it's an average game at all, I kind of think it's great. So great I wound up plonking down the money for its season pass, and I've actually been really happy with that decision.

Personally I think it's a damn shame Sony/Evolution fucked up so bad, because I really do think that, in spite of how much Jeff swears it's terrible, the core game there is great. (Of course, it's also a damn shame that they happily took money for a game that was significantly broken at launch)

@humanity: Also, the better you think the game is, the more tragic the irony of the online focused racing game launching with broken online becomes. Personally I would would say with absolutely no hesitation that Driveclub a great game. I think that it breaks ground in a fairly unusual way. It's a case of addition by subtraction. They took out a lot of the things that would potentially draw in people that weren't way into racing games, like a driving line, rewinds, and rpg-like upgrades for your car. It boiled its gameplay down to a core that brings back that old feeling of going toe-to-toe with your opponents in a true challenge of skill.

I played a few races and really didn't like the way it controlled. The two cars I used felt overly heavy but would also lose grip really easily. So I would stuggle to turn (understeer) but then just as I was getting into the turn and making it work I would spin out (oversteer). Going slower didn't seem to help and speaking of which the braking felt really odd as well. It felt like I was slamming on the brakes but the car was only slowing down ever so slightly making it hard to use them properly in turns.

It looked nice though.

Wait, it's out?

@rongalaxy: I'm with you 100 percent. Handling is too grippy or something. All I know is that I really don't like it.

I tried playing it, couldn't deal with the horrible driving model.

Uninstalled the game before even finishing the first race. Just nope.

Is there an option for a guide line to assist in speed of turns, etc? Can't seem to find it anywhere in the options and it's weird that it's not on by default

I did decide to upgrade, I've been starving for a racing game on PS4 and DriveClub is the most valuable oasis, in a dollars-and-cents kind of way, in this desert. I've been playing it here and there, but that'll probably stop once F1 2015 comes out in the US.

@metalgearsunny: I haven't noticed one. It's kind of great actually though. Some of the cornering overdrives show you a line to beat once in awhile. I'm constantly looking at the map and memorizing courses alot faster this way. It's been years since I've driven without a line of some sort.