I might be a little late to the party since the pc beta came out a couple months ago or so, but I just fired up the beta for ps4 and this is the most I've looked forward to a driving game in a while. I just joined a co-op match with someone I didn't know and we both lost the first run, but on the second run the random spun out the fastest car so I could win and we both got the rewards. Anybody else have any impressions?

I got into the first PS4 beta like a month or two ago. When I woke up today, I had another beta invite. I sent the email to my trash immediately so there's my impressions about the game.

Cool concept, awful driving engine

@samfo: so dissapointing. When is ps4 finally gonna get a deacent racing game?

I played the Beta or whatever on PC a while back. It was pretty fun and I liked the leveling system in how it happens completely on the fly. Racing variety was also pretty good with the offroad tracks being the most interesting.

It's kind of like a more interesting Forza Horizon.

I got a beta code and entered it on the website yesterday, but haven't received a PS4 code yet.

Feel like most of the impressions I'm seeing are super duper negative, which is a bummer, you could see a lot of potential in that Unfinished Jeff did a couple of months ago.

@meatball: You want my PS4 code? I'm not going to use it.

Or not. It was in my trash box but now it's gone. I didn't empty it so I have no clue where it went. I'll check on my laptop later.

Only played for 40 minutes or so, but I almost yawned myself to death with it. It feels like some sort of GTA game in a boring city where you can't get out of the car.

I'm a fan of racing games, but when they announced this game at E3 I thought it looked pretty plain and dull. Troy Baker being the voice of the main character did not help either, he's basically in every AAA game right now in some form or another.
Why did they even try to attach a story to this game. :/

I've also got a key for the PS4 beta (EU), if anyone want it just send me a P.M.

I've been trying to play the beta on PS4, but haven't had much luck yet. Tried yesterday, but the servers were down. Tried again today and got to play maybe half an hour before I got kicked out and couldn't get back in. What is it with driving games and shitty servers this year?

I'll give them credit for trying to put a little extra work into making up a story for a racing game. A revenge flick while I race. OK, thats fine, I like that better than the silly story for Horizon 2.

The problem is that their actual racing is numb and lifeless. You feel like you're floating around, not driving. Car control is bad and in the cities most of the obstacles are partly if not totally immovable. Why put those two concepts together? It just wasn't fun.

Draw distance also seemed pretty bad, objects in the distance appear fuzzy and felt hard to plan for. Maybe that was a design choice but it felt kinda last generation. Text also appeared oddly small and fuzzy for no good reason.

Overall not impressed right now and would definitely wait for production ready code reviews before making any purchase.

Oh crap thanks for the reminder that the PS4 beta is out there. I got a code for it a while ago and forgot.

I'm not feeling it. I played two of the PC betas, then fired up the PS4 version to see how it looked and performed (looks fine, lower framerate). I just can't get into it, maybe because I've done those same starter missions 3 times now. The driving just feels like shit. I've messed with the control settings to tweak the handling and sensitivity with no luck. Everything just feels stiff. Playing with a manual transmission, the shifting is too slow with a controller. There's no way I've found to quickly drop down to lower gears, like say 6th to 3rd gear. It slowly engages each gear instead of letting me just tap a few times to drop into 3rd to take a corner.

I know there are people working on this game that have some experience making driving games, but it feels like a driving game made by people that have never made (or played) a driving game.

Also, the leader of the gang is called "The V8". Yep... The only thing they nailed from racing games is the corny story. It's a shame, because the customization stuff all seems interesting. The idea of the game is neat.

Call me Dan Ryckert, but I love it. I played a whole bunch during the last beta period and enjoyed it. I understand the handling complaints, but it's not something I didn't get used to and it improves as you level up your cars. The map is huge, filled with a ton of challenges and shortcuts to find which make getting from place to place fun. It's the first car game where I felt like I was exploring when I went offroad. I like arcade racers that have a lot of variety and this scratches that itch.

I've got a spare PS4 (US) beta key. If anyone wants it PM me.

A couple of the guys I work with from Playstation Country have grabbed keys for it so I'm keen to hear their response. What amazes is me from the PS4's driving efforts is that Milestone have managed to become market leaders by virtue of their games actually working. MXGP's kinda alright. I really want a proper, good open-world belter, though. If EA would just let Criterion off the leash for one Burnout. :(

Does it drive like Watch Dogs? I sure hope not.