So I played a bit this morning before work. Severs were up and down initially and finally seemed to stay connected for my last 30 minutes. A few things:
The game is about racing, period. The first thing that happens when you load up the game is that you're thrown into a race. No explanation, no tutorial lap, no licensing. I was very happy about this, though I could see this not being other's cup of tea. Personally, I'm absolutely sick of story shoehorned into my racing games, and The Crew beta I had the chance to play the week prior is the very antithesis of Driveclub. For me, that's a good thing. For you, it may not be.
The game is by no means a sim, but it also plays nothing like NFS Rivals or The Crew. I find the physics to be a really excellent, happy middle ground, much like PGR was. You can get a sense for weight transfer, tire grip, when you're approaching under or over steer, or when you've been too aggressive on the breaks and lose maneuverability. The essentials are there to keep people who know how to drive aggressively and how to shave time off corners happy and make them more effective, while also not being unapproachable to the novice. This is my favorite part of the game. Drifting seems to be much harder than other mechanics, but I started to get a bit of a feel for it before I had to stop, finally getting my M235i all the way through a corner sideways without going in the dirt.
The visuals are very, very good, but are not the second coming of christ. Driveclub looks great. The lighting engine is absolutely amazing, and people used to baked lighting will most likely find the dynamic world lighting 'odd', but really, it's so incredibly accurate that I think it takes some adjusting to. I've heard people describe it as flat, but I would suggest cranking up the time compression on a track and suddenly you'll gain a new appreciation for just how different things will look depending on where the sun is in the sky. The locations are fantastic, and my hat is off to the art director and team; these are very engaging locations to be driving fast cars around. The cars looks wonderful, and the interiors are very nice to play from. However, the IQ isn't cranked up to 11. It's by no means bad, and in motion most of the imperfections fade away, but you can tell there were certain things that were pulled back so that resources could be devoted elsewhere. I am fine with this decision.
While I didn't get to experience much of the online component, I get the feeling this is what will give it more legs for me. I'm going to guess I'll blow through the single player content fairly quickly. In my two hours of play, I just nearly earned enough stars to make it to the Rookie level tour. Progression is fast, at least initially, and the single player tours never take too long, letting you complete a goal or two when you have a moment and not necessarily demanding large swaths of time. When I did get to try the online elements, I found them very enjoyable. All the mini challenges that pop up while you're racing are extremely dynamic and much less obtrusive than what I played in The Crew. This is the part of the game I'm looking forward to exploring more of when I get home from work, as I'm sure there will be quite a few challenges issued by DRIVECLUB-GAF for me to tackle.
I also briefly dove into the Club making side of things. Choices for logos and car designs are limited at first but there seems to be quite a lot of content to unlock. Aside from your club livery, you can have 3 or 4 personal custom designs you can set up for you cars. Beyond that, there's no customization. No body work, no tuning. Again, this is right up my alley, but if you're someone who really enjoys a lot of customization and tuning, it isn't here.
So far on my limited first impression, I find Driveclub to be an extremely enjoyable, straightforward simcade racer, devoid of all the recent story and mission driving elements that seem to be the focus these days. Driving cars fast and well is the singular focus here, with tools to challenge both you and your friends to improve. Customization is limited to paint and livery cosmetics, and all cars are kept stock. The locations are varied and beautiful, and the full world dynamic lighting can make the same track feel completely different depending on the time of day. There's a lot to do and enjoy here if all you want to do is race and drive against yourself and others, but nothing else if you're looking for more. Frankly, I'm glad there's at least one option where everything is about the driving, full stop.
