My DC experience, perhaps this has value to those undecided in buying it.
This Christmas I picked up Drive Club again after selling my original copy back to BB a week after launch. I enjoyed the game back then, but with the bugs and the trade in value essentially making it so I didn't lose money, I decided to sell it back and give it some time to get solid before buying it.
I bought the game for myself and 3 friends, was a great sale price and was less than $100 for all four, so why not make a club by giving a gift.
Played it a couple of days now;
1. Online is not fixed entirely, but compared to launch it is a huge improvement and very usable most times. Most often I run into a problem where one of us gets kicked from a lobby during race formation, though this is most common after racing 2 or more races in a row. The fix is to back out and reform the group and load a new track that has a decent 1+ minute wait time. Annoying, yes, but not so bad it makes us not feel it is worth it to play.
2. Weather is incredible, and adds a great dynamic to the races. My one complaint is the camera gets obstructed by the rain/snow, and it makes it hard to see. In car you have the wipers so it is not as bad, but I prefer racing out of car. They should allow you to simulate the wiper effect at minimum on the camera for those of us who prefer that view.
3. The diversity of the cars is really well done. You have to learn how each car is designed to race if you want to do well. If you race them the same you will quickly learn that some cars are horrible with certain styles. Racing a Mazzanti Evantra I learned quickly to carefully use the gas in corners and only floor it once I was strait. Ont he flip side a car like the Ferrari F99xx is similar in power category, but is more forgiving with earlier gas.
4. Online races; these are a ton of fun, BUT I hate that pretty much every race I am in there is at least one guy who smashes everything near him and uses other cars as brakes. I had thought the collision penalty system dissuaded this, but it seems to have been toned WAY down. Even in "team"r aces these guys will run you off the road on your own team. I'd like to see a harsher penalty returned or added for this or preferably, and option to set races with a custom penalty setting. Let people chose to race in races like it is destruction derby or select races that make this tactic heavily penalized.
5. Challenges; I was surprised at how much these drew me in. A club member and I kept racing one challenge in particular trying to shave off a second here or there to take over the lead. These help build community and rivalries.
6. In race mini challenges; working much better and so far no versions occurring with results that are impossible to beat. As designed, they keep me interested in finishing a race even when in last place.
7. Paint; Wish we had more base paint colors for factory, add some diversity beyond club color schemes.
8. Club size; Haven't filled my club fully yet, but I can see getting to a point where a couple more spots might be nice to have.
Overall I am really having a good time with my return to the game, and my friends like it as well.
This Christmas I picked up Drive Club again after selling my original copy back to BB a week after launch. I enjoyed the game back then, but with the bugs and the trade in value essentially making it so I didn't lose money, I decided to sell it back and give it some time to get solid before buying it.
I bought the game for myself and 3 friends, was a great sale price and was less than $100 for all four, so why not make a club by giving a gift.
Played it a couple of days now;
1. Online is not fixed entirely, but compared to launch it is a huge improvement and very usable most times. Most often I run into a problem where one of us gets kicked from a lobby during race formation, though this is most common after racing 2 or more races in a row. The fix is to back out and reform the group and load a new track that has a decent 1+ minute wait time. Annoying, yes, but not so bad it makes us not feel it is worth it to play.
2. Weather is incredible, and adds a great dynamic to the races. My one complaint is the camera gets obstructed by the rain/snow, and it makes it hard to see. In car you have the wipers so it is not as bad, but I prefer racing out of car. They should allow you to simulate the wiper effect at minimum on the camera for those of us who prefer that view.
3. The diversity of the cars is really well done. You have to learn how each car is designed to race if you want to do well. If you race them the same you will quickly learn that some cars are horrible with certain styles. Racing a Mazzanti Evantra I learned quickly to carefully use the gas in corners and only floor it once I was strait. Ont he flip side a car like the Ferrari F99xx is similar in power category, but is more forgiving with earlier gas.
4. Online races; these are a ton of fun, BUT I hate that pretty much every race I am in there is at least one guy who smashes everything near him and uses other cars as brakes. I had thought the collision penalty system dissuaded this, but it seems to have been toned WAY down. Even in "team"r aces these guys will run you off the road on your own team. I'd like to see a harsher penalty returned or added for this or preferably, and option to set races with a custom penalty setting. Let people chose to race in races like it is destruction derby or select races that make this tactic heavily penalized.
5. Challenges; I was surprised at how much these drew me in. A club member and I kept racing one challenge in particular trying to shave off a second here or there to take over the lead. These help build community and rivalries.
6. In race mini challenges; working much better and so far no versions occurring with results that are impossible to beat. As designed, they keep me interested in finishing a race even when in last place.
7. Paint; Wish we had more base paint colors for factory, add some diversity beyond club color schemes.
8. Club size; Haven't filled my club fully yet, but I can see getting to a point where a couple more spots might be nice to have.
Overall I am really having a good time with my return to the game, and my friends like it as well.
