There is so much I find inaccurate with this post, or that I disagree with, that I'll go through why point by point.
Evo X said:
I played the game for a few hours and through all 10 Tour events in the game, so I think I can give a fair assessment now.
Pretty much concluded that this is the Killzone: Shadowfall of racing games. Ridiculously pretty, but ultimately lifeless. Style over substance.
Right off the bat I strongly disagree, but we'll go through the rest of your post regarding the validity of some of your complaints, many of which I feel are completely misplaced.
Weather.
My biggest complaint is the weather effects; they are WAY overdone and in your face. I get that they want to show off their tech, but design and aesthetic choices should never hinder game play. Even in third person mode, the whole screen is covered in haze and droplets, to the point where I cannot reliably see where I am going. This has led to many mistakes that could have been avoided. Even though I am quite experienced with racing games, it was quite difficult to even get in the top 5 position in the first few races because of this fact. I know many are gonna scream,"it's realism bro!", but it's not. It's fancy effects for the sake of effects. Simple rainfall should not feel like a hurricane. I have raced on tracks in real life in the rain and it is no where near as bad as this.
The weather effects are among the most accurate in any racer, at least from a graphical and environmental standpoint. I wouldn't boast about having racing experience in real life in heavy rain, and then say something silly like Driveclub's is over done. Not only is Driveclub's not over done (especially for the amount of rainfall it depicts during storms), it's actually toned down compared to real life. In real life, racing in close to the sort of rain experienced in the game, is nigh on impossible. For a start, you're barely be able to see the cars in-front of you let alone the track, Instead often all you see is masses of rain kick back and spray. In Driveclub they've actually massively reduced the amount of this, in order that you can still race, and have some level of visibility.
Some references of what an actually realistic representation of racing in heavy rain would look.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OyHpqKiDMJ0
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=736TOfmCTz4
And the hyperdrive snow effects? Believe it or not they're also realistic.
AI.
Second complaint is the AI. After racing the drivatars in the past few Forza games, this feels like a huge step back. They never split up or make any mistakes. Just perfectly follow a line through every course, which makes them look more like a train than individually piloted cars.
Again, completely false. The AI constantly split up, change racing lines, adapt to the situation, pull off good overtaking, make mistakes et all. In-fact, I've found them to be surprisingly dynamic and aggressive, more so than in most racers. Does this look like they all just follow one simple robotic monotonous line?
Rubber banding.
Third complaint is the "dynamic difficulty" aka rubber banding. I know they say it's minimal, but I've noticed it on several occasions, one that totally took me out of the experience. I am lucky enough to have driven many of these sports and super cars in real life, so I know what they are capable of and how they should behave. I was going ~130mph and accelerating on a straightaway in a V12 Aston Zagato, when I was overtaken by a Caterham R500. Sorry, but in no universe is that possible.
Again, you've got it completely wrong. Rubber banding would never kick in to allow the AI to unfairly overtake the way you've described. That sort of rubber banding does not exist in the game,
at all. All the dynamic AI consists of, is cars that slow down for you if you're driving extremely poorly, or slowly, e.g. way behind the entire pack. Or whom do not drive at the highest level if you're a competent racer. They do not however, ever race beyond their capable means, even if you happen to be driving well, or even very well. That's why you can put massive time between you and the AI in second place, even if you're driving in the same vehicle, and even if the AI is set to one of the hardest difficulties.
If an R500 overtook you, it's because you either had a slower exit speed out of the last corner, and/or it used slipstreaming effectively. Drafting in this game can produce some particularly advantageous scenario's, so you're likely just confusing it with that, or just poor driving. A good bit of advice to avoid the AI taking too much advantage of your slipstream, is to move off race line on longer straights and stretches, or simply make sure the AI can never get a full draft.
Handling control and finesse.
There is just something off about the handling as well. There is not much of a middle ground between grip and losing control. In Forza, I can play with the cars at the limit and adjust them mid corner through throttle control and steering. This game does not provide that fine level of control and playfulness. The cars go from grip + understeer to violent snap oversteer in an instant. The lack of rewind feature is also quite disappointing. You can play amazing 90% of the race, but a single fuckup means having to start the whole even over while you get overtaken by the train of robots you fought so hard to get ahead of.
Again, completely disagree. In the OT we've literally done hundreds of different challenges amongst ourselves, and generally these involve us forum members ousting one another by 100th, sometimes 1000th of a second, lap after lap. Continuously knocking off milli seconds, and finding time in millimetre precision cornering. This game allows you that degree of control and versatility, and it's one of the reasons it's built up such a strong community of gamers, many of whom have played it since launch, and still play it just as as much to this day.
If you're finding it hard to tame or get a read on the vehicles, it's probably because you just need more practise with them, or need to adjust to that vehicles particular characteristics. Certain vehicles, for example the Ariel Atom, are notoriously finicky, but extremely competent when properly mastered. So many of the vehicles in this game have a unique personality to their handling and physics, that sometimes there is a bit (sometimes a lot) of adjustment required.
Customisation.
Lack of customization is a bummer too.
I think the point of Driveclub is that everyone is always on a completely level playing field, with the only differentiating factors being your car and skill. In that sense, for me personally this is not a negative, though I would have loved cosmetic upgrades such as spoilers, body kits, rims etc.
Fun factor and difficulty.
Overall, I just didn't have much fun and it's not just because of the difficulty. Bloodborne is my favorite game of the year, but when I fail in that, it is almost certainly because I made a mistake. In this game, it's either because I couldn't see where I was going, the car did not handle how I expected it to, or an AI rammed me off the road because I happened to be within it's prescribed racing line through a corner.
Fun factor is subjective to you, so that's fair. However, a lot of your complaints up to this point seem off base to me, as mentioned throughout, not as a matter of subjectivity either, but objectively speaking. The rest makes me think that difficulty did play a role, even though here you imply the contrary. There's little point in comparing it to Bloodborne, as it's a different game and altogether different genre. Difficulty in a racing game might simply be more frustrating to you than difficulty in other genre's of games, especially if as you mentioned, you're used to using things like rewind and tuning, to make life easier.
Soul.
It's hard to put into words, but this game just doesn't have much personality or that "it" factor. I don't believe it will leave much of a legacy.
I am confident Driveclub will be a cult favourite in years to come. It's essentially this generation's Project Gotham Racing or WRC. Games that didn't necessarily set the world on fire in terms of popularity or sales, but were among the best at the time in their particular sub genre's. Driveclub has more personality to me than nearly any racer I've played in years. The un-mtached sense of speed, the audiovisual tour de force, the breathtaking environments and track design, the cleverly implemented tech (volumetric clouds, dynamic time of day, weather, lighting etc), which completely change the tone, atmosphere and
'personality' of a track dependant on conditions, these sorts of things, coupled with the crazy fast loading times, the incredible visuals, and the refined simcade handling physics, just come together to make it something really special.
No other racer I've played has captured the thrill and adrenaline of racing these beastly cars, quite the way Driveclub has, and that to me is one of the most important
'it' factors there is to a racer.
I have no issue with people disliking the game. No game is going to be to everyone's tastes. I just wish there was some more consistency and accuracy to some of the complaints. So many of yours for example, as discussed, just seem amiss.
