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DriveClub Review Thread.

P

ProvenDeadly

Member
GHG said:
Ok this got me:



The "old dark days" like when we had real racing games like TOCA, Colin McRae, a real Le Mans game, authentic F1 games, RBR? And then arcade racers like PGR, Ridge Racer, V Rally? Yeh ok Jeff... You can go back into your hole/cave now.

Sorry the game isn't noob friendly enough for you.

That's all I have to say.
Click to expand...

Yah man. The lack of customization at all, including tuning, is noob friendly.
 
A

Amir0x

Banned
GHG said:
The "old dark days" like when we had real racing games like TOCA, Colin McRae, a real Le Mans game, authentic F1 games, RBR? And then arcade racers like PGR, Ridge Racer, V Rally? Yeh ok Jeff... You can go back into your hole/cave now.

.
Click to expand...

So, so many reviews I've read today have some variation of this complaint. It's extremely troubling. Reviewers have some genuinely fucked to the very core problems. To the extent that maybe some of these people need to stop playing games it's so bad.
 
G

Guymelef

Member
GHG said:
Ok this got me:



The "old dark days" like when we had real racing games like TOCA, Colin McRae, a real Le Mans game, authentic F1 games, RBR? And then arcade racers like PGR, Ridge Racer, V Rally? Yeh ok Jeff... You can go back into your hole/cave now.

Sorry the game isn't noob friendly enough for you.

That's all I have to say.
Click to expand...

Is there some kind of competition between game journalist to see who said the most absurd statement in his review?
 
B

Bornstellar

Member
Soooo

Having watched a bunch of direct feed footage of this today, is it just me or does it not look nearly as good as it did pre-release?
 
GHG

GHG

Member
orochi91 said:
Why can't they have both modes in the game? You need to understand that pure track
arcade racers just don't cut it these days, unless they are sims like GT/Forza/PC.

DC is so limited from car selections, customization and gameplay options. This literally
feels like a launch game despite the year delay.

FH2 has set the bar for the arcade genre, standards have changed.
Click to expand...

I can't say this enough but it's a different kind of game. Anyone who has played both but still insists on directly comparing them needs to get their heads checked.

FH2 is also a completely different type of game.
 
I

Ingueferroque

Banned
orochi91 said:
Why can't they have both modes in the game? You need to understand that pure track
arcade racers just don't cut it these days, unless they are sims like GT/Forza/PC.

DC is so limited from car selections, customization and gameplay options. This literally
feels like a launch game despite the year delay.

FH2 has set the bar for the arcade genre, standards have changed.
Click to expand...

Okay, you realize FH and DC set out for completely different goals, right? Why don't people understand that DC is all about control and racing line, definitely on the more realistic side of the arcade spectrum.

So many people vocal about dismissing it, who don't even seem like they were interested in the first place, or understand what type of game DC is. Read the comments in that GB review to see what I mean.

Game reviews have become so political..
 
O

orochi91

Member
Bornstellar said:
Soooo

Having watched a bunch of direct feed footage of this today, is it just me or does it not look nearly as good as it did pre-release?
Click to expand...

Giantbomb crew also said this during the bombcast today; it doesn't look as good as
did before at major conferences. They say it doesn't look much better than FH2.

It starts at the 33 minute mark.
 
S

Shmuely Bully

Member
Amir0x said:
This is the clearest case of modern game reviewers simply being completely disconnected with all the things that made a genre great from yesteryear, and then profoundly failing to realize that all those things remain great. Not only that, DriveClub improves on many of those classic features in ways that do make a difference - astounding visuals, decently integrated social mechanics - and combine to make any genre classic fan seriously fall in love.
Click to expand...

If I loved Top Gear 2, California Speed, Gran Turismo 3, and WipEout HD would I enjoy this game? I know those games aren't really comparable with each other, but I've listed them all in the hope that you'll get where I'm coming from with my limited history in the genre.
 
Insane Metal

Insane Metal

Member
GHG said:
Ok this got me:



The "old dark days" like when we had real racing games like TOCA, Colin McRae, a real Le Mans game, authentic F1 games, RBR? And then arcade racers like PGR, Ridge Racer, V Rally? Yeh ok Jeff... You can go back into your hole/cave now.

Sorry the game isn't noob friendly enough for you.

That's all I have to say. What sad times we live in.
Click to expand...

Holy shit... what the hell is that. I'm baffled at some of these reviews, that is pure bullshit!
 
L

LaserBuddha

Member
Bornstellar said:
Soooo

Having watched a bunch of direct feed footage of this today, is it just me or does it not look nearly as good as it did pre-release?
Click to expand...
I agree 100%.

I also agree with Jeff about the game being ruined by the handling. Its not simply that it feels unrealistic, its that it just feels wrong and unfun, like the took the worst parts of sim controls and arcade controls and combined them. The AI too is pretty bad.
 
A

Amir0x

Banned
orochi91 said:
Why can't they have both modes in the game? You need to understand that pure track
arcade racers just don't cut it these days, unless they are sims like GT/Forza/PC.

DC is so limited from car selections, customization and gameplay options. This literally
feels like a launch game despite the year delay.

FH2 has set the bar for the arcade genre, standards have changed.
Click to expand...

EVERY racing game does not need to be the same. I can assure you, DriveClub not only "cuts it" but it's one of the most engaging racing games I've played in years, and if it wasn't coincidentally married to another stellar racing game in FH2, I'd say it was the best racing game in 3 or 4 years. Plenty of people playing DC are now coming to this realization as well.

DriveClub has over 50 cars, and we're going to get at least 9 more for free. There's also going to be more tracks and locations we're getting for free, on top of the hefty selection we already have. Yes, they don't have car tuning/customization options the way some games do, but not every game needs that.

The attractive appeal of the "straightforward" racer is that you have cars that handle a certain way mechanically, and you know everybody else you're racing against in that vehicle will have the exact same advantages and disadvantages. It's pure skill vs. pure skill. You don't have to worry that they played 20 hours more than you and thus unlocked a better alternator. You don't have to worry that they played 39 hours so they unlocked the super lotus t 9000 with a super souped engine that you can only get if you play a race at a certain minute of the day whilst using a specific car part while humming Old MacDonald had a Farm. You simply have to worry about your skill, vs. your competitors skill. It's blessedly refreshing.

That's the problem with this fucking BULLSHIT about "FH2 setting the standard." DriveClub is a simcade game, Forza Horizon 2 is a pure arcade racer. DriceClub is a meticulously designed track based racer, FH2 is a much easier laid back type of open world racer. They both have their place, and they both are supremely effective at what they set out to do. But other than the fact that they both are competitive racers, the way they approach what makes racing compelling is completely different. And thank the fucking Gods for that.
 
GHG

GHG

Member
ProvenDeadly said:
Yah man. The lack of customization at all, including tuning, is noob friendly.
Click to expand...

"Tuning"? Like how to "tune" your supercar to drive over hedgerows? Like "tuning" where you can add a twin turbo to EVERY freaking car in the game despite the fact that it would be impossible in real life and that NA cars actually require a supercharger in a lot of cases (never mind engine bay space issues).

Give me a break. A lot of people who say "oh but it has tuning" don't even know the definition of the word.

How can you have a game that does tuning but then doesn't even have the option to test your tune on the fly on a test track of some sort?
 
H

hawk2025

Member
The idea that a game can set a certain standard for a whole massive genre that no other ones can deviate from is patently ridiculous.
 
O

orochi91

Member
LaserBuddha said:
I agree 100%.

I also agree with Jeff about the game being ruined by the handling. Its not that it feels unrealistic, its that it just feels wrong and unfun.
Click to expand...

I guess there's a reason why PGR died out? You can't straddle in the middle between arcade and sim racing these days.

I hope Sony never allows its devs to experiment like this. I will be especially pissed if Evo gets shut down before making a next gen Motorstorm.

Amir0x said:
That's the problem with this fucking BULLSHIT about "FH2 setting the standard." DriveClub is a simcade game, Forza Horizon 2 is a pure arcade racer. DriceClub is a meticulously designed track based racer, FH2 is a much easier laid back type of open world racer. They both have their place, and they both are supremely effective at what they set out to do. But other than the fact that they both are competitive racers, the way they approach what makes racing compelling is completely different. And thank the fucking Gods for that.
Click to expand...

I don't see any significant market for a "simcade" game. If it exists, Evo did a piss poor job highlighting it it any meaningful way.
 
I

Ingueferroque

Banned
orochi91 said:
I guess there's a reason why PGR died out? You can't straddle in the middle between arcade and sim racing these days.

I hope Sony never allows its devs to experiment like this. I will be especially pissed if Evo gets shut down before making a next gen Motorstorm.
Click to expand...

You come off as sarcastic. Fuck me.
 
T

TheDarkKnight774

Member
Another set of reviews that confuse me. This gens scores are generally kind of confusing me. I'm not sure what some of these reviewers enjoy in games. There's plenty of good games released but the scores are much lower than similar games a year ago. Crazy times
 
L

LaserBuddha

Member
hawk2025 said:
The idea that a game can set a certain standard for a whole massive genre that no other ones can deviate from is patently ridiculous.
Click to expand...
"They hate it because its different" is a classic straw man used against reviewers who are really just judging the quality and breadth of whats actually there, because sometimes defenders don't want to shine a spotlight on that.
 
H

hawk2025

Member
LaserBuddha said:
"They hate it because its different" is a classic straw man used against reviewers who are really just judging the quality and breadth of whats actually there, because sometimes defenders don't want to shine a spotlight on that.
Click to expand...


Seeing as I never said or implied "they hate it because it's different", I'm sure you can see how your post sounds in context.
 
L

LaserBuddha

Member
orochi91 said:
I guess there's a reason why PGR died out? You can't straddle in the middle between arcade and sim racing these days.

I hope Sony never allows its devs to experiment like this. I will be especially pissed if Evo gets shut down before making a next gen Motorstorm.
Click to expand...
I dont see why you're trying to force this narrative that there is some kind of political agenda among reviewers against deviation. Its denial, and its implicitly insulting to the reviewer. PGR was a fun game. This, in my opinion, is not.
 
A

Amir0x

Banned
Shmuely Bully said:
If I loved Top Gear 2, California Speed, Gran Turismo 3, and WipEout HD would I enjoy this game? I know those games aren't really comparable with each other, but I've listed them all in the hope that you'll get where I'm coming from with my limited history in the genre.
Click to expand...

I would say it's possible, but everybody is different. For me the simplest way to illustrate why it's so good is to give an example:

Have you ever played a game where you're really good, and your friend is really good...and you compete with one another, but he (or you) wins because he (or you) played for ten hours more than the other person and unlocked some item or upgrade that gave him (or you) a distinct advantage over and above your basic skill sets?

If you ever think it's refreshing to challenge skill in the purest sense of the word, than DriveClub is for you. It's "straightforward', yes, but in this case it means it has cut off any distraction to the pure skill calculation. The tracks are extremely well designed, and they're made to take specific advantage of the simcade mechanics that exist in the title. You can scratch hundreds of a second off a track if you know what you're doing, and in this game such a thing does make a difference. The A.I. is quite aggressive, but for me that simply means it doesn't buck any allowance for big mistakes. If you fuck up, you're going to lose position, and lose it fast.

But the most appealing aspect to me - outside of how well refined the actual vehicular mechanics are - is this elegant simplicity. It's not that it lacks features - it has all the most important racing modes, and it's set to add more features in free DLC down the line (which is my biggest complaint, that after so long a delay we still have to wait for some pretty important features in DLC) - it's that it is razor focused to compel pure skill vs. pure skill.

orochi91 said:
I don't see any significant market for a "simcade" game. If it exists, Evo did a piss poor job highlighting it it any meaningful way.
Click to expand...

This is why your opinion isn't serious. You ignored my entire post, cherry picked one line, and then pretended this was a good point. it wasn't.
 
farmerboy

farmerboy

Member
Amir0x said:
I don't care about disingenuous people, only those who are of the ilk to be convinced by 70 type review 'consensus' over legitimate experience.

This is the clearest case of modern game reviewers simply being completely disconnected with all the things that made a genre great from yesteryear, and then profoundly failing to realize that all those things remain great. Not only that, DriveClub improves on many of those classic features in ways that do make a difference - astounding visuals, decently integrated social mechanics - and combine to make any genre classic fan seriously fall in love.

This is a game which clearly understands compelling racing only comes at the end of solid mechanics and good track design, and DriveClub has some of the best racing mechanics I've encountered in years. They'd probably make a child's nursery rhyme about how perfectly DriveClub nailed the fundamentals. And then it's all put to service in some seriously great fashion - your skills vs. extremely aggressive and intelligent A.I., and you win or lose based squarely on how you apply your skill set on the track. The tracks don't have loops, but they are filled with interesting lines and curves and have never once made me 'bored.'

I guess today's racing games requires, I dunno, fucking purple mascots dancing on the side and fucking speed boosts that let you do backflips and fucking tricks and shit or open world in order to be considered appropriate "modern" affair. And there's totally a place for that, I love my racing games like Wipeout and F-Zero, and I'm super in love with Forza Horizon 2 (I love DriveClub almost as much as FH2 so far, but different flavors of ice cream entirely. Not to be compared).

But DriveClub delivers a different type of racing game, one borne from a more classic foundation, one where bullshit is placed off to one side and what's in front of you is phenomenal simcade mechanics which you can master with some skill, and a litany of challenges for which you can apply your skills. There's nothing in between you and mastery but your skill, and in the meaningful sense: there is a real feeling of improvement that is extremely well maintained throughout ones playtime. It doesn't feel like so many games today where there is basically no skill motivation at all, or where it comes in fits and goes, or where it's extremely unbalanced. And there's so few racing games - or games at all - that are as straightforward anymore.

Reviews keep using that sort of thing as a euphemism to mean "not next-gen enough", but in my view it's completely embarrassing bullshit. This is as next-gen as any game I played, and that means: fucking fantastic gameplay with the best racing visuals ever on a console.

There's no problem at all to dislike the game, and I always ignore media reviews as it is (i only read trusted GAFer reviews. A trusted GAFer gets on my list -only- after I reviewed a game I liked or hated, and that GAFer disagreed with me. But that disagreement is done in a way that shows a supreme command of critiques, where one can say 'I can respect your point of view even though we've come to different conclusions'), but this is the clearest case yet of game reviewers reviewing the game they wish it was rather than what it actually is.

Try it out and see if it's for you. PS+ makes that possible. Subvert mass market review consensus and decide for yourself. DriveClub deserves it.
Click to expand...

Quoted for truth.

Reviews and negative sentiment be damned, just picked up my copy right now and will be enjoying it tonight.

Edit: There are some serious agendas going on in here.
 
L

LaserBuddha

Member
hawk2025 said:
Seeing as I never said or implied "they hate it because it's different", I'm sure you can see how your post sounds in context.
Click to expand...
Theres a lot of spin going on in this thread, like all threads where people are emotionally invested, that reviewers are just refusing to judge something for what it is or hate anything that is not exactly like the last one they played. They talk about a perceived agenda or perceived hangup rather than the literal words of the review that criticize specific things. Its silly, GG-esque fanboy delusions. Amirox basically said Gerstmann should stop playing games, lol. This is all very silly.
 
H

hawk2025

Member
Bornstellar said:
Waiting for the DF analysis, but my gut wants to say the game has next to no anti aliasing. Pop-in is also extremely distracting.
Click to expand...


In myexperience, pop in just fine and best in class for the genre.

The aliasing, however, is very distracting.


LaserBuddha said:
Theres a lot of spin going on in this thread, like all threads where people are emotionally invested, that reviewers are just refusing to judge something for what it is or hate anything that is not exactly like the last one they played. They talk about a perceived agenda or perceived hangup rather than the literal words of the review that criticize specific things. Its silly, GG-esque fanboy delusions. Amirox basically said Gerstmann should stop playing games, lol. This is all very silly.
Click to expand...


I don't care what others are doing. Don't quote me, misrepresent my post, and then proceed to claim it's a strawman.
 
M

Memorabilia

Member
I haven't had as much fun with a racer as I've had with the FH2 in a long time, maybe ever. Forza 5 was a hot mess infested with micro-transactions, so its shocking to me that they seemingly learned their lesson and released a complete game for the retail purchase price. Because of this DC has some stiff competition for my gaming $$$. Given these reviews and the fact that DC seems bare-bones and will likely require further paid DLC packs to flesh it out I'm not optimistic. I'll give it a shot but am keeping my expectations low.
 
S

Shaneus

Member
Haxxona said:
If this is any indication then reviews for The Crew is going to be a bloodbath.
Ps. I am playing The Crew in the closed ps4 beta and it is really really rough both in terms of gameplay and visuals so yeah no looking good for anyone holding hope. Feels like nfs repackaged
Click to expand...
But The Crew is open-world, so on that alone it will score better than DC because it's not "shallow" or whatever.
 
O

orochi91

Member
LaserBuddha said:
Theres a lot of spin going on in this thread, like all threads where people are emotionally invested, that reviewers are just refusing to judge something for what it is or hate anything that is not exactly like the last one they played. They talk about a perceived agenda or perceived hangup rather than the literal words of the review that criticize specific things. Its silly, GG-esque fanboy delusions. Amirox basically said Gerstmann should stop playing games, lol. This is all very silly.
Click to expand...

Gertsmann said everything on my mind with regards to DC.

Though I liked the handling, it did get boring after about an hour :/

Bam Bam Baklava said:
GOTY nomination for a racing game? Now I know this thread is full of not serious posts.
Click to expand...

...What's wrong with that?
 
L

lukeskymac

Member
orochi91 said:
Giantbomb crew also said this during the bombcast today; it doesn't look as good as
did before at major conferences. They say it doesn't look much better than FH2.

It starts at the 33 minute mark.
Click to expand...

Well, they're full of shit, and so are you for keeping at this charade.
 
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