I’ve been hard at work racing in Driveclub this week. As prepared as I was for the game’s launch after following development for more than a year, and playing it at E3 2013 and 2014, there is a lot about the game I didn’t know until I got my hands on it.
Did you know you can customize your character? How about how drifting is handled, or how many events are in the game? Better yet, how long does it take to complete the game’s single-player tour?
Related: Driveclub’s Full Car List
All these things and more are answered in the gallery below, which contains 14 things you may not know about Driveclub.
14 Things You Might Not Know About Driveclub
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A 10 hour tour
There are three main game modes in Driveclub: Tour, Single-Player, and Multiplayer. Tour is where you're likely to spend most of your time in the game. It features a variety of races that progressively get more difficult and let you race faster cars. You'll have three or more challenges to complete for the events, each which award you stars for completion. It takes a certain number of stars to progress through each tier, so you're likely to revisit quite a few of them.
Based upon my game time, you can expect to spend about 10 hours in Tour to do all the races it has to offer as well as the finale. If you want to earn all the stars, it'll take you much longer.
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You can customize your character
Yup. You can change how your character looks in-game. You get to choose whether to be male or female, and then select between eight head options and five body selections. This will affect what you and other players see in your car.
To learn how to customize your character, check out or quick step-by-step guide.
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Don't bother driving off the track
If you cut a corner in Driveclub, you will be penalized with roughly three seconds of slowdown. If you go far enough off the track, the game will automatically reset your car onto the track.
Also, if you're used to colliding into other players to use them as a barrier around turns, don't bother doing that here, you will be penalized heavily with a five second slowdown.
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Drift to your heart's content
Although Driveclub is marketed as a Simcade racer, it is much more arcade than simulator. The drifting in the game is very exaggerated. Heck, you can drift a Pagani Zonda R as if it were tuned 240SX.
There are Drift events in Driveclub that will test your ability to drift cleanly around turns while maintaining speed. If you perform well, you may just find yourself on top of a leaderboard.
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Meticulous detail, down to having your cockpit light up when fireworks go off
Evolution Studios has spent a great deal of energy in making Driveclub as detailed as possible. One of the most extraordinary details is shown if you're driving during the day and fireworks go off in front of you. The electronics in your car will detect the change in brightness and briefly enable the backlighting of your HUD. I'm confident when I say that I don't believe any other game does that.
You can read many more details about the game on the Playstation Blog.
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Flags indicate turn sharpness during point-to-point races
One of the most frustrating things about long point-to-point races is learning where each turn is. They aren't circuit races where you get to re-do each turn many times per race.
To help avoid situations where you're staring at the mini-map while going 200 miles per hour, Evolution Studios has put flags at each turn of point-to-point races. Green indicates a mild turn, yellow is moderate, and red is severe. You'll quickly learn to trust these flags, and brake hard when red flags approach.
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Night racing is crazy
Driveclub is a beautiful game, and it's really showcased best at night. Dynamic lighting and jaw-dropping effects make driving at night more similar to real-life than any other racing game you've seen.
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A tough racer with no assists
In Tour mode (the main single-player campaign), you won't be able to adjust the difficulty of the A.I. races. Additionally, you can't adjust your ABS, TCS, or STM to cater the challenge to your skill level.
You also won't be able to rewind if you make a mistake. Yes, it makes the game much harder than you may be anticipating, but it feels great when you do well.
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1 default paint job, 4 custom
Each of the 60 or so cars in the game have one default paint job to select. However, you are able to create four custom paint jobs. Creating your paint jobs has a variety of options, including preset designs, a ton of colors and finishes, and more. However, these are global, and can't be defined on a per car basis.
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6 players per club
There's a reason they're not called guilds. Driveclub's clubs are an integral part of the experience, but allow a limit of six players to join. You and up to five others will level up the club together and earn unlocks, including cars, in the process.
If you have more than five friends that want to band together, you'll have to split up into different clubs. There is no other option.
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Weather and Photo Mode are arriving at a later date
There's a bit of confusion about how and when weather will be implemented in Driveclub. I can tell you this, at launch you will have overcast skies and other weather elements, but you will not see rain or snow falling. These will be added in December~ as part of a free update.
On the topic of post-launch features, you will also not be able to pause the game and admire the cars until a patch is implemented at a later date. As it stands now, there is no way to change the camera and take a photo outside of what you see while actively racing.
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Sorry car enthusiasts, there is no tuning or upgrades
Unfortunately, Driveclub is so focused on having you race that there is no tuning or upgrading. You won't be able to adjust your gear ratios, ride height, or even your rims. You also can't upgrade your car in any way. Everything is stock.
Even if you were able to upgrade and customize your car, there is no showcase for displaying what you've built anyway.
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5 locations with 11 events each
Driveclub features five destinations based on real world locations: Canada, India, Chile, Scotland, and Norway. All five of these have 11 events each, bringing the total to 55 different races.
India and its 11 events are unlocked for free as part of the free PS Plus package.
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The level 50 cap will take a long time to hit
While playing Driveclub you will earn Fame, which functions like experience. You will level up, unlocking new paint designs and cars in the process.
The level cap is 50. I've already played the game for about 12 hours and am level 26. Since the levels become increasingly harder to obtain, I feel confident saying level 50 will require a lot of investment to reach.
