As you may have noticed from my Driveclub review, I don’t particularly care for the game. But that doesn’t mean it doesn’t have its share of great qualities. In-fact, Driveclub does a few things very well, and they aren’t to be taken lightly. I’ve read some very positive reception on forums from a few early adopters, and this positivity is a direct result of the few things Driveclub does well.
A lot of racers these days are designed around a checklist system. They try to fit in all the standard expectations like tuning, upgrades, and long-term content before lacing in some flavor of their own. Driveclub doesn’t do it that way. It’s a game that does what it wants, and as a result it feels substantially different than just about any racer in recent times. While that’s a good and a bad thing, it does mean that at the very least it has unique qualities.
Related: Driveclub Review
There are seven things in particular I feel Driveclub nails down. Frankly, other games could learn from both its successes and failures. Below you can read about what Driveclub‘s successes are.
7 Good Things Driveclub Does Right
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Tour mode has great progresssion
It's been a long time since I've played a racing game that manages to diversify its single-player campaign content as well as Driveclub. Starting in the lower bracket with access to hot hatches and sports cars before working your way up to V12 equipped monsters, specific challenges need to be completed in order to earn stars, unlocking more events. These challenges usually come in the form of earning a podium finish, achieving a specific score in a Faceoff, or besting a certain time on a lap. They do manage to remain varied and interesting throughout, with one race needing a clean finish to earn a star, and a variety of Drift Challenges requiring a solid performance to complete.
Put simply, Tour mode is a great package.
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Social competition at every corner
Driveclub's Faceoff feature is fantastic. Basically, while racing you'll usually be focused on performing well enough to topple challenges, but while doing so you'll have many opportunities to compete with other players asynchronously when going around turns. These come in the form or corner, drift, and average speed Faceoffs, each very different in what they require you to do, but equal in value to the minute-by-minute racing experience.
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Sweet, sweet exhaust notes
Driveclub is the first racing game I've played that's nailed down the sound of a C63 AMG Black Series. There's a good reason for that; a ton of work has gone into the sound design of Driveclub. Admittedly, as with its presentation it's a bit inconsistent, but most of the cars sound absolutely identical to their real-world counterparts, and that's something worthy of praise.
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Well-designed artificial tracks
Driveclub has 55 events spanning five regions of Earth: Norway, Sweden, India, Chile, and Canada. While they are based upon real locations, each is unique to Driveclub. Despite this, Evolution Studios has managed to craft diverse tracks that are fantastic in design, especially the point-to-point races that send you on a several minute long car journey.
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Punishing sloppy driving
In most racers, it's commonplace to use other cars as barriers when turning. Simply put, it can break the sense of immersion as well as the challenge.
While Driveclub advertises itself as being casual-friendly, it's actually quite hardcore. You will be punished if you collide into other players at high speeds, and you won't want to cheat around corners unless you want a good spanking. While these systems can lead to frustration, they do make victories meaningful, and help lay down the law in multiplayer races.
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Endless challenges
Driveclub's online Challenges are fantastic. Basically, you and others can designate a certain setup for a Challenge, choosing the track, number of laps, and even the time of day. For the next few hours other players can compete for leaderboard space on these player-made challenges.
There are also Club Challenges, which allow players to represent their club instead of themselves for the event. These foster an environment where clubs are meaningful, and there's some pride at stake.
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Post-launch roadmap
Evolution Studios has already laid out its objectives for post-launch Driveclub. A Photo Mode and Weather are coming soon, and so are a ton of new cars. There is no sitting around wondering what comes next, and as you can see on the image to the left Evolution has been thinking ahead.
