I think the main concern I have is just how long do games like this take to develop? We have seen many titles have been pushed back to 2015. New updates will add photo mode, replays, weather effects. Even updating the graphics. How long this will take is going to be the main concern, considering the online servers are not fully online yet for most people.
But that becomes a serious issue if you consider how many players like me will be finished with playing this game long before those updates come out. * supposedly won't be out until December* I'm already at the 3rd locked tier. I can see the repetitiveness of everything now. It is a pretty bland racer but I'm more disappointed by the graphics considering it was the focus of all the hype. Outside of unlocking cars, there isn't much reward. There really is no excuse to release a racer without those features by now. The first 30 days are pretty crucial as many players will move on to something else. That might effect the online aspects of the game with being fewer players. So how long it all takes is the entire concern...it's probably too late. I noticed this game is already getting forgotten about on many forums since this thread topic is mostly dead on some of them like Anandtech or Gamespot. I kept reading how this game would trump Project Cars and Horizon 2. Even the PS4 fanboys shut up about this game. This is the only thread about it that's still going that I know of and it does appear to be mostly disappointing to everyone that already bought it. I think Project Cars and Horizon 2 will probably be the main popular racers this year from the looks of it. Depends how the Crew turns out.
The NeoGaf thread is still going strong, with many positive comments. I did get a chance to play online last night. Played a couple of races. I had a lot of fun it has to be said. I think this part of the game will be where the majority of people spend much of their time. I agree with what you say though. I can see it becoming repetitive myself, so I have started to play it less. Once you get to the Hyper car series the difficulity starts to increase. Still only looking at around 8 hours for all 200 odd stars though. Depending on how you approach it.
Another feature the ps3 has the ps4 dont? much like Pause/Query downloads? Going backwards is the new forwards:bang:
I thought they held back PS4 media features to sell more PS TV? There's really no excuse to not have them by now.
yea I wished i'd saved my money and waited a couple of years before getting the PS4, that's what I will do for the next gen. that way I can make a more informative decision to if I think the games and system are worth the money.
Driveclub has been a deeply underwhelming and average experience for me when I played it from last Thursday to Sunday. The game looks mostly very nice visually and has a terrific sense of speed but the game itself is utterly, utterly ordinary and not quite what I expected for a second generation exclusive in the run up to Christmas. It is basically a launch game that has had most of its effort put into the graphics because, let's face it, when a new console launches innovation and originality usually take a back seat to last-gen gameplay married to next-gen graphics. That is what Driveclub is unfortunately and had it released last year alongside the PS4 then I would have been a lot more enamoured with it. Also, those online issues are not helping much (I'd go as far as to say they're embarrassing considering how much advertising the game is getting) as half the games features are disabled (multiplayer, leaderboards, clubs, challenges, cars that unlock via the club level, etc) along with missing features that you take for granted in a racing game such as replays, a photo mode, a car Factory colour change option in the Tour mode and weather. Driveclub feels unfinished and I honestly would not recommend it until all the features are patched in (weather is coming in December apparently) and the online features are 100% working. If you have an Xbox One then buy Forza Horizon 2; it is a much, much better game and has everything up and working from Day One, including replays, weather, online modes and a photo mode. I'd give the game 5/10. It's competent (apart from the frustrating "bumper car" A.I.) but it's an incredibly bland and sterile experience.
Driveclub desperately needs a custom soundtrack option as the music is beyond awful apart from one or two tracks. The drum 'n' bass one that seems to play every other race is particularly bad but at best the music is completely forgettable and barely even there. In comparison to the awesome radio stations and music in Forza Horizon 2, the music is yet another disappointment in an overall disappointing game. Maybe Evolution can salvage a decent game with patches and so on but the damage has been done unfortunately. It's odd really because this is a game that was delayed 10 months from its intended 2013 release yet the game still feels half-baked and unfinished. :3eyes:
Thanks darren, I will wait for the free version to try, would you say it was more sim than say ridge racer as I was hoping it was like rr.
The sense of speed is indeed incredible. Hyper cars feel like you are travelling at warp speed, and add a new difficulty to the game. I myself have found the game to be fun, but it lacks something, perhaps a fun factor? The social aspects are almost non existent. Given that Driveclub is built heavily around those social aspects, it feels empty. I did get a chance to play some multiplayer races a couple of days ago, which were fun. I noticed that the leaderboards were active, so too were other players ghost cars. Once the servers are up and stable for everyone I can see myself having more fun than I currently do. If you haven't bought the game yet I suggest you wait until after the December update.
I have read that when online its great but hard to connect maybe some of the reviews would have been better if they waited untilethe servers and weather patch were working, should havd delayed it until December instead.
I logged on to Driveclub this morning to try to get a good time on a drift event, I was connect straight away to the servers. If the servers remain stable it will add a lot more to the social aspect. Seeing the top leaderboard score or trying to beat someone elses ghost car lap is surprisingly fun.
I'm reserving judgement upon this game until it's finished... Almost feels like a beta test right now, I'm enjoying it though, cars feel great, graphics are decent, been starved of a decent racing game since GT6 and this in no way replaces that, but it'll keep me busy until Project Cars releases.
It's not a simulation, no, definitely not nor is as arcadey as Ridge Racer, where you can drive round corners with the car facing sideways! It is more like Project Gotham Racing 3 and 4 on Xbox 360 IMO, kind of mid-way between sim and arcade handling. You cannot tweak the cars or the handling in this game by the way, the only thing you can do is apply pre-set custom decals and colours. It's amazing just how much stuff is missing from this game really considering it is almost a year late. Feels really rushed IMO and likely so Sony have one than one PS4 exclusive in the run up to Christmas (the other being LittleBigPlanet 3).
I think you gave the graphics too much credit. The lighting is superb but textures are pretty old school and washed out. The bystanders looked atrocious and worse than in GT6 I think GT6 is the superior option for $60. But you're right, it's not a finished product, it was a deadline product that got Sony's approval for an extension and we found out that extension was not enough...I blame Evolution's management.
