Thanks to everyone that played the DRIVECLUB demo at Gamescom! There were some blindingly quick racers, and even though my team weren’t the fastest overall, we earned the most fame points to win the challenge. So that means that the Gamescom trailer plays out with ”Like A Boss” winning, which I’m obviously very happy about! Also, in case you were wondering, the music track is Be Here Now by Hybrid (The Qemists remix). ;-)
The reaction we got at the show was fantastic, with over a thousand people trying the demo each day. I spoke to a lot of people playing the game and the key thing that stood out and really connected with people was the concept of “always having something to play for” and “always contributing to the success of your club.”
The fastest racers loved that they could aim for first place on the leaderboard and still play over and above that to beat every challenge in every event. Everyone else enjoyed being able to focus on the face-off challenges, rather than struggling to be the quickest around the track. It was great to see that people understood that DRIVECLUB is not just about the fastest racers getting to the finish line first, but that everyone can drive together and win together.
We showed a track from Canada for the first time and the enthusiasm we’ve seen makes us excited to show you even more of the game before the PS4 launches, especially because the game is already looking better and smoother than it did at Gamescom!
For those of you that couldn’t make it to the show, we also shared some direct feed video footage of DRIVECLUB running on PS4! The videos have been on our Facebook page since the show but we’ve just put them up on YouTube at a higher resolution for you (closer to showing the game’s native 1080p resolution).
There are more videos for you to watch on YouTube, too. Just before I sign off, I should probably pre-empt the most common question we get asked by people when they see the direct feed videos: “how does it play”? It’s a tricky question to answer because it entirely depends on your experience with racing games.
If you come from a background of playing arcade-racing games, like I do, then you’ll have a lot of fun with DRIVECLUB. The first thing I learned is that you definitely need to use the brakes, which I wasn’t used to, but it’s really easy to get to grips with. It’s incredibly satisfying to get a feel for some of the world’s most exciting cars and there’s a lot of depth and individuality to driving each of the cars.
If your pedigree is simulation-racing games – or you’ve ever driven these cars for real, like our Design Director Paul [Rushy] Rustchynsky – then you’ll also be happy with how DRIVECLUB feels. He tells me you’ll instantly get to grips with each vehicle’s unique handling characteristics and you’ll be able to apply advanced driving techniques like ‘trail braking’ and ‘feathering the throttle’.
You can also choose to drive with manual gear transmission and we’re working on support for steering wheels to enhance your driving immersion too.
It’s really exciting that players from different backgrounds like Rushy and me can drive together (and win together!) in DRIVECLUB. So tell us, what’s your racing background, who will you be playing with and what do you think of what you’ve seen so far?
Sweet
I hope it gets to 60fps before launch
Amazing graphics I am wishing this to be atleast 60 fps at launch
Can’t wait to get my hands on it when I get my Launch Day PS4!
One small request though; please, PLEASE add more anti-aliasing. If the PAX demo was any indication of final build quality, I’m kinda worried about the longevity of the graphics performance of the system. I know it’s new and will take time to optimize for it, but anything short of 8x AA (PC equivalent) is almost inexcusable.
I am looking forward to trying this on day 1 with the PS+ version. Can you provide more details about the upgrade price for PS+ members to the full version? I don’t see myself pre-ordering the full version unless I have more details. I know pre-ordering the full version gets you three months of plus. If it will only cost me say $30 to upgrade the PS+ version to the full version, then it makes more sense to do the upgrade rather than pre-ordering. I apologize if this was already detailed on a previous post and I missed it.
The graphics look awesome and I am looking forward to the social aspects of this game. I’m not the best at racing games but it will be fun to play cooperatively with others. Are there any race modes than are true co-op (i.e. if any member of your team wins then you still win)?
Completely off topic, but since I can’t find info anywhere, what’s up with the North American Dark Souls 2 beta tickets? Since yesterday, you could only register with a European account. Any word on this?
I get the concept of DriveClub, I can’ be the only one who’s raced around a track and in more than one occasion I’ve have been “perfect” during a whole segment of it, or I done some insane things taking a curve or a hairpin, only to end up amounting to nothing and thrown to the wayside because I screwed up in some other section of the track and I didn’t finish with the best time or didn’t even make it to the end. In most racing games is even difficult to save and edit that precise moment of brilliant driving you just did, sometimes it happens when you’re in the middle of who knows which lap and you can’t remember or you don’t care to save the whole replay of a long event. PS4 and DriveClub are attempting to change that and it seems very interesting in that regard.
Why 720p? Please tell me this game is in 1080p
I really want to see a race with multiple cars. Enough of the beautiful time-trials, I wanna see racing!
If anyone knows, can they clear up one thing for me?
Is this game all about challenges or is there going to be actual racing with a compliment of cars?
If it’s just challenges, then I’m not interested in that, but, I won’t complain since it’s free with a Plus membership.
Pretty sexy I must say
DriveClub looks incredible. I had been looking forward to the PS+ edition to try it out, but after watching these videos, I think I may just pre-order it. However, I really would like some details about how the PS+ edition will differ from the full game.
@2 Teflon02: “I hope it gets to 60fps before launch”
Yep, same here. Jeff Gerstmann over at Giant Bomb was talking recently about how that’s how you future-proof a game. If you want it to feel great even 10 or 20 years from now, make sure it’s 60fps. I’d rather it be smooth and responsive than gorgeous at 30fps but not play as well.
Also, is there a way I can just download these videos? I’d rather do that than deal with YouTube’s video compression.
Game looks great, and will definitely be a launch day pickup for me. Something I noticed in the second two videos though. The onscreen heads-up display times/challenges seem to run right across the screen, making it challenging (in the videos anyway) to potentially see an upcoming turn, shacain, or whatever. Is it an issue, or do my eyes deceive me?
i Hope it gets 60fps before launch. It’s a need for a racing game, especially in PS4.
I am very excited about the release of Drive Club as I have always been a fan of the Gran Turismoseries. I do not think that the love Polyphony Digital can be topped but I am still cannot wait for the new features and social game aspects that Drive Club will bring. However, you never know. Keep it coming!
Ha people really knows how to be annoying with 60fps and 1080p…dear God that must be the most annoying thing ever.
Anyway the game looks good and the environment looks so beautiful damn those are some unbelievable graphics…I mean looks at those trees…amazing.
Well I’m a lover and playa of racing games…I always liked racing games and I come from a background of playing arcade-racing games…so Driveclub is right up my alley.I dunno how Driveclub will work with Plus…if you guys will give the full game or not…but anyway this one is a must have in retail.
Great job guys,Motorstorm is the 2nd best racing game ever…I have high hopes for Driveclub.Peace
Oh and please bring Motorstorm back in the future…is that too much to ask?
@KazeEternal
I believe the game runs in 1080p, but you are probably seeing 720p video here because it is using the PS4’s recording capability which I’m guessing runs 720p to save resources, file space, etc.
Guys go to
http://www.gamersyde.com/news_high_quality_videos_of_driveclub-14585_en.html
for the full versions. Evolution have personally given Gamersyde the original files to distribute. Can even be downloaded directly on your PS4 browser. Be sure to choose the US Server for the best speeds. They will update that link with the other 2 when people have slowed down trying to grab it.
@19 BadFlounder
I believe that’ll be a user setting. Which means they could have recorded in 1080p if they wanted. However they set the alpha to 720p which doesn’t help matters. I really want to get away from 720p, none of my displays in my home are 720p, they support it, but then I have to deal with the consoles trying to fake 720p and loping off part of the scene or adding letter box to shots that are already 16:9 which is annoying on my PS3. Insomniac games as well as a few first party games have offended in this way. FF14 is lopping off part of my text and menu’s which is annoying. I want the fidelity and I want my displays getting signals that are native to their resolution.
Anyway I believe sony is just snagging the frame buffer for its recordings and using that to encode with. The system should have enough kick to encode down to 1080p. Even then they shouldn’t need the systems native abilities to get us this video.
#20 andrewsqual
I was just about to post gamersyde link, it’s much better quality than the youtube versions. Thanks!
isn’t the car getting in the way too much when in third person view?
I have question. Is this game an open world game like The Crew or NFS, or will you have to choose tracks like Motorstorm?
Hey Sony.
I want to talk about the possibility of a PS4 Virtual Reality Headset.
The best thing to do would be to make a deal with Occulus Rift, even if it’s not exclusif.
You wouldn’t waste 100s Millions on a device that may or may not sell that people may not really want or need.
Do a deal with them and see how it plays out, let them deal with the risks.
You don’t want to create another Virtual Boy Flop.
And doing your own thing with your own headset thinking developpers will support it is the same state of mind that created the CPU for the PS3 and developers didn’t want to develop for it at first.
So, let Occulus Rift deal with the VR stuff. Something tells me they aren’t going to make any deals with Microsoft anyway. So, if developpers makes games for that platform, decide to make games for the PS4, it’s all good.
Focus on making great games and content, support the most technology as well and just see how it goes.
Make a deal with Occulus Rift, save your time and money and put it to good use somewhere else.
Yeah, saying this is 1080p, but then a 720p capture … bleah. I want to see it full res with no compression, how it would look on the display.
Honestly, this looks B O R I N G! I would have preferred a brand new Motorstorm over this. This does not look like fun at all.
Ah yes this will be interesting nonetheless this seems like a racing game to look for. Great that it’s free for PS Plus members!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
@Pudgenet: You’ll need to play the game to see it with absolutely no compression (otherwise the video file would be kinda too big to be feasible).
The videos posted in this blog are not the best quality because of Youtube compression — to see 1080p go to the link that @andrewsqual posted in #20 — probably the best quality video you’re going to get anywhere (it’s very very good). Remember to *download* the .mp4s on that page, don’t use the streaming viewer. Use bittorrent to download, if you can.
Also, remember these are videos of the Alpha build from Gamescom, and Rushy (mentioned in the article) has stated that their current build already has better anti-aliasing going that smooths everything out.
@BIGCHIEF #24: It’s not an open-world game AFAIK.
@#7 MarinoBrea: Yeah, I’m pretty intrigued about how all that will work too. The Criterion NFS games intro’d the whole ‘Autolog’ thing, but didn’t really address the problem of what happens if you fail the objective of an event. Here at least you don’t immediately have to reach for the ‘restart race’ button ;)
@# 10: SLY12: There will be competitive racing with 12 other cars in MP (SP probably the same(?))
@#12 PanTheMan16: PS+ edition just doesn’t have all the tracks and cars. Apparently you can even Platinum the game in the PS+ edition…so…maybe you get a few tracks and a car from each class(?) When you upgrade the game to full edition, it’s apparently the full digital version (i.e. you still own it even after your PS+ sub expires).
@#15 Thwip: Guess you can’t tell till you try, but they did say on the facebook page that you can disable those challenge messages.
Whoa guys…I should work for Evolution ;)
I got to play this at PAX. Looks pretty, but man did I suck at it, haha. Way more of a driving sim than I’m used to. I’ll need some time with it to get good for sure.
Did some of you even read the post?
“The videos have been on our Facebook page since the show but we’ve just put them up on YouTube at a higher resolution for you (closer to showing the game’s native 1080p resolution).”
On another note, I had been wondering what the song is, and can’t wait for it to be available for download.
For some of you who would like to learn how to ‘trail brake’, as mentioned in the article, this is a pretty good how-to:
http://www.trackdaysdriver.co.uk/how-to/trail-brake.html
If it isn’t going to be running 60fps at launch then i’m really not interested. 30fps is not smooth enough for a driving game.
Nobody has answered some of the real question in the blog (as nor as I…sorry feeling in Zoolander accent mood here).
“…what’s your racing background, who will you be playing with and what do you think of what you’ve seen so far?”
After a brief experiment with me finally driving a real life BMX with skill, my racing background is probably from ‘Enduro Racer’ on my Atari 2600, that my father bought for me when he was in Singapore. Being from Singapore those days, the same cartridge had 3 other games, another of which was ‘Ski Hunt’. I can’t remember what the other two games in the cartridge were.
Can’t remember any good racers on NES. Ok. MachRider was good. Micro Machines, ok. But these weren’t the same games as Enduro Racer. There was also this annoying game on NES that was top-down, and all the time you kept slipping up on oil slicks and crashing. RC Pro Am too was on NES, right?
I think my dad started to let me sit on his lap as we drove, at this point, in real cars. (This is NOT RECOMMENDED to any 2013 fathers). Those days it was safe to assume you could drive like that. I could hold the steering wheel, and he did the brakes and acceleration (gas).
To be continued.
Wish blog has better self-editing features. MachRider was probably the only game as good as Enduro Racer.
@siriusbee Actually you can get very good quality HD on YouTube.
Oh, but thanks for pointing out the links!
Holy Heaven! This is looks insane, I can without doubt say this is the best looking next-gen racer and am going to get the full version day 1, well done EVO!
I can’t wait to download this game day one on my PS4.
It’s going to be so good!
@#37 pudgenet: You may be able to get something from Youtube, but clearly it wasn’t there on the blog. Gamersyde came out with it with real files you can download and validate on your own :)
Anyway, continuing about the OP’s questing about my backgroud & what I’ve seen so far:
After finding out from my friend’s father’s computer simulation of Test Drive (I can’t remember…maybe II?) what 3-D actually means (i.e. it’s not parallax scrolling), in 1991 I was ejected to England (with all my parents) and had to deal with culture shock. The first year was all these kids trying to be funny with me. Finally some kids realized I had a real Megadrive that I had tried to connect via VCR cables in the video to work on English tellys and I thought it would be as easy to switch to every frequency. Except naff TVs that are bought at Co-op can’t switch them like they should have. SCART was brought up. SCART became GOD. Meantime I bullied that dad to buy me a crappy British Sega. (Kidding, kidding).
Best racing games: F-22 Interceptor (oh yes), Road Rash.
(Maybe continued)
I have a feeling I’m going to be playing the crud out of this game even well after launch.
I really wish you would put this up on PSN, for some reason every time I watch it it has bizarre motion blur.
Also, 60fps SONY!!
cant believe this game wont have damage whats wrong SONY? its a next gen game haaaaaaaaa
i am still getting PS4 don’t worry
Game looks great but I notice in the video no break lights. Is it just me? If this is supposed to be next gen where are the break lights? I want this game to be awesome but its the little things that need to be done correctly by you guys first.
Two things.
1. I’d love to have a free drive option where I can just drive around and have fun, no races, please.
2. I hope there won’t be like 1 car available at start and all others need to be purchased, over and above the price to acquire the game. In game purchases are killing the consoles (and tablets, to be fair).
Please make this game the way it should be.
lol my racing background is more like nfs, and I think from what I’ve seen, this game looks pretty cool.
This looks good but compared to what I’ve seen Forza 5 looks ten times better. I love good, sim oriented racers and I will definitely get Drive Club whenever I end up buying a PS4, but Forza 5 was the deciding factor for me on going with an Xbox One over PS4 this Nov. (that and my wallet which said I can’t afford both at launch.) DC looks good but F5 really made me feel that next-gen sense of awe.
It’s too bad the guys at Gran Turismo don’t take notice and give their series the overhaul it desperately needs (the GT6 demo felt so dated.)
Btw, it’d be awesome if I could have watched these vids the first time I was here (on a playstation site) when browsing on my (Playstation) Vita instead of having to return on an Apple product. Something’s just not right about that.
@SergioCosmopolis
I totally agree. Drive Club looks like an awesome looking PS3 game. Forza 5’s graphics look like what Id expect the graphical leap between generations to deliver.
The videos posted in #20 — full bitrate — show a ton of jaggies. I hope that is cleaned up in the final version. I expect fewer jaggies on Driveclub on the PS4 than GRID/GT5/etc. on PS3, not more.