DriveClub Preview Highlights

 

DriveClub was the culmination of a decade of ideas and concepts, and it would transform the genre in a direction hinted at with the recent Test Drive titles: it would be all about car passion. How? By ensuring that each and every vehicle received the utmost attention and care. By ensuring that players felt they’d earned (and thus, ultimately, possess and own) each car. And by taking the race off the standard online channels and making it centre around the concept of clubs and teams.

A lot of this, in the time it’s taken technology to reach the sort of levels Evolution were looking for as a platform, has happened elsewhere. Atari’s previously mentioned duo built in teams with some success, and the Burnout series of late has pushed freeflowing, freeform multi-player considerably harder than many thought it might. Steered by publisher EA, racing is already all about constant, evolving, real-time competition.

Southern explains recently why he thinks DriveClub should turn the tide on why multi-player racers just haven’t really taken off on current-gen machines. “One of the big reasons we think why is because traditionally in a racing game there’s only one winner, whereas in a shooter – if you’re in a group and you suck – as I do – you can still have a really rewarding time,” he says.

“You can kind of share in the glories of better players on the same team as you; get perks, level up, get XP based on that involvement. We wanted to do the same thing with a racing game and make one that wasn’t about finishing first. Finishing first is obviously awesome, but racing with friends – not in the traditional sense of just online multiplayer, but in clubs – has always been the thing we’ve really wanted to do with it.”

Gearing up for DriveClub’s next-gen construction meant an expanded team in the Liverpool studio. Evolution now employ coders, designers and artists who have worked on the best racing games out there – WRC, F1, WipEout, Project Gotham Racing, the GRID series, previous MotorStorm games and – yes – Gran Turismo. That’s quite a line-up of talent, and hopefully it’s one that can bring Southern’s concepts to a tangible, enjoyable reality.

Full Preview Here