Sony's Failed "Forza Killer" - The Tragedy of Driveclub

[@GVMERS]

Head to keeps.com/gvmers to get 50% off your first order of hair loss treatment.

[@VeeeeryyyFaaaastSlooooth]

Unintentional comedy gold

[@RobVespa]

There's no such thing...

[@2ndbleak]

Real shame. Your lack of sponsors made you stand out as comparatively more professional. Guess it’s time to unsub

[@GreatestGamer9000]

@@2ndbleak are you seriously unsubbing because they got a sponsorship?

[@someguy1865]

@@GreatestGamer9000 we gotta complain about something I guess..?

[@norinori6414]

The biggest blow about Driveclub for me was easily the closure of Evolution Studios, the fact we're probably never going to get something like Motorstorm again still bums me out.

[@Nero_PR]

Sony not having a 1st party arcade racing game studio is a heavy blow when the genre itself could get a new representatives after the simulation gold rush of the 8th gen. A new MotorStorm or Wipeout sell a lot these days, just look how well Forza Horizon has been selling when there has been almost competition in that department. Just lunatics say arcade racers don't sell well in this day and age.

[@DV-ou1yu]

@@Nero_PR But Forza Horizon isn't arcady like NFS, Burnout, or Wipeout. But yea you're right, Driveclub was essentially Sony's Forza Horizon and they did a horrible job setting it up for success. For me, Driveclub and FH3 were some of he best racers still til this day. Even FH4 or FH5 imo dont compete with FH3 amd Sony hasn't released a thing to challenge Driveclub

[@someguy1865]

@@DV-ou1yu FH3 is definitely the best FH in the franchise. FH2 imo comes in second, the soundtrack was phenomenal

[@DV-ou1yu]

@@someguy1865 FH2/FH3 had/has a certain charm/feel that FH4/FH5 just never replicated imo

[@NicolasREVA7X]

Yeah man, this is ridiculous. This feels like when EA choose Visceral to make a Battlefield game or Bioware to make Anthem, WHY THEY DO THIS? They are specialists in one type of game let them do this type of game. Motorstorm was so fucking fun that it hurts to remember we'll prob never see it again.

[@ityyax2931]

Driveclub still has some of the most intense weather effects i’ve seen in any game

[@NoExplosionsMcgee]

The lighting effects were also pretty incredible and life-like as well. Dare I say that I personally found that the lighting effects were better than GT Sport's.

[@williac100]

Tell em

[@nattila7713]

@@NoExplosionsMcgee GT is a good example, polyphone can get away with like... anything. after the gt5 and gts disaster .... :( (I know they sold well, due to fanboyism)

[@GuiltyBystander8]

@@NoExplosionsMcgee thats not hard to do when you can focus mostly on graphics and have a 30fps racer, meanwhile gt simulates many more things, like the vastly more realistic physics model, tire model, they even have wind effects that are simulated, the aerodynamics of the cars as well.

[@garethbattersby]

I keep telling people this about the game. Every game released today seems at least a full generation behind driveclubs. Driving in a storm was insane especially when you'd get rare lightening strikes on lampposts and stuff that would explode with sparks. Even the weather effects on the cars were next level. While games even today put static rain drops on a car that fade away and are replaced with the same dots. Driveclub had dynamic rain on the cars that would roll and slide around the bodywork depending on speed and direction. It's mind boggling how no other game dev has been able to recreate it

[@ToiletGrenade]

Driveclub was done so fucking dirty by Sony, it had so much potential, the foundation for something great was there... RIP Driveclub :(

[@Nero_PR]

A sequel could be legendary

[@JayBravo612]

@@Nero_PR agreed!

[@deadlyrobot5179]

@@Nero_PR No it won't be because it's not going to be from the same Studio.

[@Deliveredmean42]

@@deadlyrobot5179 They said it could if the original devs had a chance. But we know it wouldn't because of that fact.

[@Nero_PR]

@@deadlyrobot5179 that's I said "could", meaning being in the realm of possibility but highly unlikely it'd happen given the circumstances of the studio being shut down and all the talent behind it no longer working under Sony.

[@pipgoesthepossum]

Drivdclub is still genuinely great. It's such a tragedy. It launched rough, but it's still a special game and deserved a second chance. Even an upgraded PS5 port with all DLC would be fantastic.

[@trubblegum5787]

Geez I would love that!

[@Acesbomb]

Instant buy for me that would be

[@fqras]

The problem is the car licenses. It's expensive. They should've done fake cars like in Motorstorm, Grand Theft Auto or Burnout Paradise.

[@rkitchen69]

It deserves a 4K/1440p 60fps patch at the least for PS5.

[@fqras]

@@rkitchen69 Wouldn't make sense if they can't sell the game anymore.

[@D25Bev]

Driveclub certainly wasn't perfect but was still one of the very best arcade racers I've played. Hate that Sony dropped it & dissolved the studio behind it, ruining any chance of a sequel.

[@lutherheggs451]

You are aware it had an entire large expansion and years worth of DLC that was like a year or 2 after right? They didn't just pull the plug on anything, it didn't sell well. Its literally business common sense 101.

[@trubblegum5787]

@@lutherheggs451 oh come off it you know damn well what he meant. Common sense 👏

[@MrSnaztastic]

I'm still kinda surprised it was actually an "arcade" racer - everything about it from the advertising was screaming to me that it was more of a Gran Turismo / Project Cars experience, so I never checked it out.

[@swilleh_]

@@lutherheggs451 can you guess why it didn't sell well? They said that it's going to be in the PlayStation pass (i have no idea how it's called exactly)

[@purwantiallan5089]

@@MrSnaztastic imagine if Driveclub with GT7 graphics.

[@thewidowmaker4037]

Driveclubs only crime here was, it was well ahead of its time, once it had ironed out its flaws it was unmatched to this very day, it still has by far the best weather system. Its post content support was fantastic, I know for a fact me and my club mates would have kept paying for season passes. Lets get this right this isn't about a so called failed Forza killer, this was all about Sony protecing GT Sport, Kaz the head at PD was rumoured to have been furious as to why Driveclub looked so much better than GT6. If Sony was so worried about the connectivity issues then why didn't they put a team in place to handle the servers problems, instead they just let it die. All Driveclub fans know if a 4K/60 update had come out for the PS4 Pro, it would have destroyed GT Sport in every way from graphical fidelity to online, I'm not even going to imagine what a Driveclub 2 on PS5 only would have looked like. The way Sony handled Driveclub and in particular Evolution Studies was one of the biggest crimes in gaming.

[@AD-df5tm]

It absolutely does not have the best weather system. Something like Project Cars 2 totall blows it out of the water.

[@MrTARIQSs]

@@AD-df5tm You brought up THE game with literally the worst weather effects in existence, Project CARS 2 somehow looks worse when it rains than when it's dry And don't get me started with the lazy wiper animations that don't come anywhere near driveclub's dynamic physics-based wipers and individual water droplet shaders

[@lordspalse0062]

After the driveclub saga, I vowed to never buy a playstation exclusive racer again hence no gt7 for me. I wish the game got a 4k 60fps patch before it got shut down

[@kristianangeloni]

@@AD-df5tm First, he's talking about graphics. Second, PC2 has a great weather model but the physics is fucked up and you can't appreciate as you should.

[@rohanalias9053]

No way drive club is still gonna match any gt game with the wannabe sim physics

[@CT37BN]

Even in 2022 the weather effects on Driveclub blows GT7 to many pieces. It's astonishingly great that I still get goosebumps when your driving/playing in a big storm with thunder and lightning in the background.. the rain effects and sound is both a joy to behold and really scary. The road imperfections needs to be mentioned because it adds a lot to the realism. It's so sad the studio closed, but kudos to all those artists and programmers who done Driveclub proud.

[@TyCal_]

This game was truly amazing. Pretty much the closest thing we ever got to a Project Gotham Racing spiritual successor.

[@garudagerwalk]

Man, if that Activision deal goes through. I hope they bring back PGR.

[@IvorShim]

@@garudagerwalk as far as I remember from the news back then when Activision bought Bizzare Creations ip owner was (and still is) Microsoft. Am I wrong? :)

[@garudagerwalk]

@@IvorShim you got it man, Activision owns PGR and MSR name.

[@duncanself5111]

Metropolis Street Racer on Dreamcast was brilliant

[@supertype1792]

@@garudagerwalk eh doubt it. forza horizon pretty much has replaced pgr. playground games actually came to microsoft to propose a project gotham racing 5 but ms wasn't interested and they turned the idea into forza horizon

[@Transport4ThatDumpTruck]

Honestly these devs deserved better. Imagine what they could have done with a drive club 2 on ps5

[@Shenmoki]

Easily the most engrossing non-sim racer, even now. The sound design, visuals, and camera movement all came together perfectly. The DLC was awesome too, so sad what happened to this game. If you have a PS4/5, you NEED a copy of it.

[@carston101]

"a copy of it". I have it digitally, but was there a physical copy released for it??

[@hideff4982]

30FPS now is hard though..

[@Shenmoki]

@@carston101 i actually have it physically, i bought it was when it was new. Copies are usually under $20 but you can get them cheaper if you bid for them on ebay

[@T0asty-]

shit, I would buy it if it was on PC. Heard great things about it.

[@phil_5430]

@@T0asty- Its a good arcade racer with some impressive visuals and cars that you've never seen in any other racing game but the physics are not very good. The driving relies to much on drifting and the later exotic cars which are fast as F are uncontrollable at higher speeds. The 30FPS limit doesnt help either. Still, a good showcase of the PS4 hardware

[@jakesteel2423]

It's always a bit of an excuse to say a company lacked the tools to get the product up to par, Sony could have spent the money and hired on a bunch of staff or temps to get this game working, instead there were layoffs. Sony pulled the plug the minute this released and had issues. It's really impressive that the people who were left were able to get it in a good state at all while continuing to be downsized.

[@aaronsmith7143]

They gave them 6 months to fix the online stuff. After 3 they got stuff somewhat fixed then finally completely fixed in that 6 month span. After that they were pretty much fucked.

[@Respectfully10]

@@aaronsmith7143 it's sad that Sony (extremists) fanboys don't see how many studios Sony closed, even when they had the market share on home consoles and could actually put more effort into keeping them running. If these fanboys fought for these developers rather than scream: "Xbox has no games" we Probably would be discussing the sequel now.

[@Daniel__Nobre]

@@Respectfully10 so true. As well as collective memory forgot about how Sony blatantly lied when the PS3 was about to be released with their fake trailers. The fact that they were willing to disrespect and trick and treat their own fans like stupid people made me move to Xbox in that generation and never touch anything Sony or PlayStation related for more than a decade.

[@nattila7713]

@@Daniel__Nobre sony got what they deserved, in the first 1-2-3 years of the ps3. and so MS also got what they deserved with xbone. since then, people became fanboys of sony so now WE, GAMERS are getting what we deserve :( :( :(

[@Acesbomb]

Only game I ever platinum, even at 30fps, it felt super smooth and responsive. Great sound, great graphics, great tracks. Nothing has come close since.

[@blackmentasiwhiteomu6306]

exactlyyyyy!!!!

[@smashterpiece]

Lucky you got in before they killed the online… I wanted to platinum all first party Sony games but sadly this one will always be out of my reach. At least I got Killzone before they shut it doen 😂

[@KenKaniff-dw4jw]

30fps that felt 60fps. Felt amazing

[@luisg.m.garcia6972]

Sony definitely could've had a Gran Turismo/Driveclub dynamic similar to Forza Motorsport/Horizon, shame Driveclub never catched on. Though I would recommend checking out Grid 2019 and Grid Legends for those who want a similar driving experience, even if they don't look as good as Driveclub

[@thefacts8089]

Motor Storm too

[@shira_yone]

Looking at the sales figure and community sentiment at the time, Driveclub definitely caught on. Driveclub is by no means a failure like Grid 2019 (a garbage game imho) or subsequent Codemaster Cheshire games; in sales, popularity, and game quality. The only regrettable thing that happened are the launch issues and Sony pulling the plug.

[@ronin_exhaustsyoutube4258]

I would say that visually with weather and graphically drive club is better than all

[@DavidB-rx3km]

I worked on Forza Horizon 1 - 3, we were concerned when DC was announced (during FH1 I think?), but it got more comedic as it went along and when we finally played it, it was hilarious. I know some of the people who worked on it, the same problem on all games that do badly - poor management with massive egos. Horizon studio (playground games) has a great work ethic and good management.

[@yusuftegar6588]

@@DavidB-rx3km It's interesting that you used to work with PG, but there is something i always wonder about horizon specifically, why does the devs kept using old X360 era car asset? (even by FH3 its already dated) and also does the game engine get updated during your work there?

[@SyonBroadcast]

This is the last racing game I played and loved. No GT, no Forza, but Driveclub. No other racing game came even close. I really miss it.

[@Daniel-bi5ci]

The fact this game still looks better than Gran Turismo 7 says something.

[@dylives7667]

And speaking of. Sony already had the Forza Killer. Why even bother making another? At this point, Sony is beyond salvation. They could have made of Gran Turismo 7 a great game, but they chose not to. Good luck with your 700 USD paperweight, ponies.

[@silenthilll_]

@@dylives7667 "ponies." Really..?

[@dylives7667]

@@silenthilll_ cry about it

[@rightinthedome9973]

Is GT7 bad? I didn't even give PS5 a chance but that would be the only game out I'd consider getting one for. Shame

[@dylives7667]

@@rightinthedome9973 _"I didn't even give PS5 a chance..."_ Wise choice.

[@mohammadhussien5223]

Holy fuck. Sony literally handled this game abysmally. They killed Evolution Studios and killed the potential for a great racing franchise.

[@hudo108]

Driveclub and the Motorstorm games were awesome. The only thing that failed was Sony's handling of the IPs and Evolution Studios.

[@fullmetalarshole]

What killed this game for me at launch is ai drivers would rear end you and YOU would get a speed penalty! Like WHAT?!

[@theunhingedgamer3762]

honestly not a single game has yet to get the penalty system right even Gran Turismo hasn't gotten it right

[@BLY99]

The AI for DC is great, they bump you only when you drive too aggressively and hit them. It punishes Forza drivers and that is a great thing.

[@fullmetalarshole]

@@BLY99 theyre ok NOW! But if you think they were anywhere near acceptable at launch you might be huffing second hand copium.

[@MrTARIQSs]

I literally never was once rear ended by the AI since launch Learn to drive

[@vvvvel]

Remember the glitch?

[@paranoyd70]

The problem with Driveclub was that it shipped unfinished and lacked a lot of content. When gamers pay full price for a game, we expect content and DriveClub lacked content. Content was eventually released that added much & fixed bugs & even added weather conditions, but by then it was too little too late. After the patches, the game was considerably better, but upon launch it was lackluster. And I don't understand why companies do this, as it always ends up pissing off gamers and always backfires. Also, not every player wants an On-line centric game. Many of us want a single-player racer, but DriveClub focused too much on On-line. Don't get me wrong, I acknowledge that the On-line option is vital, but you should never force it. When you force On-line, then it just turns off gamers like myself. Keep it optional.

[@NightingaleSunset]

On 90% of games I would agree with you but they were very upfront that this was an online focused experience. The entire premise was based around online play. Whether they executed that is another question... but this is one of the few I will forgive for that reason

[@theunhingedgamer3762]

I'm sorry but when gamers pay full price for a game they just do it because it looks fun and that's it nobody cares about quality because if they did then the whole industry would've died by now fact is you can blame the lack of quality in games on the whole business model of "sell it broken and fix it later" because unlike during the days of the PS2 where any studio that released one bad game went under they can get away with it now and continue to get away with it because of the mindless sheep who flock to whatever is new and shiny

[@otakuConn]

@@theunhingedgamer3762 maybe if you’re mr money bags, but i can assure you, most people spend $60 on a product because they expect quality.

[@aaronsmith7143]

@KingVendrick18 Are y'all completely dense on what the issue with DC was? It literally had no online component for the first 3 months and it was shotty for the next 3. It failed at the social stuff. Not because any one thing was implemented poorly, but because the network itself was busted.

[@thebestonumeritos]

@@theunhingedgamer3762 Your comment is so wrong on every level, if bad companies shut down during the PS2 era because of only *one* bad game, then Blast! or Phoenix Games wouldn't have stood a chance, but they did, and Blast! even got huge licenses like Home Alone and (I think) even Top Gun, and *everyone* knew their games were bad. Studios like these don't live because of "the mindless sheep". It's something that's always happened and it boggles the mind.

[@SPARTANTROOPER]

I'm genuinely amazed that game companies keep getting away with making games near unplayable a handful of years after their release my killing servers.

[@IAmNeomic]

Because servers unfortunately cost a lot of money, as well as paying for people to run the network, do maintenances, etc. When the number of players dip to the point where the servers cost more to operate than the title is pulling in, that's when they end it's life-cycle.

[@SPARTANTROOPER]

@@IAmNeomic That's my problem, a game that people have paid money for shouldn't be dependent on servers to be playable in the future. Unreal tournament 2004 came out 18 years ago and I can still play an online game today because of the server browser. I don't understand the push towards matchmaking and central servers for games, they feel very anti-consumer.

[@m-seb]

@@IAmNeomic That is a problem entirely on the developers and publishers, forcing the games to be always online live services working on a centralized network, instead of having a separate online mode with a masterserver to track player hosted games

[@czarkowskipawelyt]

@@IAmNeomic Sony literally charges money for access to multiplayer. There is no excuse. All Driveclub players were paying a hefty subscription. Also, just couple of decades ago, when you bought a game, you got the client and the server code on disc.

[@IAmNeomic]

@@czarkowskipawelyt You're right, but now days, game install sizes far exceed what a disc, or even multiple discs, can hold. Plus, most people play on console, unfortunately, and the experience has to be much more "streamlined" and simplified. The average Joe, trying to play a few rounds of something like Madden or COD, isn't gonna have a clue how to use a server browser, or know how to use custom servers when official ones are taken down. Sure, it sucks for everyone and I agree, it is a little anti-consumer for those of us who wouldn't mind putting in a little effort to play some older titles. I'd love to go back and play Socom 2 and 3. But it's such a ridiculously niche thing that devs and publishers can't invest a bunch of money into making 0.001% of their customers happy because they wanna play games far beyond their life.

[@Stoffinator]

Driveclub is still SO good to play. Still looks amazing. The weather is insane.

[@Beavernator]

I have a Driveclub video on my page of my daughter (6 at the time) winning a Driveclub race... This game holds some special memories... It really does play like a spiritual sequel to Project Gotham Racing, so It's not surprising to hear it had some of its developers...

[@fqras]

Evolution Studios was one of my favourites. Such a shame that Sony killed it.

[@crestofhonor2349]

Driveclub should get a PS5 and PC Rerelease just to give this game some extra life and to get rid of that 30fps cap

[@NoExplosionsMcgee]

Drive Club with 3D audio, haptic feedback,a fusion of its global illumination lighting and ray traced lighting and all on an uncapped framerate? Fuuuuuck boi, sign me up!!

[@glennhkboy]

I guess this won't happen due to the contracts with all the car manufacturers.

[@archangelq721]

If this happens I'll buy a PS5 ASAP

[@GREENY_SO]

One of the best racing games I've ever played, and the last classic racing game. I'm genuinely sad that we will never see a game like Driveclub and PGR again

[@lilpp4791]

And who said we wont

[@suntannedduck2388]

agreed. arcade racing games I feel have gone. Sure some have challenges to beat structures like PC3 being Shift 3 others the odd point to point I guess like Gear Club Unlimited 1&2 but mostly open worlds have the point to point races and not in a Driveclub way of events and menus not drive all the way there. Gear Club seems like a successor in my mind (even if maybe Test Drive I assume as Eden, I never played Test Drive though so assuming). I guess Wreckfest fills the Destruction Derby space (barely know any others). Maybe there is some but not as many come to mind as 2000 eras where tons from different sides were clear. But to me it seems like it's open worlds or simulation of circuits/rally/formula 1 and so on mostly than games of other types from what I've seen at least besides Indies doing mostly nostalgia stuff/rereleases of old eras games if not the Indies doing inspirations too heavily or your other cases like Art of Rally standing out from the nostalgia stuff that takes up too much. I was surprised by lack of WipEout when Redout, Fast Racing and others have come out and they put WipEout to mobile like WTF? Did Omega collection do that badly or what for Sony when the competition is clear just as much as 3D Platformers have had a revival the past few years.

[@GR1MRACER]

As a Forza fanboi I praise Driveclub on how it does rain effects perfect.

[@ZackryRose]

Most definitely! While I love Forza Horizon 5 I still don't quite think the rain effects look as nice as Driveclub.

[@lilpp4791]

No one cares what u think xbox fanboy

[@kuriankeralaIndia]

@@ZackryRose Forza horizon 5 was cringy and map feel empty . Forza horizon 1 to 4 was best horizon games .

[@Bolkiebasher]

@@kuriankeralaIndia Forza 3 was the best. Forza 4 was disappointing. Forza 5 has it's deficiencies, but I think the problem is that the game needs to evolve. You do feel the love put into the game by Playground.

[@J3f3R20n]

Even gran turismo 7 lacks some of the visual punch Driveclub had with rain, mainly it doesn't look like there's rain falling even on storms.

[@DRIVECLUBistimelessPS4]

😍 Driveclub was glorious, Sony is absolutely dumb for closing down Evolution Studios a team full of veteran developers and creators. Just plain dumb. 🙄

[@50H3i1]

A ps5 and pc port would be much appreciated cause the graphics will absolutely hold up

[@nattila7713]

it gfx holds up then play it on your ps5. then you do not need "more", right?

[@MRGilD0]

@@nattila7713 Except no? PS4 games on PS5 won't have unlocked framerates. So even if the graphics does hold up, which it absolutely does, a rerelease would still offer a vastly superior experience to just playing the PS4 version on PS5.

[@nattila7713]

@@MRGilD0 holds up = ok = shut up and play it :p :D sony fanboys do not deserve better fps, they gladly pay for anything, anyway.

[@fugitivogamerhd180]

I got my brother in law who is 10 this game and he has been in mad love with it, he’s really expecting a sequel to it and I also really enjoyed it. I got it 100% in single player getting all the stars and had a ton of fun online.

[@shmookins]

My only complaint is how weird the online feature was. You had to pick a countdown timer and wait...only to find no one else was in the line with you. Then repeat till you get frustrated. Why didn't they add a normal matchmaking online feature like every other game and racer? You couldn't search for an online session. You had to be forced to only pick from the default countdown timers in specific rooms.... so weird.

[@vinniecorleone62]

A terrific profile on the game, I enjoy every bit of it offline the way "Gran Turismo Sport" & "Gran Turismo 7" should have been made.

[@GreatestHeroDeku]

It’s so heartbreaking that this game went out like that, it literally had so much potential it could of been another good Sony game behind Gran Turismo, but sadly it had to end with a whimper. To this day this game is one of the best looking in terms of gameplay, visuals, car sounds and soundtrack. I wish we would of gotten a DriveClub 2 but sadly it will never happen again.

[@saadhasan2518]

As someone who loves racing games particularly Forza and PGR I really liked DriveClub for what it tried to do I really like the graphics and car list in the game but the best thing about this game was the menacing car sounds and rain effect at 1080p. Also this game launched in October 2014 just a month after Forza Horizon 2 which for many people is one of their favorite Forza game and the hype surrounding that game pretty much meant that Driveclub had tough competition.

[@439_shashanksharma4]

I feel like in this case, it wasn't the game that failed , it was Sony who failed evolution studio

[@Lupercalia027]

It stills kill me that Sony closed Evolution 😞

[@Whooler6by]

DriveClub genuinely has aged well in graphics and looks bettet than new releases

[@Segundachanceemgames]

Just a 60fps patch and I would still be playing.

[@lordspalse0062]

I despised Sony with a huge passion for not at least unlocking the framerate before shutting down the game. Sony have never seen my money day one on any exclusive from that time onwards.

[@Balc0ra]

It's still one of the best looking PS4 driving games IMO. But for me it was not something I did spend lots of time with. As if you want a Forza killer, you need some real tracks vs a few nations to pick from with different tracks. The lack of JDM turned off more or less most I know too. Tho added in a season pass iirc. But if you play it now today, that's not avaialbe and the game definitely feels lacking with most of the content shut off.

[@effrumtheretardo]

The lack of Japanese cars was also a huge turn-off for me. I can't fault the game's tracks, graphics, or sound design but without the Japanese cars I decided to stick with Forza and GT.

[@waltervanlille2263]

This was my favourite racing game of the last 10 years. It was pretty much the only game I played for the first two years after buying my PS4. Such a pity it ended so badly for Evolution.

[@hansmuller1933]

As a car enthusiast and your average gamer. Oh damn, I was so close to buying a PS4 on launch because of this game. Yet as it was delayed the second time I went to their rivals an bought a Xbox one. I started on the 360, most of my friends where on the console from Microsoft and there still was Forza (especially Forza Horizon) so that this seemed like the best thing to do back then. When Driveclub eventually launched, I was able to play it at a friend's house, who had rich enough parent to call both consoles his own. And I was amazed by it. The clips in this video brought back so many memories. And they still left me speechless sometimes. This game still looks so insane. You can feel, that the game was built with an idea, not just to be another racing game. It wasn't just build to compete with Forza. It was made with so much more in mind.

[@ImmortalDragon21]

Sony has to learn to stay away from the tagline “insert game on competitors console”killer. Most of the time they turn out great just not the “killer” level of great, then again sometimes they just turn out like Haze….

[@MRGilD0]

But did they ever officially even use that tagline? I mean in terms of the "insert game title" killers from Sony, I don't recall Sony ever directly marketing it as such. Even in terms of its racing idealogies it's a completely different game from either Forza Motorsport or Forza Horizon. It was its own thing. Haze also wasn't directly made by Sony. It was by Ubisoft. The closest official Halo killer that Sony had was Killzone, but if you've ever played that game then you'd know how different and non-Halo esque it actually was. The closest to game to Halo that Sony's actually directly related to is, in my opinion, Resistance Fall of Man. That game was awesome, but really I still don't recall it ever being marketed directly as a Halo killer by Sony themselves. tldr it was media hype. It wasn't Sony's direct influence that marketed this as a Forza killer.

[@brokenhearth1826]

ah remember HAZE on ps3 ? which used to be called HALO KILLER ? it turns out that it killed itself before even touched the level of HALO even their succesfull first party FPS Killzone still couldn't break the HALO superiority lol edit : okay you mentioned it

[@cokelife5831]

Sony closing zipper and evolution studios was stupid

[@purplex_purple7717]

I want to say a lot about this game…… But all I will say is… they screwed us. This game didn’t fail. They just held us back who played it and whoever did play is, fucking loved it. Just as much as Gran Turismo. It could have gone so much further, you felt the love and competitiveness between players. I really wish I had a hard copy of Drive Club. It had many dreamed poster cars, and mine. The Spiker C12 Every car and accomplishment made you smile and happy to be in the car seeing the interactive interior and the water flowing on the windows. Sometimes you just changed cars to hear it whine in the seat or see if your favorite car can beat the recommended.

[@mattsmokes2505]

I love your content so much I’ve been subscribe since under 100,000 and even then I couldn’t believe how you didn’t have millions of subs. Your content is so well done and professional, I truly think you are one of the best on the website thank you so much for the hours of entertainment

[@FR4M3Sharma]

I would recommend Raycevick and The Gaming Historian as well.

[@seigfriedmk]

I hope there'll be a Driveclub 2 someday

[@ivandesiigner]

The voice is so good the keeps ad sounds like a real TV ad segment, I bet the guys at keeps are impressed.

[@MichaelVincentGChua]

Killing PS Vita wasn't bad enough, but killing some of their own 1st party games are the other. This one was especially tragic, all thanks to the incompetence of Sony.

[@whuzzzup]

> realistic exterior > cannot destroy a car in any meaningful way Yeah, no. And no I dgaf what car companies **supposedly** think.

[@timothex]

Driveclub is the best racing game for sure.

[@deltakeeper1]

Driveclub is a tremendous game. Is it perfect? No. But the balance Evolution managed to find with the core gameplay and car handling models is superb. And the club community and challenges were a real thrill when the game's servers were still up. I've slowly been making may way through the DLC after finishing the full game, and it continues to thrill and delight me. (And occasionally break me with its difficulty!) The visuals, sound and gameplay never cease to amaze me. I adored the MotorStorm series, too. It's such a disappointment that Sony chose to close Evolution instead of allowing them to build on what they'd created with Driveclub. Another great documentary from the Gamers team. Well done for telling this story.

[@MegaRayland]

Amazing game. And its VR counterpart too. It’s a shame we never got a Pro patch for either. There were reasons for Evo’s closure, with the company not doing itself any favors with some internal issues, but it was a error to shut such a proficient team. Their engine remains incredible to this day and the possibilities of what a Driveclub 2, or even a Motorstorm PS4, could have been are staggering. It is also interesting that too ‘troubled’ games of the launch window/ early life of PS4, heavily promoted early on (Driveclub and The Order 1886), have had more staying power in gamer’s consciousness than bigger games that came later.

[@Vinicius_Berger]

Fun fact: Driveclub was supposed to be a Gran Turismo spinoff (like Forza Horizon is to Forza Motorsport), but Sony didn't want to give them the IP.

[@senaya]

It's hard to believe that Drivelub is almost 10 years old now. it still looks and sounds great.

[@Shikaar]

It was an absolute amazing game. Did the Plat and 100% several DLC

[@cookedit]

It is sad to me how Evolution Studios was treated by Sony, but an out touch, myopic, delusional and greedy studio that was once great, in Polyphony Digital, still gets all the breaks when they have released games with long delays and massive issues that needed huge patches to fix, in GT's 5, 6 and now 7. GT4 all the way back in 2005, 17 years ago, was the last time they released a complete, well thought out game.

[@kasrakh86]

I remember hearing about and seeing this game back then. The attention to detail was just insane. I really thought it would be a massive contender against Forza Motorsport and Gran Turismo games. It's a shame it went out like it did.

[@EyesofApollo]

Love Rushy he still answers any questions you ask on twitter about Driveclub great guy. It's ashame it had such bad connection issues for the first like month. That's when tons of people dipped. Then it made a come back but it was to late :( rip #unitedinspeed

[@vorsprungdurchtechnik5]

The real kicker is the fact that it was BETTER and still is, even better than GT.

[@KasbashPlays]

Driveclub arrived at the right place but at the wrong time, if you ask me. The game nailed atmosphere and the adrenaline rush of hurtling fast cars (and eventually motorcycles) across fictional representations of some of the world's most diverse stages. I'll miss just how perfectly the rain drops would wipe away from the windshield, the rustling of leaves in any stage that was during the fall season, the powder of snow slowly accumulating on your vehicle, etc. My only grouse with it was the always-on Social aspect. If there was a tad more meat to its single-player offering, there would be no equal, open world driving games notwithstanding.

[@plitzi2640]

90% of the footage is someone crashing, because he never played a racing game before ...

[@AdiusOmega]

Still play this game almost every day. It achieved something that no other video game has done so far and it's the visceral senses of speed. The sound, the vibrations, the motion blur, the particle effects. It's a masterfully crafted game and sooooo ahead of it's time. The graphics are better than even Forza Horizon and Gran Turismo, so many advanced rendering techniques with a very realistic lighting simulation. One of the first games to implement volumetric clouds as well. And seriously, the fucking rain and snow are actual physical simulations on the windshield. I play exclusively on the Hardcore Handling setting with all assists removed and it feels like the best blend of arcade + simulation. So many interesting vehicles too, it's a fucking shame you can't actually purchase any of the DLC or vehicle packs anymore. It's a goddamn tragedy what happened with this game, the biggest upset of gaming IMO.

[@catcherinthepie3846]

Lol something tells me you don't have a pc if you think this is better than Forza Horizon. Have you even seen it on pc?

[@AdiusOmega]

@@catcherinthepie3846 Yes, while a much sharper image than Driveclub (which runs at a maximum 1080p 30fps) I still think that the material detail and overall processing effects are of higher quality than Forza.

[@JustAnotherGamer1005]

I still play DriveClub and DriveClub VR from time to time too. Glad I own these games. Although sad the VR version never got a Pro patch. It definitely is different from Forza Horizon. Glad it wasn't open-world! And had an identity of its own. I'm never into social features, but it was sad when they shut down the servers. Those small challenges during the race were a nice competition. I hope they bring back the studio and get this game out of the bin.

[@drift_works]

i have played almost all car games since 2006, ps2 / 3/4/5 games and pc max graphics and i have never played a game with better graphics than driveclub other than putting 300 various mods on assetto corsa. remember that it is a ps4 game from 2014 locked 30fps, there is no better game trust me

[@AdiusOmega]

@@drift_works Imagine if it was remastered for PS5 @ 4k 60-120fps. That would be a dream, but until then it totally suffices and I'm just glad to still own the game with 80% of the available DLC cars etc. It's impossible to get any of them anymore because the online store-front is shut down.

[@mondodimotori]

Wait, who called it a "forza killer" when it was, clearly, an old style arcade game??

[@anterosauditore5850]

"gaming media"

[@fqras]

Forza Horizon killer.

[@mondodimotori]

@@anterosauditore5850 Never read this take from them. I mean, Gran Turismo alredy is Sony's "forza killer".

[@mondodimotori]

@@fqras Horizon it's an open world racing game. Driveclub isn't.

[@TheDude-xp4vb]

@@mondodimotori GT is not open world too

[@boigercat]

I'm glad I got to spend so much time with this game online and offline. Especially doing time trials with my brother, constantly pushing each other to drive faster. The feel of this game was so good, I like to refer to it as a simcade racing game. Its definitely arcadey but it had some small elements from sim racing in it that just made it feel so good

[@MrSamPhoenix]

Drive club was amazing! I love how the game used “water-physics” on the windshield of each vehicle realistically. It’s something I haven’t seen since on any other racing game. & from what I heard, the maker of Grand Turismo (Polyphony) wasn’t too happy about having to compete with another car game within the Sony umbrella.

[@hknetshare4431]

DriveClub is the best graphical and realstic racing game that i ever seen, though the nowadays racing games use ray tracing.

[@johnloit8271]

Amazing what the devs did with such a limited budget ,if sony chooses to resurrect Driveclub, Forza will have some serious competition.

[@zensoredparagonbytes3985]

Sony just deleted the Bikes dlc on my console. 16€ just disappeared in smoke. F Sony.

[@ryomario90]

Literally every game that relies on online functions at launch: servers are full, disconnected, connection time out, queue etc... and still no game devs have learned from this even to this day, I find this amusing.

[@FessyDKnight]

I didn't love DriveClub when it first came out. It had a lot of problems that were glaring when you bounce between it and Forza. But by the end, it was a great game. I had tons of fun and was able to get a Platinum Trophy and 100% on all the DLC. If Evolution was given an opportunity to do a DriveClub 2, I would imagine that it would've been the premiere racer right up there with Forza. This was a huge missed opportunity.

[@saaamurai]

I was like "Holy S#&! and OMG" when I first saw Cayoosh Point in Canada. Never before the power and majesty of the mountains have been pictured in a game. A week later I was hiking in Tatra Mountains and I couldn't stop thinking about Driveclub's graphic fidelity. It was that moment I thought: "Yep. We are one inch from the photorealism in games". It was a milestone.

[@emlyndewar]

The amount of money they could have made, if licenses were renewed and it was still on the store. GT Sport was pretty awful imo, and GT7 seems to have missed the mark somewhat. Driveclub with more updates and more DLC could have been even more amazing than it already is.

[@Jazzadrin]

Yakuza documentary? Thank you for all the great content over the years, Gvmers!!

[@nicktubby9710]

Not a single mention of Gran Turismo? I find it odd that it is not mentioned in the tragedy of Drive Club. DC released between GT6 and GT Sport, those sold 5 and 8 million respectively, so maybe Sony players were happy enough with the exclusive Racing genre that they didn't need another one?

[@SomeHomesickAlien]

The sense of speed in Driveclub was on par with need for speed most wanted. It was perfect

[@sandromnator]

Why would Sony even need another "Forza killer"? They already have Gran Turismo.

[@anterosauditore5850]

Because GT cant compete with Forza anymore, that its why they try with Drive club...

[@fqras]

Gran Turismo is a boring game though.

[@markisaki979]

Driveclub's tracks actually instilled a strong desire for me to visit those locations in the game. Something that I am still yet to fulfill.

[@ktdagoat1289]

I know Xbox gets alot of smack for studio management but man ANYTIME Sony buys a studios to make a "Xbox game killer" they ALWAYS kill the studio smh..

[@TheBroz]

For some reason Sony get a free pass. Sony fucked over so many UK studios with terrible miss-management and pulling the rug out from under their feet.

[@ktdagoat1289]

@@TheBroz Agreed sad how they killed of the getaway series also, man Sony really had some good stuff they just wasn't willing to invest in franchises.. They also killed off the Mag studio which had 200 player servers on some LONG before Battlefield attempted stuff.. They literally just act like if your game doesn't make double to triple the investment it's nah get rid of them..

[@ColonelFrontline1152]

First rule of making a video game: *Never market or make your game as a [Blank] Killer to your competitor's franchise.*

[@kuriankeralaIndia]

But they never did market as forza killer lol . The game was killed because of the delay .

[@ColonelFrontline1152]

@@kuriankeralaIndia Just putting it out there.

[@BlindMango]

I loved Driveclub so much, it was such a massive mistake for Sony to shut down Evolution...

[@usernamehandle]

Forgot about Motorstorm RC. I know it may look very, very unassuming to those who haven’t played it, but honestly it’s one of the most addicting racing games you could play. Might be hard to believe, but it’s a must play if you enjoy Motorstorm or any game with time trials. The missions were quick and he’s right-the absolutely nailed the competitive social network.

[@blinkachu5275]

Imagine if Sony hadn't been stingy and was releasing their games on PC as well back then. Sony's business model may have made sense in the past, when consoles rained supreme and PC ports were just an after thought, but Microsoft allowing their games to both come out on XBOX and PC for most of them really is showing that while they may have "lost" last gen, they're performing really well this gen (along with gamepass of course). Driveclub at 60FPS 4k on a PC. It'd be amazing and would show that their studios can develop overall good looking games, not just on one platform.

[@nattila7713]

yeah, driveclubs main issue was that it had no 4k60fps gfx :D :D :D jesus.....

[@huleeyaxerssius7]

@@nattila7713 Always about the shiny, pretty graphics that are oh so very important to people. Rather the game be proper, with the graphics it has which are not bad at all, than "Muh 4K60FPS grafix"

[@shroomologist]

@@huleeyaxerssius7 I mean 60fps would make any driving game significantly more playable, or any other genre where reaction time is a factor. It's not about making it look pretty lol

[@huleeyaxerssius7]

@@shroomologist Of course, but it isn't always about the FPS & the like. Though nowdays, most things should be able to do that kind of FPS, back when it came out it wasn't as much. But yes, so long as getting a game to do 60FPS isn't too much trouble then it would be good to have it done

[@shroomologist]

@@huleeyaxerssius7 Yeah it would have been nice if it was an option, I'd have happily dropped the graphics to that of the vr version for the extra frames tbh.

[@leriacedia8189]

This licence has to reborn

[@MrRichmanCash]

Driveclub didn't fail, Sony failed it.

[@Fuuntag]

This situation was such a mess.

[@kenshigo3833]

Hands down the best racing sim! The sound, visuals, lights, camera and the rain, the freaking rain are so impressive!

[@AD-df5tm]

Definitely not a sim.

[@kenshigo3833]

@@AD-df5tm Definitely not an arcade.

[@jjc0064]

I love the fact that in VR you can use motion controls with the controller to mimic a steering wheel quite convincingly (for me as a driver for 30 years) and yes I get it doesn't match others for visuals, but I started out with N64 racers so a bit of blur doesn't bother me, but the FEELING of control with feedback, and SENSATION of speed and battling with a large pack of cars surpasses any issues with looks. First time I took that BAC MONO down the hill I had to slow right down it was so convincing to a VR noob 😂

[@darrellsmith9727]

Still one of my favorite game soundtrack albums. I miss Driveclub. Was such a fun game & looked amazing.

[@Spheredalai]

i think the problem with driveclub is not the phisics, not the marketing, not the graphics, but the concept. driving a million dollar supercar on unforgiving twisty narrow streets while going more than the appropriate speed limit will NOT going to be enjoyable, and felt very limiting, sometimes racing games don't NEED to be open world, but sometimes too limiting is won't be good either, they should follow need for speed hot pursuit path on this one, most of the street in NFSHP is SEEMINGLY narrow however it is designed to capable at handling hypercars going 300 km/h no problem, HELL, even old racing game like OutRun have bigger street/track than driveclub, the roads are so narrow in driveclub, many people hit the sidewalls very often, and i gotta be honest, crashing your car in driveclub is not a pleasant experience, people immediately assume they suck at the game because they crashed too often, and that what makes this game unsuccessful

[@J3f3R20n]

This game was ahead of it's time in everything: Graphics, visuals, even releasing unfinished and completely broken (Which is common today). The game itself reminded me of old school arcade racers where it's just pick and play, no BS open world full of distractions where racing is at the background (FH 3 to 5 for example), it was simple and direct, and even the multiplayer elements i think it could have worked better today. I truly wish Evolution wasn't closed and Sony greenlit a remaster of this for current gen and PC with native resolution and unlocked framerate... This is the game that keeps me from selling my PS4 because every once in a while i go back to it.

[@richnick1911]

Always a GT fan never gave Driveclub a chance until reading reviews and seeing the game progress through updates. Gave the game a chance and was blown away by graphics and fun play. Driveclub could of been great with sequels in the future with all the lessons learned.

[@alexschmidt3692]

That's interesting, I've never thought of this as Forza competition. More of need for speed

[@glenben92]

I held a lot of world records on Driveclub, very fond memories of that game. The physics were a great mix of realism and arcade and the graphics felt incredible at the time to me

[@simeonyves5940]

A Forza Killer. No. A Nice Successor to PGR? it would have been had they Launched it Complete (all Content included) and Working Correctly! It became one by the End... but... by then the Damage was Done. A PC Port with all the DLC, all the Bugs, Fixed, and even *Better* Graphics and Audio, now Sony are looking into PC/STEAM as a Market, would be Pretty Sweet I Say :) And would give Sony, if they then Ported back to PS5, that PGR Successor in all but Name that Driveclub could have, and should have, been.

[@surgicalglitch3265]

Driveclub was at the time and still is in my mind at least. One of the most beautiful racing games to hit a console. The water and rain were revolutionary at the time I remember and while the game was hardly sim racing. It was very fun and made you feel like a real racing badass when you were blasting your way from point A to point B. For some reason, Driveclub gave me the same vibe as another one of my favourite racing games of all time "Auto Modellista". And just like Auto Modellista, Driveclub looks good even today because the artwork and graphics are timeless. Years from now they will still look good!

[@Protato666]

The game was worth it just for the day/night cycles and weather effects . That being said outside of the fantastic graphical showcase it was a very shallow product

[@senorlechuga8832]

This studio deserved better. They really nailed the immersion in all of their games, and their WRC era was definitely the best. Not to mention Motorstorm, which is one of the most unique racers out there. Also the support they gave to the players was abismal. The little screenshots in the menu options? All (or almost all) of them are made by the community. The connection was real, and it felt so much more welcoming to see the devs actively helping in the community and so on. Now on the other side, Sony has killed many IPs. People want a new Motorstorm, a new DriveClub, Infamous, Sly Cooper, and so many other games that I probably don't know about or can't remember right now and they're just left and ignored. But hey new God of War amirite (no offense to the fans)

[@nickwannn]

hmmm am I detecting a pattern of immersive, graphically impressive games from Sony that come lacking in gameplay and content? hmmm

[@catcherinthepie3846]

Raycevik would have found a way to force in his beloved phrase, "firing on all cylindersssss" in this video somewhere.

[@j.h.2967]

DRIVECLUB deserve another chance! This gem was the first game that I bought for my PS4, and it is still a very unique racer till this day, in my opinion, with the most impressive rain effects ever seen in a racing game.

[@dylives7667]

Nah. They chose to defy God, came up short and got TKO'd on the 1st round. A well earned L plus ratio.