Driveclub Launched 10 Years Ago and Nothing Has Replaced It

It wasn’t a smooth launch, but the other PlayStation 4 exclusive racing title was ahead of its time.

On October 7, 2014, Driveclub launched on PS4. After a string of well-received MotorStorm titles on PS3, British Developer Evolution Studios embarked on even more ambitious path for Sony’s new system. With the 900-pound gorilla that was Gran Turismo years away from a new installment, Evo had the opportunity to be the realistic-looking, licensed-car-having, enjoyable semi-sim-racer for PlayStation people.

It did not go as planned. At launch Driveclub was plagued with connection issues—a hangup and a half for a game that revolves around, well, clubs. “We ran a beta test and none of these issues occurred, we had confidence everything was ready,” said game director Paul Rustchynsky at the time. Couple the network issues with the delay of the promised PlayStation Plus version, and it’s little surprise the game saw middling reviews.

Only then, something changed.

Evolution got to work, not just fixing the servers but implementing new features. Weather arrived soon after launch, and it’s not a stretch to say the rain is still some of the best-looking stuff we’ve seen in console racers. Soon enough, in came a photo mode to capture all the drama and, after that, a replay mode. The more typical content drip began—tracks and cars alike—but it started out free, despite the existence of a Season Pass for DLC. No matter: Evo simply extended the Pass, so buyers still got a whole heap of content, but everyone got more. It was an early go at the “game as a service” (GaaS) model that—rightly or wrongly—has taken over the genre in the 10 years since, as evidenced by titles such as Forza Horizon 5, Gran Turismo 7, and iRacing.

It feels obvious to write this, but it bears repeating: any game featuring real-world cars lives (or dies) by its car list. Driveclub certainly isn’t as diverse as something like Forza Horizon, and not just because its final car roster barely breaks into the triple digits. It skews supercar-heavy, but it’s the selections therein that truly shine.

Plenty of games featured the contemporary Bentley Continental GT, but only Driveclub included the W12 and the V8 model. A. 500-horsepower VW GTI concept that, in a surprise twist, would form the basis of a Vision Gran Turismo concept? Check. The—hold on— Mercedes-Benz SL 65 AMG 45th Anniversary Edition and its ridiculously torquey V12? That too. Mercedes only made a total of nine SLS AMG Electric Drives, an early quad-motor electric conversion of the gullwing sports car, and it made it to Driveclub.

Boutique supercars were where the game truly shined. For every Icona Vulcano, Mazzanti Evantra, or Savage Rivale GTR-S, there was the early inclusion of the Rimac Concept_One, the first car from a Croatian company that is now partnered with no less than Bugatti. A McLaren F1 is basically standard fare for modern racing games, but Evo brought in the iconic F1 LM instead. In an alternate universe, Evo is readying the new, 1,275-horsepower W1 for its inclusion in-game.

Revisiting the game, it’s a satisfying time capsule, a snapshot of the optimism and sense of adventure that laid ahead in the automotive realm a decade ago.

Today’s racing games generally fall into two categories: simulation or arcade. Titles like Assetto Corsa Competizione are hyper-focused on real-world racing and discipline: Forza Horizon 5 prioritizes fun and escapism, and isn’t too concerned with what would actually happen to a post-ramp car after a quarter mile of air.

Driveclub fell somewhere between. It had its share of detractors at launch—this writer included—because for an ostensibly arcade racer, there was a serious amount of heft to the cars. Get them sliding and it could be messy, slow or both trying to rein them in. Before Gran Turismo would add it, Driveclub included unique, modern-day features like DRS. There was subtlety here, and a level of depth that encouraged players to dig in.

The GaaS model arguably makes the most sense for racing games. They don’t have storylines, eliminating a lot of the reason for sequels. Driveclub’s value-packed season pass was DLC done right, with free tidbits to keep casual players hooked and more content for the converted.

Sometimes it was more than tidbits, too. Evolution developed Driveclub VR to once again be a launch title—this time for Sony’s 2016 headset—and filled it with 30 additional city courses. As part of the main game’s final update, all of them arrived for free.

Driveclub’s deliberate menu design and pumping soundtrack still make for a tight, satisfying experience 10 years later. I like me some GT7 as much as the next PS5-owning racing fan, but that’s a title almost penned in between its esports ambitions and the burden of franchise history. Meanwhile, Horizon 5 is basically an open-world RPG that happens to star cars: in its quest to please everyone but also offend no one, its sprawling map can feel like a never-ending checklist.

Just as there are precious few middle-class sports cars these days, there aren’t a lot of mid-sized racing games. Driveclub was the last, and while it never got the sequel it deserved, it has had a lasting influence on the genre.

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