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

Hardware manufacturers typically position racing games as the premier showpiece of a new console’s graphical and performance capabilities. The original PlayStation had Ridge Racer; the first Xbox hit the scene several years later with Project Gotham Racing in tow. While Microsoft managed to ship Xbox One with a first-party racer—Forza Motorsport 5—the PlayStation 4 had to rely on third-party fare such as Need for Speed: Rivals. Notably, Driveclub from Evolution Studios initially constituted the must-have racing experience on PS4, but issues with the game's core conceit postponed it well beyond the console launch window.

Having long developed top-tier racing titles for PlayStation consoles, the team at Evolution dreamt of ushering the genre into a new era, wherein community-building and team-based racing occupied center stage. The studio arguably accomplished as much with Driveclub but not without more than a fair few growing pains. Throughout its stunted life cycle, the arcade racer accelerated from a disastrous launch to a redemption arc that hit its stride too late.

Many a PS4 owner still remembers the thrill of speeding through real-world-inspired locales, though, racing or tackling challenges to boost the dominance of their community-made club. Evolution’s injection of motorcycle races a year after launch further amplified the high-octane experience, and seemingly left the door open for the game’s continued expansion into new avenues. Unfortunately, the untimely closure of the development house resulted in Driveclub riding off into the sunset with only a middling VR port following in its wake.

This is the tragedy of Driveclub.

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[norinori]

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.

[ityyax]

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

[ToiletGrenade]

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

[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.

[thewidowmaker]

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.

[DBev]

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.

[TyCal_]

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

[CTBN]

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.

[TransportThatDumpTruck]

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

[jakesteel]

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.

[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.

[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.

[luisg.m.garcia]

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

[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.

[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?!

[hudo]

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

[paranoyd]

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.

[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.

[mohammadhussien]

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

[Daniel-bici]

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