Time Extend
Why Evolution Studios’ rebuilt wreck is worth a another spin
Despite its miserable launch, Evolution Studios’ rebuilt wreck,
DriveClub, is worth another spin
Success in motorsport is as dependent on a vehicle’s capabilities as a driver’s skill. An underpowered or poorly set-up car could unravel the hopes of even the best driver. So imagine the disadvantage you’d face if you rocked up to the circuit in a car with huge chunks missing, and were arriving, bedraggled and apologetic, nearly a year after the scheduled track day. Unfortunately, that’s exactly how things panned out for the now-defunct Evolution Studios. The Liverpool outfit had been a valuable member of the PlayStation pit crew since Sony acquired it in 2007, a deal completed after Evolution had helped launch PS3 with
MotorStorm. Yet the studio’s luck ran dry with the twice-delayed, feature-starved jalopy that was release-day DriveClub, a lumbering shadow of the game that should’ve been the premier graphical showcase of PS4’s launch lineup. Play the game today and it’s barely recognisable, such is the extent of the panel-beating job Evolution has done in the almost two years since the game went on sale. In the unprecedented absence of either a
Gran Turismo or Ridge Racer at the launch of a new PlayStation, Evolution was presented with the opportunity to lift the curtain on the next generation of racing games. That opportunity was missed in remarkable, regrettable style. When DriveClub finally did arrive, a litany of broken promises, empty spin and a delay that placed it well outside of any kind of timeframe that could even charitably be described as PS4’s launch window – it finally wheezed over the finishing line just shy of 11 months after its host hardware – stripped the sheen from an event that should’ve been a landmark. Offered a coronation, Evolution abdicated. So tired were potential players of being given the runaround that DriveClub’s eventual release was a relief, rather than cause for celebration. And that was only the case for those who still had the energy to care – many others had long since written off DriveClub entirely.
At launch, at least, they were right to. In stark contrast to what Sony and Evolution had promised, on day one DriveClub was a stripped-down racer shorn of its showcase dynamic weather, lacking crucial features such as replays, bogged down by ruinous opponent AI and overly punitive marshalling. Worst of all, the game was beset by crippling server problems that meant many couldn’t experience the game’s apparently innovative online components at all. And, adding to DriveClub’s growing image problem, the promised free version of the game – a handful of tracks and cars with which to tempt PlayStation Plus subscribers into buying the full package – was put on the back burner indefinitely.
Evidently the pressure of attempting to finish the game in time for a console launch proved too much for Evolution, and the subsequent firefighting with which it was faced was a further burden on the already stressed studio’s resources. Back then, it was obvious that this clearly unfinished game needed even more time in the oven. It’s illustrated by the confident package on offer today, assembled in piecemeal fashion in the months following the game’s messy, miserable, unforgettable launch.
Evolution started with the basics, something you might suggest it should have done in the first place. It set about resolving connectivity issues, server-load problems and instabilities in the code that were causing a few too many of the wrong kind of crashes. Six updates were dedicated to this emergency surgery, in fact, and it wasn’t until v1.07, over a month after the game’s debut, that Evolution had a chassis robust enough to build upon. Chief among these early additions were the Ignition and Photo Finish tour packs, which added new tracks, cars and events to the game and were given away for free by way of an apology for the protracted server issues players had gritted their teeth through. There was a more cosmetically focused addition in the form of photo mode, too, but most important was the sweeping change to corner-cutting and collision penalties.
DriveClub’s aggressive AI, which will still happily ram you today but was considerably more violent back in 2014, made the game’s apparent eagerness to punish you for the slightest of transgressions immensely frustrating. And knowing your speed would be suddenly limited, as if someone had watered down your fuel, for so much as
kissing the verge with a wheel made hairpins considerably more daunting than they should be. Play today and, while there’s still the odd questionable penalty decision, the action feels much fairer.
The weather system – shown in our final preview session with the game – eventually arrived two months after launch. The impact of its arrival was profound, with both positive and negative results. For starters, it provided a not-inconsiderable boost to the visual impact of what was already a handsome game. To this day,
DriveClub remains visually peerless within its genre. At the time, the only racing game that came close to the drama and spectacle of DriveClub’s storms was Need For Speed
Rivals. But Evolution’s work remains the literal high-water mark of the genre, creating some of the most terrifying driving conditions seen in a game since Evolution’s own MotorStorm: Apocalypse. Though the unyielding lighting engine of
DriveClub’s launch build made for some moments of poor visibility, threading a Koenigsegg Agera R through the tight, twisting roadways of the game’s vision of Scotland in the middle of a lightning storm at night is something else entirely. But the late arrival of dynamic weather also created an enduring rift in the game. Existing tours couldn’t be retrofitted with the new technology since it would’ve invalidated the existing leaderboards; they now sit as incomplete-feeling monuments to the original, incomplete game. Every additional DLC pack since then has made good – some argue too frequent – use of the tech.
Evolution was now getting into the swing of things, and soon after added a whole new location, Japan, to the game, a rural setting flecked with cherry blossoms giving a softer edge to the visuals. Evolution also made adjustments to the aggression levels of the AI (euphemistically referred to in the patch notes as “Changes to AI drafting behaviour”). But although the game’s AI has been continually tweaked throughout its lifespan, it’s still a bolshy presence. On-track drama is certainly increased as a result, but it also invokes unwanted memories of heavy-handed ’90s rubber banding. Play your role in the unfolding script of each race, making sure you don’t overreach with regard to your position before the lap that deems it OK, and both player and AI can find common ground. Nonetheless, DriveClub is at its best when you’re the only vehicle on the track.
Still, that update also threw in some new, more dazzling weather effects, in the form of heat haze and rainbows. And, more practically, the speed of windscreen wipers was increased. Mirages followed in the next update, in March 2015, along with another hard-to-believe sight: replays. As with so much in DriveClub, they were worth the wait – even if initially only singleplayer replays were added to the game. Multiplayer equivalents would follow a little later.
Though Evolution maintained a continual flow of patches, the next sizeable update came that August, when Sprint mode was added, allowing drivers to take advantage of the game’s fast loading times and tackle challenges or short sections of each track against the clock. But Evolution eclipsed this two months later with the surprise release of DriveClub Bikes. Videogames have long struggled to represent two-wheeled motorsport in a flattering light, but Bikes got it right, applying the game’s alarming sense of speed to the twitchy precision required when hustling a motorcycle. DriveClub tracks were transformed when tackled on two wheels, too, with cambers you had barely noticed suddenly feeling like cliff faces, and the meandering, even forgettable routes along public roads suddenly recalling the thrill of the Isle Of Man TT. It’s supremely engaging, and made all the more special in the context of the game industry’s struggle with bike physics, even if Evolution doesn’t try to hew to realism closely.
Updates that followed in the months leading up to Sony’s closure of the studio saw the game diverge, gaining both a long-overdue Easy mode, which tempered the sometimes brutal difficulty level with less-demanding objectives and opponents, and a Hardcore Handling model for those silly enough to attempt wet races with no driving aids. Switch it on, and the game’s weighty handling suddenly feels more substantial, brakes locking under excessive demands and formerly unthreatening corners asking much more of you. It’s revelatory, and makes time-trial driving on these superbly designed circuits even more pleasurable and involved than before. It feels like a whole new game.
DriveClub’s rebirth has been remarkable. Few games have ever undergone such an extensive transformation, but even this almighty effort wasn’t enough for DriveClub to gain the traction it needed to flourish, and Evolution reached the end of the road. The game that exists now feels like an open secret, catering to those who saw its potential and have stuck by it over the past couple of years but ultimately failing to win back the players who walked away from its launch disaster. To those in the know, though, DriveClub offers videogame driving that is, in many respects, peerless.