Ironically, the racing game genre has slowed down in recent years. Although franchises like Need for speed And Gran Turismo are still published regularly and are successful, they are becoming more and more of a niche market over time. But the racing scene is still full of potential and Sony's once exciting Drive club could be the push it needs.
Although it suffers from the same problems of stagnation seen in other major racing franchises, Drive club has a few key elements that help it stand out. The game that takes more of an arcade-influenced approach with its mechanics a la Need for speedsees players racing in various locations around the world similar to their competition. However, the online club aspect is what makes it truly unique: players can form clubs with others, and the collective effort of each club member influences progress, prestige and rankings. This made the online side of the game attractive to many players and its core gameplay was supported by a strong physics engine, engaging game modes and industry-leading graphics that are still impressive today. Unfortunately, the game's servers were shut down in 2020, making online play impossible.
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Why PlayStation should revive Driveclub
Driveclub could be a convincing Need for Speed competitor
Right now, as it has been for many years, Gran Turismo is PlayStation's flagship racing franchise. There is a good reason for this: Gran Turismo Consistently meets and exceeds the bar for high quality, offering impressive technical performance and graphics as well as addictive online and offline game modes. But Gran Turismo leans a little further towards the simulation end of the arcade simulation continuum on which racing games are based. It's certainly still accessible, but realism and depth are slightly preferred over satisfying mechanics, controls and physics.
In contrast to Drive club is located further at the arcade end of the continuum. Although post-launch updates for Drive club While more simulation features and options have been added, the game's physics and controls place more emphasis on entertainment and accessibility over realism. In this way, Drive club can be compared Need for speedor even Forza Horizonas it offers some scope for those looking for a driving simulation but still focuses on fun and easy controls. Because PlayStation seems to be putting all of its racing eggs into it Gran Turismo Basket, perhaps it would be wise to diversify, bring back its proprietary arcade racer and offer something new.
What a modern drive club could look like
Sony has shut down Drive club Developer Evolution Studios in 2016, so any possible revival of the intellectual property would have to happen without their involvement. This is of course unfortunate, despite the initial difficulties Drive club has proven that Evolution Studios is a more than capable developer that has the talent, experience and creativity to lead a serious racing competitor.
But looking forward, Sony certainly has no shortage of first-party studios that could take it on Drive club License. Perhaps the most obvious pool to draw from would be Polyphony Digital, the developers of Gran Turismo; Sony could perhaps split off part of this team to work on a new one Drive clubleveraging the studio's extensive experience with racing games for a unique take on the genre. Given Polyphony's years of experience with online racing games, it's not hard to imagine how the developers could revive Drive clubis the online multiplayer ecosystem.
It's fair to say that whichever studio takes ownership of the intellectual property in this hypothetical scenario Drive club deserves a second chance. It's always sad when a game ends early, but Drive clubPaul's tragically short life is particularly disappointing considering how promising it was. Sony should make another attempt and strengthen its presence in the racing genre.