Drive Club - PS4

Eurogamer: 6

The problem with DriveClub is that it's just competent. You'll drive some fast cars in some arresting environments. You might even have fun, in between getting clobbered with penalties. But there's no romance to it. No passion. What there is, however, is the lingering sense that the gaps were supposed to be filled by the much-touted social features - the fires were to be stoked by human rivalry. Sadly, beyond those bite-sized Face Off challenges, which are essentially side missions, there's nothing particularly engaging or new here.

What we're left with is a flimsy framework - a sort of clothes horse for content - rather than a truly great racing game. DriveClub is patently intended to attract a global, interconnected audience of fiercely competitive racers but, to quote the increasingly obscure 1989 Kevin Costner film Field of Dreams: if you build it, they will come. And, unfortunately, Evolution hasn't quite built it.

Polygon: 7.5

DriveClub doesn't have any one element that makes it an incredible game or a huge leap forward for the racing genre, but it makes some smart choices underneath top-of-the-line presentation. And in embracing a social media-influenced setup to build enjoyable asynchronous multiplayer, it teaches a few important lessons other developers should learn from.

Gamespot: 5

In fact, it's hard to find any true celebration here. Driveclub is ordinary menus and ordinary races, standard time trials, and a few drift events. Driveclub is bland social competition. Driveclub is the fear of risks and the embrace of the ordinary. It's basic racing in basic packaging, beautiful and inert and full of attractive cars. It is not, however, an argument for a new generation of driving, given how it fails to exceed the standards of the old one.

IGN: 7.9
Driveclub is the best-looking racing game I’ve ever seen on a console, but down deep it’s a more modest, conventional arcade racer than the sprawling, open-world types we commonly see today. While it successfully creates fast and fun races with a great sense of speed, the overly aggressive AI grates, the difficult drifting seems at odds with the accessible handling, and the single-player loses zest once the solo content runs dry. I’m also surprised at how partisan the day-one car list is. That said, the tentacles of Driveclub can grip tight if you get invested in the game’s asynchronous challenges, and it’s very much geared around encouraging us to hop online and compete by making it so easy.

Gameinformer: 7.75

DriveClub works as advertised, and despite the seamlessness of its single-player and online features, the game's not wildly more captivating than most other racers out there. It captures the spur of competitive racing, but this is due more to the fact that its racing fundamentals (which are more sim than arcade) give it a good foundation rather than some groundbreaking feature set. Drive it fast and drive it hard, but don't expect a miracle.

Videogamer: 8

But even with its shortfalls there are few racers that manage to marry up the joy of driving with the thrill of competing against friends and strangers as successfully as this, which makes popping a score on the end of this review one of DriveClub's toughest challenges yet. I stayed up until the early hours of the morning one night frantically trying to beat a challenge set by another games site. They won. I lost. But the desperate desire to win – and the urge to silently brag about the victory – made the race deeply exciting.

And it's intense rivalries like this that lie at the heart of DriveClub. It's a game whose appeal lives and dies in its online time trials and sensational visuals, and whose sense of one-upmanship and competition is leaps above the rest of the pack.

Gamesradar: 4\5

In fact, despite the concessions to accessibility, the number of times I was reminded of real cars while playing Driveclub is remarkable. I was constantly reminded of car journeys at Christmas, or the smell of a plush interior as you climb in, thanks to the detail with which Evolution has recreated every last component of the driving experience. The scenery, the motion, the different audio filters depending on which view you're using… all it needs is a packet of Werther's Originals to come with each copy and I think we're there. It's a strong racer. Just one with an identity crisis and a dependence on its net connection when it comes to delivering true fun.

Joystiq: 3\5

Driveclub is a well-made, sometimes irritating juxtaposition of the old and new. The career mode is old-fashioned and its AI is hopelessly ignorant, but the graphics and competitive jabs online feel perfectly fit for 2014. Embracing your fellow human is key to overcoming Driveclub's faults, which ultimately make it a better staging ground for car-loving friends than an expression of automotive admiration itself.

USgamer: 3.5\5

Basically, it's a smorgasbord of racing — as much as anyone could possibly consume. It works well, and the constant dynamic insertion of challenges into whatever race you're in helps make everything exciting and stimulating. Despite the occasional wobby handling, some rough edges, and tracks that aren't as exciting as they should be, DriveClub is still fun to drive. It's just a shame that it lacks any kind of feeling of reward or progression.

Destructoid: 7.5

Driveclub is fast and easy to get into, nice to look at, and it has a lot going on in the background to keep you connected and competitive with your club members and other individuals. But that doesn't change the issues in the foreground. Its approachable and enjoyable racing is marred by AI cars that love to unfairly bash and crash on the single-player side. And bugs with the interface and the networking kept me from fully enjoying the multiplayer side. Beyond all of this, it feels like Driveclub needs more race and event types. What it offers has kept me going for a couple of weeks, but how much longer will it continue to do so?