• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

DRIVECLUB |OT| Cloudy with a Chance of Jaw Drops

Status
Not open for further replies.

wapplew

Member
What you guys favoured track and car so far?
I love India point to point track, great balance of sharp corner and speed way. Great scenery too, love tea farm and sprinkler.
I'm only level 18 so far Lotus Evora is my favoured, lightweight easy to execute long drift.

edit: can't praise enough for quick load speed.
 
Very light bumps: No penalty

Moderate bumps: Fame penalty, no speed penalty

Heavy crashes: 5 second speed penalty

Yeah, I just don't get the complaints. The heavy crash penalty is 100% fair. You have to really mess up in order to get that. If you get it, then you deserve it.

Same for the moderate bumps. You can still bump them. You can cut the corner a bit and edge them out and get no penalty if you do it right. If you smash them out of their spot then a small point deduction is fair.
 

Late Flag

Member
What you guys favoured track and car so far?
I love India point to point track, great balance of sharp corner and speed way. Great scenery too, love tea farm and sprinkler.

I'm not far enough along yet to have a "favorite," but this is the one I would have picked too. It feels nice and long, like a point-to-point should, and the track features a good amount of diversity.
 

Duallusion

Member
I went for that Cleanup trophy and set a custom race on rookie difficulty. Now, I'm nothing special when it comes to racing games but I have a lot of them under my belt and I'd like to believe I don't suck at them. I won and all but I don't remember a racing game where I didn't absolutely smoke the AI on easiest setting. Here? They are always on your ass no matter what making me seriously doubt my racing credentials. :)

I'm starting to worry about those PRO events in the tour. ;_;
 
The penalties never seem consistent for me. I've gotten the harsh penalty when just tapping a guy or BARELY going off track, and then sometimes I've done the opposite and gotten no penalty or just the point penalty.
 

Mononoke

Banned
Guess that is what I get for not reading the thread. So the servers are down, does that mean I can't play this at all? Are there offline single player modes?
 

Danneee

Member
Yeah, I just don't get the complaints. The heavy crash penalty is 100% fair. You have to really mess up in order to get that. If you get it, then you deserve it.

Same for the moderate bumps. You can still bump them. You can cut the corner a bit and edge them out and get no penalty if you do it right. If you smash them out of their spot then a small point deduction is fair.

I've had instances where the cpu drives into me in a turn resulting in a speed penalty so no, this isn't a good solution if the AI is ass.
 

Serick

Married Member
So I played for about 4 hours last night. Some quick thoughts.

  • Graphics are definitely not as good as some of the preview footage we've seen for some reason. But I am still happy with what I see. As a total package it's the best looking racer I've ever played. Can't wait for weather.
  • Aliasing is an issue - not sure how people don't see the problems. The little flickering white dots on some of the cars is really jarring. (and no it's not my TV, I used a Spyder to calibrate it).
  • It's obvious the "soulless" claims come from people who have not played the game with its online features and clubs. I also felt lonely playing the single player tour offline. Can't wait to play with everyone from DriveClub-GAF (I added like 400 people last night >_>).
  • The gameplay is damn fun. It's 100% not a sim, but it's not NFS power slide around 90degree angles at 150+mph either. I love that this game takes skill.
  • The car models are some of the best I've ever seen - they really make Forza's cars look plastic and fake when switching between both (comparing same car on two different HDMI inputs.). I think it might just be the way Forza decided to render the paint...
  • The soundtrack is great. It just works and blends seamlessly into the racing.
  • The sense of speed is unmatched.
  • When the handling clicked in my head, combined with the visuals and soundtrack I actually got goosebumps several times last night.
  • It really is an amazing experience and I can't wait to see how it evolves.
 
I went for that Cleanup trophy and set a custom race on rookie difficulty. Now, I'm nothing special when it comes to racing games but I have a lot of them under my belt and I'd like to believe I don't suck at them. I won and all but I don't remember a racing game where I didn't absolutely smoke the AI on easiest setting. Here? They are always on your ass no matter what making me seriously doubt my racing credentials. :)

I'm starting to worry about those PRO events in the tour. ;_;

Same lol I consider myself pretty good and even the starter events I crossed the finish line with the AI right on my ass.
 
Can we really not change the basic colour of our car before a race?

Go to your garage and pick any car to customize. You get 3 custom paint jobs that you can apply to any car. Just make each custom one a basic color and take off the designs. I did a nice red, black, and blue.

Then when you go back to start a race you'll get to choose between the colors you just made.
 
Yeah, I just don't get the complaints. The heavy crash penalty is 100% fair. You have to really mess up in order to get that. If you get it, then you deserve it.

Same for the moderate bumps. You can still bump them. You can cut the corner a bit and edge them out and get no penalty if you do it right. If you smash them out of their spot then a small point deduction is fair.
I always try to make up for those small penalties by immediately drafting someone in front of me. You can triple what you lost with that small bump in about 4 seconds.

At least, that's how I rationalize those little point losses.
 
So I played for about 4 hours last night. Some quick thoughts.

  • Graphics are definitely not as good as some of the preview footage we've seen for some reason. But I am still happy with what I see, it's the best looking racer I've ever played. Can't wait for weather.
  • Aliasing is an issue - not sure how people don't see the problems. The little flickering white dots on some of the cars is really jarring. (and no it's not my TV, I used a Spyder to calibrate it).
  • It's obvious the "soulless" claims come from people who have not played the game with its online features and clubs. I also felt lonely playing the single player tour offline. Can't wait to play with everyone from DriveClub-GAF (I added like 400 people last night >_>).
  • The gameplay is damn fun. It's 100% not a sim, but it's not NFS power slide around 90degree angles at 150+mph either. I love that this game takes skill.
  • The car models are some of the best I've ever seen - they really make Forza's cars look plastic and fake when switching between both (comparing same car on two different HDMI inputs.). I think it might just be the way Forza decided to render the paint...
  • The soundtrack is great. It just works and blends seamlessly into the racing.
  • The sense of speed is unmatched.
  • When the handling clicked in my head, combined with the visuals and soundtrack I actually got goosebumps several times last night.
  • It really is an amazing experience and I can't wait to see how it evolves.

Agree with everything you said, especially the aliasing. It's strange because it actually looks worse (the white dots) on some cars than others, wonder if it has to do with the shapes and edges on them. It seems most noticeable at night, less so in day. But I'm racing bumper or cockpit cam most of the time so it's not a huge deal.

But yeah the game really is something special and I can't wait to get that full connected experience. Come on servers :(
 

Trigonx

Member
A lot of people are using people's reactions to the penalty system as proof that they're casuals who hate racing or something, but I think they're glossing over the actual complaints.

From the sounds of it, the penalties are annoying people because they lower your in-game speed, and they crop up for seemingly innocuous arcade racing game antics like bumping and whatnot. I definitely think penalties should exist, but is a speed penalty really the way to go?

"Just drive better" isn't really an excuse either, in my opinion. Just like how old GT games were a little disappointing without damage modeling, a racing game that aggressively resets you onto the track when you mess up or zaps your speed seems a bit overbearing, similar to NFS The Run.

Am I right here, or are the penalties not actually that obnoxious in game?


I am just about 100% ok with the penalties, especially the collision one. I just wish it was a tick shorter, it feels to last forever at the wrong moment. The corner penalty though has bugged me on a few occasions when the path i was on seemed to be the track(night race in a tight path) and then the road bended by just a hair and I got a penalty.

"Just drive better" is right though. If you want to win; you are going to have to drive better to accomplish that and not cut corners and slam the other cars. When you drive better you are not sliding off the track that often, and when you do you can quickly manage to get back on. I've only been reset to the track twice in the large playtime I have put in already(not sure of how long time-wise but I'm level 22 now).
 
So I played for about 4 hours last night. Some quick thoughts.

  • Graphics are definitely not as good as some of the preview footage we've seen for some reason. But I am still happy with what I see, it's the best looking racer I've ever played. Can't wait for weather.
  • Aliasing is an issue - not sure how people don't see the problems. The little flickering white dots on some of the cars is really jarring. (and no it's not my TV, I used a Spyder to calibrate it).
  • It's obvious the "soulless" claims come from people who have not played the game with its online features and clubs. I also felt lonely playing the single player tour offline. Can't wait to play with everyone from DriveClub-GAF (I added like 400 people last night >_>).
  • The gameplay is damn fun. It's 100% not a sim, but it's not NFS power slide around 90degree angles at 150+mph either. I love that this game takes skill.
  • The car models are some of the best I've ever seen - they really make Forza's cars look plastic and fake when switching between both (comparing same car on two different HDMI inputs.). I think it might just be the way Forza decided to render the paint...
  • The soundtrack is great. It just works and blends seamlessly into the racing.
  • The sense of speed is unmatched.
  • When the handling clicked in my head, combined with the visuals and soundtrack I actually got goosebumps several times last night.
  • It really is an amazing experience and I can't wait to see how it evolves.

This is almost exactly how I feel, especially toward the visuals/graphics; well said.
 

Mononoke

Banned
Tour Mode and Quick Race for Single Player

Alright, thanks for the heads up. I actually just installed it, and clicked "X" and it threw me straight into an offline race. So I had no idea what I was doing. I just paused it after seeing a notification the server was down.

So good to know that I can jump out of this and do other modes. I actually, played a lot of my other racing games offline lol (Like Forza Horizon)...so it's not the end of the world for me. It's still awful that online if down though. That's like a main reason people buy these games. But I guess I'll be okay today doing the usual offline.
 

Antti

Member
Disagree, I didn't notice any rubberbanding happening in my play so far.

I've completed the game and it's definitely there.

EDIT: Googled it and found a link where the developer said there will be no rubber banding in the game, but I don't know what else to call it when I can catch up to the AI with awful laps but not shake them loose with killer ones. This happened a lot throughout my playthrough.
 
I always try to make up for those small penalties by immediately drafting someone in front of me. You can triple what you lost wut that small bump in about 4 seconds.

Haha. Same. You get a ton of points for drafting. Then from there you get another 500 from overtaking your opponent or whatever its called. The points you lose from a bump pennies on the dollar.

I've had instances where the cpu drives into me in a turn resulting in a speed penalty so no, this isn't a good solution if the AI is ass.

Gotta take those turns faster, brotha
 

Majmun

Member
Been playing the game for a few hours today. It's so much fun and it looks amazing.

The only thing I don't like are the penalties. I hate it when another care bashes against my car during a nice point drift. And I get penalized for it. -_-

But other than that, the game is amazing. Especially for €39. It's such a polished product.
 

-Amon-

Member
The game has some serious rubberbanding going on. Easy to catch up, almost impossible to shake loose.

I don't think that the ai changes its speed if you're ahead. The problem is that when you're ahead and don't know the tracks you tend to drive slover because you don't have cars ahead of you that help you judge braking points and driving lines. So you tend to drive slower and they catch up.
 

AndyD

aka andydumi
I'm not far enough along yet to have a "favorite," but this is the one I would have picked too. It feels nice and long, like a point-to-point should, and the track features a good amount of diversity.

I really like that "corkscrew" turn, not sure if its on that track though. It's similar to me to the Shanghai F1 track turn complex but larger and with significant elevation changes which makes it that much better. Like an evolved version of the corkscrew at Laguna Seca.
 

Insane Metal

Gold Member
I've completed the game and it's definitely there.

EDIT: Googled it and found a link where the developer said there will be no rubber banding in the game, but I don't know what else to call it when I can catch up to the AI with awful laps but not shake them loose with killer ones. This happened a lot throughout my playthrough.

Around 60% in and not at all.
 

R&R

Member
I've completed the game and it's definitely there.

Yeah, it's really weird, devs have said numerous times that there is no rubber banding...

But, there definitely is something - no matter how well you drive you can never really shake the other cars totally. You can compare it if you drive slower but still manage to win, the AI times are much slower - but if you do a perfect race, they still almost match you. Does the AI adapt to your driving?
 

Antti

Member
I don't think that the ai changes its speed if you're ahead. The problem is that when you're ahead and don't know the tracks you tend to drive slover because you don't have cars ahead of you that help you judge braking points and driving lines. So you tend to drive slower and they catch up.

I kept track of my lap times from the corner of the screen. It's weird.
 

AndyD

aka andydumi
I don't think that the ai changes its speed if you're ahead. The problem is that when you're ahead and don't know the tracks you tend to drive slover because you don't have cars ahead of you that help you judge braking points and driving lines. So you tend to drive slower and they catch up.

Also drafting. Drafting lets you catch up to them, but then also lets them catch up to you.
 
The problem is drivers will become real aggressive once you enter "late game".

They'll ram you like there is no tomorrow causing you to ram others and get penalties. It's annoying.

Honestly, I think those penalties need to be removed. It's quite obnoxious when I'm not hitting any walls and the AI hits me while I'm turning and I'm docked points for their screw up. It's such a stupid penalty.
 
Watched an Inside Sim Racing YT video the other day, and that's what it seemed like to me as well. He was left behind by the field and raced hard but barely caught up at all.

This was my experience as well. Got a good lead on some of the AI in a race and checking my rear view I saw they were not catching up. Skidded a bit and lost speed and they quickly gained on me.
 
There's definitely some sort of "rubberbanding" at play. It may just be some sort of dynamic AI, but I've definitely seen them accelerate at seemingly impossible speeds. They also seem to "get better" if I'm in the lead. Or maybe I'm just insane.
 

LordofPwn

Member
So I played for about 4 hours last night. Some quick thoughts.

  • Graphics are definitely not as good as some of the preview footage we've seen for some reason. But I am still happy with what I see. As a total package it's the best looking racer I've ever played. Can't wait for weather.

Really? all of the preview footage i saw was terribly compressed and soft, no idea how that could possibly look better than the video output of this game... i agree with the rest of what you have to say though. cant wait for photo mode.
 
There's definitely some sort of "rubberbanding" at play. It may just be some sort of dynamic AI, but I've definitely seen them accelerate at seemingly impossible speeds. They also seem to "get better" if I'm in the lead. Or maybe I'm just insane.

You aren't insane. It happens a lot to me. I can get far ahead of the AI without stopping and somehow they gain some insane speed and fly past me.
 

Taker34

Banned
So I have played a couple of hours and DC is an extremely fun game. I'm normally not into racing games (a bit GT5 and Forza 3 last gen) but it's already addicting. Can't wait for the weather patch and DLC content (anything this month?). The number of cars isn't too great of course but I feel like it was worth the wait. I'm also glad that I disagree with most review scores. :)
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top Bottom