Video Game / Driveclub

Drive together, win together

"How fast do you wanna go?"

— Hybrid, "Be Here Now" (main theme)

The first rule about Driveclub: you do not talk about Driveclub.

...We kid, we kid.

Driveclub (usually stylized as #DRIVECLUB) is a 2014 Racing Game developed by Evolution Studios and published by Sony Computer Entertainment for the PlayStation 4. The main focus of this game is the connected social experience in clubs formed of six people and creating challenges used to earn Fame (think of Kudos) on circuits based on locations from around the world, including Canada, Norway, Chile, Scotland, India and Japan. Think of OutRun meets Battle Gear and you'll have a bit of an idea of what it's all about.

While the game was released on October 7th, 2014, it was meant to be released on the console's launch day. It got delayed to have some of its features perfected, and was subsequently released almost one year later. A Playstation Plus Edition was announced, but the game's servers ran into stability issues on launch, breaking the online features and causing the PS Plus version to be postponed until they get more stabilized, along with an in-game app. Due to this, the first car pack was given free as a compensation for the disastrous launch, and the upgrade to PS Plus version on the Store has been discounted by half. The PS+ version eventually launched on June 25th 2015, and feature-wise is the full game, but content-wise it only has India tracks, 15 cars and the Startline tour. ^note  An interesting thing of this version is that the Season Pass or paid DLC content is completely playable even if you didn't pay the upgrade. However, to play non-Indian tracks in non-tour mode you must upgrade.

However, Evolution has been supporting the game giving them each month free updates with new features ranging from dynamic weather to replays to new multiplayer modes, more tracks and free cars (sometimes more than one) with monthly updates. In addition, a Season Pass is being sold which delivers each month new liveries, two event packs and five (four if it is a Lamborghini pack) new cars until the end of July. The last DLC pack was launched on March 22nd, 2016, on the exact same day Evolution Studios was shut down, although a VR version was in the works with new circuits: those made it for free in the base game in an update in late 2016, with that update and VR being the very last projects Evo has worked so far... under that name. Codemasters would buy the studio a month after its shutdown, rebranding it as Codemasters Cheshire and developing Onrush and Dirt 5.

A standalone^note If you have the base game, it's cheaper and is integrated in the main game Expansion Pack, titled Driveclub Bikes, was released on October 27, 2015 - 20 days late of the game's first anniversary. As announced by Sony on March 30, 2019, Driveclub and all its DLC were removed from purchase on PlayStation Network on August 31, 2019, and the game's servers went offline on March 31, 2020.

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This game provides examples of:

• A Taste of Power: The first thing you'll do is race the Mercedes-AMG GT (A Performance car) in Sentraltind, and then you are demoted to Hot Hatches until the first cup. Subverted for the Bikes expansion instead, as your first race will be in the Asagiri Highland Raceway (Variant 3) on the KTM RC8 R, which is the bike you'll start off with.
  • The Startline Tour is meant for those who are on the fence about buying the season pass or PS Plus edition players. In short, it's a tour featuring some of the events on the DLCs, but limited to just one car ^note  Which you can also try if you don't have the packs or haven't unlocked yet, such as the Renault Alpine A110-50.
• And Your Reward Is Clothes: Scoring all stars in a tour grants you a Gold trophy and a livery for your cars.
• Blinded by the Light: Usually happens when entering tunnels, like the ones at Goshodaira and Atlanterhavsvegen, that both begin and end in a corner.
• Bribing Your Way to Victory: The August update also introduced paid Fame Boosters, which will double up the fame you earned during gameplay for a certain amount of events.
• Car Porn: The car's models have been modelled to ridiculous amounts of detail: in fact, one model got rejected because it had a screw on the wrong position!
• Challenge Gamer: By sending challenges to other people, or playing the ones they send to you. Also, thanks to the Bikes Expansion, it's the only PlayStation game to have two Platinum trophies.
• Driver and Club level: Up to 120 for the former and 100 for the latter, and they are required to obtain liveries, cars and logos for clubs. A recent update has upped the ante for Driver levels by introducing Elite Levels, starting with Level 60, where leveling up is not done only through collecting Fame, but also by beating certain objectives such as having enough Tour Stars or beating a lap time on a certain circuit in a certain car.
• Color-Coded for Your Convenience: See those colored flags on the sides of most corners in the non-closed circuit racetracks? Those indicate a corner's difficulty level: green is the easiest, yellow is medium difficulty, and red is the hardest.
• Cool Bike: The entire schtick of the Bikes Expansion Pack, with motorcycles and superbikes from brands such as Yamaha, BMW, Kawasaki, Ducati, and Honda.
• Creator Cameo: The Wombat Typhoon ^note released on April's Fools Day 2015 is the iconic buggy from Evolution's previous racing series, Motorstorm. Because of this it's classified under a Bonus tier, and it has a traditional Nitro Boost, unlike the cars that have KERS (sadly, it won't explode if depleted).
• Creator Provincialism: While Gran Turismo focuses on Japanese cars and Forza Motorsport on American cars, Driveclub relies almost exclusively of European cars, especially exotics: the exceptions are the Venom GT, Viper, Charger, Challenger, Camaro and Corvettes C6 & C7 (USA), Nissan GT-Rs and 370Z Nismo, Honda Civic Type-R (Japan), W Motors Lykan Hypersport (Lebanon), VUHL 05 (Mexico), Icona Vulcano (China) and Marussia B2 (well... Russia).
  • This averted the Japan Takes Over the World trope: PlayStation 4 being a Japanese console, and five Japanese-inspired tracks available for download, yet only three Japanese cars (Thank you Nissan!) made their appearance. Then the Bikes added Yamaha, Honda, Kawasaki and Suzuki to the Japanese manufacturer list.
• David Versus Goliath: The Unite In Speed tour in a nutshell. And you are the David to the opponents' Goliath; it gets especially egregious in the final event, the "Unite In Speed Trophy", where you drive the Ferrari 458 Italia against other and vastly better Prancing Ponies (such as the Enzo and the LaFerrari). Luckily, the opponents tend to be Unskilled, but Strong.
• Diegetic Interface: First Person View. Complete with a mild Shaky P.O.V. Cam (unless you do a barrel roll... and crash).
• Difficult, but Awesome: The Ariel Atom V8 and any hybrid for different reasons: the Atom has the best acceleration of its class, but it has a tendency to oversteer. Hybrids, on the other way, have one (or two) extra buttons to be pressed if you want to get the best out of your races or time trials.
  • The Hennessey Venom GT also falls into this trope: being an absurdly fast and tail-happy vehicle, it is very difficult to handle for most drivers the first few times. If one can control its oversteering tendencies, it can easily set record times and net you huge amounts of Fame.
• Downloadable Content: Game modes, tracks, a free car and features are included in free updates each month, but cars, events and liveries can be bought standalone or in a Season Pass.
  • Averted with microtransactions: they were once introduced to unlock cars before reaching their level, but fans criticized it and it got removed in the final game. Subverted with LaFerrari and Renault Sport R.S. 01, which can be unlocked by reaching level 5+ on the Ferrari Accolade and reaching level 66 respectively, or by paying 3.60€ for the former and 1.50€ for the latter.
• Event-Obscuring Camera: invoked The developer chose to replicate effects that happen to real-life cameras. For example, when it rains, water drops will cover the in-game camera, unless you are playing from the dashboard/cockpit camera.
• First-Person Snapshooter: Clicking the right side of the touchpad (R3 for wheel users) enters you in Photo Mode, where you can use the in-game camera like a DSLR one to set aperture, focal distance, frames, bokeh type or an array of filters such as Action, Blockbuster, Driveclub, Ink or Last gen. To take pictures you must hide the UI and press the Share button, as many other games have done.
• Flawed Prototype: Some cars that never went into production, such as the Renault Twin'run, don't have windshield wipers, which becomes a problem if it starts raining during your race, and also means you can't use either of the interior views if you want to see where the heck you're going.
• Genre Throwback: To '90s style arcade racing, with an added online multiplayer twist.
• Green Aesop: The Renault DeZir, Peugeot EX1 Concept, Rimac Concept_One, Citroën DS Survolt and Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG Electric Drive are fully electric, while the McLaren P1 , P1 GTR and Jaguar C-X75 are hybrids. With Nitro Boost.
  • Subverted with LaFerrari, FXX K, Peugeot Onyx and Icona Vulcano: They are hybrids on their own, but the driver can't control the electric engines unlike the last two.
• Green Hill Zone: Canada's circuits are set in the rolling countryside of British Columbia. The Japan tracks also count to some extent.
• Jungle Japes: India, being set in the states of Kerala and Tamil Nadu.
• Lethal Joke Character: The Renault Twin'run Concept^note essentially a prototype mid-engined Renault Twingo III looks more like a Hot Hatch than a Super: however, it has huge amounts of grip on corners, and on the right hands can win anyone online, especially on the smaller tracks such as Los Pelambres and Yedapalli - where it even holds world records.
• Lightning Reveal: when playing on dark environments and heavy weather, it's difficult, if not impossible, to see the track beyond your headlights. From time to time, a thunder will strike on the track, revealing a small chunk of the next few meters.
• Loads and Loads of Loading: Averted. Considering the PlayStation 4's furiously powerful hardware, each track will take just 15 seconds to load.
• The Lost Woods: The circuits in Scotland are set in the hazy, sparse Highlands and lochs of the country.
• Marathon Level: Since Midnight tour pack, each of the non-car related tour pack has one event with more laps than usual, such as Dusk 'til Dawn (Midnight), Dam Busters (Pacesetter), Peak Performance (Evolution), and Takahagi Hillbillies (RPM). Also, there's a multiplayer endurance playlist.
• Meaningful Name: There's a race event in Torque tour pack named Choose Your Poison (which also doubles as one of the Marathon Level examples above), and your car selection is limited between the Hennessey Venom GT and Lamborghini Veneno. It's worth to mention that the name Veneno is Spanish for poison.
• Nintendo Hard: Averted. The game, for the most part, is quite punishing to errors, but it's not even nearly as difficult as Evolution's previous game, and that really says something. Special mention goes, however, to Legendary difficulty. Also, combine it with Hyper class, weather and night if you want a Harder Than Hard approach.
• Nitro Boost: An interesting case, where only three cars have access to KERS systems: The Jaguar C-X75, McLaren P1 and P1 GTR.
  • Played straight with the Wombat Typhoon.
• No Fair Cheating: Corner cutting and Car Fu are punished in the form of Fame depletion and temporary horsepower loss.
• One Driver Army: If you choose to not join any club. You won't be able to use certain cars though (such as the BMW M3 E92 GTS or the Pagani Zonda R).
• Palette Swap: There are two BMW M5's whose only changes are the rims and headlights, though the 2013 model has a slightly superior stats.
  • The Pre-order vehicles are a more literal case.
  • Subverted with Renault DeZir and Renault A110-50 whom they share the same chassis designs, but with different specs. The same happens with the McLaren 12C and 650S, P1 and P1 GTR, SLS AMG Black Series and Electric Drive, Bentley Continental GT V8 and GT Speed, Ferrari 458 Italia and Speciale, 599 GTO and 599XX EVO, Enzo and FXX Evoluzione, LaFerrari and FXXK, Nissan MY15 GT-R and Nismo GT-R, Mercedes-AMG GT S and GT3, and Corvettes C6 & C7, as well as the Koenigsegg Agera R and the One:1.
• Photo Mode: Here it lets you switch view between inside and outside the car and comes with tilt options.
• Pimped-Out Car:
  • Hennessey Venom GT, in essence a Lotus Exige with a Twin-turbocharged LSX GM V8. Also, the Caterham R500 is essentially a modern Lotus 7.
  • Some race cars are essentially pimped-out variations of road cars, like 599XX EVO, FXXK and P1 GTR.
• Reconstruction: Of the old-school, Fifth-gen inspired racing game scene, gets completely rid of most of the unnecessary elements in modern racing games (such as rewinding, excuse plots, tutorials, tuning, etc) and blends in online interactions to make a game based on pure, skill-based racing.
• The Rival: Meta example: Driveclub is this to some Need for Speed games and Forza Horizon 2, except There Are No Police like in the former's games and it's not open world like in the latter game and other NFS games.
  • Evolution Studios has stated that the game is meant to go against GRID's style of racing.
• Rubber-Band A.I.: Averted; while Evo worked previously on MotorStorm, which relied heavily on this, Driveclub strips it all away: the AI can only go as fast as their car and/or skills let them.
• Scenery Porn: Not just the cars, but the environments fit this trope. Bonus points if weather is present.
• Score Screen: Fame, used to rank up you level and your club's.
• Shifting Sand Land: The Chile tracks are set in the barren deserts of the stick-shaped country's northernmost part.
• Shout-Out: One of the events on the Sakura tour pack is named Initial Drift. Another one from the Lamborghini tour pack is Duel
  • The Pacesetter tour pack brings us Twin Peaks, From Marussia with Love, Pacific Drift^note This are two Shout-outs in one, considering Motorstorm's sequel is named Pacific Rift and Dam Busters.
  • Then in Evolution tour pack, there's a time trial event named Crash Bandipur.
  • RPM tour pack does this with Finding Nismo, and also Chevy Chase.
  • The whole Velocity tour pack is one to Futurlab's game.
• Shown Their Work: The obsession of detail on this game is insane: each environment has its own fauna and flora; clouds, weather and damage are procedurally generated, developers have tried to replicate most of the features of their cars and they even used data from the NASA to map the night sky! More information can be found here.
• Slippy-Slidey Ice World: Zig-zagged with the Norway racetracks. While some of them play this trope completely straight (e.g. Sentraltind, Hurrungane), others instead subvert (e.g. Holmastad, Atlanterhavsvegen) or avert the trope entirely (e.g. Skjolden, Sognefjord Raceway).
• Super Prototype: Many concept cars fell into this. Most of them happen to be released as the free car of each month.
• Swan Song: Driveclub was the last game Evolution worked on before their shutdown on March 2016.
• Time Trial: Not just offline, but two online modes were included in patches (a team vs team TT and an individual one). You have 8 minutes to do the fastest lap against the other players, who are disguised as racing ghosts (to avoid collisions), and the one who scores fastest lap wins.
• Vanity License Plate: Unlike every other car featured in the game, the Ariel Atom and BAC Mono have it. The rest have generic license plates with the make/car model on it.

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