DriveClub PS4

DriveClub has spent a dizzying two months caught in a tailspin, but the PlayStation 4 exclusive racer finally appears to be back on track. After hearing that its vaunted challenges system was back online, we decided to take the release for a test run this evening – and found everything working as intended. This is a marked improvement from our problematic return last month.

Despite being one of the key components of the title, the community aspect of the Evolution Studios developed drive-a-thon has been offline since launch. However, it now works as intended, allowing you to set lap times and send them to your buddies as part of a nifty social network-esque interface. We were able to compete against our friends’ times, and create our own mini-scoreboards without any issues.

Multiplayer also appears to be slick: connecting to races is now smooth as butter, while we found the netcode to be rock solid during our session earlier this evening. Leaderboards and clubs have been working fine for some time now, and remain that way. Of course, we’re hesitant to say that the title is fixed – especially as the developer is yet to actually comment on anything. Maybe it wants to make sure?

Either way, on the basis of our experience today, this almost feels like a new game. The challenges system really adds some pizzazz to the title, while the on-track Face-Offs – bitesized events that occur on the road – keep the core driving engaging. Factor in the recently released DLC and Photo Mode, and there’s plenty more to do these days, too.

Of course, it should have been this way a couple of months ago, when the game actually launched. Still, these improvements couldn’t have come at a better time, as DriveClub shot up the UK sales charts on Black Friday on the back of some cut-price bundles. There is still hope for this game, then – but it’s probably going to need a re-launch at this point. At least it finally works, though, huh?