Yeah the much touted track deformation and mud physics didn't really amount to much. Imagine that with the extra power this gen offers, a sudden rain storm turning a track into a real mud bath, or ploughing through heavy snow.
I hope rally games also return to basics and concentrate on the interaction between the vehicles and the terrain. (And not whatever DiRT was going for)

Dead Rising 3 is the most underrated game of the gen thus far imho.

Also, a lot of people talk under the false assumption that DC was killed in reviews because of the bad launch. It's even right there in the OP. But the day one and close to launch reviews all had real game play flaws like shit AI, rubberbanding, broken game mechanics, etc and had very little to say about online play.

So essentially there is no guarantee that if DC became 100% working online and reviewers took a 2nd crack at it that there'd be this massive score difference.

edit - misread title, thought it said game of this gen. Narrowing it down to 2014 only, id go Titanfall.

Aside from the broken online, Driveclub scored low because it is bland and lacks character. The gameplay is ordinary. It is very unremarkable outside of the graphics department.

Anyone downplaying graphics take a look at this threadhttp://m.neogaf.com/showthread.php?t=906467&page=1 also everone whos played it is clearly happy with how it plays and what it has to offer. The salt is real...

No one is downplaying the graphics.......?

Yes it was downplayed, also try reading everything before responding....

Haven't played it but if its not a sim and if its not need for speed arcadey then what exactly is it

I did? Maybe you're missing something.

Agreed. The only racing series Ive been playing for the past few years has been DiRT but driveclub actually looks like a fun game to play. Someone on gaf described racing around in a blizzard barely seeing 10 ft in front of you having to rely on lights from objects passing by, full adrenaline because of  how immersive the experience is. It sounds like there's been a lot of tweaking to the mechanics In updates as well

Yep that is intense. You're glad when you can still see the tail lights of the car in front of you to follow. Driving through heavy rain at night, while stuck behind a bunch a cars is not much different with the spray obscuring most of the view. Knowing the track is essential, and hoping for a lightning strike to light up the full scene to briefly get oriented again.

They tweaked the penalties a bit. Collision and corner cutting penalties are less strict now. If the AI screws up and unintentionally blocks your path you can pretty much crash them out of the way without getting penalized. (Apart from the 100 points deduction) The collision penalty systems works by checking who has the right of way based on the driving line and speed at the point of the collision. The one that's most off the intended path gets the penalty, and after the updates the margins have gotten bigger. The penalty time also depends on how hard you hit them, flying right into the pack at the first corner will net you a 5 second penalty, while braking a bit too late might let you get away with a bump or only give you 1 second or less of no acceleration.

Same for corner cutting, there seem to be a lot more corners where you can get away with a bit of cheating. It also depends on your speed. If I you screw up before the corner and go slow it won't penalize me for cutting through the grass, while at the same point I'll get a penalty when I do it at speed. Seems it knows when you benefit from corner cutting, as the actual time penalty you get is also variable.

The penalty system is actually quite clever. So is the AI. It's challenging, tries to out brake you, cut you off and block you, and punishes you immediately for screwing up a corner. They make mistakes too and fight eachother as well. All the more satisfying when you manage a clean win. Plus great adrenaline shot when the AI screws up in the rain in front of you, sparks flying everywhere, cars turned around or sideways and you manage to thread the needle unscathed through a 5 car pile up :)