Driveclub is the most underrated game of the year

[Mr Puggsly]

SvennoJ said:

While DC does invoke that feeling of driving on the Nordschleife, it's much closer to NFS Shift and PGR than GT. The difference is the speed. A sim racer keeps it realistic, while an arcade racer exeggerates grip and acceleration for a more immediate experience.

It's not a mediocre sim racer since it's not trying to be a sim racer. Unless you also think the original NFS is a mediocre sim racer? Anyway the true definition of arcade is the one more go principle and setting high scores. DC excels in that.

There are a lot of different arcade racers. What makes a fun arcade experience might not be fun for others, doesn't mean it's not a great arcade experience. I enjoy Wipeout best without the weapons, pure racing. For the same reason MK8 just doesn't do it for me, yet I still see the quality in the game. In NFS I don't like being the cops, I enjoy racing and evading. Turbo boost and radar jammer over offensive gimmicks.
After arcade racers resorting to stories (The run), annoying gimmicks (Split/Second), combat (Blur), or openworld to make things more 'interesting', DriveClub is a great return to what arcade racing is all about for me. Better than PGR, I played them all but never felt going beyond completing all the races.

(btw GT6 had as much new content as Forza 5, plus most of the existing content, a lot more than Forza 4 vs Forza 3, yet gets slated of being a rehash. Seems reviewers are just tired of track racing)

Again, Driveclub didn't quite find a balance that makes its a truly notable racer. If people are still having fun with it, great. I've had plenty of fun with games that only scored in the 60s or 70s on metacritic. I'm not sure why people are so bothered by it getting average scores. That atleast gives the impression critics enjoyed it at some level.

Driveclub is definitely a throwback but not necessarily one people want. I think its selling well because PS4 owners are thristy for a racing experience that isn't over the top like NFS and The Crew. The first party push doesn't hurt either.

Its possible track racers are scoring lower because critics are getting tired of them. The bar hasn't been raised much since Forza 3 and GT5 other than visuals. The Forza Horizon series has actually been refreshing change of pace. That's a mix of track racing and open world gameplay done incredibly well.