Driveclub’s New Elite Levels Explained; Both Easier and Harder Difficulty Options Coming

Yesterday Driveclub Game Director Paul Rustchynsky teased new elite levels coming to the game with a patch next week. Today he explained how they work and more.

[mushroomwig]

Easier difficulty! I like this game but in all honesty I really suck at it. It's not very forgiving for new players.

[AgentSmithPS4]

I haven't played it yet because of my full HDD but I hope there's a racing mode with strong catch-up for newer people that enjoy close together racing. It can be boring when you're a noob and you crash and then you're just driving 'alone' for a long distance. I hope there's many options to satisfy all driver types.

[rainslacker]

About the only gripe I have with the game is the really aggressive AI. After Semi-Pro it gets absolutely stupid how often they'll run you off the track, mostly due to how easy it is to lose control of your car...all while they'll keep going on like a slight gust of wind came upon them. I don't want an easier mode per say, I think the game is great, I just want the AI to no go out of their way to ram the crap out of you if you are in a good position in races that have extremely tight racing lines. Then of course there are the penalties you get when the AI runs you through a corner or slams into your car.

I guess it wouldn't be so bad if the AI got the same penalties, and lost control of their car like the player does. On top of that, the AI never even has to slow down at all to correct, and I've seen them able to drift and accelerate while on the grass or gravel.

I also would like the AI to not magically make up a 4-5 second difference because you happen to make a mistake which takes only a second to correct. It gets annoying to get a good position, make a mistake, then have to make up that position instead of trying to get to the 1st place. Dev said there is no rubber banding in this game, just the AI would slow down giving you a chance to catch up, but my experience with it says this is an absolute lie.

Unfortunately, the game isn't as accessible as something like GT or Forza due to the handling of the cars, which is good, but tends to be unrelenting in how easy it is to lose control of the car. It is a very good racer though. It just takes some getting used to, and it can be very frustrating at times.

A note to evolution if someone there happens to read it though...You don't need to throw weather into more than half your DLC tracks. Some of the races are great, but the ones where it starts raining or snowing midway through stop being fun at that point.

[iceman06]

I love this game...and I completely agree with your arguments here about the AI. It's not a game killer at all. It just takes a bit to get used to...and some patience.

[medman]

My only real issue with Driveclub is the braking and mandatory drifting to get through a turn....all the cars brakes are complete shite and the only way to navigate a turn is with the e-brake and drifting seems to be quicker than finding the proper braking line and managing it realistically. I realize this is a design choice made by the developer, and I've gotten used to it, but I don't care for it much.

[rainslacker]

I've noticed this too. I've never used the parking break in any other game to drift. It never even occurred to me. But hey...if Vin Diesel can do it...

Anyhow, one thing I notice, although maybe it's just my imagination, is that the view distance on the tracks narrows to the horizon at a much shorter distance than other racers. This makes upcoming turns look much further away than they actually are. When I was driving around in my regular car, I tried to see how far I could see forward before it looks like a turn is narrowing to the horizon, and I can say that it was much further away than the majority of distances you'll see on this track. More often than not the hills would obscure the turn than make them look like they were miles off.

I've become used to it, but I will agree this game pretty much requires you know how to draft. More than Ridge Racer did, and half it's mechanics were centered around drifting.

To bring it back to some of my other comments, drifting still doesn't really work at high speeds on a wet track as you absolutely need the traction of the outside of the drift in order to stop your car from sliding off the road. Which is why Evolution should look into a more realistic physics model if they're going to keep throwing weather into their DLC content.

[BoneMagnus]

It seems you cannot adjust the difficulty on the tour levels - only the single race. Since you can't tweak your car and turn on things like ABS and stability control, having some difficulty options would be nice. So far, I am fine with the smaller less powerful cars, but in a Ferrari in the rain, it takes everything to not spin out.

[rainslacker]

Some of the races just aren't fun with the weather going on. Powerful cars aren't meant to drive in the rain like that, and it's not even realistic that they'd be able to if you were a good professional driver. There's a reason most races don't take place in inclement weather. You can't put hundreds of horsepower of torque into a rear wheel drive car and send it down the road at 100+mph and expect it to stay on the road. Saw someone in a forum say...just drift it...and all I could think about is that's a cop out. It's just too dangerous to race in some of the weather they have in this game.

I understand it's a game, and the occassional race with weather is cool...like they did in GT...but damn if they don't like to show off their weather effects in a lot of the DLC.

Anyhow, I found it better just to stay in the back of the pack as long as possible in those races, take the turns slow, because the AI won't really get too far ahead, then the last lap or two go all out and get your draft and drift on, and push for those last few places in the last 1/4 of the race. If you hit a wall...or happen to get one wheel on the grass...you probably will end up in last place.

[BABY-JEDI]

I hope they do another seasonal pass with city tracks.

[rainslacker]

I would like to see them release some more traditional style tracks. A lot of the tracks are really narrow with a lot of blind corners.

I don't mind the ones they have, but I would like more with nice wide lanes, and easier turns. I simple Nascar loop would be awesome. There's only a couple which have nice F1 style tracks, and I have the most fun on those.

[angelsx]

The big surprise for this game was the weather update. I haven't see anything close yet

[jokerisalive]

Awesome news...as I have said this is hands down my favorite next gen racer. Graphics still in a league by themselves and very addictive gameplay. Glad he said there will be additional content post season pass.