Clutch - upcoming narrative-led open-world driving game from ex Forza Horizon devs, launching spring 2027 on consoles & PC

[MXH]

Certainly looks fun and...different. The setting should make for some excellent roads and scenery.

Definitely keeping an eye on this, especially after spotting a white Focus RS MK1.
Overall, some rather interesting (and lovely) choice of cars as well.

I Watched some of the gameplay clips yesterday. Graphics and lighting are nice, but Framerate was a little janky. Of course they mentioned that still a lot of polishing needs to be done. Im curious to see if they can get the Unreal engine running at a 100% stable framerate.

They are supposedly using a custom version of UE5. I hope they can deliver a solid 60fps experience 🤞

 

[Isdanoel]

What interested me are the night street race with Midnight Collective. It's seems like the races are based on fans/followers instead of positions.

Theo Martial (MC/Protagonist) were on the trending leaderboard, Despite being on 3rd place.

 

[AudiMan2011]

Anyone explaining the grappling hook yet? I think I'll just have to accept it and maybe point out to the upcoming WRC promoter how effective it could be for hairpins and future audiences if they can do some R&D.

I don't really care about the physics or grappling hook assist for hairpins, but if the main story narrative is bogged down with garbage and cringey "modern" writing and dialogue, then  that is gonna be the deal breaker on if i buy this game.

 

[Fezzik]

“Clutch is set in Monaco and the surrounding French Riviera,” Maverick Games founder Mike Brown tells IGN. “We’ve built a version of Monaco that is actually larger than real-life Monaco. So Monaco, known for being quite dense and tight, we’ve allowed our level designers to add a little bit of space here and there – but every main road, every main landmark is present and correct. But the actual footprint of the space is larger than real-life Monaco.

“And then that’s surrounded by a sprawling French Riviera that goes up as high as the Alps and out to the Verdon Gorge, and then as far to the west as Saint-Tropez. We have three city hubs along the coast; you’ve got Monaco, and then Cannes, and then Saint-Tropez. So a huge world to explore and one that, we think, everywhere you go there’s real beautiful things to explore and see.”

Maverick Game’s Open-World Racer Clutch Is Set on the French Riviera, Features Monaco

Location, cast, and story revealed for open-world action-driving game, Clutch.

www.ign.com

Decent size map. About 80 miles of coast and then inland to the mountains. Not quite the same area as FH2. Hopefully this R1K in-game competition includes some offroading as well as the modern & vintage road racing.

 

[MagpieRacer]

Maverick Game’s Open-World Racer Clutch Is Set on the French Riviera, Features Monaco

Location, cast, and story revealed for open-world action-driving game, Clutch.

www.ign.com

Decent size map. About 80 kms of coast and then inland to the mountains. Not quite the same area as FH2. Hopefully this R1K in-game competition includes some offroading as well as the modern & vintage road racing.

To visualize that, here is how that would look on a real map:

It's around 140km from Monte Carlo to St. Tropez, 120km from St. Tropez to the Verdon Gorge, and around 135km from the Verdon Gorge to Monte Carlo. Running some basic maths, that would equate to an area of approximately 16'000km2.

Of course, I can't see it being that big so I am sure the map will be condensed, I would expect something similar to FH6 or Motorfest at around the 200km2 marker, but like a wide but shallow map.

 

[Eunos_Cosmo]

To visualize that, here is how that would look on a real map:
View attachment 1545077

It's around 140km from Monte Carlo to St. Tropez, 120km from St. Tropez to the Verdon Gorge, and around 135km from the Verdon Gorge to Monte Carlo. Running some basic maths, that would equate to an area of approximately 16'000km2.

Of course, I can't see it being that big so I am sure the map will be condensed, I would expect something similar to FH6 or Motorfest at around the 200km2 marker, but like a wide but shallow map.

Just for comparison, the FH2 map at scale next to the real Riviera (The drivable portion of the FH2 map is about 9 miles in width. Monaco to Cannes is 24 miles IRL). I hope the map outside of Monaco is not too condensed, because it will make the city itself feel unusually large.

 

[PJTierney]

We saw in the preview footage that the game currently has around 700 roads.
That puts it on similar scale to Forza Horizon 6 (which is about 650 roads and 150km2).

It would be nice if the mountain roads (Col de Turini especially) are included so that we can have a proper Rallye Monte Carlo experience.

 

[Fezzik]

Gameplay livestream on Thursday (if the devs haven't melted in the current British furnace)



5pm BST

 

[Fezzik]

Driveable Multipla. Peak game.

Being serious, I’m completely sold already. The graphics and handling look good, the story seems an acceptable amount of cheese, and it seems to be doing some new stuff beyond the usual open world formula.

Some other interesting bits

Map screen

Inevitable speed trap activity

Some of the cars for sale

Cockpit view with customisable interior

Level up screen

 

[MXH]

Damn, this looks really good and shaping up to be another banger for 2027.

 

[Vincenzo_CVR]

And I spotted also another cars in the Multipla sequence: The OC Fiat Panda 4X4, plus for Hot Hatch lovers, the 205 GTi.

Seems a good game indeed! ^^

 

[WanganDream]

Has anyone noticed that there's a Camaro-style fantasy car in this game?

What I found interesting about this car is the reason it’s in the game.
It wasn't because they couldn't get a Chevy license, nor was it because they wanted to save on licensing fees. they designed it specifically so they could depict it being completely destroyed.

It reminds me of the fantasy sedan from Driver: San Francisco. That car, too, was destined for a tragic fate, designed solely to depict destruction that would be impossible with a licensed vehicle.

This car likely won't be playable; it will probably appear solely as an AI-controlled vehicle and suffer the kind of destruction shown in the screenshot above in other scenes as well.

Nevertheless, I’ve taken a liking to this fictional car—both for that very fate and for the fact that, despite being a fantasy vehicle, it features a solid, well-crafted design. I realize some people dislike mixing real-world cars with fictional ones, but I still hope this car becomes playable.

 

[toastet]

A "little" thing costing a bit of immersion in this part of the world are missing scooters which are there irl in the thousands in Monaco and on the coastal roads switching to more motorbikes and road race bicycle groups on the mountain roads

Looks very good and I just hope with this huge map the roads will be diverse enough and not look all the same in the backcountry.

 

[kjb]

Just finished watching a replay of the live stream and so far this game is looking really good. I love the police chase scenes and the story looks like it may be okay. I can see the FH roots in some of the scenes but also NFS with the police chases. I hope it comes together for a good game.

 

[Nexus]

It wasn't because they couldn't get a Chevy license, nor was it because they wanted to save on licensing fees. they designed it specifically so they could depict it being completely destroyed.

It reminds me of the fantasy sedan from Driver: San Francisco. That car, too, was destined for a tragic fate, designed solely to depict destruction that would be impossible with a licensed vehicle.

Stefano Casillo (founder of Kunos) claimed that vehicle damage restrictions from manufacturers are a myth:

 

[nukleabomb]

Stefano Casillo (founder of Kunos) claimed that vehicle damage restrictions from manufacturers are a myth:

This probably varies from manufacturer to manufacturer and game to game.

Otherwise I don't see why Maverick would create a new car from scratch for just this story moment.

 

[space_wadet]

This probably varies from manufacturer to manufacturer and game to game.

Otherwise I don't see why Maverick would create a new car from scratch for just this story moment.

I think the biggest reason is because the drivers die in the crash in the story. Dying in the car is probably a big no-no for every brand.