Driveclub

Gran Turismo Sport, Gran Turismo 7, and Driveclub sales data has been leaked as part of a massive data breach at Insomniac Games, a first-party PlayStation Studio. Assuming the data is correct, it offers an unprecedented and fascinating look at the business side of the industry.

Late last year, it was reported that Driveclub was the most-played PlayStation 4 racer, sitting pretty at 10.5 million players. For comparison’s sake, GT Sport topped 6.6 million players at that time.

The DRIVECLUB VR saga is finally over. This morning at Gamescom, Sony confirmed the existence of the game and that PSVR players can expect to pick it up before the end of 2016 in a blog-post on the official Playstation EU blog.

UPDATE: The ESRB have now removed the separate Driveclub VR listing. Did we stumble upon something we weren’t supposed to?

The merger signals the vision of a “UK racing-genre powerhouse” that will house two of the most successful development teams within the UK. Co-founder of Evolution Studios Mick Hocking will become the VP of Product, highlighting that Codies isn’t simply absorbing the staff, but keeping the team as a creative unit that will bring a new IP to the table in the near future. The combined 45 years of industry experience proposes an exciting time for fans of the racing genre: between the two stalwarts, many iconic intellectual properties across both arcade and simulation disciplines have been released.

Our first look at Evolution Studios’ first Virtual Reality offering comes courtesy of French gaming outlet ‘Jeux-Video’, who recently posted a 9-minute recap of the VR offerings from the Games Developer Conference held in San Francisco last week.

Following the reveal of Driveclub’s March update content, Evolution launched the update yesterday and went into further detail about what to expect on the 22nd March from the next round of DLC Driveclub has to offer.

Hot on the heels of last week’s new tour packs, Evolution Studios have finally pushed out their smartphone application to the masses with the official Driveclub app hitting iOS and Android storefronts yesterday afternoon. Initially promised for launch in October 2014, the app’s core functionality allows players to track in-game challenges they are currently competing in and accept recommended challenges from around the Driveclub community.

Driveclub’s latest batch of DLC went live last night with paying players being treated on both car and bike fronts. Let’s take a deeper look at what the packs include:

Looking at my in-game statistics for Driveclub, you’d be forgiven for thinking I’m a superfan of the title. Maxed out XP, all Elite levels achieved, platinum trophies for both vanilla DC and the Bikes expansion plus more accolades than a war veteran. There’s no doubt whatsoever – no current generation game has even came close to the time I have played Evolution Studios’ middling racer (outside of a certain kart racer). I’ve raced in over 2,000 events, earning every single star.

Driveclub’s community team promised us February would be a cracker for the Playstation exclusive and they weren’t lying… this update, due to go live today, is bound to please fans and tempt potential purchasers alike.

Nineteen hundred seventy four. That’s a sizeable number, one with significance. You see, that is the total number of car models found in the following games: Gran Turismo 6, Forza Horizon 2, Driveclub, Project CARS, Forza Motorsport 6, Need For Speed, and Assetto Corsa. At least, that’s according to our handy, sortable Google Spreadsheet.

Sales. A controversial topic that’s known for sparking heated debate; a topic that is so heavily analyzed by the passionate user base that it is often misused as an absolute. It’s a topic one can’t help but be drawn toward—like a moth to a flame—as it gives a brief overview, or, at least, the perception thereof, of how well the product has been welcomed into the consumer’s home.

Update 1.25 is now available to download for Driveclub. Weighing in at 400MB the update introduces the Mercedes-AMG S 65 Coupé and the KTM 1290 Super Duke R as new accolade rewards, a new easy difficulty setting for all tour events, new options for private lobbies, and more based on the continuous feedback from the community.

Update 1.24 is now available to download for Driveclub. Weighing in at 400MB, the update introduces the long-awaited private multiplayer lobbies that were talked about earlier this year. The new feature has a variety of adjustable options and modifiers for the likes of grid position, gear changes, and camera perspective to name a few.

As teased in last week’s news, Ferrari’s twin-turbocharged 488 GTB is now available in Driveclub as a free downloadable add-on. This isn’t the first time Ferrari has used video games as a way of introducing their newest models to potential customers as Forza Motorsport 3 and Gran Turismo 5 were used to showcase the 488 GTB’s predecessor, the 458 Italia.

Update 1.20 is now available to download for Driveclub. Weighing in at 500 MB, the update introduces new “Elite” driver levels, new club leaderboards for every tour event, updates to club challenges, photo mode improvements and more based on the continuous feedback from the community.

Sony have announced that the Playstation Plus Edition of Driveclub will be released on June 25th. The ‘lite’ version of Driveclub will be free to all Playstation Plus members, however Sony have also stated that while off-line play will be available for all, on-line play will be rolled out gradually.