Driveclub (VR) (PlayStation 4)

Driveclub VR is in a way a subset of the original Driveclub game containing both off-line and on-line races. As the name implies, the game gives an importance on creating or joining online clubs with other players and earning points by competing in various races. For offline mode, the same type of races still appear, such as racing with other opponents (AI offline or other players online), time trials, free driving which lets you explore the surrounding of each track with a VR helmet without pressure of winning, or drifting.

There are dozens of cars available, but at the beginning only two are unlocked. The rest become available as you drive and in doing so level up. Character creation is also available, but unlike in role-playing games, you can choose only sex, one of the several faces, clothes, and helmet style. When racing you can use factory color of a car, club colors if you are part of an online club, or do your own coloring and design. Tracks are split and selected per countries (Scotland, India, Japan, etc.) and vary in terrain from city streets and actual racing tracks to snowy mountains. While the weather effect selection is only limited to clear and cloudy, time of day can be set by clock which will result in racing at sunset, noon, dawn, or night.

Each of the cars can be examined from the outside by rotating and rising the circular pedestal they’re on. You cannot open doors or peek inside, but that is more than explorable when driving a car from the cockpit perspective. This is VR game so zooming in or out basically means moving your head toward the object you wish to see more closely. Driving perspective include cockpit view which lets you see full car interior and rely on rear mirrors and turning your head, hood view which is down to earth front view showing nothing but a small silhouette of the front bumper or something similar, and 3rd-person perspective which although in VR looks just as real since you follow your car from the bird’s perspective right behind it unless it swerves.

Driving off road is not forgiving and you’ll often be prompted to get back on track with a click of a button or to manually drive yourself back. During cockpit view the distance, the speed and other info will be visible on a GPS-like device in your car, while switching to 3rd-person or hood view will show all the info at the top of the screen. The VR does not know boundaries, meaning that while inside the cockpit view you can literally move your head outside the car’s window or roof and make yourself a unique outside of a car driving perspective.