Driveclub

The PlayStation 4 exclusive racer is heavy on the social, structuring its dynamic around car clubs, bands of friends collating every individually earned point and adding to their overall club score. That score's then stacked against other rival clubs the world over.

Driveclub's steering closer to realism than arcade, handling similarly to Grid 2, but the developers are keen to stress that the perfect racing line is not the only way to success. Alongside that, you're judged during laps on drifting and top speed.

The way it works is this: while you zip around your chosen track, corners and certain stretches are overlaid with neon-emblazoned start and finish lines signifying a mini-challenge. The game snatches the stats of your nearest competitor - looking first to your friends list then globally otherwise - to find a drift score, racing line or speed that just betters yours, and overlays that alongside your previous best as part of the UI. Beat it and you'll score some points... and next lap you'll be stacked against yet another, better, rival. This constant re-tiering mid-race means there's a constant drive to better your ability on the course, and that any challenge could set you against a fellow club member keeps friendly rivalries ongoing.

The social system's simulated for the E3 demo, pooling from the much smaller stock of those who've played the game over the duration of the show, times and faces popping up on screen (the PS Eye snapping your face at demo's start) as you head into the bends. Demo choice of track is Kinloch, Scotland - sunset kissing a relatively flat course full of long straights and near-180 corners that are complete bastards to tackle. We kiss more gravel and walls than tarmac, wheels spinning out as we rev the accelerator a little too excessively. The flash of "failed" on screen as we miss the target score is just another kick in the face.

Given the road's design there's little in the way of trackside detail - its all about the far-distant mountains, and a wide shot of a lake turning orange by the setting sun. Landscape porn. When we use the right stick to twitch a look round the car, we spot castle remains, crowds of people watching from behind barriers, but these are brief glimpses - with rocket-propelled top speed, eyes need to stick to the road.

We test out a McClaren RC, Hennessey Venom GT, then a final run with an Audi R8, switching from analogue to motion control. That last is an outright disaster. While it's fun swinging the pad this way and that while in the in-car mode, unfamiliarity with the car and its drifting ability spins us far too many times before the first lap is through. We take a glance over at the Gran Turismo 6 simulator with their racing wheels and figure we're still a long way from controller motion control being the defacto choice for racing enthusiasts.

Like we said, it's a short demo. As a racer it feels fine, but it'll be the social functionality that'll have to define the Driveclub experience. E3 was rammed with the new breed of driving games. Both The Crew and Forza Motorsport 5 look through the lens of the social to frame their gameplay. Even Need for Speed: Rivals wants you and your buddies to go at it on the open road. There's some strong competition and we'll need a connected console and a world of racers alongside us until we can gauge how Driveclub measures up out on the racecourse.