Drive Club, the Evolution racer nine years in the making

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http://media.edge-online.com/wp-content/uploads/edgeonline/2013/05/DRIVECLUB1.jpg (http://media.edge-online.com/wp-content/uploads/edgeonline/2013/05/DRIVECLUB1.jpg)Drive Club’s audiovisual sheen, as revealed for the first time on PS4 at PlayStation Meeting on February 20, might suggest that this is a videogame created in the here and now.That’s not the full story. Studio game director Matt Southern and tech director Scott Kirkland have been developing the idea since even before the UK studio started development on its PS3 launch title MotorStorm.Here, we find out why Drive Club took a backseat for so many years, Evolution’s ambitions to push the game beyond simulation and arcade racing, and how the studio is using PS4’s increased horsepower.It’s a little unusual for a game to have been at the concept stage for so long – can you tell us what forms it has taken as it has existed and evolved over the years?Matt Southern: I’ve been here nine years and it was probably one of the first concepts I was told about. Over the development of Drive Club over the past couple of years we’ve revisited some of those old materials to look at how it is the same and in other areas different. And certainly right from day one we wanted to use everything we’d learned about recreating real-world locations and that lovely feeling you get when something just looks breathtaking.It’s our favourite element of shows like Top Gear, where they just do it so well, you’re reminded of an absolutely staggering vista and that in its simplicity can be such a wonderful thing to see, that’s always been a core part of the game. So has recreating real vehicles with real love. Try to communicate not just the technical side of a vehicle but the way these things are built with love and passion and just how amazing it feels to sit inside, that’s always been a part of the Drive Club experience. Looking at some of those, again, those very early pictures back when we were independent, some elements made their way into bits of Motorstorm, we had those two ideas [of Motorstorm and Drive Club] on the boil at the time.

http://www.edge-online.com/features/drive-club-the-evolution-racer-nine-years-in-the-making/