Oh, man, the pressure of trying to keep fuel consumption down and the pace up! I'm not sure I could stand it.
What happens if it rains, will the prolonged race force you to pit in that case?
I need a pit crew chief to help me with these things so I can concentrate on driving during the race.
Yeah, so I have been playing Driveclub since I suckered down and bought it, and the first thing that strikes me is how good it looks. The details are insane on the cars! Metallic paint looks exactly right, and the lighting model is just glorious to behold, down to the (annoyingly realistic) dashboard reflections on a dirty windscreen at sunset!
Handling wise it's definitely an arcade racer, but as I bought it as such I have no complaints here. It's not quite down at Need For Speed levels, but
I can drive it with a DS4, that's how simplistic it is!
(Edit 2: Disclaimer - I drive Automatics...
)
However, it
is still
fun, and gives you an OK illusion of controlling a high powered car. The sense of speed is very good when you storm down a narrow road. Since I'm no longer behind my G27 wheel, I'm using the cockpit view most of the time (for some reasons I manage the drifting events better in 3rd person view
), and it's a great sense of presence turning your head towards the apex or checking the opposite door mirror. I can only imagine the awesomeness of using e.g. the Project Morpheus virtual reality head gear with car games.
The fact that you can't tune the cars doesn't bother me very much. When driving with others its often preferable that way, as we've noticed. And I still get to doodle around with the paint jobs.
I have strikes of déjà vu when I hear people complain about the AI drivers, as the same have been said about the AI in Gran Turismo. It is fiercely aggressive! They will brake late, close the inside of turns with a vengeance, and without mercy force you to brake or go off track on the outside. They are not oblivious to you as they push hard to get by and stay ahead. I have so far not noticed any rubber banding, but I have not tried parking for a lap and see what happens either. The point-to-point tracks are sometimes very narrow though, so it's often a bit too much shoving for my taste. To me, the game put up a challenge, which is nice, and I think it's amplified by the (by comparison) limited car selection without tuning. I believe I would have smoother races with my wheel, but... Yeah, let's not go there now.
Speaking of Gran Turismo, the single player games play out very much alike to me. Exchange Credits for Fame and you pretty much have the same progression. Why change a winning formula?
Now, to a big reason I enjoy driving around in Driveclub: The Sound!
The cars sound like you expect they should, unlike in Gran Turismo. The roaring V8 of a Maserati it... well, roars appropriately, and the screaming V8 of a Ferrari howls like the banshee it is. The gamers who complain about the sound must have judged it by the first few hatchbacks which of course a tame compared to the super cars.
And it's not just the engine noise. Tyre squeal is much more pleasing and balanced too, and the contextual run off sounds mix in nicely. To me it's just a much better experience soundwise than Gran Turismo.
Sadly, the online part is just... broken... at the moment, hence why I'd call this a preview. I've only been connected long enough to make myself a "Club" before being disconnected again.
They seem to have severe problems on their end and are still analysing the problem, so it's not just a capacity issue to throw more servers on.
Here is a video of a "hotlap" showing off the graphics, sound, and a bit of the handling model:
I'll be online tonight racing/training/mucking about, so send me a message if you need some (not quite sober) gaming company.
I need a pit crew chief to help me with these things so I can concentrate on driving during the race. 
^^ 
