14 DAY TRIAL // Evolution Studios, the developer behind the upcoming Driveclub racing game for the PS4, believes that the free PS Plus edition that will be offered for members of the program is going to entice many of them to upgrade it to the full edition of the experience.
Driveclub was initially set to debut last year right alongside the PS4 worldwide, but unfortunately, developer Evolution Studios and publisher Sony decided to delay the racing experience for extra polishing and to ensure that the social features worked as intended.
A few months ago, the two companies finally confirmed a new October release date for both the full game and for the special Driveclub PS Plus edition that includes just some of the cars and tracks.
While talking with GRTV, Evolution's Art Director Alex Perkins has confirmed the hopes of the team about this free version of Driveclub. Apparently, the studio wants to motivate players to spend money and upgrade to the full edition of the racing experience.
"We hope that people will download the PlayStation Plus [edition] really enjoy the gameplay experience and the actual connectivity of Driveclub. And then realize the stunning beauty and the brilliance of the cars can only be expanded by buying the whole game. It gives a nice solid format for people to start interacting with and actually using the challenge system and doing the connectivity," he says.
"So it should give people a really great intro to how Driveclub is and hopefully spur them on to start challenging, competing from the extra locations and cars they get when they purchase the whole game."
In terms of the actual delay, the art director confirms that his own team has also benefited from the extra time, as it could implement better looking visuals and even worked alongside the programmers to add mechanics that power even more impressive effects relating to the weather and the environment.
"Certainly from the art side we spent a lot of time working on the image quality. The programmers have helped, given us entire new systems for reflections, depth of field, the whole lighting has been upgraded, the whole cloud system has gone even higher resolution," he explains.
"We're really concentrating on all the details, whether it's the sky all the way down to the tarmac, all the way down to how the vehicles look and feel and interact with all the landscapes."
Driveclub is going to debut this October exclusively for the PS4. Expect to see exact details about the things included in the free PS Plus edition until then.