- Drew Beausoleil

It goes without saying that racing games are the pinnacle staple when showing off graphics on the latest hardware of consoles and this is one of the reasons we face-off in these exclusives for the Xbox One and PlayStation 4 - Forza Horizon 2 VS Driveclub.

Graphics - Racing games are by far the best when it comes to stunning visuals and presentation. So how do these two show stoppers match up against each other?

Driveclub and Forza Horizon 2 are both beautiful with amazing graphics in and out of the vehicles and breathtaking landscapes, however, Driveclub slightly pushes the envelope a bit more in graphics having a more sharp and crisp looking set of wheels and the environments look slightly more detailed as well. Though both are outstanding to look at Driveclub gets the one up in this department as Evolution has pushed the game to new graphical height’s giving Driveclub a more realistic look and bringing you more immersed within your surroundings than Forza Horizon 2.

Gameplay – How do each of them feel compared to the other? Arcade vs Sim?

Each game is definitely designed differently than the other, Forza Horizon 2 is an open road that spans across southern Europe while Driveclub is more linear and places you on each track in hopes of placing in the top three. There is a story that drives Forza forward as you head into each race and off to new locations trying to beat out others as you make your way to the Horizon Festival. Driveclub opens you up to choosing which race you would like to tackle with goals that need to be met granting you a star rating system that will unlock future tracks and challenges.

Driveclub feels much more sim-like racing than Forza and depending on your preferred style of racing this could be more for you than the other. The controls for Driveclub are more precise as I would barely touch the analog stick having my car move sideways instantly, while playing Forza, I would push the analog stick all the way to the side for the same movement. The speed in both games are fierce and fast, giving you a sense of speed once you’ve progress into the higher ranking of cars. Your peripheral vision becomes blurred by the speed, your car begins to feel lighter with speed making the car almost uncontrollable yet perfect as you pass others, it’s a rush that is hard to find in the virtual space.

Forza is more arcade like than Driveclub, allowing you to drift much more easily and the overall feel of the cars when driving are more forgiving. Forza Horizon 2 is a party on wheels with tunes playing as you go on your way competing amongst others for top place within a circuit. Crowds are all around cheering you on as you race past others. You race through open cities to the wide open country-side, the course is laid out before you but lets you make the choice at points of which way to take some corners and doesn’t feel as constricted as Driveclub. Fans are there in Driveclub but are less excited and the sounds design is more focused on the cars themselves than the overall experience.

Forza will place side objectives throughout the world map giving you the opportunity to take on Rivals, find barns to unlock extremely rare vehicles, Bucket List challenges and much more. There appears to be more to do in Forza Horizon 2 than Driveclub as there is little else to do in Driveclub than the races that offer specific challenges within each of the courses, drift more than one competitor or follow the right line to achieve an XP bonus if you were able to score higher than the last competitor. Drift modes are there as well but I'm still looking for just a bit more variety within Driveclub.

Multiplayer – How well does the multiplayer experience stack up after the campaign is finished?

Both games thrive on a social network that will have us competing against friends and joining clubs to help add to the longevity for each of these games. The biggest problem comes from the multiplayer for Driveclub. Online mp as of our time of review still remains broken in some parts. The online at times will work great while other times, prevent you from entering a race, lock up or even kick you out. Not to mention the PS Plus version that allows PS Plus members to try a fairly large portion of the game has yet to come to those members at all. When it does allow us to get on-line and race others there can be large amounts of lag that will have your competitor jumping right in front of you, and yet other times everything ran smoothly. My one complaint about the mp is if you are more than 30 seconds behind the winner when they finish your time will expire not allowing you to finish the race. Joining a club will grant you XP for your club having you rival against other clubs, this is a great competitive feature but has yet to work properly.

Forza's mp has us facing off against friends and challenging rivals after each race has been completed. Moving up in the ladder is simple and easily accessible. There are other racers that go about their own business with Driveatar being present once again. Online racing games are a blast, playing tag with others or chasing after the non-infected racers can be a nice change in pace with online play but if you want to get down to business you may always join a club in Forza and race against others with a competitive edge. Online play with Forza works perfectly whether racing rival ghosts, others in online challenges or friends amongst your club Forza has a great multiplayer experience for the race car enthusiast.

Sever issues prevented us from leader boards and more with Driveclub but if fixed and everything Evolution promised comes to fruition, Driveclub truly could be a complete package for a more sim like racer. Forza Horizon 2 is a full arcade racing experience brought back to the forefront with tons of extra's to do off-line and on-line. Whether you like sim racers or arcade racing these two competitors have created beautifully stunning worlds to race around in...the question is, which world do you want to race in?