Original story (13 October): Next-gen racing game DriveClub has been plagued with server issues since its hotly anticipated launch last week.
Following a severe online backlash from players, the game’s director has taken to Twitter to update gamers and apologise for the difficulties.
DriveClub director Paul Rustchynsky also suggested that gamers could even receive compensation for their troubles. Although, at this stage, it is unconfirmed what shape that will take – with commentators claiming it could come in the form of a free DLC.
Rustchynsky has also defended the game’s developer, Evolution Studios, stating that its team was certain during the performance testing phase that DriveClub wouldn’t be afflicted with the kind of server issues it has now.
When the issue was reported by players last week, Evolution acknowledged the problem and stated that it was working on a fix. Towards the end of the week, the servers went back online but allowed less players to connect to the social racing game on a one-in-one-out basis.
Evolution further warned players that servers would remain problematic as it continued to run diagnostics. The developer also added that the free PS Plus version of DriveClub will be delayed indefinitely until the online woes are sorted.
Although DriveClub does have offline and single-player modes, the game has been celebrated for its social and online modes.
Rustchynsky has assured PS4 players that once they actually do make it online, they will face no further difficulties with gameplay. He added that the issue is strictly down to the server code having bugs and not due to server capacity.
UPDATE: Evolution continues to update DriveClub players of its attempts to fix the ongoing server crisis affecting the game. A post on the game’s official Facebook page states that although server issues are still being investigated, the changes made thus far now allow “the majority of DRIVECLUB players…[t0] be able to connect and play online.” Check out the full post, apologies and all, below.
Alas, the post also states that improvements are ongoing and that work on the servers is due to be carried out over the weekend meaning their could be further disruptions. For now though, players will be able to ” go online, play for your club, use your club cars, play multiplayer races, compete in face-offs, and compare your best times and scores with everyone on the leaderboards. This is in addition to playing in Tour mode, creating your own single events and customising your cars in your garage (which you can do offline too).”
