Within the first moments of playing Downtown Club, I feel like Max Verstappen. As I line up in the grid and grab the wheel, my fingers are gloved. My right hand finds my shift knob as the countdown starts. Three. Two. One. Then I am ready to go racing. After the first lap I think of a Labrador Retriever that was struck by a vehicle. Driving in Downtown Club turns out to be difficult. It’s difficult at least initially. After my horrendous first lap, everything is starting to come together. As I round a bend, the engine sings. On the inside of that corner is a car slower than mine. The long straight dips beneath an elevated city walkway. Sunlight reflects off of the glass windows in the towers on the right and left. The sky is blue. The clouds are fluffy. I suddenly find myself in Heaven, albeit an Early Access version of heaven. Release Date
: Out now (Early Access)
Developer
Commuter Games
$15.99 The city that Commuter Games has built offers plenty of gorgeous environments.
Platforms: Meta Quest (Review conducted on Quest 2)
Release Date: Out now (Early Access)
Developer: Commuter Games
Price: $15.99
Downtown Club is a “simcade” racing game that offers both traditional thumbstick controls and full virtual controls. This control system allows the player to directly interact with major car parts. We have our hands on the steering wheel, manual shifter and parking brake. Each of these controls produces the driving reaction we expect. The game is based on this. See what happens when you use your hand in real life to pull the virtual handbrake while traveling at 80 mph. Downtown Club achieves this by providing direct and responsive controls that are simple, fun, and easy to use. The experience is not easy to master. Using the triggers with your index fingers and gripping the triggers with your grip requires some mental flexibility. It’s a great feeling to see the smile and thrill on your face. When things get too frantic, the traditional thumbstick controls are automatically switched on when the steering wheel is released. This may take away some of the novelty but the traditional controls are often more effective and reliable. What’s amazing is that the game adjusts itself to your needs without any lag. It is seamless to switch from virtual control over to the traditional controls. The fluid, dynamic system gives the player what they want whenever they want. The atmosphere is completely different at night. You can choose from four different game modes. The events are themed competitions that have multiple pre-arranged tracks. Completing these will earn you currency and experience points to unlock new items. Custom Races allow the player to customize many race parameters. Time Attack allows us to race against other players for the fastest lap time, and these times are then posted on online leaderboards. Free Drive allows us to explore at will the larger game map from which smaller racetracks are drawn in other modes. The graphics and aesthetic are stunning. After taking the top spot in an early event, I entered Free Drive to enjoy the beautiful city Commuter Games created. The city is similar to Mirror’s Edge during the day, but at night, it is more like Tokyo Xtreme Racer 2 The subterranean city tunnels are claustrophobic, even in their relative darkness. The sodium lights, undulating roads and blind turns are all a blur as I drive my car. I burst out into sunlight, and drift along an elevated highway ramp. As I fly through canyons formed by towering high-rises, the feeling of freedom is palpable. I hit the gas and feel the thrill of speed. I hit the gas and feel the thrill of speed.
Downtown Club offers a suite of comfort controls including:
Player alignment: this is an anti-roll setting that can align the player’s perspective to the body of the car, to the road, or to a constant level determined by the VR boundary.
Collision attenuation: this setting causes the screen to turn black for a user-selectable duration after a crash against walls or other cars. This setting causes the screen to turn black for a user-selectable duration after crashing into walls or other cars. All of these settings are adjustable or can be turned off.
Aggressive artificial intelligence in racing games can be good, as long as your car is durable and equally planted. Downtown Club is a different story. It’s a bit like playing with marshmallows. Your tires are also marshmallows. I would also like to see the cars be more interactive. Radio controls would be nice, for instance. If the developers create a diverse soundtrack it would be great to have the ability to change the volume of the music mid-race, or even switch radio stations. Or, to turn the radio completely off if the developer doesn’t. Imagine using the infotainment as you would in real life, including adjusting the map on the screen and creating a route in the Free Ride mode. Two of the vehicles available in the store.
Downtown club also needs additional cars. Anyone ever hear of a game that only has three cars in it? What happened to all the cars? There should be more maps, liveries, collectibles and online multiplayer. It’s an Early Access game, and if
is to be believed, a free update will solve all of my complaints. It’s an Early Access game, and if
is to be believed, an upcoming free update will solve all of my complaints.
Downtown Club Review-In-Progress – Current Final Verdict
Downtown Club’s current version is extremely fun and engaging but while it has a lovely aesthetic and serious potential, presently, it’s just a bit sparse. Full release features online multiplayer and multiplayer Free Ride. There are also public lobby areas, extra race modes, two maps and three waves of vehicles. Downtown Club is a game that will become a classic when these updates are released. You can find a detailed breakdown of the ratings in
UploadVR’s game reviews. This is a work-in-progress review. It has not been scored yet to allow
to cover post-launch updates. This review will be updated once Downtown Club is released in its entirety.