There is potential in Drift21 - but...

[dgambino1]

I've been drifting in games for a long time (since first Gran Turismo). I don't even buy racing games to race. I buy them for drifting.

There are heavy Assetto Corsa vibes here when drifting in this game (the publisher of Drift21 is the same as Assetto Corsa) but a major problem here is that there is no tuning of car settings in this game (e.g. no LSD tuning, suspension settings, transmission, etc). Perhaps these features are coming later but there is no dev roadmap to be found. All early access games should have a dev road map - this is how you keep your player community interested/engaged. At any rate, here are my thoughts on the game as it is right now.

-The visuals are good. If you like Assetto Corsa's visuals - you will like Drift21's visuals. However, both Forza's and Gran Turismo's game visuals are far superior.
-The audio is good. The engine and car sounds are good. My 500hp S15 sounds good with turbo blow-off and exhaust notes. I've heard worse car sounds in other games but have also heard better. This is just one of those things that no game, past or present, has ever done well.
-Building your car in the garage is pretty sick. You can tell the dev's spent time in this feature. HOWEVER, I can see this becoming very mundane once they start adding more cars. The point of this game is to drift - not build the car. It would be nice for them to add an "autocomplete" option for cars when in the "Car performance" screen. This screen shows you if you are missing parts OR if you should install better parts. This screen should allow you auto complete the car. Side note: I did get stuck once under the front passenger wheel when the S15 was on the lift. I was removing/adding parts to the S15 and couldn't get out from under the car. I believe it had to do with me not having the car at the top of the lift. I had to take the Mazda onto the track to get unstuck. No biggie but the dev's should consider making the lift go all the way up or down automatically. There is no point in being able to lift the car partially up or down.
-The three tracks are nicely done and feel like they were ripped from Assetto Corsa. Not a knock at all but if you have played Assetto they will feel VERY familiar.
-Wheel physics are not bad (I have G29). The wheel "feel" seems like another thing that was ripped from Assetto. Having car tune settings would help a lot!
-Controller physics are bad. You can remap buttons which is excellent but drifting the cars with a controller is challenging, to say the least. The counter steering is just terrible. I've tried tweaking all deadzones and just cannot find the right setting to get it to feel "right." Wheel seems like the best option here - sorry controller players but this game is NOT for you.

This game has potential but without more development or modding abilities - this game will not survive especially when players can just get Assetto Corsa which has a strong drifting community with game mods. Forza and Gran Turismo are better drifting games.

This is not me hating on Drift21 at all. Just how I see the game right now.

[Pamir_pl]

Thank you very much for such accurate feedback. With posts like yours we know what to improve in the game. Thank you very much for your support!

[dgambino1]

Originally posted by ECC GAMES S.A.:

Thank you very much for such accurate feedback. With posts like yours we know what to improve in the game. Thank you very much for your support!

Please don't take my post as me hating on you guys. You definitely have something here in Drift21. I can see it and there is a market for this game.

The car handling and controls just need more work - especially for controller. Controller users will be your primary customer/user base. You need sales/revenue to keep a game like this going and you will have easier access to that revenue stream if you fix the handling for the controller user. The wheel user base will always be there for you.