Philippe Cardon, head of PlayStation France, has said that the DRIVECLUB‘s ongoing server issues are nothing to do with server infrastructure or lack of, but related to the way the game was programmed. The coding in the game prevents multiple players from connecting at the same time, effectively creating a bottleneck and resulting in some players not being able to connect.
Cardon says that the affected code is being reprogrammed, but as this is lengthy process, a ETA for completion is currently unknown. It also means that the PlayStation Plus edition of the game is not likely to be released anytime soon, as that will just cause more issues.
This coding issue went undetected by Evolution Studio as they did not fully test the network and code via an Open Beta, as most developers do. This means that the problem managed to slip past the Closed Beta testing and didn’t present itself until the game was released to the masses in early October.
Considering how connected DRIVECLUB is, and how it’s supposed to redefine Social gaming, it’s really odd that Evolution didn’t conduct a Open Beta. That decision has cost the developers, and with the issues still ongoing after nearly a month since release, it’s unlikely the game will ever reach it’s full potential.
[Source: Gameblog.fr]