Free Driveclub PC Port: PS4 Exclusive Runs Native 8K Without Emulator, a Decade After Sony Shut Down Its Studios

Since its launch in October 2014, Driveclub has become an acclaimed racing game, released as a PlayStation 4 exclusive, which quickly drew attention for its impressive graphics and driving physics. For many years, PC players awaited an official version, but that dream faded in March 2016, when PlayStation shut down Evolution Studios, the team that created the game, leaving the only hope a community-made port, something that eventually came to be.

But as this release never materialized, the community of users and programmers took the initiative to bring the game to PCs on their own terms, as had happened with other racing titles like Forza Horizon 2. Today, to the delight of many, there are two independent projects aimed at making this a reality, the most prominent of which is DriveClub Recomp, a DriveClub port that runs the game’s code directly on Windows, without an emulator, rather than emulating the console.

Details of the ports and their steps to install them on Windows

According to its creators, the OverkillLabs3 group, this project enables playing with resolutions from 720p to 8K, ultrawide monitor support, unlocked frame rates, and full control support for steering with keyboard, mouse, or controllers, which can even be used simultaneously.

With high-end graphics cards, the project achieves nearly 60 FPS in 4K on the most demanding scenes, and more in the lighter races, according to the creator’s tests using an RTX 5070 Ti and a Ryzen 7 5800X3D. To operate, it requires 64-bit Windows 10 or 11, a Vulkan 1.3-compatible GPU, and roughly 40 GB free for the game’s files, though so far it has only been tested on NVIDIA GPUs.

To be able to run the Driveclub port, you must follow these steps.

1. Download the file driveclub-recomp-0.1.1-win64.zip from the project’s GitHub page and extract it to a folder with write permissions. It is very important to avoid the Program Files folder to prevent permissions errors.
2. Prepare separately the original files of the base game, which contain the game000.dat file, and the 1.28 update files, which include the eboot.bin file.
3. Run the DriveClub.exe file to open the initial configuration menu.
4. Click the Browse button to select the base game folder and the 1.28 update folder.
5. Adjust the internal and output resolutions, set the frame rate, and assign the controls.
6. Press the Play button to save the settings and start the game. The first session may have a few stutters as the graphics are prepared.

Driveclub-PC, the emulator-based alternative

The second major option developed by the community is Driveclub-PC, a project led by developer ondrejeder that is based on a modified version of the shadPS4 emulator. Unlike the Driveclub port, this alternative runs through emulator optimization specifically for this game, integrating its own control panel and advanced visual options.

Among its main features are technologies such as AMD FSR 1, RCAS sharpening filters, FXAA and SMAA anti-aliasing, and 16x anisotropic filtering. This version allows selecting the internal resolution among 1080p, 1440p and 4K, with support for ultrawide displays, and targets 30 and 60 FPS, plus experimental 120 FPS on high-end PCs.

The detailed steps to install the Driveclub-PC version are these.

1. Download the Driveclub-PC files from its GitHub page and extract the contents to a separate folder.
2. Locate the base game’s folder CUSA00093 and place beside it the 1.28 update folder named CUSA00093-UPDATE.
3. Have on hand the folder with the console’s system files (sys_modules), obtained from your own PS4.
4. Open the Driveclub-PC.exe file.
5. In the Game folder section, select the base game folder. In the Firmware option, indicate the path to the sys_modules folder and click Import.
6. Select the target frame rate (it is recommended to start with 60 FPS), adjust the upscaling and sharpening filters, and press Play.

News, technical limitations, and current status

Alongside the above, both projects include very useful advances for the gameplay experience. For example, DriveClub Recomp version 0.1.1 unlocks downloadable content that comes with user files, such as cars, motorcycles, tours, and vehicle designs, without altering the original folders, plus a special folder to load mods.

Nevertheless, being in active development, the Driveclub port still presents issues such as reflections that are too bright on raindrops and on car paint, minor stutters as the computer processes the graphics on the first run, and frame-rate drops in the heaviest scenes when the processor is slow.

Meanwhile, and to conclude, Driveclub-PC depends on the console’s internal modules, and its 120 FPS are still unstable. Neither of the two projects offers online features, which is not surprising given that the game’s servers were shut down in 2020, nor do they include the game’s files, so a legal PS4 copy is always required.