Inside Clutch’s 1-Hour Showcase: A French Riviera And A Gadget Splitting Fans

The story, written by Jamie Brittain, co-creator of the British series Skins, follows Theo and his sister Cass Martial, 2 racing prodigies. Their careers spiral after a tragic accident. Pulled into a criminal underworld against their will, they juggle pro circuit racing and illegal activities.

The game kicks off in London before sending players to a reimagined French Riviera, larger than the real thing. The map runs through 3 main hub cities: Monaco, Cannes, and Saint-Tropez. It then stretches out to the Alps and the Verdon Gorge for off-the-grid getaways.

The game splits into 2 contrasting worlds. By day, players compete in the Riviera 1000, a fictional century-old race series that crowns the world’s best drivers. By night, they slip into the underground Midnight Collective, where style and the raw thrill of speed beat trophies.

The driving takes a SimCade approach, in line with the big open-world racing games. The gameplay swings between closed-circuit competitions by day and clandestine missions by night. On-foot phases let players interact with locations to pull off supercar heists or stealth infiltrations.

The standout gadget is a grappling hook that can tighten 90° corners or latch onto a helicopter mid-chase. Some players already see it as a hard tip into pure arcade territory, far from the simulation crowd. The debate over the gadget’s place in a racing game is well underway.

The grappling hook isn’t alone in the bag of tricks. Players carry oil slicks to spill behind their cars, jet boosters for sudden bursts, and jump systems to clear obstacles. The whole toolkit serves a single purpose. Ditching the cops during high-speed chases.

The world is fully shared between players, with no split between solo and multiplayer. Crews can wage turf wars against rival gangs, pull off heists, or intercept those run by other teams to swipe the loot. A reactive police force adds a shared threat for every player in the same zone.

Immersion runs on dynamic vehicle wear, with cars picking up dust and use marks over miles. The interior gets personalized with everyday objects to give each ride a lived-in feel. The game also packs a photo mode and a video editor to share the best runs.

A few smaller details round out the studio’s immersive push. Players can use headlights and turn signals to fake out the cops during chases. Swimming is also confirmed, which opens the door to escapes through the beaches and ports of the French Riviera.