Abstract:
The racing game "Driveclub", once regarded as one of the masterpieces of PlayStation 4, can now run natively on Windows computers for the first time. The "DriveClub Recomp" project released by developer OverkillLabs3 on GitHub enables this PS4 exclusive work created by Evolution Studios in 2014 to be separated from the traditional emulator environment and run directly on PC hardware.
Unlike common PlayStation emulators, this project does not run games through CPU instruction simulation. Since the PS4 itself uses an x86-64 architecture processor, and modern PCs also use the same architecture, the original code of "Driveclub" can be executed directly on the computer processor. The development team re-implemented the PS4 system library and converted the graphics instructions originally targeted at the console into the Vulkan interface, allowing the game to run in the Windows environment.
This solution not only reduces simulation overhead, but also brings a lot of modern PC features to the game. The current version supports output from 720p to 8K resolution, and is also compatible with ultra-widescreen displays. The game also supports a high frame rate running mode that lifts the original 30 frame limit, and ensures that the frame rate increase will not cause the game to speed up abnormally.
In terms of image quality, the project introduces modern anti-aliasing technology. Users with RTX graphics cards can use NVIDIA DLAA, while all graphics card users can enable the AMD FSR 3.1 native anti-aliasing solution. RTX users can even switch between the two technologies in real time through shortcut keys while the game is running for comparison.
The developer stated that on a test platform equipped with an RTX 5070 Ti graphics card and a Ryzen 7 5800X3D processor, even in the most heavily loaded scenes in the game, it can still maintain approximately 60 frames of running performance at 4K resolution. With the release of version v0.2.3, the average frame rate of a certain 4K test track has further increased from approximately 62 frames to 71 frames.
However, the project is still in the early stages of development. The brightness of some reflection effects is abnormal, and lag caused by shader compilation will occur in the first few minutes after the game is launched. In complex scenes with many vehicles and environmental elements, computers with insufficient processor performance may still experience frame drops. In addition, the networking function is temporarily unavailable.
The developer also pointed out that the current project is mainly tested in the NVIDIA graphics card environment, and the compatibility with other hardware platforms still needs to be further verified.
In addition to DriveClub Recomp, another developer qnfn also launched a similar project called "DCport". This project uses a similar idea to implement native operation and additionally provides support for FSR 4 technology. No matter which solution is used, players need to hold and extract the game files of version 1.28 of "Driveclub" in order to run it.
Industry insiders believe that this type of "recompile and transplant (Recomp)" project is becoming a new trend in the field of game preservation. Previously, the player community has successfully enabled works that were originally limited to the PlayStation platform such as "GT Racing: Racing" and "Bloodborne" to gain the ability to run on PC.
It is worth mentioning that just a few months ago, "Driveclub" was able to run at the highest 8K resolution through the ShadPS4 emulator patch. But now it can be run directly through recompilation, which means that this PS4 racing game, which was originally released in 1080p, 30 frame specifications, has taken a bigger step towards the modern PC platform.
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