Raceclub Impressions: Just One More Lap

Raceclub is a made-for-VR love letter to formula racing that has you literally chasing ghosts in a promising, addictive work-in-progress.

I sat down with Raceclub, which just released on Meta Quest in Early Access, intending to only play about two hours. This is first impressions, not a full blown review, so I just need to get a feel for the game. Two dead extra batteries and a fully drained Quest 3 later, Raceclub had pulled off the VR trick of making me forget I was sitting in a chair awkwardly holding my controllers in mid air.

Raceclub offers two types of vehicles: Formula V12 is a more traditional F1 style car and Formula Electric is inspired by Formula E with an electric engine. Past that, cars can be customized with multiple color options and decals and racing has multiple viewing angles. First person views included a traditional cockpit look, the ‘snorkel’ position just behind the driver, the nose of the car, and one seemingly on the track itself under the car. For those prone to motion sickness, there is a third person view behind the car.

There are two modes available to play. In the time attack mode, there are three ghost cars on the track: the car one space ahead on the global leaderboards, a replay of your personal best lap (after you complete one lap), and a replay of the best lap on the top of the leaderboard. I spent over two hours just in this mode, trying to shave milliseconds off my time to improve.

The other mode is a 1v1 ‘duel’ vs an AI driver. If the AI’s lap time is beaten, a new, faster opponent appears on the next lap, consistently ramping the challenge up as your skills improve. A third, eight-car race mode against AI, is currently unavailable.

One important note is Raceclub does not have vehicle collisions, a (missing) feature that may put some players off. It was odd to phase right through a translucent car instead of crashing, but I quickly stopped caring. I just needed a new personal best.

One feature I wrote off as immersion breaking when I first saw it, but then realized its purpose is the ‘line’ visualization. It is a visual marker that runs through the entire track of the perfect racing line to take. Trying to keep my car on that line was part of what kept me playing. Every time I messed up and got off that line, I ran another lap to try again. It is a simple, but remarkably effective mechanic.

This is still an Early Access game though, meaning there is room to grow. Half of the tracks are listed as coming soon along with the eight-car race mode. Visually, the game is decent. Admittedly, there is no time to stop and admire the surroundings when chasing ghosts, but while on straightaways I had a second or two to look around and everything looked fine, but nothing stood out. The most glaring feature missing though, is multiplayer.

There have been a lot of racing games on Quest, from kart racers like Dash Dash World and Galaxy Kart to more serious titles like EXOcars, Downtown Club, and Grid Legends. I’ve played them all, but nothing has quite pulled me in like Raceclub did. Without the horsepower to run the likes of Gran Turismo 7, Assetto Corsa, or EA’s F1 series, this is already a top notch effort on Meta Quest with room to grow.

Raceclub is available now in Early Access on Meta Quest for $12.99.