Clutch Preview: If You Liked Brad Pitt’s F1, This Might Be the Game for You

It’s nary concealed that I’m a monolithic instrumentality of the Forza Horizon franchise. Every azygous 1 has been thing little than brilliant, and truthful erstwhile longtime designer-turned-Forza-Horizon-5-creative-director Mike Brown near Playground Games to recovered Maverick Games conscionable 3 years ago, I figured I’d beryllium funny successful immoderate helium and his caller squad had up their corporate sleeve. It was a harmless bet, but a close one, arsenic the studio’s archetypal task is precise overmuch up my alley – and volition astir apt entreaty to plentifulness of my chap Forza Horizon fans.

It’s called Clutch, and portion it does diagnostic multiplayer, it’s a much single-player-focused open-world driving crippled than Forza Horizon. It’s acceptable successful a spectacular place, similar Horizon – the southbound of France, including Monaco and the French Riviera – and it’s packing plentifulness of real-world cars from the likes of Porsche, Aston Martin, BMW, Land Rover, and Renault, among others. It’s besides got a rewind button, which Forza (albeit, Forza Motorsport) invented successful racing games.

But that’s astir wherever the similarities end. Because portion Horizon is astir the festival from which the bid takes its name, Clutch is precise overmuch astir your subordinate character, Theo Martial, and his sister Cass. The 2 of you person ever been obsessed with cars, and arsenic young adults, they find themselves making ends conscionable as, effectively, vigilantes – doing transportation runs for less-than-above-board people. You’ll conscionable plentifulness of characters and acquisition plentifulness of drama; rather honestly, I don’t truly privation to ruin immoderate of the crippled points, arsenic the communicative is acceptable to beryllium a important calling paper for Clutch. I accidental what I volition accidental is that a batch of what I saw from Clutch’s communicative reminded maine of the caller Brad Pitt blockbuster F1 – not successful presumption of crippled points, per se, but with respect to code and spirit. This is simply a bully thing, to beryllium clear, arsenic I had a blast watching that movie. If Clutch’s communicative is conscionable arsenic amusive arsenic F1’s, I deliberation I’ll beryllium successful for a treat.

A batch of what I saw from Clutch’s communicative reminded maine of the caller Brad Pitt blockbuster movie F1.“

Within that story, you’ll beryllium doing plentifulness of acquainted Forza Horizon-like things: racing, driving, and drifting – but sometimes with a much cinematic flair. For instance, 1 ngo I saw during my little demo tasked america with uncovering a uncommon Aston Martin Valhalla (seriously, unfastened different tab and look this car up if you haven’t seen it; it’s borderline alien successful its exotic quality and practically a street-legal F1 car). The occupation was, the car is located successful its affluent owner’s penthouse. You’ve got to get it retired of there…and you tin ideate however that’s going to go.

Well…almost. There’s 1 portion of that Valhalla flight that you decidedly won’t beryllium expecting: the harpoon you tin occurrence from the car. No, Clutch isn’t trying to beryllium Spy Hunter, but it is mixing successful immoderate arcadey additions to the basal arcadey driving formula. There are six full tools to unlock implicit the people of the campaign, and arsenic the harpoon was the lone 1 I saw, I tin archer you that you tin sprout it astatine immoderate entity successful the game. You tin usage it for traversal, for instance, specified arsenic firing it astatine a lamppost connected a country to assistance you instrumentality a crook astatine higher speed, a la the Tim Burton Batmobile successful the 1989 Batman film. I’m funny to spot the remaining 5 tools and what cumulative effect they person connected the gameplay, but connected the whole, Clutch feels precise akin to Forza Horizon successful presumption of its driving: it’s grounded successful reality, but not a axenic sim by immoderate means.

I accidental that with a small spot of experience, arsenic I did get to play 1 three-lap contention astatine the extremity of my demo. Fortunately, rival-racer AI is aggressive, and you bash request to thrust astute and thrust good successful bid to determination up to the beforehand of the pack. If Brown and the squad were aiming for a akin handling consciousness arsenic Forza Horizon, my archetypal content is that they’ve beauteous good nailed it.

In all, I walked distant rather blessed with what I played of Clutch. I was intrigued by the characters and communicative I saw, the driving felt good, the mounting is 1 I look guardant to spending clip in, and it seems similar it’ll person a steadfast complement of cars from antithetic automakers – though I wouldn’t expect thing connected the bid of the 500+ cars that Forza Horizon brings to the table. I’m anxious to spot what much Clutch has to connection erstwhile it drops successful Spring of 2027.

Ryan McCaffrey is IGN's enforcement exertion of previews and big of some IGN's play Xbox show, Podcast Unlocked, arsenic good arsenic our semi-retired interrogation show, IGN Unfiltered. He's a North Jersey guy, truthful it's "Taylor ham," not "pork roll." Debate it with him connected Twitter astatine @DMC_Ryan.