I've only played a few hours so far but I would this a reluctant recommendation, with a note that I would not recommend Drift CE unless it's on sale. Like, for a few bucks basically it's a good time, doesn't really feel that good, the drifting doesn't feel great, the cars don't feel anything like their real counterparts obviously, I own two cars that show up pretty often in racing games which I like to use as a bit of a baseline, being a Porsche 911 and a Scion FRS, so as soon as I saw there was a BRZ in this game I had to try it first. The actual car, even when punching it, is not as slippery as it is in Drift CE. And no, I don't mean the extremely modded one in the tutorial, comparing a real one to the stock one in this game feels nothing like it. There's too much sway to the cars I think, probably makes it easier to initiate and control the drifts but also makes all the cars feel similar but awkward at the same time.
Putting together the engines can be really annoying, you'll select the show missing parts button but then it just won't show missing parts, so you'll put together part of the engine, realize something is missing, and have to take it apart. Which feels unintentional, the show missing parts feature should streamline this whole experience and not waste time.
The selection of cars is honestly really nice, but is extremely limited. I guess it should be surprising that they even managed to officially license any of these in the first place, it is what it is. The car models themselves actually, seriously they look incredible. At least the proportions on some of these cars which I have been around/inside in real life, they look pretty much 1:1, really impressive.
Overall, it's easy for me to kind of toss around my thoughts on my so far limited experience and be like "why would I even recommend this really?" but there is a simplicity and honesty to Drift CE which I respect. It reminds me of the kind of gameplay that you might get out of earlier console generations, where there isn't much in terms of gacha, gambling sorts of aspects or narrative aspects that you might find in less earnest games. Think of the simplicity of Gran Turismo 3 and that's kind of what I mean. The unrelenting focus on rewarding increasing levels of mechanical proficiency creates an inherently satisfying gameplay loop. Even if the mechanics themselves are awkward, and unpolished. The question then is are you okay with that? If so, then I think that Drift CE is worth it for a few hours of mindless entertainment. Maybe it'll turn into something more than that. I'll revise my thoughts if I end up spending more time with this game.
