Okay, so. The game is beautiful, it sounds great, and plays fantastic. The cars are gorgeous. The maps are bite-sized but great to drive, and also gorgeous. And the mechanics feel like a blend of Initial Unity, with a more sim feel to the former, and Gran Turismo, with more of an arcade feel to the latter. Thing is, Midnight Driver was last updated in 2021, meaning it's probably dead. Also, since there's no A.I. or ghosts, you're either doing multiplayer or local, solo time attacks... also like Initial Unity (though that one had ghosts.) If none of these things bother you, read on. We've got a game to talk about.
First, my positives for the game:
The presentation is unbelievable, full stop. The car models integrate seamlessly with the environment and I haven't seen an overall presentation this in-sync with itself since Art of Rally. And the fact the game is (or was) a passion project really, *really* shows in the quality and atmosphere. Smoke billows in the distant shadows of the roads, street lights cast amber glows on the tarmac and grass, and the roads flow almost artistically. Easy and heartfelt 10/10 in the artistic department.
The car list, totaling 14, is massive for a solo-dev project, and each one brings unique visuals, sound, and handling. You can absolutely tell the FC3S from the R32, which I found out the hard way when I switched. But at the same time, the spirit of each car is done justice here. These cars will feel the way you remember them when watching Initial D.
The courses, while comparatively few to other racing games, have multiple variations. You've got several downhill and uphill routes, a few circuits to lap around, and even a few free-roam tracks to practice on. Courses can take under 1.5 minutes to complete, but demand focused driving. Racing lines are achievable, drifters are given plenty of good bends and hairpins, and grip drivers are given lots of room to open up throttle between consecutive corners. Overall, good course design.
The handling is, quite frankly, the best I've experienced between Initial Unity, its sequel Touge Shakai, and Assetto Corsa modded to work on pad. The physics when grip driving are comfortable and consistent while still demanding your attention and reflexes, and sliding around corners is similarly satisfying. You can absolutely wreck if you're not exercising caution, but the game doesn't just yank control of the car away at the slightest turns like Initial Unity. You have much more agency over what your car is doing at any one time.
Now, onto my negatives for the game:
There is no A.I. to race offline and no ghost cars to practice against. Barring multiplayer, the only event type appears to be time attacks, which may get stale once you maximize your results on each course layout. What's more, the records aren't car-specific, meaning your overall best time is always the one to beat. Ghosts or, particularly, A.I. racers would drastically elevate the value of the game, as would additional courses.
The controls can't be rebound, and the graphics options are set to an ultra-to-low scale with no ability to change individual settings to suit your individual PC. The list of resolutions also doesn't go down far enough to help players with lower-power PCs. An update to add these control and graphic options would be a massive QoL boost.
Then there's the big one: the game hasn't updated since 2021. Considering this is a solo-dev passion project, that leaves the game's future development with zero news or certainty. There may never even be a bug fix ever again, and we might never know why. There's so much this game already is and so much potential it has to be even more, but without the developer, that potential is sitting idle.
Personal verdict:
I bought Midnight Driver with low expectations and an itch for a new touge racing game. What I recieved was an indie game of frankly absurd quality, possessed of a spirited car list, intricate, yet strangely soothing courses, brilliant handling and physics models, and a visual style to swoon for. The lack of A.I. to race, ghost cars to practice against, and an uncertain and possibly already-concluded development future mar the experience, but it is nonetheless an experience I recommend enthusiastically. 90s JDM, touge racing, and Initial D enthusiasts will all get a game worthy of the asking price.
