I’m kind of a sucker for a good Photo Mode in Video Games. It’s been more prevalent feature in recent years, more so since the release of the Xbox One and PS4. It’s a nice added feature to any game, and the publishers love those money shots players send them.
I’ve barely played through much of the “campaign” (Tour) in DriveClub. Don’t get me wrong I like unlocking more cars, but only so I can take screenshots of them. I haven’t unlocked many cars in DriveClub but spend a lot of time in the Photo Mode with the ones I have. This is due to the fact the Photo Mode in DriveClub is so well put together. There are a lot of settings you can fiddle with to make any shot look professionally done.
As with most racing games, there are unfortunately a lot of cars locked behind paid DLC in DriveClub. Thankfully Evolution Studios release free DLC for DriveClub as well. With DriveClub’s Photo Mode though, you can make any car look good.
How it Works
Start any single player race, any race it doesn’t matter. At any point during the race press the right-hand side of the Dualshock 4’s touchpad. You have entered photo mode. Hit up or down on the directional buttons to enter “Free Camera”, helping you find the perfect angle. On screen is a list of controls for moving the camera around, so familiarise yourself with those.
If you’ve found the perfect angle, or just want to see what you can do to the “lens” first then hit square for settings. Ooo sliders. These settings may look daunting at first but let me list them and explain what they do:
- Aperture: Changes what is and isn’t in focus. You’ll notice when changing red areas on the screen, these show what won’t be in focus. The lower the Aperture, the less is in focus.
- Exposure Compensation: Too bright? Too dark? This allows you to change the exposure on the shot to get the perfect level of lighting.
- Focal Distance: Ties in with Aperture to show what will be in focus. Low aperture and focal distance will blur out most of the background.
- Shutter Speed: Ranging from 1/30s to 1/8000s. The lower it is the more motion blur will be in the shot, it almost captures the motion.
- Screen Filters: There are a lot of screen filters to mess around with from Grey to Psychedelic. Some are a bit crazy, definitely so at 100% intensity.
- Filter Intensity: Ranging from 0 – 100%. Increases or decreases the Screen Filter Effect.
- Film Grain: Found in a lot of Photo Modes, adds a film grain effect, ranging from 0 – 100%.
- Frame: You can add different frames to the shot like a cinema border, or Vignette.
- Bokeh Shape: You’ll rarely see the effects of Bokeh Shape, only really when you’ve got a lot out of focus. It fills in the blur with a selection of shapes from triangles to stars.
- Vehicle Tracking: Attached, Follow or Off. Most affected by the shutter speed. 1/30s and Attached or Follow puts a lot of motion blur on the track and the background. 1/30s and Off motion will blur the vehicle, and the track will have no blur.
- Face-Offs/Player Tages/Track Markers: There are challenges that appear on the track, like drifting. This will turn them on or off when taking a photo.
- Damage: On/Off. If you’ve been a bit reckless before taking your shot, don’t worry. You can turn damage off to make all cars look like they’ve just come out the garage.
Most of the time like me, you’ll enter the photo mode and spend ages setting up a shot. Because of the amount of settings it can be awhile before you’re happy with it and take your screenshot.
With PS4 system version 3.0, you’ll finally be able to take screenshots in PNG format. Here are examples of photos I have taken in DriveClub’s excellent Photo Mode, enjoy.
From my experience, the photo mode excels with close-ups and really shows that detail.
