By Chris Tsui
Between "Forza Horizon 6," the ever-imminent release of "Grand Theft Auto VI," and "BeamNG" coming to PS5, car-obsessed gamers have been and are going to be eating well. Further adding to your future backlog of games is "Clutch," an upcoming, story-driven driving game by Maverick Games, the studio headed by Mike Brown, the former creative director of the "Forza Horizon" series.
In the works for the past three-and-a-half years, "Clutch" blends legal, sanctioned, track-based racing during the day, with illegal, very unsanctioned street racing at night, and even some "Fast and Furious"-style heists, uh... even later at night? It all looks very pretty and promising, but the most interesting part of it all may just be the ability to customize car interiors, one half-finished Red Bull at a time.
In an initial reveal video, Brown touts "a level of detail and accuracy never before seen in in-game car models." Tiny material details like interior stitching and faithfully recreated paint colors are said to be replicated perfectly, of course. But it'll also strive to represent vehicles as lived-in environments on a level that we haven't really seen before in a big console racing game.
Older cars in particular will sport visual wear and tear according to the release video: interior trim that's a little dusty, road trip-worn pockmarks in the paint, leather seats that are a bit shinier than they were when new. "There'll be signs of wear, signs of love, signs that the cars have actually been driven, been on an adventure," says Brown.
It'll also let you bond with the virtual vehicles as you would in real life via customization. Swappable paint, spoilers, wheels, and even exhaust tips are kind of a given, but "Clutch" goes several steps further by letting you put... stuff you'd find strewn around the interior of a car you might actually live with every day.
A variety of drinks can be seen sitting in a Porsche Cayman GT4's meticulously modeled pop-out cupholder. A small pile of receipts and parking tickets can be positioned and placed on the dash. A hoodie can be thrown on the passenger seat because that is just where hoodies live. Fluffy dice is a work-in-progress, apparently.
Of course, the game isn't done, and Brown says, "Anything else you wanna see, just let us know, and we can have that as well." I'm officially going on record and requesting placeable Molly Tea cups and the ability to fill the entire passenger footwell in empty plastic water bottles. "Clutch" is set to release sometime in the spring of 2027 and will drop on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series S and X, and PC.
