Smashing the gas pedal in generic arcade racers gets incredibly boring after a while. If you actually respect the mechanical feel of driving, Driving School 2017 hits completely different. This isn’t your standard racing game with a predictable solo campaign. It is a massive, strictly multiplayer online playground. You are thrown directly onto live servers with hundreds of other car nerds, meaning every single session is wildly unpredictable.

MASTERING THE REALISTIC MECHANICS

The physics engine here absolutely does not mess around. You actually have to know how to drive to survive these lobbies.

Before you start burning rubber, the game walks you through some surprisingly deep tutorials that teach you the real world nuances of handling both manual and automatic transmissions. It is basically a virtual driver’s ed, but infinitely better. You have to legitimately nail tricky parallel parking jobs, pull off defensive driving maneuvers, and master the art of backing up just to earn points. Nailing these hyper realistic challenges is the only way to unlock the heavy hitting content waiting in the higher tiers.

EMBRACING THE MULTIPLAYER CHAOS

Because there is zero offline mode, sharing the road with tons of real players adds a hilarious layer of stress to every single driving test.

You can easily turn these skill checks into full blown rivalries. Setting up friendly competitions with your crew to see who can finish a ridiculously tight parking job first without totally wrecking the paint is endlessly entertaining. The live server environment turns normally mundane driving tasks into high stakes, highly competitive bonding moments.

DECKING OUT YOUR ULTIMATE RIDE

Obviously, nobody wants to be stuck driving a boring commuter car forever. The garage lineup in this game is absolutely stacked to accommodate every type of gearhead.

You get to grind your way up to an impressive roster of recognizable, high end luxury rides and aggressive sports cars. But picking the car is just the starting point. The built in tuning system gives you total freedom to drop into the shop and mess with your performance stats. You can completely overhaul your ride, slapping on custom designs and fresh paint so your car instantly stands out when you roll up to a massive server meetup.

JUST CRUISING AND ENJOYING THE VIEW

Sometimes you just want to kick back, ignore the missions, and drive. The free roam option is built exactly for those laid back sessions.

You can easily link up with a convoy of players and just explore the massive, highly detailed city maps at your own pace. The graphics are honestly top tier for a mobile platform. Dynamic weather effects completely change the vibe of a late night cruise, forcing you to adapt to the slick roads. When you pair that gorgeous lighting with the obsessively detailed car interiors, the whole cruising experience just feels incredibly premium.