[4][6] Club Drive was developed in-house by Atari Corporation, being co-produced by Craig Suko and James "Purple" Hampton.

[51] Computer and Video Games' Eddy Lawrence and Mark Patterson commended its graphical department but criticized its jerky framerate and vacuous gameplay.

[35] GameFan's three reviewers found the ability to drive and explore anywhere within the different environments to be its strongest feature, but faulted the game's limited play mechanics, blocky graphics, and controls.

[1] Joypad's Nini Nourdine found the vehicle easy to control but noted the limited split-screen view in multiplayer, and heavily criticized the game's buggy 3D visuals and soundscapes.

[39] Mega Fun's Martin Weidner found the idea of the game to be nice, but lambasted its unrefined controls and underdeveloped level design.

[47] VideoGames regarded it as an "extremely weak attempt at Hard Drivin' for the home", criticizing its chunky graphics, audio, and unbearable controls.

[48] GamePro's described Club Drive as an "unusual experience" compared to other contemporary racing simulators, but criticized it for its repetitive gameplay and "unfulfilled potential".

[52] Next Generation was outright critical, lambasting its sluggish framerate, cumbersome physics, and tepid gameplay, describing it as to be "avoided at all costs".

[41][44] Atari Gaming Headquarters' Keita Iida found the flat-shaded polygonal visuals to be neat, but panned its choppy framerate, sluggish controls, and overall execution of the two-player mode.

[55] The Atari Times' Jess LaFleur criticized its blocky polygonal graphics, cheesy music, and sound effects, but still found it to be an occasionally fun game.

[56] Author Andy Slaven labelled it as an awful racing game, lambasting its plain visuals, poor track design, sloppy controls, and soundtrack.

[59] Reviewing the Nintendo Switch version of Atari 50, IGN's Samuel Claiborn stated that "it's a pretty remarkable tech accomplishment but also a fun foil to, say, Super Mario 64, which did 3D so much better just two years later".