We get ours the day after the U.S. who get theirs on the first Tuesday of the month, which just happens to 7th October.
I reckon that's why we're getting it on the 8th, probably nothing to do with DriveClub.
On the subject of Driveclub, I'm not even sure we'll get the PS+ version on the 8th, they might make us wait until the 10th when the full version hits. Hopefully not.