Rating: 1/5
Update: We’re temporarily dropping our original score from 3/5 to 1/5 following a quite frankly disastrous ‘early access’ launch. At the time of writing, players who have paid full-whack for the ‘Gold’ edition have been practically unable to play the game since its launch at 9am UK time on Thursday following server issues, due to the game’s always-online requirements.
Once in the game, the issues haven’t exactly let up either. In our experience since its retail launch, we’ve been in a server queue as high as around 2,400, often met with a ‘log-in error’. On the occasions we have got in, and with our game progress reset as mentioned further into our review, we’ve been unable to start the introductory race because of server issues.
A reminder that publisher Nacon specifically included ‘early access’ to the game as a benefit of the Gold edition, leaving players effectively out of pocket for a largely dysfunctional product. Right now, we can’t possibly recommend you buy the game, and certainly not the Gold edition. The publisher has acknowledged the issues but has yet to comment if it’ll offer any sort of compensation to players. We’ve reached out for a comment.
We’ll be leaving this update in place until the game’s ‘full’ launch on 12 September in case of further server issues once another influx of players comes to the game. You can see our original review below in the meantime.
Original review:
Let me rewind to 2011 for a moment, as teenage me has just finished the final race of Test Drive Unlimited 2 – a full lap of Ibiza. Of course, it couldn’t end without a cheesy cutscene, with comically cringey fictional host Tess Wintory signing off with the words “See you soon for a new season of Solar Crown, taking place at… shh, it’s a secret”.
TDU2 was a flawed game, but I enjoyed my time with it. So with those closing words ringing in my ears, I began to wonder when we’d know where the Solar Crown would be taking us next, and how long I’d have to wait to find out.
It turns out, quite a lot longer than any of us could really have guessed. As history tells us, then-TDU developer Eden Games went bust and would eventually re-open, but without the Test Drive IP in its ownership. Atari would sell it in 2016 to Bigben and plans of a series revival were confirmed, but little was ever really said of it.
Until 2020, when Test Drive Unlimited Solar Crown was finally announced, with the intention of it coming in 2022. Except was delayed to 2023. And then 2024.
Finally, here we are though, and to contextualise just how long it’s been, since finishing TDU2, I’ve finished school, and sixth form, learned to drive a real car, started and graduated from University, landed a job writing about cars and sufficiently blagged my way into a position to type about racing games too. This brings us to today, to finally play a new Test Drive Unlimited. The answers to those words still ringing in my ears, it turns out, are Hong Kong Island and 13 years.
Time doesn’t change some things though, and the cheesiness TDU brings to the concept of a luxury lifestyle simulator is one of those. Once the pleasantries of customising your character are done (and it’s a pleasingly in-depth tool), you’re picked up by Solar Crown head honchos in a passenger VTOL of all things, complete with B-rate voice acting. Test Drive is very much home.
I wasn’t exaggerating about the VTOL
The format is a fairly usual one. You’ve been identified as a hot up-and-coming racer who’s been handpicked to compete in an elite competition, oh and here are the keys to a Lamborghini for a bit while you prove yourself. The game does a neat job of lightly handholding you at this stage on a small shoot-off island to get your head around the controls, handling, typical environments and the basics of what it has to offer.
It doesn’t take too long until you’re dropped into the 1:1 recreation of Hong Kong Island, albeit with some creative liberties here and there. Like the towering fictional Solar Hotel you’ll be living at, seemingly ripped straight from the ‘society if’ meme template.
Developer KT Racing has been proud of the fact that this is the first time the island has been represented in a racing game, but spend some time in it and you get a bit of an inclination why. There’s not a great deal of variety to the type of roads you’ll encounter – there’s a lot of built-up city streets and large highways, cut up with a sprinkling of wide cross-country routes spread between some twisty-ish mountain roads and some dirt roads. That leaves with you with over 370 miles of road to play with, but not much of that is exciting.
The environments themselves are neatly and seemingly faithfully (having been to Hong Kong exactly zero times myself) created but there’s an eerie lifelessness to them. Traffic density is extremely low outside of highways, pedestrians appear to have decided to stay indoors rather than chance being out for a walk while rich folk are racing around and seemingly every form of wildlife has gone extinct.
The surroundings look great but can feel empty
The ambition of recreating the area is a commendable one, but you can’t escape the feeling that something is missing. There’s a framework there for a vibrant world, at least, but it may need time to see its full potential. Keep that thought in mind from here on out.
My biggest concern going in is fortunately one proven to be unfounded: the handling. It’s still arcade-leaning, think closer to The Crew than Forza Horizon. Cars feel genuinely distinct from one another, rear- and all-wheel drive cars behave like rear- and all-wheel drive cars and most important of all, it’s fun to drive. Kudos to KT as well for making good use of the PS5’s DualSense controller, and in particular the trigger effect when ABS kicks in.
It’s a shame there are not more cars to play with in truth. At launch, the list is pretty sparse – naturally focusing on the really high-end market but between top-end supercars and a few oddballs at the lower rungs, there’s not a great deal of depth in diversity.
There are no JDM icons beyond an R35 Nissan GT-R and a 370Z (icon applied loosely), no real hot hatches beyond an Abarth and an Alfa MiTo while big super saloons and estates are completely missing. Having such a low car count at launch only amplifies the frustrating number locked behind pre-orders or expensive special edition bonuses, too. More cars will come, but it needs to be sooner than later.
OEM customisation makes a very welcome return
Those in are neatly modelled though and although not to the high standards of say, Gran Turismo 7, it’s hard to find things to nitpick. Better still is the level of OEM customisation, which is a delightful bit of TDU tradition carried over to Solar Crown. Beyond just picking an OEM colour, most cars will also allow you to configure the interior and wheels with real-world options – and if they don’t, it’s usually because it’s a single-spec special edition.
Customisation beyond that isn’t fantastic. You can swap a very limited selection of aftermarket wheels or tint the windows, but there’s nothing in the way of body kits. The livery editor feels quite compromised compared with those in Forza and Gran Turismo, as well.
Performance upgrades have never defined TDU but the system deployed here is well balanced. Top-end mods are level-limited, which I think works neatly as you’re gradually progressing through the game’s single-player career – even multi-millionaire nepo babies competing in a supercar racing festival can’t have everything.
Oh, the single-player career. Notice I’ve not paid much attention to this point. Leading up to the game’s release, publisher Nacon has focused very heavily on the ‘Streets vs Sharps’ angle of the game. One underground clan of rejects against the established elite, using Hong Kong Island as a racetrack to compete… or something. You got the impression the game would hinge very heavily on the dynamic.
Somehow, the Streets operating out of a giant nightclub feels wrong
Yet, it just doesn’t. Aside from an early visit to either HQ to pick which clan to represent (I chose the streets, albeit not expecting their HQ to be a three-story nightclub surely costing millions), it only really serves as an excuse to set up clan vs clan races. There’s no real story to engross you and, aside from a few level-based head-to-heads against supposed high-ups within each side, there’s little reason to interact.
Am I glad about this? In a sense, yes, because I find the whole concept extremely cringe in the first place. But part of the charm of older TDUs, and TDU2 in particular, was the god-awful voice acting and cheesy characters that at least gave it a sense you were competing in something. Here, it feels like you’re aimlessly going from race to race for the vast majority of it.
I suspect that void will be filled by competing in these races with your friends and other real-world players, which Solar Crown seemingly allows you to do for pretty much every race. I say ‘seemingly’, as I only came across one other player in the pre-release review period – so time will have to tell if that’s correct.
Hopefully so, as the AI is not very good to race with nor are they consistent. Sometimes you’ll blast them by 30 seconds effortlessly, or in other races they’ll inexplicably do the same to you despite no other variables changing. Either that or repeatedly drive into you as if you don’t exist.
Enjoy the AI driving into you at any given opportunity
Another thing we’ll have to wait and see is just how bug-free and smooth the game runs when the servers are being bombarded with players.
My experience has largely been good so far. The game has been largely performing well in Performance mode with a near-constant 60fps, although it’s not uncommon for some sudden rendering or the odd framerate drop, particularly switching cameras in built-up areas. Graphics mode is something I’d likely avoid on consoles at least – the game looks good but the framerate is awful. Hopefully, that’s something that can be improved with platform optimisation as we’ve seen true 4k and a solid 30fps is capable on this generation of consoles.
It’s been a mostly glitch-free experience too, so I’m not too concerned about a swathe of game-breaking bugs suddenly appearing as players descend upon Hong Kong Island.
However, to be totally transparent, a bug related to daily challenges that would give a few million credits to players instead of a few thousand emerged in this review period. A bit of server maintenance has fixed that quickly, which bodes well should anything arise early doors. Oh, and if you wondered, our games have been reset so you won’t see me in a Chiron on day one.
There are foundations of a good game, but KT needs to expand on those
It’s taken 13 years and quite a few delays, and simply seeing a new entry into the Test Drive Unlimited series is a delight. But, should you race out to buy Solar Crown? If you’re expecting a deep experience from day one, probably not. If it were my money, I’d hold off a few months and a few content updates, and pick it up when it’s on sale. Ibiza’s planned return in December could be a good point for that.
There’s a solid game waiting to be unlocked here, but I think it’s going to need time for KT Racing’s real ambitions to be realised. The foundations are in place but in its launch state there’s not a great deal of depth and a sense of lifelessness to things which hopefully, time will solve. And let’s hope it won’t be another 13 years of whatever the god-awful closing line the game has to offer ringing in my ears.
Reviewed on: PlayStation 5
