After plenty of anticipation and a rocky start, Test Drive Unlimited Solar Crown is here - but not with everything we hoped for. Here are our top 5 changes we'd like to see.
Considering it is the first entry in 13 years, Test Drive Unlimited Solar Crown should have been a triumphant return for the open-world racing series. Unfortunately, it’s been a very bumpy launch. Ongoing server problems have soured an otherwise solid open-world racer, with players unable to access the game if the servers go down. But this isn’t Solar Crown’s only issue.
With several legacy features missing from previous games, Solar Crown feels unfinished. Fortunately, KT Racing plans to support Solar Crown long after launch with an extensive roadmap. “It’s not a game that will stop living after its release; it’s a game we want to keep updating for years,” Creative Director Alain Jarniou explained in a recent video previewing KT Racing’s post-launch plan.
With that in mind, here are five changes we want to see in Test Drive Unlimited Solar Crown.
Buying houses is a staple of Test Drive Unlimited. The first two games were about living a luxurious lifestyle and buying massive mansions to store your expensive car collection. Conversely, Solar Crown ditches houses in favour of the Solar Hotel, a central hub where you can meet other players, customise your avatar, and view upcoming events. But it’s not the same as owning your own property.
The Solar Hotel feels sterile, and you cannot customise your room like in Test Drive Unlimited 2. It also takes a long time before you can upgrade your room. As a result, every play session starts in the same room before you get a lift down to the main lobby, which quickly gets repetitive.
Thankfully, KT Racing is looking to add this much-requested feature in the future – but it will probably take a long time. “It’s something that requires serious consideration. I don’t think we should just repeat what we did in TDU 2,” Jarniou explained. “We all had our own house, but we didn’t share it much. It was a bit of a solo experience, even though it was very cool. It’s still a concept we need to evolve, but of course it’s something that marked TDU’s history. We’re definitely going to work on this for the future of Solar Crown.”
Buying a car in Solar Crown is different from most racing games. Before buying a car, you must visit a dealership, browse the cars on sale, and choose your paint and interior options. It is more time-consuming than selecting a car in a menu but buying a car in Solar Crown feels like a special occasion. However, there is surprisingly no option to sell cars you own.
It is a glaring oversight. Making money in Solar Crown takes longer than open-world racers like Forza Horizon 5 and The Crew Motorfest. So, if you are not happy with the car you have bought with your hard-earned cash, you are stuck with it for a long time.
While we are on the subject of cars, we would also like to see more contemporary models – the current car list does not have any cars newer than the 2021 model year.
Cruising around Hong Kong Island is enjoyable, but Solar Crown’s racing experience leaves much to be desired. AI opponents are either supernaturally fast or staggeringly slow – it’s one extreme or the other. This means you either win a race by a country mile or struggle to catch up from the back of the pack. Changing the AI difficulty would help solve this and make races fairer, but there is currently no option.
Test Drive Unlimited pioneered the online racing MMO. Solar Crown continues this focus, but a lack of crossplay support diminishes the online play. Encountering other players driving around the map is surprisingly rare, with AI opponents filling most slots in most races we’ve experienced.
Games with crossplay support let you connect with players on PC, PlayStation, and Xbox regardless of the system you are playing. By populating the map with more players, crossplay support in Solar Crown would make the online multiplayer much more active. Frankly, this should be mandatory in an online-focused game like Solar Crown.
You knew this was coming. Since it was announced, Solar Crown’s online requirement has been universally criticised – especially after The Crew ceased to exist when the servers were shut down. It resulted in one of this year’s worst game launches.
Constant server issues left players who paid extra to access the Gold Edition early unable to log in and stuck on the main menu. The situation has been so widely publicised that Nacon will offer compensation that “matches the frustration caused by the issues encountered” and “will not simply be a number of Solar Coins or an Avatar cosmetic.”
Even if you manage to log in and enter Hong Kong Island, the problems do not end there. Races cannot be started or will abruptly end if the servers disconnect, causing you to lose your progress – even if you are only racing with AI opponents.
Frustratingly, the online requirement affects other aspects, too: you cannot even pause the game or restart races. To KT Racing’s credit, the servers have been more stable since Solar Crown launched, but frequent maintenance has made the game inaccessible for long periods. All this terrible publicity could have been avoided if Solar Crown had been playable offline like its predecessors.
With Ubisoft recently announcing The Crew 2 and Motorfest will be playable offline, we are hoping that KT Racing will release an offline patch in response. Let’s just hope that Solar Crown’s disastrous launch has not turned too many players away by then.
For more on Test Drive Solar Crown, check out our handy tips on how to earn money and XP fast.
What changes would you like to see in Test Drive Unlimited Solar Crown? Let us know in the comments below.
Considering it is the first entry in 13 years, Test Drive Unlimited Solar Crown should have been a triumphant return for the open-world racing series. Unfortunately, it’s been a very bumpy launch. Ongoing server problems have soured an otherwise solid open-world racer, with players unable to access the game if the servers go down. But this isn’t Solar Crown’s only issue.
With several legacy features missing from previous games, Solar Crown feels unfinished. Fortunately, KT Racing plans to support Solar Crown long after launch with an extensive roadmap. “It’s not a game that will stop living after its release; it’s a game we want to keep updating for years,” Creative Director Alain Jarniou explained in a recent video previewing KT Racing’s post-launch plan.
With that in mind, here are five changes we want to see in Test Drive Unlimited Solar Crown.
Buyable Houses
Buying houses is a staple of Test Drive Unlimited. The first two games were about living a luxurious lifestyle and buying massive mansions to store your expensive car collection. Conversely, Solar Crown ditches houses in favour of the Solar Hotel, a central hub where you can meet other players, customise your avatar, and view upcoming events. But it’s not the same as owning your own property.
The Solar Hotel feels sterile, and you cannot customise your room like in Test Drive Unlimited 2. It also takes a long time before you can upgrade your room. As a result, every play session starts in the same room before you get a lift down to the main lobby, which quickly gets repetitive.
Thankfully, KT Racing is looking to add this much-requested feature in the future – but it will probably take a long time. “It’s something that requires serious consideration. I don’t think we should just repeat what we did in TDU 2,” Jarniou explained. “We all had our own house, but we didn’t share it much. It was a bit of a solo experience, even though it was very cool. It’s still a concept we need to evolve, but of course it’s something that marked TDU’s history. We’re definitely going to work on this for the future of Solar Crown.”
Selling Cars
Buying a car in Solar Crown is different from most racing games. Before buying a car, you must visit a dealership, browse the cars on sale, and choose your paint and interior options. It is more time-consuming than selecting a car in a menu but buying a car in Solar Crown feels like a special occasion. However, there is surprisingly no option to sell cars you own.
It is a glaring oversight. Making money in Solar Crown takes longer than open-world racers like Forza Horizon 5 and The Crew Motorfest. So, if you are not happy with the car you have bought with your hard-earned cash, you are stuck with it for a long time.
While we are on the subject of cars, we would also like to see more contemporary models – the current car list does not have any cars newer than the 2021 model year.
AI Difficulty Settings
Cruising around Hong Kong Island is enjoyable, but Solar Crown’s racing experience leaves much to be desired. AI opponents are either supernaturally fast or staggeringly slow – it’s one extreme or the other. This means you either win a race by a country mile or struggle to catch up from the back of the pack. Changing the AI difficulty would help solve this and make races fairer, but there is currently no option.
Crossplay Support
Test Drive Unlimited pioneered the online racing MMO. Solar Crown continues this focus, but a lack of crossplay support diminishes the online play. Encountering other players driving around the map is surprisingly rare, with AI opponents filling most slots in most races we’ve experienced.
Games with crossplay support let you connect with players on PC, PlayStation, and Xbox regardless of the system you are playing. By populating the map with more players, crossplay support in Solar Crown would make the online multiplayer much more active. Frankly, this should be mandatory in an online-focused game like Solar Crown.
Offline Mode
You knew this was coming. Since it was announced, Solar Crown’s online requirement has been universally criticised – especially after The Crew ceased to exist when the servers were shut down. It resulted in one of this year’s worst game launches.
Constant server issues left players who paid extra to access the Gold Edition early unable to log in and stuck on the main menu. The situation has been so widely publicised that Nacon will offer compensation that “matches the frustration caused by the issues encountered” and “will not simply be a number of Solar Coins or an Avatar cosmetic.”
Even if you manage to log in and enter Hong Kong Island, the problems do not end there. Races cannot be started or will abruptly end if the servers disconnect, causing you to lose your progress – even if you are only racing with AI opponents.
Frustratingly, the online requirement affects other aspects, too: you cannot even pause the game or restart races. To KT Racing’s credit, the servers have been more stable since Solar Crown launched, but frequent maintenance has made the game inaccessible for long periods. All this terrible publicity could have been avoided if Solar Crown had been playable offline like its predecessors.
With Ubisoft recently announcing The Crew 2 and Motorfest will be playable offline, we are hoping that KT Racing will release an offline patch in response. Let’s just hope that Solar Crown’s disastrous launch has not turned too many players away by then.
For more on Test Drive Solar Crown, check out our handy tips on how to earn money and XP fast.
What changes would you like to see in Test Drive Unlimited Solar Crown? Let us know in the comments below.
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