The Crew Motorfest trailer - A Spiritual Successor To TDU?

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Ubisoft released a trailer for the 3rd entry into the racing franchise The Crew, this one being subtitled Motorfest.

Although no precise release date has been given, it is officially set to release during the year, with the team having announced similar support to what The Crew 2 has benefited from through its whole life.


Moreover, a closed beta is scheduled starting tomorrow (February 1st) - labelled as an "insider program", but everyone can register for it. The program will go through 4 phases, the first one being open to 2.000 PC players, while the beta will open to more and more people in the following phases. The game is set to release on PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Series S/X and Amazon Luna. The program is explained in further details in the first episode in a series of video, named Behind The Wheel.


Recommended PC equipment for 1080p 60 fps on medium preset is the following:
  • CPU: Intel Core i7-8700K / AMD Ryzen 5 3600X
  • GPU: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 Ti / AMD Radeon RX 5700
  • Video memory: 8 GB
  • RAM: 8 GB
  • Drive space: 30 GB
  • OS: Windows 10 64
Interestingly, the game is set on the island of Oahu in Hawaï, which is the map of Test Drive Unlimited. This confirms a leak found in The Crew 2 files as Project Orlando. Coincidentally, it appears a bunch of developpers working on TCM did work on the original TDU, so the comparison between the two games will inevitably be drawn. Motorfest will also be competing with the official successor of TDU, Solar Crown, which should release either at the end of the year as well or early 2024, and is being directed by Alain Jarniou, the original director for the Test Drive Unlimited games. The leaked image from The Crew seems to indicate that contrarily to TDU, the map won't be 1:1 scale, making it very possible that both Ubisoft's Oahu and Kylotonn's Hong Kong Island could end up being of similar size.

The-Crew-3-Sales-projectorlando-e1641072736115.png


The trailer itself shows us a modified Ford Bronco, a Shelby Cobra, and two Lamborghinis, an Urus and a Sian Roadster, noticeably avoiding any other form of motor vehicle - although the official website talks about vehicles and motorsports in general without specifically restricting the scope to cars only, so it is unclear at this stage if planes and boats will be featured again.
About author
GT-Alex
Global motorsports enjoyer, long time simracer, Gran Turismo veteran, I've been driving alongside top drivers since the dawn of online pro leagues on Gran Turismo, and qualified for the only cancelled FIA GTC World Tour. I've left aside competitive driving in 2020 to dedicate myself to IGTL, a simracing organisation hosting high quality events for pro racers and customers, to create with friends the kind of events we wished we could have had. We strive to provide the best events for drivers and the best content for viewers, and want to help the simracing scene grow and shine further in the global esports scene.

Comments

Super excited about this. No I am not on drugs.

TDU1 was a bit before my time - launch title on the 360 and I didn't pick mine up until about 2007. In hindsight I feel silly for not picking it up as supposedly it was the better game.

TDU2 came out just after I'd graduated high school and I have extremely fond memories of playing it with my bros in between work and house parties. Two of us were big into racing games; a third wasn't, but it was easy enough for him to pick up and play with us and still get the most out of it.

The game was a metaverse, a decade before anyone knew what that word meant. Much more than just racing - car collecting, property collecting and customization, avatar customization, track designer, clans & clan matches, even a casino that you could walk around in first person. Unlike Forza Horizon, it also didn't throw you cars. Saving up for just a handful of supercars felt really rewarding.

It's a shame that very little of it was functional at any point in time. Constant server outages and promises from Atari that were never kept. Waves of DLC were developed but never released - just discovered those. We still played the **** out of it, which was a testament to how good the underlying design was. Even broken, it was still fun. Never experienced that with another game.

The Crew & TC2 were just silly with how they handled car upgrades and other miscellaneous elements. It irritates me that racing game developers are overthinking their own products to such an extent that the racing is now secondary to weird "random car upgrade loot mechanics", nonsensical perks, and "you should be able to hit a button to turn your car into a plane and then a boat and back again." Yawn. You can tell these guys don't play racing games.

If they honestly just strip the game to its core and reboot the mechanics TDU with more modern social features, I'm in.
 
Forza Horizon which totally did not copy TDU.
Yes of course, and not only FH was based on TDU but improved it to current standards, something that TDU didn't know how to do (although it remains to see Solar Crown, but I have no confidence in it) but in case you haven't noticed (I know you haven't) I'm not talking about Forza Horizon, but about the little imagination that Bugisoft has and that as they know that FH sells a lot they will do the same. ..Or rather they will try, we all know that Bugisoft is not doing well these days.
 
Premium
Looks great....hmmm, wonder if it has a good 'Photo Mode' with all the right functions:redface::roflmao:...and good Steering Wheel compatibility:O_o:

Mind you going by that Trailer, it's looks a bit fast paced for an old guy like me:D...and the opening scene with the camera sweeping over the water, thought 'Miami Vice' was starting up:rolleyes::roflmao:
 
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You can sign up for the Insider Program on the Game website:

 
Yes of course, and not only FH was based on TDU but improved it to current standards, something that TDU didn't know how to do (although it remains to see Solar Crown, but I have no confidence in it) but in case you haven't noticed (I know you haven't) I'm not talking about Forza Horizon, but about the little imagination that Bugisoft has and that as they know that FH sells a lot they will do the same. ..Or rather they will try, we all know that Bugisoft is not doing well these days.

Hard disagree, TDU did things that nothing else to this day does, and just has better gamer design and attention to detail overall. I'm still finding myself launching Project Paradise now and then to enjoy TDU 2 with friends. Forza Horizon gets boring after 2 hours for me.

As mentionned in the article already, a good part of the team at UIT were at Eden when TDU was made. I think we shoudl allow the original guys of the original idea to have a go at a modern version of it. Moreover, The Crew 2 has had continued support until now and the game has improved quite a bit since release.

This had me highly interested, until I saw the toy version of Oahu.

Reminder it's an old leak found in TC2 files. It probably doesn't reflect the final product. LODs might also be involved.

You can sign up for the Insider Program on the Game website:


Heard the selection will be made based on activity on The Crew 2 (which is a very smart way to do it imho). If you played a lot recently, you have good chances.
 
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Will be all hype and then be absolute garbage as always although will be better than anything Nacon do with test drive
 
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Heard the selection will be made based on activity on The Crew 2 (which is a very smart way to do it imho). If you played a lot recently, you have good chances.
It would be interesting to know where this piece of info comes from. If true, well, we already know it aims at TC2 users, so, TDU's fans can forget their hopes. But that's fair and logic, better bet on TC2's base and take no risk, this is how Ubisoft dors ots business. The risks had been taken with TC1, it's time to use the recipe until it dies in 15 years. Well, to be fair, the have changed a bit the recipe, now they give a small island already done before to bet on the nostalgia of games their base players have only heard of. Why not keep on the Crew concept with partial continents full of big cities? This is what made the "wow effect" of TC1. This effect was just lost in TC2 because it was a recycled map, logic. I wonder why Euro Truck simulator 2 and American TS are so successful... Oh, maybe because you can travel all over Europe and the USA ??? The USA like in The Crew?

Mmm there is something there, but, no, let's go for an island like in Far Cry 3 and the same one than the old TDU games, that's much better because there are videos of these old games on youtube... And let's copy the colorful presentation of the last forza horizon.

Well, I stop there, I'm just not the target of this game. I enjoyed TC1 but never got hyped by the presentation of TC2, although the idea of adding planes and bots to the formula was good (maybe a DLC for TC1 would have been sufficient for me, without the instant vehicle switch, having to drive to an airport or a seaport).

I have better expectations about the TDU new game in terms of fun and driving experience, but I hope Kylotonn is going to polish the game instead of relying on the TDU hype.
 
Congratulations to the_meco, I'm sure he's proud to see how the 3D model of his Shelby Cobra has appeared in another game (in case anyone doesn't know Kunos does some of the car models for both The Crew 1 & 2 and yes some car for AC and TC series use the same 3D models)
 

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