Test Drive Unlimited Solar Crown

This is the first game I’ve seen where the graphics and optimization actually get worse over time.

This is actually a good game and would still be a good game if someone took the code and made a few corrections to it and made it more fun... But I will give a thumbs down to it; because of one word: GREED I have been playing Car/Racing games since 1986 and I have played nearly all major games for 40 years, made millions of km on wheels Now if they had made this game without a Corporate structure above them; say like Everspace 2 or Expedition 33; just to make a good car game, just to make an art that people would love and enjoy and have fun while playing; this game might have sold 10x more and brought them much more profit. But nope, CORPORATE GREED... Milk the players, make money on them, treat them as wallets instead of people with a spirit. The GOOD: Graphics are OK, environment is OK, car sounds are actually really good, driving is good, The BAD: 1. STUTTERS = Just because they want to MILK people, they made the game "always online" so you can't cheat/edit your save and give yourself money (so you have to buy their diamonds) = To achieve this, they are keeping your savefile on their servers and to make sure your game is saved they do a "handshake" with the server a lot = This causes a pause in the game, like a freeze/stutter (it's not related with your hardware; I can get 60 fps at ultra settings but this still happens at lowest settings and it happens on certain points meaning the game is trying to communicate with the server and pauses for that) 2. REGION LOCK = They should fire the guy who thought locking the game into regions was a good idea.. Now imagine you create a multiplayer car-racing game which has "MULTIPLAYER" option on all races; but you rarely and barely see 1 or 2 other players on the map, because you are locked to your own country/region... Great thinking. 3. BODY CUSTOMIZATION = There are no BODY customization for the cars. There are the wheels, glass tints, paints or vinly.. Why can't you change the hood, fender, bumper, body kits and so on? Was it too hard to add? 4. PERFORMANCE CUSTOMIZATION = You can buy performance upgrades; but a) it takes A LOT OF TIME to fully upgrade a car (4 minutes per car) because the game pauses to do a handshake with the server each time you buy an upgrade (so you can't cheat them of their precious diamonds!!) AND when you are trying to enter a race that requires your car to be DOWNGRADED, it is done AUTOMATICALLY... Come'on man, let us change whatever we want. I want to keep the speed upgrades and remove the brakes and so on... NOPE, "you players are idiots, you can't do the customization yourself, let us do it for you..." 5. ECONOMY = It was horrible (you needed to grind 100+ races to buy a Bugatti) They added some very lucrative races at later patches... But even after 142 hours, I still have 40 cars in the game.. Because most of the races/events give you nothing compared to the actual prices. Also, who thought selling clothes for 1 million USD was a good idea... Either make it coupons or whatever.. But if people won't have spare money to buy those clothes, why did you add them to the game? 6. STORY = Written by idiots... Even AI couldn't make it such cliche... 7. CAMPAIGN/PROGRESSION = They have tasks that give you extra money/exp but imagine this: They have 50 tasks that require you to win 100 races with a specific car. Win 100 races with Ford GT; wih 100 races with Nissan GTR... Great thinking!!! People had more ideas even with the 640 kb RAM and 360 pixel monitors of 1980s... The map is cluttered with races all around but you have no reason to do most of them, because it's not linked in a progression or a story. Just random races all around. 8. SEASONS/WEEKLY = They add new content (like you have to do these 4 races and win them, get points...) so you can get a LICENSE PLATE!! But if you want to buy this and that, DIAMOND STORE is there for you... FINAL VERDICT: A "would have been" car game that sucks due to the decisions made by the top management...

[h1] Test Drive Unlimited Solar Crown. [/h1] The third iteration in the racing series that I grew up admiring so deeply. TDU1/2 gave us an open world racing experience that was different to any other game on the market and stood out as a winner in my eyes because of it. TDU:SC is however the complete opposite. It takes away from everything the first 2 games gave us. I pre-ordered the Gold Edition after a lot of waiting (about 10 years). From how the developers laid out this game and how they portrayed it made it seem like a no-brainer, 1:1 scale map of Hong Kong alone was enough to hook me on. The graphics and sounds looked like they would be amazing too. [b] Here are a few CONS I have with the game. [/b] - Poor optimisation - Constant crashing - Sub-par graphics AT BEST - Low active player count - Constant server issues (ESPECIALLY ON RELEASE) - Always online and no offline play - Battlepass and season BS that is terrible - Poor network optimisation This is a new racing game. This is NOT a Test Drive Unlimited game. I wholly regret my purchase of the game. Especially the most expensive edition.

Still no offline mode. Supposedly they're working on it, but we all know it's never happening. Prove me wrong KT Racing/Nacon. Prove me wrong.

i want test drive unlimited 1 and 2 on steam :( yes i purchased the game and refunded it just to get this off my chest

Так как я фанат серии и участвовал в тесте. То решил написать не большой обзор. Разочарованию моему нет предела, так как испортить такую великолепную игру своими кривыми руками и убогой не до оптимизацией, таково культового проекта как TDU. Разработчики низкий вам поклон. Сделать из хита 2000 кусок верблюжий лепешки это же как нужно упороться.

It's... actually okay? Definitely skip if you are a series fan though. TDUSC fails to deliver on two major expectations: the social feature is barebone and MP is nothing but wasteland (and regionally segregated. WTF?) It's "Mostly Negative" for good reason. That being said, it's not bad at all if you shift your expectation and accept it for what it is: a SP AA not-Forza with a big things-to-do checklist. Progression is there and you will eventually unlock 250+ various activities - circuit, point-to-point, both on and off road with good verticality, navigation (fun,) taxi, car delivery, tailing (cursed...) The amount of stuff is nothing to scoff at. KT Racing is good at making interesting map and catchy simcade physics and their skill is on full display. AI drivers have some rubber-band which is kind of fun to mess with. [strike]At least they don't warp nor divebomb like in FH.[/strike] Graphics are meh and optimization is a** but the game works with optiscaler so it won't be as bad if you are willing to make some compromise on mid-tier PC or better. (My rig is chilling at ~90 FPS with 50~60% CPU/GPU load with medium setting & FSR4 performance @ 1080p. It's much worse in the cockpit view, though.) It sure is a harder recommend what with the current Nacon situation. I just wanted to say there is a lot of fun to be had here in spite of all buts and ifs. Pick up Gold edition (that comes with decent cars and one-time use Solar pass) on deep discount at retailers and you would be golden. The in-game monetization can be safely ignored if you don't insist on acquiring everything. (BTW the offline mode is on the roadmap but I wouldn't hold breath for that, considering.)

First, let me be clear: I bought this game at 80% off for about $10. Put that into perspective—that's the price of a decent burger or a bottle of wine these days. You enjoy it for what it's worth, and then it's gone. You're never getting that money back, and you shouldn't further analyze it as some sort of investment. That said, the one thing that is true to the TDU franchise is the driving itself. The physics, suspension, and traction modeling are more arcade-oriented and "smoothed" (aka dulled) compared to a sim-cade game like Forza, but they're not nearly as arcade-like as NFS. The scaling of speed feels good, but it lacks the sharpness and precision needed for quick weight transfers or snappy maneuvering. This makes driving fast feel less accurate but more comfortable. It is not for those who want super-precise traction management or a highly technical driving style... BUT—it also is not a turn-and-burn, drift-or-die experience like Need for Speed. And that makes this game unique. You can't get this kind of neutral arcade handling experience in any other driving game today, at least not one with decent graphics. Another positive aspect is the variety of activity types. Delivery missions, Domination (endurance), Detective missions—stuff that makes for a fun driving experience aside from just straight-up wheel-to-wheel racing the entire time. Graphics and performance are FINE. I'm not running a NASA computer, and this game looks and performs about as well as any other racing title I've tried in the last five years. I really don't see much difference. The art design actually looks like it has some direction, with good weather effects and evocative lighting. The sound design is solid—unique engine sounds, a full spectrum of frequencies, and dynamic reflections. I also have not experienced any game-breaking bugs, glitches, FPS spikes, or crashes. OK, onto the criticism—and I'm just dogpiling on a dead horse here with everyone else. None of the immersion or lifestyle factors that made TDU appealing in the past are present in this release. This is why the game was fated to flop from day one, why it has not recovered, and why it's on sale for 80% off: The building interiors... have seats. Useless liminal spaces filled with nothing. Lame, limited avatar customization. There's nothing engaging about the game's premise, atmosphere, or "social" features whatsoever. The developers should not have even bothered trying to include this aspect if it was going to be so half-assed. There's other little stuff that makes this release feel unrefined in the details. When in first-person view, your character moves their hands to steer and shift, but they don't move their feet on the pedals at all. There are also areas of the map that are clearly unfinished, with props floating in the air. I understand why this title has been such a huge disappointment to most people, and I feel sorry for those who paid full price at launch—but how did you not see that coming? The developers got the core driving elements in and then left the rest to burn. Fun, casual driving engine. Good graphics. Big map. All they had to do was tackle some of the core MMO elements that made TDU unique, but then they said, "♥♥♥♥ it." There's nothing special here other than the unrealistic hope that the devs will add everything that's missing—but it's not quite as bad as the majority of people make it out to be. If you need a break from the NFS or Forza ecosystem, buy it for the price of an XXL burrito, and you might get some fun out of it.

At the most complete, as a former player of Test Drive Unlimited 2, I find it difficult to recognize the true TDU spirit in Test Drive Unlimited Solar Crown. The game feels much more like a generic open-world racing game than a genuine automotive lifestyle simulation like the older TDU titles. First of all, the character customization and appearance system feels underdeveloped. Although clothing stores (Clans) are present, the available selection remains limited and is often focused on a single style. The game does not provide enough freedom to create a truly unique avatar or experiment with different fashion styles. Compared to the lifestyle aspect that previous TDU games emphasized, the clothing system feels superficial and clearly lacks variety. Another major issue concerns vehicle management. In previous Test Drive Unlimited games, purchasing cars was directly tied to buying houses and garages. If you wanted to expand your collection, you first needed enough parking spaces, which added an extra layer of logic and progression. In Solar Crown, vehicle storage appears to be unlimited, removing an essential mechanic that encouraged players to invest in real estate and manage their collection. This ties directly into what is arguably the biggest missing feature: the complete absence of real estate. In TDU2, houses and apartments were an integral part of progression and the sense of achievement, as were the parking spaces associated with them. Here, almost everything revolves exclusively around cars and racing. The in-game economy is also frustrating. Vehicles are extremely expensive while rewards are relatively low, making grinding feel inefficient and sometimes discouraging. Progression becomes so slow that owning multiple cars can require dozens or even hundreds of hours. Several iconic features have disappeared as well, such as driving schools and the category-based license system, both of which added a real sense of progression in TDU2. Another missing feature is the police system. In TDU2, police vehicles were part of traffic, and players could receive fines, build up a criminal record, or take part in police chases. There was even a form of progression tied to this system for players who enjoyed driving more recklessly. This aspect of gameplay has completely disappeared in Solar Crown, removing yet another mechanic that contributed to Test Drive Unlimited's unique identity. Several missions (contracts) suffer from design issues or bugs. A good example I personally encountered involves a mission with Louis Montrose, a character who is particularly demanding regarding respect for traffic laws. However, the mission can begin with a vehicle spawning on the wrong side of the road, immediately causing penalties before the player has any chance to react. Whether intentional or not, this creates a feeling of unfairness and lack of polish, and sometimes gives the impression that these missions were not sufficiently tested. Other missions can be just as frustrating, with penalties being applied in situations that should not be considered mistakes. For example, when driving in the company of a passenger in a hurry, a simple jump can sometimes be counted as a collision even though no actual impact occurred, which feels excessively harsh and inconsistent. Under certain conditions, it feels like you have to drive like a grandparent just to avoid penalties. The game has also introduced a premium currency system that allows players to purchase certain content with real money. Even if it remains optional, this choice can further increase the frustration caused by the already very slow economy and create the impression that natural progression is intentionally slowed down. From a technical standpoint, the experience remains unstable. Despite using a high-end configuration equipped with an RTX 3090 and a Ryzen 9 5950X, crashes occur frequently, especially when opening the map or completely at random. This quickly becomes frustrating and significantly hurts the overall enjoyment of the game. Lastly, optimization is also a major issue. Even with an RTX 3090, the game regularly pushes the GPU to 100% usage with maximum graphics settings while consuming around 10 GB of VRAM. Considering the visual quality on offer, the performance requirements often feel disproportionate. Players using graphics cards with 12 GB of VRAM can already find themselves close to the limit when playing on Ultra settings, and the game would clearly benefit from further optimization. In my case, After improving my graphics card's cooling system allows it to maintain temperatures of around 68°C under full load instead of approaching the 80°C (original manufacturer temperature ASUS ROG). However, the fact that an RTX 3090 can be pushed to its limits for extended gaming sessions clearly illustrates the game's optimization problems. In my opinion, this game feels more like another open-world racing title than a true Test Drive Unlimited experience. I would not recommend it to players expecting to rediscover the atmosphere and mechanics that made the previous games so memorable.