Test Drive Unlimited Solar Crown Is A Lot Of A Mess...

[@Sedan57Chevy]

Why can't anyone seem to figure out racing game progression anymore? Gran Turismo 4 and Forza Motorsport 4 remain my two favorite racing games, as they had large, large event lists and had you starting in normal pedestrian cars, and then were relatively generous with prize cars that got more exciting as time went on. I really loved how FM4 rewarded you with manufacturer affinity the longer you raced with a maker, meaning that those discounted and eventually free parts meant that you could do some ludicrous upgrades to those early starter cars and try to race them in higher classes. The flexibility and terms of volume of content just hasn't been matched.

[@Outwardly198]

Man i literally dug out my 360 the other day to play fm4 and forgot how good it could be. Plus the car list was always on point and online community used to be great

[@anthonyfaccaro7118]

Gran turismo 4 is the only game ive ever played, racing or otherwise, that i had basically completed and got most of the cars...but had my save file corrupted....and completely started over from the beginning and did it all again, because the progression was rewarding and fun.

[@sekutofu6471]

because new developers don't play the previous games, and go on about re-inventing the wheel.

[@anon-fq3ud]

TDU 1 and 2 both had good progression. It's almost as if the pursuit of profit has made management (because devs have little say in the matter) unlearn how to design decent progression.

[@varyagace]

Hell, doesn't even need to be GT4 levels of progression. Could even be NFSU2 or even Gran Turismo 2. I recently replayed GT2 and I had a blast every step of the way, picking unique cars to race with.

[@jarodcollver6727]

So no one really gonna ask why Mini Cooper is more than twice the price of an Audi

[@GrimmStalker]

Some of TDUSC car prices are on levels of ridiculousness bordering on F2P games

[@SpartanArmy117]

Because it's listed as "epic" like its an MMORPG. I just don't understand what they were thinking.

[@Saefogeo]

This is something that bothers me to unreasonable levels and has been around for quite a while now. Just take a look at the horrible nonsense that the car pricing is in The Crew 2 for example. Maybe they have changed that since the last time I played the game and improved it but I remember things like a Ford Focus RS being more expensive than a Lamborghini and other outrageous examples 😂😂😂

[@extrahourinthepit]

Forget the Audi, it's like three quarters the price of a Vantage!

[@flavioa6351]

TDU is not a racing game. It’s a driving / car collecting game. No house and no garages means no purchase from me

[@Rentta]

Yup at least the first one was. I remember buying G-25 just for it back in the day and it was a bliss / so cool.

[@SpeedFreak1972]

yea for me too have a couple of thousand of hours in tdu2 and no way I despise grind

[@zippo71111]

Very accurate, TDU in name but not identity. It lacks what made TDU special. Looks more like a generic game with the soul sucked out of it, interesting location but seems to be shallow in terms of what's there. TDU didn't feel like a grind and you had a ton of fun races/missions etc to do.

[@subieasunayuuki]

Until they add them of course

[@SpeedFreak1972]

@@subieasunayuuki and maybe I’ll buy it then, but not now

[@ileutur6863]

The game industry desperately needs another crash. All money gone, all the executives and other useless suits fired, so we can have a fresh start run by competent people in new companies.

[@infinite_azure_]

Tbh you're right

[@Chilledinho]

If there was a crash, Rockstar would end up monopolozing alongside a few other bigger companies lol

[@GForce162]

@@Chilledinho including Rockstar

[@Skubert]

what would happen (and to a degree is happening) is a lot of people get sacked and the execs pay themselves tens of millions for "optimizing costs" and "reducing expenses", then the studio bankrupts

[@andreanastacio9548]

As long as nintendo survives the crash, I`d be fine with that. Tbh, they`de probably be responsable for the rebound, just like they were the 1st time around

[@Stewcumber]

That progression is horrendous. For some context, TDU 1 will give you $80k for a 10 minute (careful) drive, delivering someone elses supercar and this crops up every 30 minutes or so. 50% bonus if you deliver without damage.

[@SteveBrandon]

Also, TDU 1 generally had semi-realistic car prices (for 2006) so that many cars, even the lower-end Ferraris (assuming you were playing the XBox 360 version which had the Ferrari license), were affordable after just a couple of hours of racing or doing missions.

[@Juicybignut00]

you forgot. thats when games were meant to be fun. they are now created to be annoying and tedious for profits.

[@rotbarsch1979]

@Stewcumber As far as TDU1 goes, "180 mph in heavy traffic" did the trick for me back in the days. Using the Saleen S7 TT got you $70k every 30s or so. 😇

[@Toad666]

still better than other games where u get a wheelspin after 10 seconds of playing and get the best car in the game

[@MrZRACER]

That's cool. A casual drive event.

[@Cyberdeamon]

We're getting priced out of housing even in a video game, lmao.

[@ChipsChallenge95]

TDU 1 was better than this. I don’t understand why in 2024 games are being outdone by their almost 20 year old predecessors.

[@chaospxl_]

because back then, over the air updates were not possible. they had to think of everything, and they had to test bugs, they had to make sure everything worked, and that everything was optimal for a single-player experience.

[@ninochaosdrache3189]

Devs unfortunately stopped caring.

[@zachbishop5421]

Honestly I think the biggest issue is that a shit load of devs time is now spent on lighting and graphics plus alot of these engines are hard to code in. back in the day the graphics were simple so alot of the time was put in to actually giving the game depth and enough content to live for years since they couldn't update them. Now big corps want money on deadlines so they spend most the time making the game look good then try and add shit in later and it's always ass

[@davidmusic824]

Private equity heavily involved in gaming industry now, so we'll continue to get unoriginal, rushed, sparse AAA games, until something changes. Luckily, indie games have never been better

[@Ryzza5]

"Let is slide" was ironically the thing you could not do in TDU2 thanks to its wonky physics

[@issammelzi728]

Yeah and let's not talk about what happens when you land after going airborne

[@ShadowRush2112]

I'm surprised the servers stayed up long enough for Alex to make an half an hour review

[@ATalkingBadger]

*a half-hour

[@ShadowRush2112]

@@ATalkingBadger ok

[@DeadPool_StaS]

they fixed servers. now its run smoothly.

[@smanjot432]

Have you noticed performance improvement?​@@DeadPool_StaS

[@jenskrause4767]

​@@DeadPool_StaSYeah for 20% of the player base wait what's gonna happen tomorrow

[@connorbutters8479]

honestly i'm getting fed up with new racing games being constantly disapointing. like every new racing game in AAA just ends up being a Forza Horizon clone with everything but the actual driving being under baked or completely broken, and sometimes even the driving is trash

[@K31TH3R]

Give CarX Street a go. Best arcade handling I've ever felt that you can treat almost like a sim, excellent progression/pacing with only a slight grind, hilariously fun and large map to drive on and toss the cars around with lots of amazing touge routes. Really the only downsides are lack of licensed cars, but they're very obviously based on real cars to the point I'm worried about them getting sued over how identical they are, and the devs are apparently very morally grey on straight up stealing art work of independent artists. Beyond that, I've been taken back to PS2 era amounts of simple and pure enjoyment in a racing game, which is VERY rare these days. It often feels like a mismash of Need For Speed: Most Wanted and Tokyo Xtreme Racer and it's just fantastic, especially for just $20.

[@haaxxx9]

After motorfest came out I just stopped caring about these AAA arcade racing games anymore. So San Francisco Rush 2049 came out 25 years ago for the arcades, N64 and the Dreamcast and have several levels you can race in but the thing is that the levels have many different routes you can take to complete a lap around the map and so many secrets that you can unlock just by exploring and keeping a keen eye out. Plus the game is really punishing if you mess up too much so no wall riding or hitting obstacles that will slow you down and more than likely will make you lose the race than anything (And ending it on the spot if you have Death mode on if you even crash once). How come a game that's a quarter of a century old is more appealing than the newest slop on the market for me?

[@ScopeSeeker]

Soulless is how id describe this game on a good day.

[@ageoflove1980]

The graphics are weird. The cars, trees, roads and the effects all look really good, but the city, the buildings especially absolutely dont. It so weird that its hard to believe 01:42 and 02:36 are the same game. The city looks like PS4 or even PS3 era graphics with extreme low poly and flat looking buildings... very strange design choice.

[@eskeletor]

It's not really the fidelity of the buildings, but the really poor lighting. Look at the shadows (or rather the lack there of). Almost no ambient occlusion, these streets in the shadows would be much darker in real life.

[@ageoflove1980]

@@eskeletor Yeah you are right. But for me thats a big problem. When you set your game in Hong Kong, you are raising the bar for yourself because its one of the most iconic cities in the world and you just expect it to look awesome when you drive through it. Im thinking like grand vistas of the skyline, cyberpunky neon-lit enviroments, bustling streets... Sleeping Dogs did a really good job with that for example. And sure, different type of games and Test Drive just isnt about that, fair enough, but then why use Hong Kong as the setting? Again at 21:10.... it looks s bad that im surprized the pubisher and devs were ok with this.

[@focussport]

Unfortunately, the cars don't look good either. All of them are off. They look last gen or worse, which is inexcusable in todays market

[@itzToshii]

hes playing on the lowest graphics settings, shadows, textures, lod, everything is on low its a night and day graphical difference when low compared to high, the game is still not worth rn but on maxed graphics the game does look very good

[@andrewsteer8860]

@@itzToshiilow settings on todays machines should still be looking better than a 10 year old game though shouldn’t they?

[@Dagreatdudeman]

If this game doesn't have a microtransaction shop now, I suspect it will show up soon.

[@Enozenim_LJO]

it really feels like it's supposed to have them, suspiciously grindy. thinking more, if they do i hope the casino they are doing doesn't cause someone to lose the micro-transaction they just spend real money on; if the game does eventually allow you to buy money with irl money hopefully they'll at least have a separate currency to avoid people susceptible to gambling

[@Reactor89]

I was thinking the exact same. This game screams, we intended to have micro transactions.

[@issammelzi728]

They said they will never have microtransactions in the game so atleast it has that going for it compared to the crew

[@Enozenim_LJO]

@JadeOnPaws899 i'm just going off by this review so maybe it's different, but i'm sure i had more cars after that amount of time in TDU2 & Alex is infinitesimally better at driving than me

[@Enozenim_LJO]

@JadeOnPaws899 but sorry yes, i agree about it always being a slow progress game, just worried it seems worse :/ knocking wood with crossed fingers!

[@fernandog.ramirez.6917]

I'm deeply saddened by this game. I cannot fathom why they did not follow the formula from the OG duo, why are you not allowed to buy houses? Why are you so limited in lifestyle and belongings? Why does it have to be always online? Why is it so GPU intensive though it looks far worse than the competence? Why does it try so hard to be like Forza? Why is the map so empty? This game is absolute disappointment.

[@MysteriousMatt89]

About houses from the creative director Alain Jarniou: "In Test Drive Unlimited Solar Crown, you have your hotel room, but it’s not really your property. This is something players loved in TDU 2, so it’s something that requires serious consideration. I think we shouldn’t just repeat what was done in TDU 2 because, in the end, we all had our house, but we didn’t share it much because everyone started in their own house and then went free-riding. 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, and we’re definitely going to work on this for the future of Test Drive Unlimited Solar Crown. " In terms of looks it's actually very pretty, but it needs more optimization and graphical bugs need fixing. Tbf the compression on this video is horrendous, it looks so much better in-game. Mostly agree with the other points tho

[@deanchur]

@@MysteriousMatt89 I LOVED the houses in TDU1; probably because they were what you thought about when you thought "luxury tropical island house", and were something to aspire to owning in real life. They were a real treat, so it's sad to see them go

[@bpw8214]

and NO clothing stores, hair salons, cosmetic clinics scatted around the map like in tdu2 and tdu 1....in tdu SC theres only one of 3 stores and its located at your apartment building....so takes all the fun out of driving to these locations....like wtf....such a core identity and removed it...and no real estate buidling to buy condos/mansion/houses at launch...like why even make a tdu game...

[@math6234]

Because Forza makes money and the funny tie-owning upper management must make the higher-higher-ups lots of money!

[@YorkshiremanReacts26]

Because Forza id the industry standard, the yardstick. I don't care what you're a fan of, that's just a fact. Deal with it.

[@Hornetvenom]

What I'd give for a remaster of PGR4. I know it will never happen but man I loved that game.

[@SteveBrandon]

As someone who grew up in Canada, I loved that Quebec City was one of the featured cities in PGR 4 and, while I know Bizarre Creations is defunct, I still hope one day Microsoft can settle whatever other issues are preventing them from putting out a PGR 5, perhaps with Montreal as one of the cities. (I think Montreal would be an ideal PGR city due to all of the elevation changes around Mount Royal.)

[@isaacsrandomvideos667]

I loved PGR4. I know it’s commonplace to say this but; 360 car games are unbeatable.

[@almighty1158]

@@isaacsrandomvideos667yes

[@LegitimateCo]

What Alex is describing with the progression system and the pricing is a Mobile Game. TDU Solar Crown is a Mobile Game

[@ferrumignis]

_"TDU Solar Crown is a Mobile Game"_ A mobile game that is, or will be available on PC, XBox, PS but not on any smartphone? How does that work?

[@sameermohideen4913]

​@@ferrumignisIt just works

[@trautsj]

Yea, it really feels like a 1:1 copy of any trash tier mobile games mechanics designed to fleece people only without the fleecing implemented... yet; I suppose lol Never doubt game devs and never doubt Ubisoft.

[@RacingAtHome]

@@ferrumignis What he means is that the options are either spend a million hours to do one thing or pay with real money. The only difference is that there's no other option.

[@Elwaves2925]

@@ferrumignis They mean it's a mobile game in spirit and design, not in which systems it's on.

[@againstalltyrants9001]

Watching this game develop over the years I always figured it wasn't gonna live up to tdu2, but it's sad to see it's true.

[@benn87]

Absolutely. Something has felt off right from the start since the announcement.

[@Enozenim_LJO]

had the same worry, the updates didn't inspire confidence for me but i just hoped i was worrying too much... :(

[@SpuddyLlama]

Well crap... The title doesn't fill my TDU2 loving self with much hope. Well damn.. The gameplay leaves a LOT to be desired compared to TDU2, am glad the driving physics improved though, that's a plus.. But even releasing this game with NO houses is dumb as dog s**t, it was a big part of the whole showing off what you have fun side of things.. Although good luck getting much to show off with the economy the way it looks to be.

[@aytelonne6866]

19:20 the best part is that you can't even repeat the same race over and over because, as AR12 Nick discovered in his let play, you get less and less money if you repeat the same one

[@MarcoAurelio-hn1ys]

One of the biggest criticism of the recent Forza titles is the lack of a sense of progression, you can have super and hypercars with millions of credits within a few hours because of those wheelspins, festival playlist, etc. Solar Crown is the complete opposite lol.

[@lucingolo]

You never played TDU, did you?

[@rhdbenchmarks]

Atleast the old TDU it was somehow balanced, you get great money for races and "activities". This shit games wants you to put 50 hours to collect 20 millions CR. Forza has it's problem, but money was never one, progression yes, but money no. In my FH4 save, I played 200 hours and collected 32 Millions CR which can't even buy you all the cars.

[@semiperfekt]

I loved the grinding in TDU

[@Ryzza5]

Nobody wants you to complete their game and move on these days, they want to keep you busy 'working' or doing chores grinding away so they have more time to work on DLC to sell us.

[@Cakebattered]

If they make the game fun, it takes care of itself. I put hundreds of hours in TDU 1 & 2, simply because I could explore the large map and drive my various cars for the enjoyment of driving.

[@TheNorwegianPhantom]

I dont know if anyone but me find this wierd, but for a game set in Hong Kong, there are only 3 Asian cars (Two Nissans and one Toyota, and no Chinese or Korean cars) I realize that there are other thing that they need to get on with before adding more cars, but it seems odd to me.

[@MrLarzAnderson]

Hong Kong but driving around on the rod there’s just a bunch of mustangs, F150s and Alfa Romeos

[@Kyntteri]

The graphics look like they're from early 2010's. Shadow draw distance is short and plenty of pop in and LOD changes.

[@jackochainsaw]

This pay to win shit is so old. I don't think that these developers realise that if you just made a good game, you could make DLCs for it, rather than having to go ham on Micro transactions. Burnout Paradise was so good, it got remastered. None of these games are good enough to be remastered. Burnout paradise got remastered because it was fun as balls. The progression was fun. The music was awesome. The greed of these developers is just insane. I don't think they've learnt yet that people are going back to old games because there is no joy in this new half arsed stuff. I played Carmageddon recently, just for some classic fun. Beam NG, fun. GTA V, fun. Why bother with anything else if it doesn't improve on the gameplay loop?

[@JimboSlicePhD]

why can't a single video game come out good

[@ShadowRush2112]

money

[@everia_games]

Because fuck you, do you want a nugget?

[@GozuTenno962]

​@@ShadowRush2112no no if they wanted money, then they would have given us a genuinely good game.

[@ShadowRush2112]

@@GozuTenno962 Or just shove in a million microtransactions.

[@GozuTenno962]

@@ShadowRush2112 this year and last year have shown us that a good game with no strings attached will sell millions. But hey it's like they don't want money .

[@KingStretch35]

The world looks so lifeless and no cheesy radio station along the lines of hariba radio is a shame. All of the immersion of TDU2 is missing. No cops either is a shame.

[@CWINDOWSsystem32]

You just mentioning Hariba Radio makes me want to find my TDU2 disc, install it on my current computer, and blast Deadmau5 while speeding down a motorway in Ibiza.

[@bpw8214]

and NO clothing stores, hair salons, cosmetic clinics scatted around the map like in tdu2 and tdu 1....in tdu SC theres only one of 3 stores and its located at your apartment building....so takes all the fun out of driving to these locations....like wtf....such a core identity and removed it...and no real estate buidling to buy condos/mansion/houses at launch...like why even make a tdu game...

[@math6234]

They probably made the dealerships so big because new cars will come in the future, but I agree that TDU2's looked more like a real dealership. This looks more like a billionaire's collection place.

[@davidlundmark9359]

Why is the ceiling so high tho? I feel like they upscaled the showrooms by mistake twice as large as they meant to

[@lordethan27]

27:16 “I think there’s a wreck somewhere around here” ‘looks right at it and drives off’

[@Darthadios]

Took me a while to notice, but there is, I think a Mercedes Gullwing.

[@SPcamert]

I was really hoping he'd turn around and find it. I'm curious if unlocking cars by finding wrecks maybe offers an alternative way of getting new cars so that you don't necessarily have to play 50+ races to get them...

[@thesunnynationg]

TDU's Hawaii map is maybe the best Racing game Open world ever.

[@ThanteosV8]

It definietly is. Map was the main reason I was holding back with purchasing this one. HK is cool, but for me it would be nice additional map, not the main one. Ibiza will be great addition, but again we are only getting small part of it, so again no epic long cruises ahead with this one. I rly hope for them to expand on full ibiza or bringing back full Oahu in the future.

[@whiskeytown3777]

I remember the Around the Island challenge, dominating it in an Enzo If i remember that long ago. Was so fun. It was approx an hour long race, remember completing with many minutes to spare and being super happy.

[@thesunnynationg]

@@whiskeytown3777 yeah man, I used to beat that Race in the Saleen S7 I love that Car in TDU

[@AxeGaijin]

It's a live-service racing game with battle-pass, it has nothing that made TDU, TDU. It will sputter out in about a year and a half, if that.

[@HBFBajaRacer]

Wow that pop-in on textures is insane. 100% with you on atmosphere being off. It's almost like the devs either didn't play TDU1/2 or they didn't like it.

[@RSProduxx]

The "map expansion" mentioned is in fact ONE little town and a bit of its surroundings on Ibiza.

[@FatSn8ke]

Don’t you worry sir. A major update is right around the corner to fix the economy issue: Introducing ‘TDU coin’. The ultimate fast-pass to your first luxury apartment!

[@FearlessLeader2001]

So I think the biggest disconnect comes from the culture of the games themselves, answering that Showroom feeling "off". Test Drive Unlimited we games about collecting high-end cars for the enthusiasm around loving those machines. Loving how they look and what they're capable of. This game seems more like it like high end cars...because they're expensive. From what I've heard from people who've tried it, the story mirrors this. It's a lot of "wow aren't rich people cool?" and "isn't great to be rich in Hong Kong with expensive cars?" It's like the dev team fundamentally misunderstood what TDU was and why people loved it.

[@semiperfekt]

To be fair: Having plastic surgery in TDU2 was also a weird thing about being rich? That feature was insane on so many levels

[@issammelzi728]

Both test drive games focus on expensive high end cars as well and don't have that many cheap cars apart from the starter ones, atleast as far as I can remember which is telling

[@FearlessLeader2001]

@@issammelzi728 As I mentioned in my comment. It was high end cars for the love of high ends cars, not high end cars for the love of them being expensive.

[@uhm175]

@@FearlessLeader2001 It's the opposite, so you're wrong on that

[@jxpd7898]

The problem is that the game is designed to be played for 8 hours a day like a job, when all good games you can achieve a lot in 30 minutes to an hour

[@choopocobra]

feels like the game wants to be a "Game as a Service" type. Car rarities, Grindiness, Lower Graphical quality. I remember TDU2 being grindy and the server being pretty crap too.

[@benn87]

That's exactly what it is. The game is officially a live service. With all its disadvantages...

[@Testeuros]

TDU2 being grindy? In comparison with that it's nothing in terms of how much grind you need to put in getting an interesting car.

[@choopocobra]

@@Testeuros you are right, but the grind was still there. I remember doing one specific race that would pay out 40k 100s of times to min max time played cause the physics and AI were crap. Still played the hell out of it and the casino came out the same time I was getting into poker, so that kept me around.

[@fredcharleskrueger5183]

Per race payout generally increases at level 30 and above as you get a bonus payout of 9,990 coins in every race. Any general increment in payout doesn’t happen until level 55 where you unlock Crown Jewel races, which are endurance races that are far longer than any other race and therefore has a way higher payout. But the fact that you need to reach 55 before you can start to make a decent amount of money is mental. I’ve played for about 34 hours, grinding away and just today reached level 50, where you unlock Hypercar races and the ability to buy hyper cars, problem is that races up until level 55 can net you a maximum of 33,000 coins if you have all assists off, the 9,990 bonus and the general payout. So if you want to buy a Chiron Pur Sport, which costs 12,000,000 SC, you can imagine the amount of races you’d need to do to get that much money. There are those secondary tasks that give you bonus money, ranging from 12,000 to 1,000,000 (at level 60). It will still take many days of grinding to get 1 single Hypercar.

[@nights8575]

thankyou for sharing !

[@leaftye]

That's totally expected. They kept implying that this game was about the grind.

[@fredcharleskrueger5183]

@@leaftye I understand having a bit of a grind in your game, but to this degree where it will take months to get every car makes it very tedious. Playing a game is about having fun and taking a break from reality in a way, having to grind for something in a game is also ok so people have something to work for, but there is a kind of limit to how “grindy” a game can be, like if you’ve only got tops 2-3 hours to play a day, it would potentially take like a week or more to earn enough money in game to buy the car you want. Long story short, general event payouts should be buffed by a decent amount, to allow more people to have fun with the cars they want, sooner, rather than later. AI needs re-balancing as well, as the difficulty spikes are enormous, some races they struggle to navigate the course, typically off road or when it’s raining, while most races on dry asphalt they’re on rails with much faster cars than you even if you’re at the same PR level as them, also lacking a sense of awareness to the player, causing them to bump into you or ram you off the road.

[@Reactor89]

Does this game have micro transactions? This game screams, we intended to have micro transactions.

[@fredcharleskrueger5183]

@@Reactor89 none at all.

[@irvanray1898]

The progression of TDU 2 makes more sense. You do a few races in a championship, a few challenge here and there and you're good to afford a low-end Ferrari (if you want to grind for the next required car) and even then, you can still get the required car after doing a few challenges. Bad economy doesn't equal good progression.

[@TheJzai]

I was hyped when they said it was a 1:1 scale of HK (Obviously knowing they weren't going to replicate every single street and building for fluidity sake) but anyone who lives in HK should be laughing at how small CWB at the start. Man drove from the football stadium to goose neck bridge in a blink of an eye hahahaha! Still very on the fence on whether or not I should get this.

[@tenpennybenny9213]

I would like to have a game where u just drive around in a nice car. A beautiful location, like tropical island. Doesn´t need to focus on racing, large scale free roam would be cool. Drive on a coast for 30minutes, maybe meet somebody, blink him, put a checkpoint on map, race there. Or deliver luxury car somewhere, get paid. Start with no money and old car in a shack. Put houses on map for sale. Maybe car dealers and tuning shops. Spread them, with unique parts. Add bikes.

[@MysteriousMatt89]

For the most part this is what SC aims for. Give it another year and it will get there. Motorcycles and houses are pretty much confirmed, as well as part of Ibiza as an expansion.

[@maitele]

congratulations, you just described TDU1 to a tee lma

[@D3VYN3]

Then i'd say wait for some of the more major updates before you play it. Houses are coming, the casino too, they're looking at motorbikes too, delivery missions are also being worked on as well as a big chunk of Ibitha to cruise on They've got a roadmap for the next year that shows you what they've got planned

[@Fabuloush0rror]

The physics put me off still. It’s like you’re constantly on ice for most the part. Looks like you’re never actually on a road/track, more just hovering above it. I just can’t get my head around it

[@jaylanjackson4653]

I see exactly what you mean

[@Fabuloush0rror]

@@jaylanjackson4653 I get it’s an arcade game but it’s just so bad

[@uhm175]

Unity Engine Game physics LMAO

[@Ward1706]

Can’t say I’m not disappointed with Solar Crown. I hate Live Service games, the game may as well come with an angle grinder and it’s horrifically balanced. Not to mention it’s got shit progression and no houses. Oh and there’s no trading in cars - for no reason that I can see. However, having said that, I’ve played it for 20 hours, so either there’s something I like about it, I want my money’s worth or I’m severely mentally ill (let’s not dwell on that). It has potential - the core gameplay loop is fine and the handling model’s competently made. Frankly, it should’ve had more polish before release.

[@MiraSubieGirl]

I have an E Type irl... I spend 3hrs grinding a SL55amg a car my Dad owned irl (rip dad). An Alfa Romeo slung shot past me in my SL55 on a long straight and proceeded to take my cornering line, slam into me, slide across like ice and pass me. I refunded and im tuning my carbies on my irl Jag. (Racing games are dead, cya on Forza Motorsport later)

[@OnasaD]

*Is it so hard for companies to just price vehicles realistically?*

[@internetfrnd6496]

What’s sad is TDU 1 had somewhat realistic prices for cars iirc. You could grind for maybe a few races and have some of the cheaper Ferraris in no time.

[@Razor77725]

That Ferrari dealership looks like a museum I visited once Porsche Museum in Stuttgart and I got flashbacks of it after FailRace went into that Ferrari showroom Very big space but not overfilled with cars, the cars and spaces out, here and there, somewhat unorganised (no cars in a row parallel parking arrangement)

[@spbslinky7381]

To any developer at this time. Unless you are willing to release a complete and polished game like Space Marine 2, don't bother

[@FarikoUnited1]

I was decently excited to play this but the demo completely put me off. The broken servers were insane and the northern highway had major rendering problems for my rig even though it cleared recommended specs and kept having the road and like the tunnel and buildings disappear and AI cars would come popping through me to appear in front of me ruining the free driving chains.

[@QBDLettuce]

From what I know, this game was in development hiatus several times, changing studios each time. The game came out better than I was expecting given the development history of it, and the current devs essentially picking up the pieces left and putting it together into a game. Part of me wants to buy the game to support the devs at least trying to rescue the title. I expected it to be worse, I don't even hate the progression. Seems like it's meant to invoke a "long term" playstyle and a grind for cars makes each purchase a thoughtful one. People would need to be picky in what they get, and when you see what people are driving, you know it's something they liked enough to grind for. I can understand how that may feel annoying for Mandatory cars required for a race, but even then, I can kind of look past that.

[@andrewholm6341]

I never ever play car games for hyper cars that is just too insanely boring , this is why I play beamng drive lol

[@biamputeeviking]

I will say I agree on the built in traps of "in each category there's good cars and really bad ones and you have to chose wisely". The Developers mentioned a little of this when players asked about the ability to sell their vehicles. Essentially the answer was that they wanted to make it where people really had to chose their cars wisely. It's a bummer because it would be nice to have all of the cars considering that it's an open world and I might want to drive around in a car that I would want to have irl vs not being able to have it because I have to "chose wisely"

[@trautsj]

Cars are content in racing games. Having a shitty set up that prevents you from ever actually owning 90% of the content on hand just feels like crap to me. No clue how people like that style of racing game tbh. Variety is the lifeblood of racing games to me. I don't get only wanting to drive like 4 cars for your entire run of a racing game. Even back in the NFS Underground days, basically being stuck with 1-2 cars for a whole playthrough is by far the least appealing thing about those games.

[@EagleMalkavian]

I don't mind games where I need to choose wisely depending on situations or what I want out of the car. But picking "the good car" vs "the bad car" while not even knowing which is which has nothing to do with choosing wisely imo. That's just a gamble at that point.

[@tantona9315]

​@@EagleMalkavianEasy, look for 4wd.

[@glenmcl]

It let's you Test Drive them, unlimitedly... easy

[@EagleMalkavian]

@@glenmcl Ah, my bad. I didn't know you could test drive them with full upgrades applied to them.

[@TheOnlyKreator1]

your racing game reviews always save me money from purchasing sub-par products. you're a saint man

[@Barni2212]

One of my biggest problem is this always online BS. I won't buy this game until there is a single player offline mode. Why the hell we don't have an option like in Forza? I can join into an open world lobby, or I can go offline by just pressing a button.

[@Knottypine79]

Nice review and overview of the game. I quite enjoyed TDU2 many years ago and the announcement of this game was welcomed. However, it doesn't seem that it's going to live up to what I was expecting.

[@kyleketchum9283]

Also gotta love the mini being 600k and good for 1 race and the TT is the cheesiest d class car and its half the money

[@xXE4GLEyEXx]

The grind reminds me of War Thunder... a free to play game, and that is where these games fail, they are like bad high school teachers who think their class is the only one, They think you'll only play this game for months on end... 'forever games' lol. Might just be me but I bounce from game to game like a rubber ball on steroids, from WOW to Truck Simulators, to Elite to Star Citizen, to The Division 2, to War Thunder to World of Warships. I doubt anyone really only sits with one game for more than a few weeks at top.

[@Ryzza5]

Some corrections: From the map screen open your Tasks list. This is how you quickly gain money and XP. Many of the tasks are simply completing races in a way you would have done any way. The task rewards grow dramatically with each ~5 levels. Every 1% of roads discovered increases your XP (i.e. 41% gives you 4000 XP, 42% gives you 4100 XP, etc). The speed camera rewards stack together, getting 3 stars earns 5k + 15k + 30k = 50,000. Collecting coins around the map is a great way to grow your balance early in the game. This will help reach the top level (60 for now). But yes, some cars are way too overpriced. Paired with the only online the team seems very concerned about controlling the economy. They can change the price of cars at any time.

[@RSProduxx]

Regarding progression, race rewards and all that. Keep in mind that this game was entirely built around online pvp and season pass progression, so I guess once season 1 starts,you´ll see that most progress will be made there... which s*cks big time in my opinion, because I don´t do online activities alot. I have the same issue with Forza Horizon 5, because it locks alot of stuff (like cars that were in the regular car park before) behind season challenges ...

[@psyclonetheseahawk9261]

How am I... a veteran TDU player... JUST NOW hearing about this game?

[@MysteriousMatt89]

Wait til you find out that TDU 2 is back online again thanks to mods

[@MrMolova]

I'm in the same boat, man! No idea it was even in production. Nothing. Looks dog shit though. 🤷🏻‍♂️ Back to Hawaii for me, playing a game about collecting and appreciating cars not just giving them a price tag and big vroom noises.

[@Nexxus088]

Good question, there was no shortage of marketing for it. Wait til you find out TXR is coming back too.

[@Muhluri]

because it's not made by the original devs

[@uhm175]

TXR will blow this shit game out of the water, TDU being handled by a beginner developers, so ofc it will look like crap, I feel pity & sorry for those who ordered this trash abomonation of a game, Shame on the new developers for slapping the TDU name on this game

[@MrNikoGlitchy]

I am so mad this game has fallen flat on it's face, I wanted to be hyped for this game so bad. Seems like this is the state of EVERY new game now.

[@uhm175]

That's half true, the new TDU is not made by the original developers, that's why it failed, because the current developers have limited budget, they're not a major or giant company

[@clumsygarage1578]

Good video. I had heard about technical issues, but not the progression. Would love to see a follow up video if they make changes. Also I kinda get your points about the dealerships, but I still like the look of them.

[@TheVaultIsMine]

All I can think of regarding the high price tag of the cars is that the devs are trying to reflect HK dollar prices, which are very high compared to USD or GBP, however they haven't transferred that to the race earnings...

[@markboekraad7525]

At the point of min 14, 15 we should be remembering the gran turismo 2 times where one can start in used cars , at reality pricing standards.

[@MysteriousMatt89]

It was the same in TDU 2

[@Kuli24000]

Developers are asking, "OK, what are current other developers doing to make money?" instead of asking, "OK, what makes a good game that is better than our previous game?"

[@Dral.09]

If they add houses (I really hope so, and many more tdu fans) they will definitely need to adjust the money ratio

[@GODZILLAmonsoon]

Appreciate you giving me the opportunity to see this game without having to, y'know. Play it myself.

[@unlimitedbagels]

Really interesting to see Forza Horizon in its beta stage.

[@horayman]

It does better donuts and drifts than most racing games atleast.

[@vycanismelodis]

I always like your Honest Looks At

[@Cakebattered]

One thing people don't mention but TDU 1 had a marketplace for players to buy and sell their cars to each other.

[@jammytimmy]

Car economy & race pay outs look like something you'd see in a free to play mobile game. The fact the dev team have gone on strike means updates will be far and few between.

[@ChipsChallenge95]

I actually know what has caused the gaming industry to go downhill, and what it is is poor management practices. There’s a reason small and independent studios make good games. As soon as Wall Street figured out that gaming was a lucrative industry they started buying up these companies, and what does someone do when they buy a company for purely profit and don’t know anything about what the company actually does? They hire management consultants. Management consultants come in and disrupt workflow by 1. Forcing developers to adhere to strict project management standards which hurts creativity and forces “productivity” at all costs. 2. Creating meaningless positions through DEI and the project management structures themselves. 3. Force writers and developers to tone down their imaginations to appeal to the lowest common denominator and generate the most revenue possible.

[@glenmcl]

Someone hire this guy to fix the industry. Got my vote.

[@ICKY427]

its disappointing to hear the map isnt that big, (not that ill be picking this one up anyway. online-only 🤮) BUT i suppose i can understand that the sheer amount of detail that gets modeled in a game these days is many many times more than what was needed back when TDU released. the entire island of oahu wouldve taken years and years longer just to model at this level of detail. but still.... i cant help but miss the loooong races around the whole island. they really felt like something significant.

[@iSkully99]

Make it less detailed then🙆‍♀️

[@bencezavarko7312]

Motorfest is the best of the big open world racers. You get plenty of money for completing story challenges but not hundreds of millions like in Forza. The customization is decent, the map as well, driving is a bit strange but very enjoyable and the sounds are incredible. Not to mention the support it gets

[@nekotranslates]

Always Online for the game is a bummer. Would love to have it as an option for sure, like with Forza Horizon 4 and 5, and the OG TDU / TDU2.

[@DrakeGamer85]

_"Tonight, we head to Hong Kong, for Mahjong, noodles, and speeding around the streets in a Mercedes! This is FailRace, where its new game time on Test Drive Unlimited Solar Crown, so get ready to witness:_ * 4:00 _"A Sientero finds a rock off-road._ * 17:35 _"A Mercedes races a ghost._ * 13:02 _"And Alex hunts for a car." "Where is the TT... I don't know."_

[@SpartasEdge]

I was going to buy this, until i found out it was an always-online live service game.

[@justinc2167]

I used to have a lot of fun playing the original on Xbox 360 with my friends. It was a good time. Thanks for the review.

[@rallyrobx7604]

I like the idea of a racing game were you have to get to know your car. The career sounds great to me. The online only requirement is what is keeping me away.

[@skyline9099]

14:25 while it really wasn't needed with the games progression, the first 2 TDUs had a bit of a workaround for these sort of events with car rentals- pay a handful of credits for a car you can use for an hour or so in real world time (and had vehicles all the way up to the top classes). Just reimplementing a rental system would solve a large portion of the grind.

[@messiermitchell4901]

Test drive extremely limited

[@13skiba]

Solar clown

[@icmdead1]

Agree with all your points. When i was catching their updates announcing what was coming i noticed the fact that player houses and garages would be missing and I agree that the 'showrooms' in TDU SC are just big vast areas that clearly are copy/paste for country manufactures, not at all like the original games dealerships where i felt i was picking a brand and choosing what i liked. Combined with the everyone staying in the same hotel which feels like a forced way to play with others and the grind for currency i've decided to give this a miss. All I hoped for was the same as TDU/TDU2 but with upgraded gameplay, graphics and i would have been so happy...

[@thomaswhite7527]

Why this progression? Are there microtransactions? This certainly feels like that was the plan at some point. Sad to see this is the state TDU Solar Crown has released in. So many missing features and the clear amount of grinding is a nightmare. And I'm certainly expecting since this is an online game those servers hosting it will shutdown eventually. So this might be another Crew 1 situation long term.

[@benn87]

So far there are no microtransactions. But since it is an always online live service multiplayer game, I strongly assume that they will come at some point.

[@guguigugu]

almost all HK roads are divided centrally and have pedestrian railings everywhere so thats pretty realistic

[@HONDATECH93]

'Internet connection required'

[@elitecorvette728]

My biggest frustration is just not being able to choose a spoiler for my car.

[@bblovely]

I purchased the game and wish I didn’t for many of the same reasons Alex mentions here. I played TDU 1 and TDU 2 when I was a kid and replayed them as an adult. Getting much of the same joy out of it as I did when I was younger. Test drive unlimited solar crown to me. Feels nothing like a test drive unlimited game. In my opinion it’s just another attempt from a corporate entity to milk the cash cow that we call nostalgia.

[@semiperfekt]

And you were fooled

[@bblovely]

@@semiperfekt I wasn’t fooled as soon as I knew they weren’t adding houses or, at least not upon launch. I knew this game had nothing in common with the previous titles it shares nothing but a name with. I have dwindling hope fueled by nostalgia.

[@uhm175]

@@bblovely Ask for a refund then if you think you weren't fooled, don't let those lazy companies get away with their lies & broken promises

[@Enozenim_LJO]

:/ i struggle with memory so it's gonna be a pain choosing cars when all the cars so distanced in the dealerships (which yeah theydoesn't seem real, looks more like manufacturer's museum or something) i was worried the game would have many issues, was really hoping they'd do better thanks for the great review:)

[@1975Dixie]

I have lived in HK most of my life and driven on quite a lot of it .. and I dont recognise 80% of the roads and the city roads are really poorly linked here. Missing large chunks of the actual intersections and districts.

[@patzipl]

Unfortunately the game gives no vibes of the old games at all. Cruising around to dealers, starting test drives with cars, transported people from a to b. I loved bringing back the expensive cars of the owners. 40 minutes driving to crash to minutes before the finish. Drive around the explore every of the houses, and loved to fill the garages. All of those things, non of it is in the game. Maybe I'll buy it some day, isn't worth 5 bucks at the moment in my opinion

[@benn87]

At least someone who has understood TDU. I loved the delivery missions. When you drove perfectly until just before the finish, only to put a scratch in the car. And then do it all over again...

[@patzipl]

@@benn87 I only remember that I spend most of time doing those missions. Cruising around the map only to find those missions and as you remember they gave a ton of money. Pretty shocked what they have done with the franchise.

[@danielgamelas1367]

I think the point of TDU is not the races, it is to drive and have fun. That's why you earn more doing tasks and subtasks or collecting themoney aroundd the map than doing races. Thats why TDU is not TDU without the houses and different islands to go to

[@danielgamelas1367]

Also, they need to add a lot of cars. Despite the number of cars available in the game, it needs to have more options

[@Cakebattered]

You also need cops. Solar Crown may be the first Test Drive game without cops since the very first Test Drive game from the 80s

[@Cnupoc]

The game is called Test Drive unlimited because its a game about driving and collecting cars. The whole point of the game is to be a happy owner of a garage of supercars on am island full of motorsport enthusiasts who like to race.... They made a freaking NFS instead....

[@Lianpe98]

Those car prices give me NFS World PTSD

[@D3VYN3]

The ai is really my main frustration. ai will ghost through street furniture, smack you off the road, they have seemingly infinite grip (especially in rain) and the worst part is the ai will run off during a raceand decide it's going to beat track world record times by 10+ seconds

[@Rentta]

From outside view car looks like it uses the infamous stick through middle of the car rotation handling which was a thing/problem in some old racing games. Most famously i think in CMR. Not sure if it feels like it ? Edit: Mostly i noticed it on tarmac parts of the video

[@lp123456gt]

It really does doesn't it. Hopefully it just looks that way and can be fixed. Alex seemed to like the handling so will have to take his word for now as won't be buying yet

[@andrewhardman3216]

It's more of a two sticks that randomly decides to get more control as there is little to no consistency in the vehicle handling its fun when messing around, but trying to do something is like ice and alot of the cars brakes don't feel strong enough either

[@papercrane747]

They do that in all the DIRT rally games as well as the new one that came out. It's a shame because the game can be incredibly exciting but it just doesn't feel realistic.

[@NORKIE]

"games are so advanced these days" smaller map, worse handling and not really great graphics for the current time wtf happened? im tempted to go buy an xbox360 and just play tdu again just for the vibe, realistically thats all we want, big map to chill with others on. we dont even need racing tbh.

[@TheVilleneuve123]

The new feature Hide&seek in Horizon 5 feels a lot like your Survive the Hunt series.

[@LegalEliminator]

from my perspective TDUSC dropped out of nowhere. last time I checked on it it still had a nebulous release that didnt really say anything. I'm going to let this one sit for a bit and see what happens. there's 2 other things that I want to see, that's a kickass soundtrack filled with indy or lesser known bands, and the whole social/house thing that TDU2 had.

[@salmontube1691]

I dont think anyone who was a fan of the older games wanted solar crown to be a horizon clone but it was obvious from the first leaks that we were getting that

[@jakethreesixty]

After playing TDU 1 with a wheel, it became very evident that was how those games were meant to be played, almost as if gamepad support even on console was an afterthought they never got quite right haha

[@TDUShelby]

My username is not a coincidence. I created this account in 2008, hot off the tails of finally getting a 360 and TDU1. I've been keeping a cautious eye on Solar Crown, and just... no. I'm feeling almost desperate for TDU1's style, but with PROPER driving sim handling. Racing fans would buy it up, because what else is there? You see the sales figures of games like Gran Turismo 7, and yet publishers still think people only want arcade racers OR racing sims on closed courses. Yet, you look at the Shutoko Revival Project for Assetto Corsa, and you find hundreds of thousands of people weaving through heavy traffic on realistic city roads with an extremely strict driving model backing it up. The magic of TDU1 wasn't its repetitive visuals or its polish, (or lack thereof,) it was the feeling of grinding up money, saving up, doing tasks you didn't want to do; going to a dealership, picking out your brand-new car, choosing an interior color, maybe some new rims, and then tuning it up. You're a car collector, not a mechanic, so maybe you don't know every part of a car, so paying a professional to do the best work is completely in the mood of the game's scenario. Give me THAT, please, gaming industry. If the last time I felt truly astounded by an open-world driving game was Forza Horizon 1, IN 20-FRIGGIN-12, you've screwed up.

[@allq7138]

Yeah, you know, it's Hot garbage when you. He says it because he genuinely always looks on the bright side of things.