Test Drive Unlimited: Solar Crown

[Jason]

Yep, I know it sounds weird to say this about a game with fast cars, but I really hope they don't turn it into a racer. I've always made an effort to calling it a driving game for a reason. If they recapture that then I'm in.

 

3 hours ago, Geisterfaust said:

A lot of people have actually forgot that there was something in TDU that only true hardcore fans appreciate: hardcore mode.

It was only properly in TDU1 and it was post-launch premium DLC tbf. It was great though, it opened up drifting in particular and made driving round the mazey mountain roads or the racetrack a lot of fun. Spent a lot of hours in the RUF 12 I think it was drifting it around, good times. The option of arcade or a more sim like hardcore in TDU3 would be f*cking amazing honestly.

 

TDU2's hardcore mode IIRC was literally just turning the assists off sadly.

[DOUGL4S1]

Yeah, making it about cruising would fit the game better. In TDU you really get a sense of pride and accomplishment when getting a new car, and it really feels like your car. Not only you get to spec it from the dealership, from factory colors, interiors, rims and whatnot, but minor things like the ability to use blinkers, or drop your roof down on convertibles. In contrast, modern racing titles just go *poof*, "here's the super cool car we featured in the box art. Enjoy!"

 

Also, I wish they expanded a bit on the tuning for cars. Not something overpowered or overdone, with 2000hp cars and stuff, but it would be cool to go online, show your custom builds to people and cruise around. Just a few aftermarket parts, suspension tuning and a revamped paint system would make all the difference.

[Jason]

I'm iffy on tuning and modification my self. Would I be down for a tuner scene with tuner cars? For sure. Tuned up muscle cars? Yea, sure. But I really sorta dislike the heavy modification and tuning of supercars in particular, especially in TDU where the focus should be the cars and not crazy customisation.

 

I liked that they did things like in TDU1 where the F40 wasn't tunable at all because it's an F40 and tuning it would be sacrilege. I liked that no matter what you did to the 2CV in TDU2 it was utter trash, which is what made driving it actually interesting, it was unique.

[Geisterfaust]

On 5/1/2020 at 9:18 PM, Jason said:

TDU2's hardcore mode IIRC was literally just turning the assists off sadly.

After all this time I was genuinely surprised that the thing even was there! It felt so insignificant at the moment, that I was sure there was no hardcore mode in TDU 2 at all. Played the game for couple of hundred hours though and remember the casino hype and money cheats.

On 5/2/2020 at 6:39 AM, Jason said:

I'm iffy on tuning and modification my self. Would I be down for a tuner scene with tuner cars? For sure. Tuned up muscle cars? Yea, sure. But I really sorta dislike the heavy modification and tuning of supercars in particular, especially in TDU where the focus should be the cars and not crazy customisation.

At this point I will be glad with the game even without any tuning/ customization, if the physics is right. TDU 1 was okay and surprisingly playable both on KB/ controller, while TDU 2 is absolute trash. The main selling points for me are the map and the cars. 100+ unique cars and big enough map and the thing is a must buy. Even the original Forza Horizon car list was and still is impressive enough with a good enough map.

 

IMO, the trick is the secret sauce that holds the balance between the map, cars and the handling. That's the reason current GRID failed so miserably for me: the thing is off-balance. Not fun to play on the controller while it's not worth playing with a wheel since the competition in that department is better.

[UltraZ]

Guys, seems like the next iteration is going to be called Test Drive : Solar Crown according to a trademark filed a few days ago.

https://trademarks.ipo.gov.uk/ipo-tmcase/page/Results/4/EU018224192 

Can't wait for this series to make a comeback! TDU 1 was one of my favourite racers

[Jason]

Interesting, Solar Crown was the championship from TDU2. I wonder if they're going to turn it into a whole thing, a bit like Forza Horizon with the Horizon Festival?

[Standard Deluxe 59]

6 hours ago, Jason said:

Interesting, Solar Crown was the championship from TDU2. I wonder if they're going to turn it into a whole thing, a bit like Forza Horizon with the Horizon Festival?

How much of that game is single player? I've never played Forza. 

 

If TDU 3 ends up being a forced online game, it definitely won't be a day one purchase for me. 

[Jason]

5 minutes ago, Standard Deluxe 59 said:

How much of that game is single player? I've never played Forza. 

 

If TDU 3 ends up being a forced online game, it definitely won't be a day one purchase for me. 

I believe the Horizon games can be played entirely offline. They are very TDU inspired in a lot of ways, offline with AI drivers, online with real player drivers.

 

I haven't played them an awful lot since the first Horizon but from what I remember of playing FH4 there was plenty of single player stuff, races, events, challenges, etc. The online had various modes and whatnot but also a Burnout Paradise like free roam event where everyone grouped up for some challenges and stuff.

[Thejeffster]

I'm honestly glad it's been confirmed now, I've been really looking forward to new racing games coming out like besides Need for Speed or Forza Horizon. 

[DOUGL4S1]

Alright, so here's something. It's a few months old, but still interesting. One of Kylotonn's vehicle artists has uploaded 2 vehicle renders: a Mazda RX-8 and a Bugatti Type 35C.

 

What's interesting is that neither of them fit into other Kylotonn's games, as the Mazda is a street version instead of a Rally version. Also, the Bugatti reminds me of those classic cars you could collect by finding wrecks around the map. These could be simple renders made specifically for the artist's portfolio, but it seems like a lot of work making and texturing these 3D models to only feature them in images, so it's possible these models will be used in TDU3 (or whatever it ends up being called)

[cousinletsgobowling]

I hope they still keep to the island type settings and not include cities that are part of larger continents. I heard rumors they will have Rio de Janiero and Monaco but they surrounding countryside will be too huge to include. One place that I think they should try is Denmark. It has the islands of Zealand, whose capitol city Copenhagen is located in. And that island is connected to Lolland and Funen by bridge. They already had a Pacific location in Hawaii and a Mediterranean one in Ibiza. Why not something in Northern Europe.

[Jason]

https://twitter.com/testdrive/status/1279051015002525696

 

Looks like the Solar Crown leak was legit.

[eyman]

I can not wait for Tuesday. Absolutely love the TDU series, never thought I would see the day. But I can't lie, I'm little bit anxious to see how it turns out. 

Edited July 3, 2020 by eyman

[DOUGL4S1]

Spoiler

 

 

Some people are saying this is taken from TDU3 (TDU Solar Crown?). I don't think many other games on the event will also be about rich people and supercars, so this is probably a first look into the game.

 

Source:

 

Edited July 3, 2020 by DOUGL4S1

[Standard Deluxe 59]

This is the only (presumably) next gen release that has my total interest. I loved TDU2 and still play it on occasion so I hope this new Test Drive game delivers where 2 fell short but keeps the dealership system where you could option out a car the way you'd like. 

[Jason]

 

Who keeps greenlighting these sh*tty trailers?

[UltraZ]

Was expecting an actual trailer.... Nevertheless, I'm still hyped for this game

[Jason]

Supposedly this has only been in development for a few months, which if true I assume means the TDU3 that was in the works years ago got scrapped.

 

Not a fan of announcing games this early - like EA and Skate. Not a fan at all.

[eyman]

From what was said it sounds very promising. What made TDU great, seems to be the focus. But I expected to see a little bit more, at least a minute video or something.

Now what? we hear nothing for 6 months?

[IceDree]

I want to get excited, I really do, but there's not much to go on here.

[EVOLUT7ON]

1 hour ago, eyman said:

From what was said it sounds very promising. What made TDU great, seems to be the focus. But I expected to see a little bit more, at least a minute video or something.

Now what? we hear nothing for 6 months?

Yeah, expected to see a bit more... Better this than nothing. I’m really glad to know that TDU3 is coming and is under development nowadays, though, it is at early stages but, as being said, lots of features will be added with a community support, ideas and wishes. The goal is to build a cool and perfect game for us (GUMBALL3000 be like?).

Fingers crossed.

[Mister Pink]

With Horizon being great and successful, The Crew owning it's own large-scale map space in the driving game world, it's nice that TDU is coming back. I think some competition between Horizon and TDU would be nice. I wasn't too impressed by Horizon 4's online. There's always a point with some online portions of games where they just go too big, try to do too much and the thing becomes a messy clusterf*ck. 

 

Some games with scaled down and simplistic online sections are much better for me. It's the difference between GTA IV's online and GTAO. The difference between Horizon 2 and Horizon 4. 

 

I don't know what TDU3's online will be like. But I can imagine whatever they do, will be healthy for competition. Ideas that Playground Games overlooked might be implemented in TDU3 and vice versa. And one game might influence the other if ideas are good. 

 

How does everyone feel about a story in the game? Personally, I like some motivation or backstory to why we're there.  But I don't need some big melodrama. I just want to race. So, I don't care if there's no story. But if they have to, then keep it basic. They need to lay off the cheesey voice acting and dialogue that plagued TDU2. Give me a silent, customisable character. Let me buy houses and garages. Let me move around the houses too. When I'm not racing, I want to feel like the property I bought is mine. So let me look around the place and maybe turn lights on/off, TV on//off etc. Make a little interactive. Or let me buy upgrades to the house. Something to spend my race-money on. It's not important. Of course the driving is. But if they want to put that in as an extra thing to do, I'd much prefer that and kind of making up my own back story or filling in the gaps of non-existent story than have some cheesy story rammed down my gob. It's about gameplay. When I'm not buying/selling cars and driving and cruising, I'm back at the crib. Maybe they'll make an laptop in your house you can use to buy upgrades for your car that get delivered to your home garage. 

 

Also, love the ambient menu music. 

 

[DOUGL4S1]

3 minutes ago, Mister Pink said:

How does everyone feel about a story in the game? Personally, I like some motivation or backstory to why we're there.  But I don't need some big melodrama. I just want to race. So, I don't care if there's no story. But if they have to, then keep it basic.

I agree. I was more than happy with TDU2's "story", with it starting us on a supercar, only to reveal we are a valet driver daydreaming about owning it. From there you go to basic cars and boom, your story now.

 

But something I hope they do fix is the extremelly unbalanced classes from TDU2. Every class had a car that was WAY too OP, some would even be lapping the slower competition at longer races. Now, to do this, maybe if they let us upgrade the slower cars to be in pace with the faster ones, while the faster ones can't be upgraded too much. I don't want any obvious rubberbanding AI.

[Jason]

Games synopsis from the Steam page:

 

"Test Drive Unlimited Solar Crown is an open world driving and lifestyle experience. Grab your keys and live your life of luxury. Remember, social status is everything In the world of TDU."

 

I've got no interest in a personal story in a TDU game but I do think the lifestyle aspect of it, which seems to be here, is incredibly important to TDU as I've talked about in previous posts. It's about owning these cars, of all types and from all eras, and driving them about and living that life style. That's the core of the game and if the story creates that feeling for you then the game is on the right track. The last thing the game needs is a NFS/The Crew 1 or 2 vibe to the story and atmosphere.

 

Edit: Watched the full reveal video (includes an interview, no other footage). No mention of how far along it is or when it will release, or anything really meaningful, though they did confirm it's set on a island that is 1:1 scale again.

[Standard Deluxe 59]

13 hours ago, IceDree said:

I want to get excited, I really do, but there's not much to go on here.

Yup, I have the same feels. As much as I yearned for a new Test Drive game to be made, I'm skeptical about how a different studio is going to handle it. I hope they keep things like the dealership system where you could option out the cars as you pleased and little things like controlling the turn signals and rolling the windows down. One thing I wish they'd add is being able to open the hoods when in your garage or in the showrooms like you can open the doors and convertible tops. 

[IceDree]

@Standard Deluxe 59 The "teaser" trailer & the gentleman using the TDU2 talking points were real mood dampers to me.

 

I know its too early to tell, but it felt like a deja vu moment.

[Pedinhuh]

The "trailer" for this is ridiculous,  it doesn't give us anything interesting to speculate about, it doesn't even reveal the setting of the game! Is it Oahu? Ibiza? Maybe a new island like Isle of Man??? Who the hell knows?

 

I remember the days of when TDU2 was nothing but mere speculation and I followed those speculations with great interest because I absolutely LOVED TDU1 and played the extremely limited PS2 port (it didn't even had a option for manual transmission, believe it or not) of the game for years since I wasn't going to buy a Xbox...Only to be extremely let down by what came up of TDU2 in the end.

 

I liked Ibiza and appreciated the tons of content beyond the driving experience that the game could provide...Because the driving physics were absolute garbage and for me that was the highlight of TDU1 after the incredible 1:1 map of Oahu.

 

Such a short teaser followed by a incredibly vague and superficial interview from one of the devs can only mean that the game is still in early production so they don't have much to show to us yet.

 

I just hope we wont have to wait for long since we have been waiting for 9 f*cking years already!

 

Also I might settle for a PS4 port of it (seems pretty obvious to me that this will be a next gen game) if the physics and the map are good enough.

Edited July 8, 2020 by Pedinhuh

[B Dawg]

I'm skeptical about the fact that they named the game after the previous game's stupid championship, and the fact that the description has ''social status is everything In the world of TDU''.

 

On top of that, almost all of the developer's previous games have a Mixed review rating. So I don't have high hopes for this game.

[Riqitch8]

Scepticism also clouds my judgement when it comes to this game. I have to admit, I got pretty hyped when I saw the teaser - probably too hyped - as it all came crashing down when it didn't really show anything at all expect potential character customisation (which was in TDU1 already) and a fraction of the car list. It seems like when the IP was renewed last year (I think), the development of Solar Crown was started as a result, as what they had to show was very brief. I don't know much about Kylotonn (or KT Racing as they are called now), but I've never had the urge to play any of their games. The lack of urgency to play any their titles isn't what worries me, its the fact that KT (who aren't exactly big) are taking on a pretty large IP (one that has been dormant until now) and may not have the workforce to pull it off (I think I've expressed that same concern earlier in this topic). Are they biting off more than they can chew? I don't know. Maybe I'm being narrow minded, maybe I'm showing my ignorance for the company, but I feel the TDU experience which we are dreaming up in our minds may not be delivered as we're hoping.

 

What does instil some slight confidence in me, however, is the fact that the CEO of KT Racing is, according to his words, someone who worked on TDU 1 and TDU 2, so I immediately thought, "Okay, maybe the old charm of 1 and 2 may return". He seemed to understand about the 1:1 scale maps (I actually didn't know TDU 1 and 2 even had 1:1 maps), and even went to toot his own horn about there "[being nothing] like this out there". Whilst this is true, they're pretty big claims nonetheless. Still, I want the guy to prove it - as he didn't specify what he worked on during development of TDU 1 and 2.

 

The name and the "social status" thing doesn't really bother me, as that's kind of what TDU is about (in some form or another). TDU (at least the first one) was always about rags (or relatively normal cars) to riches (super cars and the like), so if social status is determined by the garage and the house and nothing else, then that's what I see as TDU in my eyes - with the core being racing, the large map, specialised dealers and hitchhiker/delivery missions, of course. Also, "the freedom to progress how you want"? Well, sh*t. It's funny, when I told my brother they were making at TDU 3, he said (and I quote), "I hope its not some generic racing game, otherwise it'll be another Forza Horizon clone." I immediately dismissed his speculative comments, but son of a bitch, I think he was right. Nothing wrong with the Horizon 3/4 model, its just a bit repetitive and grindy, and I think most (if not all) would like to return to the older model (like Horizon 1), which was rags to riches.

 

Am I bummed about the extremely ambiguous teaser? Definitely. Am I pissed about no release date, with no indication of even a year and financial quarter? At first, yes. But as I'm writing this post, I'm no longer frustrated. Had they shown that teaser and then come out with "coming Q3 2022" following a teaser that showed barely any in engine footage, let alone gameplay, then I would be pissed. Hell, we saw more of Cyberpunk 2077 back in 2013. We don't need some Mass Effect Andromeda or Crackdown 3 sh*t where their still showing alpha footage and concept art so close to release - hell no. Take as long as you need, and make a kick ass title for the next generation.

[DOUGL4S1]

Altough I am hopeful for a good game, specially since interview guy worked on both previous Unlimited games and they're keeping things that made the first two great, I'll wait until we have more info to make a better judgement. I'm specially worried about the entire "modernizing" of the features. If that means making a Forza clone, then that's a nope from me.