The dust has somewhat settled on Nacon’s Test Drive Unlimited Solar Crown, which has resolved the connection issues plaguing it on release. However, there’s still the matter of its always-online nature that caused all the uproar when servers went down. Some players also aren’t all that happy about encountering others and would prefer to go solo.
In a new launch developer diary that outlines KT Racing’s next steps, creative director Alain Jarniou and game director Guillaume Guinet discuss offline mode and the solo experience. It doesn’t mean that the former is coming any time soon. Instead, it’s to make the game playable after Solar Crown’s “end-of-life phase.”
“Well, I think there are really things we want to maintain and others we want to evolve. I believe there are three main aspects,” said Guinet. “First, there’s the end-of-life phase, moving the game toward this offline dimension where it can be delivered.
“Then there’s the solo mode, as you mentioned, where we mainly want to focus on races because we know that the core gaming experience of Test Drive Unlimited is, after all, racing. People join even though they enjoy free roam, etc. But to progress, they need to participate in races. So we want to make that experience as straightforward as possible.”
While a solo experience makes sense for the team, it wants to maintain the third aspect of Solar Crown – its MMO nature. “We want to maintain that MMO dimension in free roam and hubs. This means fostering player interactions and continuing to encourage that. And if we want to do it in the races, of course, we’ll have the option to wait for other players.
“It really depends on each player’s preferred style of play; we need to allow that flexibility in Test Drive Unlimited. If someone prefers to progress in races in a more solo manner, they should be able to do that, and we’ll be able to facilitate that soon.”
Test Drive Unlimited Solar Crown is available for Xbox Series X/S, PS5, and PC. Check out our review – we awarded it a seven out of ten. You can also learn more about future updates, including the addition of Ibiza in December with Season 2, here.
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