Amongst the most storied of racing series is Test Drive, having given opportunity to careen through serene cityscapes behind the wheel of the world’s most exotic supercars since 1987. Several mainline editions and spinoffs of Test Drive were steadily released in the years leading up to 2011’s Test Drive Unlimited 2, but since then the franchise has lay dormant. Now, with a new publisher in tow Test Drive is set to make a comeback in 2024 with the third open world racer in its canon Test Drive Unlimited Solar Crown.
To assume Test Drive Unlimited’s open world format is derivative of Forza Horizon is a shade misleading given Eden Games’ first effort preceded Playground Games by a whole six years, but it’s fair to say that Horizon’s five entries since 2012 have embellished Unlimited’s blueprint to near unrecognisable extent, putting pedal to metal in increasingly evocative locales via a blend of exciting, approachable, arcade style racing and a successful embodiment of high-fantasy car culture. Test Drive Unlimited aims to replicate this in return much like Ubisoft’s The Crew Motorfest, but upcoming Solar Crown does retain a point of distinction in the way it defines and progresses your character’s status.
See, Test Drive Unlimited Solar Crown functions as a holistic driving experience rather than just a racing game and this is felt none more so than stepping into one the game’s various manufacturer specific showrooms to peruse first-person at the enticing vehicles available for purchase. Your character created avatar is intended as an extension of yourself, replicating your skills and weaknesses behind the wheel. So, whilst yes, you may be browsing these showrooms for a particular vehicle to see you to the finish line of your next event you’ll also be choosing your next sportscar to best match your skills and personality.
Every spin behind the wheel is an opportunity to earn Solar Coins and reputation but, unlike Forza Horizon, Test Drive Unlimited Solar Crown doesn’t throw cars at you. Instead, expanding the contents of your garage is a stately process. However, the eye watering price accompanying the game’s most prized vehicles means a potential hundreds of hours burning rubber, and thus a workload too insuperable for some. New-to-the-franchise developer KT Racing state this is by design; vehicles are supposed to be earned as opposed to gifted and whilst this approach will undoubtably polarise Solar Crown’s players there’s no denying a measured rate of progression feeds into the game’s lifelike immersiveness. This is still an opportunity to live the fantasy of the 1% as, of course, only a select few in life get to tour their pick of the world’s most valuable sportscars but toiling patiently towards your dream vehicle – a Lamborghini Diablo Super Veloce, Ferrari F40, or Bugatti Veyron Super Sport perhaps – means the reward in obtaining cars is tantamount to earning enough money to afford your presumably much cheaper dream car in real life.
The other concern here though is in content. Replaying races is okay to a point, but it can’t be ignored that reviews of early demo versions lament a lack of unique events. The game’s AI does have the facility to level up depending on your resurgent prowess, which at least moves lapping the same stretch of tarmac beyond a carbon copy of the last time. Still, KT Racing are citing a stream of post-release content updates, with new races, challenges, and events coming alongside new vehicle drops. Also, just to point out, Aaron Potter at UK newspaper The Mirror states he only managed to cover 3% of Solar Crown’s square mileage during his two-hour preview session, so there’ll be heaps more to uncover out there in the game’s 1:1 recreation of Hong Kong Island.
And this leads us onto Test Drive Unlimited Solar Crown’s other standout feature, its true-to-scale replication of Hong Kong. Dense cityscapes, winding mountain passes, stunning beach heads and harbours comprise the diverse scenery of Asia’s World City and despite commenting Hong Kong residents pointing out the absence of finer detail its clear KT Racing have ploughed monumental time and effort into creating their open world. This approach to track design harkens back to racers like Project Gotham Racing, but it’s not just deployed for novelty here. Hong Kong’s municipalities are naturally varied, making them the perfect proving ground for driving. Is this choice of location as alluring as Forza Horizon 3’s Australia or The Crew Motorfest’s island of O’ahu? Maybe, maybe not, but it certainly fits the pre-requisite for engaging exploratory road trips and capricious wheel-to-wheel racing.
Graphically speaking, Solar Crown fits the bill. Lighting, especially at night-time, is superb, with the sheen of glamorous metal reflecting sunbeams and streetlights to dazzling effect. Performance is buttery smooth, for the most part, too. Cruising at speed is stutter free, another pre-requisite for a satisfying driving experience. Some would say Solar Crown’s graphics don’t set the world alight, and that’s a fair point, but compromises in top-tier graphical fidelity will have been made to present this vast open world as seamlessly as possible.
Speaking of performance, the cars themselves possess distinct feel and capability. Swerving through chicanes behind the wheel of a Chevrolet Camaro feels weightier than the feather light Abarth 500, the express torque of a Koenigsegg Agera RS more pronounced than an Alfa Romeo 8C Spider, the nimbleness of an Audi TT RS distinct from a Dodge Viper GTS. Various components can be equipped to finetune and boost the performance of your vehicles too – gearbox, turbo, exhaust, suspension, drive shaft, you name it. There’s a mass appeal approachability to affixing upgrades to your cars, but enough surface-level depth to intrigue petrolheads too. Tweaks to car performance are felt through the controller – be it less understeer, faster acceleration, softer suspension – so anyone, even those without a modicum of car knowledge, will know how to get their car capable of winning higher-tier events.
There’s a narrative underpinning the action. Championing the Solar Crown Tournament obviously tops the bill, but there are two clans with opposing worldviews operating across Hong Kong Island whom you can choose to side with or oppose, and perusing their respective HQs is another opportunity for first-person wanderings. Really though, what casual, more laid-back racing games, along with similar open world drivers Horizon or The Crew, encapsulate is the thrill of exploring absorbing faraway locations from the dash of an otherwise out-of-reach sports car. This is a perennially popular sub-genre of racing game, and – some concerns on content and progression aside – Test Drive Unlimited Solar Crown looks set to be a worthy addition to the roster.
KT Racing understand the excitement found in simply putting your foot down; there’s no reason why Test Drive Unlimited Solar Crown won’t be quick to rustle up a passionate player base. KT Racing will need to absorb community feedback to elevate Test Drive’s comeback tour to one of the greats though. As it is, there’s potential its progression is a little too grindy, its in-game economy a tad unbalanced, and the content on offer perhaps too repetitive even with reactive opponent AI. Maybe some of TDU’s hallmark features such as the ability to own property will emerge in future updates too; that’d really help this title stand out from the crowd.
Note: The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of, and should not be attributed to, GamingBolt as an organization.
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