A trip to Hawaii, enjoying some motoring events on the island of O’ahu for the first time since Test Drive Unlimited 2. That’s what The Crew Motorfest was to me. Putting that delight into my eyes at a chance to see a modern rendition of the place I’d spent hours driving around back in the day. Even if it was just a cut down rendition of it rather than the full thing. Rather than ending up with the Xbox Series version, I’m on the One version. Owing to not checking which version that first result on the search of the Xbox store took me to.

I don’t mind that one bit, however. It still looks lovely and runs smoothly, and that’s all I could ask it for. The opening drive proved that. Said opening drive introduces several of the Playlists that make up the main activities of Motorfest. Split into a variety of categories, these Playlists act like mini stories, providing fun facts and other bits of chatter as you progress through them. For my first Playlist, I chose the Hawaii Scenic Tour to provide a guided route around this island.

Not that I started the main event straight away, of course. I wanted that Mini. Once the opening drive is complete, you choose an avatar to represent you and one of three cars to start with. As soon as I could, I wanted a Mini. So into the shop I went to take a look at how much it would cost. I was almost there, with 100,000 in starting cash and just 6,000 more to go to get it. Of course, I’d already have it had I activated the import feature, which copies everything in your Crew 2 collection to Motorfest, but I wanted a fresh start.

Side activities are here, being activated once the base of operations for one of these Playlists is visited. Each Playlist has its own side activities, but they all fall under the same types of events. Escape, slalom, speed trap, and photo ops being just a few. With those complete, and the Mini bought, it was time for me to begin the main event of the Hawaii Scenic Tour. Now, this being a tour, it did indeed take me all across the island.

What I do take issue with, though it’s not that big of one, is that we’re meant to be on a tour of the island. So why are we racing? Now, true. It does say we only have to finish the event to move on. But the bigger rewards come from finishing first, so by being a race it’s kind of encouraging us to be fast rather than sightseeing. Ah, well. Plenty of time for that once I’d finished the entire main event, which also included a boat and a plane event to gift me one of each.

Throughout that Playlist, I’d been rediscovering just how heavy, stiff, and twitchy I find The Crew’s handling mechanics. Just as I felt I was getting comfortable with them, I then see that there’s a drift-based Playlist. Drifting? With these mechanics? Oh, I had to go and try that. But first, completing the Hawaii Scenic Tour Playlist unlocked challenges associated with it. Whether action-based or exploration-based, these challenges provide a bit more skill-based gameplay. As for the exploration ones, the collectibles are marked on the minimap, so you still have to drive around to find them.

Hitting up the Drift Experience Playlist, I found I was right. Drifting with these mechanics takes some getting used to. The first few events of this playlist weren’t so bad, giving you wide roads with plenty of room for error. I kept restarting on the first one to make sure I had the feel for how these mechanics handled drifting. And also to make sure I was in the top spot, as this Playlist was also a championship. Fortunately, you can get to that top spot fairly easily on the lower difficulties. Which is a blessing for the next section of that Playlist.

Gone are the wide artificial roads. Now you’re on the ground with the real ones. These ones are tough, and Ivory Tower seems to have realised that. The opponent’s scores have been reduced, and there’s a time bonus for completing the route quickly. I envy those people who have got close or even over one million points on any of these, as I will never be in tune with these mechanics enough to do so. The last section of the Playlist reverts to races, with street racers vs drifters being the theme.

Second Playlist done, I turned my attention to those collectibles that had appeared from completion of the two Playlists. This was nice, as it allowed me to explore at my own pace with my Mini, seeing everything the island offers. And there is a lot to find with this rendition of O’ahu. Though creative building names isn’t one of them. May I introduce you to the place you will be staying, simply named Turtle? Or how about I take you out to the eatery designed like a pineapple called Giant Pineapple?

From what I have seen, The Crew Motorfest has a lot of content to keep racing fans happy. Not only the Playlists and the activities they provide, but online-exclusive ones that appear throughout the day. These are on timers, with some being short, single events such as destruction rumble. Others are championships or leaderboard-based events that stay open for multiple days. I’ve yet to give any of these a go, but expect to do so soon after I’ve tried out a few more Playlists.

The Crew Motorfest is a great experience for racing fans. The map might be smaller than that of The Crew 2, but it feels a lot more focused of a location owing to that. Such does mean that cruising opportunities are smaller, but there are plenty of events that will see you exploring all corners of it. From what I have experienced, this is a worthwhile purchase. It is sure to keep you occupied for many, many hours.

Images Taken From:
The Crew Motorfest | Xbox Series S