I don’t have too many memories of previous Test Drive Unlimited games, but I remember the joys that those games gave me. So, during a Nacon Connect which announced it was returning, I was very happy. It’s been four years since that first announcement, but Test Drive Unlimited Solar Crown, developed by KT Racing, has now released. After a problematic early launch period, I’m happy that such was mostly resolved for the official launch.

The tutorial section provides a high-speed car and just a small part of the overall map to get to grips with the handling. Which I’m finding easy to control. Cars feel a dream to control, as least on the asphalt. As I found later on, dirt roads feel more like ice with how little grip they offer. Same with any off-road areas I took to driving around. From what I’ve seen elsewhere, the AI seem to have no such troubles with grip, though I’ve yet to encounter any dirt races.

That tutorial section offers up a few races which act as an initiation into the Solar Crown tournament. The president of the Solar Crown Organisation Committee, Vivian Hughes, has taken an interest in the player, guiding them through this initiation alongside the AI driver assistant, Alyss. Once the initiation has been complete, Vivian brings me to the Solar Crown hotel, a giant tower in the heart of Hong Kong Island’s main urban cityscape.

The progression of Test Drive Unlimited Solar Crown is tied to the experience earnt. After a visit to a dealership to get a first car, all of Hong Kong Island is now available to explore. The first few races are available to compete in, but who needs them when there’s so much to explore. Fourteen districts, half of which are full of urban areas to drive around. The rest of them feature some great mountain roads to traverse. And there are many, many roads.

So many, that the tracker doesn’t mention the exact number. Instead, it has a percentage, which earns experience for every 1% traversed. The amount of experience per percent increases the higher that total traversed is. Exploration experience is also earned by finding the various workshops, meeting points, and dealerships around Hong Kong Island. Speed traps earn money for meeting one of the three targets, with many being around the island.

Also to find around are radiant tokens, which provide either experience, money, or club influence once one has been joined. What they offer is easily seen by colour, including those indoor loot tokens. Wrecks are scattered around the districts, with a locator pinging when close. Wrecks relate to one specific car that will be earned upon finding all of them. With most of my playtime being based in exploration, I can easily say that this new Test Drive Unlimited nails the simple cruising around.

And with an easily accessible photo mode at the push of a button, every road is bursting with potential. Unless you want to showcase a sick drift around some traffic. For whatever reason, likely being an online only game, traffic in photo mode does not stay still. Which is also likely why it’s hidden by default. It’s easy to use to get some great shot, with a few extra options to mess around with to stylise the shot.

Of course, there’s a Mini in the game, so the quest of making a Mini addition to my collection began. First by finding the dealership which held it, then earning enough money to buy it. By the time I had it, I was level eight and still hadn’t touched a single race beyond those initiation ones. With the Mini I then got to level twelve just through exploration, which is when the clubs offer an invite. The Streets and the Sharps.

This is where I started to take on a few races, since to join one of the clubs, beating the recruiter in a race is required. Now, it probably wasn’t the smartest idea to use the Mini, which was still in its base form, but the race proved quite easy owing to one certain section. So I was now part of the Streets. These clubs have HQs on different sides of the island, with the Streets HQ being a disco venue on the east. Very nice to walk around.

As for the other races, they proved to be tougher with the Mini, even after some upgrades. But, I’m okay with that. I’m not in it to win, I’m just enjoying the drive. But the rewards did get me considering the economy of Test Drive Unlimited Solar Crown. Around 13,000 Solar coins for beating a race, with around 2,000 bonus for completing it for the first time. Low end cars are in the hundreds of thousands, with the Mini being almost 700,000.

Higher-end stuff reaches into the millions. While I don’t have race classes higher than D, that reward amount is still a lot of races to complete to get another car into your collection. And there will be cars that are top of their class which require few upgrades to be competitive. At present, then, there’s a real sense of thought needed for purchases, otherwise some races just won’t be won.

However, this being an online-only experience, it is likely that the real rewards will come during the seasons. What these seasons entail, I haven’t a clue at present. The first has just started, and I haven’t been able to get onto the game for a few days. Hence I can’t be talking about the different race types. Or just how difficult races against the AI can get. How competitive players are at these races.

Which is also why, as much as it pains me, Test Drive Unlimited Solar Crown has to be a maybe recommend from me. The servers are being worked on constantly, according to KT Racing, but after a week of that early release and many betas beforehand, they still aren’t at a point I can say is stable. Progress not saving, server disconnects during races… It’s still an issue.

However, once those server issues have been fixed to be stable, I’d be much happier recommending it. Maybe not an easy recommendation, but there’s enough fun to be had with Test Drive Unlimited Solar Crown that should stable service be possible, it is worth a purchase.

Images Taken From:
Test Drive Unlimited Solar Crown | Xbox Series S