Test Drive Unlimited Solar Crown Review

After a 12-year hiatus, the Test Drive series is finally back! With fond memories of cruising around Oahu and Ibiza in the previous Unlimited titles, I’ve been eagerly anticipating Test Drive Unlimited Solar Crown since its reveal back in 2020. Now that the game is ready for release, is this “massively open online racer” a sleek, modern take on the racing genre? Or is it a broken-down junk pile destined for the scrapheap? Let’s find out!

After a bit of a rocky start with some kind of server issue preventing me from starting the game (seriously, always online titles are a nightmare) it was time to begin my journey across the 1:1 recreation of Hong Kong Island. After creating a character — which, despite having a decent amount of customisation, still looked a little off — and the opening scene showing off some of the game's flashier cars and exotic locations, it was time to race! Well, almost. We’re introduced to Vivian, who takes us on a quick tour around a section of the island whilst letting us loose in a Lamborghini Huracán Performante. Nice!

After a few races and your acceptance into the Solar Crown tournament, it’s off to the Solar Hotel (unfortunately without the Lambo, boooo!) where the game then opens up for you to explore. But, before that, you’ll need your own car! As with many driving games, you’re given a choice of vehicles as your starting motor, in this instance, it’s between a Nissan 370Z, a Ford Mustang GT, or an Alpine A110 Légende. Whichever option you go for, more races and world events open up, and it’s time to hit the road! The way you earn cars is slightly more rewarding in Solar Crown, and you’re encouraged to keep tuning a handful of vehicles rather than amassing a huge collection to suit any situation. Sure, some people may prefer to have cars rewarded to them after practically every race, but finally being able to afford that brand-new vehicle and taking yourself over to the car dealership to drop the cash, always gave me a sense of progression. Thankfully, you’re given enough money that purchasing even the most basic of cars isn’t a ridiculous grind!

Although Solar Crown never reaches the incredibly impressive graphical heights of a Forza Horizon, it’s not a complete eyesore by any means. Having said that, it certainly looks better in some places than others. Cars are all highly detailed, especially the wonderfully recreated interiors. I don’t often use the first-person perspective in driving games, but in Solar Crown, I frequently found myself just cruising around in the cockpit view. With a good amount of cars to purchase, with everything from Aston Martin to McLaren included in the base game, you’ll be spoilt for choice with over 30 manufacturers available.

It’s a shame then that the environments aren’t quite as nice to look at, and although the variety of Hong Kong Island is on full display; from the neon-soaked streets of the Central District to the winding hills of Tai Tam, it just doesn’t look like a current-gen title and feels rather barren. Granted, the map is massive, and props to the developer KT Racing for recreating such a large real-world location, but I’d much prefer a scaled-down version that felt more “lived in”.

As far as audio goes, the cars all sound authentic, with the guttural roar of American muscle cars to the more “sophisticated” purr of an Italian hypercar. Smaller details, like the engine being slightly muffled when in first-person and putting the car’s windows up, are really impressive, and it’s very telling that those who worked on Solar Crown care about the authenticity of the vehicles.

But what would an open world driving game be without an in-game radio? It’s your usual mix of hip hop, rock, retro, and classical music stations. Don’t expect any big names here, as I found the tracklist to be rather underwhelming. That’s not to say it’s bad, but there just aren’t too many well-known artists for it to really be seen as a great soundtrack. Also, the DJ for Indie Rock radio became incredibly irritating, very quickly.

It should come as no surprise to learn that the main point of Solar Crown is to race. Shocking, I know! Be it against a group of AI or human drivers in circuit or sprint races, time trials, or any of the ambient challenges found throughout the world. The Solar Crown competition is all about reputation, and you’ll gain this mainly by racing. The higher your rep, the more races you can enter, the more customisation options are available to you, and so on. You’ll need to upgrade car parts if you want to partake in more races, although this just boils down to purchasing new engine parts to upgrade your car's Performance Rating. However, there is a setup option for those amongst you who want to fine-tune every aspect of your vehicle, though this is something else you’ll need to build up your reputation for in order to unlock it.

The most important part of any driving game is, of course, the handling of the cars themselves. Well, Solar Crown doesn’t feel too bad in my opinion, although there is some room for improvement. Whilst most cars do handle differently from one another in a way that the actual models would be, controls are — for the most part — quite responsive. Drifting around corners gave me the most trouble, as getting the angle to smoothly glide around a turn was rather tricky, and often left me having to quickly readjust to get back in the race. It certainly feels a bit less arcade-like than other games of its ilk, and with the developer previously working on the likes of the WRC franchise, it stands to reason that there’s a tad more realism here. Don’t worry if you’re not a fan of simulator driving games, though, as there are enough customisation and assist options to give Solar Crown a more floaty arcadey gameplay feel.

Outside of racing, there’s a decent amount of activities in the open world to keep players busy. From finding wrecked cars that — when enough have been found — unlock exclusive vehicles, to hidden money caches to bolster your wallet, and ambient speed trap events to really give the middle finger to speed limits. The FRIM (Free Ride Instant Money) mechanic also makes a return, allowing you to earn a quick buck by driving dangerously and banking it all before an unfortunate collision. Then there are daily challenges, online events, and seasons, but as this was a review version, these weren’t fully available during my time with the game. It doesn’t feel quite as populated with things to do as something like The Crew Motorfest, but having these optional tasks at all makes driving around the map a bit more entertaining than driving from one race to the next.

You’ve also got the option to join a clan, either the Sharps or Streets. Joining either doesn’t really affect anything, but you’ll be representing your chosen clan in races outside of the Solar Crown. Racing earns you clan influence, which in turn grants you exclusive clothing items, car customisation options, and even rivals who will challenge you to races. It certainly adds to the slight role-playing elements of Solar Crown, and whilst more content is always nice, the whole clan aspect of the game isn’t quite as fleshed out as the main competition.

I’ve never been a fan of games that require a constant internet connection to be able to play it. Just look at the recent uproar about The Crew’s servers shutting down and making it completely unplayable, and you’ll understand what I mean. It’s always a risk with titles like this, and Solar Crown could well close down sooner rather than later; it’s never easy to predict. That also means that any server issues (of which there were a fair few during my review period) or connection issues on the player's end, and it’s back to the main menu to wait for things to reconnect. Not ideal, especially if you just fancy a quick ride around the island.

Test Drive Unlimited Solar Crown is a welcome return to the Test Drive series, and it’s been a long time coming. Whilst there are many online aspects that I was unable to touch on due to the game not being publicly available, it’s definitely a game I’ll continue to play for the foreseeable future, and will likely write a follow-up article in the next month or so. With a roadmap for the next year already revealed, only time will tell what the new improvements and features will do for the game, but as it stands, Solar Crown may not start in pole position, but it’s certainly well on its way to stepping onto the podium in the near future.