Test Drive Unlimited Solar Crown review – Sleeping Dodges

A lot of things have happened in the 13 years between Test Drive Unlimited games, but at long last, the oft-delayed latest entry in the series is here, revved up, and ready to race. A racing built on a fantasy premise–namely its version of Hong Kong not being a congested mess and featuring plenty of space to turn into a racer’s paradise–Test Drive Unlimited Solar Crown is a perfectly fine game, but one that ends up as a second place finisher in the genre its franchise helped define.

Test Drive Unlimited Solar Crown takes an early lead with the feel of its vehicles as, thanks to the pedigree of WRC developer Kylotonn, each car feels nuanced, responsive, and satisfying to drive. From hot hatchbacks to the stuff of legend that you’d expect to see tearing around a Top Gear track, TDU Solar Crown nails the thrill of pushing a V8 engine to its limits, and being the fastest four-wheeled organism in existence for a brief moment in time.

A good car needs a better track to race on, and that’s where things get a bit muddied in TDU Solar Crown. There’s no getting away from the Forza Horizon comparisons here, as TDU Solar Crown whisks players away to an open-world replica of Hong Kong that is full of long straights and tight corners. It might feel unfair to compare Nacon’s release to Microsoft’s racing series juggernaut, but it’s worth remembering that TDU was exploring the idea of open-world racing long before players were taking their cars for a spin on the Forza Horizon track.

The difference here? What began with TDU has been perfected in Forza Horizon, raising the bar for what players expect from a game in this sub-genre. Legacy can only take you so far, and TDU Solar Crown trails behind Forza Horizon in this respect as its playground is far less detailed and lacks personality. It’s admirable to see just how big TDU Solar Crown’s version of Hong Kong is, but that lack of attention to detail also makes it instantly forgettable the second you switch your console off. It’s no Night City or Omikron, that’s for sure.

Bugs are another issue threatening to burst your proverbial tyres, as TDU Solar Crown suffers from frequent performance dives during races. You’ve got the usual quality and performance options available to play the game in–think cinematic frame-rates with higher resolution versus soap-opera smoothness–and they can derail your sense of immersion during trickier events when you’re facing tougher challengers. Strangely, this doesn’t happen nearly as much as when you’re exploring Hong Kong, and even after waiting to see if any patches could help, it’s still an annoying situation to deal with.

It’s worth mentioning that TDU Solar Crown is also an always-online game, as clan features play a major role in the game. If you’re staunchly single-player in your racing game preferences then you’re out of luck thanks to this mandatory feature, but it does add a nice layer of community to TDU Solar Crown overall.

The best compliment you could give TDU Solar Crown is that it’s just fine. It borrows liberally from the giants in its genre while attempting to put a cool sense of sci-fi swagger on its world, but technical issues and a general lack of polish dampen its appeal.

Test Drive Unlimited Solar Crown comes to Windows PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X/S on 12 September 2024. It will also be playable on Nintendo Switch at a later date.