Test Drive Unlimited Solar Crown review - Not a smooth ride in the slightest

After much hype and delay, Test Drive Unlimited Solar Crown is finally here. This new release from developer KT Racing marks the return of the open-world "simcade" racer series in over a decade, which only fueled fan anticipation further. This time, the Solar Crown competition arrives in Hong Kong and players will have a 1:1 recreation of the massive island to drive around in.

Was this next-gen take on the Test Drive Unlimited worth the wait? To put it simply, no. Read on to find out why, in our full review of Test Drive Unlimited Solar Crown.

Test Drive Unlimited Solar Crown is a showcase of style but not substance

The competition ramps up (Image via Nacon)

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As with past Test Drive Unlimited formula entries, this installment boasts a story centered around the titular Solar Crown: a prestigious racing competition where racers worldwide assemble to duke it out for the top spot. That is not all, however; players must carve out their identity by indulging in a session of luxury and freedom.

This is done by earning money by partaking in races, buying new and better cars, and cosmetically customizing their avatar and repeating that process until they are the Solar Cown's winner. Much of this will be facilitated by the rivalry between the two groups "Sharps" and "Streets", and yes, players will get the opportunity to join one of them a few hours into the game.

The former is a group of rich, arrogant high-lifers who value prestige above all else and wish to teach the lowly Streets a lesson, while the latter is a bunch of underground misfits who want to rise to the top and leave the Sharps in the dust. As is tradition with the series, and genre even, the story is nothing worth writing home about and does an okay job of explaining the progression.

Before we dive into the details to that end, however, players will begin with customizing their avatars. While I don't want to admit it this early in the review, the following statement is a sign of things to come with Test Drive Unlimited Solar Crown later on. The avatar creator is not just fairly limited in terms of customization options, such as the lack of body types, but the character models look underwhelming enough that they would not be out of place in a late PS3-era game.

Explore the world to discover its sights and secrets (Image via Nacon)

After customizing their characters, players will be introduced to the fundamentals of racing and controls in Test Drive Unlimited Solar Crown, followed by preliminary races which are pretty straightforward. They will then arrive at the Solar Hotel, the hub area for the game. This is where players will have their suite and can also shop for new threads and access avatar customization in the lobby. After stepping out, players are free to do as they please or follow key story objectives to progress.

Organic exploration can reward players with neat goodies. These include collectibles scattered around the map, such as money, XP, and cosmetic stickers as well as wrecks hidden in secret locations that can be used to unlock new vehicles. Points of interest such as new car dealerships, workshops to upgrade cars, gas stations to repair them, and various races to engage in are also available.

"Pricey" would be an understatement (Image via Nacon)

This is where progression also comes into play in Test Drive Unlimited Solar Crown. Solar Coins are the currency used for transactions in the game, from buying clothes to cars. These are largely rewarded for completing races, of which there are two types: standard races (and their Domination variants) and time trials. Exploration and racing also reward XP that helps increase Reputation (essentially the players' "Level").

Higher-end cars at dealerships are not just locked behind millions of Solar Coins but also require players to reach a particular Rep level. A second progression metric is introduced after joining one of the two key factions. They also have their own rewards per level-up, to incentivize players to keep up the fight and help their Clan to the top by winning races and beating other players in the rival group, which leaks into the online aspects of the game.

Feeling the rush of the wind on your face

Compete against AI or other players (Image via Nacon)

One of the biggest selling points of the game is the open world. The 1:1 recreation of Hong Kong makes for a fairly diverse sandbox, even though some areas tend to meld into one another. From streets in urban hotspots and long highways perfect for fast driving, to quaint roads running parallel to sun-kissed beaches and dirt tracks in densely forested areas, the open world can be fun to explore.

This is in part thanks to the decent vehicle handling and mechanics. Vehicles in Test Drive Unlimited Solar Crown use a PR (Performance Rating) system to evaluate how powerful they are, with higher ratings equating to better cars - and PR can be increased by upgrading to higher-rarity car parts.

The Sientero Reinita is one of the best cross-country vehicles in Test Drive Unlimited Solar Crown (Image via Nacon)

Most cars look, sound, and handle pretty well. The Audi TT RS in particular has been a community favorite for being one of the best early cars to unlock, with later options such as the Porsche Taycan, Lamborghini Aventador, Ferrari 812, etc also being solid picks. Vehicles can be adorned with stickers, or repainted via the Livery system at Workshops - though customization is basic here too.

Also Read: All cars list in Test Drive Unlimited Solar Crown

Off-road races also unlock soon into the story progression, letting players go wild across the countryside in buggies and other off-road vehicles. While vehicles can be outfitted for new, better-performant parts at Workshops, it is the Driving Mode mechanic that is particularly interesting. At any time, players can pause the game to switch driving modes (such as Dynamic, Sport, etc) to alter the vehicle's stats to make it more suitable to the given situation.

The thrill of the ride (Image via Nacon)

Sadly, this is where the praise for Test Drive Unlimited Solar Crown ends, as it is a case of one bumpy ride after another in a pothole-ridden mess.

A mountain of problems

While the driving in Test Drive Unlimited Solar Crown is fine, the rest of the package is not (Image via Nacon)

Perhaps the biggest disappointment with Test Drive Unlimited Solar Crown is how barebones it is. As mentioned earlier in the review, not only are the options in the clothing store limited, but there is only ONE shop in the entirety of Hong Kong Island - in the Hotel itself. The past TDU titles had shops and other locales scattered around the world to discover at the players' leisure.

As if that wasn't bad enough, Test Drive Unlimited Solar Crown has quite literally has NOTHING going for it in the open-world aspect: No race variety (such as trailing or convoys), no police chases, no casinos (or any non-racing activities) - no, not even houses. TDU as a series is about living a luxurious lifestyle and offers players many ways to flaunt it, yet Solar Crown somehow manages to miss the mark on such a fundamental level.

Hong Kong is as dead as it gets, with no pedestrians outdoors and only a handful of vehicles driving about at any given time. The NPCs that are inside showrooms and hotel lobbies are static and further exaggerate the clinical, lifeless feel of the game's world. Moreover, for all the clothing customization options the game gives players, it resorts to a first-person view while indoors, rendering the cosmetic aspects of the game pointless.

The car list is fairly limited for such a big-name title. There are only about 100 cars in Test Drive Unlimited Solar Crown, largely from the 2008-2012 era. Compared to the 700+ picks in the modern Forza Horizon titles, this is just bizarre. There are no bikes in the game either, and they were present in Test Drive Unlimited 2.

The next worst part is that this is an online-only game. Despite that, a gameplay session only supports up to eight players. Among the dozens upon dozens of races I have run, there was only a single instance where I had ONE real player join me - otherwise the game adds in bots to compensate. The title seems to have no benefits but all the pitfalls of an online game.

Furthermore, the opponent AI can be pretty rubber-bandy. In some races, they are easy to overtake (and will have a hard time catching up to the player), while at other times, it's like they have nitro boosts with 100% grip - and in these cases, it will be pretty much impossible to catch up to (forget overtaking) the AI in the top spot as they will be nowhere in sight.

Yeah sure, just ram into me (Image via Nacon)

The AI also does not seem to be aware of the player's location on the track so it has a tendency of ramming into player vehicles - which can often send players flying. This, paired with the fact that there is no way to restart races (or pause them) even when playing against AI nor even difficulty levels to adjust the AI, means that racing is easily one of the least fun aspects of Test Drive Unlimited Solar Crown.

If players are thinking that they can just resort to open-world action and exploration instead, then Test Drive Unlimited Solar Crown proves to be a disappointment once again. Progression is very slow as races only grant 15-20K Solar Coins (even races locked behind higher Rep levels) while the best cars cost tens of millions.

The online nature of the game ensures grinding is heavily discouraged in a few ways:

A game mechanic known as "FRIM" allows performing tricks (like drifts and near-misses) to rack up a gauge and redeem Solar Coins when full. Unfortunately, this can only be done 10 times per day.
Races on the map can be replayed to earn XP and Solar Coins. However, reward money is cut the more times races are retried, especially past the 5th try.

The bug prevented me from replaying and progressing past this starter race (Image via Nacon)

As if the mobile game-tier progression was not embarrassing enough, there's more: Test Drive Unlimited Solar Crown is not immune to glitches and game-breaking bugs. One that I encountered very early on, prevented me from progressing past the first Preliminary race, which meant I could not proceed through the game at all.

The lack of a New Game option meant I was stuck, at least until developer KT Racing initiated a server purge of all save files letting players start over - and some players continue to encounter this bug even after launch. The joys of online-only gaming, am I right?

Graphics, performance, and sound

Overall, the graphics are a mixed bag (Image via Nacon)

Where to even begin with this one? Visually, Test Drive Unlimited Solar Crown is a mixed bag. The environments and car models especially look good, but the poor character model quality and other low-res elements dampen the image - this is despite playing the game at the High preset.

As an example, the side-mirror view when driving in cockpit mode is very low res and runs at a choppy 15-20 FPS frame rate even at High settings - a far cry from competitors such as 2018's Forza Horizon 4. This brings us to perhaps the single biggest issue with Test Drive Unlimited Solar Crown: performance. It was reviewed on a PC with the following specs:

CPU: Intel Core i7-12650H
RAM: 16 GB
GPU: Nvidia GeForce RTX 3070 Ti (8 GB)
SSD: 1 TB

Despite these specifications, a rock-solid 60 FPS eluded me at all costs no matter the settings combination. As a result, I spent most of my time at 30-40 FPS at native 1080p and High settings. I do not recommend playing at Low settings as that is ugly enough to make even the 2011 predecessor Test Drive Unlimited 2 look next-gen in comparison.

While the game can look good at times, the system requirements are far too steep for a game of this caliber (Image via NACON)

That said, the official system requirements should have been a warning sign for the disaster that is Test Drive Unlimited Solar Crown's optimization. The following are the recommended specs from developer KT Racing taken from the game's official Steam store page:

Processor: Intel Core i7-11700K or AMD Ryzen 7 3700X
Memory: 12 GB RAM
Graphics: Nvidia GeForce RTX 2080, 8GB or AMD Radeon RX 6650, 8 GB
Storage: 50 GB available space
Additional Notes: SSD Mandatory / Medium 1080p @ 60 FPS with DLSS or FSR 2 Balanced

An 8c/16t 3700X and RTX 2080 for Medium settings at 1080p? That too FSR2 Balanced which results in the final output image being sub-720p? All of this, coupled with the middling graphics on offer by Test Drive Unlimited Solar Crown, is utter madness. Poor optimization alone will be a turn-off for many PC players.

At least the sound side of things is alright for the most part. While the radio selection will not be everyone's cup of tea, the car noises and sounds are good, with proper muffling depending on the car view mode or location. I do wish there was a way to turn off music during races; alongside dead ambient sounds in the open world, here's to hoping it is one of the many quality-of-life additions and fixes this game deserves in the near future.

In conclusion

Test Drive Unlimited Solar Crown is a disappointing successor (Image via Nacon)

Test Drive Unlimited Solar Crown is a troubled game in most regards, which was evident thanks to several delays the game saw since being unveiled to the public four years ago. TDU fans who have been eagerly waiting for their beloved franchises' return will be disappointed to find a shell of a racer that fails to even meet basic genre metrics, much less the rigorous standards of a Test Drive Unlimited game.

The horrible launch (and pre-launch) issues and the myriad of technical problems are simply the cherry on top of the mudcake of a game that is mediocre at best when it works, and insufferable otherwise. KT Racing has plans to continue supporting the game post-launch, so I hope the issues are sorted out as soon as possible, or else this game will be quickly forgotten - if it hasn't been already.

As of now, I cannot, in good conscience, recommend buying Test Drive Unlimited Solar Crow. Perhaps a year or two later when (or if) things get fixed and at a cheap discount.