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After much teasing, racing MMO Test Drive Unlimited Solar Crown is finally here. It’s been 12 years since we last saw an entry in the long-running car series, and now KT Racing and Nacon have brought it back to life with the launch of Solar Crown. Ahead of its release, I spoke to the developer at Gamescom 2024 to learn about how it’s attempting to make you care about every single car in your garage.
The Test Drive series has brought us some of the best racing games over the years, dating all the way back to the late ‘80s. But new installment Test Drive Unlimited Solar Crown is more than just a racer, the KT Racing team tells me – it’s a driving lifestyle experience that wants to capture the sensation of being a true automobile fanatic. That starts with creating your character, who’ll be zooming around the game’s full, one-to-one scale recreation of Hong Kong Island.
Buying a car in Solar Crown is a big deal. In many driving games – from Forza Horizon 5 and Wreckfest to the likes of Project Cars 2 and Assetto Corsa – you can build up an extensive garage to play around with in relatively short order. Not so here; while you can certainly get your hands on a starter easily enough, earning enough to purchase a more upmarket vehicle is intentionally a lengthy process. KT Racing doesn’t want you scrolling through a huge collection that sits collecting dust; it wants you to make every purchase with consideration, pursuing the cars you truly care about.
Once you have the car of your dreams, lovingly modeled and recreated to be accurate to the real thing both visually and on the track, you can walk around it in your garage, cracking open the doors and imagining that new car smell before you jump in and start the engine. With over 30 car manufacturers and models ranging from 1960s classics to high-end modern hypercars, including names such as Ferrari, Lamborghini, Aston Martin, Porsche, Bugatti, and Koenigsegg, you’ll have some tough decisions to make about what you want.
While there are plenty of multiplayer races and other events to take on in the open world, the real goal is the eponymous Solar Crown. Take on this competitive ranked mode and come out as the top of the pack – the Solar King or Queen – and you’ll earn yourself an exclusive, limited car. This will sit in the center of the showroom for the duration of each tournament, and if you win it, not only is it yours to keep, but you’ll be among the only drivers to own one until the next seasonal reset rolls around, at which point it will finally become available for all to purchase.
Another key part of the new Test Drive Unlimited is choosing which of the two clans you wish to join. The Streets are flashy, flamboyant street racers who love to go loud and proud; The Sharps are all about understated sophistication and sharp suits. Your choice can impact your fashion options as well as the cars you favor, and while you can switch sides, you’ll have to work your way up from the very bottom again.
In theory, the promise of Test Drive Unlimited Solar Crown is quietly appealing to me. I’ve certainly been guilty of glossing over 90% of the cars I own in other driving games, so the idea of really working for my next ride is an interesting one. Simultaneously, its recreation of Hong Kong Island is an ambitious idea, and it seemed to pay off in my brief hands-on time with the game; it certainly looks the part, at least. That said, I’m hopeful that KT Racing will build on its car inspection tool – for how much it’s pushing the feel of ‘owning’ your cars, I still felt a little too removed from them as I walked around my garage.
In practice, the real test will be the coming weeks and months after launch. The game’s first week of early access has been marred by server issues preventing those who paid to play ahead of launch from actually doing so. While KT Racing is rolling out compensation to those that have been affected, the fundamentals of the social simulation it promises hinge on how well those servers hold up, and how many budding drivers show up for the action.
Test Drive Unlimited Solar Crown launches today, Thursday September 12, priced at $49.99 / £39.99. Head here if you’re eager to start building your collection and earning your spot among the elite racers of its luxurious resort.
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