Hong Kong Island vs. Ibiza and O’ahu

The biggest difference between Solar Crown and Test Drive Unlimited 2 is their settings. While the latter saw the return of Oahu and added Ibiza into the mix, the former features Hong Kong Island as a setting for the first time. As one of Hong Kong’s three regions, it features multiple districts and monuments to explore with numerous beaches and mountains.

Left-Hand vs. Right-Hand Traffic

Throughout the series’ history, players have usually abided by right-hand traffic, i.e. driving on the right side of the road. The one exception was 2002’s TD Overdrive: The Brotherhood of Speed, which spanned the world and thus featured left-hand traffic in places like Tokyo and London. After over two decades and some change, left-hand traffic finally returns in Test Drive Unlimited Solar Crown, and technically, for the first time, it’s the only option for driving throughout the title.

Drivable Roads

Perhaps more notable than the settings is how much road is available to drive on. Test Drive Unlimited 2 sported 3,000 kilometers or roughly 1864 miles between its two islands. By comparison, Solar Crown only offers 550 kilometers or 340 miles of drivable roads. There’s something about attention to detail vs. scope and how much more intricate Hong Kong Island will be in-game (especially since it’s a 1:1 scale), but we’ll only know once we go hands-on with the title.

Premise

Solar Crown also features a customizable player avatar with various clothes and accessories. The main difference is in the set-up. Test Drive Unlimited 2 saw the player working their way up from lowly, down-on-their-luck valet driver to entering the Solar Crown championship and making a name for themselves. By comparison, the latest title is more about the conflict between two factions – the Sharps and the Streets – with the player choosing one and advancing through their ranks to unlock exclusive rewards. Anything beyond that remains to be seen, but you also have the option of not allying with either.

Clan HQs vs. Properties

The hotel returns in Solar Crown, but there are also HQs exclusive to clans, allowing players to check out leaderboards, and participate in live events and whatnot. Interestingly, this seemingly means no properties to purchase, like in Test Drive Unlimited 2, where you could acquire several houses and apartments across various locations.

Lack of Racing School Tests

It also seems that Racing School events have been phased out in the latest title. Test Drive Unlimited 2 featured various single-player challenges and events, including Racing School, where you had to pass tests to earn a license. You could then use this to participate at the corresponding license level. Meanwhile, in Solar Crown, players seemingly jump in and start racing. It made sense in Unlimited 2 since you were working your way up, but perhaps there are other requirements players must fulfil in Solar Crown to advance.

Traffic Density

Maybe it’s a consequence of fewer drivable roads or that Test Drive Unlimited Solar Crown’s districts are denser, but there is a stark difference in traffic density. Unlimited 2 featured a decent amount of cars on the road. Comparatively, Solar Crown has more traffic, with developer KT Racing showcasing improvements in the lead-up to launch.

Cockpit Details

First-person view is a key factor in any racing title, which means nailing the look and feel of a cockpit. Compared to its closed betas, Test Drive Unlimited Solar Crown significantly improves its cockpit detail, from the camera movement and seat belts to how your character is perceived. There’s still more to be showcased, but it’s a step up from Test Drive Unlimited 2.

Sense of Speed

There’s also the sense of speed – another important factor when considering high-speed races and general runs through the city. For its time, Test Drive Unlimited 2 was good, but Solar Crown is attempting to go even further beyond. As showcased in its pre-launch development progress video, the sense of speed looks good and should make overtaking and near collisions much more harrowing.

Chase Mode

However, Test Drive Unlimited Solar Crown seemingly avoids Chase mode mechanics or events. Unlimited 2 would send the police after you upon violating traffic laws or straight-up ramming into a cop’s vehicle. It offered four ranks with different rewards, like Outlaw clothes and the Mercedes-Benz CLK 63 AMG Black Series “Outlaw.” As synonymous as the feature is, it won’t be in Solar Crown.

Driving Modes vs. Driving Aids

At launch, Unlimited 2 offered Driving Aids, which could customize the driving experience from Full Assistance and Sport to the more realistic Hardcore mode. In Solar Crown, you have Driving Modes – presets suited for different racing conditions. For example, Sport is meant for high-speed races and focuses on handling, Relaxed is best for simple exploration and Rain is suited for racing on wet roads. Don’t worry, though – there’s still a Stock preset, which you can tune and customize to your liking.

Live Service vs. Traditional Multiplayer

Test Drive Unlimited 2 offered several multiplayer features, like free-roam driving with up to eight players. You could also examine each other’s cars, walk around homes and lobbies, sit in other players’ vehicles, join in with chases or participate as the police. Test Drive Unlimited Solar Crown feels like more of a shared world racer, with Instant Challenges to race against other players with no restrictions, Live Events available weekly, and whatnot. The social aspect extends to driving together, workshopping cars as a group, and even buying vehicles at the dealership. There’s also an extensive Ranked experience, with multiple tiers offering rewards and the Solar Court representing the best of the best.

Online vs. Offline

Test Drive Unlimited Solar Crown is online only – it can’t be played offline, like Test Drive Unlimited 2. It’s unfortunate, especially considering how titles like The Crew end up delisted and completely unplayable for long-time players. When speaking to Traxion and explaining the game’s online features, game director Guillaume Guinet revealed that the entire experience is “designed to be online” and going offline would change that.

However, the team is considering what to do when support ends and finding a solution when servers go offline. “We don’t want people to buy the game, and [then we] quit, and it’s over for them. We don’t expect to shut down the service for now. But we are already working on it. We have our solution for now, but maybe people will have an idea about it, and we will look at these. I think it’s something [we can] create with the community.”

Seasons vs. DLC

Test Drive Unlimited 2 launched at a time when live service wasn’t really a thing and, as such, offered one paid DLC (which became unavailable after servers went offline, ironically enough). By comparison, Solar Crown will take a seasonal approach. Rankings are seemingly reset each season, with players grinding to reach the Solar Court again.

#10. TEST DRIVE UNLIMITED 2

Test Drive Unlimited 2 may not have been the perfect game by any stretch of the imagination, with everything from its inconsistent world design and forgettable and threadbare attempts at telling a story to the bevy of technical issues the game launched with dragging the experience down in some pretty significant ways. But there’s a lot of fun to be found here nonetheless. Large chunks of its open world are absolutely gorgeous, and as such, a joy to simply drive around in, while there’s also no shortage of excellent racing events and activities scattered throughout all of that real estate. Sure, you have to cut through some less-than-stellar stuff to get to the good stuff, but when you do get to it, it’s really, really good.

Eden has announced that TDU will finally get bikes. It’s been a year since they promised and it’s finally here. The new DLC update will feature new cars and bikes, and the bikes are: Harley Davidson and two Ducatti models.

There are also some cars that will be available in the new DLC, namely: Ferrari F40, Mercedes-Benz SL65, Dodge Viper, Ferrari 250 GTO and a Corvette ZR1.

You can check out the features below:

3 Bikes

• Ducati Desmosedici RR (mA1)

• Ducati Diavel Carbon (mA1)

• Harley Davidson Fatboy Lo (mA2)

New Spots

• 1 new Bike Dealer

• Update The Community Racing Center (C.R.C.) spot

• Clothes Shop for Brands

6 Cars

• Corvette ZR1

• F599XX

• Dodge Viper SRT10 ACR

• Ferrari 250 GTO

• Ferrari F40

• Mercedes-Benz SL65 AMG Black Series

Items

New sets of Clothes

• Fashion

• High Life

• StreetsWear

• Sportswear

• Atari

• Privilege

• Pacha

14 Sets of Furniture

• Pop-balls

• Videogames

• Barroco

• Tetramino

• Carmania

• Yacht

• Etnik

• Vintage

• Tortilla

• Ossikle

• Waive

• Travel

• Origami

• Flower Power

Enhancements:

• Player could change vehicles position in house/garage

• Map: Instant Island change

• Headlight Control

• Session management

• Tuning update

• Force Feedback – Enhanced Force Feedback Management

• Support Thrustmaster Wheels

• Support D-Box Device

Source

Not the most visually-stunning, but a solid game experience.

“Unlimited” is a big claim to live up to. The lawyers of the world are no doubt getting the litigation-twitch after the revelation that, actually, Test Drive is not “unlimited” at all. However, when there are this many challenges, side missions, vehicles, things to buy, items to find, some 3000km of roads to explore and, no doubt, hours of downloadable extras yet to come, you can forgive a certain amount of hyperbole.

After the cult success of Test Drive Unlimited, the makers discovered that what people liked most about the game was its level of interactivity – the fact that it became an online social hub, where friends could hook up irrespective of real geography, go for a “drive”, listen to some music and have a chat. That aspect is here and has been tweaked to the nth degree: this time you can set up race clubs, compete in group challenges and hang out at each others’ virtual apartments – all of which adds many hours to an already deeply-involved game.

Sexy Cars in Sexy Locales… What more do you need?

That takes care of the 14-year-olds looking for a Facebook alternative, but what about the rest of us? Well, from a solo perspective there’s much to recommend TDU2. At the start of the game – after a dream sequence that gives you a little taste of the vehicles to come – you’re an Ibiza-based car valet with a dream and a bit of driving ability who gets a shot at the “big time” – a series of race events called Solar Crown. This throws you into various road races, time trials, speed tests – where you have to maintain a minimum speed for as long as possible to rack up points – and assorted other challenges.

There is a storyline for the player to follow. To progress through the game, the player has to earn experience points to level up through the 60 levels. These points can be earned via 4 categories:

• Competition (racing, completing challenges)
• Social (making friends in the game, race against other people, joining clubs)
• Discovery (discover all roads, take photographs of specific locations, find all car wrecks)
• Collection (buy cars, houses, furniture, clothing/basic needs)

Win those, collect cash, buy new cars, enter the next race… you know the drill. Here though there’s considerable variation, where you can ignore challenges and just cruise the island, discovering new shops, real estate agents, car dealerships, car washes, etc. Plus, in order to enter the next class of race, you’ll first need to perfect some new skills and obtain the relevant licence. And once you’ve finished Ibiza and have earned enough money to buy a yacht you can sail to Hawaii and start a whole new island full of challenges.

According to Eden Games there are 3000+ miles of driveable on-road and off-road routes

There are also an extra 10 Levels available to those who acquire the Casino Online DLC/Pre-order Bonus, these levels are achieved within the casino itself.

The player can earn extra money depending with how the player drives. Driving like a daredevil and performing stunts, drifting through turns at high speeds and evading crashes and the traffic will earn the player extra cash. Exploring the island lets the player find vehicle wrecks which will unlock exclusive vehicles at the dealerships on the island. The player can also walk out of the car in vehicle shops,player houses, clubs and the optional casino DLC.

Eden have “spent years” working on the physics model for TDU2 to give each car its own handling. Dynamic effects like weather, lighting and dirt/cosmetic damage have also been overhauled.

The player’s avatar can be altered by changing hair, clothes, physical appearance and their attitude and facial features, and they can also buy houses. Co-op will also make an appearance in the game including a Follow-the-Leader mode. In this mode, players will have to complete a route by driving through checkpoints. When a checkpoint is passed by the leader, the game promotes one of the other drivers as leader. Working together properly is made even more important as only the leader can see the route on his GPS display

Graphically, TDU2 isn’t the most elaborate thing you’ll ever see; the hardcore driving gamer will find it childish and unrealistic and yes, the car-handling isn’t as crisp and researched as, say, GT5. You’ll also probably find the odd glitch in animation and environment (particularly if you head off road) but in terms of depth of play and regular jaw-dropping moments (sunrise or a thunderstorm for example) this is a game that will keep you occupied for weeks. Thanks to three skill settings, it’s instantly accessible whatever your experience level, features tons of little touches for the completist and isn’t shy on humour either.

Now with Social Network connectivity, if that floats your boat.

I was particularly taken with the stoner who pays you just to drive fast and the way any changes you make to the look of your avatar require: a) the discovery of a plastic surgeon; b) a visit to said plastic surgeon; and c) an hour of post-op recovery during which your avatar will be wearing bandages. I think this game is great, but suffered from a low-key launch (I didn’t know a sequel had been made until it dropped through my door) and could really do with more exposure. The addition of Ibiza as a driveable location and the overhaul of Hawai’i means even if you bought TDU there’s no excuse for not buying this game too.

This game was reviewed on the Xbox 360.

A Test Drive Unlimited 2 event was held at private racing track Pete’s Ridge in Australia and an attending pro driver criticised the handling in the game for being unrealistic. John Boston told Gamespot that “I’ve been thrown into a couple of simulators over the time, but they’re still all very different to a car,” he said. “There’s no doubt about it. Just with the way they behave – especially with the steering side. You really can’t feel the weight distribution.”

He added that “I’ve found a lot of people that play games, they come and drive cars and they find it extremely different. [The hand-eye co-ordination] is a bonus, but it’s just the controls and everything are just a little bit different. One of the main things is just the sudden change of direction,” he explained. “like if you change the direction too suddenly in the game the car might slide, but normally it’s not sliding as much as what a real car would. People aren’t smooth enough when they get into a real life car.”

Despite this the driver did concede that “certainly improving, every day.”

Enjoy the full interview posted above.

Thanks to Gamespot for the info and footage.

The footage is all in german on account of it coming from http://www.gameswelt.de/ who are (if you haven’t guessed yet) german. So thanks to them for the footage, and to PriditProductions for the youtube upload.

Um ok, I thought Test Drive Unlimited was a racing franchise but oh well.  According to this trailer, Test Drive Unlimited 2 will have Day 1 DLC where you can gamble in a Casino to chance your luck on winning some of those sweet rides.  I’m not sure if you have to pay for this DLC, but I would presume you don’t, at least if you purchased the game new, to follow trends.  You can play Poker, Roulette, and Slots to unlock exclusive cars, meet new friends, and get access to a VIP area that only for the top players.  The game comes out early 2011 for the Xbox 360, Playstation 3 and PC while rumored for release on other platforms.

The first half of the trailer shows off the car itself, while the rest of the trailer actually shows some gameplay footage of the Ferrari in action.

Watch the trailer below, and enjoy the relaxing music too!

Update: This video is no longer available.

Atari along with developer Eden Games, announced that the initial phase of its closed beta testing has begun and an elite group of dedicated beta testers have been chosen to help ensure Test Drive Unlimited 2 delivers the ultimate blend of exhilaration, open-world racing and luxurious, fast-lane lifestyle living. Test Drive Unlimited 2 will make its way onto European retail shelves in Q1 2011.

With TDU2’s patented Massively Open Online Racing system, closed beta testers will be immersed with day/night cycles, changing weather and automatic updates of new content. As they help shape a revolution in multiplayer racing communities, players will compete, team up, and share their achievements and creations online.

Test Drive Unlimited 2 puts some of the world’s most desirable vehicles in the player’s hands. These are flawlessly replicated and finely tuned with Eden’s world-class driving technology and performance dynamics. Players define their online persona through the customization of their vehicles, and the acquisition of property, clothing and all the accoutrements of a luxurious car-based lifestyle. The challenge comes to life with the most expansive and comprehensive multiplayer offering of any driving game, on console as well as PC. All-new race types, vehicle classes, environmental challenges, locations and much more push this epic franchise to new levels of performance and luxury. The game’s soundtrack will feature music from some of the world’s hottest dance, alternative and indie rock acts, led by world famous DJ Paul Oakenfold, to make the Test Drive Unlimited 2 experience endemic to the Ibiza lifestyle.

In addition to racing and customising your character, players can participate in one of the largest and most comprehensive social multiplayer driving experiences through the creation of clubs comprised of friend networks that players build along the way.

Closed beta testers have been selected based on their knowledge of the racing genre, passion for video games, and gaming system requirements. The closed beta testing phase is based on the PC version of the game. Atari is still reviewing and confirming users’ eligibility and will invite more testers to this elite group via email with a download location and instructions for the closed beta client. All closed beta testers must agree to a non-disclosure agreement and complete the full beta application process online.

According to Atari’s messages, Atari says that “This dedicated group will be selected based on their knowledge of the genre, passion for video games, and ability to effectively test the evolving ‘beta’ stage software in use,”

“Many will apply, few will be accepted.” they added.

Anyone can try and apply to the beta, all you have to do is click here, sign up, do your best and then cross your fingers!