Test Drive Unlimited Solar Crown Review – Join the Crew

The Test Drive Unlimited duology’s mix of virtual tourism, arcade racing, and open world exploration endeared it to a sizeable crowd over a decade ago, but in spite of its obvious popularity, it has spent what feels like an eternity in a deep slumber. Now, thirteen years on from the series’ last instalment’s release, it’s coming back into the limelight with Test Drive Unlimited Solar Crown. But with the likes of Forza Horizon and The Crew having delivered similar experiences to what the Test Drive Unlimited games were known for, and doing so much better than they ever did (at least in Forza Horizon’s case), just how successful of a revival of the franchise is Solar Crown? Does it capitulate under the pressure of bringing the series back from the dead while also competing against heavyweight peers, or does it flourish under it and race through the finish line with speed and style?

The answer, as ever, is somewhere in between those two extremes, though if you were to press me for a more concrete response, I’d say the game is much more of a success than it isn’t. It certainly can be a bit rough around the edges, both technically and in terms of its mechanics and balancing, which means it doesn’t ever quite hit the heights that some of its aforementioned competitors have scaled over the course of the last few years, but it’s still a largely enjoyable racing experience with a well designed open world map that’s also always a great joy to simply cruise through, even if you’re not participating in an actual race or event.

"Test Drive Unlimited Solar Crown is a largely enjoyable racing experience with a well designed open world map that’s also always a great joy to simply cruise through."

It shouldn’t surprise you to learn that Test Drive Unlimited Solar Crown’s biggest strength is its setting, which is touted by developer KT Racing as a 1:1 (or near 1:1, at the very least) recreation of Hong Kong island. The virtual tourism aspect is often a crucial part of similar open world racers that transport players to real-world locations (or, alternatively, those inspired by them), and just like the previous two Test Drive Unlimited games did back in their time, Solar Crown succeeds in that particular area with flying colours. From the dense urban jungle of the city itself to the actual jungles surrounding it, from rolling hills and massive highways to beaches and more, Solar Crown’s open world Hong Kong is full of gorgeous vistas to witness, and exploring it and simply taking in the sights always remains fun.

It doesn’t quite capture the festival vibe of similar open world racers – the Solar Crown competition doesn’t quite feel as much of an all-consuming festive thing for the game’s recreation of Hong Kong as, say, simply existing in Mexico did in Forza Horizon 5 – but it does a really good job of transporting players to the gorgeous, dense, neon-lit city. On top of that, the addition of the two different clans – the Streets and the Sharps – also contributes to the game’s aesthetic quite a bit, with each clan bringing their own brand of style and luxury, something that the game focuses on heavily. If nothing else, that helps the game craft an identity for itself that feels entirely its own, not something that it’s borrowed from a competitor.

But though the game’s map is clearly a sight to behold, in terms of the actual driving gameplay, Test Drive Unlimited Solar Crown can be occasionally frustrating. For the most part, cars feel good to drive, though some rough spots make it a somewhat uneven experience at times- like collisions with even the smallest destructible objects causing what seem like disproportionate decrease in speed, or the handling being a bit too stiff with a sizeable portion of the cars in the game, which can also take some getting used to. The latter in particular can be a nuisance, especially in races that require a lot of sharp turning.

"In terms of the actual driving gameplay, Test Drive Unlimited Solar Crown can be occasionally frustrating."

Meanwhile, Solar Crown’s online-only nature also means that some of the convenient features you’d otherwise expect to see in a racing game are not present here, from something as simple as being able to pause mid-race to even something like having a rewind option for someone who needs it- which means restarting the race from scratch is often your only recourse if things go poorly, which is made yet more inconvenient by the fact that races require you to abandon them and then start them again rather than simply having a restart option (other than in the tutorial, which is completely single-player), with the only alternative being to select the restart option provided at the very end of every race. I understand that, as effectively a racing MMO, Test Drive Unlimited Solar Crown requires a persistent internet connection, but it’s not like other similar shared world racers haven’t had solo options for those who want them, so it’s disappointing that the same isn’t the case here.

Coming to the actual races and events that it has on offer, however, there’s a lot to like about Solar Crown. There’s a lot of familiar stuff on offer here, from regular races and time attack events to speed traps and what have you, as well as other activities that the game throws in to add its own flavour, including meetup spots where you can meet up with other players, wrecks to seek out to unlock classic cars, workshops and dealerships to upgrade and purchase new cars, and more. Domination races in particular are a lot of fun, with the goal being to pass through checkpoint gates ahead of as many competitors as you can, with each gate providing you points based on your position, and the racer with the highest points total at the finish line winning the event. There’s also the Solar Hotel, a towering skyscraper that serves as the central hub for the Solar Crown competition, where players can walk around in first person outside of their cars (which is true of dealerships and workshops as well). There’s a lot to do in Test Drive Unlimited Solar Crown’s Hong Kong, and a lot of it tends to be quite enjoyable.

Progression is another area where the game mostly gets things right. XP takes the form of rep in Solar Crown, with reputation level increases bringing with them not only new events and races to take on, but also new parts to purchase and equip for your cars, both performance-related and cosmetic. It’s a simple system executed in straightforward fashion, and the end result is the game doing a solid job of keeping players motivated to keep increasing their reputation. It also helps that as you upgrade your cars (or buy better ones), you can often very tangibly feel the improvements in the way they drive or handle, which means the rewards for increasing your reputation almost always feel meaningful.

At the same time, it has to be said that progression is a bit slow in Solar Crown. The open world virtual tourism racer genre is one that encourages players to play at their own pace, enjoy the vibe of the setting, and not worry too much about having to progress in a very specific way. In Solar Crown, thanks to the slow progression, there are times where it feels like there aren’t enough events available to have all the points you need to the next required level for the unlocks you’ve got your eye on, which means you can be stuck replaying races (which, thankfully, does increase your rep). This is an even bigger problem in the early hours of the game, where there are even fewer activities on offer.

"In the state that it exists right now, Test Drive Unlimited Solar Crown is still a good game, if not necessarily a great one."

Test Drive Unlimited Solar Crown also stumbles somewhat with its technical aspects. Though it is obviously a good looking game – as I mentioned while discussing the many gorgeous sights and sounds of Hong Kong – from a purely technical standpoint, it’s a bit rough around the edges. I’ve experienced prominent issues with murky draw distances, texture pop in, and the occasional minor visual or animation glitch, especially when it’s human characters being shown on screen rather than cars (which does happen from time to time, both in cutscenes and during gameplay). The game also suffers from performance issues, even on the 60 FPS Performance Mode, which is what I’ve stuck with for the most part. I’ve encountered significant and noticeable frame rate drops during a number of races, which is the last thing you want in a game such as this one- not only a racer, but an always-online racer. Hopefully KT Racing will be applying several layers of polish to the game in the coming months.

As it stands right now, Test Drive Unlimited Solar Crown is still a solid game. It’s clearly not in the upper echelons of the genre – which, to be fair, may be an unreasonable expectation to begin with – but for fans of similar games who are looking for another open world virtual city that’s a pleasure to simply exist and cruise around in, there’s plenty to like here. There will likely be plenty of disagreements on whether or not it is worth the 13-year wait, but there can be no doubting that on its own merits, Test Drive Unlimited Solar Crown is a genuinely enjoyable, if noticeably rough, open world racer.

This game was reviewed on the PlayStation 5.