Test Drive Unlimited 2

Test Drive Unlimited 2 is scheduled to launch this fall for the Xbox 360, PS3 and PC. And according to the developers, there's plenty more to come.

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jjaisli

So long as you come with the right clothes.

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Duffers917K

Still hoping for a hardcore mode to be announced...

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RacerPaul

as in you get to take the woman in the orange bikini below deck on your yacht, and get jiggy with her? 🤬

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Test Drive Unlimited 2 is scheduled to launch this fall for the Xbox 360, PS3 and PC. And according to the developers, there's plenty more to come.

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Duffers917K

Still hoping for a hardcore mode to be announced...

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RacerPaul

as in you get to take the woman in the orange bikini below deck on your yacht, and get jiggy with her? 🤬

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Legendary

Yes, I am hoping so too!




Can someone tell me what month "fall" is in, or months. Call me an idiot but I have no idea.

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Starts in mid-September and ends in early December.

Idiot.

I'm kidding.

SuperShouden

I just read in a thread in the official TDU2 forums that TDU1's Island of Oahu will be unlockable in TDU2 (with various upgrades for day/night cycle, dynamic weather, and off-road. It'll also feature revamped missions). I don't know where this guy heard this, but apparently, you'll be able to use the Airports to journey between islands. I think it'd be cool, but I would suspect, at least for the 360 version, Oahu would be a feature that'd you'd have to download, or the game will be on 2 discs for the 360 and one for the PS3.

Either way, with 3000+miles of roads between the islands, I think it'll be a while before anyone completes this game.

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Legendary

....first you make that duplicate thread, and now this....

Read the last one or two pages, you will see it has been CONFIRMED that there will be two islands.

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McLaren

Why do you think I linked to every update in the first post?

If you're too lazy to search 10 pages, why should we bother telling you?

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dave_sz

What is the deal with the random, pointless spin outs in the video? Do they like yanking the e-brake that much?
Any driving game that throws in houses and yachts just feels like they're throwing in filler to increase content.
I stopped playing NBA games when they started doing that. Need for speed games got boring when they started introducing the style ratings or whatever it's called.
I'm still getting this for the 360 but my expectations are low.

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SuperShouden

you know, for an Aussie, you're pretty rude.

I'm not going to run through all bazillion pages looking for crap. If it's not on the first page or the last, it's likely not many people are going to read it.

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SuperShouden

you know, for an Aussie, you're pretty rude.

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I'm not going to run through all bazillion pages looking for crap. If it's not on the first page or the last, it's likely not many people are going to read it.

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mafia_boy

I thought I'd interject myself here for a second.



Dude, I hate to tell you, but he's nowhere as rude as some other Aussies can be (like myself for example). He's actually one of our more polite Aussies so if you have his hackals up, there's something up.



No, just some people are a bit more patient to take the time to READ THE WHOLE THREAD than yourself it seems.

I'd hate for you to try and read the GT5 General discussion thread, you'd have a brain hemorrhage after an hour.

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SuperShouden

Yes...some people do have enough time to read through all 12 pages of thread and all 50+ pages of the GT5 thread. And yes, obviously, I'm not one of those people. I'm sorry if I posted already known information, but, seriously, do you guys really have to jump down my throat about it first thing?

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SuperShouden

Gamespot posted their First-look at the game and mention that they'll be 208 cars.



Yes...some people do have enough time to read through all 12 pages of thread and all 50+ pages of the GT5 thread. And yes, obviously, I'm not one of those people. I'm sorry if I posted already known information, but, seriously, do you guys really have to jump down my throat about it first thing?

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SuperShouden

Last thing I'm going to say on this thread: All I had an issue with was how he responded to my minor mistakes. It's not like I'm the ONLY person in this thread to post dublicate threads and information that's already posted. I don't understand why he had to be so rude.

I'm sorry for posting stuff that's already there. I made a mistake. I'm human. Sue me already.

Man, from the sound of it, you're all Xbox junkies. I can always tell, 'cause XJ's always whine a lot.

Even if I were to sit down with the game and had the entire car list before anyone else, I wouldn't tell you guys. Because I know there'd be a lot of "No way! that car isn't in there." and "You're full of crap!" and a lot of whining. This is the reason Bungie stopped checking their own forums.

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This racing sequel includes some of the greatest pleasures in life: a beautiful island paradise, breathtaking sunsets, luxurious beach homes, and sexy cars.

The original Test Drive Unlimited was a massive, open, online racing game that let you cruise around the magnificent island of O'ahu and challenge other players at a whim through its seamless online integration. The goal of the game was to earn money to purchase the most luxurious (and expensive) cars in the world, and the sequel's premise pretty much follows the same idea. However, this time, the game has a new narrative and you start off on the gorgeous Mediterranean island of Ibiza. We sat in on an hour-long demo of Test Drive Unlimited 2 with senior producer Nour Polloni, who went over several new features as we drooled over the sweet cars that will likely only exist for us in a virtual world.

Polloni began the presentation by highlighting some of the key features of Test Drive Unlimited 2. You can now progress through the game through four different means: competition, social, discovery or collection. The social aspect of the game seems to be a huge focus this time around. Like other massive online games, you can now form a club (similar to a guild or clan), as well as work with others to earn money and build up your reputation. By being active in a club and making friends, you'll increase your social level, which will also go toward raising your global progression. Taking on challenges or creating them will increase your competition level. Now, you'll also be rewarded for wandering off the beaten path, as well as exploring every nook and cranny of the 380-square-km. island. Like a treasure hunt, if you come across car wrecks, you can salvage them and build your own car that won't be available to a dealer anywhere. It looks like regardless of what you decide to do with your time, you'll earn some kind of reward and be continuously working toward your raising your level.

To enhance your experience of admiring or shopping for a car, you can wander around garages, lobbies, and dealerships with your customizable avatar. Instead of navigating through menus, you can now sit and chat with friends in a car at the dealership as you debate the vehicle's features or pick the colors from the car manufacturer's catalog. The shimmer of metallic paint was noticeable as we walked around a bright blue Audi TT RS and were told that the definition in the modeling had been increased. For example, you can see all the minute details, from more refined lines down to the texture of the leather and the stitching within the car. For now, we're only able to reveal the cars that will be in the game, including: Gumpert Apollo Sport, Dodge Viper SRT10, Dodge Charger SRT8, Aston Martin DBS, Ford Mustang GT, Koenigsegg CCXR Edition, and the Audi TT RS Roadster. There were several other high-end cars that we got a chance to look at, but the developers are saving that information for another time.

Based on community feedback, the developers added a day-night cycle so that you can cruise around at night or sit back in your convertible and watch the sunrise from the coast. The cycle takes two-and-a-half hours, so that if you play at the same time every day, you'll be experiencing a different time of day in the game. The developers drove the TT out along the deserted but sandy beach while the waves lapped calmly along the shore and just sat back to admire the golden glow of the sky as the sun dipped beneath the horizon. Now, if only all of this were real. Snapping us back to reality, we zoomed out to view the island from a satellite view and saw that the surrounding sea has been reworked. You can now see the coral reefs and sea depth, as well as the varied landscape that exists on Ibiza. The weather can also change, so it's one thing to be cruising with the top down on a sunny day; it'll be a little more difficult having to navigate through a thunderstorm. Now that vehicle damage has been added, it'll cost money to fix the cosmetic wounds, so tearing across the fields in your Gumpert Apollo may not be such a good idea.

There is 930 km. of road, and 310 km. of it are off-road trails that are indicated by yellow lines when you zoom out of your map, which could take you about 20 hours if you wanted to drive over all of it. We were told that there will be 4x4 cars to handle this kind of terrain, so if you want to go wild with the drifting and skidding, you'll earn money for showing off your skills--just try not to hit anything. Minor damage will show in the form of scratches and can reach a point where the body parts loosen up. All of this is just for looks however, so it won't affect your driving (just your wallet). Dirt will get on your car if you spend a lot of time in the backcountry, but you can always wait for the weather to change to get a free car wash.

Launching an instant challenge is faster now, and there are dozens of multiplayer challenges that we saw on the map, but we weren't given any details about them. You can still create your own challenge with the editor, choose the type of race that you want, mark off your start/finish line, and then drive the challenge to give it a reference time to beat. Your challenge is posted to the gambling hall where other players can pay the fee you set and try to earn your reward. Other online players will drop in or drop out of your game, and you can filter the kinds of drivers you want to see. For example, you can choose just to have your friends or Aston Martin owners. Your avatar isn't the only thing that represents your personality online. To show how tacky you can really be, you can swing by the sticker and car paint shop to customize your vehicle by slapping on as many decals or layers of paint as you like.

To give players a sense of community, you can create or join a racing club where everyone will band together to try to build the reputation of that club and earn money (or donate) for upgrades. The president is responsible for managing the club, but responsibilities can be assigned to other members. You can challenge other clubs, as well as take on internal challenges between members. While you wait on the street for your competitors to show up, you can walk around and chat with your opponents in the virtual lobby instead of waiting on a menu screen. There are three upgrades to a club, which will give you and up to 32 members access to exclusive cars (like the Gumbert), as well as swanky club houses. Only one member can drive the club-exclusive car at any given time, so if you see one on the road, you'll know that the member is part of a club that has earned one of its upgrades. You can only be a part of one club at a time, so pick wisely.

The whole point of the game is to go from rags to riches, and in order to be able to collect all 208 cars, you need to have the space the house them. There are 100 different homes you can possess and many have breathtaking vistas or even a yacht. You can customize the furniture and tiling in your home, as well as invite friends over at any given moment. To see the stats and achievements of other players, each individual has a MyLife profile where you can take a photo of you avatar, as well as filter the achievements you want shown on your profile.

One of the last things we were shown was one of the game's cooperative modes. You can have a friend jump in a car with you and give you directions to his or her house. Your friend can bring up icons to direct you or be your GPS through voice chat. This allows the other player to just take the passenger seat and cruise around with you. We ended our demo by heading over to another player's yacht--the most expensive house you can buy--where we promptly changed into our bathing suits and jumped into the Jacuzzi. Details were vague, but we were told there were advantages to owning such a place and that it would offer "activities."

There was a lot that was shown in the course of an hour, as well as plenty of other features that have yet to be revealed, and we'd like to play the game for ourselves to see how everything handles. The game looks great so far and was running fairly smoothly for the most part. Another important aspect of the game has to do with the airport; as you progress through the game, you'll eventually gain access to the Ibiza airport. From there, you can then take a plane (and your car) to O'ahu and drive around that island all over again. The graphics have been redone and another 600 km. of asphalt, as well as off-road trails, have been added. There will also be new missions and side missions, so those who spent a lot of time with the first game should have enough reason to head back. Polloni stressed that Eden Games is paying close attention to the community feedback and there are already plans to have downloadable content. Motorcycles won't be available on day one, but they are something the developers intend to include.

The next time we'll see Test Drive Unlimited 2 will be at the Electronic Entertainment Expo, so be sure to stay tuned for more information as soon as it becomes available. The game is scheduled to be released this fall on the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and PC.

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It's been four years -- a.k.a. a long time -- since Eden Studios introduced "massively open online racing" with the original Test Drive Unlimited. The series returns this fall in the sequel, which is still MOOR but not just MOAR of the same.

Eden and publisher Atari gave me a peek at the work-in-progress racer yesterday, which was running on PC for demo purposes but at the same resolution and level of detail planned for the PS3 and Xbox 360 versions. It's already looking gorgeous -- the video above doesn't do it nearly enough justice -- but that's not what impressed me the most. So much as been expanded, tweaked and added to this sequel that I would have believed it if the developer had told me it'd been working on the game since 2006. It also seemed so finished that I couldn't believe we won't be playing it until near the end of this year.''

Before getting a look at the game in action, the developer gave me a rundown of what it is looking to accomplish with its "rags to riches" story mode / leveling system. In TDU2, winning races isn't the only means of increasing your driver level (which is joined by an elaborate "MyProfile," er, profile, complete with mood icons and photos you've snapped in-game). Instead, experience is doled out in categories including competitions, discovery percentage, collection completion and even socialization with other players.

This first look at the game world, its textures and extra-saturated colors was eye popping.
There's a level cap of 60 and at level 10 you're able to drive to the airport and hop a flight from Ibiza (the game's first location) to Hawaii (its second and the setting of the first TDU, which has been expanded with an additional 600 KM of asphalt and off-road trails). You'll eventually be able to put your winnings into buying the ultimate home -- a yacht -- which comes complete with a totally customizable interior a la PlayStation Home's personal spaces, a jacuzzi to invite friends into and ... the ability to dock it at either island.

Provided you have a constant PSN or XBL connection, single- and multiplayer are meant to blend seamlessly together, allowing you to create groups with other players that stay together until disbanded, moving as a group between races and even hangouts.

The game demo started out in a garage, which, in TDU2, is one of the places that can serve as a social hub. You can walk around in first person in these, inviting other players to join you in admiring your collection. The cars themselves look great, with detail to the nth degree -- outside and in. The car interiors I was shown were far and away the most impressive I've seen in a game, with details down to real-looking carpet, suede and hand--stitched leather. At any time, a friend hanging out in the garage could hop into the passenger seat of the same car to admire its craftsmanship, and even even stay in it as a "co-driver" (who can issue directional icons) if you decide to take it out for a spin.

For the next part of the demo, Eden hit the streets of Ibiza in a blue metallic fleck Audi, driving down to one of the many beach front villages to show off the day and night cycle (which is consistent for everyone playing online and lasts two-and-a-half hours), speeding up time in order to show me a fantastic sunset and the lights of the village turning on. This first look at the game world, its textures and extra-saturated colors was eye-popping. So was the incredible sense of speed.

Next up was some flat-out driving along a road further inland, as traffic zipped by and a sunny day quickly transitioned to pouring rain and lighting (again, sped up for the demo) with the developer commenting that the wet roads will affect the game's reworked, "immediately accessible" car handling. In fact, the demo driver lost control at one point, spinning out and scraping his car's passenger side -- I'm just going to assume it was planned in order to show off the full damage modeling, which I was told will begin with paint scratches and scrapes, and progress to losing entire body panels. However, it won't affect handling.

Clubs even have treasurer, who collect money from members to wager on challenges with other clubs, clubhouse improvements or buying rare cars.
Eden said it didn't want to penalize players for having fun, although I'd like to see an option to enable or disable it. The developer also said it found that players really liked just cruising the open world of the first game, so it's including "cruise chains," a small HUD that pops up as drifts, jumps and other "daring" feats are chained together, racking up money in the process. Hit something, though, and whatever's been earned during the chain is forfeited.

I got a quick look at another addition: off-road trails. In fact, while tearing down one, the driver came across an old wreck. This counted as a discovery, and I was told that if you find a certain number of each unique wreck, you can then buy that car, which isn't available for purchase in the game any other way. There are other special cars like this which can only be purchased once you've created a racing club with friends (complete with an upgradable clubhouse) and saved up to buy them. Clubs can have presidents and treasurers, the latter being responsible for collecting money from members to wager on challenges with other clubs, clubhouse improvements or buying said cars -- which include an ultra-rare Gumpert Apollo Sport. Then it's just a matter of everyone agreeing who gets to take it out when.

If all of this sounds like a lot ... it is. And it's not even including the challenge editor (create a route, race it to set a reference time, then post it for the world to race with in-game money going to whoever beats your time first). If it also seems like TDU2 sounds impressive, well, it is. That and fun-looking -- and done-looking.

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