A new trailer from Nacon has shown off some more of (hopefully) 2024’s Test Drive Unlimited Solar Crown, with races, tuning, and car personalization featuring in “The Racer”.
The clip, weighing in at almost three minutes in length, covers a lot of ground — literally and metaphorically — as it reveals some key game features and locations. As you might expect though, racing is the key to the trailer.
After a short opening sequence, we get to see some of the detail on how car tuning and the game’s livery editor will work — although it’s very much a case of “blink and you’ll miss it” even at 0.25x speed.
The Customization area is split into Performance and Cosmetic which cover precisely the areas you might think — with six areas of vehicle performance upgrades and three types of cosmetic parts alongside the livery editor.
You can select from Engine Kit (comprising Intake, Ignition, Valves & Camshaft, Pistons & Flywheel, and Exhaust), Suspension & Brake Kit (Suspension and, you guessed it, Brakes), Transmission Kit (Gearbox and Transmission), Aerodynamics Kit (Chassis and Aero), Tires, and ECU.
With the exception of some parts with specific designations, such as short/long/versatile gearboxes, off-road/all-road suspension, and off-road/semi-slick/slick tires, each part has five grades: stock, performance, sport, super sport, and race. They roughly correspond to common, uncommon, rare, epic, and legendary status — suggesting a likelihood of finding or receiving parts outside the shop.
Cosmetics gives you the chance to paint your car in a selection of what looks like 256 paint colors, in finishes like chrome, matte, metallic, pearlescent, satin, solid, and carbon, alongside manufacturer colors. You can also apply stickers from what appears to be a preset selection of shapes, with up to 500 per car.
The Cosmetic area also alloys the fitment of new wheels, window tints, and — intriguingly — entirely new interior trim colors…
You won’t need to know a great deal about vehicle tuning to get the most out of your cars, as TDUSC will allow you to create and use “presets”.
This allows for builds that adhere to certain driving modes, from off-road and trail, to sport and circuit, dynamic and relaxed road modes, or rain and cross-country. Each is rated by four metrics: acceleration power, top speed, braking, and handling.
Custom driving aids are also available, with presets for novice, intermediate, and expert — although note that you will earn fewer Solar Coins through races if you use more driving aids…
From there the trailer heads out onto the road and to a race track facility. That’s a little peculiar as the game is more or less a 1:1 recreation of Hong Kong island and there isn’t a permanent race track on the island.
However the name — “hippodrome” (literally “horse course”) — and the clear visibility of the 830ft Highcliff and 720ft The Summit towers (known as The Chopsticks) reveal that it’s almost certainly a repurposing of the famous Happy Valley horse track. It’s not like it’ll be used for horse racing, after all…
That leads into some racing, and there’s a whole range of different event types, from time attacks and sprint races to circuit challenges and a “domination” mode that awards the leading player at each checkpoint. Some of these events may be randomly selected to become Solar Crown “Hot Heads” and “High Stakes” races.
As well as the organized events we also see in the trailer a quick head-to-head “instant challenge”. This allows you to challenge (or be challenged by) players you find in free roam, with a random finish line. KT Racing also promises more race types will come, including some “popular ones from TDU2” after launch.
There’ll be a chance to experience this for yourself soon too, as Nacon has announced a third closed playtest event.
Any players who took part in either of the first two Playtests — the last of which involved some 5,000 players, according to Nacon — will be automatically invited to the third, although players can also register for it through the official game website.
At present the schedule is not known, but Nacon states it’s “in the coming weeks” and will be open to more players from more regions than before.
We don’t yet have a release date for Test Drive Unlimited Solar Crown, but last we heard it was on the schedule for February/March 2024.
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