Test Drive Unlimited: Solar Crown Shows Its Hand on PS5, PS4

High life

by Sammy Barker Wed 21st Apr 2021

Go on, then: who remembers Test Drive Unlimited? This was a unique racing franchise because it fused vehicular mayhem with social lifestyle elements. For example, in Test Drive Unlimited 2 on the PlayStation 3, you could visit a casino to play poker and even buy your own house to hang out in. It was all a bit PlayStation Home!

Now a new trailer for Test Drive Unlimited: Solar Crown has been released, although it’s purely a pre-rendered cinematic for the PS5 and PS4 racer. Once again, there’s a heavy focus on casinos, so we’re expecting the same mixture of racing and lifestyle simulator as its predecessors – even if it is Nacon and newcomer KT Racing behind the wheel this time.

The video features both the Aston Martin DB11 and the Range Rover SVR, although there are keyfobs for various other brands, like Ferrari and Porsche. Interestingly, it looks like you may be able to bet on cars during poker matches, as one of the pivotal scenes in the trailer shows a keyfob tossed among some poker chips.

More information will be revealed in July, but we’re mildly interested in this, we must admit. We always liked Test Drive Unlimited conceptually, but it never came close to realising its potential on PS3. The added horsepower of PS5 and PS4 should help it to better achieve its ambitions, we think.

[source youtube.com]

As the Editor of Push Square, Sammy has over 15 years of experience analysing the world of PlayStation, from PS3 through PS5 and everything in between. He’s an expert on PS Studios and industry matters, as well as sports games and simulators. He also enjoys RPGs when he has the time to dedicate to them, and is a bit of a gacha whale.

1
hypnotoad
Wed 21st Apr 2021

My Ford Focus (1.6L) would piss those 2.

2
ArthurDent42
Wed 21st Apr 2021

Really need a good open world racer

3
ThePizzaMule
Wed 21st Apr 2021

Oh god please don't suck. I absolutely loved TDU and TDU2 was good as well. We really need a good open-world-garage-building-car-guy game right now.
Honestly, any good racing game would do, they have been few and far between in the recent years

4
Shigurui
Wed 21st Apr 2021

Loved the TDU games back in the day even though they were a bit rough around the edges, hopefully this turns out well.

5
nessisonett
Wed 21st Apr 2021

A really really odd franchise but an interesting one. Hopefully this turns out well.

6
Northern_munkey
Wed 21st Apr 2021

Back when i had an xbox 360 (shhhhudder)..i had test drive unlimited and i loved it..the red ring of depression sank in and i moved to the ps3 and bought tdu2 and i hated every square mile of that game..was it a bad game? In concept no but in execution it was atrocious and bug ridden so i really hope this ones better..

7
ApostateMage
Wed 21st Apr 2021

Looking forward to buying a brand new expensive motor from the car dealer and then crashing it on the way out because of TDU's twitchy handling.

8
TVRFLY
Thu 22nd Apr 2021

Have a lot of JDM's and American Muscles this time

9
djdizzy
Thu 22nd Apr 2021

Test Drive, man that’s some nostalgic throwback. I didn’t know they still made this series and I got to say, I’m intrigued. I can’t wait to see gameplay and read reviews to see how the cars feel. I don’t know about “life simulator” though as I’m unfamiliar with the Unlimited series.

In fact I haven’t played a Test Drive game since Test Drive 5 (PS1, 1998), it was an awesome standout racer for the time. I grew up playing Test Drive II: The Duel (Amstrad, 1989) which was very rough but somewhat impressive in a way for the time.