Bigben Interactive Secures Rights to Test Drive Unlimited; New Game in the Works

Many racing games try too hard to make their stories 'epic' and like an action movie. No one plays driving games for the story.
Storylines in racing games should be background-only at most. One way I particularly liked it was in the Kaido/Shutoko battle/Tokyo Xtreme Racer series. Pretty much all the plot was optional little messageboard posts. Otherwise it was just a few sentences now and then telling you who to beat to progress in the story. If you didn't bother to go to that menu, it was simply racing and challenging drivers to unlock faster cars.
Something like that is a very good (and cheap) way of implementing story in a very gameplay-oriented genre.

If they do something like that rather than that ridiculous Solar Crown nonsense, it would be quite good.

Perhaps they could take a page out of the Midnight Club book in regards to starting as well. Having to buy a cheap older car to start off with (like a Civic Si or older Golf GTI, or a Miata or something). Racing in those smaller leagues and working up to the super cars and rare valuable classics.
 
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ULTRAVIOLENZZ
Coincidence that I'm about to install TDU2 on PC when I saw this. I've never played any Test Drive game and TDU2 is about to be my first. Is it really that bad and not worth to play?
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They're pretty decent games in my opinion, I played TDU 2 for quite a while before moving on and I remember liking it. It's a fun game for cruising around with friends and such, but it was a bit meh when all you want to do is to race because of the game's physics being kinda sketchy. It just didn't feel "right" for me, memories of driving in that game consisted of crashing into a tree because the car just snapped, or randomly spinning out of control because my car couldn't put its power down the road (I don't know, maybe I just suck at driving?).
 
I'm not expecting anything great but one can hope I guess. TDU1 was amazing and I think I spent more time driving around than actually progressing in the game, I loved the delivery challenges where you had to deliver a car insane distances without damaging it. TDU2 wasn't anywhere near as good, I tried rather hard to get into it but I just couldn't.
 
Don't get me wrong- Test Drive Unlimited 2 was a great game; it just could have been [a lot] better. Besides the racing and the physics, one of the more frustrating elements of the game is the exploration. The difference between you exploring 100% of a section could be you simply missing somebody's driveway or some outlet road. The exploration process could be more realistic and reasonable. I even thought the game plays with you when you can't jump off of the start on "Go." It's like some milliseconds pass before you can actually engage your car. I was even scared to make jumps with the car because of the wonky physics. I think TDU2 did great in that you explored the open road as well as off-road sections. This is where I got to enjoy driving with machines like the Audi Q7, that AMG Mercedes-Benz SUV, and my Ibiza Tour weapon- the Subaru Impreza WRX. When motorcycles finally found their way into TDU2, I surely snapped up that Ducati Desmosedici RR (one of my personal favorite motorcycles). I also sort of think it's better taking motorcycles around Ibiza than Oahu (Hawaii).

Test Drive Unlimited 2 was mostly disappointing. Just that a few elements could have made it last longer than what it really lasts for. I certainly would love not having to grind so much to take advantage of getting more houses and cars. In fact, I did next to no grinding to get a lot of the stuff I have in TDU2. It wasn't like I re-did any of the cups or championships just to earn more money. I could if I wanted to, but I didn't.

Only question I have is... what can be learned from TDU2 (and even the first TDU) that can be used to make TDU3 a great game with a longer shelf life than TDU2? And can TDU3 become the ultimate entry in this series?
 
Seems Test Drive is tied to the Unlimited games in most minds, but perhaps it's too quick to assume a new TDU since it's a small publisher. More people should remember Slightly Mad's Test Drive: Ferrari Racing Legends, they need to be held liable. :P
 
ULTRAVIOLENZZ
Coincidence that I'm about to install TDU2 on PC when I saw this. I've never played any Test Drive game and TDU2 is about to be my first. Is it really that bad and not worth to play?
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I thinks it's really fun, until you complete story mode

Although I would love to see a second version of Test Drive Eve of Destruction!!
 
Wow, that's some news.
I madly loved the first game, the music, the island and physics were great, and the car selection was one of the best by even today's standards(talking about all those sport sedans).
Even though TDU2 messed up in a lot of ways, like physics and the social aspect, I still played it just for the sake of cruising.
Won't get my hopes too high, but I just wish they wouldn't mess up this new entry, but we'll see.
 
KiroKai
Seems Test Drive is tied to the Unlimited games in most minds, but perhaps it's too quick to assume a new TDU since it's a small publisher. More people should remember Slightly Mad's Test Drive: Ferrari Racing Legends, they need to be held liable. :P
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Such a fun game let down by janky physics and idiotic AI.
 
It's about time for TDU to come back but with a developer that I'm not accustomed to.

On the side note Eden's mobile game Gear Club is doing well. Just hope Eden gets enough fund to get the TDU name back.

Last time TDU2 was great but the physics were bad especially once you start driving hypercars plus wheel support didn't work well for me but the cruising experience you get from TDU2 was still worth it.

The one thing I disliked about TDU2 is how they teased me with the new cars you see in dealers (Ferrari F40, Merc SL65 Black Series, Bugatti Veyron SS, etc). and then it tells you have to pay them in the PS Store, Microsoft, and even worse Atari tokens. And then once you buy them, you still need to buy them with in game cash and BTW, the new cars are expensive.

To this day, I'm still waiting for either Big Ben or Atari or whoever is still controlling TDU2 to update the game whereas the DLC cars can now be paid with in game cash without having to buy them with real cash.
 
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Thank you for mentioning "Gear Club," FilipinoGTUser1. I forgot the name of that game. I was kind of thinking of Gear Club as far as a TDU-style game, and I also wondered how that game was doing. Again- thanks.

One other thing to think about with whatever becomes of this Test Drive Unlimited 3 thing is the vehicles. There has been a wonderful balance of machines in the game. I think TDU1 had a great system and assortment of cars. You could buy cars new from dealers or go with renting cars. So if you had the money, you could access some of the better cars early on. Only thing is, you don't own them. I didn't really like TDU2's system for used cars. There was only one place you could get those low-priced machines, and then you had to go those places for when you found all of the Wrecks for a car. There should probably be more secondhand dealers and such to get some of the cars on the cheap. I will NOT complain about just how much control you have of viewing every possible element of each vehicle. It may not be like the Vista things in the Forza Motorsport series, but this is plenty awesome. Also (like in TDU2), you have to love a lady who wears a fancy dress and not get scared when you're test driving a car going 200+ mph or driving bonkers. :)

I would imagine many of the best modern sports cars and exotics will make up the general lineup of cars. A number of classics would be nice also. Should TDU3 feature off-roading, I surely want to see some capable off-road machines along with performance SUVs. Even something like a Meyers Manx would be cool. I want to also enjoy more motorcycles also. If TDU2 had some sport bikes and a cruiser, I would be open to ride a sport tourer (like the Ducati Multistrada) or luxury bikes (like the Honda Goldwing).


The options are out there. Just because you're a small developer or a not very big studio doesn't mean you are incapable of making games that can be amazing. Remember "Live for Speed?" All we need is just a few hints of what this publisher's visions are for TDU3 and how they plan to take on this project.
 
GT5Redsucker23
They're pretty decent games in my opinion, I played TDU 2 for quite a while before moving on and I remember liking it. It's a fun game for cruising around with friends and such, but it was a bit meh when all you want to do is to race because of the game's physics being kinda sketchy. It just didn't feel "right" for me, memories of driving in that game consisted of crashing into a tree because the car just snapped, or randomly spinning out of control because my car couldn't put its power down the road (I don't know, maybe I just suck at driving?).
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I don't know how you drive but it just happens that the major flaw of TDU2 is the Driving physics, IMO obviously.
 
I am beyond happy that TDU is coming back. I had TDU 1 for ps2 as one as my first video games and when i got a ps3 i made sure i had TDU2. Sadly my TDU2 disc broke last month and i have been reluctant to play any other open world game ever since.
 
Ex_Driver
Many racing games try too hard to make their stories 'epic' and like an action movie. No one plays driving games for the story.
Storylines in racing games should be background-only at most. One way I particularly liked it was in the Kaido/Shutoko battle/Tokyo Xtreme Racer series. Pretty much all the plot was optional little messageboard posts. Otherwise it was just a few sentences now and then telling you who to beat to progress in the story. If you didn't bother to go to that menu, it was simply racing and challenging drivers to unlock faster cars.
Something like that is a very good (and cheap) way of implementing story in a very gameplay-oriented genre.

If they do something like that rather than that ridiculous Solar Crown nonsense, it would be quite good.

Perhaps they could take a page out of the Midnight Club book in regards to starting as well. Having to buy a cheap older car to start off with (like a Civic Si or older Golf GTI, or a Miata or something). Racing in those smaller leagues and working up to the super cars and rare valuable classics.
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People forget Test Drive Overdrive has a story mode. In fact Overdrive has a good story into it IMO.

In Test Drive Overdrive you play as Dennis Black who eventually works for Donald Clarke/Clark as a temporary replacement for the "Test Drive" races which Black eventually becomes the no.1 racer. Eventually Black gets an opportunity to race against Vasily Raskolnikov for his Dodge Concept Viper GTS-R and Black eventually wins but then the true plan of Clark was revealed after Black wins Vasily's Viper. Clark's plan was to use Black just to get Vasily's Viper without Clark having to race him but eventually Black challenges Clark to a race in which if Black wins, he gets to keep the Viper but if Black loses, not only will Clark gets to keep the Viper but Black loses all of his cars that he won from the TD races (that includes Reese's Camaro, Skeeter's Chevelle, Lisa's Viper GTS, Hail's XJ220, Clark's Cobra 427, and more.).

 
Ex_Driver
The two problems with the past games were glitches and the physics. They sort that out and they've got a money printer on their hands. Think somewhere halfway between The Crew and Forza Motorsport. Simcade sort of stuff.

The next big question is where will it be located? Has to be somewhere fairly exotic, good driving roads, and small enough to be able to be 1:1 without being incredibly boring 90% of the time. I can only think of 4 places that really fit that description. Sicily, Isle of Man, Okinawa, and northern New Zealand.

Edit: the more I think about it, the more Okinawa makes sense. It's about 500 square miles or thereabouts. Just a little bit less than Oahu. But it's much denser in roads. It's mountainous, tropical, an extremely popular summer holiday destination. Good mix of city and wilderness. Due to American military influence most signage is in English. And they drive on the correct side of the road. It also gives the devs a reason to add more Japanese cars, something the prior two games severely lacked. It's pretty much Hawai‘i with teriyaki sauce on it.
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I really hope its Okinawa, its one of the places with most RX-cars, because its so close Australia and New Zealand. I totally agree with that it is a good location for TDU3.
 
Concerns over developers aside, I'm interested in seeing where this goes. The only first hand experience I've had with TDU1 was a short stay at a friends place, but I still find TDU2 enjoyable for just driving around. Getting the PC version during the sale and finding a thing called the Unofficial Patch probably helps, but we'll look over that.

What I hope for, assuming it'll actually be an Unlimited, is a game that's actually not too far from what I know the likes of The Crew, GTA V, Fuel, Far Cry and I imagine Forza Horizon and the various Truck Simulator games are and Need For Speed 2015 isn't: a game where you can have just as much fun driving around, enjoying the details the developers have put in the world and seeing the sights as you'll have when doing the actual events. GTA is, as is par for the course, full of little easter eggs (and great sunsets), The Crew had good map variety and Fuel/Far Cry has these interesting things and places in a world where every other place is basically identical that just invites you to explore them, not to mention the sights from high up places you can get in all of these games.

I don't always say this, but this is one game where, regardless if it's set on a real island or in a fictional mountain range, I'm begging for the graphical side to take my breath away, pun not quite intended. If they can somehow make that with a physics engine that makes sense and a good soundtrack (or just have the ability to use your own music), cue the "shut up and take my money."
 
from Kylotonn website
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http://www.kylotonngames.com/pages/games.php
 
GTPNewsWire
This is the discussion thread for a recent post on GTPlanet:
This article was published by Michael Leary (@Terronium-12) on December 16th, 2016 in the Gaming category.
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Damn yeah can't wait for another test drive unlimited, still play test drive one as well fantastic game.

Also anyone else remember test drive way back on p.c with a Lamborghini in centre on screen and it looked like road moved and not the car. I'm pretty sure it was called test drive.
Also hope Bigben do a great job of it. Very excited reading this.
 
The same dec that made **** games like Motorcycle Club and some random internet games? I have a very bad feeling about this.
 
Well, I wait with baited breath that this will be anything other than mediocre at best. Racing game development doesn't favour low budgets any more.
 
I kind of want to address when people expressed their concerns with a fairly small developer trying to work on Test Drive Unlimited 3. In my experience as a racing game fan, one word kind of makes me feel a bit skittish- "Eutechnyx." A lot of games I've played back then were mostly mediocre or not incredible if this developer makes it. My experience includes "Car and Driver Gran Tour Racing '98," the PS1 version of "Test Drive Le Mans," and the PS2 version of "Ferrari Challenge Trofeo Pirelli"- all made by Eutechnyx. I did enjoy all three titles, but they weren't top-level exciting. One developer can make all the difference.

Let's kind of flash back. Playing TDU1 on the PS2 was with Melbourne House and Eden Games. I know Melbourne House for the classic PS2 game "Le Mans 24 Hours." TDU2 was made by Eden Games. Eden Games went on to make Gear.Club for mobile devices. So Eden Games been around for both Test Drive Unlimited games, but not TDU3. Who knows what this different developer will do to add to the Test Drive Unlimited series? This is like a business under new management. Can you trust that the new management will keep a successful thing going or try to improve a failing or struggling thing? To me, TDU2 left too many things to be desired. I am usually a positive thinker. I want whatever vision(s) for Test Drive Unlimited to be executed fully and remain incredible and memorable. Let's look at TDU- racing. Owning homes. Collecting vehicles. Getting clothes. Cruising. I probably wish you could grind better, but there is nothing wrong with what TDU is trying to accomplish. TDU2 just seemed flat and lifeless.

Having said all of this, I am as curious as anyone else as to how TDU3 will be like. We'll have to look at how this game slowly develops to find out if this will be a greater experience than any TDU past. Since we have three or more titles, we now will have the opportunity to gauge a game like this as a possible superlative. You need three or more of something to note it as the best or the worst. Test Drive Unlimited 3 will be the best if it learns from TDU1 and TDU2 to make TDU3 the greatest in the series. So stay tuned to see how this game is developed and how it plays itself out.
 
Sorry I have been gone from the forums for the last week, I took the week off from the internet in general, spent lots of time with my family and kind of just relaxed a bit in general. I meant to post this awhile back, I have been doing some research on the team behind the development of TDU3 because there seems to be some legitimate concern about this game not being developed by Eden Games.

What I found out was far more comforting than I anticipated! Did you know that Alain Jarniou now works for Bigben Interactive? Who is he you may ask? He was just the creative director on TDU and TDU2, you know, basically the next best thing to having Eden develop this game. This was the man who was a lead programmer and creative director on both games. He's been there and done that before and certainly knows what he is doing. Below is a blurb on Alain's past work

Alain Jarniou: the man behind two racing game legends!
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With a technical education in programming, Alain Jarniou began his career alongside
Frédéric Raynal at No Cliché as Game Programmer on Toy Commander. In 2001 he joined Eden Games and specialised in racing games, becoming Career Mode manager on V-Rally 3, a game many consider to have set the standard for rally games on PlayStation®2. In 2004, he joined the team in charge of the series Test Drive Unlimited, a blend of racing and MMO games which became the first racing MMO game on consoles, and was also creative director for Test Drive Unlimited 2. V-Rally 3, Test Drive Unlimited and Test Drive Unlimited 2 each reached the one million sales mark.
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Diego Sartori (formerly of Simbin) is also works at Bigben, he was the Producer on GTR 2, the Game Director on RACE- The Official WTCC Game and the creative director on Race 07 before he left to join Bigben Interactive to work on WRC 5 and now WRC 6. Below is a blurb on Diego's past work.


Diego Sartori: avid motor racing fan.
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As an automobile mechanic, Diego began professional life with Citroën in 1992. He then fully assembled a Citroën AX Sport Group A and took part in a few rally sprints in his native Denmark. In 1998, Jason Watt entrusted him with the preparation of his 1966 Ford Mustang for vintage races, in 2002 Jason Watt won the Danish Touring Car Championship with Diego working as a mechanic and driver assistant on his team. He entered the world of video games in 2004 when SimBin hired him to test GTR. From that
point on, Diego’s professionalism and technical expertise ensured rapid progress: he worked on GTR and GT Legends in 2005, Producer on GTR 2 and Game Director on RACE – The Official WTCC Game. In 2007, he became Creative Director at SimBin Studios working on RACE 07 and its expansion packs until 2011. He remained Creative Director and Management Group member at SimBin Studios until 2014, adding RaceRoom Racing Experience and DTM Experience to his portfolio. In 2014 the WRC 5 project caught his eye and he left SimBin to become Creative Director at Kylotonn.
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I don't think Bigben Interactive picking up the rights to the Test Drive series was random at all, this was very calculated and most likely pushed by Alain himself. Fear not skeptical ones, this game appears to be in very good hands.
 

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