Test Drive Unlimited Solar Crown Discussion Thread

[MSZ]

Looks nice but i prefer to still waiting to play this game. Maybe when they "finish" it and add the offline play mode.

I may buy the game one day when they drop the price to 5 bucks or less.

 

[VXR]

A mixed bag of feelings upon reinstalling this today.

Getting 1.6m credits from the Streets beating the Sharps was appreciated, but solar pass reward cars being locked to level 30 sucks.

But then I slipped on my headphones and just revelled in the audio, especially on the SLS and early Mustang. Proper, bold V8 sounds. Superb audio.

 

[sirjim73]

Some brief Season 5 demo vids have been uploaded re the graphics changes in season 5. Well, when I say sone I mean three...

PC:


PS5:

 

[fwyflyer]

I think it is long past time for the Devs to be honest...

For PC users: At a minimum, Devs/Alex VII need to put the specs of the PC in the video along with the video resolution and native frame rates. Without that data, the video is utterly worthless, if not entirely misleading.

For Console users: Devs probably need to specify the framerate(s) (30/60) as well.

 

[VXR]

Played this for the last week and finding it's clicked. I love the delivery missions and I also like discovering roads. Currently at level 32, making my way towards 40 so I can finally get a Ferrari. Sitting on 3.2m credits burning a hole in my pocket, but I've not found anything from Level 30 that's turned my head enough. We really should have had M5s and RS6s, cars of that level before we got to the supercar classes.

 

[sirjim73]

Played this for the last week and finding it's clicked. I love the delivery missions and I also like discovering roads. Currently at level 32, making my way towards 40 so I can finally get a Ferrari. Sitting on 3.2m credits burning a hole in my pocket, but I've not found anything from Level 30 that's turned my head enough. We really should have had M5s and RS6s, cars of that level before we got to the supercar classes.

Keep your cash! From memory, it's best to wait till level 35, as that unlocks Lamborghini and the Aventador SVJ is the best supercar to buy.

I was kind of the same experience as you. Around level 50 though you have finished unlocking the map and have to do more grinding to level up past that.

 

[JC_Dude]

I found I didn't have to grind a whole lot, aside from the clan level, but that was only for some trophies. No real reason to do it otherwise. I just enjoyed driving around the map, discovering new roads. I think I ended up driving on at least 95% of the roads without making much of an effort, which gave quite a lot of XP. Then at level 55 you unlock the crown jewel races and completing those with their corresponding challenges gets you a lot of money and XP.

 

[sirjim73]

Some gameplay of taxi missions has been uploaded. These actually look pretty good making use of the car functions (e.g. opening windows etc) which are not utilised in other modes:

 

[fwyflyer]

Regarding the Livestream of 10/23/25...

After wasting over an hour listening to them talk about nothing, I can summarize what we know as follows:

Season 5 begins 10/29
They worked really hard on Poker (but you can only play it with friends. No AI)
Payouts are better.
Taxi missions are here.
Real optimizations will come later. PS optimizations first. Then XBoix. Then PC. Team still analyzing the relevant issues. No plans to incorporate FSR 4.
Season 5 will be 5(yes, five) months long so they can focus on optimizations and bug fixes.
Houses will come later.
JDM comes in Season 7.
No navigation in cars because they are waiting on manufacturer's feedback.
Ibiza expansion is not a priority.
Region lock is very complicated and will take a lot of time.
Police are not a priority but could happen over the years.
No community liveries (but they are considering having users submit their own liveries to be voted on for use as a weekly reward, etc.)

TLDR: This stream represents a new low in Dev/Player communications.

 

[Johnny Caisse]

Police are not a priority but could happen over the years.

As long as it's optional...

 

[kartman21]

Regarding the Livestream of 10/23/25...

After wasting over an hour listening to them talk about nothing, I can summarize what we know as follows:

Season 5 begins 10/29
They worked really hard on Poker (but you can only play it with friends. No AI)
Payouts are better.
Taxi missions are here.
Real optimizations will come later. PS optimizations first. Then XBoix. Then PC. Team still analyzing the relevant issues. No plans to incorporate FSR 4.
Season 5 will be 5(yes, five) months long so they can focus on optimizations and bug fixes.
Houses will come later.
JDM comes in Season 7.
No navigation in cars because they are waiting on manufacturer's feedback.
Ibiza expansion is not a priority.
Region lock is very complicated and will take a lot of time.
Police are not a priority but could happen over the years.
No community liveries (but they are considering having users submit their own liveries to be voted on for use as a weekly reward, etc.)

TLDR: This stream represents a new low in Dev/Player communications.

I really like how they manage to skip the question around offline mode and ps5 pro optimisation, to sum it, yes 1 hour lost, I doubt the game survive till the house are finished...

 

[sirjim73]

They have uploaded the video detailing season 5, if anyone has issues with insomnia...


The comments are a little surprising - most are positive.

 

[MagpieRacer]

On sale on PSN for £17. Anyone give me any advice as to whether it's worth jumping into at that price? Have the updates made it worth a play through?

 

[JC_Dude]

I'd say so. it looks and runs not-great, the story is completely useless, but the driving and map are IMO great.

 

[BONDMINIS]

They have uploaded the video detailing season 5, if anyone has issues with insomnia...


The comments are a little surprising - most are positive.

Most of the comments are positive because the negative ones were left on the Live stream. The chat between the guys there lasted an hour, and they didn't say anything productive. Like the game, by the way.

 

[kartman21]

I think people have moved on, the game is out for one year and they are only starting to seriously fixing it, the game may have all the features it was supposed to have in another year, so not a big player base, only die hard fans and myself waiting patiently to have a enjoyement with this game I've payed full price on launch

So far, it's way better than what it was, but still broken in many area, for 10 euros you can get it, forget the story, upgrades, the most enjoyement you can get is just by exploring, cruising

 

[EngieDiesel]

I think people have moved on, the game is out for one year and they are only starting to seriously fixing it, the game may have all the features it was supposed to have in another year, so not a big player base, only die hard fans and myself waiting patiently to have a enjoyement with this game I've payed full price on launch

And when you consider the large expansions that Crew Motorfest is doing over the next few months, and that we'll probably be seeing Horizon 6 around this time next year, they've really missed their window to retain a large playerbase. Aside from temporary spikes from Steam sales, not many people are going to give it a second look now.

 

[kartman21]

And when you consider the large expansions that Crew Motorfest is doing over the next few months, and that we'll probably be seeing Horizon 6 around this time next year, they've really missed their window to retain a large playerbase. Aside from temporary spikes from Steam sales, not many people are going to give it a second look now.

Yes, the timing is really poor, and how the game elvoved like a early acces make no sense...
The sad fact, the game could have been great and been something special in racing games, but they ****ed up fully...

When you see how carx, jdm drift master quicly elvoved and they are AA studio as well, TDU is really bad
Maybe S6 will be the final one... Houses finish by late 2026, noboby will be there to play the game anymore

 

[Ryan81]

It's probably a case of too little, too late. If they had gotten their act together in the first couple of months, things may have been different. Unfortunately, many people (myself included) thought it would hark back to the original TDU.

 

[sirjim73]

It's probably a case of too little, too late. If they had gotten their act together in the first couple of months, things may have been different. Unfortunately, many people (myself included) thought it would hark back to the original TDU.

It should have hacked back. And they were told that endlessly BEFORE release but carried on with their "vision" which was anything but a TDU game. By the time they actually started to listen, nearly a year had passed which has screwed them. And I only think they DID take notice because the sales were so poor and they realised they had cocked up and shouldn't have ignored everyone...

Having said that, there's a good game hiding behind the poor decisions made on economy/casino etc and the bugged mess of solar passes etc, which is fun to play when you play it the way YOU want to and not the way THEY want you to.

 

[Ryan81]

It should have hacked back. And they were told that endlessly BEFORE release but carried on with their "vision" which was anything but a TDU game. By the time they actually started to listen, nearly a year had passed which has screwed them. And I only think they DID take notice because the sales were so poor and they realised they had cocked up and shouldn't have ignored everyone...

Having said that, there's a good game hiding behind the poor decisions made on economy/casino etc and the bugged mess of solar passes etc, which is fun to play when you play it the way YOU want to and not the way THEY want you to.

Yeah, what really blew it for me was the whole casino nonsense and Sharps vs Streets gangland BS. It sounds like something out of the NFS franchise. It's good that they're finally adding missions, taxi missions, making the solar prize cars available in the dealership etc. Just wish they'd had this philosophy from the word go because I do really like the exploration aspect.

 

[nukleabomb]

Test Drive Unlimited Solar Crown - Solar Club Letter: October 2025 - Steam News

Season 5 arrives this week, so let’s get into the details!

store.steampowered.com

Solar Club Letter: October 2025
Season 5 arrives this week, so let’s get into the details!
Season 5 is the largest content update to arrive in TDUSC so far, so let’s recap all of the details we discussed on the recent showcase stream, and more!

What’s In the Letter?​

• Season 5 Details
  • Release Date / Maintenance Details / Length
  • Stream Recap
  • Taxi Missions
  • Poker
  • Before/After Map Changes
  • KT Engine Improvements
  • Construction Sites
  • Economy
  • Vehicle Improvements
  • Live Events
  • Update 1 Details
  • Update 2 Details
  • Known Issues
• Sounds
  • Upcoming Updates
  • What’s Next?
• Community Spotlight Winner - October
  • Winners
  • How To Enter
• Coming Up Next
  • November Solar Club Letter
  • December Solar Club Letter

🚕 Season 5 Details​

It’s time to recap and learn everything coming day one in Season 5!

Release Date / Maintenance Details / Length​

Season 5 is releasing October 29, 2025. We will be starting the server maintenance at 10:00am CET and the maintenance will last up to 6:00pm CET. We will keep you updated on our progress during the day.
Season 5 will also have a 5 month length, with Season 6 releasing March 2026. Before Season 6 releases, we will have a larger communication on the next Season release dates. The content of each Season will however remain unchanged.
This change also means Season 5 will get 2 updates. This longer period will help us focus on polishing and bug fixing various areas of the game that the community have mentioned, as well as creating a dedicated update for optimisation within Season 5. Details on Update 1 and Update 2 will be discussed in the letter below.

Stream Recap​

On October 23, Community Manager Alex VII and Game Director Guillaume Guinet went live on the Nacon Racing YouTube channel to showcase all of the features coming to Season 5, as well as answering some questions from the community. Below you can find the following details

We also created a gameplay only video showing off the game in a stream highlight fashion with timecodes, so if you’d like to watch gameplay without the talking from the stream and see the game in it’s max quality, check the link below!

There were many questions asked during the stream, and we wanted to clarify our answers on some of these subjects. Let’s take a look at some of the most common questions asked!
Q: Will we expand Ibiza?
A: Ibiza is something a lot of the community is asking for, and we know it is something that we want to bring in the future, but we don’t want to make any promises on this until we have a dedicated team working on this. At the moment, our art teams are working on year 2 features, the most important one being Season 8 Housing. This feature requires a lot of work from our level designers and environmental artists. Another reason why we aren’t working on this is that right now we're focused on optimization. Optimisation means to create new processes to build the world. We cannot work on new processes while adding areas to the world using the old ones.
Our plan on this would be to update Ibiza in sections, rather than the entire island at once, especially as we want to add content to the expanded areas of Ibiza as they arrive. When we have a dedicated team working on the expansion of Ibiza, we will be able to communicate this with you.
Q: Will we implement DRL’s/high-beam/low-beam?
A: We’ve seen this request a few times, and it’s something we think we can integrate into TDUSC, but it requires a new lighting structure to set up the differences between all 3 light modes, as well as integrating the feature into the KT Engine and following each car's DRL setup. That said, we can’t communicate on this improvement yet until it’s something we start working on, but we believe it fits TDU perfectly!
Q: When will crossregion/crossplay arrive?
A: We have currently prioritised crossregion over crossplay. It will require a lot of work on our network to adapt for this system, but we have a dedicated team working on this feature. We do not have an update on specific ETA for this feature, but we hope to have it completed by the end of 2026.
Q: When can players expect more optimisation for TDUSC?
A: Our next large optimisation update will arrive in Update 2 of Season 5. We will detail this in this month’s letter in the ‘Update 2 Details’ section!
Q: When will steering animation delay be fixed?
A: This is a bug report we are currently working on. We have found the issue with the system, and we hope to have this solution by Season 6.
Q: What are our plans for customisation for TDUSC? (rim size, rim colour, bodykits, spoilers, brake calipers, etc)
A: We already have more customisation options arriving in TDUSC in future updates. We think it’s something that can help elevate the personalisation aspect of TDUSC, however we also know a lot of the TDU fanbase prefers more TDU-DNA derived customisation options like just simply changing caliper colour, or rim size, rim colour, etc. We’ll keep you in the loop on these improvements throughout Year 2.
Q: What are our plans for a realistic tachometer UI (like TDU2)?
A: This is something we’d love to have in TDUSC. We have made a few samples of this concept to get approval from manufacturers on the design. Once we have feedback, we will evaluate our next steps on this feature. We can’t confirm for sure we’ll be able to bring this feature into TDUSC yet, but if it is something we can do, we will look into adding it into our roadmap plans.

Q: Can we see GPS navigation added into vehicles?
A: Similarly, this feature will require feedback from the manufacturers. When we know the next steps on this feature, we will be sure to communicate to you on it!
Q: When can players expect 8-player groups?
A: We have made progress on this feature since we last communicated it to you, but we want to make sure this feature arrives well polished.
We are aiming to have this ready for Season 6 but we will confirm with you closer to the launch of Season 6 if this feature will be ready.
Q: When can players expect a photo mode update?
A: Good pictures from the community can write a game's success itself, and we know we can do better with the photo mode in TDUSC. We don’t have any plans to work on this feature soon, but we think it’s something that could go well with housing. It’s a big work though, because it requires taking the KT Engine a step further in how photo mode renders and works. When we have better visibility on this, we’ll let you know!
Q: When can players expect a livery editor update (grouping of stickers, sticker material, etc)?
A: There is a lot to do to the livery editor in TDUSC, and we don’t think we will be able to do a complete overhaul in Year 2, but we are looking into bringing some QoL features to the editor in 2026. We’ll communicate this when we have better visibility on the subject.
Q: When can players expect more details on camera improvements (seat height, turning off camera shake, etc)?
A: Camera improvements in TDUSC will arrive in the future for sure. We know players want to customise this experience of TDUSC, but similarly we cannot provide a concrete date on this feature.
Q: When can players rotate the camera during rim purchases/vehicle purchases?
A: This is a feature we hear often from the community. We believe it is something we should work on for TDUSC, and we’ll share news on this in a future update.
Q: Can players expect to see more weather scenarios added to TDUSC (rain on Ibiza/thunderstorms with lightning)?
A: We have worked on improving many scenarios of weather in the Season 5 Hong Kong Island timecycle update, but we have not added a scenario for severe thunderstorms with lightning.
We think the addition of rain to Ibiza would be nice, and we have also thought of adding a cycle in Ibiza called ‘Calima’ (learn more about it here), but we have a lot of other things to focus on at the moment.
Q: Can players expect more Casino game modes in the future?
A: Before bringing more gamemodes to the Casino, we want to focus on features that all players can enjoy, as there are restrictions for many countries that prevent players from accessing the Casino in TDUSC. We are also going to look into the possibility of opening up the Casino to more countries where government rules may be discussed further. More news on this will arrive when we have more to share.
Q: When can players expect JDM vehicles? Sedans? Wagons?
A: Players can expect a JDM filled Season in Season 7. All vehicles both in the dealership, online store, and Solar Pass will be JDM.
Recently, we also had the community vote on a vehicle which fits such description, so we know its something you all want to see! We don’t want to reveal too much yet though!
Q: Will other TDU2 features be returning?
A: There are many gameplay elements to TDUSC so far from TDU2, but we think there is always room to improve and adapt more. We cannot comment specifically on what we plan for the future of TDUSC outside of the already communicated Year 2 content, but we have some great ideas to evolve TDUSC in the future.
Q: Are there plans to change the design of dealerships and workshops?
A: This is something on our minds as it helps us reach the end goal of a more realistic and cinematic experience with TDUSC. We however are not working on this yet, as the art team is working hard on the ORC, houses, race layout improvements, and more! Rest assured, it’s something we want to bring to the world of TDUSC in the future.
Q: Are there plans to add a police mission system to TDUSC?
A: Adding a police system for TDUSC would be nice, however we don’t think it is something we can commit to yet. Such a feature would need to be like TDU2’s. Both singleplayer and multiplayer, the feature where it calls other people on the map to join the session, associated licenced police themed vehicles with the livery/appearance being rewarded to players, and more. This making the feature complex would take us some time to create, and we are currently full on our Year 2 roadmap. This is something we could discuss for an update after Year 2, possibly bringing back another ‘Community Voted Season’ concept.

Taxi Missions​

The flagship feature arriving in Season 5 is Taxi Missions! This feature previously in TDU2, was given immense depth for its reveal in TDUSC. In Season 5, you’ll be able to pick up and drop off passengers in 50 different scenarios. Within each of these are different client profiles, and within that, different questions and requests from them! Let’s quickly recap everything you need to know about this feature!

Private Driver
Taxi contracts are driving missions in which you need to fulfill the needs of clients to earn a good final rating. Depending on the client profile, you also need to arrive at the destination by a certain time. The difficulty of this will also change depending on the mission. Get a 5 star rating to achieve the maximum earnings, but be careful, once you reach 0, the mission ends, and you cannot restart!

Client Profiles
There are 4 different client profiles. Fulfilling their specific needs will improve your rating, but accidents and careless driving can have the opposite effect. Pay attention to the mission page UI and see what your passenger will take note of. For example, some clients might want you to not follow the speed limit, and get them to the destination on time, however, some might want you to follow the speed limit and drive very smoothly while obeying traffic rules!

Questions and Requests
Pay attention to your passengers throughout the journey because they may have specific requests that you weren't expecting. Some may ask you to turn on the radio or put your windows down, however there are questions that are a bit more in depth, and may require some thinking from you so make sure you answer them correctly, as they will affect your rating score!

Gameplay
We have uploaded various gameplay footage of Taxi Missions in action, check the link here at the following timecodes to see how they work!

Poker​

Poker is finally arriving in the Casino in Season 5! Let’s again recap what you can expect from this new Casino gamemode.
To start, head to the Casino and enter a Poker room. Here, you have 3 rooms to choose from. Emerald features a 1,000 Solar Coin buy-in, Sapphire features a 100,000 Solar Coin buy-in but you have to win 15 hands in Poker to unlock, and Ruby features a 500,000 buy-in but you have to win 50 hands in Poker to unlock.

Once you’re in, you have 3 Poker tables, with a maximum seating capacity of 8, so you’ll have 24 players in a lobby for Poker rooms, slightly less than the 32-player lobby in the Casino hall. Next, head to any of the 3 tables and join a game!
All that’s left to do is look at your cards, and make the right moves! Don’t forget, there is voice chat, so use it wisely if you think you can trick other players into calling your bluff!

We uploaded gameplay of Poker on the Nacon Racing YouTube channel, so feel free to take a look at how it goes!

We also want to discuss some issues with Poker. Below are some known issues that are being worked on and fixed for Update 1.

Summary	Note/Comment
The current total of chips is not updated when leaving a poker table. It's only a visual issue and the total updates correctly when buying more or reloading the game.	Workaround: Note that re-entering another poker table will not update the displayed amount either. To work around this bug, after leaving a table, buy any amount of chips to have the correct amount refreshed.
When using the buy-in option after not having any chips to continue, the number of chips granted from the balance is incorrect.
Sometimes, when having multiple possible winning hands, the lowest one is displayed on screen. Note that the highest one is still taken into account correctly.

Before/After Map Changes​

Another improvement coming to Season 5 is a large amount of map improvements to Hong Kong Island.

We did this to create a better feel of Hong Kong Island and make a more accurate map feel.

Here are some more photos of what players can see.

We have also created a video showcasing all map changes coming in Season 5. Check the video out below!

To discuss this change in more detail, Stéphane Cambier, the Art Director for TDUSC has more to say!
“While a small team is dedicated to optimizing and developing future content, another team is focused on improving specific areas of Hong Kong.
These areas required additional attention to capture the mood of their real-world counterparts, as they currently lack key details. Our primary focus has been Aberdeen and Stanley, with northern districts next on our agenda.”
- Stéphane Cambier / TDUSC Art Director

KT Engine Improvements​

The KT Engine gets a lot of improvements for Season 5. You can find improved reflections, timecycles, effects, and more!

• Ibiza Screenshots
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Hong Kong Island Screenshots
  
  
  
  
  
  

Construction Sites​

The first two construction sites appear in Ibiza! These locations do not represent the full shape of the house, but if you look closely at the environment, you can have an idea of the garden or scenery around the location once it arrives in Season 8!

More construction sites will arrive throughout the next Seasons, so keep your eyes peeled!

Economy​

Big changes arrive in Season 5 for TDUSC’s economy! Bigger race payouts, improved FRIM, and car selling!

• Race Payouts: We’ve increased the payouts of all races found on both Ibiza and Hong Kong Island. Crown Jewel races now pay as they should based on the risk/time, so some of them can payout sums totalling over 1,000,000 Solar Coins.
  
  We’ve also improved Live Events, as they will now pay an additional Solar Coin bonus on top of the cosmetic reward, which is based on what the reward is.
  We are excited to see your feedback on this new economic change, and we will be on the look out for further feedback to continue evolving TDUSC!

• FRIM: FRIM has a lot of changes arriving in Season 5. Here are some of the improvements:
  • Updated levelling system for 99 linear levels
  • Removed max number of cash-ins per day
  • Removed tricks max occurrences
  • Added reputation, influence and Solar Pass exp as rewards
  • Updated Clean Driving trigger (100km/h)
  • Removed Burn and 0-100 from actions list
  • Tweaked timer for cashing-in (you can cash in whenever you want)
  This new system will allow players to earn more in the freeroam mode, and level up FRIM the way they want. Whether you’re cruising, drifting, or having some reckless driving, FRIM will be for you!
• Car Selling: Head to the front desk of the Solar Hotel to sell your cars!
  
  Once you open the menu, you’ll be able to sell your vehicles, with the sell prices varying depending on the odometer distance, upgrades, and vehicle options you have added at the dealership or workshop.
  
  
  

Vehicle Improvements​

We’ve done a lot to vehicles in Season 5, and we aren’t stopping there. Let’s take a look at all of the improvements coming to TDUSC’s vehicles in Season 5!

• Cruise Control: Cruise control will be available in missions and free-roam! There are also new bindable settings in the game control menu to allow you to map this to your wheel.
  
  
  • Speed Hold/Cruise - In this mode, the vehicle's acceleration will stay at the assigned speed. You can increase and decrease this speed in the same Alyss menu. Coming to a stop will automatically turn the cruise control off.
  • Speed Limiter - In this mode, the vehicle's acceleration is controlled by you, and the assigned speed is the limiter. You can increase and decrease this speed in the same Alyss menu.
• Bug Fixes & Improvements: In Season 5, we tackled a lot of issues surrounding our vehicle models, and below are just some of the improvements you will see in Season 5.
  • Fixed Alpha 5 max speed
  • Fixed battery on 918, I8, LPI800 and LaFerrari
  • Fixed acceleration on Veyron 16.4
  • Fixed power handbrake on Buggy
  • Fixed tires size on F40
  • Updated rear and side light of various cars
  • Fixed dashboard UI text
  • Fixed Porsche Carrera & Carrera Bodykit cockpit camera
  • Corrected Aston Martin Valour base power/torque
  • Added Super Sport suspension to Aston Martin Valour / Removed All-Road suspension from Aston Martin Valour
  • Fixed the spoiler of the Pininfarina Battista where it fails to auto-engage while driving at high speeds
  • Fixed the spoilers of all the McLaren manufacturer cars where it fail to auto-engage while driving at high speeds
  • Fixed the spoilers of all the Bugatti manufacturer cars where it fail to auto-engage while driving at high speeds
  • Added Super Sport suspension to the Mercedes-AMG GT Black Series
  • Fixed Huracan Sterrato Licence Plate Lights
  • Fixed Aston Martin Vantage rear lights
  • Fixed Aston Martin Valour mirror being reversed
  • Fixed the left bumper turn signal on the 'Lamborghini Huracan Sterrato' which flashes when the 'Right Turn Signal' is activated
  • Fixed rear wiper animation on all vehicles that have the feature
  • Fixed the windshield wipers of the 'Lamborghini Huracan Sterrato’
  • Added Super Sport suspension to the Bugatti Chiron Super Sport 300+
  • Fixed dynamic indicators on the AMG GTR/AMG GT Black Series and Shelby GT350R
  • Fixed Veyron ‘PS’ dashboard display
  • Fixed Audi Q7 sunroof not opening
  • Fixed brake bias setting being reversed
  • Fixed DMC12 dashboard camera view
  • Fixed Camaro ZLE 1LE incorrect shift animation
  • Fixed reflections on the dashboards
  • Fixed DB11 Volante redline UI
  • Fixed Miura redline UI
  • Fixed DB11 Volante rear window animation for roof feature
  • New setting for progressive acceleration on all cars
  • Decrease unload engine damping influence
  • Added cruise control
  • Fixed the DB11 Volante hood vent
    You can also find gameplay of it here!

Please continue to share any discrepancies you see with the vehicles in TDUSC. We will be focusing on this throughout Season 5 and will be bringing more vehicle fixes in Season 5.
We also have the following fixes arriving in Update 1 and Update 2 of Season 5:

• Miura correct headlight animation
• SRT Hellcat gets 8-speed transmission to accommodate the automatic transmission car model
• Delorean interior dashboard speedometer sync
• Unlocking the customisation of ‘Special Edition’ Appearances in the Workshop

Live Events​

Season 5 is where live event rewards are improved. You will receive a large sum of Solar Coins in addition to the cosmetic reward; with the actual amount dependent on what the reward is. You’ll also find, no more stickers will be present as live event rewards. Here’s a reminder of some of the rewards you can see.

The Alpine A110 Légende US 2023 Racing livery arrives in a Season 5 live event!

Licenced PUMA clothing arrives in a Season 5 live event!

Update 1 Details​

Update 1 will bring more bug fixes and the online store. We will discuss the store in more detail in next month's Solar Club Letter with some images of the content you’ll be able to find. However, here’s what you’ll be able to find in the store:

• Previous Solar Pass Vehicles: There will be a timed exclusive on Solar Pass vehicles arriving in the store. For example, Season 3 Solar Pass vehicles will be available in Season 5. Season 4 Solar Pass vehicles in Season 6. So on and so forth.
• 3 New ‘Special Edition’ Vehicles Each Season: These vehicles can be special licensed or unlicensed bodykits of existing vehicles in-game, or they will be completely licensed special models of existing vehicles in-game. An example of this is the licenced Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG Black Series, arriving in the online store in Season 6, or the Nissan GT-R ‘The Tyger’ unlicensed widebody kit arriving in the ‘Season 5 Update 1’ update. In Season 5 Update 1, you can find these 3 special editions arrive in the store!
  
  
  
  
• Previous Live Event Rewards
• Emotes
• Rims
• Liveries/Paints
• Clothing (Licenced and Unlicenced)
• & More…

With the online store, we will also have a system in place that will give players 10 Diamonds per week for free. You will be able to claim this in the online store menu weekly.
You’ll also find sound improvements for the Aston Martin Vantage GT3 and the De Tomaso P72. We’ll detail this more in the ‘🔊 Sounds’ section of the letter.

Update 2 Details​

The most important update of Season 5, will be update 2. This update is focused on optimisation and performance for PC, XSX, and PS5. To understand what to expect more, here is what TDUSC’s Producer and Technical Director have to say.
“As we said in our last communication, a dedicated team is now working on resolving the performance issues reported by our community. Because this is a huge task, we needed to subdivide this objective into smaller various ones. The first one is to improve the performance on both consoles, and that's what we have been doing recently. It doesn't mean that it doesn't impact the Steam version at all, it always indirectly does, just that we're focused on specific issues degrading the experience on consoles (e.g the FPS drops when inside the Streets headquarter or during races in heavy lighted areas).We will continue to do so for Update #1 of the season.
For Update #2 we plan to have more global improvements which can be appreciated by all players of all platforms. We're already working on a few ones but these take more time to deploy as we need to update the various components of the world while making sure no negative impacts are found. Rest assured we'll continue to work on this topic for the following seasons and until we and our community are satisfied with the result.”
- Niels Coueffe / TDUSC Producer
“A particular effort is currently underway to optimize the game for Update 2 to make the gaming experience smoother and more enjoyable, regardless of the platform. We are working on this along two main lines:

• Globally: Season 5 saw the arrival of a heavily revamped rendering pipeline, which is just one step in an engine enhancement program. We are continuing to make improvements, particularly in performance, that this new pipeline allows us, notably by more efficiently using CPU and GPU resources.
• More Specifically: We are working to identify and correct all points causing in-game performance drops that concretely harm game quality. Corrections can be either in the code or in the data, which sometimes needs to be reworked in depth. This work involves all specialities within the TDUSC team.

Although this update is mainly focused on game experience, framerate, and erasing the framerate drops, if we can add some nice enhancements to the KT Engine that improve the graphical and render ability further, we will look into doing so too.”
- Fabien Fumeron / TDUSC Technical Director
Similar to the launch of Season 5, we will be showcasing gameplay of this update and discuss the specific improvements on framerate and performance.

Known Issues​

Season 5 is our largest update yet, and there are many fixes we are currently working on to increase the polish of the game. Below are some issues we’d like to be transparent with and address, as well as mentioning some workarounds. We plan to have all of these fixed, and more, in the Season 5 Update 1 update

Summary	Note/Comment
Possible crash when using Graphics mode and driving around specific areas on Ibiza Island.	Workaround: Set Performance Mode
Rare crash when using Graphics mode and playing through various events on Ibiza Island.	Workaround: Set Performance Mode
Often, after terminating the game while inside the Solar Hotel in Graphics mode, the next time the player continues their save a crash will occur.	Workaround: Set Performance Mode in the Main Menu before pressing Continue.
On consoles, sometimes, there is a global illumination issue where the world can appear red or green in free roam.	N/A
Sometimes, for some players at the table, the card dealing animation does not display at the start of a poker round.	N/A
Rarely, after leaving a poker table, a server error occurs when attempting to rejoin the same table.	N/A
The current total of chips is not updated when leaving a poker table. It's only a visual issue and the total updates correctly when buying more or reloading the game.	Workaround: Note that re-entering another poker table will not update the displayed amount either. To work around this bug, after leaving a table, buy any amount of chips to have the correct amount refreshed.
When using the buy-in option after not having any chips to continue, the number of chips granted from the balance is incorrect.	N/A
When not enough chips are possessed to pay the small or big blind, a number of chips is incorrectly given to the player.	N/A
Rarely, attempting to enter a poker room leads to a server error.	N/A
In Poker under specific circumstances, it may happen that during the showdown phase at the end of a round the round doesn't end.	N/A
The default PR value of cars are seen in this menu instead of the upgraded one.	N/A
Sometimes, when having multiple possible winning hands, the lowest one is displayed on screen. Note that the highest one is still taken into account correctly.	N/A
In specific situations, the buy-in option is erroneously displayed when the chip balance is insufficient.	N/A
When a passenger requests a window to be opened/closed, only using Alyss will fulfill the request, not using a custom keybind.	Workaround: Use Alyss to confirm the request
Some specific clan races on Ibiza Island have an holographic racing line that goes outside of the road, also leading AI opponents to lose time.	The three concerned races that were discovered: 'Highway to Heaven', ' Shopping in Ibiza Town', and 'Night Drive in the Marina'.

🔊 Sounds​

Sounds are of great importance in a racing game, so let’s go over what’s happening next.
Upcoming Updates
So far in Season 5, we’ve confirmed the De Tomaso P72 and the Aston Martin Vantage GT3 will be getting a sound improvement in Update 1. The P72 will have a more accurate growl from its V8, and the Vantage GT3 will have a much improved interior cockpit sound to match its accuracy.
What’s Next?
Back in July, we shared the results of the sound design survey in which players had the opportunity to vote on what car sounds they’d like to see improved in the game and some of their thoughts on our audio design. One of the issues we got was the muffled sound of the cockpit, or the audio mix of other world elements. We are currently working on the mix of all AI vehicles in the world, including your opponents.
Based on the community votes, here are some example vehicles we think we can work on next:

• Mclaren MP4-12C
• Lamborghini Huracan Sterrato
• Dodge Challenger SRT Hellcat Widebody
• Lamborghini Aventador SVJ
• Ferrari 488 Pista

We can’t commit to a specific update date on when these will be fixed, but we will let you know in a future letter when we are working on them, and of course, when they’re ready!

 

[RetroVelocity]

Much like Forza Motorsport, if the game released now instead of one year ago it would’ve been so much easier for all involved parties
We get a game that actually works on a basic level, the beancounters at the top get more cash because more people are buying their games, everyone profits

 

[sirjim73]

Much like Forza Motorsport, if the game released now instead of one year ago it would’ve been so much easier for all involved parties
We get a game that actually works on a basic level, the beancounters at the top get more cash because more people are buying their games, everyone profits

To some extent this is undoubtedly true, however some of the arguably biggest changes (game economy improvements being an obvious one but not the only) are only happening because of negative feedback after release.

The change of approach to make the game more like a "TDU game" has only occurred because of the poor reception on and after release.

If the game released now, the game economy would still have been crap and the game would still have not included taxi missions, deliveries etc.

PS They notably make zero mention of the Series S in the letter. Someone has been asking them to confirm any Series S performance improvements on the Reddit EVERY SINGLE DAY and has NEVER received a response from Alex. As I too use a Series S, I know NOTHING about tomorrow's update relating to this, which leads me to believe there will be no improvement at all!

 

[juanffy18]

Maybe the end of 2026 should be the best choice to play this game for the first time.

 

[sirjim73]

It's good to finally know the quantity of free diamonds coming with the online store in Episode 5 Part 2, sorry Season 5 Update 1.

If each Solar Pass costs 600 diamonds, that means 60 weeks to get enough free diamonds to buy one Solar Pass.

More realistically, it should allow us to buy the 3 online cars if they have set the level right.
If there are 3 online cars each Season, a sensible cost would be about 40 diamonds each (12 weeks x 10 per week = 120). If they cost anything >40 each, I'm afraid its just another attempt at a cash grab from the players.

 

[sirjim73]

Sorry for the double post, but here are the patch notes for tomorrow's update:


Being fair, there's a lot of good fixes included including those silly 1% delivery glitches on numerous delivery missions.

@breyzipp picked up (like me) the reference to the daily rewards bug being related to those at level 60+ Let's see if they've fixed it properly now...

Also, since its a 5 month season, that presumably means we have 5 months to get to level 50.

Also, I note there are new tasks being added at level 65, which is good for me as that's as far as I've got and it's been taking a long time to get to level 70 just playing the live events each week.

EDIT - a video has been uploaded showing the changes made to 3 areas in HKI with this update: