Test Drive Unlimited Solar Crown Discussion Thread

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One thing I like in TDUSC is that the characters don't seem to break a tantrum or show absolute rage while covering their faces like in The Crew Motorfest for losing a race (4th-8th or fail). They seem at most just grumpy or disappointed.
 
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www.stjv.fr

Kylotonn : pedal to the metal, heading straight for disaster – STJV

Today, Wednesday May 6th 2026, the first meeting to inform worker representatives of violent and massive layoffs at Kylotonn, following Nacon’s will, should hav
www.stjv.fr www.stjv.fr


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nukleabomb
www.stjv.fr

Kylotonn : pedal to the metal, heading straight for disaster – STJV

Today, Wednesday May 6th 2026, the first meeting to inform worker representatives of violent and massive layoffs at Kylotonn, following Nacon’s will, should hav
www.stjv.fr www.stjv.fr


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Guts Kylotonn, a studio that has strong ties to workers' unions, then transfers the WRC license to a studio made up of people from Kylotonn who likely weren't part of said union.

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I wonder if they'll even make it to season 7 or 8. While I like to play the game sometimes, I hope it doesn't die off before an Offline Mode gets released. Also, I hope another gaming company takes over, one specifically open to what the players and fans could ask for.
 
kartman21
Yep, I think a new take over the IP is the best thing that could happen to TDU
I've lost confidence in KT and their abilty to fix the game
I've played a moment on S2/S3 but after a moment I'm getting bore by the bugs, poor optimisation, and lack of identity (dead map)
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I was hoping for a redemption tale, (even though the franchise has never been stellar to begin with) it did have some potential in the setting. I think wasting development time/resources on side fluff like avatars and casino's was a major miss step. It goes to show how out of touch the suits are with the consumer base, seen it many times this generation with a whole slew of GAAS titles missing the mark completely in the same way. Gameplay is the be all and end all, monetization should not be prime in the the thinking of gaming executives. Ive refused this game even at a tenner in the sale... message!
 
kartman21
Yep, I think a new take over the IP is the best thing that could happen to TDU
I've lost confidence in KT and their abilty to fix the game
I've played a moment on S2/S3 but after a moment I'm getting bore by the bugs, poor optimisation, and lack of identity (dead map)
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I found that the bugs/niggles became more frustrating for me after the first 30 hours, when i had completed the bulk of the levelling up and i got to the "end game". Once the initial part of the gameplay was done (which was actually really enjoyable).

With the general decline in number of racing titles and the fact that all developers know how much of a "disaster" TDUSC has been (at least that is how it seems to be perceived generally), if anyone was to look at the IP in future, I think the reply from the top would be...
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sirjim73
I found that the bugs/niggles became more frustrating for me after the first 30 hours, when i had completed the bulk of the levelling up and i got to the "end game". Once the initial part of the gameplay was done (which was actually really enjoyable).
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This game is so frustrating because it had so much potential. But, any developer who produces a racing game with folks driving through the city at night without the benefits of tail lights to avoid collisions, is simply not deserving of any additional work in the genre. Rather than fix the things that actually affect the core driving experience, like basic graphics, networking, etc., they continue to focus on adding Stalking (scrublike detective missions) and monetization (DLC). The only possible means for salvation starts with a carefully crafted offline server. They know it but don't seem to care.
 
juanffy18
Well what happened to this game and the future updates
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Season 7 (mostly Japan focused) is supposed to be coming sometime late August or September.
Season 8 (Housing) possibly by the end of the year.

The devs have acknowledged the lack of funding though (Nacon troubles, low sales as well) so who knows if they'll be able to meet their future plans.
 
The Evo IV is a cool addition, but apparently it's set to Level 50, which is just incredulous. Have they got enough regular players who have reached that level to make it worthwhile? I'm only at level 35 or so, because I simply don't engage with their naff races.
 
VXR
The Evo IV is a cool addition, but apparently it's set to Level 50, which is just incredulous. Have they got enough regular players who have reached that level to make it worthwhile? I'm only at level 35 or so, because I simply don't engage with their naff races.
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Good work getting to 35 I tapped out at 20 there's just no engagement with it. Motorfest is the only decent open world racer IMO its far more compelling and vibrant.
 
VXR
The Evo IV is a cool addition, but apparently it's set to Level 50, which is just incredulous. Have they got enough regular players who have reached that level to make it worthwhile? I'm only at level 35 or so, because I simply don't engage with their naff races.
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Doing daily challenges helps a lot
 
Unfortunately, this game is now basically a write off. Even with "Full staff" Dev's patching pace was glacial at best and despite the delays, many of the patches were unjustifiably bug ridden. Now with 60-70% of the staff gone, they don't even have enough progress to maintain the monthly Solar Club Letter.

I personally think housing is a waste of time. (I understand they promised it so I understand they need to provide it...) I think the ORC will be far too late to make any real difference. (They promised an online MMO Racing game but they will NEVER be able to provide that... Striving for 8 players at once in no way meets the criteria for a modern MMO).. And, I think raising the cost of Seasonal Passes in light of the life support levels of progress is a travesty.

So, in my mind, the ONLY thing that matters at this point, is finishing the offline mode before it is too late.

This game was full of potential... but the Dev's continuously failed to prioritize appropriately and continuously wasted opportunity after opportunity. Devs continued focus on trivial artwork rather than things like working tail lights at night. Hence, the ENTIRE ART team should have been cut in favor of ACTUAL programmers and network engineers who could provide 60 fps and decent network connections (which are the very foundations of every decent MMOs).
 
Nacon spent two hours streaming today. I had to work through part of it so I may have missed a bit here and there. That said, the long and the short of it is TDUSC will get a few cars, housing is being worked on, and hypercar physics are being adjusted. As for upgraded networking and graphics, optimizations, etc., we should see 8 player racing soon but that's it. Since they lost the majority of their coders, we cannot expect to see cross region, cross platform, working tail lights at night, decent tunnel illumination, or fps improvements any time soon. Instead, we'll be able to remove the wing from about four cars and we should get to modify rim sizes soon. Oh, we should also be able to modify wheels on some liveries too. The only standout bright spot is a reworked interface for dailies. As for the hypercar physics changes, we'll have to see how well they work in practice to judge them fairly.

As I see no utility in playing with or refurnishing a house in Season 8 of TDUSC, I would consider this to be a VERY disappointing update. If I missed anything, please don't hesitate to respond accordingly. I would love to hear from someone who had a more positive perspective on it.
 
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The TDUSC part of the Nacon stream



Spring 2027 for season 8 and the housing. I can't see the game surviving much beyond that point so hopefully the offline patch comes then.
 
Devs have absolutely trashed the game with the Season 7 update. With the intentional progression nerf(s), the control binding issues, the increased solar pass costs, the plague doctor outfit that bricks the game, the daily clothing task not working, the all but broken photo task, several taxi/detective missions being broken and three of the most significant races being broken, Devs have completely outdone themselves. What a complete and total travesty!

Previously, at least, we could race our way through the solar pass (50 levels of it). Now we have to suffer the most god awful Honey Do Lists ever... It's as if the TDUSC Devs looked at FH6's weekly campaign and said, "Hold my Beer, we can screw it up way worse than them."
 
fwyflyer
Devs have absolutely trashed the game with the Season 7 update. With the intentional progression nerf(s), the control binding issues, the increased solar pass costs, the plague doctor outfit that bricks the game, the daily clothing task not working, the all but broken photo task, several taxi/detective missions being broken and three of the most significant races being broken, Devs have completely outdone themselves. What a complete and total travesty!

Previously, at least, we could race our way through the solar pass (50 levels of it). Now we have to suffer the most god awful Honey Do Lists ever... It's as if the TDUSC Devs looked at FH6's weekly campaign and said, "Hold my Beer, we can screw it up way worse than them."
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Its a kindness before 200gig GTA VI lands, Ive not even the slightest bit of regret erasing this game. (Its so bad Ive hid it from my purchased games list in the library too). Meanwhile year 4 of Motorfest looks full of promise and variety...
 
You mean laying off most of the development staff when they were in the middle of working on a large update has caused said update to be an unfinished mess that will probably not get fixed?

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Kinda makes you wonder if Nacon wants the playerbase to leave so they can save some money by shutting the servers off early..
 
EngieDiesel
You mean laying off most of the development staff when they were in the middle of working on a large update has caused said update to be an unfinished mess that will probably not get fixed?

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Kinda makes you wonder if Nacon wants the playerbase to leave so they can save some money by shutting the servers off early..
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In fairness, their development staff worked slower and accomplished less in a month than than any other staff in the history of racing games ...aside from maybe the West Brothers. And, what they did accomplish was often so bug ridden that it didn't really matter.

TWO years after release this Massive Multiplayer ONLINE Racing game still only allows a maximum of four players to race together. TWO Years after release we still don't have houses. TWO years after release we're still stuck with in car mirrors that borrow their graphic fidelity from the Atari 2600. TWO years after release we still cannot see other cars at night because their tail lights don't function. I'll stop there. Not really trying to beat a dead horse.
 
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fwyflyer
In fairness, their development staff worked slower and accomplished less in a month than than any other staff in the history of racing games ...aside from maybe the West Brothers. And, what they did accomplish was often so bug ridden that it didn't really matter.

TWO years after release this Massive Multiplayer ONLINE Racing game still only allows a maximum of four players to race together. TWO Years after release we still don't have houses. TWO years after release we're still stuck with in car mirrors that borrow their graphic fidelity from the Atari 2600. TWO years after release we still cannot see other cars at night because their tail lights don't function. I'll stop there. Not really trying to beat a dead horse.
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After what's been revealed about Nacon and their business practices lately I'd say there's a pretty good reason why the dev team were working slow and not accomplishing much, so pinning it all on them isn't entirely fair.
 
EngieDiesel
After what's been revealed about Nacon and their business practices lately I'd say there's a pretty good reason why the dev team were working slow and not accomplishing much, so pinning it all on them isn't entirely fair.
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The software development industry is known for terrible employment practices.

Sometimes it is better to walk off the job than it is to do the job poorly. Moreover, I grant you that poor employer practices may definitely have contributed to the poor coding efforts, but it doesn't excuse them. If the same practices continue, I would expect Grit Games to suffer as well. Time will tell.
 
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