KT Racing has revealed more about the upcoming Season 4 update for Test Drive Unlimited Solar Crown, including more details regarding the new Casino feature, new cars hitting the game, and gameplay changes — as well as what’s planned for “Year 2”.
We heard a little about Season 4 back in May, with the return of the “Solar Club Letters” after quite a gap in external communication, with the Casino forming a major part of the update as it brings back a feature from TDU2.
Back then it was targeted for July, and the latest information refines that to the “second half” of the month. We don’t have a precise date just yet, though that’s about the only thing missing at present.
Table of Contents
- Test Drive Unlimited Solar Crown Season 4: Casino
- Test Drive Unlimited Solar Crown Season 4: New Cars
- Test Drive Unlimited Solar Crown Season 4: Solar Pass
- Test Drive Unlimited Solar Crown Season 4: Other Changes & Year 2
Test Drive Unlimited Solar Crown Season 4: Casino
While this is the headline feature of S4, it’s not going to be entirely functional when the first S4 update drops — nor is it going to be available across the board.
First and foremost, and pretty much as you might expect, players in certain countries won’t be able to access the casino at all due to local gambling laws. TDUSC has had an 18-rating since day one in Europe (and an E for Everyone in the USA…) for precisely this reason, but even with that in place some territories simply won’t allow it. Details on which territories are excluded aren’t yet available.
For those that can access it, the functionality will be rolled out in stages across Season 4. At launch that’ll comprise a pair of slot machines called “Macao Lights” which can offer two different jackpot prizes. One is a specific car appropriate to the name “Wintory Casino” — Tess Wintory already runs the Selene organization, but her father Stuart is a Mercedes-loving character from previous games — while the other is a 77,777 Casino Chip reward.
A mid-season update will add “Golden Dragon” slots that offer a jackpot of a million chips, along with another as-yet unannounced “casino gameplay feature”. That wasn’t officially confirmed in the previous Solar Club Letter but now looks set to be poker, unsurprisingly given the TDU2 background; it was that or roulette.
Although it’s not clear how you acquire chips at this point, you will be able to convert winnings to Solar Coins — but again not right away. That functionality is also set to arrive in a later update, with one Chip converting to two SC, though it’s not specified when that will be.
The casino will also include stores for cosmetic items, including clothing and car parts. These items look to be exclusive to this venue and available only for casino chips.
Test Drive Unlimited Solar Crown Season 4: New Cars
There’s a grand total of four new vehicles coming this month, though two of these will be part of the new Solar Pass, along with a rejig of how cars are distributed which will bring some progress-locked vehicles into general availability.
That casino slots jackpot car mentioned above will be the Mercedes-AMG GT Black, awarded exclusively through hitting the top prize on the Macao Lights slots in the Wintory Casino. We’re going to presume that means the vehicle is otherwise inaccessible for players in regions where the casino is unavailable.
The one that’ll be available to everyone is the Aston Martin DB11 Volante, a convertible version of the DB11 which is already present in the game in coupe form.
The two vehicles only available through the new Season 4 Solar Pass are the DeLorean Alpha5, which we think is making its “simulation” game debut after appearances in Top Drives and NFS No Limits, and the Lamborghini Huracan Sterrato.
You’ll need to make progress through the Solar Pass in order to unlock the two cars, with the Sterrato unlocking at Level 50. However the DeLorean will require the paid tier of the Pass, and you’ll receive the car when you hit Level 15. Just to add some further complexity, if you have the VIP Solar Pass entitlement, a one-and-done add-on for Gold Edition players, you can also receive the DeLorean instantly if you choose thanks to the 20-level skip.
There’s also another vehicle available too, although KT’s description of it is a little ambiguous and it is again contingent on owning the premium Solar Pass. That’s the “Widebody VR Kit” for the Porsche 911 Carrera 3.2 — described as the first introduction of bodykits in the game — and it’s awarded automatically
A rejig to the ranked rewards from previous Seasons also means there’s two new appearances in the dealerships, reflecting wider gameplay changes aimed at reducing player frustration.
Previously the ranked rewards, which required a lot of ranking races, were given out to players achieving the Solar Court rank the season after the one in which they appeared. It was then planned that players who didn’t would be able to buy them the following season again, making it 3-6 months between a car being added and it being available to drive.
That’s been eliminated now, and the S2 and S3 ranked reward cars — the Bugatti Chiron Super Sport 300+ and the Aston Martin Valour — will be added to the dealerships.
Test Drive Unlimited Solar Crown Season 4: Solar Pass
As noted above, there’s some big changes coming to the Solar Pass this season, as the paid tier makes its debut following a little delay.
The free tier remains in place, with 50 levels of progression that award you with cosmetic items — clothing, wheel rims, paint, emotes — and things like Solar Coins. However there’s now also the “premium” paid tier which also awards the vehicles highlighted in the section above.
While it was previously intended that the Level 50 reward was unlocked immediately for players buying the Solar Pass, this is now changed to award that final car only at Level 50 to preserve the “sense of progression”.
As for levelling up, this has been made a bit quicker. Along with XP income being increased for Daily Challenges (although it’s not noted how much), the actual progress itself is “30% faster” according to KT Racing.
One final note on the Solar Pass comes from an additional new currency called “Diamonds”. These are available as microtransactions, with only the “Starter Pack” given a pricing of $/€4.99 for 500 Diamonds — with a bonus offer of an additional 100 Diamonds in Season 4 only. There’ll be other packs, likely higher-priced but offering more Diamonds per dollar, available for purchase in-game.
Diamonds can be used to buy a Solar Pass at, you’ve probably guessed, 600 Diamonds apiece. It’s not clear what else they can be used for except that they won’t be able to be exchanged for Solar Coins. KT Racing notes that you can also buy individual Solar Pass tiers to boost progression, and it’s likely Diamonds will be used for this too.
Test Drive Unlimited Solar Crown Season 4: Other Changes & Year 2
There’s set to be a handful of gameplay changes in addition to the above, some of which have already been previewed.
KT Racing is promising changes to the UI — for which we’ve previously seen a “no-HUD” mode and the ability to switch off certain on-screen details to reduce the “augmented reality” look of the game. That also informed a major change to the Casino, which has become more traditional than its previous futuristic look.
After being removed from S3, SARD — Secure, Advanced, Reliable, and Dynamic — anti-cheat will be returning in S4 for PC version of the game. Meanwhile console players can look forward to improvements in game performance, particularly on PlayStation 5.
We’re going to see a good deal more soon, prior to the Season 4 update, as KT Racing plans to debut a new “Year 2 Dev Diary” video on its social media channels. That’s going to cover Season 4, as well as previewing what’s coming up in the second year of the game in Seasons 5-8, which should begin with a major update to KT Engine.
The date for these events is still unknown, but watch this space for all the latest.
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