A year on from a relatively ignominious launch, KT Racing is continuing to bring improvements and new features to Test Drive Unlimited Solar Crown — and Year 2 is getting underway now with the debut of Season 5 today.
As we’ve seen in previous updates, S5 will be split into parts. The first of those is available now, or at least once the server maintenance period ends, requiring a 38GB download on PlayStation 5 and a 39GB download on PC.
The second and third will be coming at some point in the next five months — and likely later rather than sooner — with Season 6 now moved from January to March. KT Racing has promised to share more on “Update 1” in November, and “Update 2” in December.
There’s quite a bit of new functionality making its debut today though, along with some significant changes in preparation for future updates, so let’s dig in.
Table of Contents
- Test Drive Unlimited Solar Crown Season 5: New Cars
- Test Drive Unlimited Solar Crown Season 5: Casino Poker
- Test Drive Unlimited Solar Crown Season 5: Taxi Missions
- Test Drive Unlimited Solar Crown Season 5: Environment Changes
- Test Drive Unlimited Solar Crown Season 5: Economy Changes
- Test Drive Unlimited Solar Crown Season 5: Updates 1 & 2
Test Drive Unlimited Solar Crown Season 5: New Cars
New cars are almost the least significant part of the update, even though three entirely new vehicles, and a trim variant of an existing one join the title. There’s also a special livery variant of one of the starter cars.
Only one of the newcomers is freely available at any time, with the Aston Martin DBS Superleggera being added to the stock at the British Performance dealership. The remaining three are all initially only available via the Season 5 Solar Pass.
The Lamborghini Urus Graphite Capsule adds some matte black flair and some mildly altered performance specs as it arrives alongside the standard Urus, and is available right away at level one of the Solar Pass.
Reach Level 15 and you’ll pick up the cool De Tomaso P72, while Level 50 will earn you the Aston Martin Vantage GT3. There must be some very understanding cops in Hong Kong (and Ibiza) as you drive this literal race car around.
A new “Racing Livery” will also be available for the Alpine A110 Legende, coming as a reward through one of the revamped live events — while players will have to wait until Update 1 to gain open access to the Season 3 Solar Pass cars.
Test Drive Unlimited Solar Crown Season 5: Casino Poker
For those players that can access the Casino — and it isn’t available in a significant number of territories — there’s now a second game available as poker joins the offerings.
You’ll need to choose your room, each of which has a different buy-in level (determining your starting chips) and which require an increasing number of wins in lower rooms before you can qualify.
The Emerald Room costs 1,000 Solar Coins and has no other requirements. You’ll need to win 15 hands in order to qualify for the Sapphire Room, which also has a 100,000SC buy-in. Finally there’s the Ruby Room, requiring 50 wins and a 500,000SC buy-in.
Each room has three tables, and each table can seat up to eight players — there’s no NPCs in this game — so that up to 24 of the 32 players in any given Casino lobby can play in each room. Voice chat is also available, making the game a little less sterile than cards on a screen and adding to the bluffing possibilities.
From the video above it looks like the ever-popular Texas Hold ‘Em, where you’re dealt two hole cards that you keep throughout and bet on the best five-card hand you can make from those and the five community cards. You’ll get an opportunity to bet again (or fold) after each reveal of a new community card.
Of course it’s not just a game of luck like the slots. You’ll need some poker knowledge to play, such as “don’t go all-in on a pair of threes you landed on the flop”…
Test Drive Unlimited Solar Crown Season 5: Taxi Missions
Taxi driving returns to the TDU universe in Season 5, with a wide variety of missions around the island.
In this mode you’ll need to collect a passenger and deliver them to the destination. However it’s not quite that simple, as they may have different requirements, as well as requests and questions en route.
Reporting 50 different scenarios, KT Racing also notes that there’s four different client profiles which will affect your journey. Some may want you to get there as fast as possible, while others are more concerned with the quality of the drive — and very much dislike speeding and running stop signs.
On the way you might face questions, with multiple responses from which you can select. From the looks of it there’ll be a good answer, a bad answer, and something in-between that you can offer, so make sure you are as diplomatic as possible. The passenger might also ask for things like lowering the window or switching the radio on (or off).
All of these things contribute towards a star rating for the trip. Reach five stars and you’ll get the best rewards, but if you hit zero the mission will end.
Test Drive Unlimited Solar Crown Season 5: Environment Changes
There’s three distinct sections to this, comprising a global update to the graphics courtesy of a change to the KT Engine itself, a reworking of some of the locations on Hong Kong Island, and some new spots in Ibiza in preparation for the upcoming Houses feature.
The first is a relatively brief discussion, with the KT Engine upgrade bringing better rendering for lighting in particular. However KT Racing also notes that the improved rendering pipeline will form the basis of future upgrades and to address issues like frame rate drops.
With the promise of a 1:1 recreation of Hong Kong being central to TDUSC’s ethos, inaccuracies regarding buildings (Solar Hotel tower aside) are doubtless high on KT Racing’s list of priorities. To that end, a number of changes have been implemented in S5, particularly around Aberdeen and Stanley.
While not necessarily something that most players will notice, especially at street level, it does speak to the team’s desire to be as authentic as possible with the geography.
At the same time you’ll be able to find the first two new construction sites over on Ibiza. These locations will be where the game’s houses will be built, and with that feature currently scheduled for Season 8 in July 2026 it’s going to be interesting to see how things develop. Quite literally.
Test Drive Unlimited Solar Crown Season 5: Economy Changes
Headlining the economy changes arriving in S5 is the ability to sell cars to earn some money back on your big purchases.
You’ll be able to sell your cars through the Solar Hotel (or Selene HQ in Ibiza) with a new menu option, and there’s a complicated formula for determining the value of each one. It takes into account the initial purchase price, and any additional cosmetic and performance parts, while also deducting value based on a depreciation calculation and any mileage you’ve put onto the car.
In the example shown in the image above, a Ferrari 488 Pista initially bought for 2.4m Solar Coins with 222,000 SC-worth of performance parts has experienced 20% depreciation but faces no additional penalty based on the 40.1km (25 miles) it’s been driven. That means it’s lost about 300,000 SC in value, or 12,000 SC per mile driven — but at least the seller will get nearly 2.1m back again.
On top of that there’s improved payouts across all races, as well as a new SC bonus available for Live Events rather than just cosmetic items.
There’s also changes to the FRIM (Free Ride Instant Money, should you be wondering) system which rewards you for various stunt driving antics as you explore the map. These include new levels, adjustments to the types of trick and triggers for them, and the removal of the number of times you can cash-in each day.
Test Drive Unlimited Solar Crown Season 5: Updates 1 & 2
KT Racing will reveal more about the timings for the additional updates over the next couple of months, but has already detailed some of the changes on their way.
On the car front there’ll be a new online store added in S5 Update 1, which brings three new special vehicles each season — comprising bodykits or entire official special editions for existing cars. The store will also feature previous Solar Pass reward cars, live event rewards, and cosmetic items.
At present we don’t know which of the various game currencies you’ll need to exchange for the items offered therein, nor any valuations.
The second update will bring along more performance changes, although specifics are under wraps for now. In the S5 announcement, KT Racing noted that while previous changes have been oriented around the console platforms, Update 2 will be more of a global improvement.
We’ll bring you more news and dates from the above when they’re available, but Season 5 is available from today pending the end of the server maintenance period at around 1700 UTC.
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