Test Drive Unlimited Solar Crown is a car driving simulation game developed by KT Racing and published by Nacon. The game, still in development since its postponement was announced last year, will take place on the recreated 1:1 scale Hong Kong Island. The developers have focused on faithful reproduction of the city to provide an immersive and realistic driving experience.
In a message to fans, the developers talked about the need for players to know the terrain perfectly to become an excellent driver. They stressed that mastering speed and turns, managing terrain, weather conditions and light were all elements that had to be taken into account in order to succeed. The city of Hong Kong seems like an ideal playground.
The island offers a wide variety of landscapes, ranging from the traditional narrow streets of the old town, to wide highways promoting top speed, to mountain off-road trails that require skill and technique. The choice of a suitable vehicle and the piloting skills of the players will allow them to make the difference on the different types of terrain offered.
The dynamic weather system and different times of day add an extra dimension to the driving experience. Players will go from a sunny walk at dawn to a long night ride in stormy weather. The rain will have a real impact on the behavior of their vehicle, and they will have to adapt their driving to avoid involuntary skids, possibly change tires and adjust gear ratios.
In total, more than 600 kilometers of road will be passable in the game, which makes it a real invitation to explore. Discovering the roads of Hong Kong is also an important part of the gameplay of Test Drive Unlimited Solar Crown, because the more players discover, the more rewards they earn.
Alain Jarniou, the creative director, underlined that the faithful representation of the island of Hong Kong has been a real challenge for the development team. In an open world game like TDU, it is necessary to provide a smooth and interesting driving experience while promoting exploration, which is an important part of the experience. The developers also want to be very faithful to reality to reinforce immersion and make players travel. So they reproduced HK on a 1:1 scale, a technological challenge as much as a challenge in terms of gameplay.
Test Drive Unlimited: Solar Crown is still scheduled for this year 2023 on PC and PS5 and Xbox Series X|S consoles.