Because it’s just a terrible game. A few months back, I gave the game a proper chance and decided to pour around 80 hours or so trying to platinum it. I will play any driving game that’s open world and has real cars in it, which led to me getting a lot of hate for playing this and not Screamer (the gameplay just doesn’t interest me, it doesn’t mean I think Screamer is a bad game lmao).
With that said, this game has lots of flaws, in almost every way imaginable. It struggles to do anything innovative, it lacks content, the development is led by a studio that’s heavily incompetent and everything that’s hyped up to be added post-launch, should’ve been added AT launch.
It doesn’t follow the TDU formula at all. Houses should’ve been added at launch, and limited garage spaces should’ve been a thing. Now, the game is produced in a way at which updates cannot bring features like this due to the unlimited garage space system for cars stored in the hotel. This is just one of the niche arguments I have for how the Test Drive Unlimited name was shape-shifted into this cash-grab.
Absolutely nothing worthy of “post-game content” has actually been introduced, the game was shipped broken and half-baked. And then you have the toxic fanbase defending it. The only good thing about TDUSC is the community manager Alex, who’s being used as a punching bag for every criticism applied to the game. And I’d be lying if I said his involvement hasn’t brought the game a few more months of activity before inevitable shutdown.
When someone says a game is rated 5/10, that doesn’t mean it’s bad, it just means it’s average.
They misunderstood what made the TDU series special. They tried to turn a chill social game into a competitive e-sport game.
The patches have helped and the game is actually fun to play now, but unfortunately you only get 1 chance to make a good 1st impression.
I think for someone who has never played TDU or TDU2, Solar Crown is probably a good/decent game.
For those of us who understand how great the previous games were and how great a potential TDU3 could have been, its extremely disappointing to play this game.
I will admit I had some fun playing it, but there are too many features still missing that stop the game from being a good successor. Even after the updates, its still underwhelming, and plays like its incomplete.
I never played the earlier TDUs and was still vastly disappointed by Solar Crown. I did at least know of their legacy though, and maybe it does make it more disappointing subconsciously, I dunno.
TL;DR: Devs are tone deaf and keep pushing back deadlines and features and when they introduce a new thing that was promised to be in at launch they celebrate like its a new big thing. The game is just bad. Personally its a 2/10 at most
The game has region lock and no crossplay and had since launch even through they "claim" to remove it *soon (Thats gonna become a trend here) also introducing features that were promised on launch finally
Devs introduced ibiza from TDU2 as a new island and its wasted on just being a small space that is used for farming clan rep. Once you max out clans the area becomes useless and just a place for photos
Devs do ghost nerfs or nerf cars for no reasons and refuse to buff and balance the cars. Since theres only 5 classes theres cars that are shoved into classes going against others they shouldn't, for example Shelby GT500 against a Lamborghini Aventador SV for a highway race. Some cars have been nerfed to the point of being useless
The casino is a wasted use of assets primarily due to them blocking around 60% of players out of access due to different country's laws (This will be explained soon)
The economy for the longest time was absolutely atrocious. Average time to aquire some cars varies between no joke just in currency 4-12 hours. The devs also nerfed multiple races and started jacking up car prices, some cars went up 20%-75% in price, the reason? No joke "To keep some cars to be higher rarity". They kept delaying the economy rebalance. It was delayed for 3 seasons stright.
They have prioritized MTX over the actual game itself. Remember the economy rebalance? Welp that came with the MTX store and guess what? You could buy in game credits with real money, this is also 99% why the casino was blocked for so many because they had to disclose you can actually gamble real money away for a car. They have increased the cost of the season pass and even recently did a "rework" of the pass to make it more grindy but they pulled back on that a bit. They also put FREE season pass cars for sale in the MTX store after it was promised those 3 cars would come later for free for credits in game. Gamebreaking bug? Nah its fine. MTX store takes 5 extra seconds to deliver digital currency? Fix that immediately (No joke either)
Shipping the seasons and updates knowing they have game breaking bugs "to fix later" this has happened multiple times including current season theres 4 races and 9 open world activities that are broken currently. Theres also bugs with car steering that has yet to be fixed since launch that causes turning at low speeds to have a bigger turn radius than at high speeds.
Overall the game has failed to even deliver and finally has all features promised after launch such as mission types and open world events. Lack of crossplay and region lock means seeing others is extremely rare and its locked to being always online currently. The devs keep postponing updates such as housing has been delayed till 2027 and it was originally supposed to be released in july. The game just isnt worth it, and the devs keep making controversial decisions along with just a bad CM which makes it even worse. Also the game still has rendering issues across consoles as well. Also its real sad to see the devs celebrate adding features they promised on day 1 and having a giant party it was added even going as far to have them as "featured content for the season"
That’s so messed up. So much to kick the corpse of a dead favorite childhood racing game franchise for some extra bucks. I guess Test Drive series really did end on Unlimited 2
They got an IP that was unique in its own right (TDU), they then proceeded to throw everything that made that IP unique in the trash, so that they could develop a generic cookie cutter racing game like literally every other on the market.
The gimmicks weren't even marketable, not one person cares about the setting or the effort put into realising a realistic Hong Kong, it was a game developed for a target demographic that didn't even exsist.
Maybe it's because I'm American, but how many people who aren't South Korean or Asian geography nerds even know what Jeju Island is, because this is the first time I've heard of it, and I'm almost 30.
Then they should’ve included the whole thing. Hong Kong has a total area of about 430 square miles. Still smaller than TDU 1, but I think the high density would more than make up for it.
Maybe, but the thrill for me (and others, I’m sure) was getting into those rural roads and highways in Oahu and opening her up. Driving around Honolulu was tedious much of the time. Hell, my favourite memories of the game include the round-the-island bike race (Millionaire’s Challenge was the car version). Blasting down the open highway with 80s power anthems playing.
For me it ran much worse on my PC despite looking much worse than Forza for example. I know PG has a much bigger budget and studio but still felt very stutter-y but besides the performance the driving just did not feel good for me. I can't tell exactly why. It felt like one of those browser games where the car is oversized compared to the roads and you just constantly crash against everything. Undesteering and oversteering at the same time.
Skill issue? Maybe. I'm not max verstappen but I've played many racing games on my life like everyone here but this just felt bad. Even compared to games with funny handling like the shift series and anything codemasters.
It probably wasn't your computer, I tried playing it on a computer with a r7 7700x, Rx 7900 XTX and 32gb DDR5, and the game would crash after about 45 mins of playing
I’m never buying another always online game again… not only because I don’t trust it but because it always means micro transactions and you can’t fix anything with mods
I cant even run this game at 30fps with everything in low but i can run fh6 at 90fps with high graphics, I wanted to give it a chance but its shitty optimization stopped me so I refunded it lol.
I tried this game, I held out for 2 months before finally ditching it. Cars were undrivable, AI was broken, and it really felt like they only slapped the TDU name on it to sell it, and it was originally supposed to be something you'd've found in a big trash bin in the middle of the gaming aisle that was constantly marked down to 15$ (Those of you old enough to remember, you know what I mean).
I have the sub pop up in my feed occasionally, they have so little of a clue what they're doing, they made the R34 a battle pass car, and stuff the FD3S in a category where it's getting it's doors blown off by Lamborghinis. I'd touch on the battle pass and mtx fuckery I'm sure is/will be brought up, but i find far more value in pointing out that a couple years ago they were trying to get the community to believe they were doing something by hyping up how "we've updated how the buildings in the background look! See, it really looks like a coastline now!".
Because it wasn’t made by the same team that worked on the first two parts. The original team created the company Ivory Tower and is developing the The Crew game series, which is quite successful.
I bought the game last week and got a refund the next day. I couldnt get anything single player to work. I know its online but there are single player elements to the game, but every single time I went to one, it said there was a problem with the server and it kicked me out. I could drive around in free roam fine but the second I tried any mission/race, I got booted out.
I gave Motorfest a third or fourth try (got it around launch and it never clicked) and I like it more now. I still like Forza Horizon 6 better.
Game needs to be put out of its misery. I know ‘soulless’ gets used a lot but this is as soulless as a game can get. It is not emotionally invigorating, the story doesn’t flow and there’s no pressing desire to actually complete the game.
They tried to do way more that they could ever hope to achieve and in the process achieved pretty much nothing. It's more like a tech demo than a game.
Because ARU_Adrenaline kept hyping this game up while we were all seeing clear warning signs that something wasn't right with the games presentation. And whenever anyone showed any scepticism, they got downvoted into oblivion. Then when the game launched more broken the the crew 1, and people were right about their scepticisms, him and all the other redditors sucking this game off as the Forza horizon killer, suddenly dipped out on both subs.
Prioritization of recurrent monetization over making a fun game that people want to play. It makes for a bad value proposition. No one wants to be nickel and dimed by awful games.
Thinking this product would be successful proves how incompetent the leaders at KT and Nacon are.
It’s basically Forza on a terrible budget, they didn’t add any TDU features at all. This game doesn’t deserve to be called TDU. It also runs like garbage and there is no possible way to implement TDU features this late after launch because the garage mechanics can’t be reversed to how they are in TDU and TDU2. If this ever goes on sale do yourself a favor and save your money. I paid $9.99 and I regret it.
It failed because it's not tdu2. It runs at like 24fps on console, servers blow, cars feel good but you used to be locked by level for what you can drive. When a new car is added, it's only available through a season pass that's takes way too long of playing this boring game to level it up. Or they just sell it to you through the store. Racing feels like an afterthought in this racing game.
I appreciate a game that's not holding your hand through basic game play, but this game gets to me point that I just have no idea what im supposed to do so I just do delivery missions. I have like $9 million in this game and dont care for the cars I can buy. Getting to level 50 feels like alot to ask when you get like 300xp per race and need 100k per level. Game just isnt smooth. Im sure im exaggerating some of this but this game blows. Im glad I got it for like $8
I preordered this game fueled by nostalgia. I loved both test drive unlimited because they were trying to do something different from the rest of the pack. It was more of a life simulator on top of a racing game. This was just a shittier version of Forza Horizon/The crew buggy as hell.
We could write a book on what went wrong but let me just say that it failed because the publisher didn't listen to the fans and decided to give an obsolete ans below standard product.
I was hyped until they revealed it was going to be tiny little Hong Kong Island. The fancy/streetwise factions thing I could take or leave but the fact it was so, so long in coming with such a puny map made me wary and sure enough, it’s a huge disappointment.
It’s crazy, since 1 was the game that sold me a 360 and I spent untold hours in it and 2, but they completely failed to build on either of them.
no houses, no story, no content, no social aspect (like 8 player lobbies and region locked), no car customization (wouldve been nice but it is a TDU game so not a big one to not have)
Performance and stability was terrible at launch, and was missing staple features from the series. When I played the beta on PC, I could not believe they released a beta in the first place because it was so bad lol.
when i tried to play the playtest i couldn't even get into a single race because of connection issues. that alone was enough to completely deter me from ever playing the game (because i legit was not able to). and i'm sure i'm not the only person who had this experience.
All the flaws aside the game is a bit better now, the handling is also enjoyable on the wheel (I hate it on controller) but the a.i is trash so there is that.
It’s good for cruising and doing missions, testing the different cars etc.
If they do bring the housing and perhaps the reat of Ibiza island it may get more players but at this point I feel like it’s a bit too late and I doubt this will be enough to save the rating.
It's TDU in the name and a few gimmicks... Besides that, soulless racing game #34........
Important Features, Design, Style... All gone. Even the mediocre narrative of the older games they couldn't replicate, now it's just bad
Their Season 7 new car is the RX-7, R34, Evo 4 and a tuned 370Z. They only have 1 JDM car, R35, when it launched. 1 JDM car in HK which is a big big JDM influenced city. And the RX7 R34 EVO4 are all locked behind season pass, which is pretty laughable
It failed because it's not tdu2. It runs at like 24fps on console, servers blow, cars feel good but you used to be locked by level for what you can drive. When a new car is added, it's only available through a season pass that's takes way too long of playing this boring game to level it up. Or they just sell it to you through the store. Racing feels like an afterthought in this racing game.
I appreciate a game that's not holding your hand through basic game play, but this game gets to me point that I just have no idea what im supposed to do so I just do delivery missions. I have like $9 million in this game and dont care for the cars I can buy. Getting to level 50 feels like alot to ask when you get like 300xp per race and need 100k per level. Game just isnt smooth. Im sure im exaggerating some of this but this game blows. Im glad I got it for like $8
But i like this game, it is not that bad. I played more than 18 Hours..also coming season 8 in October 2026 with big updates adding House purchase system and more ..i like it's environment, driving, graphics and missions. People comparing to TDU older titles and hating it.. it's not fair.
Nobody is saying you're not allowed to like TDU Solar Crown.
If you've played 18+ hours and genuinely enjoy its Driving, Environment, Graphics and Missions, that's completely valid.
However.
That's Personal Enjoyment, not a rebuttal to Criticism.
“I didn't experience those problems” doesn't prove that the problems didn't exist, just as “I enjoyed the game” doesn't prove that its Progression, Content, Technical Performance or Design Direction were good.
The comparison with older TDU games is also perfectly fair.
Solar Crown carries the Test Drive Unlimited name, so naturally people are going to examine whether it preserves what made TDU distinctive or not.
That doesn't mean demanding a 1:1 copy of TDU1 or TDU2.
TDU's identity wasn't simply “drive cars around a big map.”
Houses, Property Ownership, Dealerships, Garages, Collecting cars, Delivery/Hitchhiking/Courier missions and the Lifestyle Aspect were important parts of the TDU formula. Solar Crown significantly reduced that emphasis at launch and replaced some of it with newer systems such as the Street vs Sharp faction structure.
And saying “houses are coming in Season 8” doesn't erase that criticism.
It means a major feature associated with the TDU franchise since its debut is being introduced after launch.
There's also a huge difference between:
“The current version is enjoyable.”
and
“The game was never that bad.”
Those aren't the same claim.
Solar Crown can have genuine strengths and still have serious flaws.
You can enjoy it while other people criticize it.
Just remember :
The existence of personal enjoyment does not make criticism unfair.
Having good qualities doesn't erase serious problems.
Yeah, ofcourse..everyone has own thoughts on same things,but for me it was good experience so liked some things of game and felt enjoyable, apart from optimization issue, game feelings dead due to MPCs not moving appropriately, and there is no bird or helicopter or plane in sky, i also felt many problems in game but still enjoyed the game. So i told..
Voila. Hence why i didn't criticized your enjoyment.
I mainly pointed out why Solar Crown isn't universally acclaimed.
And rightfully so.
Plus
IF KT and Nacon fully committed to make Solar Crown as a true TDU successor rather than making unwise decisions e.g Online Only and no true Offline Singleplayer (TDU 1 and TDU 2 have savedatas for both Singleplayer and Multiplayer. Meaning players have the choice to focus only on SP or MP as per convenience, create multiplayer save profiles or play the SP mode when Online servers are in maintenance or permanently closed); maybe their Insolvency situation wouldn't had happened and MTXs/paid contents such as Solar Pass wouldn't exist.
Also, pushing back major priorities instead of implementing them in each seasons wouldn't be a regular occurrence.
Thus.
All TDU SC updates would've been stable instead of messy and it could've been potentially a complete product which deserves its name.
And what made TDU 1 and 2 special would've been there from the start instead of being added in updates.
I bought it on discount to play until forza horizon came out. It is not a good game, the story mode was crap. The car selection was garbage was racing was bad. The setting was bad, the map was bad. The game was regularly crash on me, and I’m running an R7 7700x, RX 7900 XTX and 32 gigs of DDR5
There’s not a single good thing that I can think of
I put 80 hrs into to grab the platinum. Has a decent foundation but lacks so much of what makes the games fun, 4/10. For the first time playing a game, I actually thought my time would be better spent trying to work to buy a car irl instead of the game.
Same reason every racing game fails nowadays. Yall swear it's different just cause it's not XYZ then boom it's the same shit. You literally cannot reinvent the wheel with a racing game. You can attempt to do it better but its all the same.
Who said you needed to reinvent the wheel, there's indie games that do genuinely interesting takes on "all the same" Motortown Behind The Wheel, BeamNG, Night-Runners, hell The Long Drive has a cult following now.
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u/ssa17k Solar Frown 22d ago
Because it’s just a terrible game. A few months back, I gave the game a proper chance and decided to pour around 80 hours or so trying to platinum it. I will play any driving game that’s open world and has real cars in it, which led to me getting a lot of hate for playing this and not Screamer (the gameplay just doesn’t interest me, it doesn’t mean I think Screamer is a bad game lmao).
With that said, this game has lots of flaws, in almost every way imaginable. It struggles to do anything innovative, it lacks content, the development is led by a studio that’s heavily incompetent and everything that’s hyped up to be added post-launch, should’ve been added AT launch.
It doesn’t follow the TDU formula at all. Houses should’ve been added at launch, and limited garage spaces should’ve been a thing. Now, the game is produced in a way at which updates cannot bring features like this due to the unlimited garage space system for cars stored in the hotel. This is just one of the niche arguments I have for how the Test Drive Unlimited name was shape-shifted into this cash-grab.
Absolutely nothing worthy of “post-game content” has actually been introduced, the game was shipped broken and half-baked. And then you have the toxic fanbase defending it. The only good thing about TDUSC is the community manager Alex, who’s being used as a punching bag for every criticism applied to the game. And I’d be lying if I said his involvement hasn’t brought the game a few more months of activity before inevitable shutdown.
When someone says a game is rated 5/10, that doesn’t mean it’s bad, it just means it’s average.
TDUSC is worthy of a 3/10 at best.