Test Drive Unlimited Solar Crown Season 1 is now underway as of October 2nd, 8 AM UTC. This season introduces new challenges for you to showcase your driving skills as well as various items to unlock through the new Solar Pass. Two exclusive cars are also arriving this season: the Audi RS e-tron GT and the Pininfarina Battista.
The First Solar Pass
This season marks the launch of the Solar Pass, which we decided to offer to all players. The pass consists of 25 levels that you can progressively unlock by participating in any race. Each level will allow you to earn exclusive rewards, such as:
Stickers
Rims
Emotes
Clothes
Solar Coins
The exclusive Board Committee Chief outfit
Most importantly, reaching the final level 25, rewards you with the stunning Audi RS e-tron GT, a high-performance electric car from the Grand Tourer category.
Ranked Competitive Season
For competitive drivers, Test Drive Unlimited Solar Crown launches its first ranked season, allowing racers to climb the ranks from Bronze to Solar Court. The player with the highest number of Solar points at the end of the season will be crowned Solar King or Solar Queen!
Solar Coins and exclusive rank stickers will be awarded based on your final score. Players who reach Solar Court at the end of the season will also unlock an exclusive hypercar: the 2021 Pininfarina Battista! This car will be exclusive to Solar Court members during the following season and can’t be purchased by other players. After this temporary exclusivity period, the car will become available to everyone in one of our car dealers.
Live Events begin!
Alongside the competitive season, the game introduces Live Events: weekly challenges that offer fresh content. New live events will drop every Wednesday at 8 AM UTC, ensuring constant variety throughout the season.
The first live event, titled '2CV Anniversary,' celebrates the classic Citroën 2CV. This legendary car was unveiled 76 years ago at the Paris Motor Show. Players who complete the event will be rewarded with a unique Stripped Breton Jacket. Three special races, exclusively for 2CV models, are now available on your map.
Whether you're cruising the streets of Hong Kong Island, racing to climb the ranks, or collecting cars, Test Drive Unlimited Solar Crown Season 1 offers new challenges to every kind of player until December 18th. Season 2 will follow directly after, with the exciting return of Ibiza and a new free Solar Pass!
Remaining bugs & servers issues
The first major patch was deployed on September 30th, bringing numerous improvements and bug fixes. You can read more about the patch notes here
However, some bugs and issues remain, and we are working day and night on resolving them. If you encounter any technical problems or have specific questions, please use the MyNacon support space. This is the best way to ensure the development team is informed of any game issues and can work on fixing them.
More information about the Solar Pass
For Season 2 in December, you can expect the same type of content as Season 1, with a free 25-level Solar Pass offered to all players.
For Season 3 coming in March 2025, things will evolve:
The Solar Pass will increase from 25 to 50 levels, with not just one but two exclusive cars to unlock.
The Solar Pass will include both free and premium rewards.
Silver Edition owners will unlock their Solar Pass with access to all rewards (free + premium).
Gold Edition owners will also unlock their VIP Solar Pass, with access to all rewards, but with 20 levels already unlocked.
Solar Pass and VIP Solar Pass will be available for purchase to all the other players.
More details will be shared in the future regarding the Solar Pass for Season 4 and Year 2.
We are glad to announce the release of the first major patch for Test Drive Unlimited Solar Crown. This patch brings significant improvements to the gameplay experience on both PC and consoles. This update will be available for download on all platforms on Monday, September 30 at 08:00 AM UTC.
For the implementation of this update, the servers will undergo maintenance for a few hours starting at the same time (08:00 AM UTC). The reopening of the servers will be announced across all our social media pages.
Changelog (all platforms)
🌐 Servers/Networks
Significant server/network improvements: fixed login errors, lobbies and races disconnections, save issues & other specific server-related problems.
Fixed issue where meeting points and POI discovery were not saved
🛠️ Performances/Stability
Stability improvements (fixed various crashes and freezes)
Performances improvements (increased global framerate while maintaining the same graphics quality)
🌄 Graphics/Interfaces(UX/UI)
Added Master setting in graphical options
Fixed graphical tearing issue
Fix some cases of bad rendering in virtual garage when accessing pause menu
PC Only: Removed displayed menus when enabling Nvidia Ansel
Fixed various Live Events UI issues
Fix a few "NoLoca" issues
Fixed wrong display of turbo on the HUD.
🔊 Audio
Improved environmental sounds
Fixed incorrect audio in some languages
🔀 Compatibility
Improved support for peripherals (steering wheels, shifters, etc.)
Improved support for ultra-wide monitors
💠 Misc
300+ miscellaneous minor bugfixes
Resolved cases of hardlock after the first race of the onboarding
Fixed ELO not decreasing when abandoning ranked races
Fixed suspension issues on various cars
Prevented several cases where player could drive through NPCs in free roam
Fixed cases where AI would drive in the opposite way after finishing a race.
Improved pathfinding of GPS
Removed incorrect indication of a race at lvl 3 that should not exist.
Updated the price of special edition cars
Although this patch fixes the majority of issues encountered since launch, you may still experience specific bugs. Rest assured, we are already working on the next game updates, which will continue to improve the overall quality of Test Drive Unlimited Solar Crown.
If you haven't seen it yet, we invite you to check out our latest Dev Diary, which focuses on the launch as well as the upcoming development stages, and shares our thoughts on several key topics important to the community, including:
Issues encountered at launch and upcoming compensation
Offline/Solo features
Optimization
The start of Season 1
Cross-play/Cross-region
AI
META
We’ve heard your concerns about the focus on racing in the game. Of course we know that the Test Drive Unlimited DNA is not just about racing – the lifestyle aspect is a key element of the experience. That's why our upcoming seasonal updates (Ibiza, Clan War, Casino, etc.) will increasingly emphasize the lifestyle component. While the initial part of the progression focuses on racing, rest assured that our long-term vision fully embraces your lifestyle expectations. As always, we're listening closely to your feedback to deliver the features and content you're all looking forward to in the future.
✅ In order to address a large number of servers/connection issues, we are now performing servers maintenance this wednesday, September 18th at 08:00 AM UTC for a few hours.
This servers maintenance will:
- Improve the stability of races instances, significantly reducing most error message pop-ups during or at the end of races. This also applies to in-game savegame pop-up issues.
- Fix the majority of progression save issues related to roads progression discovery.
- Improve the online matchmaking.
⚙️ The majority of the remaining servers/connection issues will be fixed in our first major patch, coming very soon.
Thank you for your understanding! The TDU Development team.
Launch Feedback & Next Steps
Dear players,
Test Drive Unlimited Solar Crown has been available to all players since September 12 on PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X|S. If you haven’t seen it yet, we invite you to check out the launch trailer below:
This launch is the culmination of over six years of development by a little over 90 developers, animators, designers, artists, and many others. Test Drive Unlimited Solar Crown is a project particularly close to our teams' hearts. It is now time to revisit most of the topics raised by the community with you, while also sharing information on the next stages of development.
Servers
As you know, September 5 marked the start of Early Unlock for Gold Edition owners. Beyond this Early Unlock, players also got to discover 6 exceptional cars in their garage, 3 exclusive sticker packs, and 3 unique legendary outfits.
However, the Early Unlock launch did not go as we had hoped. Many of you experienced connection and/or game access issues. From day one, we focused all our efforts on improving the game services to allow most players to enjoy the long-awaited Test Drive Unlimited Solar Crown experience.
As mentioned in our previous official communication regarding the server issues, we continue every day to work tirelessly to resolve these problems once and for all. Today, although the majority of issues have been resolved, there are still persistent cases in certain regions/platforms, including an issue related to saves, which is currently being fixed. Several reasons explain this:
- Every day since September 5, new milestones of simultaneous players have been reached. This pushes the servers and the game’s databases to face new technical challenges, leading to unprecedented network issues. Although the previous playtest and beta phases helped us anticipate and prevent many imbalances for the launch, some technical scenarios could only be discovered with the player volume present at launch.
- Certain technical solutions also require extensive internal testing before deployment to ensure they don't cause side effects or additional issues.
- We prioritize "smooth" and "transparent" solutions for players as much as possible, rather than large maintenance periods that make the game unavailable and disconnect all players for several hours.
We are now confident in resolving the main issues encountered and still consider the improvement of technical services a priority. Every day, new fixes are applied. In the coming days, larger operations will take place to deploy more profound fixes. These may sometimes require server maintenance or even the download of a patch. In any case, you will be informed in advance through our various social media channels!
Compensation
As also mentioned in our previous official communication regarding the server issues, we confirm that compensation will be sent to all players who experienced incomplete gameplay due to connection/server issues. We are especially thinking of Gold Edition owners who could not fully enjoy the Early Unlock starting on September 5.
Many of you are wondering about the nature of the compensation. We are considering compensation that matches the frustration caused by the issues encountered, while ensuring we don’t create unfairness for unaffected players or disrupt the unique progression balance of Test Drive Unlimited Solar Crown. Although it is too early to confirm what this compensation will be, rest assured, it will not simply be a number of Solar Coins or an Avatar cosmetic.
Optimization & Graphics
Beyond connection/server issues, optimization (framerate) and graphics on PC or consoles are also causing reactions.
Although optimization and graphical quality have been greatly improved since the first playtests or the latest betas, some of you feel there is still room for improvement. Rest assured, we are also working hard on these aspects. A major update aimed at further improving the visual experience is currently in progress. We will share more details soon.
In the meantime, here are some important tips to ensure the best visual experience possible in Test Drive Unlimited Solar Crown.
For PC players
First, ensure that your PC meets the official minimum and recommended requirements listed here. We also remind you that an SSD is mandatory to play the game. The read speed of an HDD is unfortunately not enough to display all the map textures and significantly lowers the framerate. So, make sure to install the game on your SSD. Also, feel free to use the various in-game graphic settings to find the best quality/performance balance, particularly through NVIDIA DLSS or AMD's FSR technologies, which can help you achieve this. Updating your graphics drivers is also highly recommended.
For console players
The PS5 and Xbox Series X|S offer two interchangeable modes at any time:
A visual quality mode, allowing you to play in 1440p 30fps A performance mode, allowing you to play in 1080p 60fps
Don’t hesitate to experiment with both modes to decide which suits your gaming experience best. These modes will continue to be improved through updates to ensure an ever-higher/stable framerate, while optimizing graphical quality so you can enjoy Hong Kong Island and your cars in the best possible conditions!
Graphic optimization, like the game servers, remains a development priority for our teams, even after the game’s launch, in close collaboration with specific hardware manufacturers.
Next steps
The coming weeks will be eventful, both to improve your gaming experience and to offer you exclusive new content.
First major patch
Very soon, our first major patch will be available for all PC, PS5, and XS|X players. This update will include more than 300 fixes, varying in importance and based on your feedback. They may concern visual issues on Hong Kong Island or the different interfaces, but also gameplay balancing for AIs or races.
Beyond these fixes, this patch will also significantly improve game optimization (framerate) on all platforms. The minimum and recommended configurations will be updated accordingly. It will also improve the compatibility and functionality of certain peripherals (steering wheels, shifters, pedals, etc.). As a reminder, you can check the list of compatible peripherals as well as known issues here. This patch is currently undergoing thorough checks and intensive tests to ensure everything is functional once applied to the game and to reduce risks during deployment. We will share detailed information and the release date on our various social media channels.
Dev Diary in preparation
Beyond the technical optimization topics that are currently a priority for our teams, we are also closely monitoring your feedback on our social media (Discord, X, Facebook, Reddit, Instagram, Steam), as well as from content creators (YouTube/Twitch) more broadly. This helps us better understand your feedback on the game itself: gameplay, features, balance, etc.
Very soon, Alain Jarniou, Creative Director at KT Racing, will return with you in a "Dev Diary" video to discuss the game’s launch and the main topics at the heart of community discussions (optimization, offline mode, balancing, AI, etc.).
Post-launch content announcement video
For those who haven’t seen it yet, we have already announced most of the updates you can expect in the first year after launch: the return of Ibiza, clan wars, the return of the casino, and answers on topics eagerly awaited by the community: real estate, motorcycles, improvements to steering wheel rotation, etc.
Finally, as already mentioned, we are pleased to see many players embracing the game exactly as we had always envisioned. Seeing you share numerous photos of your garages or screenshots of your best drives with friends at sunrise or sunset on social media warms our hearts and represents the unique vision of automotive passion in Test Drive Unlimited. And this is just the beginning!
Credit to Xerphonic from the official TDUSC Discord.
Credit to Rombus9 from the official TDUSC Discord.
Credit to Timo8201 from the official TDUSC Discord.
Credit to Galaxia349 from the official TDUSC Discord.
We also encourage you to join the official Discord server to get real-time updates about Test Drive Unlimited Solar Crown: https://discord.gg/testdrive
Thank you for your continued support, The TDU Development team.
Test Drive Unlimited Solar Crown is now available!
Today, September 12, 2024, Test Drive Unlimited Solar Crown officially launches for standard edition owners. Starting now, you can embark on your adventure on Hong Kong Island in search of the world's most beautiful cars!
Watch the launch trailer now:
Feel free to join the official Discord server to get real-time updates about Test Drive Unlimited Solar Crown: https://discord.gg/testdrive
Update & information about remaining servers issues & compensation
Dear Players,
As mentioned in our previous communication on Thursday, September 5th, we are making every effort to resolve the server and connection issues that some players have been experiencing.
Today, we can finally inform you that the quality of most services has significantly improved since the official launch of the Early Unlock. The percentage of players successfully logged in has increased from 45% just three hours after launch to a steady 96% eight hours later and remains stable since then. If you encountered issues during the initial hours, we encourage you to reconnect and dive back into your adventure on Hong Kong Island!
We know that some players are still facing occasional connection or login difficulties, and we remain fully committed to resolving these problems over the coming hours and days. Our focus now is on race servers, which are currently the main remaining issues (lobby errors).
If your progression is stuck because of races error messages, please find below some temporary solutions to apply:
Error Messages After a Race: If you see an error message at the end of a race asking if you want to return to the lobby or free roam, please wait and do not press "Yes" immediately. The game periodically makes requests to the servers, and it typically resolves itself within a few minutes.
Launching a Race: Sometimes, it may be necessary to persist when trying to start a race. Keep trying if you encounter difficulties.
Onboarding Issues (Aberdeen first selection races): If you have completed the second onboarding race but do not see the heliport on your map, please replay the first onboarding race.
If you do not see the second onboarding race after finishing the first, try replaying the first race. If it remains blocked, please request a save reset.
Upcoming Fixes: We are aware of these issues and plan to address them in an upcoming patch.
We also understand the frustration this situation has caused, particularly for those who purchased the Gold Edition to access the game early. To express our gratitude for your patience and to apologize for the inconvenience, we will be offering in-game compensation to all affected players once these issues are fully resolved. More details regarding the compensation will be communicated at a later date.
Rest assured, we are continually optimizing the game to deliver the experience you expect from Test Drive Unlimited Solar Crown. This is just the beginning of the journey!
Lastly, seeing more and more of you enjoying the game when everything runs smoothly gives us even more energy to address these issues as quickly as possible.
We also encourage you to join the official Discord server to get real-time updates about Test Drive Unlimited Solar Crown: https://discord.gg/testdrive
Thank you for your continued support. The TDU Development Team
An update on Early Unlock Servers/Connection issues
Test Drive Unlimited Solar Crown is now available for Gold Edition owners through the Early Unlock!
An update on the connection/servers issues
09:12 PM UTC - UPDATE: We are seeing significant improvements with the solutions implemented over the past hour. Although some issues persist, the quality of services is improving across all regions. We continue to work on fixes and monitor any issues you may encounter.
Since the official server launch today at 08:00 AM UTC, many players have encountered severe connection issues with the game, mainly with login, lobbies, and various online features. These issues applies to all platforms: PC (Steam), PS5 & Xbox Series X|S.
Our teams are working tirelessly to stabilize the servers so that everyone can enjoy the game as soon as possible. To give you more context on the current situation, we have tried multiple solutions to address these network issues:
Our server team has actively investigated the root causes of connection failures.
We have implemented server optimizations to handle the high volume of players trying to access the game.
We have increased server capacity to reduce queues and connection failures.
Our quality assurance team has conducted thorough tests to ensure the stability of our fixes before deploying them.
Although each solution has helped partially, some of them have also introduced new technical challenges.
We are actively working to resolve all the network issues and thank you again for your patience.
We also encourage you to join the official Discord server to get real-time updates about Test Drive Unlimited Solar Crown: https://discord.gg/testdrive
We are pleased to confirm that the early unlock of Test Drive Unlimited Solar Crown has begun. All players who own the Gold Edition can now take their first spins on the island of Hong Kong!
Some of you are currently experiencing connection issues with the servers and are unable to access the game. Our teams are doing everything possible to fix these issues as quickly as possible, so you can embark on this new Test Drive Unlimited adventure as soon as possible.
We invite all players to join our Discord server to follow all the latest updates in real time: https://discord.gg/testdrive
Thank you and see you soon! The TDUSC Development Team.
TDUSC | Year 1 Roadmap reveal
Dear Members,
Test Drive Unlimited Solar Crown is a game designed to last for many years. We’re excited to reveal all the content waiting for you in the first year while sharing our feedback on the most anticipated features from the community.
Watch the full reveal video now:
What to Expect in the First Year
Return to Ibiza, clan wars, the casino, and many more features and improvements are waiting for you in the first year of Test Drive Unlimited Solar Crown's launch. Check out the detailed roadmap below to see everything planned and get ready for an incredible year ahead!
In Season 1 (September 2024), you’ll explore the vibrant streets of Hong Kong Island and dive into the Solar Crown competition. With 60 levels to climb, you'll have the opportunity to rise through the ranks and acquire some of the world’s most stunning cars. Additionally, a clan progression system with 50 levels will let you become a key figure within your clan.
Season 2 (December 2024) brings the exciting return to Ibiza. This faithfully recreated environment scaled 1:1, focuses on the capital, Eivissa, and its surroundings. It will introduce a new character responsible for the Streets and Sharps competition. You’ll find 20 more clan levels, bringing the total to 70, along with new rewards and Streets and Sharps-themed clothing boutiques. Expect to see new cars, including two exclusive models and five Selene Editions, boosted versions of existing cars.
Additionally, during the first and second seasons, you’ll receive free access to two Solar Passes, each with 25 levels. By reaching the max level, you can earn an exclusive car. Progress through all the in-game activities (races, exploration, quests) to advance in these passes. The rewards will include various upgrades such as an exclusive garage, avatar cosmetics, and other exciting items.
In Season 3 (March 2025), get ready for an epic clan war between the Streets and Sharps. Engage in a variety of activities across both Hong Kong Island and Ibiza, with 30 additional levels to unlock. New dedicated cosmetics for each clan will be available, alongside seasonal content, live events, daily events, and continued Solar Crown competition.
Finally, Season 4 (June 2025) will conclude the year with the much-anticipated return of the casino. This will feature 50 progression levels, poker, slot machines, and exclusive cosmetics for both avatars and cars, with opportunities to win new vehicles.
We’re committed to keeping Test Drive Unlimited Solar Crown fresh and engaging with ongoing updates. While you’ll start with your own hotel room, we’re considering expanding the real estate elements in future updates. Additionally, we’re looking into adding motorcycles in later seasons, drawing from our experience with this type of content. These are long-term projects still in the planning stages and will require significant time to develop.
We’re also addressing feedback on steering wheel handling & animation from the cockpit view to ensure a smooth driving experience. These improvements are expected to be implemented swiftly within the first year.
We look forward to seeing you on September 12, or September 5 for Collector/Gold Edition players. Get ready to experience the ultimate racing & lifestyle experience with Test Drive Unlimited Solar Crown!
See you on the streets of Hong Kong Island!
Latest Pre-Launch Development Progress
⚙️ For technical reasons, the console betas are running on a build that's a few weeks old (equivalent to the Steam Next Fest PC Demo).
✅ We did this to focus our resources on fine-tuning the game for the early unlock on September 5th and the official launch on September 12th.
📺Since a video is worth a thousand words, check out some of our recent progress:
Dear players,