A racing festival? Whatever next
Test Drive Unlimited was set on a Hawaiian island modelled after O’ahu and theForza Horizongames each focus on a festival of racing events. If those two games were to come together in a high speed collision, the mangled wreckage might look likeThe Crew Motorfest, Ubisoft’s newly announced game about a racing festival on the island of O’ahu. The reveal trailer is below.
My strained metaphor breaks when you watch this, because it doesn’t look like mangled wreckage, it looks like a pretty racing game.
The added detail is that there’s a closed beta beginning tomorrow. You canregister to participate on The Crew site. Only 2000 PC players will be let in for this first test, but it’ll run for a period of weeks and there will be several future phases during which other players will be accepted in.
The Crew 1 and 2 were both similarly open world racing games. There was some fun to be had in going on tourist trips across those worlds, although they mostly aimed for scale of landscape and variety of vehicles rather than rivalling other racing games in terms of the handling model. It was a bitbroken at launch too, andfar from a smooth multiplayer experience.
Ubisoft remain embroiled in several running controversies involving an allegedly toxic workplace culture. In recent weeks, they’ve alsocancelled games and hinted at layoffs,apologised for a CEO letter, and hademployees at Ubisoft Paris walk outin protest.
