It should also be worth mentioning that Car Delivery and Navigation Mode will offer a bonus 20% in rewards for Season 3’s launch!
Now that we’ve given you a quick summary, let’s go into all the details about what Season 3 will bring, and a slight tease of the future of Test Drive Unlimited Solar Crown!
TABLE OF CONTENTS:
[olist]
Contracts: Car Delivery Missions
A big part of the TDU DNA is missions, and we are happy to bring Car Delivery Missions first into TDUSC’s world! There are some features we brought from TDU2 that made this feature key, but we also improved various aspects of them. You’ll be able to find over 30 of these missions across Hong Kong Island and Ibiza, and we plan to increase this number in an update of Season 3. Now let's go into the details!
How To Find Them
Contracts is the official name of ‘missions’ we bring into TDUSC, the first being Car Delivery. Around both islands you will find these icons with two keys on them with various colours. These colours represent the rarity of the mission, and of course the more rare the mission, the less you will see it, but if you do, it will offer you some great money! In reference to the screenshot below, you can find a timer countdown on these icons. Similar to TDU2, when the timer gets to 0:00 before you accept the mission, the mission disappears and is replaced with another somewhere on the map. You can find a total of 3 missions at a time on Hong Kong Island and 2 missions at a time on Ibiza with different rotation times. Some other things to notice is missions will have different client requirements; which affects how quickly damage can be taken on the vehicle, as well as traffic density, road wetness, and the weather and distance, and even if the car is tuned!
The Story Aspect
Something that TDU Car Delivery missions lacked was the story behind them. You just picked a car up from a random character, and delivered it to a location, often all with the same concept. This is something we wanted to enhance with TDUSC, so let’s give you some examples!
- Ryan Wilder Contract - Here you can see a previous TDU2 character needs a Lamborghini Urus delivered to him. This car has been modified, and in usual fashion, Ryan Wilder is ‘very tolerant’, which means the damage meter will be harder to knock down to 0%. To enhance this further, the delivery location of this mission has had some new props added to them to enhance the experience with the connected storyline, as you meet the director at the location of the movie set.
- Dealership Delivery Contract - This was the mission you saw teased at Nacon Connect, where we need to deliver a Koenigsegg Agera RS. The story behind this is we need to deliver the car to the Luxury Cars Dealership, and we pick it up from its current transport truck location. When we arrive at the dealership, you are greeted by a dealership employee, thus enhancing the connection.
There are plenty of other scenarios to find day one of Season 3, and at the addition of more missions in a future update of Season 3!
In Mission
When you start a mission, on the top you will have a bar that starts at 100%. Your goal is to arrive at the destination with as high of a percentage as possible. You will reduce your percentage by damaging the car through driving on unsuitable surfaces, hitting traffic, walls, pylons, and more. Be careful, as the client may be less or more tolerant when it comes to damage, which means hitting things can take a smaller or higher damage percentage compared to other missions. The more percentage you have at the mission end, the more money and reputation you receive!
Mission Fail and Pass
As long as you arrive at the destination before your bar hits 0%, you will pass the mission, however your payout will range based on how damaged you deliver the vehicle. You can restart the mission as many times as you want through the pause function, however, if you fail the mission, you will not be able to restart it. Either passing or failing the mission will make the contract disappear from the map and you will see a new mission on the map with another timed availability. You also have a chance at replaying previous completed or failed missions.
We hope you enjoy these new Car Delivery Contracts in Test Drive Unlimited Solar Crown, and of course, we are committed to bringing you other Contract styles in the future as part of our goal to improve the overall TDU DNA!
Solo Mode: AI Difficulty & Gameplay Pause
A large request from players has been not only a solo mode, but the ability to select AI difficulty and pause in game races, as previously all races were PvP. Let’s go over the details of this improvement!
Find A Race - When selecting any race in Test Drive Unlimited Solar Crown, you will now be given the option to load the race in Solo, or Multiplayer. An added bonus is provided when choosing Multiplayer.
Choose Difficulty - Choose the difficulty of the AI for the race.
Pause - You can now pause the game in any circumstances, and now restart, change options, return to lobby, or abandon the race.
Ranked Mode - If a race currently has a ranked option, you will be able to choose between Solo or Ranked.
Race Payouts - In order to earn roughly the same payout as Season 2, you have to play with the AI difficulty set to ‘intermediate’ (blue AI bars) in Solo Mode. If you go further you'll earn more than you did in Season 2. The 50% bonus is applied on the base reward of the race (so not on "first win", "first race of the day" and other similar bonuses).
Navigation Mode
In Season 3, we have brought a new solo experience gamemode to Test Drive Unlimited Solar Crown. In Navigation mode, you need to get to your destination without your GPS HUD! All you have is a compass that tells you where the location direction is. Let’s take a look at this in detail!
In Lobby - When you enter the lobby of Navigation Mode, the first thing you need to do is analyze the route you need to take based on the map! As mentioned before, when in a race, you won’t have your GPS or world map to help you, so take your time to check the map and remember the general roads to take, and get ready to start. You can see you can get different medals based on how long it takes you to get to the destination.
In Race - When you start, you need to use your compass found at the top of the screen which will direct you to the finish area. This is where your knowledge of the map is your best skill!
The Finish - When you arrive at the finish line, don’t forget to bring your car to a stop! The mission ends when the car reach 0km/h.
You can find over 25 Navigation Modes across Ibiza and Hong Kong Island day one of Season 3, and similar to Car Delivery, we will be adding more Navigation Modes in a future update within Season 3!
New Cars
In Season 3 we have added 3 new vehicles to the game!
- DeLorean DMC-12 (Solar Pass Level 25)
- Ferrari LaFerrari Aperta (Solar Pass Level 50)
- Aston Martin Valour (Ranked)
- Pininfarina Battista (S1 Ranked Reward In Luxury Car Dealership)
Solar Pass Details
In Season 3, we are delaying the paid tier of the Solar Pass and, for the first time, offering a 50-level Solar Pass, previously capped at 25 levels, to ALL players for this season. Players who have purchased or will purchase the Gold or Silver edition of the game will be able to activate their Solar Pass bonuses starting in Season 4, on the season of their choice, when the paid tier of the Solar Pass will be introduced. This season, the Solar Pass works a bit differently, so be sure to check how to claim your rewards.
When you open the Solar Pass menu, you must claim your Solar Pass. If you forget to do this, do not worry, as your Solar Pass will continue to level up, but you won’t have any of the rewards given to you until you claim the Solar Pass.
Here is an example after we completed the entire Solar Pass to level 50, and then claimed the Solar Pass. As you can see, we still get all the rewards we got before, and remember, the full Solar Pass is available to all players this Season.
Licence Plate Customisation & Clan Shops
In Season 3, we will be introducing new rims and customisable licence plates in Clan Shops. Look for the character next to the Clan Display car for all of the cosmetics you can purchase with your associated clan. Here are some examples of what you can find in your associated clan!
Streets Shop:
Sharps Shop:
Workshops: You can also find additional plates and phrases at any of the Workshops found on Ibiza and Hong Kong Island!
Patch Notes
In case you missed it, we have posted a detailed patch note which you can find at the following link!
https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/1249970/view/804560736106841772
Some key things to mention from the patch notes are:
- Temporarily Disabled SARD Anti-Cheat: (PC) - We disabled SARD Anti-Cheat to work on a variety of improvements and fixes for the PC community. We are working hard with the SARD team to improve the experience for players and having a fully automated system for reports and bans for players. We will work on another leaderboard reset and communicate to the players when we implement SARD Anti-Cheat again.
- Changed Format of User Graphical Options: (PC) - This change will reset all graphic options and change the way options are saved to prevent further reset. Please adjust your graphic settings again upon launch.
- Wall Riding Dynamics: (ALL PLATFORMS) - Increased friction force applied to vehicles when sliding along barriers / walls. - Improved feedback (sound and vibration) when sliding against walls.
Other Improvements
We have also made various other improvements to Test Drive Unlimited Solar Crown! If you read the patch notes, you may have already seen these, but here are some of the key improvements we have done to the game in Season 3!
- New exhaust sound for Porsche 918 Spyder.
- Improved exhaust sound of Porsche 911 R.
- Ferrari Portofino limiter sound improved.
- Improved sound EQ across vehicles.
- Auto-Clutch Improved: Added penalty time and corresponding SFX when changing gear without disengaging the clutch (when clutch is enabled).
- Added animated sunroof on Audi Q7.
- Fixed steering wheel angle not saved in photo mode.
- Added road wetness information to Convoy Mission panels.
- Added real world time difference between Ibiza and Hong Kong Island.
- AI Updates: - Improved accuracy for predicting collisions. - Improved overtakes. - Added a spline for the base optimized raceline versus spline with different offsets from other ai systems.
- Removed 'Jump' & 'Jump over' FRIM actions.
- Change category from Hypercar to Supercar on 720S.
- Fix clutch on DB11.
- Fix strength to slow down cars in puddles.
- Fix Green Hell from RWD to AWD.
- Active filtering on Alfa 4C Coupe.
- Fixed Regera HP level.
- Audi E-Tron GT weight corrected.
You can again find a full list of the patch notes at the link below as well!
https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/1249970/view/804560736106841772
Our Next Steps: The Future of TDU SC
We would like to assure you that despite the past, the future road ahead for Test Drive Unlimited Solar Crown is bright. Season 3 was a curation of what the players have requested to see, and we aren’t done yet either. Of course Season 4 will introduce the Casino, but after Season 4, we have many ideas and plans that not only will excite players, but also bring back many other requested features and improvements to the game, and we are very committed to bringing you the best Test Drive Unlimited game ever. The journey ahead won’t be quick, but we promise it is achievable. Let’s quickly discuss some of the upcoming improvements to TDU SC and the next steps we have to market the future of the game!
Dev Diary
We are currently discussing the format of a future Dev Diary after the release of Season 3 which will cover the future of Test Drive Unlimited Solar Crown, that being Season 4, and Year 2! Let’s go over some well requested topics that the community want to hear in the upcoming dev diary.
Housing - One of the largest features we will be bringing to Test Drive Unlimited Solar Crown is housing. We know the players want to see this and we are committed to bringing this feature into TDUSC. More details will be provided as we progress through the games life into Year 2!
Optimisation/Graphics - We know there are graphical and optimisation issues that are within TDUSC. Things like this can hinder the experience for players. We would like to confirm to you that in Season 5, we will have a KT Engine major enhancement that will improve the visual experience for players! Let’s go over in small detail what to expect:
KT Engine Improvements:
- Optimization Improvements
- Rendering Improvements
- Lighting Improvements (Shadows/Light/Reflections)
- Water Surfaces and Ocean Floors Improvements (Reflections)
- Shadow Management
- Cockpit Lighting Improvements
- Networking Stability
We will provide more details and WIP screenshots of what you can expect in a future communication.
Matchmaking/PvP Experience - We know the matchmaking and PvP experience in Test Drive Unlimited Solar Crown is not optimal, and we have an idea on how to improve this! This improvement will not be limited to Ranked, and also improve all areas of the PvP experience in the game. More details about this will come in a future communication!
Online Functionality - Cross-region and cross-play are topics we are currently discussing, and when we are ready, we will communicate our plans on this.
Other Missions (Contracts) - We are committed to introducing more TDU2 style missions in the future of Test Drive Unlimited Solar Crown to continue enhancing the experience! More details on what they will be will come soon!
Live Event Experience - Live events need to be reworked to improve player experience and participation. This is something we will be taking a look at and improving in a future Season! We will provide more details on this in a future communication as well.
Asian Vehicles - Yes we know what the players have been asking for, and we have many surprises for you in Year 2, and not just limited to Asian cars either!
Other Future Improvements - There are many other areas of TDUSC that we are currently working on and thinking about. You can check the patch notes for all of the future fixes and improvements we are working on, and even with that, there are many more unnamed! Feel free to continue providing the TDU team your feedback as we work to make this the best Test Drive Unlimited game! We’ll have further communications about the future of TDU SC for Season 4 and beyond in the coming months, so stay tuned!
Our Final Message
We look forward to seeing you experience Season 3 on March 19th and we hope to see your reactions and experience with the new content, vehicles, and improvements! The road ahead is bright and we are excited to continue the journey with you.
- The TDU Team
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