Test Drive Unlimited Solar Crown crashes into 2023

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The open-world supercar racing game Test Drive Unlimited Solar Crown was announced in 2020, and a year later was scheduled for a release in 2022. Sadly for fans of the long-running series, that's not going to happen, as publisher Nacon has announced that it won't arrive until sometime in 2023.

"With so much support from fans of the series, we know many of you will be disappointed, but our goal with Test Drive Unlimited Solar Crown is to make it the most polished gaming experience in the franchise by spending more time on its development," Nacon said on the game's Steam page.

Nacon didn't cite any specific reasons for the delay, but said that Test Drive Unlimited isn't just a racing game, it's "a game about the joy of driving your car," a sensation that's probably easier to capture from behind the wheel of, say, an Aston Martin Valhalla and not a 2007 Chrysler you inherited from your mom. Speed is king, obviously, but the experience also encompasses "listening to the radio while driving, putting the top down when the rain stops, using the turn signals properly, and even simply opening the window," Nacon wrote.

"Our goal is to meet those expectations and to stay true to the franchise's DNA by including all those details. But we also want to go further and offer new experiences. We want to make all of Hong Kong Island and its 550km of roads to be a no-limits playground where the fun never ends."

Nacon said that a series of closed beta tests will be held prior to release, and that fans will have a chance to take beta builds for a spin "long before it releases." It also revealed that it has halted development of Test Drive Unlimited Solar Crown for Playstation 4 and Xbox One consoles, saying it wants to stick to the current generation of consoles (and PC, obviously) to ensure that developers are "maximizing the overall quality of the game." That makes two upcoming games cancelling their last-gen releases, with Warner Bros announcing a similar 2023 delay for Gotham Knights last week.

Andy has been gaming on PCs from the very beginning, starting as a youngster with text adventures and primitive action games on a cassette-based TRS80. From there he graduated to the glory days of Sierra Online adventures and Microprose sims, ran a local BBS, learned how to build PCs, and developed a longstanding love of RPGs, immersive sims, and shooters. He began writing videogame news in 2007 for The Escapist and somehow managed to avoid getting fired until 2014, when he joined the storied ranks of PC Gamer. He covers all aspects of the industry, from new game announcements and patch notes to legal disputes, Twitch beefs, esports, and Henry Cavill. Lots of Henry Cavill.