Test Drive Unlimited Solar Crown was announced in July 2020 as an exotic street racing game set in an open-world island "recreated at 1:1 scale," which as we said at the time implied that it was based on a real-world location. Now it's July 2021, and we've got a new trailer that confirms our hypothesis—the action takes place in Hong Kong—and also gives us a release date of September 2022.
The trailer, much like the teaser we saw last year, is a cinematic showcase of exotic cars, pulsing beats, and lifestyles of the ultra-rich and vaguely sinister, all of it twisting and tearing through the open highways, tight streets, and dangerous dockyards of Hong Kong. You know you've got money to burn when you get behind the wheel of a Bugatti and your first thought is, "Yeah, let's take this baby for a spin… on the beach!"
It doesn't look like the most realistic driving sim ever—the whole thing has a vague vibe of a James Bond theme sequence—but players will apparently make some narrative choices on their travels: "Pick your path as either Street or Sharp and let your personality shine," publisher Nacon said. I have no idea what that means, but off the top of my head I think it sounds rather like a supercar version of Corpo or Street Kid. The Steam page echoes that, saying you'll "have the freedom to progress however you like."
There's not much more in the way of detail at this point, though. It's still not clear how exactly multiplayer will work—Steam lists it as both an MMO and singleplayer game—but both cars and avatars will be customizable, and that will apparently be an important part of the overall experience: As Nacon put it, "Social status is everything in the world of TDU."
