{"id":4532,"date":"2024-09-14T00:19:05","date_gmt":"2024-09-14T00:19:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/worldclassservers.net\/blog\/2024\/09\/14\/test-drive-unlimited-solar-crown-review\/"},"modified":"2024-09-14T00:19:05","modified_gmt":"2024-09-14T00:19:05","slug":"test-drive-unlimited-solar-crown-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nextlevelnews.co.uk\/blog\/2024\/09\/14\/test-drive-unlimited-solar-crown-review\/","title":{"rendered":"Test Drive Unlimited Solar Crown Review"},"content":{"rendered":"

Nearly 10 years ago, former Need for Speed developer Ghost Games copped a kicking for making its 2015 series reboot online-only, even in single player. In response, its 2019 follow-up Need for Speed Heat did not<\/em> require a persistent online connection. Earlier this year, Ubisoft decommissioned The Crew, making it impossible for owners to play from now on \u2013 even by themselves. The move wasn\u2019t received well. This very week<\/em> Ubisoft has confirmed The Crew 2 and The Crew Motorfest will now get offline modes. In contrast to these course corrections, Test Drive Unlimited Solar Crown arrives in 2024 as another online-only racing game that seems to have little interest in being something that\u2019s satisfying to play solo. It\u2019s a baffling start and, despite a nice handling model and a lot of effort on display in its unique open world, it unfortunately doesn\u2019t get any better.<\/p>\n

The original Test Drive Unlimited was a pioneer of MMO, open world racing. It was the<\/em> pioneer, really, and remarkably ahead of its time. However, despite being fondly remembered for its trendsetting online philosophy, 2006\u2019s Test Drive Unlimited still had a dedicated single-player mode (one that remains accessible and playable offline today). It simply layered its multiplayer mode over the top of it.<\/p>\n

The always-online Solar Crown is not built like this, and it\u2019s infinitely poorer for it. There are<\/em> AI opponents, but there\u2019s no dedicated single-player mode to speak of \u2013 just a map full of events that other players may or may not hop into at the same time as you. During my time with it, prior to the standard edition release date, another player joining my race has actually been an extremely rare occurrence. But the threat of it is always there, because there\u2019s no way to opt out.<\/p>\n

This puts Solar Crown in a very weird place. It means that, even though my experience has almost exclusively been competing solo against the AI, I\u2019m still burdened by all the foibles of online racing. This means lobby countdowns I can\u2019t fully skip before starting a race, even though I don\u2019t want<\/em> to wait for anyone else and wish to start by myself. It means races I can\u2019t even pause, which is an absurd problem to have when playing entirely against AI \u2013 and totally contemptuous of parents and anybody else with the audacity to ever need to\u2026 stop what they\u2019re doing for a moment. It also means races don\u2019t even have a simple, quick restart option; to restart you need to abandon the race entirely, re-enter the event, and sit through the same lobby period. Even when you\u2019re the only human in an event, if there\u2019s a connectivity issue during your race, you\u2019ll be kicked out. If there\u2019s a problem in free roam, you\u2019ll be kicked out to the menu screen. Hell, if there\u2019s some sort of server maintenance or technical snag when you boot up, you won\u2019t be able to play at all. In my most recent session I haven\u2019t been able to play for more than a few minutes at a time before being kicked out. Every online-only requirement feels like a punishment for playing it by yourself. You don\u2019t want to play with other people? Too bad, you\u2019re online anyway.<\/p>\n

Turn That Crown Upside Down<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Unfortunately, the racing itself is not strong enough to make these online quality-of-life sacrifices worthwhile. At its best, on Solar Crown\u2019s most well-plotted race routes, the racing is\u2026 fine. At its worst, however, it\u2019s tedious and unsatisfying. The AI opponents are a constant sore point, and they undermine the experience by being rubbish in some conditions and supernaturally gifted in others. Solar Crown features a handful of named difficulty levels for its AI opponents but, unlike other racing games, it does not<\/em> let us manually select their strength. This means Solar Crown automatically bumps up the difficulty as we progress. The spike, however, from \u2018Experienced\u2019 to \u2018Expert\u2019 is hideously ill executed \u2013 so your reward for good performances against the \u2018Experienced\u2019 opposition is simply a bad time.<\/p>\n

Now, I should stress that you don\u2019t actually<\/em> need to win, or even podium, in Solar Crown\u2019s races to earn credits; a better finishing position just results in a little extra gravy on top of a base payment for completing the race. There is, however, a list of secondary objectives that regularly do<\/em> require you to be at the pointy end in specific events. This can be daunting against rival racers who \u2013 on some courses \u2013 will simply gallop away from you in cars that ostensibly have the same performance level as yours, recording race times that can be faster than the quickest human players on the current global leaderboards<\/em>.<\/p>\n

This is a ridiculous problem to have, and it\u2019s one you can\u2019t solve by simply opting out of the Expert AI setting. Again, we don\u2019t actually have the ability to adjust it. It\u2019s also not as straightforward as selling a car you\u2019ve discovered is uncompetitive in the current class you\u2019re grinding through and buying something that seems quicker, because you can\u2019t sell cars. If you\u2019ve just dropped a ton of credits on something that\u2019s not working out, it\u2019s back to the grind until you can amass enough to try again. It\u2019s set to be quite a grind, too; some of Solar Crown\u2019s hypercars are priced at over 10 million credits<\/em>, whereas a typical win only nets you around 20- to 30-odd thousand. There are no driving missions here like in the old TDU games; it\u2019s just basic racing, repeated. As far as I\u2019m concerned, if a game starts to feel like a job, something is amiss with the pace of progression.<\/p>\n

At any rate, the only solution is to complete and lose races<\/em>, and wait until the automated difficulty decides to do you a favour and bump things down a notch \u2013 to a place where the AI racers aren\u2019t<\/em> capable of driving faster than the entire player base. This is a total waste of time, but it gets worse. After being stalled chasing the objective on one particular race, Solar Crown started slashing my payouts and XP for subsequent attempts. By the time I eventually completed the goal, the credits and XP had been cut to a pittance and were virtually worthless. Several days later I noticed the payouts had returned to normal, but nothing about an apparent cooldown period on rewards is communicated to us in-game. Why are we being strung along with come-back-later mechanics like mobile gamers? Solar Crown just doesn\u2019t feel like it respects your time.<\/p>\n

The racing isn\u2019t unsatisfying because it\u2019s tough<\/em>; it\u2019s unsatisfying because it\u2019s inconsistent, and it often feels like the AI is cheating.<\/p>\n

At the other end of the spectrum, in wet weather conditions, off road, and on certain circuits, AI opponents can be counted on to be much weaker. The counter intuitive thing here, however, is that these instances of slow or boneheaded AI tended to arrive as moments of relief \u2013 especially in the wake of a race I\u2019d lost by, say, not being the single fastest person on the planet<\/em>.<\/p>\n

To clarify, the racing isn\u2019t unsatisfying because it\u2019s tough<\/em>; it\u2019s unsatisfying because it\u2019s inconsistent, and it often feels like the AI is cheating. There\u2019s nothing fun about sinking a huge amount of credits into a car to put it at the top of a performance window and having it totally unable to compete against opponents at the exact same level. It\u2019s even worse when cars with lower<\/em> performance ratings are gapping you on straights. There are clearly strings being pulled to make this happen, and that\u2019s just cheap.<\/p>\n

Is it better against humans? I can\u2019t issue a verdict on that. While special edition Solar Crown buyers have been playing since last week, I\u2019m really not encountering anybody. Only once have I started a race and been grouped with someone else apparently starting the same race a few seconds later. If anything, the racing was worse<\/em>; the AI bots that filled the remaining six slots in this case seemed twitchier, heavier, and drove like I wasn\u2019t there. But beyond that, nada. There are dedicated ranked races on the map, but they don\u2019t appear to be attracting anyone yet. I\u2019ve sat in the lobbies for those and have seen no one join me. While other racing games will pool interested players into quick races, Solar Crown seems like it\u2019s relying entirely on people just\u2026 deciding to trigger the same race at the same time.<\/p>\n

Stressed Drive<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Levelling up will eventually unlock new tyre compounds and pre-set driving modes that let us eek some more speed out of our cars, but there\u2019s so much contradictory information in these options it\u2019s hard to know what will ultimately help. At level 30, I decided to purchase a Nissan GT-R and scanned the driving modes before my first event. Dynamic mode, which claims to boost acceleration, only lowered<\/em> my acceleration stat. Sport mode, which Solar Crown reports will<\/em> lower my acceleration, actually raised<\/em> it. So what do I go with? What\u2019s going to help? Well, it\u2019s slower than the rest of the field in either configuration, so who can say? It\u2019s a mess.<\/p>\n

The annoyances continue. The world is particularly handsome at night in the neon bathed streets, but there are sections that suffer reproducible pop-in, or objects cars can clip through. When on foot, button prompts disappear the instant you run too close to the door you want to open or person you want to speak to. You can\u2019t easily invert the camera \u2013 you have to manually remap the controls for forward and back on the stick. Locations I\u2019ve already discovered and have unlocked fast travel to are becoming unavailable. I can no longer use them for fast travel, despite the roads around them clearly<\/em> indicating I\u2019ve been to them before (and Solar Crown ultimately knowing I\u2019ve been there before, because it won\u2019t re-reward XP for \u201cre-discovering\u201d them). Driving to places I\u2019ve already unlocked is more wasted time, so it\u2019s a bug a game that\u2019s already filled with time-sucking, always-online caveats and non-adjustable difficulty settings definitely didn\u2019t need. On top of that, roads driven on during races don\u2019t actually count as driven on in your game; you have to drive over them in free-roam to add them to your tally. Is this intentional, or just another bug? Hard to say, but either way it\u2019s more double handling.<\/p>\n

There are a lot of things I enjoy about Solar Crown\u2019s Hong Kong, but it lacks atmosphere overall.<\/p>\n

It may sound by now that Solar Crown really gets nothing right, but that isn\u2019t true. Crucially, it boasts a predictable and approachable handling model that\u2019s easy to get to grips with. It\u2019s arguably a little understeery, and the drastic speed reduction from hitting roadside destructables feels too heavy-handed for an arcade racer, but it drives quite well and is definitely a step up from the divisive feel of Test Drive Unlimited 2.<\/p>\n

There are also a lot of things I enjoy about Solar Crown\u2019s Hong Kong map. There\u2019s a good mix of variety in terms of road width, from extremely narrow one-way alleys and accessways, to snaking hillside roads reminiscent of KT Racing\u2019s own WRC games, to wide freeways and tunnels. There\u2019s an eye-catching level of complexity to Solar Crown\u2019s on- and off-ramps, and I really love the look of the many underground, polished-concrete parking garages that lurk everywhere under the city \u2013 complete with working boom gates.<\/p>\n

Unfortunately, it lacks much in the way of atmosphere overall, and this version of Hong Kong certainly doesn\u2019t feel like a living city in the same way it does in the likes of Sleeping Dogs. Sure, it\u2019s an adjacent genre and the driving physics in Sleeping Dogs are sloppier than a soup sandwich, but it stands up as a world. In Solar Crown, people are rare and the futuristic augmented reality overlays are an eyesore. Virtual parking lane notifications are constant, ugly screen clutter, and the giant, identical AR lettering over key locations just makes everything feel the same. Of course, when you do enter dealerships \u2013 with their enormous layouts and sparse arrangements of cars \u2013 it\u2019s evident they all look the same inside, anyway. They look nothing like the convincing dealerships in TDU1 and TDU2.<\/p>\n

On top of that, traffic is light and doesn\u2019t ever seem very authentic; too many of the NPC vehicles are just the same small handful of cars from Solar Crown\u2019s drivable garage, so there\u2019s no authentic variety.<\/p>\n

The car selection is a letdown, both compared to its current peers and the original Test Drive Unlimited games. In 2006\u2019s Test Drive Unlimited, for instance, a majority of the cars featured were current models released within a few years of its arrival. Classic cars still appeared, but the line-up felt fresh and cutting edge. Solar Crown doesn\u2019t really have that same flavour. Only a tiny sliver of the cars here are even from this decade, so there\u2019s an unavoidable staleness. Japanese cars have always been significantly underrepresented in TDU, but if you were thinking the geographical proximity at play with Solar Crown might trigger an increase, it absolutely has not. We get a 2011 Nissan 370Z, and a 2009 GT-R. That\u2019s it.<\/p>\n

There are some details I do really like, though, and there\u2019s been some impressively granular work done regarding car sound. The hiss of wet asphalt or the bark of your exhaust note changing tone and volume as you wind down the window during the rain or in a tunnel is particularly lovely stuff. The visual effects for rain in cabin view still aren\u2019t as good as the ones in the 10-year-old Driveclub, but I\u2019ve been saying that about all racing games for a decade now.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Nearly 10 years ago, former Need for Speed developer Ghost Games copped a kicking for making its 2015 series reboot online-only, even in single player. In response, its 2019 follow-up Need for Speed Heat did not require a persistent online connection. Earlier this year, Ubisoft decommissioned The Crew, making it impossible for owners to play […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":4533,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pagelayer_contact_templates":[],"_pagelayer_content":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4532","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nTest Drive Unlimited Solar Crown Review - Next Level News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Stay on top of the gaming world with Next Level News. Get breaking stories, honest reviews, and insider updates on your favorite games, studios, and platforms.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/nextlevelnews.co.uk\/blog\/2024\/09\/14\/test-drive-unlimited-solar-crown-review\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Test Drive Unlimited Solar Crown Review - Next Level News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Stay on top of the gaming world with Next Level News. Get breaking stories, honest reviews, and insider updates on your favorite games, studios, and platforms.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/nextlevelnews.co.uk\/blog\/2024\/09\/14\/test-drive-unlimited-solar-crown-review\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Next Level News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/people\/Next-Level-News\/61578318399201\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2024-09-14T00:19:05+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/nextlevelnews.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/tdu-solar-blogroll-1726267739416-rtCIde.jpeg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1280\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"720\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"12 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextlevelnews.co.uk\\\/blog\\\/2024\\\/09\\\/14\\\/test-drive-unlimited-solar-crown-review\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextlevelnews.co.uk\\\/blog\\\/2024\\\/09\\\/14\\\/test-drive-unlimited-solar-crown-review\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"\",\"@id\":\"\"},\"headline\":\"Test Drive Unlimited Solar Crown Review\",\"datePublished\":\"2024-09-14T00:19:05+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextlevelnews.co.uk\\\/blog\\\/2024\\\/09\\\/14\\\/test-drive-unlimited-solar-crown-review\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":2380,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextlevelnews.co.uk\\\/blog\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextlevelnews.co.uk\\\/blog\\\/2024\\\/09\\\/14\\\/test-drive-unlimited-solar-crown-review\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextlevelnews.co.uk\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2024\\\/09\\\/tdu-solar-blogroll-1726267739416-rtCIde.jpeg\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/nextlevelnews.co.uk\\\/blog\\\/2024\\\/09\\\/14\\\/test-drive-unlimited-solar-crown-review\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextlevelnews.co.uk\\\/blog\\\/2024\\\/09\\\/14\\\/test-drive-unlimited-solar-crown-review\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextlevelnews.co.uk\\\/blog\\\/2024\\\/09\\\/14\\\/test-drive-unlimited-solar-crown-review\\\/\",\"name\":\"Test Drive Unlimited Solar Crown Review - Next Level News\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextlevelnews.co.uk\\\/blog\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextlevelnews.co.uk\\\/blog\\\/2024\\\/09\\\/14\\\/test-drive-unlimited-solar-crown-review\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextlevelnews.co.uk\\\/blog\\\/2024\\\/09\\\/14\\\/test-drive-unlimited-solar-crown-review\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextlevelnews.co.uk\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2024\\\/09\\\/tdu-solar-blogroll-1726267739416-rtCIde.jpeg\",\"datePublished\":\"2024-09-14T00:19:05+00:00\",\"description\":\"Stay on top of the gaming world with Next Level News. Get breaking stories, honest reviews, and insider updates on your favorite games, studios, and platforms.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextlevelnews.co.uk\\\/blog\\\/2024\\\/09\\\/14\\\/test-drive-unlimited-solar-crown-review\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/nextlevelnews.co.uk\\\/blog\\\/2024\\\/09\\\/14\\\/test-drive-unlimited-solar-crown-review\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextlevelnews.co.uk\\\/blog\\\/2024\\\/09\\\/14\\\/test-drive-unlimited-solar-crown-review\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextlevelnews.co.uk\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2024\\\/09\\\/tdu-solar-blogroll-1726267739416-rtCIde.jpeg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextlevelnews.co.uk\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2024\\\/09\\\/tdu-solar-blogroll-1726267739416-rtCIde.jpeg\",\"width\":1280,\"height\":720},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextlevelnews.co.uk\\\/blog\\\/2024\\\/09\\\/14\\\/test-drive-unlimited-solar-crown-review\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextlevelnews.co.uk\\\/blog\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Test Drive Unlimited Solar Crown Review\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextlevelnews.co.uk\\\/blog\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextlevelnews.co.uk\\\/blog\\\/\",\"name\":\"Next Level News\",\"description\":\"Your Ultimate Hub for Gaming News & Updates \u2014 From fresh releases and in-depth reviews to behind-the-scenes insights, we\u2019ve got everything you need to level up your game.\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextlevelnews.co.uk\\\/blog\\\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextlevelnews.co.uk\\\/blog\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextlevelnews.co.uk\\\/blog\\\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Next Level News\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextlevelnews.co.uk\\\/blog\\\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextlevelnews.co.uk\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextlevelnews.co.uk\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/07\\\/cropped-nxtlevelNEW.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextlevelnews.co.uk\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/07\\\/cropped-nxtlevelNEW.png\",\"width\":130,\"height\":45,\"caption\":\"Next Level News\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextlevelnews.co.uk\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.facebook.com\\\/people\\\/Next-Level-News\\\/61578318399201\\\/\"]}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Test Drive Unlimited Solar Crown Review - Next Level News","description":"Stay on top of the gaming world with Next Level News. Get breaking stories, honest reviews, and insider updates on your favorite games, studios, and platforms.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/nextlevelnews.co.uk\/blog\/2024\/09\/14\/test-drive-unlimited-solar-crown-review\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Test Drive Unlimited Solar Crown Review - Next Level News","og_description":"Stay on top of the gaming world with Next Level News. Get breaking stories, honest reviews, and insider updates on your favorite games, studios, and platforms.","og_url":"https:\/\/nextlevelnews.co.uk\/blog\/2024\/09\/14\/test-drive-unlimited-solar-crown-review\/","og_site_name":"Next Level News","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/people\/Next-Level-News\/61578318399201\/","article_published_time":"2024-09-14T00:19:05+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1280,"height":720,"url":"https:\/\/nextlevelnews.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/tdu-solar-blogroll-1726267739416-rtCIde.jpeg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Est. reading time":"12 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/nextlevelnews.co.uk\/blog\/2024\/09\/14\/test-drive-unlimited-solar-crown-review\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/nextlevelnews.co.uk\/blog\/2024\/09\/14\/test-drive-unlimited-solar-crown-review\/"},"author":{"name":"","@id":""},"headline":"Test Drive Unlimited Solar Crown Review","datePublished":"2024-09-14T00:19:05+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/nextlevelnews.co.uk\/blog\/2024\/09\/14\/test-drive-unlimited-solar-crown-review\/"},"wordCount":2380,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/nextlevelnews.co.uk\/blog\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/nextlevelnews.co.uk\/blog\/2024\/09\/14\/test-drive-unlimited-solar-crown-review\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/nextlevelnews.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/tdu-solar-blogroll-1726267739416-rtCIde.jpeg","inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/nextlevelnews.co.uk\/blog\/2024\/09\/14\/test-drive-unlimited-solar-crown-review\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/nextlevelnews.co.uk\/blog\/2024\/09\/14\/test-drive-unlimited-solar-crown-review\/","url":"https:\/\/nextlevelnews.co.uk\/blog\/2024\/09\/14\/test-drive-unlimited-solar-crown-review\/","name":"Test Drive Unlimited Solar Crown Review - Next Level News","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/nextlevelnews.co.uk\/blog\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/nextlevelnews.co.uk\/blog\/2024\/09\/14\/test-drive-unlimited-solar-crown-review\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/nextlevelnews.co.uk\/blog\/2024\/09\/14\/test-drive-unlimited-solar-crown-review\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/nextlevelnews.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/tdu-solar-blogroll-1726267739416-rtCIde.jpeg","datePublished":"2024-09-14T00:19:05+00:00","description":"Stay on top of the gaming world with Next Level News. Get breaking stories, honest reviews, and insider updates on your favorite games, studios, and platforms.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/nextlevelnews.co.uk\/blog\/2024\/09\/14\/test-drive-unlimited-solar-crown-review\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/nextlevelnews.co.uk\/blog\/2024\/09\/14\/test-drive-unlimited-solar-crown-review\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/nextlevelnews.co.uk\/blog\/2024\/09\/14\/test-drive-unlimited-solar-crown-review\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/nextlevelnews.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/tdu-solar-blogroll-1726267739416-rtCIde.jpeg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/nextlevelnews.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/tdu-solar-blogroll-1726267739416-rtCIde.jpeg","width":1280,"height":720},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/nextlevelnews.co.uk\/blog\/2024\/09\/14\/test-drive-unlimited-solar-crown-review\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/nextlevelnews.co.uk\/blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Test Drive Unlimited Solar Crown Review"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/nextlevelnews.co.uk\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/nextlevelnews.co.uk\/blog\/","name":"Next Level News","description":"Your Ultimate Hub for Gaming News & Updates \u2014 From fresh releases and in-depth reviews to behind-the-scenes insights, we\u2019ve got everything you need to level up your game.","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/nextlevelnews.co.uk\/blog\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/nextlevelnews.co.uk\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/nextlevelnews.co.uk\/blog\/#organization","name":"Next Level News","url":"https:\/\/nextlevelnews.co.uk\/blog\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/nextlevelnews.co.uk\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/nextlevelnews.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/cropped-nxtlevelNEW.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/nextlevelnews.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/cropped-nxtlevelNEW.png","width":130,"height":45,"caption":"Next Level News"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/nextlevelnews.co.uk\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/people\/Next-Level-News\/61578318399201\/"]}]}},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/nextlevelnews.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/tdu-solar-blogroll-1726267739416-rtCIde.jpeg","wpmagazine_modules_lite_featured_media_urls":{"thumbnail":["https:\/\/nextlevelnews.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/tdu-solar-blogroll-1726267739416-rtCIde-150x150.jpeg",150,150,true],"cvmm-medium":["https:\/\/nextlevelnews.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/tdu-solar-blogroll-1726267739416-rtCIde-300x300.jpeg",300,300,true],"cvmm-medium-plus":["https:\/\/nextlevelnews.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/tdu-solar-blogroll-1726267739416-rtCIde-305x207.jpeg",305,207,true],"cvmm-portrait":["https:\/\/nextlevelnews.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/tdu-solar-blogroll-1726267739416-rtCIde-400x600.jpeg",400,600,true],"cvmm-medium-square":["https:\/\/nextlevelnews.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/tdu-solar-blogroll-1726267739416-rtCIde-600x600.jpeg",600,600,true],"cvmm-large":["https:\/\/nextlevelnews.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/tdu-solar-blogroll-1726267739416-rtCIde-1024x720.jpeg",1024,720,true],"cvmm-small":["https:\/\/nextlevelnews.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/tdu-solar-blogroll-1726267739416-rtCIde-130x95.jpeg",130,95,true],"full":["https:\/\/nextlevelnews.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/tdu-solar-blogroll-1726267739416-rtCIde.jpeg",1280,720,false]},"categories_names":{"1":{"name":"Uncategorized","link":"https:\/\/nextlevelnews.co.uk\/blog\/category\/uncategorized\/"}},"tags_names":[],"comments_number":"0","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nextlevelnews.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4532","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nextlevelnews.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nextlevelnews.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nextlevelnews.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4532"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nextlevelnews.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4532\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nextlevelnews.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4533"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nextlevelnews.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4532"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nextlevelnews.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4532"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nextlevelnews.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4532"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}