Nacon has shared new gameplay of Gear.Club Unlimited 3 following its unveiling at Gamescom, showcasing car customisation, dealerships and the new Highway Rush mode. It represents the first gameplay reveal following the CGI announcement trailer.
As Creative Director Benoit Gomes explains, Gear.Club Unlimited 3’s main mode will focus on a story that sees the racing club aiming to make a name for itself in Japan. Before that, you’ll begin in the French Riviera, setting up a headquarters, establishing a team and buying and customising cars.
Story mode “gives us a reason to drive”
Throughout the story, you’ll revisit both locations. “It’s [story modes] what we think racing games lack,” Gomes explains, adding that the story mode “gives us a reason to drive.”
Introducing Japan means several Japanese manufacturers will make their series debut in Gear.Club Unlimited 3, including Nissan, Mazda and Subaru. The full roster will feature over 40 cars from Japan, North America, Europe and the Middle East.
France and Japan will also be the locations of Gear.Club Unlimited 3’s new Highway Rush mode. This mode sees you narrowly avoiding traffic to keep your meter full, and can be played competitively or cooperatively in split-screen.
Driving faster and overtaking cars will fill your meter more rapidly, with you failing the event if it runs out. Both highways are looped, allowing you to free roam and “play indefinitely” with adjustable traffic density.
In the work-in-progress build we played at Gamescom, weaving through traffic on the Japanese highway at night evoked similar vibes to Tokyo Xtreme Racer.
Outside of Highway Rush, events will take place on closed road circuits with bi traffic in time trials and races against up to nine AI opponents.
Customisation looks comprehensive
As in previous games, there is an emphasis on customisation. Headquarters are once again fully customisable, allowing you to display your car collection and freely place performance cosmetic workshops around the space. These workshops can also be upgraded in skill trees.
Customisation promises to be extensive. Using resource points won in races, you can increase your stats with options to upgrade your acceleration, speed and torque.
As for visual modifications, the video shows how you can swap parts including side skirts, front and rear bumpers, rims and spoilers.
In terms of how the cars handle, developer Eden Games describes Gear.Club Unlimited 3 as a “very accessible” simcade game, with the option to enable or disable assists.
Buying cars requires you to visit Test Drive Unlimited-style dealerships, where you can walk around the environment and explore the cars on display. As you progress through the story, more cars will unlock and appear in dealerships.
The similarities to Test Drive are no coincidence either, as staff at Eden Games previously worked on the first two Test Drive Unlimited games. “There is a DNA in the sense that it’s making games about car love and not racing. It’s a very different approach”, Gomes tells Traxion when asked about the similarities to Test Drive Unlimited.
Nacon’s gameplay video is captured from the PC version. While the game ran smoothly and looked polished on PC, the same can’t be said for the Switch 2 version.
During our hands-on, the Switch 2 suffered from slowdown and blurry textures. This is concerncing, considering that Switch 2 is the lead platform. However, the Gamescom demo was based on a work-in-progress build, so Eden Games can hopefully improve these aspects in time for launch.
Gear.Club Unlimited 3 is set to release on Nintendo Switch 2 as a timed exclusive later this year, with PC, PlayStation and Xbox versions to follow next year.
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