Test Drive Unlimited Solar Crown has “way more” players on consoles than PC

Test Drive Unlimited Solar Crown’s rocky launch will go down in infamy. After years of anticipation, the open-world racer’s launch was overshadowed by server problems, with an online requirement preventing early adopters from accessing the game.

As an apology, developer KT Racing compensated affected players with a free car (a custom version of a Porsche 911 Carrera already in the game no less) and cosmetic stickers – an ill-judged gesture that still gets ridiculed in online comments.   

Since launch, Solar Crown’s player count has declined at an alarming rate on PC. According to SteamDB, the number of daily players peaked at 5,305 around the launch period. In the last week, that number dropped to just over 200. It’s not unusual for player engagement to wane after the launch window, but that’s a colossal decline.

Despite this, Nacon, which publishes the game, sees Solar Crown as a success. In January, the French publisher announced that Solar Crown is “continuing to sell,” surpassing 500,000 players. Although specific player numbers aren’t available, Nacon has revealed that Solar Crown is proving more popular on consoles than PC. 

“I know that people are looking at the Steam charts and the numbers on Steam because it’s the only data available,” Sébastien Waxin, Head of Racing at Nacon, told Traxion.

“But it’s not representative of what we have in terms of data. You can see way more people playing that game on PlayStation and Xbox.”

“We announced 500,000 players – with the number you see on Steam, it doesn’t match. The console versions have way more people than the PC version.”

Traxion understands that the PlayStation 5 is Solar Crown’s most popular platform, with player numbers far exceeding Xbox and PC.

“We won’t leave it on the side of the road”

Nearly six months on, Nacon isn’t giving up on Solar Crown despite the setbacks and will continue to support the open-world racer with live service updates. Later this month, Season 3 will bring a host of changes and new features requested by the community.

Launching on 19^th March, the update sees car delivery convoy missions return, a staple of classic Test Drive Unlimited games.

Not only that, but the update will add a new navigation mode, three new cars and an expanded Solar Pass with 50 levels of rewards. However, one of the most requested additions is a solo mode that lets you race with AI opponents instead of online players, although it still requires an online connection.

Beyond that, Season 4 will bring back the casino, an iconic location from Test Drive Unlimited 2, where players can gamble to win exclusive cars, cosmetics, and rewards. This is why Solar Crown is rated 18 in the UK, even though the gambling feature hasn’t been implemented yet

“Season 4 will have the casino update. It’s still on the roadmap – no change on that,” Waxin confirmed.

“We know it’s big for Test Drive, so it’s coming this summer.”

A year one roadmap shown last year listed Season 4’s casino update with a 25 June release date, but this is likely to change after Season 3 was revised.

Plans are already in place beyond Season 4 too.

“We’re working on year two and the next season after Season 4 – we will announce more in due time,” said Waxin.

“For us, [Test Drive] is a big project, and we won’t leave it on the side of the road.”