Updated: What to expect from Test Drive Unlimited Solar Crown’s Season 5 update

• Updated visuals, higher payouts, being able to sell cars and taxi missions all arrive late this month for Test Driver Unlimited Solar Crown
• Season 5 will also add more new cars to the fleet
• Launches on 29th October

Update: Test Drive Unlimited Solar Crown’s Season 5 update will launch on October 29th. Full patch notes can be found at the bottom of this article.

Following the confirmation of at least another year of new features and updates, the creators of Test Drive Unlimited Solar Crown have provided further details about its fifth season.

Visual tweaks

Expected to release late in October, Season 5 will provide updated visuals, primarily to the water. This is thanks to new water shaders, added waves and fresh tones. Further optimisations will be made to the underlying KT Engine technology for enhanced performance, although increased frame rates aren’t expected in this update.

Changed economy, selling cars

Race and event payout levels are set to increase, on top of which the Crown Jewel races can now reward players with up to 1,000,000 Solar Coins.

Additionally, the Free Ride Instant Money (FRIM) system will be significantly changed.

Currently earned by the likes of drifting, near-misses and combos, it can be accumulated simply by just driving, and any previous limits on an action, such a drifting, are removed. So too, however, are other ways you could accrue FRIM, such as burnouts, performing a 0-100 run and special skill chains.

Once the update arrives, you can continue to trade FRIM for Solar Coins, but also earn Reputation and Solar Pass XP through it.

However, possibly the biggest change will be the ability to sell cars within the Solar Hotel.

New cars

Following a teaser, it is now confirmed that the Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evo (main article image) will be part of the game from Season 5 onwards – the first race car of this specification for the game.

It will be joined by another Aston Martin, the DBS Superleggera, which has been teased for a few months now in various development update images.

Then there will be the spectacular rebirth of De Tomaso. This was teased during the recent ‘Year 2’ update video, but the P72 is now confirmed with matching gameplay footage, where you can hear its 5-litre V8.

A new special edition ‘Graphite Capsule’ variant of the Lamborghini Urus will also be added in Season 5.

They will be joined in a ‘mid-season’ update by a wide-body Nissan GT-R ‘The Tyger’ special edition (image below).

While not a new car, a fresh livery can be unlocked for the Alpine A110 Légende through a live event in Season 5. Other cosmetic upgrades are also expected, as spotted in this image (below), although they are to be discussed closer to its release.

Previous Solar Pass-exclusive vehicles and the pre-order Ford GT are also expected to be added for all players, somehow, mid-season.

Season 5 new cars

• Aston Martin DBS Superleggera
• Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evo (Solar Pass Level 50)
• De Tomaso P72 (Solar Pass Level 15)
• Lamborghini Urus Graphite Capsule
• Nissan GT-R ‘The Tyger’ (mid-season)
• BMW M4 Competition Freedom Rush (mid-season)
• Ford F-150 Aventurer (mid-season)

Poker and taxi missions

Taxi missions and live multiplayer poker within Solar Crown’s casino were already confirmed for the Season 5 update, but now it has been announced that gameplay for both will be shared on 16th October.

Other changes include the removal of stickers as rewards for live events, a revised user interface, the addition of further unlockable apparel from Puma, the addition of cruise control (mainly for the taxi missions but selectable elsewhere) and construction sites – these will be visible hints towards purchasable homes, coming next year in Season 8.

Release date

The first update planned for the Year 2 roadmap, Test Drive Unlimited Solar Crown’s Season 5 update launches on 29th October.

Test Drive Unlimited Solar Crown Season 5 patch notes

As outlined in the patch notes, Season 5 will bring an array of bug fixes and performance improvements.

New Features & Content

• New Game Modes
  • Poker is now available to play in the Casino
  • Taxi missions have been added within the contracts system
• New Features
  • Car resale is now available in the Solar Hotel and Selene HQ
  • Speed limiter and Cruise control are now available through Alyss
  • Preset system has been added within clothing shops
  • Economy Overhaul
  • KT Engine Improvements
• New cars
  • DeTomaso P72
  • Aston Martin DBS Superleggera
  • Aston Martin Vantage GT3
• New Special Edition
  • Lamborghini Urus Graphite Capsule
• New car customization
  • Spoilers can be added to certain cars
  • Horn sound is now customizable
• New Quests
  • Level 65 quests

General Fixes & Improvements

• Revamped pause menu
• Added new music’s for all radios
• Improved day / night cycle rendering
• Improved water rendering on both Ibiza and HKI
• Improved cascading shadow handling
• Added various optimizations on occluding, GPU threads and more
• Swapped race blockers from 3D Panels to 3D Meshes for optimization purposes
• Rebalanced rewards amounts (reputation, solar coins and influence)
• Rebalanced Aston Martin cars prices
• Added camera animations around the car when the player is afk
• Updated environment of all Ibiza races
• Updated Hong Kong Island areas (Ap Lei Chau, Stanley, Quarry Bay)
• Fixed a transient related crash
• Fixed clipping on structure inside tunnels
• Fixed soft-lock when opening the pause menu immediately after completing a race
• FRIM – Updated levelling system to 99 levels
• FRIM – Removed max number of cash-ins per day
• FRIM – Removed tricks max occurrences
• FRIM – Added reputation, influence and Solar Pass exp as rewards
• FRIM – Updated Clean Driving trigger (100km/h)
• FRIM – Removed Burn and 0-100 from actions list
• FRIM – Tweaked timer for cashing-in.
• Fixed glass rendering on car thumbnails
• Fixed player level sometimes not showing after 60
• Fixed daily challenges not giving rewards after level 60
• Fixed low-resolution display inside Selene HQ
• Fixed podium cameras being placed too high when finishing in a parking
• Fixed vehicle sometimes respawning inside rocks or underwater during convoyage
• Fixed missing text for Casino code entry
• Fixed multiple invisible collisions are present near the delivery point of the ‘Car Delivery’ contract Jaguar D-Type
• Fixed 1% damage abruptly on a turn during ‘Car Delivery’ contract Fenyr SuperSport
• Fixed 1% damage abruptly when driving on the pavement at the start of ‘Car Delivery’ contract McLaren 570S
• Fixed invisible collision is present on the pavement in the ‘Repulse Bay’ District during the ‘Car Delivery contract Bugatti Veyron Super Sport
• Fixed a random car is parked at the spawn location and is clipping with the delivery car when starting the ‘Car Delivery’ contract Ferrari FXX-K Evo 
• Fixed 1% damage where the car sustains damage abruptly inside the parking lot during ‘Car Delivery’ contract Mercedes-Benz SL 65 AMG Black Series – Performance Pack’ contract
• Fixed tunnel clipping issue in Wan-Chai Bypass Tunnel
• Fixed the AI traffic cars driving recklessly during the car Delivery contract ‘Car Delivery’ contract SLS AMG
• Fixed free-roam and race map UI ‘look-back’ feature
• Fixed CSR 260 missing from Dealership
• Fixed some speedtraps are triggered even when disabled
• Fixed missing rim issues
• Improved event UI
• Added freeroam contract notification for quick GPS

Vehicle Improvements

• Fixed Alpha 5 max speed
• Fixed battery on 918, I8, LPI800 and LaFerrari
• Fixed acceleration on Veyron 16.4
• Fixed power handbrake on Buggy
• Fixed tires size on F40
• Updated rear and side light of various cars
• Fixed dashboard UI text
• Fixed DMC12 Dashboard view
• Fixed Porsche Carrera & Carrera Bodykit cockpit camera
• Corrected Aston Martin Valour base power/torque
• Added Super Sport suspension to Aston Martin Valour / Removed All-Road suspension from Aston Martin Valour
• Fixed the spoiler of the Pininfarina Battista where it fails to auto-engage while driving at high speeds
• Fixed the spoilers of all the McLaren manufacturer cars where it fail to auto-engage while driving at high speeds
• Fixed the spoilers of all the Bugatti manufacturer cars where it fail to auto-engage while driving at high speeds
• Added Super Sport suspension to the Mercedes-AMG GT Black Series
• Fixed Huracan Sterrato Licence Plate Lights 
• Fixed Aston Martin Vantage rear lights
• Fixed Aston Martin Valour mirror being reversed
• Fixed the left bumper turn signal on the ‘Lamborghini Huracan Sterrato’ which flashes when the ‘Right Turn Signal’ is activated
• Fixed rear wiper animation on all vehicles that have the feature
• Fixed the windshield wipers of the ‘Lamborghini Huracan Sterrato’
• Added Super Sport suspension to the Bugatti Chiron Super Sport 300+
• Fixed dynamic indicators on the AMG GTR/AMG GT Black Series and Shelby GT350R
• Fixed Veyron ‘PS’ dashboard display
• Fixed Audi Q7 sunroof not opening
• Fixed brake bias setting being reversed
• Fixed DMC12 dashboard camera view
• Fixed Camaro ZLE 1LE incorrect shift animation
• Fixed reflections on the dashboards
• Fixed DB11 Volante redline UI
• Fixed Miura redline UI
• Fixed DB11 Volante rear window animation for roof feature
• New setting for progressive acceleration on all cars
• Decrease unload engine damping influence
• Added cruise control
• Fixed the DB11 Volante hood vent
• Fixed burnout smoke while stationary

PC

• Higher quality reflections in ‘Ultra’ setting
• Added Intel XeSS

PS5

• Fixed FPS drop in performance mode when the character faces the crowd inside the Street HQ
• Fixed multiple FPS drops in performance mode during the race in Aberdeen Park Circuit in the Aberdeen district
• Fixed multiple FPS drops in performance mode during the clan race Head on Collision in Happy Valley District 6
• Fixed multiple FPS drops in performance mode during the clan race ”Center Stage”

Xbox Series

• Fixed FPS drop in performance mode when the character faces the crowd inside the Street HQ
• Fixed multiple FPS drops in performance mode during the race in Aberdeen Park Circuit in the Aberdeen district
• Fixed multiple FPS drops in performance mode during the clan race Head on Collision in Happy Valley District 6
• Fixed multiple FPS drops in performance mode during the clan race ”Center Stage”

Network

• Better Stability and Performance

Future Fixes & Improvements

In this section of the patch notes, you will find some things that we are working on improving for future releases of Test Drive Unlimited Solar Crown as our commitment to be more transparent. Understand that there are priorities given to some topics over others, and some are harder to investigate and solve than others, so no timeframe can be given currently unless otherwise specified. That said, here are all the future fixes and improvements we are working on:

• Logitech G920 Wheel FPS Issue: Players mention while using the Logitech G920 wheel, the game causes extreme FPS drops.
  ETA: Under Investigation
• Steering Filtering/Animation: Vehicle steer animation is delayed with player input which affects keyboard and controller.
  ETA: Issue Found; Work In Progress
• Logitech G923 Wheel PC/PS: Players mention the Logitech G923 wheel does not work correctly when using the PC/PlayStation version.
  ETA: Under Investigation
• Moza Wheel: Players mention their Moza racing wheels cannot change the in-game rotation angle
  ETA: Under Investigation
• Paint Change Server Error: Players mention they cannot upgrade or change the paint on their vehicle and they are met with a server error
  ETA: Under Investigation
• Lamborghini Miura Headlight Animation: The Miura headlights do not tilt when the headlight is turned on.
  ETA: Planned Fix In Season 5
• Handbrake Dynamics: Players mention the current handbrake dynamics need improving.
  ETA: Under Investigation
• Liveries On Performance Mode: Players mention the liveries have low quality when using performance mode.
  ETA: Fixed In Season 5 Update 1
• SRT Hellcat Transmission: Model will receive the correct 8-speed automatic transmission associated with the model.
  ETA: Fixed In Season 5 Update 1