The Crew: Motorfest

First published in GRIND III, pages 74–79.

PLAYED ON PLAYSTATION 5 · RELEASE DATE 11 SEPTEMBER 2023 · PUBLISHER UBISOFT · DEVELOPER IVORY TOWER

THE CREW:

MOTORFEST

IT WILL ENDURE

SOMETHING

In December 2014, Ubisoft caught fans' attention with the launch of a racing game called The Crew. The new title is the product of a collaboration between Ubisoft Ivory Tower and Ubisoft Reflections, which in the end made playing the game conditional on an internet connection. It wasn't the first initiative of its kind (a racing game aimed at online racing enthusiasts). But Ubisoft was going to bring new elements, an impressive collection of cars and the promise of periodic content to keep players' enthusiasm permanently at a high level.

That success meant The Crew 2 turned up four years later, in 2018. The sequel dropped players into an open-world online racing world across the United States. And the vehicle roster was expanded to take in motorbikes, planes and boats. So the steering wheel could be swapped at any moment for handlebars, a joystick or a rudder.

Ubisoft didn't stop there, and on 14 September 2023 we got The Crew Motorfest. The new title puts us back in the driving seat on the Hawaiian island of O'ahu. And this open world is dominated by vivid colours, a warm, tropical atmosphere that wraps itself around us in every

TIME

corner, plus night-time scenery that takes your breath away.

Ubisoft Ivory Tower stayed at the controls to give us Motorfest – and the series' evolution shows both visually and in the new tech that's been added.

Fortunately, the changes don't stop there.

Available on PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Windows, Xbox One and Xbox Series X/S, Ubisoft's new game brings an extensive variety of new, improved elements, with new game modes and, of course, a multitude of cars, planes, boats and bikes. Started as DLC for The Crew 2, Motorfest grew so well and came so far that Ubisoft decided it should become a standalone title. And well done! Project Orlando – as it was rumoured to be called at one point – became The Crew Motorcamp. In the end, the definitive name is The Crew Motorfest. A choice that fits it like a set of sports tyres, because the on-screen action serves up competitions from the racing festivals. If the whole The Crew franchise was previously compared to Test Drive Unlimited, then Motorfest gets likened to Forza Horizon 5 more often. Rightly so – there are plenty of similarities!

The lucky ones got to test a closed beta of Motorfest on PC in February 2023, and the feedback was good. Console owners had a go shortly after as well.

But the final version arrived relatively quickly, and we got it for testing on PlayStation 5.

After a quick run through the game's menu we explored the option of making all sorts of changes: to controls, audio and video, and in the assistance and accessibility section for those who need it. We can pick between three difficulty settings (which can be changed as we go) – Amateur, Intermediate and

Expert. There's no shortage of statistics and rewards (Rewards), and under Challenges we get long lists that update with new objectives – we'll call them challenges.

Out of the menu we get to customise our driver, both physically and in terms of clothing – there are loads of options here, many with sponsors, and we can even choose the gestures the character makes. The next step is, of course, picking a car to set off on the “adventure” with

Motorfest.

At the next step, the notion of variety starts to come in – something we all want – and I mean the game modes first. Motorfest offers around 15 game options, among them:

Lamborghini, Vintage Garage, Made in Japan, Hawaii Scenic Tour, Porsche – 911 Legacy, American Muscle, Electric Odyssey, Drift Experience, Bike Lovers, Ocean ‘n Sky, Off-roading Addict, Motor Sports, plus collaborations featuring the influencers Donut (Rule the Streets), Liberty Walk (LBWK) and SupercarBlondie (Dream Cars). In every playlist you can drive vintage cars, hypercars, drag cars, monster trucks, demolition derby cars, off-roaders, drift cars, sports cars, electric cars, American muscle, concepts, bikes, F1 cars, boats and planes.

BUT THE CARS?

WHAT ARE THE CARS LIKE?

The cars? There are over 600 of them, split across categories and brands. And if I've already talked about categories a little further up, the brands include big names such as Ford, Dodge, Nissan, Jeep, Ferrari, Porsche, Lamborghini, Pontiac,

Volkswagen, Hummer, Land Rover, Mini, BMW, Chevrolet, Cadillac, Mitsubishi, Audi, Lotus, Pagani, Mercedes, McLaren, Mazda, Toyota, Bugatti, plus plenty more. As I mentioned earlier, bikes, planes and boats are on offer too.

The game isn't “online only” and it has a kind of story in which that “Crew” is with you, has an impact on how the action unfolds and, most importantly, helps you get to know the map, sharpen your driving technique on different routes and fill out your collection of vehicles. Later, once you've built up the necessary experience, you can take part in various challenges and PvP races that can include up to 32 players. You can join at any time, even while you're behind the wheel: just open the map, and there you'll find all the points of interest where you can compete to earn respect and notoriety in front of other players. Some races happen in real time on the map and are shown “ghost-like” – other racers around you appear as shadows of a previous run along the same route, but they don't interact with you. You only race their performances, which you can view. At a certain point this tends to get annoying, because it catches your eye and you can no longer tell which cars are “real” and which are from the frantic ghost races. In your first steps (or first laps, more like) on the map, the story will put a few friends alongside you and you'll be helped constantly, in your headset, with the option to switch this “help” off if you want some peace. Peace, hmm, you won't get any, because you'll be putting the music on! Continues with ‘The soundtrack actually sounds good.’ On the automatic setting you'll enjoy tracks picked according to the type of car you're driving.

But if you're a fussy music lover, you can pick the tracks yourself.

Free roaming will familiarise you with the locations and, if you have the right car in the garage, you can throw yourself into challenges.

A lovely way to see the island is also the Grand Race, where, alongside another 28 players, the race lasts around 10 minutes and is split into several sections.

The Motorfest is the main festival and gives access to the Main Stage – where you get monthly challenges and will get rewards. Continues with ‘Weekly, through the “Summit Contest”, you have access to the “Custom Show”. ’ Here you can customise your car, which will be exhibited and entered into a popular vote that canvasses participants' opinions. Of course, taking part gets you a reward. Ubisoft, as with the other two Crew games, promises to introduce new content periodically and has already brought in Season 1 with new challenges, weekly events and legendary cars. On top of that, via the Year 1 Pass option, you can choose to buy in-game credits with which to grab new cars, upgrades, outfits and much more.

All for real money, of course.

We do get new free content too, but the emphasis is on the paid kind. You have the option of expanding your access to vehicles by importing your The Crew 2 collection into Motorfest.

O'ahu is divided into zones as well, and with the map to hand you can see locations and areas of interest, available challenges and other useful bits.

Customising cars and your character costs money and, as

I was saying, while with cars you can make both visual and technical changes, when it comes to clothes and outfits the brands take your money for accessories as well as for whole costumes.

So victories matter for moving forward and unlocking new races and cars, but let's not forget you'll be rewarded too. Hitting certain objectives, stacked on top of those wins, will bring level-ups that unlock a kind of Tiers, with which you can also advance on several fronts. In or on the car? You can drive straight from the wheel with the dashboard in view, exactly like real life, and it's a pleasant way to drive who-knows-what concept supercar or classic car while admiring the interior. But you'll probably have better control if you set the camera further back and lift it a little above the level of the car – the game gives you several camera positioning options.

The HUD is a standard one, a touch cluttered if I'm honest, although just about all of the information is necessary and it does help.

And then it's up to you whether you keep them on screen or strip everything back to the bare essentials. The cinematic sequences are plentiful too, and pleasant, and they help with progression in that sort of story, but we run into them more often in the car showcases, at the start and end of races, and generally when map areas and game modes are being introduced.

Car handling feels spot on with the DualSense, and every individual vehicle (depending on what mods you've put on it as well) adds to how it handles. From pressing the accelerator pedal (adaptive triggers) to the ground you're driving on, the engine vibrations and the inevitable impact with a rival or an obstacle... it all feels properly great on the PS5 controller.

The visual and audio effects are very meticulously implemented, and the attention to detail is quite noticeable. From the sound of the engine to the gear changes and driving on different surfaces – everything is very well rendered acoustically. And on the visual side, the Dunia engine contributes enormously to the game's atmosphere. You can also tell the graphics are of the highest quality. Sunny days, rainy days or nights in O’ahu are rendered excellently, while the cars are rendered down to the smallest, prettiest pixel possible.

With plenty of hours in Forza Horizon 5 on PC and then moving over to Motorfest on PS5, the similarities are everywhere. The differences come from the fact that Ubisoft's title offers more types of vehicle you can drive. Even the modes seem to be laid out differently, but with the same purpose in mind. It's not just the same old Mărie in a different hat, but the two do go together somehow.

Motorfest keeps elements of the The Crew series and does it well, and Ubisoft's decision to launch it as a new title rather than as DLC turns out to have been inspired. On top of that, being able to import your own collection from The Crew 2 adds a note of continuity and leaves room for a well-deserved sequel.

But there's no hurry to launch another game: if Ubisoft keeps its word and keeps adding content, Motorfest will hold up for a good while yet.