Seven things we learned playing The Crew: Motorfest closed Beta

1. Motorfest has the best car sounds in a generation, but it’s not perfect

For enthusiasts without the means to buy the cars we love for real, playing car games is all about getting as much of an experience of the real thing as we possibly can. Very little goes as far towards that kind of immersion as a good sound file, and, somewhat surprisingly, The Crew: Motorfest has done a world class job.

Why is it a surprise? This is a game that started life as an expansion for The Crew 2, that largely carries over its car list. The devs could have just used the old sound files from the previous game and called it there. But they didn’t. 

Almost every car has an entirely new sound design, with some like the Lamborghini Countach LPi800, Audi R8, Jaguar F-Type R and Aston Martin Vantage, being utterly indistinguishable from, or better than, the real thing. No game, and I mean no game, has been able to claim such a thing in well over a decade.

It’s not just the flat-out sound, either. There are levels to the sounds, building in the entire range of a car’s vocals. Going back to the Vantage, the famous valved exhaust only fully opens when you pin it. The rest of the time, it cruises along with a docile burble. It’s not as simple as being dictated by revs either. It’s throttle position. The Audi R8 will emit a V10 ‘bark’ from 2,000rpm, if you put the throttle to the ‘floor’. This game genuinely captures 90 per cent of most of the cars’ varied, nuanced and sophisticated range, that is a huge part of why so many of us are fascinated by the way cars sound.

That makes it all the more a shame that they didn’t get it right on some cars. Cars that are so defined by and beloved for their sound in real life – the Pagani Zonda F, Lamborghini Murcielago LP640 and McLaren F1 to name a few. If one note to improve this game from this entire piece were heeded by Ivory Tower, I’d want it to be this: do for every car sound, what you did for the R8, Vantage, F-Type and Countach. Please. But for the vast majority of cars you’ve absolutely nailed? Bravo, *standing ovation*.

Yes, there’s more to say about the sounds, because they’ve absolutely nailed third-person sounds as well. I refer to the sounds of other people’s cars. As a mate does a fly-by in his Countach, you find yourself exclaiming ‘phwoahhh’ as you would witnessing the real thing. That 3D, multi-facetted, rev and throttle-dependent thing comes through from other cars too. And it’s all amplified when you go into a tunnel. *Chef’s kiss*.

2. The Crew: Motorfest has surprisingly excellent physics

The first shock actually comes when you start driving. For the strange diff-less physics of The Crew 2 are entirely gone. In their place, a fun, digestible controller feel that crosses Forza Motorsport with Project Cars 3, in a good way. Many will be happy too that the controls are now configurable – no more being forced into shifting with the left and right bumper buttons.

The real revelation however, is on the steering wheel, where you’re put in mind of a softer, easier Assetto Corsa. Cars finally feel like they have limited-slip diffs and can therefore hold slides on power. The force feedback has a natural flow, with the wheel slipping through your hands gracefully as cars transition into slides. There’s a real balance, a feel for the rotational centre, around which you can have as much grip or slip as you ask for via the throttle and steering. In short, it’s an entirely satisfying approach and a refreshing one in comparison to Forza Horizon’s doughy ‘drift everything all the time’ feel.

What has made it over from The Crew 2, albeit in a revised form, is the Pro Settings menu, which even on that game was a revelation. Adjustable here as in The Crew 2 are aero balance, tyre grip, suspension and brake parameters. What we once used to make the best out of a generally bad physics model, makes good physics great on The Crew: Motorfest. 

Our impression was that as standard, most cars were a bit too grippy. Lower that tyre grip by 15 per cent front and rear for a more immersive feel. Like with the sounds, the physics on The Crew: Motorfest are a top effort, which is surprising given, as above, this game started life as an expansion.

3. The map: a point of contention for lovers of The Crew

The most divisive subject so far has been the map. What we have here is a shrunken version of the Hawaiian Island of Oahu. Yes, that Oahu from the first two Test Drive Unlimited games, on which many of Ivory Tower’s dev staff once worked.

But yes, I said shrunken. It’s much smaller than both the near 1:1-scale version seen on TDU and the map of the US we got on the last two Crew games. For those that loved those games, their defining feature was being able to get lost in hours-long drives around a truncated but vast map of the US, strewn with incredible roads, vistas and recreations of famous American locations.

The Crew: Motorfest’s Oahu map by contrast more resembles a Forza Horizon map, albeit one from an alternate universe where Horizon maps are good. While small in terms of sheer land mass, the design of the road network doesn’t feel like spaghetti has been thrown at a wall to decide the infrastructure. There are highways, mountain roads and perimeter roads, connecting rural towns and urban cityscapes – hello again, Honolulu. It feels like it’s a road network that’s actually been planned. It disguises to an extent its diminished square mileage and does justice to the reference location so much better than any Horizon installment has. I’ll never forgive Horizon 4 for suggesting to millions around the world that the Scottish borders feature just the one token driving road.

But Motorfest assumes this shrunken form for the same valid reasons that Horizon games have never gone for raw square mileage: graphics. A highly detailed and beautiful environment is graphically intensive, time-consuming to create and large in terms of gigabytes out of your system storage. While beautifully lit and disguised with great weather systems, the maps and graphics in general on previous Crew games caught flack for lacking in detail and fidelity. I and many others loved them, but the fact is that in 2023 it’s still difficult to have big and beautiful games, and we as an audience continually demand beauty. Will Motorfest have the longevity of its more road trip-friendly predecessors? It’s hard to say, though great sounds and physics will help its cause. Don’t right off the possibility of map expansions, either.

4. The Crew: Motorfest is graphically very pretty

So the upside of a smaller map is obvious. The Crew: Motorfest has caught right up with Forza in terms of aesthetics. While generally not as sharp, it somehow looks more alive, like it has an atmosphere – there’s more vibrance and honestly, if sometimes a little too much saturation with some sunsets appearing more like an outtake from Oppenheimer. In spite of grandfathering in car models, there are no awkward shapes or runts of the litter – Turn 10, once again, we implore this is addressed in Forza to replace some of the models that are blatantly over 15 years old.

The biggest improvement to the graphics, beyond an overall jump up in asset quality and detail, is reflections. From windows, to puddles, to the bodywork of the cars themselves, the way your environment is doubled in these surfaces is delightful. It’s not photoreal, but it looks great.

5. The Crew: Motorfest gameplay and progression

In terms of gameplay and story, The Crew: Motorfest avoids too much D-tier dialogue or cringe-worthy ‘youth culture’ appropriation that’ll be outdated within a year – Need For Speed: Unbound, we’re looking at you. Instead we have a playlist-based system of progression that educates the player on various brands, models and cultures from the motoring world. It’s a sort of Horizon Festival meets Gran Turismo Cafe situation that’s a far cry from the insufferable ‘story’ that many racing games – including the previous Crew titles – have attempted to weave.

Progression is a big bone of contention in gaming at the moment. Players want to feel like they’ve achieved something, but also don’t want the experience to be a grind. Many feared the ability to import your garage to The Crew: Motorfest from The Crew 2. Is this a progression killer on par with Forza’s Wheelspins, that bury you in hypercars and money at the push of a button? 

Yes and no. The difference in Motorfest is that players who put the time into The Crew 2 aren’t just getting random cars. They’re getting their cars, that they may well have been attached to and will be glad to see again. New additions to the car list obviously aren’t included in that, so there is stuff to grind for. And the rate the game pays would make it a bit of a grind, if not for the enjoyable Playlist format. In short, no, there’s a decent balance that’s been struck. New players will be encouraged by the expansive car list, while Crew players alike will be drawn in by new models and a fun ‘story’. The themed ‘Summit’ content returns too, encouraging you to expand your collection and learn about different models, and the developers assure us there’s plenty of post-release support coming, with new cars, Playlists, Summits and more to be added.

6. Beta problems – AI and connectivity

What obvious problems were there with the Beta, then? Beyond the odd floating bush, two absolutely leapt out at us, in the case of the first, literally. The AI cars – the ‘normal’ vehicles populating the road network – were seemingly hell bent on murdering us, floating across lanes, randomly changing direction and just seemingly not following any road rules whatsoever. A definite one we expect will be fixed for the game’s release.

Another somewhat less amusing issue was connectivity. Joining friends was easy enough, but whether you’d stay visible to one another in the same server was entirely up in the air. We’d constantly dip in and out with close proximity to one another seemingly triggering lag-outs. Definitely one to fix for the game’s September release, with the way connectivity issues plagued Forza Horizon 5 on release firmly in mind.

7. Other notes and final thoughts

More points to note? The vehicle list is absolutely vast, with almost 600 – mostly cars – playable in the Beta. The boats, planes, various racers and off-roaders return for The Crew: Motorfest, keeping that unique variety this franchise has always boasted. We love to see the addition of last year’s F1 championship-winning Red Bull RB18, for instance, while drifting and drag racing returns also. Everything other than road cars does tend to feel like an appendix, however, at least when not playing the ‘story’.

The excellent car modification system comes directly from The Crew 2, though some updated accessories and wheels would have been nice. The livery and paint editor, video and photo modes meanwhile, have been slightly revised.

I opened saying this felt more like a true successor to the original Forza Horizon of 2012. After writing all this, I’d like to clarify. The Crew: Motorfest, initially at least, feels like a game where the developers have both listened to players and looked long and hard at the last decade and a half of both circuit- and open world-based racing games. There are aspects of Need For Speed: Hot Pursuit’s viscerality, in its celebration of how cars drive and sound. The map obviously distantly echoes TDU and retains its tropical feel, albeit with a slight Horizon-esque twist, likewise with the gameplay. This really does feel like delivery on a decade-long wait for what Forza Horizon 1 teased was possible.

In short, as a lover of racing games and a lover of cars, The Crew: Motorfest makes me feel seen and heard. Will it be perfect? No. Is it the ideal direct sequel to The Crew 2? No. But it’s really rather good for what is a glorified expansion. Test Drive Unlimited: Solar Crown, over to you…