In a recent interview with GamesBeat, Nacon's Head of Publishing, Benoit Clerc, just confirmed that a new Test Drive Unlimited game is currently in development. The Test Drive franchise was bought from Atari back in 2016, but Bigben (and now Nacon) have done nothing with the property until now.
"The first company is KT Racing, Kylotonn. They’re based in Paris and Lyon. They’re specialized in racing," Clerc said in the interview when running down the studios Nacon owned. "They’re doing off-road racing with WRC (World Championship Rally), and they’re doing two-wheel racing with Isle of Man TT. They’re currently working on our biggest project by far, which is the next Test Drive Unlimited game."
Nobody really knew who Kylotonn was until the launch of WRC 8, which proved to be the best game the developer had made so far. WRC 8 also posed serious competition to DiRT Rally 2.0, which is touted as the king of rally games. Kylotonn is also working on the upcoming TT-Isle of Man 2, which is a two-wheel racer, and from what we have seen so far, the game actually looks promising. Considering this, we are also quite hopeful about the new Test Drive Unlimited game that Clerc talked about.
If you aren't familiar with the Test Drive Unlimited franchise, the first game was held in high regard when it released in 2007 for creating one of the best open-world racing games. However, the developer working on Test Drive Unlimited 2 in 2011 could not pull off a successful sequel. Nine years later, most gamers have already moved on from TDU, but the franchise is back to lift your spirits.
Now that we know that a new Test Drive Unlimited game is in the works, it is the best time to look back at the leaks and rumors that have been circling regarding the game. One leak was shared by a Reddit user, who is said to be a developer at Ubisoft Paris. This leaker said the next TDU game is going to be set in South America. The game is rumored to feature about 90 different cars and the number of houses that can be unlocked is quite higher than the previous two TDU games combined. Interestingly, the game is said to be borrowing the physics engine from WRC 8, and extensive attention will be paid to the game's visuals.
