Preview: ‘The Crew Motorfest’ takes players on curated trip to Hawaii

Latest entry in "The Crew" series appears to borrows heavily from 'Forza Horizon' in effort to keep pace in open-world racing genre

When it comes to open-world driving games, “The Crew” always took second place to “Forza Horizon.” Although the former’s map was larger by covering a condensed version of the United States, the visuals and content left something to be desired. It was a case of quantity over quality.

For its next iteration, Ubisoft Ivory Tower is taking a cue from its rival and focusing on a smaller area. In this case, they’re going to the Hawaiian island of Oahu. The move will remind fans of “Test Drive Unlimited,” a 2006 Atari-published game that was also inspired by the locale. The big difference between that title and this one is that there’s more than a decade worth of gaming trends behind “The Crew Motorfest.”

A LOOK AT PLAYLISTS
Ubisoft’s racing title revolves around the concept of playlists. It’s a curated set of races focused on particular themes and they’re associated with distinct playstyles. With the Motorsports playlist, players race Formula 1 cars and they’ll have to worry about pit stop strategy as their tires wear down. If they don’t change them out, the rubber loses its grip and the vehicles turn squirrely.

The Vintage Garage playlist takes player in vehicles from the 1950s and beyond. What’s notable about this experience is that the vehicles start off and handle as they would stock. That means players won’t have GPS or other modern advancements that have now become standard. Even the music is era appropriate. As players move through the decades, the vehicles acquire features such as ABS, and they’ll gain more modern conveniences.

The Made in Japan playlist celebrates drifting, customization and other elements of the nation’s car culture. The race I checked out had me going through the mountains and drifting on the switchbacks (a la Takumi on Mount Akina for you “Initial D” fans) while driving through the cityscape, the visuals were colored in neon. Meanwhile, the Lamborghini playlist zeroed on the supercars and gave players a history lesson on the brand.

In the sample race, I played a bit of the road experience, and it resembled something you would fine in “Forza Horizon.” The game even features different perspectives including a cockpit mode.

The game looks better than past efforts, and it shows promise. Perhaps, it goes to show that bigger isn’t necessarily better, and that a smaller more focused game creates a better experience. Players can find out when “The Crew Motorsports” releases Sept. 14 on PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X and Series S, Xbox One and PC.