Test Drive Unlimited for PC - Hawaiian tour : PART 2!

(This is the second part of the entry regarding Test Drive Unlimited for PC. For the first part, look for the post before this.)

In the previous post, I talked about some general overviews of TDU from a perspective of a temporal sick minded gamer (read: me). Today, let's go to the beginning of the game itself where you start your career in the game until the point where everything becomes fairly repetitive. This entry is going to be filled with snapshots (beware: high bandwidth connection required!) with a storytelling style in order to describe the storyline to you clearly.

I created a new profile in the game so that I can make a fresh start enabling me to capture the initial moments in the game.

Let's begin at the airport:



There are some cutscenes in the beginning, showing some people in the waiting hall, then we've got an announcement regarding the departure to Hawaii.


While queuing for the ticket checking, you're presented with the option to select a character. This is the crucial part as if you're a type of person who concerns about your in-game appearance, your selection will affect the types of gears, attires available in the game and your driving style (Okay, I made that last one up!). Anyway, just select the one you like most ( and yes, that sexy babe is a potential racer, so beware!)

Whoever you choose will become the main character throughout the game progression. After this part, there are more cutscenes in the plane, some takeoffs, view from your plane of Hawaii and the landing. The whole thing is set up similar to a beginning of a movie...it's a story about you.



We have arrived, yay! The cutscenes will bring you straight to the next point in the game: renting a car.


There will be some scenes of you arriving at the rental car agent, after which the game will prompt you with this:


There will be a few nice cars for you to choose from. The car is actually meant for you to get yourself into the next point in the game: buying a house. To rent a car, choose a car you like, and select the duration of rental (10 or 20 minutes). During this selection, you will notice that you already have some cash with you (around $200K).



As shown above, the game will prompt you to follow the GPS indication in the map right after renting a car. This will be the first time you ride in the island. Off you go, then.



I like to take the opportunity to show something here. I choose the in-car view to demonstrate a feature that allows you to further set up your seating position. In the Game Options, select Game Settings/Seat Position to access the option for adjusting the position and the height of your seat. It's like having to adjust yourself with your new ride, you just gotta make sure everything feels comfy for you. Yes, this feature also allows you to feast your eye on the interior details of the car.


Tadaaaa! The result is shown above and it's obvious that you can see more details than before. I believe that whoever owns a 21" or above will be able to see the gear position (P, R, N, D and S), fuel meter and temperature gauge clearer.

Continue driving to the indicated destination on the GPS map (roughly 2 km from the airport). When you arrive, there are cutscenes showing you in the real estate agency, making your way to your first purchase of your home.


This is the menu showing the available houses from that particular agency. You can browse the menu to look for your house of choice. As I've mentioned in the previous post, you can take a virtual tour of each house before you decide to take one. Don't forget to check out the garage capacity and of course, the price. Obviously, the amount of cash in hand determine which house that you can buy (if it's insufficient, some house will print out an indication in red colour, indicating your inaffordability).


Got what you want? Proceed in your purchase and there will be some cutscenes showing your arrival at your new home.


The next step is to purchase your first car in the island, which is why you will be prompted with a message shown above. When you click 'Next', you can select from a few car dealers available at the beginning of the game. In my case, I select an Audi dealer.


Ooops, just to show you something: this is the map of the island in the early stage of the game. As you progress, there will be more information available on it. The map itself is beautifully rendered and mipmapped; just look at the light reflection at the sea around the island. Talk about attention to details here folks.

Okay then, back to business. Helloooo Audi!


There will be cutscenes showing your arrival at the dealer shop, before you're prompted with the message above. Are you ready to make your first purchase?


Similar to the process during the car rental, you will be provided with selection of cars available at that particular car dealer. You will also notice individual specs of each model, and pricetag that it carries. If you select a car, you can have a virtual tour of it too. You can play around with its power windows, opening left and right door, moving your view around its interior etc. The most important thing is you can test drive it too! It's like purchasing your car in real life: you need a sufficient sneak peek of the car you desire before you decide to buy it.


There are a few more steps required in purchasing a car. First, the game will ask you whether you want it to come with stock tire rims or sporty, customized one (if available, with extra cost).


Second, you're prompted with the option for the paint colour (other types of paint come with extra cost, if available).


Then, you will be given the option to select the colour setup for the interior, which in my opinion adds extra value for TDU. I haven't seen this feature yet in other car racing games eg. Need For Speed.

You can always go back to the previous steps by clicking 'Cancel' just in case you want to change something.


If everything else works out fine, you are ready to buy your first car. Remember, the whole procedure is similar if you make you future purchases as you progress through the game.


Having bought your first car, the game will instantly point you to the next step: pitting you against other racers in a predefined race point. Follow the GPS map, the race is not too far (about 2.8 km only) from your current position in the map.

I would like take the opportunity to show you what types of driving view available for you in the game. There are 6 of them (including the one you already know, the in-car view) and you can pick the one that suits you most.

Bonnet view.....

Bumper view, with nicely positioned speedometers and RPM meter (the indicator varies according to the maker and model of the car. If it's a Ferrari 430, you know it's Ferrari 430 and not Enzo). No generic metering model here folks!

Behind-the-car view.

Much closer view behind the car.


A special type of view where the camera follows the movement of the car if it swerves left or right. I personally think it's not suitable for driving and racing as there's not much view you can see in front of your car. This one is probably meant for capturing some dramatic moments while you're racing using programs like FRAPs, I don't know.



So, back to the game and off you go to the race point indicated in the GPS map. When you're nearing the location of the race, you will notice the flashing indicator as shown above. In TDU, be on the lookout for any indicators like this as it indicates that you are about to bypass a race point and you can join it by pressing Enter. The type of race is shown in the middle of the flashing logo.

So, when you're close enough to the indicator, your GPS map will signal you with 'Enter'. Press Enter and you're in.


This is a typical interface when you are joining a race. It details all information about the race: the mission, prizes, levels, car categories etc.

One nifty feature here that I like is the ability to change your vehicle. It means that if you happen to bump into this race with a car that belongs to a different group, you can change your car with any car currently in your garage that match the group required by the race. This eliminates your need to jump into your garage, select the right car and jump back in the race again.

Of course, at current stage, you only have your first car. Don't worry, as this race is meant for the right car group. So, if you're ready, let's burn some fat tires!


The first race is actually very easy and you can actually win it if you do it right. Just race with the guidance of the GPS map as it indicates the route the race will take.



During the race, you can pause it by pressing the default button 'P'. The menu also gives you the option to resume the race or restart it again. If you somehow grow 'chicken' during the race, you can call it quits and never step your foot in the island again. Okay, just kidding! Just quit.


So, there you're, your first victory! First place will earn you most cash and a gold trophy, second place; a fewer cash with silver trophy and if you finish third, a few bucks for you and a bronze. The trophy will be indicated in the map as well, showing your achievement in the events that you've taken. You can always try the same race again later if you wish though.


After finishing your first race, the game will direct you back home, using the GPS system. When you're close to destination, you will see an icon on the road in front of you, as shown below. This indicates you house, and you can enter it by pressing 'Enter'. Now, it's your time to relax.




Welcome home! This is your interface when you're at your house. This is where you manage your progress, properties (car, clothes), appearance etc. Just don't expect that you can be interactive with anything in your living hall though. It's just there for realism purposes. Now let's take a look at each menu shall we?


Under 'Garage', you will be taken to guess what... your garage obviously. Here you can view your collection of cars complete with their specs, any upgrades, car groups etc. However, they are limited to the capacity of the garage which means that your other car must have been stored in your other houses. This of course, happen when you purchase more houses later. To view all car, you need to visit all your houses.


Again, TDU provides a shortcut to this. Each garage however, contains a list of all your cars under your collection. Selecting any car which is not stored in the current garage will bring up a prompt, asking whether you want to visit the garage that actually store the selected car. If you agree, you can jump to the new garage instantly.


'Info' menu brings you the current status of the game w.r.t. your progress. You can read news, statistics, rankings and even photo album. Your photo album will contains photos taken using the in-game photo snapper which I've mentioned in the previous post.


'Trade' menu is basically a place where you can sell, buy or download vehicles. If you a short of cash, you might want to let go some of your cars, which is something I won't recommend. You can get money by easily repeating any race you've won just to get quick cash though.


When you hit 'Character' menu, you will be brought to your dressing room. Yes, it is comparatively better than the one in GTA: San Andreas. This is the place where you can change your garments and facial appearance.


By default, you have no extra garments available; those that you wear are the default ones. To purchase new garments, you need to successfully complete a hitchhiker delivery mission. Each successful mission awards you with several tags which enables you to buy clothes from any garment shops indicated on the island map. Any purchased garment will be stored in the closet.


The options available are Upper Garment, Lower Garment, Shoes and Sunglasses. Believe me, you can be pretty stylish if you have purchased enough.


Under 'Biker Gear' menu, you'll get what exactly every biker needs, as shown above. Again, you need to purchase your biking gear and helmets to enjoy this feature.


We come to the best part that is modifying your appearance under 'Modify' menu. First of all, let me say that the total makeover is only restricted to your head and face (don't expect some liposuction or those from Nip/Tuck TV series kinda thing!). However, you'll be surprised to see how TDU allows you to modify your face to some degree. Varieties are inevitable here folks!

You can add goatee, moustache, widen you jaws, enlarge you forehead, complete with different hairstyles and hair colours etc etc etc. I mean, just try it and you could end up with a totally different you (I'm outta words here!).


Well, that's about it in you so-called TDU home. At this stage, you've basically completed the steps required by TDU before you can freely roam the island and enter various events independently.

You'll be prompted with the message shown above, motivating you to enter any event on the map. To access the map, you have to be on the road, therefore just quit the house and you're on the go.

With a quick cutscene, you'll be outside your house, on the road. I personally assign 'M' to access the map (depends on your setting in the game options), so if you have a similar setup, pressing 'M' will bring you the map.


Here you can see the available events around your vicinity. You will not be able to see all events on the island at the moment as you haven't explored every nook and cranny in the island. You will notice that as you progress through the game, your exposure on the island increases, revealing more events to participate, more spots to visit (car dealers, houses, real estates, garment shops, tuner shops etc).

In the picture above, you can see icons indicating the types of mission or racings available. Hovering the pointer above any one of them reveals the information pertaining that specific event. For example, in the picture above, Jennifer only accepts a vehicle with two seats if you're planning to pick her.

Do you notice an event with a gold trophy icon with it? That's the race you've won earlier.

The map includes the facility to filter any types of events, hot spots, zooming in and out and even access to the online mode. Explore it as it is the biggest tool for you to complete the game smoothly.


Just in case, if the race you want to participate happen to be on the route you've never taken before, you'll be prompted with the message shown above. Basically, this is how TDU helps you expand your areas of exposure; you have to drive manually to the scene. If the route somehow has been taken by you (maybe you stroll the island a lot before entering any event), accessing any event is easier; TDU will automatically bring you to the event without asking you to drive there.

So, there you go folks! From this moment on, you're on your own to conquer the whole island. You're free to roam every roads, entering any events in any unspecified order. As I've previously mentioned, things will get repetitive from here but I can assure you that you will not notice it much. TDU has quite a good balance of gameplay with some other side attractions that makes you feel your trip on the island is like a never ending story.

All the best!

Test Drive Unlimited for PC - Hawaiian tour!

(This is less likely to be a full-fledge review; heck, it probably is just a rant. Therefore, I apologize for any horrid grammatical errors, light profanities and lack of proper paragraphing)...

To Start With

In this entry I've decided to be less 'formal' than usual, as this is about my own gaming experience with Test Drive Unlimited - Unfinished Business version. No, I make that up, 'cause it's literally true - I haven't yet finish playing the game no matter what. In fact, I think that I can never finish playing this game.

Reason? Well, first of all, it's about me, the player having to stroll around Hawaii, exploring every roads, completing all missions, then smoking some unfortunate tires, picking some babes around the vicinity, flashing my cars and some occasional motorbiking around the island. Secondly, the cars. Ohhh, the cars featured in the game are just lovely. Damn, if I just happen to have at least one of those Ferrari in real life, that would be really cool! Exactly that is what I feel when playing the game. I sit inside the car, using the cockpit view, listening to the revving engine sound, start moving through the traffic, some high-speed car chase with the cops, picking up some babes with sporty cars; it's a man's dream on the street (and no, I won't include sex as there isn't any in the game! Want some? Go find 'Hot Coffee' version of GTA San Andreas!)

Game Settings, Graphics : HDR, Motion Blur

Okay, goin' a bit technical, I'm playing this game with my usual settings on graphics: 1024x768 res, 4X AA, 8X AF, max world details and no HDR! Yes, I must highlight here that HDR in TDU doesn't look like HDR; it's more like 'bloom' effect as seen in NFS Most Wanted, you know, that bright white aura at every edge of objects in the scene, the effect in movies that indicates the scene in a dream. I don't favour it apart from the fact that my 7800 GT doesn't allow AA+HDR and the undeniable performance hits I will take when enabling it. So, no HDR in this game for me ( I might exaggerate this but just play the game, you'll see what I mean!)

The much touted motion blur in action

Other graphical beauties that exist in the game is the motion blur effect. All I can say is that it is implemented in a right manner: two-thumbs up man! It's nowhere like Fast & Furious NOS-triggered motion blur effect, but it is as if you're driving in actual life, slowly from a start and gradually picking speed and then you realize your view is a bit out of focus at the left and right (this might be hard to describe, but TDU is trying very hard to simulate this, and I understand it). The effect also seems dynamic; the magnitude of blurriness increases as you are speeding way beyond normal driving speed (I called this 'The Curse of the Exotics'! Go figure.)

Teasing a Maranello, with cops around!

The level of details in TDU is a bit above satisfactory, at least from my POV. The cars are modeled accurately although I have some problems with the rendering of the car sports rim (looks 2D, way behind compared to those in NFS Carbon), some attention to details are present in the car interior. The varieties of gears & attires; well they're quite fashionable I would say. The world details is almost believable: I mean I've never been to Hawaii, but I can tell that there are significant amount of effort that have been put into the game to make it what it is. The road, the surroundings, the town...I mean, it is unfair for me to say that it is the true Hawaiian landscape but please, if there's someone out there who is keen enough to tell me at least, in percentages, how close the game with the real Hawaii is!

I flunked my Ferrari just to show you the reflection on the water

Not so realistic, a bit poor implementation

Hey, it looks better from a far

Nicely rendered sea water with that boat reflection on it, followed by an unnecessary sea drowning later on

Capturing Eye Candies

Accompanying these eye candies is the way to capture them: an in-game photo snapper. It is intuitive, responsive and it functions way better than the limited ones in NFS Carbon (for comparison). I can pan, zoom, rotate with bigger angles and distances, it gives me more powerful tool to put an exotic touch when photographing an exotic car. It just works for me.

This is the one!

TDU is a game played during daytime only, something that feels awkward when paired with an almost realistic environment. Sorry, no night time driving folks! On the other hand, this decision might be done in order to make full use of the photo snapper (purely my guess though, as night time snapshots are not so effective!) In this game, apart from clear daytime with blazing sunlight, there are some occurrences of cloudy skies as the player moves around in the island. That is as far as the weather realism goes in the game. I've captured some shots showing the difference in weather and you can judge it for yourself.

Sunny day!

It's getting cloudy, dude!

Better be home soon!

Nice filtering of the sun rays by darker clouds

Gaming Performance

Under previous AMD 64 3000+, 1 GB DDR, NF4 platform, I scored around 35 fps average in this game. Yeah, pretty sucked that I had to turn down AA and AF level in the game. Now, under Core 2 Duo E4300 and 2 GB DDR2 in i945P platform, I manage to get around 47 fps with stock CPU speed. OCing my E4300 to 2.4 GHz gives me 50+ fps stable with souped up AA and AF level. That make sense as at 1024x768 res, I am still pretty much bottlenecked by CPU. At this point, 7800GT is here to stay...well, it might stay until all those fiasco regarding early DX10 game settle down( Damn you EnvyDia, where is G9x??)

Some Bugs Perhaps

Back to the game. At any point, I have to highlight one very important thing: this game is horribly buggy! Maybe as the result of being ported from console game, TDU developer didn't make it a smooth transition to PC version of the game. I can't list all the bugs here, Google around as there are many discussion about this game. Among the bugs are the savefile can be easily corrupted, graphics anomaly after changing resolutions, another graphics anomaly when returning to game after toggling HDR option. It's a common gesture among gamers who praised TDU for being a great game, only to be hampered with such horrendous bugs and instabilities. Having said so, however I haven't got time to search around for patches from the Atari.. let me see hmm...Oh, there's probably one here that's being discussed.

Anyway, despite the game issues, I can play it with some peace in my mind that the game delivers what I've dreamed about driving exotic cars! Really, this game brings back memories of Need For Speed in its early series, except this is better. I can adjust my seat position, enjoying almost realistic interior view, responsive speedometers and rear mirror, etc etc. If I had a Logitech G25 FF Steering Wheel, the whole experience would be pimped up way a few notch!

The Simple Story Unfolds

The game starts with a scene at the airport which shows me, the character I will play, are waiting at the departure hall. The game require me to select from a few characters; a babe, some Linkin Park-style guy, another simpler looking guy, probably another babe with different slutty appearance(can't remember exactly!)...I mean there are a few of them. I select one that represent a close resemblance of myself and off I go to Hawaii.

Upon arrival, I have to rent a car to get myself a house to stay while I roll in the island. I buy a house at the real estate agency and that's where I started the journey to discover the whole Aloha. My home is where i do my stuff: parking my cars, changing my appearance (not including some extreme makeover!), reading news, checking my achievements, watching LCD TV, buy and sell cars etc etc. It's my port to let myself go (in a good manner though!).

Cars & Homes : Big Boys Toys

I can buy as many houses or mansions that I want provided that I have enough money and I have discovered vast areas in the island, revealing more real estate agencies and homes available for purchase. Another reason to buy is when your existing garage are already full with cars. For example, my first house can accommodate 4 vehicles max. Having bought the fifth cars requires me to get another house. Another thing, the location of the house can help you spread your appearance around the island, especially if you're on the quest of discovering every hidden events, houses, missions and some random guys and babes to pick up (again, not for sex as they're hitchhikers, damn!). So, I have to strategically select the location as I game along.

Pete Sampras might live here!

The price of the house varies from $100K++ to even some millions of dollars (I'm talking about those which can store up to 10 vehicles!), and the design, well yes..there are varieties of them. Each house is unique and has some touches of what real people dreams about their ultimate home design (of course, to some extent only). Whenever you're surveying a specific house, either through the agency or by visiting it yourself, the game allows you to have a virtual tour around the house. That's what I do and I can say that I'm impressed with the level of details that Atari takes in designing them.

A house to live in

How The Game Goes

Once again, back to the core of the game. Basically, I have to endure and experience these in order to progress in the game: do repetitious street racings (with up to 7 opponents), time limit racing, speed limit racing, send babes to their destination in specified time frame, pick random hitchhikers and deliver them within time limits, some mysterious 'possible-crack-delivery' missions, car delivery missions (I like this one) ..and some other that I might miss to mention.

The rest is probably strolling all the streets available. Oh yeah, I have to mention that the more distance I cover, I get some sort of level increment. For example, when I exceed 40 kilometers (or miles), the game award me with Tourist status (again, I can't remember this correctly, but it does reward me with a status).

Yo, yo, Right here man!

Dude, can you ride me home?

I smoke this bitch so hard I can't even see anything!

Braaaace yourself!!

Listen, can you deliver this baby to the airport for $90K?

Car delivery mission

This junk is about to ask me to deliver some 'goodies' for him


See..I told ya!

Future 500CC Moto GP champ

Speaking of rewards, there are a few more that you can achieve. You get some awards or rewards as you exceed some points during delivery missions (babes, hitchhikers and items), successful car delivery, number of cars purchased in the form of cash, tags to buy some new clothes, some unlockings here and there (new houses, boutiques, car dealers, cars, tuner shops etc). Lemme give a hint: explore every nook and cranny in this island, and you'll understand how the game expands and progresses.

A perfect delivery

Another perfect delivery

The gesture of a victorious speedfreak

Cars...OMG, I forget to tell you about cars. Okay, this ain't Fast and Furious inspired game, therefore, there's not much of import tuners around, but they are there. European cars are a must and I see a lot of American muscles in the game. Exotics? No question about it: Ferrari Enzo, Saleen S7, McLaren F1, those from Mercedes, exotic muscles from Viper...I mean, the list goes on and on. It is also a perfect balance between modern cars and classic cars: yes, there are classic cars from 60's in the game.

"Holy explicit rant, Batman! But did you forget about the tuner shop?". Yes, TDU allows some tuning and performance upgrade to the car, but it is fairly limited. Visit some tuner shop and you're presented with 3 Levels of upgrade only. Be careful not to overtune your car as sometimes it is best to keep the balance between power and control at the right pace. Trust me, Level 3 upgrade Pagani Zonda doesn't look good in terms of handling though.

Inside a tuner shop for Aston Martin

Purchase your upgrade Level and see the upgrade in specs

All cars are categorized into Group A to G and it is advisable to have at least a car from each group. This is important as some races and missions do specify the group of car that it allows. I even stumble upon some races and only require cars from a specific manufacturer only. In some mission, some babes only accept me with 2-door sedan, some want me in Saleen only (bitch!)..and this rant also goes to those male hitchhikers! Fortunately, I am served with a very informative in-game map and menu that allow me to see all requirements prior to selecting a mission or race. The navigational Hawaiian map is the key to complete the game and kudos to the developer, the map is way better than that in NFS Underground 2.

The map is also rendered in 3D with visible moving cars, even a plane

We got an in-game radio tuner too

.....and some babes I picked up in Hawaii

"Wassup, sweet thang! Goin' somewhere??"

An athletic babe, probably Sporty Spice of Spice Girls

"Thanks for not unbuttoning the..I mean, thank you!"

"Emm, that's a nice hot rod you got there!"

"I can lift you to anywhere, babe. Hop in!"

One sultry looking babe really turns my antenna on!

"Give me a fuck*n ride, you f*cktw*t! Can't you see I'm f*ckin sweat'n here?"

I definitely have to stop here, because suddenly I don't know what else to say about the game (and I'm obviously off the hook!). I know I have a lot of segments in the game that I should cover but, let's make it an exercise for you to find more information from some other reviews. The fact remains that I haven't even complete the game, but from the current progress, things will tend to stay repetitive till the end. I might post something about TDU later on, especially if I have more screenshots to share with you.

I don't like the feel of riding this bike in the game

Gotcha, Zonda! I betcha bleeding gas right now!

Extra information:

Test Drive Unlimited: Gamespot review
DriverHeaven review
TweakTown review