Play TDU Solar Crown For Free On Xbox This Weekend

Four months after it first launched, it’s fair to say it’s not exactly been smooth sailing for Test Drive Unlimited Solar Crown. A game that had been teased for several years and rebooted a beloved but long-dormant franchise had a lot of people excited, but the end product was let down by a disappointing car list, a lifeless map, bizarre AI and, most excruciatingly, countless server issues that plagued the always-online title.

All that negative press may well have put you off spending your hard-earned money on the title, but now – if you’re playing on Xbox Series S/X, at least – there’s a chance to sample it for free before making any big decisions.

Beginning today, Friday 24 January, and until 9am GMT on Monday 27 January, Solar Crown will be free to download and play on Microsoft’s consoles, giving Xbox players a weekend-long free trial of the title. Any progress made during this period will be saved should you decide to make the leap to a full purchase, which is also being offered with 40 per cent off over the weekend.

It follows a similar free trial on PS5 last month, as developer KT Racing and publisher Nacon seek to increase the player base of the struggling title.

In all fairness, now might be a good time to give Solar Crown another look: the game’s early server issues are largely a thing of the past, and the content offering has expanded slightly with new cars and the additional map of Ibiza Town (although you’ll need to do some grinding to get there during the free trial, as you need to be reputation level 12 to travel there).

To the credit of KT, it also appears to be listening to some of the complaints levelled at the game, announcing last month that it was postponing the planned ‘Clan Wars’ update for March in favour of bringing in features that “speak to fans of the series.”

So, while Solar Crown may be far from a perfect game, it may well be worth trying for free, especially if you need something to fill the open-world racing void on Xbox as the interminable wait for news on Forza Horizon 6 continues.