The Crew Motorfest seems to hate me and yet I love the game

Finally I was able to explore the open world of Ubisoft’s showpiece racer. I’m thrilled – at least until the AI rams me off the road again.

I’ve never been to Hawaii. After spending a few hours on the Polynesian island in The Crew Motorfest I don’t want to go there again either. Because apparently there are only psychopaths on the streets, to whom I must have done something really bad at some point in my life. I can’t explain their behaviour towards me any other way.

Ah, damn! I would hate to miss out on the lead-foot fun from Ubisoft! Because the open world makes a fun impression, offers many employment opportunities and would definitely be my summer hit 2023 – it’s just too bad that The Crew Motorfest doesn’t come out until September 11, 2023, ahem.

Good copying has to be learned

Welcome to Hawaii! Here, motorsport enthusiasts from all over the world meet to celebrate a big festival together. It’s all about speeding around in noble luxury cars, well-maintained classic cars or tuned drifting cars. In the midst of this hustle and bustle rises a man, a maestro, a machine: Sören Asphalt Diedrich.

Does this plot sound familiar to you? No wonder, because already with the frame story it becomes clear where Ubisoft got … well let’s say inspiration for its racing game.  Forza Horizon 5 has set the bar very high for brute-staged arcade racers and The Crew Motorfest skilfully combines the series’ own strengths with the role model from the house of Microsoft.

Screen displays, hipster get-up, groovy electro-pop-something soundtrack – the parallels often make me smile while playing. But hey, the important point is: Motorfest imitates so well that it doesn’t need to be ashamed of it. Quite the opposite: Anyone who wants to spend a lot of time in a racing game with an open world should be happy here!

Hawaii is a racing paradise

In terms of gameplay, the similarities to Forza Horizon also continue. However, Ubisoft has always come up with its own ideas, which is why I never had the feeling at the play-on event that I was getting too much of the same old stuff reheated here. My session lasted three hours, by the way, during which I was allowed to move freely around the game without being looked over my shoulder.

The star of The Crew Motorfest is the open world. Hawaii is beautifully staged and above all one thing: really, really big! I can even explore the island by plane or boat, which, thanks to the beautiful atmosphere, is a nice change from racing around in the 600 or so cars.

 The Crew Motorfest is a real open world game.

When I’m sitting in my car, there’s a whole variety of activities waiting for me:

• Playlists: These are a series of races that follow a specific theme. For example, the classic Porsche models of the 1960s or street races with Japanese drifting cars at night. Particularly rare vehicles beckon as a reward for completion.
• Exploration: There are numerous island secrets to discover in Hawaii. A very talkative car AI gives me hints as soon as I get near a place. The rest I have to track down myself.
• Challenges: Similar to Forza Horizon (oh what?!), small challenges are placed everywhere in the game world. For example Escape, where I have to escape from a marked area on the map in a tight time window and accompanied by a nerve-racking beep. Slalom is my favourite – here I have to drive left and right around obstacles while being as fast as possible to achieve the required score.
• Collecting tasks: Find X dolphin graffiti, rummage through Y murals, take Z photos of near-collisions – the tasks are nothing earth-shattering, but are great to do on the side.
• Mainstage: This game mode is the heart of The Crew Motorfest if I want to fill up my XP bar and thus bag lucrative rewards as I level up. Here I can expect a mix of regularly changing playlists that I have to complete. This also moves me up the global leaderboard, which strokes my racer ego.

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To make sure I don’t lose track, I can call up the most beautiful world map of the entire genre at any time. The highlight is that this is the completely rendered game world in real time – the camera only zooms out far, so to speak, but I can easily zoom in to the streets, where even the traffic continues to flow normally. Respect, Ubisoft, that’s cool!

Why does everyone hate me here?

Now I finally get to talk about the racing. After all, The Crew Motorfest is a racing game and open world or not, what counts is the action on the track!

Here the game does absolutely nothing wrong, quite the opposite: the feeling of speed is great, the races are pleasantly entertaining and the background music releases additional adrenaline. Of course, Sören Asphalt Diedrich lived up to his name (the maestro is allowed to speak of himself in the 3rd person) and won all the races.

That was a lie. But it wasn’t because of my skill, really! With this AI, victories are sometimes almost impossible I’ll tell it like it is: The opponents drive almost as brutally as my fellow citizens in Wiesbaden’s after-work traffic around the main station – but only almost.

The AI often doesn’t even make an attempt to overtake me cleanly, preferring to drive into my side door at 200 mph in a corner to let me crash into the boundary. If someone sucks up behind me with slipstream, he doesn’t sheer off, but rushes bluntly into my rear, causing my car to swerve. Thank goodness for the reverse function, but still …

If I come from behind, the AI colleague steers hard to the left or right even when I’m already at the same height. As you can see, I’m not quite satisfied with the social competence of my artificial opponents. And that’s a shame, because there are always situations in which the AI acts and behaves really cleverly. Ubisoft, please turn the knobs again here!

The driving physics also combine joy and sorrow: The cars steer arcadically, precisely and pleasantly differently depending on the type of car. At least I was able to deactivate some driving aids such as traction control, stability assistant (yuck!) and brake assist – but of course this still doesn’t turn Motorfest into a sim.

Unfortunately I would bet my house and yard that the unpopular rubber band principle is active in the AI, i.e. the opponents drive slower when you are behind and drive unrealistically fast or stick directly to your butt as soon as you are in first place. This is annoying and in my opinion should at least be optionally deactivatable.

I’m looking forward to it!

The bottom line is that I’m very excited about The Crew Motorfest. In terms of scope, I’m absolutely not worried anymore, a real chunk awaits us racing fans here, which will still offer something new for months thanks to seasonal content.

But above all, the core discipline of a racing game is fulfilled here with flying colours: The races are really fun and I am regularly rewarded with new cars or tuning parts, which helps my endorphin need.

Yes, if you were to stick Forza Horizon 6 on the box, hardly anyone would notice the deception, so much has Ubisoft helped itself to the great role model. But if, in the end, such a fun, well thought-out and self-sustaining overall work comes out of it, then I think it’s okay to look more towards the genre competition.

Are you ready for The Crew Motorfest? Then (register at Ubisoft) for the closed beta starting on 21 July. Maybe we’ll meet in the race! I’m the one who gets pushed against the track boundary by the AI …

Editor’s Verdict

The Crew Motorfest is so much fun that shortly after my play date I only answered my wife’s questions with Hum, Hum. It’s a behaviour that has stood the test of time and I will now continue to adopt, but that’s not the point here.

Ubisoft does a lot right and very little wrong. The Crew Motorfest won’t ascend the genre throne, but it’s anything but a disappointment either. Instead, you get exactly what the hip festival screenshots promise: Brightly coloured frenzy under palm trees, which has a chic open world with entertaining activities to offer.

The only thing I find critical is the AI. The last time the children in my home village were this mean to me. Unlike back then, however, I defend myself today by being anything but squeamish about the AI cars themselves, ugh! Still, there’s a level of crash derby going on here that shouldn’t be the point even in an arcade racer.

And Ubisoft, let’s be honest: You’re developing a racing game set in Hawaii. Palm trees, sunshine, blue sea, the virtual driving wind blowing through my few hairs – and then you release this surefire summer hit in the beginning of autumn? Oh well, I didn’t say anything. At least the game makes a pleasantly bug-free impression.