Solar Club Letter: September 2025

In July we held our Season 4 and Year 2 dev diary where we showed the world what to expect over the next 12 months in TDUSC. Today, we go into more details about what you can expect in Season 5 and when the next news on TDUSC is coming.

What’s In the Letter?

• Season 5 Details

  • Timecycle

  • UI Overhaul

  • KT Engine Improvements

    • Water Shaders

    • Performance

  • Construction Sites

  • Economy

    • Race Payouts

    • FRIM

    • Car Selling

  • Vehicle Improvements

    • Cruise Control

    • Bug Fixes & Improvements

  • Live Events

  • Mid-Season Update

    • Monetisation

    • Previous Solar Pass Vehicles

    • New Vehicles

    • Ford GT Pre-Order

  • Release Date

• Sounds

  • Season 5 Cars

  • What’s Next?

• Season 6 Details

  • Physical Clothing Stores

  • Detective Mode

• Community Spotlight Winner - September

  • Winners

  • How To Enter

• Coming Up Next

  • Console & PC Gameplay

  • Taxi Mission & Poker Tease

  • Season 5 Feature Showcase Livestream

  • October Solar Club Letter

🔜 Season 5 Details

Season 5 will bring Poker, construction sites, taxi missions, economy improvements, the KT Engine update, bug fixes (Daily Challenges) and more! Let’s go over some of these features in more detail!

Timecycle

The KT Engine is being improved for Season 5 and with that, players will see new lighting, shadows, reflections, and more. We improved the timecycles of both islands, so let’s go over some of the new colours you’ll be seeing on each TDUSC island.

• Hong Kong Island: Hong Kong Island gets many improvements to TDUSC, so let’s take a look at some of these!

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• Ibiza: As mentioned in the last letter, we made the decision to improve the timecycle on Ibiza. Here’s some of the amazing views you can expect to see!

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In charge of this new look is KT’s art director, Stephane Cambier. Here’s what he has to say about the Season 5 changes and what players can still expect to see after Season 5.

“For Season 5, we focused on several key areas:

Main Menu:

With Thibault Drevon, our aim was to shift away from a "techno-digital" feel towards a more realistic environment. The goal was to immerse players in the driver experience, offering a glimpse of the in-game housing.

Lighting:

Working with the lighting team, we made nice improvements.

While further engine improvements are needed for post-processing, the overall objective was to achieve a cinematic mood throughout the game. We also sought to differentiate the two islands:

• Hong Kong: Mimics the atmosphere found in various Asian driving community videos.

• Ibiza: Emphasizes the heat and vibrant colors reminiscent of a postcard.

Tracks and Races:

Working with Guillaume Guinet, we are working on improving the races on both Ibiza and Hong Kong Island (HKI).

• Ibiza: Received a complete identity change, featuring more enclosed spaces and a structured feel, similar to Formula 1 races in Monaco or Macau.

• Hong Kong: Still under development, with the aim of creating a new proposition less futuristic but giving as much freedom that they do for now. We want to keep this Open Road vibe on HKI races that define a Test Drive Unlimited Experience.", hopefully ready for Season 6.

Future Plans:

We plan to introduce the physical clothing store, which was not ready for Season 5.

We are continuously exploring ways to improve the game to better sync with Hong Kong Island’s vibe without forgetting our game performance… and of course there's significant work planned for the housing system.”

• Stéphane Cambier / TDUSC Art Director